I guess I can say that I really knew very little about Daniel Rogov’s (AKA David Juroff) personal life, and that was fine by me. I knew little of Daniel or his likes or dislikes, until I started reading all about them in his books and on the two forums (the original one became defunct a couple of years ago) to which he truly dedicated his life. To say that my wine and culinary knowledge was weaned at the feet of Mr. Rogov would be an understatement. The few times I was fortunate enough to met him one word about him came clear to me; Philosopher. His speech, cadence, knowledge, and overall delivery style was clearly a blend of many environments that he grew up in, but it was also clear that behind his persona lived a philosopher. He lived his life to the fullest, and was angered when people, organizations, and even his own country disallowed him to see life as he did. He always had a cigarette in his hand and a smile on his face, his very persona may have been a philosopher and hedonist, but his true joy came from educating the masses on the true joys of life. To Daniel life was not complete unless it was lived to its fullest, much like the phrase in Psalms; Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Daniel needed to taste of this world and he loved to share those tastes with the world as well. To Daniel life was seen in the eyes of hedonism. Some may see that as an insult, but they would be wrong, hedonism is not a cult, it is not an evil way of thinking, and it is surely not a pleasure bound binge. Simply stated Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good.[1] In very simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain) (taken from Wikipedia). When people would post about food or wine on the forum, Daniel would always be quick to remind them that life was truly too short to accept mediocrity. Life was indeed too short for Daniel – to that I personally can attest!
Daniel Rogov was an educator to the masses, through his books, newspaper articles, and Internet forums. I would often laugh at web sites and apps that would say that they gave you access to the world of wines at your fingertips. To them I would always say, I have the world of food and wine at my fingertips, because Daniel was always just a forum post or email away. His unbelievable ability to remember wines, foods and tastes from years gone by was second nature to him, but his never-ending patience to share that with all of his followers is what made him truly happy. He was a human first and a critic second, though many tried to sue him (unsuccessfully) for libel (a critic’s weight to bear), he was always true to his calling. He had beliefs and opinions that I did not agree with, and thankfully I was never foolish enough to attempt to convince him of them to the otherwise (though many were all too happy to try), but he never let those beliefs cloud his professionalism.
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