Last week, Bill of Duff’s Wines won the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge #13 (#MWWC13) and just like all winners of the Challenge, his “reward” was to choose the theme for the following Challenge (in this case #MWWC14).

A few of us started the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge over a year ago with the desire to promote more creative wine writing. The thought was that we get caught up in tasting notes, winery visits, and the occasional food porn and we soon forget that part of the reason we put in all the hours that we do on these silly blogs is that we love to write!

The other day, when many of us were traveling, out buying presents, or lamenting the onset of winter, Bill announced the theme, under the haze of holiday activity. When he announced the theme on his blog, he indicated that I/we would be coming up with the timeline shortly. Well, sitting here in New York City the day after Christmas, I figured it was as good a time as any to set the dates in stone (or at least in HTML).

So this month, during a season that is chock full of them, Bill chose:

A quick recap of the rules:

The rules

1. The Challenge is open to anybody and everybody. It helps if you have a blog, but that is certainly not a requirement (contact me if this is the case).
2. Write a post based on this month’s theme: “Tradition”.
3. The post should be at least tangentially related to wine (after all, it is the name of the challenge).
4. The post should be more or less around 1000 words (I routinely violate this rule, so it is just there as a “guide”).
5. Include the Monthly Wine Writing Challenge badge (above) that was designed by the very first winner, The Armchair Sommelier.
6. Remember to vote!
7. Once you post on your blog, please do at least two of the following and I will be sure to include a link here as well as on all subsequent posts about this month’s challenge:
   1. Include a link back to this post in your entry.
      
   2. Use the hashtag #MWWC14 somewhere in your post.
   3. Tweet, using the #MWWC14 hashtag and include a link back to your post.
   4. Send me an email: jeff(at)thedrunkencyclist(dot)com

The all important dates:

Deadline for submission:  Monday, January 26th, 2014

Voting Begins: Tuesday, January 27th, 2014

Voting Ends:  Monday, February 2nd, 2014

Winner Announced:  Tuesday, February 3rd, 2014

Previous winners:

If you’re looking for some inspiration here are the links to the previous winning posts:

MWWC1 – Transportation

The Armchair Sommelier

MWWC2 – Trouble

My Custard Pie

MWWC3 – Possession

The Wine Kat

MWWC4 – Oops

Confessions of a Wine Geek

MWWC5 – Feast

The drunken cyclist

MWWC6 – Mystery

The SAHMmelier

MWWC7 – Devotion

The Sweet Sommelier

MWWC8 – Luck

The drunken cyclist

MWWC9 – Fear

The Sybarite

MWWC10 – Value

Dracaena Wines

MWWC11 – Friend

Armchair Sommelier

MWWC12 – Local

Talk-a-Vino

MWWC12 – Serendipity

Duff’s Wines

Please contact me if you have any questions: jeff (at) thedrunkencyclist (dot) com