About Wine Is Confusing.
Wine Is Confusing is a shared sentiment among beginners and experts. My work embraces the confusion, mystery, peculiar science, and shape-shifting truth that threads the history of wine. I believe it is from here that we can speak most clearly about our beloved potion of time and space—with an attitude of humility and enthusiasm for any question.
I don’t teach wine, I teach the exploration of it.
About Me.
I’m Kara Daly, a North Carolina-based wine writer. I’m a certified French Wine Scholar and I hold a WSET Level 2 award in wines. I was a fellow for the 2023 Wine Writers’ Symposium and my work has appeared in Wine Enthusiast, Vinepair, Charlotte Magazine, and Queen City Nerve. A winemaker and friend recently described me as someone in “honest pursuit of wine” and that’s the best credential I’ve received yet.
I care about language, history, accessible wine, sustainability, under-rated wine regions, and making mansplaining so embarrassing that men start trying not to do it.
Paying subscribers: what you get
Price: $5/ mo or $50/year.
Paying subscribers receive original reported and researched pieces, personal essays, and winery recommendations from my travels. In addition to the free content, you’ll get things like:
Off The Grid - deep dives into the meaning and etymology of words we use to describe wine, plus musings on new words we could use.
Personal essays - firsthand accounts of my life as a wine writer, woman, and bartender, plus travel stories and cultural criticism.
Winery recommendations - when I travel, you’ll get a list of where I went and what I loved.
Talking Points - analysis of what the smartest people in wine are saying about the most important (and controversial) topics in wine right now.
Deep dives into debatable truths in wine - In wine, the truth is often elusive. Lore, oral tradition, and unfathomed science force us to face the fact that there’s still so much we don’t know about this world. Yeehaw!
Free subscribers: what you get
Price: Free!
At the end of each month, I put out a free newsletter geared towards understanding European wine labels, learning to talk about wine, and correcting common myths and misconceptions. The free newsletter contains things like:
How To Read A Wine Label - email me a photo of your wine bottle and I’ll tell you what every word means and what it should taste like.
Wine 2 Ways - I’ll taste a wine and show you I’d talk about it two different ways: technically and creatively.
Wine Corrections - Debunking common myths and misconceptions in wine.
Hands On Ur News - I tell you about the good things happening in wine that make me want to dance.
Occasional essays & articles - Sometimes I’ll write something I don’t want to paywall. Wahoo!
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 a complimentary copy of the zine, published every other month, and a postcard containing wine secrets from the wine regions I travel to.
About the Zine - Zines are DIY, grassroots, affordable print media. They’re small, punk rock, and often very clearly handmade. Historically, zines are used to disseminate important political information and ideas to the people. In 2024 the purpose of my zine is to share the things I come across in my wine studies that I think everyone should know. (Not a founding member? You can purchase my zine for $5 buckaroos here!)
Talk soon!
-Kara
