August 26 2008
So, this Rockaway wine blogging program has ignited some passion, er, some watercooler chatter. I guess it is politics season, might as well debate the issues … just the same, reading the posts and the comments you’d think somebody moved the cheese.
You can see a string of comments at the Winery Web Site Report, Steve Heimoff’s blog, Good Wine Under $20 and my post from last week.
Now, to be certain, it’s not all backlash, I think a lot of people dig the program, understand what we’re doing, recognize the transparency and see it for the genuine activity it is, and how legitimately groundbreaking it is for a large winery to engage in this sort of sampling program.
However, as the old management theory holds, if we all agree with each other than somebody isn’t needed. The gist of the dissension around the Rockaway wine blogging program can be summarized in a couple of bullet points:
• Wine bloggers were too easily manipulated into giving free publicity
• Wine bloggers did this with too much hyperbole it’s not that big of a deal
• Rodney Strong is lazy and didn’t do their own homework to do direct outreach to a wide net of bloggers
• Wine Bloggers are not that different from traditional media and some bloggers get samples all of the time … this isn’t a big deal
• Wine Bloggers are eager for their own fame and don’t ask the tough questions
Here are truisms as I know them:
• Wine bloggers are a smart bunch—technically savvy, professional, above-average income, sophisticated and jaded alpha-consumers. Manipulation is not likely. And, even if there is manipulation, it’s with full transparency, so, uh, not much manipulation in showing your cards.
• Rodney Strong releasing a new wine allocated wine brand and including bloggers in the sampling at the same time as traditional media is groundbreaking. New Brand from old winery. Allocated. Upon release. Price point. Yes, I get Stormhoek—$12 bucks a bottle and on end-cap display in the U.K. Yes, I get Twisted Oak, a revolutionary in their own right for being the first winery to embrace, engage, and execute successfully using social media. However, Stormhoek and Twisted Oak aren’t Rodney Strong. Not a slight, just a fact.
• Why would somebody fault Robert Larsen at Rodney Strong for leveraging his strengths and engaging some help to do a sampling program. Social media is forbidding. I’ve been doing this for a while and everyday I feel overwhelmed, confused and inundated with social media. Somebody not in it might feel the same way. Did I mention I’ve been doing this for a while? And, an ancillary point, if I’m doing a direct mail campaign, I don’t necessarily feel like I have to hand build the list myself, that’s just silly.
• Anybody who thinks wine bloggers are on par with traditional media has been sniffing their own exhaust for too long. And, there are a lot of wine bloggers like that. Get over yourself, accept that we are a pimple on the ass, and do something interesting. You’ll enjoy yourself a lot more and yield better results if you’re not so serious about it
• Wine blogging isn’t journalism proper. Sure I ask questions, but I also take a columnist approach. I have an opinion and I don’t have to be balanced. Newspapers are a dying medium and people scan the AP stories and read the columnists. That is just the way it is and blogging is no different. Being interesting is far more important than being balanced. That said, being interesting can also be being objective, which isn’t always balanced. As my blog as stated from day one, my goal is to be pragmatically idealistic. That is it.
Overall, an interesting week. There has been some good, there has been some ugly, but none of it has been bad, even if some folks act like their damn cheese has been moved.
As a side note, as I write this I’m polishing off my Rockaway, which has lasted 6 days in the refrigerator under a Vacu-Vin, over three drinking sessions. It’s a beauty on day six with no degradation in quality.
Posted in, Free Run: Field Notes From a Wine Life. Permalink | Comments (25) |
It really bothers me that bloggers participated in this program. I don’t read blogs for wine reviews and I really don’t like the idea of blogs as a shills for exclusive wines. If this is where wine blogs were when I first saw them I would never have continued to read them.
Glen, I’m not sure I understand the complaint. Some wine blogs are about the wine industry. Others, though, literally just review wines. Why are you offended that a wine review blog reviewed wine? Are you offended when Wine Spectator reviews wine? Really, I’m not sure of the source of the outrage.
Still not getting the story. Should the headline not be “Rodney Strong Realizes the Potential of the Internet?” Or rather why the bloggers didn’t just write about the wine, and not the fact they received wine?
Also Jeff, would do anything different? What have you learned from this? I feel like wine bloggers are acting like there was an attack on the hive, and instead of admitting that Steve had a valid point, so did ElJefe, and addressing their points, Steve at least was attacked for hating bloggers…etc. Steve has a TON of respect for bloggers and is an admirer of them. If anything he was offering up some advice, that should at least be listened to.
He did have a legit point, no matter whether you agree with it or not. I’m starting to feel like there is a lack of introspection on the part of bloggers, and desire to make sure that when we do take samples it is done right. Why not point out what could have been done better. The critics of this program are not idiots, they have valid ideas, and the output of this discussion could be positive, instead of just pointing fingers and calling names.
I think this was an interesting experiment in Internet marketing experiment. An even more telling one might be a case in which a new wine is released ONLY to bloggers, and which has a link back to the winery for purchase…
Still too early to assess what it all MEANS in this case. One question, though, for you, Jeff: Why did you not state the special circumstances of the sample bottle in the post you ran with Arthur Black’s review of the wine? I was out of town for a while, checking blogs very sporadically, and remember seeing that post. I remember thinking at the time that I appreciated the disclosure of AB as being connected commerically to RS, and that didn’t bother me at all. But I did not know at that time that Rockaway was a blog-specific trial release…
Thanks for the comment Ryan. I did note in a comment on the Winery Web Site Report what I would do differently next time.
My overall take is that I’m all for conversation, if it’s productive, but most of the dissension has been non-productive, non-sensical and not germane to the program. And, I say this because I’ve been 100% transparent and nobody, not a single person, has contacted me to clarify anything. so it’s all just sabre rattling.
I’m all for feedback for improvement, but naysayers without meaningful suggestions for improvement are energy sucks.
Jeff
Just to point out your first 2 posts do not mention that you are a part of this. The third one did as did your comments in the first two. I do find this to be less then 100% transparent. But aside from that. Why isn’t questioning the idea of making bloggers write for a sample constructive. I know your reasons behind it, but it is a fair critique no matter your intentions.
Seems to me that Steve Heimoff has a LOT of influence (perhaps more than he even realized) if he can post a thought, and have it turn into such a controversial issue.
I love it!
Go Steve!
To be clear: I think it is very cool that RS included wine bloggers in their sample program. One could say it’s about time a “old” brand did that. But to say they took a huge risk doing so is simply absurd. If anything, sending your product to a larger pool of reviewers helps to reduce risk by increasing the chance you’ll get good reviews (and that is NOT casting aspersions on RS - heck, I signed up too!) And where is the risk in sending wine for review to a group who is merely “a pimple on the ass”? (A characterization I do not agree with, by the way.)
My other point: The power of blogging is the power not to just write at your readers, but to create a conversation through the comment process (something we are certainly seeing here in droves!) But where is the conversation about the wine?
Good point, Jeff. But it’s hard to have a conversation about the wine if only a handful of people have tried it.
If I were a winery marketing type paying attention to this, I’d be wasting not time trying to do this same sort of thing withthe Wine Bloggers Wednesday thing, started by Lenn at lenndevours.com. Ideally, it would be a brand-new release, given only to the bloggers. The resulting reviews would demonstrate the diversity and quality of bloggers.
Meanwhile, interesting point, Jo, about Steve’s influence. Don’t you also find it interesting that his own blog seems far more vibrant than his WE mag blog? I see this as confirmation that there is a appreciable difference between “auteur” blogs and commentaries that are spawned and sponsered by commercial publications. Maybe that’s why WS is so disdainful of the so-called blogosphere.
I too would like to see conversation about the wine, but the truth is, this conversation has turned into something far from the wine. I admit that I am new to the game of blogging and I don’t really want to apologize for that. I’ve skimmed through, read, posted under my name and personal email a few times to become familiar with it, but, as Jeff indicates, diving in and staying in and on top of it is a bit overwhelming.
In addition, for me, the newbie, it’s a bit like reading an email and jumping to conclusions because of presumed tone. Didn’t really want to do that.
Here’s what I’ll say regarding the heavy stuff… None of the headlines were in my press release. In fact there was no real press release, just electronic communication with Jeff and the bloggers about the story of Rodney Strong Vineyards and what Rockaway is to the company, which is huge (we’re very excited about the WINE). The “headlines” were from the bloggers who will verify that if asked.
Further, if I were to take the comments about mistrust of PR and manipulation personally, I might have cried myself to sleep last night. Instead, I enjoy a couple glasses of syrah, worked on some Sonoma Wine Country Weekend stuff and went to bed.
hi Tish - I disagree completely - you CAN have a conversation prior to trying the wine. This can serve as a sort of example:
http://wine.woot.com/Forums/ViewPost.aspx?PostID=2288856
But I think we all have spent enough time on this - I gotta go get Jeff’s next wine sample ready to ship 
I think the best part of the post, of many great points, was the one I copied and pasted below:
• Anybody who thinks wine bloggers are on par with traditional media has been sniffing their own exhaust for too long. And, there are a lot of wine bloggers like that. Get over yourself, accept that we are a pimple on the ass, and do something interesting. You’ll enjoy yourself a lot more and yield better results if you’re not so serious about it
I might have that framed and posted over my work station. I can gaze upon it everytime I think I’m not ‘serious’ enough in my posts or when I’m ruminating about the ‘direction’ I should be going or if there’s a point to it all.
I have to remember, especially in situations like this and the WS vs. bloggers thing, that I do it for the high fun to non-fun ratio.
If I eventually get a bounce to my wallet-zone, that’s okay too.
I would like to reiterate, once again, that this was something different than any other sample I have ever received. It was a new, allocated wine brand released to me and other bloggers before it was released either to the public or to the traditional wine media. Maybe I’m missing something, but that is different, a first, and to me, exciting. And it was, in my opinion, worth writing about on MY blog.
I write my blog from a very personal standpoint. I hope it comes across that way. I talk about my home, the meals I cook, and enjoying wine with my husband, friends, and family. I write with enthusiasm about visiting wine country on my personal vacations and I share my tasting adventures with anyone who wants to read. I share the good and the bad, both wine and food, tasting room experiences and everything else. You are looking at my life in wine put out there for the world to see. I think it is the personal nature of a blog that makes it very different from traditional media sources.
If I took out the parts about my wine pairing failures, the backstory of wineries, or my impressions of a tasting room, or whatver else that makes it mine, it would bore me.
I don’t write for profit. As I’ve stated many times in many places, I don’t accept advertising, I don’t do google ad sense, or whatever else people do to earn money from blogging. I do not make a dime from my blog by choice.
I do it for fun. And because I love wine. And I accepted this sample because I love wine, I love to talk about it, and I love to write about it. The same reason I accept other samples. And like Tim of WineCast, I’m hardly swimming in samples. I usually review about 20 bottles of wine a month. In a good month, I get perhaps 3 bottles as samples. The rest are from my personal collection, purchased with my own money.
Obviously, I think wine blogging is very much worth my time. I also believe that it is a strong medium for spreading buzz, news, etc. and I believe that wineries should and are recognizing the potential of blogs. However, I’m not a journalist nor do I pretend to be. I’m a lawyer with a strong passion for wine and an even greater desire to share that passion through my personal blog.
I wrote my comment above not to express outrage but disappointment. To me this wasn’t a wine review blog. I feel promoting an exclusive wine makes the social media more like traditional promotion outlets. If that is the case then why don’t I go to the traditional outlets that are much better at what they do then most bloggers. I don’t think it is a bad thing for bloggers to do but it makes blogging much less interesting.
To be clear I don’t have a suggestion. I don’t care what happens with wine blogs. If this is where wine blogging is headed then I should just go back to more traditional media.
Thanks, Jeff - good summary of the craziness!
I am increasing the overall credibility of wine bogging….
....wait, no… I’m decreasing it…
My head is spinning!
I find this whole thing oddly amusing.
I mean, to suggest (as some of those posts have) that my blog has that much influence over the ethics and credibility of wine blogging as a whole is, to me at least, almost *laughably* funny.
Suggesting (as some of those posts have) that I’ve been duped by a winery’s PR dept. because they gave me a pretty bottle of vino is also laughable. My blog isn’t even a wine review blog, per se. I’m guessing (Jeff maybe you can confirm), that I was picked to participate because I post longer pieces that take an angle, and I stick with that angle and explore it.
So… I wine blog… and here is a story that involves wine bloggers getting their hands on a wine before traditional wine media… and what, I’m supposed to *not* blog about that?
Uh… what?
If I had NOT been involved in this RS thing, I *still* would have blogged about it, and my post would have looked almost identical except it would have been one of the other bloggers’ reviews in place of mine.
This topic has exhausted my countenance… I must take my rest… [throws head back, lifts hand limply to forehead… and walks away…]
I wish people would just ask. I cannot fathom how so many people are running with this without asking those involved a damn question. Talk about not living up to ethical standards.
We’ve been so transparent that I’m see through at this point.
I’ve now explained ad nauseum myself, my blog, my participation, etc. Yet the main instigators of this kerfluffle still have not directly asked me a question nor responded in any satisfactory manner to the comments I have posted.
The spewing of hatred is absurd when you haven’t even checked your facts with 7 people who have been more than willing, and in fact diligent in explaining them.
Again. Rodney Strong never asked me to do anything. Rodney Strong never told me I had to review their wine. Rodney Strong never told me anything except answers to the questions I had about them and their wine.
Ration and logic are entirely missing from this discussion and we seem to have now lost the woman who really inspired me to blog in the first place. A casulty. From an experiment designed by a blogger and for bloggers. There’s no big mean manipulative winery in this equation. Please check facts.
I am disheartened over this. I expected better from this community.
Oh, and sorry for ranting over here. I really wanted to post over at Fermentation, but work blocks typepad commenting.
I want someone to point out the hate? What hate? Questions raised, ideas proffered. What’s wrong with asking questions? What’s wrong about suggesting that something unethical might have happened? I"m so lost why there are people upset with the idea that we all may be wrong sometimes….Hello thin skinned people. This is a GREAT debate and one that should be had. Something that should make us stronger not weaker….
Ryan,
“What’s wrong with suggesting that something unethical might have happened?”
What planet do you live on? I’m not going to have somebody question my ethics and integrity, particularly when nothing was done that violated either.
I don’t know how you roll in Spain, but questioning somebody’s integrity has NOTHING to do with being thin skinned.
Oh, and by the way, NOBODY has written a post as a contrarian that has come close to getting any of the facts straight.
Make “us” stronger? Brother, I’m not sure what foxhole you’re in, but if the bullets are flying I’m not in it with you.
Jeff
I roll in an American dominated wine blogging world. I don’t see how this won’t make us stronger if we would all stop and be aware that there have been good questions raised, maybe some misunderstandings and in the end a lot of dialog.
2 options: 1) get pissy about it and end up with a silly fracturing of the community or 2)communicate well and try to take something good out of this. By understanding that a lot of very smart people misunderstood some things indicating that something was NOT communicated well.
No one involved in this wants wine bloggers to suffer. No matter what people think.
I know I don’t, considering this Wine Bloggers Conference I"m at right now is about creating stronger wine bloggers and community
Jeff, I hope this experience hasn’t crushed all hope. Bloggers HAVE ADVANCED via the Rockaway project. And I have a feeling that if all the commentators were together discussing this, the emotion would never have reached a fever pitch. The stilted timing of posts—comments—poster’s comment—more comments—poster’s comments… lends itself to spiraling in a bad way.
Ryan,
You sound like the guy at work who doesn’t know something and blames other people. “You didn’t communicate it well enough.”
How about taking ownership over the fact that you didn’t understand something well enough.
I find that accountability, which I always do to the nth degree, makes me a happier guy.
Jeff
Your right there is no way at all you have any responsibility in this no matter how slight. You did everything so well that people understood it exactly. You hold no blame and your great communications skills can be attested to hear.
I admitted I misunderstood. That said I and many other misunderstood too. Your right the blame always lies in the reader lap and not in the person attempting to communicate an idea.
The customer/reader is wrong if they misunderstand or disagree with the writer?
Ok…got it.
Ryan,
Glad you finally got something on first pass.
I don’t have fault for you not understanding, I do have fault with you not trying to seek greater clarity.
Next time, if something isn’t clear, feel free to shoot me a note, SKYPE or, call at 317-490-5637.
Jeff
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Is it possible Steve Heimoff does not even realize his bias? Or is he just “blogging” to defend traditional wine media from us upstarts?