I'm not going to lie. Maybe I am just as much as an attention whore as I am a wine whore because I spend a great part of my day trying to figure out what interests people about wine. Even more importantly, I spend a great deal of time trying to figure out what could possibly drive someone to read about wine on the internet?
I would like to share what I have figured out so far. Aside from coming equipped with a wine dispenser, free refills, and a clean glass, there are a two things that all websites should offer at a bare minimum: credibility and honesty.
I've also learned that wine lovers want useful information in an easy to digest albeit purple flavored pill. Whether it's a blog, winery, or online wineshop, many wine websites are hard to navigate and have too much text. I am as guilty of this flaw as anyone else. People also don't want to be sold anything or have anything forced down their throat. If it looks appetizing, don't worry, they'll take a sniff, swirl, and a sip all on their own!
Can't we all just get along?
So many wine writers and bloggers spend more time attacking each other than they spend discussing what they supposedly love most: wine. To watch this juvenile behavior is more disappointing than opening a corked bottle of Lafite. I'd like to state for the record that I see nothing wrong with debating about which bottle of Cabernet tastes better. Rather, it's the contemptuous clucking of peers picking away at each other that sounds more like fingernails on a chalkboard than anything I would care to read. The worst part: in the end, credibility is never won or even gained. In fact, everyone involved appears absolutely ridiculous. 
We could accomplish so much more if we would just work together!
I'd like to challenge Robert Parker, Steve Heimoff, and all of the other wine bloggers, writers, and fanatics out there. The challenge: if only for only one moment, we join together like a vino loving Voltron to form a unified kick-ass machine. If for no other reason, we should do this for those people out there who look up to us winos for entertainment, education, and guidance!
So what do you say? Who's with me?
Cheers!
(This message brought to you by The Wine Whore)
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14 comments:
Do I have to wear a costume?
LOL! Only if you really want to! :)
What's a Voltron?
Mine will be purple with a big letter G on the chest...and no, it doesn't stand for grapes.
VinoMan to the rescue! I want to be one of the arms.
Personally, I love all the wine blogging tweeple and while I obviously won't agree with them, what the hell is new about that? I don't agree with anyone all the time. Okay, I agree with my Mom, but that is only b/c she has the right to take me out. Its a Mom thing.
Hello Shelly!
Is Voltron no longer on Saturday morning cartoons?
What a shame!
Cheers!
Hello Kevin!
Good call on the arms... I'd hate to get last dibs and end up being one of the legs. What a crappy position that would be! :)
I love all of the wine blogging tweeple too! I also like the fact that they don't all agree. After all, if we all thought the same, it would get really boring, really fast. I just would like to see more interaction, questions, and debate amongst us and not about us. Some of those other mudslinging contests tend to get old real fast for me.
In any case, thank you for reading what I have to say.. very cool to see you around the site!
Cheers!
I'm not a big believer in people knowing what they they want, so I think a more interesting question is how people use wineblogs. Do they really go to a specific blog to find a wine, or is it something else? Do they stop by daily or every now and then, like when they're looking for something to do this weekend? Or is wineblogging ultimately about having a body of work that shows up in Google, as when people are researching a particular wine they find any old wineblog that has reviewed that wine?
I don't know if anyone has done any research on this, but that's what I'd like to know.
Hello Tom!
That's a great question! If no one else has done the research, I may take this one upon myself to figure out.
At least from what I have noticed from my own site, most people stumble upon the site either through google or social media sites (i.e. Twitter, FB, etc). A lot of people also tend to follow for a period of time through either a feed reader or just check back periodically at their leisure. I don't know if I get a lot of folks checking for a specific wine, unless of course I showed up in a google search.
How does this match up with your experience?
Cheers!
It's sad to think that some of the long time writers and "snobs" out there feel threatened by us blogger hobbyist. They have their place on the net, just as much as we do. Is it because they were doing this first that they believe we don't belong? I am sure it's not that we are sending consumers to search out wines they have not reviewed or wines that they panned as plonk and some blogger out there is trying to convince some buyers it's not plonk.
That occurs in every industry.
I don't think banning together is the answer, I say just everybody go do your own thing.
Hello Joe!
Interesting point! I don't know if banning together is necessarily the answer. In fact, if we all said the same thing, that would get quite boring very quickly. On the other hand, I think if we spent more time having debates and discussions about wine and how to improve what we do, then that would be a big win for everyone.
Cheers!
Getting all wine bloggers to act in concert? Hmm. I see herding cats in your future. :-)
People who blog about wine are passionate about it and passionately defend their point of view. Some writers are snarky, some denigrate others. Most just write what they think and feel, with a greater or lesser ability and degree of success.
There are thousands of different wines. We wouldn't want them all to taste the same. And I don't think we want all wine writers to write about the same things or take the same points of view.
So let the corks fall where they may. And in this corner, wearing the mega-purple trunks....
Thank you for the comments Larry!
Interesting point about wine... what would the world be like if all of the wine blogs were the SAME? I like the fact that there is diversity, but I wish there was more debate and positive interaction between all of the wine websites and blogs. I think this would actually bring out different opinions and allow people to see many points of view on the same wine or topic. This would also help with the age old criticism about bloggers who receive samples being honest. If we interacted more and knew that someone else who may have tried the same wine is listening, it would be much hard NOT to be honest.
Just my two cents... :)
Cheers!
Hey, if Parker wants to work with wine bloggers, I'll be the first in line to welcome him into the room!
... Ahem, Mr. Parker, what do YOU think? Are you up to it?
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