About Wine Is Confusing.

Wine Is Confusing embraces the shape-shifting truth, lore, and nuance that characterizes the story of wine. Wine is a lens through which we can examine the world; considering environmental, cultural, and political contexts, we can learn about ourselves and how we got here. Wine is a network of rabbit holes—what’s your question? Jump in. Be ready to come up with an answer and seven more questions.

Based in Western North Carolina

I started writing about wine in 2020 while working as a server at a restaurant in Charlotte, North Carolina. Looking around at my local hospitality scene, I noticed that the only thing anyone knew was that North Carolina made sweet muscadine. Was that it? An unlabeled sparkling bottle of red that materialized in the wine bar I was working in suggested otherwise. In January of 2024, I moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains to see what was going on in my backyard. I discovered a wave of new winemaking here and have been writing about N.C. as well as wines in Appalachia and the South since.

There’s no publishing schedule for the newsletter - some months I write every week and some months I write once. I thank my subscribers for appreciating the ebb and flow of the creative aspect of this work. One thing is for sure: you’ll get your newsletter on Wednesday mornings, in honor my cat, Wednesday.

Paying subscribers: what you get

Price: $5/ mo or $50/year.

Hey, you get to see everything! You’ll get exclusive articles, personal essays, photo essays, and interviews. These are deeper dives into history, place, and language, and exclusive coverage of North Carolina and other under-the-radar wine regions. You will also get extra photos, footage, and raw notes from my research after stories are published.

Delivered to your inbox on Wednesdays throughout the month, in honor of my cat, Wednesday.

Free subscribers: what you get

Price: Free!

Free subscribers get bottle reviews and occasional articles like this one. Throughout the year, you’ll get a few deeper dives into culture, history, and current events as they pertain to wine, like the dispatches I wrote following Hurricane Helene. Also, the paywalled pieces will unlock 7 months from their publication date and be sent to ya.

Delivered on Wednesdays throughout the year, in honor of my cat, Wednesday.

Founding members: this is for you

Price: $100/year

Founding members, you’re swell. You’ve decided to support my work in trying times, and my weary (yet persistent) writer's heart thanks you. In addition to the free and paid content, you’ll get postcards from my wine travels containing wine secrets. You’ll also get a complimentary copy of Foxy Wine Review, a new print magazine devoted to wines from Appalachia and the South, founded by me. Foxy is an experimental project, coming out in 2026, and operating without a social media presence, so you’ll be getting underground, analog stories.

Talk soon!

-Kara