Welcome to my blog. My name is David Mullen. I am a retired School Psychologist and Therapist and a life-long resident of New Jersey. While recovering from heart surgery I decided to take a break from my 40 plus years of working primarily with developmentally disabled and “special needs” children and adolescents and spend some time immersed in two of my other passions: wine and writing. While recuperating I devoted many hours to reading about wine and completed two courses at The Wine School of Philadelphia, culminating in my sommelier certification from the National Wine School.
Over the years I’ve had the good fortune to travel and visit great wineries with my wife, Carol, tasting wines from over 100 wineries from California to New York, Virginia, and Canada (and of course, New Jersey). One of my promises to myself while recuperating was to visit every NJ winery. This is a project that my wife has enthusiastically supported and she has happily accompanied me to each of them. I wonder…why was it so easy to convince her of the value of this plan? I wish my other ideas over the years were so easily embraced!
I do not purport to be a wine expert (nor do I portray one on television). I am a knowledgable consumer of wine and my approach to writing about wine is a “snob-free” one (where readers who are “wine newbies” or wine aficionados are equally respected). It is my hope to interest the novice, who is just starting a wine journey or even a more “seasoned” wine enthusiast who has yet to discover some of New Jersey’s wineries. Though I readily share that my wine bias is a preference for dry red and white wines, made with grapes, rather than other fruit, I also acknowledge and celebrate those with different tastes. Vive la difference! My hope is that the reader will share my passion for wine and a pursuit to continually learn more (while having fun).
Cheers!