February 20 2008
Tom from Fermentation has announced the 2nd annual American Wine Blog Awards.
Celebrating excellence in 2007, the American Wine Blog Awards are accepting nominations in the following categories:
Best Wine Business Blog
Best Wine Blog Writing
Best Winery Blog
Best Single-Subject Wine Blog
Best Wine Review Blog
Best Wine Podcast of Video Blog
Best Wine Blog
Best Wine Blog Graphics
It is a yeoman’s effort to coordinate and organize this, so regardless of whether your site is nominated or wins, we should all thank Tom for being the driving force behind pulling this together.
These awards bring a whiff of legitimacy to wine blogging, a medium that has increased its exposure level and its influence immeasurably in the last two years. The profile of wine blogging has increased so much so that I now believe that some of our premiere wine bloggers like Vinography.com, Drvino.com and Good Wine Under $20 have an influence commensurate or exceeding those of many newspaper wine columnists.
I don’t mean this to be a polarizing statement, and it’s not scientific fact, just my hunch that a Tom Wark, Alder Yarrow, Tyler Colman or Dr. Debs (her blog nom de plume) have an engaged and passionate audience that is equal to or greater than that of a wine columnist from any mid-major daily newspaper.
Consider that, as a baseline, if a major daily newspaper has a circulation of 400,000 and 5% of the audience read the wine column, than you have reached about 20,000 people. Do we think that Vinography.com gets 20,000 visitors to his site? Undoubtedly. Does Tom’s opinion act as an influencing agent equal to that of a newspaper columnist? Arguably so.
The smart newspapers like The New York Times and the Dayton Daily News incorporate columnist blogging, yet many others are still very afraid to engage online.
Now, this argument on reach and influence is apples and oranges to a large degree, but it is what my instinct tells me. If my hunch is correct, this is a major re-setting of the dynamic in wine media and even more reason to nominate your favorite blog and vote at Fermentation. Help act as a change agent in the evolution of wine media!
Every group of friends has that person that is the “straw that stirs the drink” (I know Tom will appreciate the somewhat obscure reference to baseball with that). Tom is the wine bloggers straw. In “Tipping Point” terms, Tom is a “connector” and a “maven.”
Wine blogging is at its “tipping point,” lets get the nominations out there and then vote for our favorites.
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January 29 2008
There are no new ideas. This was re-affirmed for me last week with Jim Gordon’s Unreserved wine blog—and that’s no slight to Jim. If anything, it is a personal backhanded pimp slap to my own depth of knowledge regarding contemporary wine history, or lack thereof, I should say.
Does subscribing to Wine Business Monthly since 2001 count for some sort of carbon, er, credibility offset?
Last Tuesday, while walking my dog, Coco, the cutest pug/beagle mix in the world, bundled against the Indiana mid-winter chill, iPod earphones in place, listening to Brett Dennen because I roll more on the singer-songwriter side of things, I was thinking about Sacre Bleu wine and Chateau Petrogasm. Sacre Bleu has as the centerpiece of their market engagement a lot of collaboration with bands and promotional events with music. In addition, while I think Chateau Petrogasm is pretty cool and their visual associations to encapsulate the taste or experience of a wine is novel, frequently I have a hard time translating the images to any sort of understanding of what the wine would be like. Call me dense, but it is true. A picture may say a 1000 words, but not all of them make sense together. However, wine and music … hmm … who doesn’t understand a muscular, sharp, angular, tight red wine, all dissonant, sharp, and angular like Metallica, for example.
So, I got to thinking about a different translation … Sacre Bleu, wine, and music. Ding, ding. Man, “that’s what I should do,” I thought. Wouldn’t it be fun to do a weekly wine review and analogize it to music? Nowadays, with music streaming technology, you can even link to a song so people can “get’ what you’re saying.
Well, this is all well and good, right? Last Tuesday this was a good idea. Then on Thursday, Jim writes the following:
Some years ago, Kermit Lynch, the Berkeley wine merchant and importer, who was definitely not a fan of the points system, suggested in a seminar that people get creative with how they convey the style and quality of wine. He recommended that people compare wines to art, to architecture and other forms of creativity instead of reducing them to digits.
Jim continues …
But, lately I have tried comparing wines to classic rock sounds. I have two teenage sons, they both play guitars in garage bands, and they love Led Zeppelin (above, Robert Plant, left, and Jimmy Page), Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, the Who and Metallica (classic to them).
So instead of rating them on the 100-point scale, here are some wines I’ve tried recently, and how I’d rate them on the pop-rock scale.
Ahem, within the span of 48 hours I went from being a little onanistic to wishing I had a little more history to draw from in and around wine and the wine industry.
Of course, somebody has hit on this before … of course it would be an industry vet channeling another wine industry vet like Kermit Lynch.
Silly me.
By the way, Jim, it is a good idea! Wine … music … who wouldn’t get it? I might steal it. And for Brett Dennen, I would analogize the 2006 Orin Swift Cellars “The Prisoner” Napa Red Blend.
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January 27 2008
Readers of this site will know that I am a book guy. I like books. My wife likes books. Our bookcases runneth over and, between the two of us, I think we single handedly pull up the mean that says the average American reads four books a year.
Given my book fandom, I think 2008 is going to be a good year. I say that because the majority of the books that I read are wine or non-fiction business books and it looks like ’08, in terms of wine books – published and in progress- might be a banner year.
And, as a brief aside, really, what could be a more fitting way to kick off ’08 than with a little schmaltz? Chicken Soup for the Wine Lovers Soul was published in November and who can’t use a dose of feel-good dripping sentimentality every now and again?
Seriously, though, some folks near and dear to wine bloggers hearts are planning on writing a book, or publishing a book. And, this is after we all convene for the wine klatch and Dr. Debs Wine Book Club.
Consider:
Tyler Colman from Dr. Vino is releasing not one, but two books this year. His first is intriguingly called, “Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink.”
Alice Feiring, known by many from her long career in journalism and to others based on her blog In Vino Veritas, is publishing the provocatively named “The Battle for Wine and Love: or How I Saved the World from Parkerization.”
Lenn from Lenndevours is going to pen the perfect book on Long Island wine ...
Tim Elliott from Winecast is going to write and self-publish a book for wine beginners to expand beyond the basics—a field guide to explore the 2nd level of wine enthusiasm.
And, finally, Ryan and Gabrielle from Catavino are kicking around the idea of doing a wine blogging magazine/book project with contributions from around the wine blogosphere.
Undoubtedly, there are also several other blogging derived book projects going on that are not mentioned here. I recall from last year that Josh from Pinotblogger.com was approached about potentially writing a book, as well.
All of this publishing talk is a great thing in my mind! Around wine bloggers there is always a subtle undercurrent of desirability for additional respect amongst wine consumers, established media and the industry. I think all of us keep waiting for that turning point, the epochal period, where the wine blogosphere gets hot, red hot, and goes upstream towards mainstream with more vigor in people reading like other niches have seen—food, politics, gossip, etc. One thing is certain however, regardless of whether the wine blogosphere heats up this year or ‘09, or never—publishing books and having books published after using wine blogging as a platform is an incredible way to increase legitimacy for everybody. So, these hardy, intrepid souls deserve our attention and support—a rising tide raises all ships.
Good luck to all who are publishing this year and assuredly I will be reading your books—though, your books will be AFTER I get my schmaltzy fix from the Chicken Soup series.
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January 25 2008
Some quick hitting random thoughts on a few wine related news items from the last two weeks before they turn into dust at the news and wine blog idea graveyard … and a reminder, as well.
First, the Reminder …
There is a small quantity left of the Good Grape Wine Blogger Pack at Domaine547.com. The jist is, I made wine recommendations, wrote up a newsletter and Jill from Domaine 547 sells the vino. The theme that I chose to select wines from is, “Alsace by way of Willamette” --Alsatian varieties from Oregon. With the wines that I chose, you get three delicious wines from two boutique producers. Amity Vineyards offers up a Riesling and Brooks Wines has two wines with a white blend and a Riesling. The wines are tasty and affordable and I have no skin in the game, no dog in the fight. I just get the thrill of playing wine club Sommelier. You can buy the three pack for an easy $52 at this link.
Consumer Wine Shipments Gain a Temperature Assist from New Packaging Technology
Gaining exactly zero mindshare in the wine blogosphere, a wine logistics and consumer shipping company, New Vine Logistics, announced last week that they partnered with a packaging company to create a line of packaging, called WineAssure, that ensures that consumer wine shipments do not exceed 70 degrees on the high side, nor refrigerator temperatures on the low side.
Frankly, this is very welcome news and the packaging should help alleviate the threat of wine shipments receiving heat damage in the warm summer months.
The rubber meets the road, however, with adoption, and I will be curious to see how quickly wineries adopt the packaging. Many wineries shut off shipping in the summer months and I am guessing the wineries desire to turn shipping on in the summer will be based on pure economics. Assuredly, the design and exclusive packaging development was not cheap, and I hope that New Vine is not expecting the wineries to bear the brunt of that design cost in a pass-along situation, therefore reducing the ability for consumers to win. Time will tell, but don’t think for a second that the wine industry still doesn’t get in its own way on the path to trying to be successful.
Sacre Bleu Available at Target
One of my favorite wine brands, Sacre Bleu, is now available at Target stores in Florida. Usually, when you are dropped into a top wine market, it is a temporary way station to a larger rollout. Let us hope that happens for an underdog wine brand from Minneapolis, MN. A nicer guy you will never meet, Galen Struwe deserves success with his fledgingly brand. First, Galen comes from outside the wine industry and it is a long, uphill battle to figure out the Byzantine wine industry without the benefit of experience and, while people are genuinely helpful, there is sometimes a sense of a weary resignation amongst wine folks along the lines, “Yeah, let me know how that goes for you.” The wine, kind of a negociant/import model from France, is good and third, the way that Sacre Bleu is marrying music with wine and the Millenials is something of a case study in successful marketing. Think of Sacre Bleu as a Stormhoek for young music lovers instead of semi-young card-carrying wine blogger geeks (yes, I carry the card, too). When the wine is available in a store near you be sure to confound your friends by saying in your best French accent, “I’m picking up some Sacre Bleu from Target Boutique.” Congrats to Sacre Bleu and keep an eye on them as a rising story with loads of opportunity for wide success.
Transparency alert: Sacre Bleu has an ad on my site. I have received no compensation from them though I am, occasionally, a sucker for a winery or objet d’art (see also Crushpad Wines) that I take a personal liking to.
Michael Chiarello Sticks his Hand in the Celebrity Chef Till
Anybody besides me read the press release or see the mention on Napa Valley wine blog The Cork Board and scratch their head and say, “What took so long?”
Michael Chiarello, the celebrity chef with the show “Easy Entertaining with Michael Chiarello” on the Food Network, a cooking show where, despite the name, he never seems to entertain anybody he knows, has announced plans to open a new restaurant in Yountville at the in-progress development called V Marketplace.
The founding Chef of Tra Vigne, Chiarello is going to go back into the kitchen with his new restaurant.
The thing that I could never figure out with Chiarello is that, despite his mail order lifestyle company Napa Style, why didn’t the guy have restaurants going already?
If you look at the Food Network and see Emeril Lagasse, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Wolfgang Puck, Morimoto and even Rachael Ray and Tyler Florence cashing in with restaurants and endorsements all over the place, why was Chiarello slow on the draw?
Sheesh, Emeril, Flay and Batali are printing money. I don’t care how many re-used wine barrel end tables Chiarello sells, there’s got to be more margin turning three tables a night selling $42 steaks ala carte in Vegas.
I’m guessing Chiarello is going to be transplanting, as he says, “my personal blend of Napa Valley’s famous hospitality” to a Vegas hotel pretty darn soon. Why else would you put the chef toque back on?
Good luck to him, his show always has him turning out some nice looking food, and, perhaps, he knows, smarter than I do, that timing is right to take a swing at the plate to hit a major food and wine concept with “Napa style.”
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January 19 2008
Now, a full two weeks after Alder, while adding his own inimitable perspective, created a wide distribution platform for Rich Cartiere’s reporting from the Wine Market Report, you would have to say that Wine.com has seen significant damage to its reputation online and offline.
That is what journalism does; it tells objective stories before those with opinions weigh in with the essential truth and let the chips fall where they may.
Simply, very few wine stories that are not lifestyle and consumer-oriented have had as much historical life, save for the completely boring and pedantic “New World vs. Old World” debate that pops up a couple of times a year with a new set of players.
As the wine.com story heads into the home stretch, as the fire gives way to burning embers, I think it is safe to say it will show up on year-end 2008 wine industry “notable stories” lists.
Classicwines.com announcing that they were removing all advertising from Wine.com from their site was simply a symbolic deathblow from the wine blogosphere court of public opinion. Persona non grata, if you will. Or, to be more colloquial, Wine.com has been Fredoed (see also here).
In the meantime, though, given we have 11.5 more months of ’08 yet to unfold, let’s give a little credit where credit is due before we pull the car past the accident site. Credit goes to Richard Cartiere for breaking the story from a reporting perspective and the Specialty Wine Retailers Association for hosting the Wine Market Report newsletter where the story first appeared. Credit also goes, significantly, to Alder Yarrow, for giving this story a voice with opinion that took the lid off the situation.
Cartiere, especially, should credit for breaking this and that has been a little bit lost in the shuffle. I’m not sure where he got the tip, but it was bold of him to go with it. However, he is a journalist, experienced in investigation. Having the story come from an exclusive newsletter like the Wine Market Report and subsequently using the trickle down effect to Vinography.com seems like it was smart in execution. If it had not started in the Wine Market Report, I am not sure if it would have picked up as much steam as it did when Vinography effectively “broke” the story wide open.
The interesting thing about the story starting in the Wine Market Report, because it’s subscription-only to an influential group of winery insiders, is the fact that it saw the light of day at all to a larger audience. Historically, Cartiere has not made the newsletter available for *any* public consumption outside of his email or fax subscriber list. I know he does not make it available for outside intercourse because I have tried.
In the summer of last year, I read a copy of the Wine Market Report that featured a very damning review of “The House of Mondavi” by Julia Flynn Siler. I subsequently had occasion to exchange a couple of emails with Cartiere. I asked him if I could post the newsletter because I wanted to do a counterpoint review to the book review that he did. He very politely and professionally said, within the context of a longer narrative about his reporting background:
My approach to wine business news is the same I had at The AP, etc:--investigate, verify, verify, report all the news fit for discussion. I do not receive any gifts or accept travel or accommodations from wineries, etc. I accept only a limited bit of ads (rarely if ever are they from wineries) and otherwise support the newsletter through annual subscriptions (roughly 1,000 executive types currently). That is one of many measures I have in place to ensure that editorial is never to be influenced by the wine industry itself.
This model is the same as has been used for decades by newspapers in the United States. My slight twist is that the newsletter is not posted online and is available only via fax or email and it focuses exclusively on the wine business.
As such, I must deny as I always do, any request to publish the newsletter on a web site. Copyright restrictions give you the opportunity to quote from it to a limited degree as long as it is with clear and consistent attribution.
So, again, as the story dies down, let’s give credit to the folks that brought this story to light—Cartiere for writing it and agreeing to expose his newsletter to everybody against his own strictly enforced policy, the Specialty Wine Retailers Association web site for hosting the newsletter, and to Alder Yarrow, of course, for giving an opinion that, once combined with careful reporting, gave the story legs to expose the scurrilous truth.
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