Hello Thirsty Kitten Fans and Hello 2013! It’s time to get this year started. What? It started three weeks ago? Really?! Well, then I guess we should fess up and tell you our True Confession #1: Sometimes we procrastinate. In this case, though, we’ve had good reason. We’ve been sipping lovely wines and enjoying being with family and friends, leaving us little time (or, frankly, motivation) to write. But we are rested and ready for the new year now and hope you are, too.

In the spirit of Complete Honesty and Full Disclosure, we thought we should devote this first post of the year to confessing a few things about ourselves. So here goes:

True Confession #2: We love the little guys. If you’re a regular reader, you know this already; we don’t try to hide it. In fact, we proudly proclaim it: we are totally charmed and captivated by the stories of small, family-owned wineries. We especially adore the ones with endless passion and enthusiasm for coaxing the best flavors from their grapes; who work long, hard hours making it happen; and who have a lot of fun at the same time. We do write about bigger wineries from time to time, but our heart is with the little guys.

True Confession #3: We love California. (Oh, and Oregon. Um, and Washington has been impressing the heck out of us lately, too.) It’s hard to declare a single, favorite region because there are great wines from all over the world, but we began learning about wine a couple of decades ago by sipping and studying California’s vintages. And the truth is that we have developed quite a soft spot for the state over the years. These days, we do find ourselves slowly branching north, so pretty soon we might have to claim the entire Pacific Northwest as our favorite region, as well.

True Confession #4: We play favorites. Once you’ve won our heart, we’re likely yours forever. Long-time favorites include iOTA Cellars (Oregon Pinot Noir) and A. Rafanelli (California Zin and Cab). New favorites from this year include Mauritson (California Zin and Cab) and Breggo (California Pinot Noir). On the international front, Famiglia Meschini (Argentina and Chile; too many varietals to list) swept us away in 2012 with their excellent values and delightful flavor profiles. We can’t wait to find more favorites in 2013.

True Confession #5: Our kitten does not actually drink wine. Though she inspired the name for our blog by constantly and stealthily drinking from every unattended water glass, she has no interest whatsoever in the fermented grape juice we adore.

True Confession #6: We love quiet nights at home. Yes, we love festivities, too, but you will find us just as often at home by the fireplace with our very own Kitten and her two Canine Pals as you will out in the fray of nightlife. And on such nights, you are most likely to find us sipping Pinot Noir or Zin from California or Oregon. (See True Confessions #3 and #4.)

True Confession #7: We are not purists when it comes to tasting notes. We’re highly amused by the serious discussion in the wine community about words to describe the flavors in wines. Shoe leather, creosote, forest floor, and even cat piss are thrown around in expert reviews. If you’re seeking serious, formal tasting notes, there are plenty of great resources out there. Our goal is simply do our best to give you a general idea of what to expect. Heck, on occasion, we’ve even compared wines to great works of literature. We write in the spirit of fun, hoping to evoke the mood and story that each wine holds.

True Confession #8: We like a pretty bottle. As shallow as it sounds, we can be swayed by looks. This past year, we were especially charmed by J Winery’s Brut Rosé, a clear bottle with a simple “J” printed on the glass itself. Much to our delight, J featured our photograph in their blog “Half Full,” in a recent post on their favorite fan photos of 2012.

True Confession #9: We break rules all the time. Sometimes we drink our wines before their time. Sometimes we open a special bottle for no special occasion whatsoever. And sometimes we drink red wine with seafood! Heavens! Our feeling is that wine, like just about everything in life, is personal and that we should all be empowered to make the choices that suit us best, no matter what the experts say.

And now, folks, cue the scary music on your computer because we are about to unleash our final and most shocking True Confession of all.

True Confession #10: At heart, this is really not a blog about wine. Instead, the essence of our blog is about enjoying the moment and enjoying a good story; about pausing to appreciate even an ordinary evening, and by doing so, making it more special than ordinary. Yes, we do adore wine and make it part of many of our moments of pause and celebration. And we do hope that you like the recommendations we make. But if your passion leans more toward tea, or coffee or Kombucha (or whatever), we hope what you draw most from us is encouragement to savor the meaning and the story in every moment.

So this week, as we start a new year, we raise our glasses to “true confessions” and to celebrating the passions, people and moments in life that bring you the most joy. Cheers to 2013!