Good Grape Wine Company

February 24 2007

Web 2.0 and Wine

I’ve been interested in the intersection of wine and the internet for several years now and started writing about this subject on my own blog last year. What started with a virtual meet-up in Second Life has turned into a discussion between a group of like-minded techies, wine bloggers and entrepreneurs kicking around these ideas in a Google Group and during monthly online chats. What is evolving is an understanding of the technologies, functionality and business models of combining Web 2.0 and wine. But let’s start with a bit of background first.

Web 2.0 has been defined all around the internet as the “social web” (not to be confused with Web 1.0’s dotcom-led “information web”). While you can find great write-ups at places like Wikipedia, I think this short YouTube video visually demonstrates Web 2.0 and defines it’s essence:

(Note: aggregator readers might have to click back to the site for the video)

So how this applies to wine is both social and commerce related. On the social front there are numerous sites that allow users to log, tag and share their tasting notes. Places like Cork’d, WineLog, Bottletalk, Vinorati, Logabottle, TastyDrop and WineDemocracy. All of these sites feature tagging and ways to share wine experiences with others but when it comes to finding and buying the wine everyone but TastyDrop leaves it up to you to figure it out. While the Wine Searcher links at TastyDrop are a nice touch, they are not nearly as easy as an online wine store.

The second class of wine-related Web 2.0 sites are devoted to selling wine online such as WineQ, Openmarket Wine and Boutique Wine Cellar. Because of the dynamics of the wine distribution system currently entrenched in the U.S. and shipping costs, all these sites are concentrating on small production, boutique wines. This makes good sense as these wines are more difficult to find at retail and the aggregation of many small brands at one store creates critical mass for consumers and economies of scale for wineries and web store owners. All of these sites have some sort of social aspect to them and I expect this to grow as more consumers participate and the recommendation algorithms get better (think Amazon and NetFlix style suggestions). What remains to be seen is who can generate the traffic and sales necessary for long-term success.

I’ve taken to calling all these sites “Wine 2.0” and maintain a listing of links to these sites at Winecast. Over the course of the next year I will write about this subject in greater detail, tracking it’s development. I expect there to be new entrants and somewhat of a consolidation among the tasting notes sites. Whatever the final outcome, there will certainly be more ways for wine lovers to share their experiences online.
—
Tim Elliott
Winecast

Posted in, Winecast: A Year in Collaboration. Permalink | Comments (1) |

Print

Comments