good grape daily: pomace & lees free run: field notes from a wine life around the wine blogosphere wine: a business doing pleasure good grape wine reviews new world red wine influences wine white wine wine blog news robert parker wine bloggers notes & dusty bottle items wine sediments wine business wine blogs historical wine book excerpts tasting safari: wines you can buy online cluetrain manifesto revisited winecast: a year in collaboration wine spectator robert mondavi wine blogger wine marketing indy food & wine vin de napkin vinography new vine logistics alice feiring wine blogging dr. vino appellation watch: midwest regional review gary vaynerchuk american wine blog awards wine critics wine reviews cameron hughes wine books luxury wine tom wark natural wine robert mondavi winery fermentation blog penner-ash wine research wine ratings fred franzia tyler colman steve heimoff oregon pinot noir wall street journal wine best wine blogs wine writers biodynamic wine best wine bloggers california wine a really goode job robert mondavi day wine review jim laube wine ethics appellation america gourmet magazine three dolla koala sonoma pinot noir zinfandel rockaway wine market council open that bottle night wine online winery marketing wine trends lynn penner-ash sommelier journal wine advocate rockaway vineyards good grape augmented reality hugh macleod pinot noir crushpad wine cellartracker dan berger amazon.com southern wine & spirits 100-pt scale grape stories wine & spirits magazine mike steinberger church wine vintank wine tasting notes trader joe's wine wine and spirits daily silver oak indiana wine matt kramer champagne slender wine direct-to-trade murphy-goode winery inertia beverage group wine technology notre dame football stormhoek wine enthusiast bordeaux sparkling wine wine and the economy wine distribution wine.com terry theise biodynamics allocated wine wine news reading between the wines oregon bounty rodney strong the wine makers tv inniskillin hr 5034 wine advertising oregon cuisinternship patz & hall sonoma coast pinot noir notes on a cellar book wine tycoon video game oak alternatives cabernet bottle shock economy chronicle wines vignoles wine columns mirror wine joe roberts e-myth revisited bennett lane winery champagne and business a history of wine words marco capelli music + wine indianapolis zap wine jr. san francisco chronicle wine ice wine c.g. di arie radiohead doubleback wine chateau thomas wine parker defamation blackstone wine trefethen fallow obama napa valley auction sonoma county wine french wine marketing vino chapeau wine medal winners petaluma pinot wine industry firestone contest doug frost whuffie factor wine reality show wine label design duane hoff resveratrol woman in wine organic wineries oregon wine snobs wine is the new black expensive wine will hoge wine spies gapingvoid rose summer wine corkd foppoli wines tamari torrontes dirty south wine vintage of the decade markham mark of distinction sonoma wine company spike your juice celia masyczek jim koch pinot main street winery obama wine digital signage wine retail the fifth taste dominus bellagio wine the wine blue book conundrum winery customer service julie and julia texas for dummies wine collection shorttrack ceo scott becker randall grahm party of five theme song wine spectator restaurant awards zig ziglar drvino.com wine direct shipping wine humor altar wine good wine livingston cellars persimmon creek vineyards liberty school cabernet sauvignon german wine oh westside road biodynamic wine health research 2007 waters crest "night watch" late harvest wine clif bar wine cheap wines rick mirer indiana miss america lewis perdue pbs john trefethen elliot essman wine intelligence research steroids in baseball publishing trends wine laws alpana singh dos equis commercials wine and sense of smell tim mondavi rachel alexandra 500 things to eat before it's too late wine & spirits guinness beer 2006 brancott pinot noir wine public relations facebook + wine millenials and wine penner ash deb harkness cowboy mouth wine evaluation dark & delicious biod triple bottom line jim gordon kelly fleming wine mike hengehold traminette wine mobile applications rick mirer wine wine blogging tips professional culinary institute adobe road the the lost symbol wine stories wine 2.0 schotts micellany hugh johnson alloutwine cooper's hawk winery zinfandel producers california wine for dummies best wine blog us wine sales dessert wine di arie rose napa cab. napa cabernet amazon wine constellation wine washington wine john hughes '47 cheval blanc bordeaux reconquest santasti kevin zraly paul clary sweet wines hardy wallace firestone wine contest burger wine lonely island where the hell is matt southern gothic wine food revolution french paradox dark side of the rainbow gallo thomas pellechia wine spectator top 100 2009 cinderella wine deck wine lindsay ronga batgirl wine top chef iphone wine mobile apps winery promotions whole foods wine first blush juice cult cabernet boston beer company trinchero wine tasting rooms viktor frankl chateau petrus barack obama + wine sanford pinot noir rombauer digital marketing obama inauguration michael ruhlman wine spectator wine reviews karadeci the business of wine healdsburg terroir wine branding global wine partners wine terroir southern wine and spirits wine lists adam strum tinybottles 100 point system vineyard church communion wine mark squires wine and music scheurebe sherry wine tycoon old vine zinfandel cluetrain manifesto down under by crane lake unified symposium jackson-triggs vidal ice wine clif winery name your own price mirror wine company indiana gourmet food allocated cabernet the wine line core wine drinkers janet trefethen bruce reizenman luxury wine marketing wall street journal wine columnists "frankenwine" wine authors nbwa wine expedition fat tire beer mothervine supplements continuum texas bbq wine pairing prince's hot chicken king estate guinness advertising 2007 stoneleigh pinot noir wine pr wineamerica wine wisdom lewin's equation 1winedude chacha rudolf steiner hess collection wine social media expensive wine trends wines and vines kelly fleming cabernet the new yorker ted lemon whyte horse winery iphone wine apps. palate press wine blogging strategies wine certification the traveling vineyard wine and art jason kroman alloutwine.com wine mou wine cartoons alan goldfarb fusebox wine moms who need wine ted jansen hourglass wine murphy-goode wine trading down dip johnnie walker chateau latour planet bordeaux sherry wine paul clary blog gracianna wine argentina wine zephyr adventures barolo santana dvx au revoir to all that formula business ordinance .wine geocaching brigitte armenier rockaway wine red bicyclette social media topps augmented reality rancho zabaco zinfandel woot wine the new frugality patio wine bryan q. miller fermentation anthony dias blue home winemaking consumer shopping research the best pinot noir food & wine magazine a year in wine apple iphone man's search for meaning st. helena catholic church new zealand wine sanford chardonnay lettie teague nba liquor advertising noble pig award of excellence ericca robinson andy warhol quotes wine video game russian river valley pinot wine appellations reset "old world wine darwinism wine star awards tastingroom.com bruliam wine generation y. wine april fool's day wine snooth karen macneil music and wine german riesling secret sherry society cult wines clos lachance dr. oz yellow tail wine jon fredrikson wine blogging wednesday climber red priceline.com drew bledsoe amazon.com wine california cabernet paso robles wine sales hailey trefethen park avenue catering fine wine marketing wine tasting journal wine competitions national beer wholesalers association robert parker's bitch eryn supple the grateful palate heidi barrett john james dufour america eats willamette valley wines of chile specialty wine retailers association judd's hill rose wine recession wine wine & spirits daily firestone vineyards wine trivia 2006 hess collection monterey chardonnay adler fels wines & vines kelly fleming interview the pour oregon food and wine dan cederquist parks and recreation wine umami swanson alexis cabernet disney wine program value wines brand butlers american wine blogs forty-five north winery wine press release hong kong u.s. wine wine economy mary ewing-mulligan non-profits and wine ebob bodeans mitch schwartz hourglass cabernet italian wine merchant dependable wine sutter home videos inexpensive wine jay miller keep walking wines that rock steve perry aussie wine glut clary ranch pinot noir john tyler wine ani difranco peru wine trip barbaresco michael steinberger value wine jamie oliver paul blart: mall cop phillip armenier red bicyclette pinot noir wine blogosphere ge smart grid augmented reality trefethen family vineyards california zinfandel wineshopper aspirational marketing clark smith wine book publishing russian river valley korbel wine blobbers oregon travel tokalon winery not-for-profit jess jackson massale selection wine & spirits magazines kenny shopsin next generation apple the psychology of wine the vintners art australian wine vinexpo jay mcinerney the gaslight anthem the pioneer woman james laube sylvester pinot noir goodguide cornell enology wine tycoon game stavin kelly fleming national wine & spirits kurt andersen " "new world wine" poseurs macari vineyards sette 7 swanson vineyards sunbox eleven wine winery sponsorship champagne sales wine criticism cork'd 2008 vina mar reserva sauvignon blanc randy caparoso wine + music midwest wine culture chimney rock elevage hunningbird wine beaux freres jon bonne the wine case climber white agency nil charlie weis sugar free wine a very goode job 2007 sean minor four bears pinot noir trefethen generation y and wine 2009 auction napa valley sonoma county wine wipes san francisco wine competition clary ranch tim hanni wine bar bets the winemakers tv australia wine fantesca judgment of paris women in wine oregon pinot gris three-tier carmenere wine heist purpose-idea rose wine sales vincellar dominic foppoli discoveries pathfinder 1% for the planet wine industry news negociant wine business monthly 2008 food & wine winemaker of the year eric asimov travel oregon jordan winery amy poehler wine micro sites umami chris phelps vegas wine qpr wines jimmy clausen winery hospitality 2007 forty-five north cabernet franc alpine for dummies 2008 honig sauvignon blanc ed mccarthy wine to relax erobertparker little zagreb wine magazines howard schultz paul mabray wine blogging ethics youtube cheap wine wine bard weds wine dj journey three dollar koala pinot noir reviews chronicle wine klinker brick maria thun bad wine mumm napa slate wine columnist wine pricing wine blog awards 2010 bottle shock movie sketches of spain red bicyclette court paul gregutt trefethen oak knoll cabernet sauvignon zinfandel reviews tasting note desciptors natural winemaking wine content the press-democrat oregon cuisinternship winner blog contests preakness stakes pork tenderloins wine & spirits restaurant poll 2010 eat me kenny shopsin amazon kindle wine politics what is terroir wine purchasing wine nose good wine under 20 the hold steady paste magazine sensory evaluation petite sirah wine points
February 6 2009
More detritus from the wine world that does not make it into full blog post …
American Wine Blog Awards
A quick reminder – get your nominations in for the 3rd Annual American Wine Blog Awards – last chance to vote is midnight on February 8th.
Go here to vote.
Keith Olbermann v. Bill O’Reilly
One thing about the wine world online is it is generally a genteel bunch, much like the wine industry proper – you do not see a lot of rancorous dissension. That fosters a very collegial bunch of folks, but it also does not necessarily advance the cause. To paraphrase a leadership quote, “If three people are discussing a business issue and everybody agrees then you probably don’t need the other two.”
The point is that sometimes disagreeing is a good thing. Keith Olbermann, archliberal pundit on MSNBC and Bill O’Reilly, archconservative commentator on Fox News, certainly know this as they have jousted publicly on several occasions from very different points of view.
Frankly, in the wine blogosphere, I am glad I have my Bill O’Reilly.
As my wife says, “You are just like a political commentator – you are polarizing, you have opinions and you call people out.” Hmm … I guess that is one way to look at it, even if I have never considered it in those terms and it should be noted that my wife has more compassion then a pacifist practicing Buddhism, so conflict is not her deal anyways.
That as a preface, Steve Heimoff and I do not seem to agree on much. Today he has a post as a counterpoint to my post yesterday, and it is about the 6th time he and I have bumped into each other from different sides of the aisle.
Steve’s rich pedigree and credibility in the wine business as a critic and an author means #1 I am flattered that the guy even reads my site and #2 I am glad for somebody to call my bluff so I can keep my proverbial knife sharp.
Check out his post here, just make sure you are clear that I am Keith Olbermann and NOT Bill O’Reilly in this analogy.
Fun with Public Relations
Um, I am not sure what to make of the Riedel-related email I received from a Jessica Guida who breathlessly filled me in on deals at the Riedel web site with coupon codes, while mentioning the American Wine Blog Awards, but it is a curious tactic.
What are the odds that somebody would randomly email me with coupon codes out of the goodness of their heart? I am not sure, but it feels like the email I get from the Nigerian woman who has $1M that she needs help wiring to the US.
You are What You Blog?
A really cool site that tries to approximate a Myers-Briggs Test by analyzing blog writing. This is a must check out - Typealyzer.
I am, apparently, a “Doer” somebody that is:
The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.
The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.
A few of your favorite wine bloggers:
Vinography – Doer
Dr. Vino – Doer
Fermentation – The Mechanic
Good Wine Under $20 - Doer
1 Wine Dude – Doer
Steve Heimoff - Doer
Interesting that five of the six are doers. The categories for analysis include:
The Mechanics
The Duty Fulfillers
The Scientists
The Thinkers
The Doers
The Performers
The Guardians
The Artists
The Socializers
If you have a blog, what is your blog personality type?
Wine Business Network
A little over a year ago I started the Wine Business Network group on LinkedIN. This past week it crossed the 3,000 member mark making it what LinkedIn calls a “SuperGroup” – a Top 5% group in terms of number of members. If you’re in or around the wine business, including being a blogger, and a member of Linked IN, make sure you join this group.
You can find the group here.
February 4 2009
Many wine enthusiasts who habitué online are wont to throw-off glancing, sneering asides at eRobertParker.com and Winespectator.com for the affront of charging access to online content.
I am no different; I have done it, too.
This “walled garden” approach to online content is the source of derision for people used to getting everything for free. Even the New York Times is now free, goes the argument.
Dare I say it, though – eRobertparker.com, Winespectator.com and Jancisrobinson.com may have it right.
There has been an ongoing discussion in the wine space online about blogging, the current relevance of traditional wine media, bloggers being paid (or not) and, generally, where is this Internet thing taking us.
To answer this question, one really need look no further than the top 50 or 100 blogs on the Internet – every. single. one. of them has a team blogging approach with a lot of content and multiple contributors, and every single one of them is on an advertising supported model, these blogs consider themselves media companies not unlike, well, a print magazine.
However, here is the rub when you translate this model to the wine world – there are not many wineries advertising online, certainly not enough to go around for wine online properties, not until a bunch of wine marketing people get the gospel.
So, if you want to build an audience online and create a wine-related media property that rubs two nickels together to make a dime– you are left with basically one option – charge for it.
The natural reaction to this is, “Are you crazy?” “Who is going to PAY for content UNLESS you’re eRobertParker.com or Winespectator.com?”
I do not have the most ready answer for that one, but I do know that you are starting to see the movement in the wine space with aggregation of content by wine writers, mostly with a mix of traditional wine writers co-mingling with online wine writers. Appellation America is an easy example, but there are others – Organic Wine Journal, Enobytes.com and even sites borne by individual bloggers like Lenndevours.com and Catavino.net who are adding writers to diversify the types and frequency of content on their site.
This blog aside, which has no plans to add additional writers, I can tell you what I would do if I was a wine enthusiast and an investor who wanted to do some gambling on the next generation wine site – I would start doing an acquisition roll-up strategy on some of these wine sites. Or, I would start picking off writers to create a best-in-class site that speaks to an audience that wants wine information in an accessible way, without the lifestyle artifice. Bonus points if it is designed in a way that is not akin to staring at a solar eclipse.
With that in mind, let the Rupert Murdoch parlor games begin.
Who are candidates on my radar that I would want to potentially acquire?
First, I would hire Michael Steinberger from Slate.com to be Editor-in-Chief and I would pay him what he wanted. Second, I would hire Paul Lukacs to be Editor-at Large and likewise pay him what he wanted. Third, I would hire Jay McInerney to play the role of Hunter S. Thompson and then, only then, would I go shopping.
On the shopping list:
• Wineloverspage.com (kills it on traffic, good online cred., but site needs major interface work)
• Organic Wine Journal (Good start, needs content)
• Wine Review Online (perhaps the best collection of writers with the lowest profile online)
• A copy editor
• A strategic alliance with CellarTracker
Overall, I cannot fault eRobertParker.com and Winespectator.com for their subscription models online. Business is business and the wine business is a laggard adopter of most innovations, addressing the online wine audience with appropriate marketing being one them. Both Parker and Shanken have time to wait things out before they make additional moves to ensure continued dominance in their respective spaces, from offline to online, but, yes, there is room for another entrant who builds online out.
Who is going to be the Rupert Murdoch of the online wine information space?
February 3 2009
Last summer, when I first got word of a sugar-free wine sweetened with Splenda coming from an Indiana winery, I ignored the mention in the newspaper hoping it would go away.
Little did I know at the time that Alice Feiring would start to become my natural wine political bellwether on the far right. I can play Jon Stewart’s liberal leaning independent to Alice and her far-right wine leanings. After all, Indiana is home to many wineries making a sweet cordial style wine, many that I enjoy as a pleasant quaff, especially a fruit wine like cherry or blueberry, good to drink while you are making dinner during the dog days of summer, not unlike the Blueberry Stout beer I drank during the Super Bowl, but skewed for seasonality.
At the time, I hoped that a wine that actually includes a sugar-like but sugar-free substitute would die its rightful death next to the Atkins Diet in the graveyard of bad ideas and I would not have to piddle with any real outrage.
Not the case.
Chateau Thomas Winery, based on the outskirts of Indianapolis, who along with fellow native son Oliver Winery, have done a lot of good for the Indiana wine industry, has collaborated with Vinoshipper.com to nationally ship their Slender series of wine, switching from Splenda to another sugar substitute called Zerose.
From the press release on the wire today from Vinoshipper.com (excerpted):
VinoShipper.com announces that it now sells Chateau Thomas Winery’s three “Slender” wines, the world’s only naturally-sweetened, sugar-free wines. Sweetened by Zerose® , a natural non-caloric sweetener, Chateau Thomas Winery’s Slender® White, Slender® Blush, and Slender® Red can be enjoyed by those who, in the words of the winery, “can’t or don’t want sugar.”
Windsor, Calif. (PRWEB) February 3, 2009—Love wine but the sugar in it doesn’t love you? VinoShipper.com announces that it now sells Chateau Thomas Winery’s three “Slender” wines, the world’s only naturally-sweetened, sugar-free wines. Chateau Thomas’s Slender® White, Slender® Blush, and Slender® Red are sweetened by Zerose® , a natural non-caloric sweetener. In the words of the winery, “These three wines can be enjoyed by those who can’t or don’t want sugar.”
I should note that Zerose is made by those noted agricultural do-gooder’s, Cargill, who have played a role in deforestation of the rain forests to make room for soybean production when they aren’t producing chickens in a manner that would (allegedly) make your stomach turn.
I have a problem with this Slender wine on a number of fronts, but first some context – the #1 wine sold in the states is a sweet wine made from concord grapes—it sells by the pallet at Sam’s Club and is stocked in every major liquor store in the state. If that is your thing, it is an enjoyable wine. I have to believe that the vast majority of this wine is sold to women. However, the downside to this #1 selling wine in the state is there are a rash of imitators and every winery in the state has their variation of the sweet red.
It would appear that Chateau Thomas is taking this a step further by trying to siphon off some of that sales mojo by introducing a series of sweet wines that are sugar-free. These wines are made from Muscat and Rubired (a hybrid that is primarily used in concentrate), and apparently fermented dry and then have the sugar substitute added back in.
Here is the rub – Chateau Thomas makes nice vinifera wine—normal merlots, Cabs, and wine that you would expect from a winery proper and wine that I would serve to guests.
Because of Chateau Thomas’ award-winning regional pedigree, it makes it all the more difficult for me to reconcile.
Consider:
1) The amounts of residual sugar in a cordial style wine or even a dessert style wine are really negliable in the grand scheme of things
2) Educating a customer to expand their palate to dry wines takes an equal amount of effort as pandering to their cola-induced palate
There are host of issues related to this sugar-free substitute in wine offering, the least of which is the disdain I have for bad gimmicks in the wine marketing.
To me, I would rather have a rash of koala bears and kangaroos on labels then see a sugar-free substitute be dumped into a “diet” wine.
Overall, it just seems like this kind of thing sets back the natural order of the wine universe back a quantum period of time.
Am I over reacting in an age of Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Arbor Mist, or this a legitimate cause for uprising because of the pox it places on legitimate wine in the marketplace?
Or, rather than my wrath, maybe we should go ask Alice …
February 1 2009
More errata that does not quite make it as a full blog post …
Rain Dance
There is a lingering, ongoing disdain towards practitioners of BioDynamics. Some of the mysticism practices like doing certain preparations around a lunar calendar just seems too kooky to be realistic, according to many.
Yet, in times of trouble, we often turn to the mystical in a “well, it can’t hurt” mindset.
Given the severe water conditions, on the cusp of serious drought in California, it has me wondering when the ceremonial rain dances are going to start happening.
60 Minutes and Resveratrol
Anybody besides me see the irony in the bookend 60 minute pieces on the French Paradox in 1991 and then the piece on Resveratrol this past week, in 2009?
The first package with Morley Safer on 60 minutes in 1991 was largely credited with re-igniting wine consumption as a health play with Baby Boomers after the 1980s run-up in wine when said Boomers were then just “thirtysomethings.”
This second piece, also by Morley Safer, highlights Resveratrol, a compound found in the skins of red wine grapes, as a veritable fountain of youth, again for Baby-Boomers, now as an instrument for long-term health.
Ahem, I am glad for all of the wine awareness and health consciousness for Baby Boomers some 18 years apart, I hope they get this drug to market in time for Boomers to keep working and not bankrupt social security for the rest of us.
Winery Geocaching
I was going to do a post on geocaching, the art of outdoor treasure hunting using a GPS system, but I got an educated opinion from a combo wine lover and outdoorsy person in wine country who had a quite unabashed opinion that geocaching practitioners trample flora and fauna with little regard for the environment. He asked for anonymity so as to not appear to implicitly endorse geocaching. Instead, my counsel suggested I focus on sustainability and “leave no trace” outdoor practices. Therefore, instead of a post on geocaching, you get this simple mention:
There are A LOT of geocaches in Napa and Sonoma. Check out this site and do a zip code search to find out for yourself.
Essentially, geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunt game in which other people playing the game leave “small prizes” in a hidden geocache somewhere outdoors. You use a hand-held GPS device to find the caches via longitude and latitude coordinates. When you come across a geocache, you can take something from the cache, so long as you replace it with a like trinket.
All in all, it’s good, clean outdoorsy fun, but safe to say there are probably abusers of geocaching who forsake the natural beauty of their surroundings with less than ideal sensitivity to sustainability and leaving a place better than when you found it.
For more information on geocaching, check out this site F.A.Q. or Google “geocaching”
Cameron Hughes Wine
Toot, toot. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Cameron Hughes being poised to explode in current market conditions. This San Francisco Business Times article agrees with me and goes to the niggling detail of getting quotes.
Wine Book Publishing
2006, 2007 and 2008 were banner years for wine book publishing – the varied types of wine related books have never been greater – from The Billionaire’s Vinegar to The Judgement of Paris, to The House of Mondavi, wine has been well-represented in non-fiction and many of these books sold well and were good reads.
However, if you go to Amazon.com and look at wine books publishing in 2009 based on publishing date (search “wine” in the books category and then sort by “publication date”), I think the wine publishing category may have reached its watershed. There is a dearth of wine books in the publishing hopper for this year.
Maybe it is the economy, maybe wine as a topic du jour is in need of a break, but bibliophiles like me will not have much to grasp onto this year.
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
It kills me to see a movie like Paul Blart: Mall Cop make a $100M at the box office while other Oscar-worthy movies like Slumdog Millionaire and The Wrestler lag a distant pace off in terms of dollars and viewers.
However, with the passing of noted author John Updike this week, I am reminded of his quote, “I like middles. It is in the middles that extremes clash, where ambiguity restlessly rules.”
I am a firm believer that there is no black and white. There is no right or wrong in any circumstance. We live in a world of nuanced shades of gray and it is here where ambiguity lives.
I guess my takeaway is that you need a Paul Blart: Mall Cop and you need a Charles Shaw Chardonnay to continue to make things interesting, to allow for ambiguity, for big wine and small wine to clash and let uncertainty restlessly rule.
As a sidenote, speaking of ambiguity, Bottle Shock the movie is released on DVD on February 3rd. If you missed it in the theatres (there are a lot of you that did), find it at Amazon.com or your rental joint.
Indiana Craft Food to Know
Since the newly crowned Miss America is from Indiana, I have been thinking about some civic pride for my home state of Indiana.
If you are interested in some interesting food from Indiana, in addition to the natural beauty of Miss America, check out the following four world-class foodstuffs from Hoosier country:
February 1 2009
Tom Wark’s 3rd Annual American Blog Awards began the nomination process on Saturday, January 31, 2009.
Nominations are open in seven categories until February 8, 2009:
• Best Wine Blog Writing
• Best Single-Subject Wine Blog
• Best Winery Blog
• Best Reviews on a Wine Blog
• Best Graphics & Presentation
• Best Business Industry Wine Blog
• Best Wine Blog
I am pleased to have been a finalist for “Best Business Industry Wine Blog” in 2008, a finalist for “Best Wine Blog” in 2007 and a winner in 2007 for “Best Wine Blog Graphics.” Will I be able to make it to a finalist role in 2009? Hard to say, as the competition is a lot different then it has been in years past. Simply, there are more and better wine blogs now. More credentialed wine folks are writing wine blogs and professional wine writers are writing blogs, as well. Similar to the quality increase in wine over the last 15-20 years, we are seeing an increase in wine blogging quality at a rapid clip into more niches.
If you’re a reader, but you don’t feel like you have a command of the wine blogosphere to make nominations, I would encourage you to do a couple of things in your selection/nomination research process:
First, go to Alawine and check out the following link –
And, then go to Alltop and check out their list of wine blogs –
1) Alltop Wine
Finally, go to Fermentation and Vinography and check out links to wine blogs til you feel like you have a sufficient understanding and sampling of the wine blogs available –
1) Fermentation
2) Vinography
Before you make your nominations, I would encourage you to think about the following things relative to a blog –
1) Is it original – does the writer take a unique perspective and point-of-view?
2) Does it feel like you know the person writing based on their writing “voice?”
3) Is the actual writing of a sufficiently high-enough quality that it doesn’t detract from the message?
4) Is the writing trustworthy and defensible in opinion?
And, finally, of course, support the sponsors of the American Wine Blog awards, as well. Mutineer Magazine, Open Wine Consortium, and Riedel glasses.
Now – go and nominate the best!
Good luck to all.
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