I believe wineries and bloggers have a LOT to offer each other. And together they have so much to offer consumers. So I’m looking for all the ways wineries and bloggers are currently connected (if at all) and new and improved ways for them to evangelize the beautiful power of wine. 
There are bloggers who are paid to write for wineries. Many wineries are savvy enough to reach out to bloggers and invite them for tastings or send them wine samples to review and blog about. Some event producers are offering dramatically reduced rates for bloggers to participate; sometimes it is the wineries’ sponsorships that afford that economic arrangement (think Wine Bloggers Conference or Wine 2.0 events). And I’m just starting to hear about (and host) Bloggers Tasting Forums with wineries.
The Bloggers Tasting Forum is an opportunity for bloggers and wineries to sit down together, taste wines, get access to vineyard managers and winemakers and have conversation about, well, wine, the industry and the passions they share. I’m hosting one such event in early December (DM/e-mail me if you’d like to come and are a food or wine blogger) looking for opportunities to work together and add value to our wine experience and share that with (nay, convert others) who are interested in wine.
Other possibilities I see for wineries and bloggers to come together? Host a guest blogger for a month: either pay them or the charity of their choice for them to write about your winery, winemaker, wine, vineyards, etc. Events: sponsor or offer scholarships to various wine tasting events to help bloggers get there. Host a guest blogger to pour in your tasting room for a day. Ok, this may be a strange one, but especially if there are winery tours available, what an amazing way for a blogger to learn and connect with the company/family and your consumers for a day. Kind of like an exchange program. (no, you wouldn’t write for their blog 
Include bloggers in focused research or think-tank like conversations about planning your year, events, marketing. Again, maybe a stretch, but I think they offer expertise in areas we can lose sight of from inside the winery operations. And they will know consumers better than almost anyone…because they are the wine industry’s BEST consumers.
Wineries are already jumping in, but we’re at the beginning of the Wine/Web 2.0 Convergence.
What do you think?
How do you see wineries and bloggers working together for everyone’s benefit?
People Photos courtesy of Russ Beebe THE WineHiker
Wine photo from Google Images
Liking all your ideas, Lisa. There is tremendous power in the winery/blogger connection.
I just wonder if that power can harnessed on a broader scale; going beyond the circle of wine bloggers to include a bigger audience of potential wine drinkers. That’s a subject of interest to me right now.
So many potential wine drinkers have never read a blog, or even visited a winery. Yet they enjoy wine, and spend freely on wine when the time is right.
The real trick is to create experiences and content that works to expand the audience, so you can engage more people and sell more wine.
Facilitating winery/blogger connections is the right idea. But I’d like to brainstorm around ways to broaden the universe of consumers, and deepening the reach of wine.
The results of that thinking will reveal the true power (and profits) surrounding great wine.
DZ
This train of thought is gaining steam. Particularly as millenials and then next generation come in to the age of majority; with all of that disposable income, a new media outlet needs to be leveraged in order to accommodate their questions.
In these difficult economic times, when companies – including luxury foodstuffs – are doing more with less, bloggers and online media are increasingly becoming more important tools.
As the new consumers come to wine as a beverage of choice, they will need information. Since the local wine shop is struggling and online retailers are booming, this is the opportunity to provider more services. Who better than a blogger to bridge the gap between retailer / winery & new consumer?
Yes, so true! Wineries are maybe now just starting to realize they need to get on board with younger and/or internet-based crowd. This is their new market. Period. Plus with economy going the way it is, they will need cheaper (and dare I say more effective) ways of communicating messaging than traditional ways — print ads, etc. Love this post!!
Excellent, WineBratSF! And DrinkUpGirl: Wouldn’t wifi wine bars be great!? What, as bloggers, do you do proactively to connect with a wider readership? I think that is an important piece that will both “gain steam” as Thea said as well as increase as more “Born Digitals” get deeper into wine…and isn’t THAT the Whole Point!
Readers come to wine blogs in one of two ways. First, we read each others’ stuff. Second, and far more important to wineries, “other” people google a particular wine, or varietal, or region, etc., and hit on a wine blog. Giving a blogger a chance to really drill down into a particular vineyard might be fun for the blogger, and for the rest of us to read about, but is unlikely to increase google search hits at all. Ultimately, the most effective use of blogs for wineries is reviews, particularly for blogs that do a good job of tagging content.
The wine consumer is the wineries’ ultimate target, not the blogger. Their goal, therefore, is a three-step process. First, their wine should come up in a search. Second, the consumer doing the search should find information that makes them want to buy it. Third, they should find information that helps their buying decision, primarily price.
Wineries can encourage blogging in several ways that ultimately help them. First and foremost, samples. Note, please, that if they make bad wine they should expect bad reviews. Any blogger who (a) lauds everything they get free, or (b) only posts good reviews, should become a pariah in the community. They will hurt the rest of us. Second, sponsoring community events, not individual events that effect credibility. The Wine Bloggers Conference was a good example. Third, acknowledging bloggers in a positive way- if they post a good WE review, post a good blog review at the same place, WITH LINKS.
Just one guy’s opinion, and worth what you paid for it.
[...] over and read the rest of her excellent post. I am very glad that this discussion is continuing, bloggers and the wine industry may benefit, but [...]
[...] in her latest post, WineDiverGirl says she’s “looking for all the ways wineries and bloggers are currently [...]
WineDiverGirl,
Your timing on this issue is truly spot-on. Bloggers want to get in front of new readers, be approachedd by the best innovative wineries, and share best practices within the blogosphere. Wine 2.0, as you mentioned, is focusing in on providing the platform to make it easier for bloggers to grow their base and monetize effectively.
Wine 2.0 is rolling out a PR Newswire on December 2nd, giving the format and calendar for 20+ events in 2009, from San Francisco to New York to South Miami Beach, with a focus on blending the lines between wine & technology. This will also go out to the winetwo.net social network as an FYI email at the same time.
Most of these events include a “Blogger’s Lounge”: an area at the middle of the venue where bloggers can centralize and communicate, have power to run their blogs and twitters on-site and have wineries and consumers interact with them. More to come in the near future. I do recommend getting on the social network if you are not already there at winetwo.net. It’s gonna be a good year to blog.
I posted this response about the above post on Heimoff’s blog:
Steve brings up some good points about the perception of independence and objectivity. As a former CPA I worked with that issue daily. CPA’s doing financial work are supposed to be independent of the clients who are paying them directly. Mostly this works, except at Enron …
A “Going Concern” opinion in a financial statement will often tank a company and the CPA may not get paid. However, we do it when standards require it, except at Enron… I’ve had to fire large clients who tried to hide financial deals from me. Terminating 10% of your annual revenue is a far more important action than a bad wine review.
I believe that bloggers can develop the same integrity that CPA’s do. Like CPA’s, bloggers can dig into the operations as WineDiverGirl suggests. (She works for a winery by the way.) Bloggers need to develop some professional standards to do that but it can work and can have value for the consumers.
Steve is applying standards from wine writing which I support. Steve is not seeing the world from a perspective outside his discipline. Wine blogging can be a very different discipline from wine writing that Steve is invested in.
I have no clue if wine bloggers will make this type of objectivity a goal and achieve it. However, I’m experimenting with such CPA type concepts with my blog.
Last point, are casual wine bloggers or professional wine writers more like the average consumers? I think this matters because I am strongly against the point rating system process and any other kind of evaluation that is out of the context that the average consumer would taste in. Tastes change dramatically with context.
Wine bloggers are the mainstream consumers by definition. Social media is the average consumer rising up to be heard. Few are paid anything and almost all have a net outflow of cash for their efforts. They are widely dispersed culturally and rarely, if ever, review wines in the meaningless sterile environments that the “pros” do. Bloggers ARE the consumer rabble rising up to be heard.
I appreciate Steve’s thoughts and hope he continues with blunt criticism. I enjoy and respect the discourse.
Jim @ WineQuesters.com
The wine tasting road trip lifestyle
California
[...] made a blog post about wine bloggers and wineries working together. Famous, or infamous, Wine Enthusiast writer [...]
[...] what? So I’m interested in bring new ideas, engaging experiments and thoughtful progress to the conversation. Currently I think most of the [...]
I agree with Jim Prestons comment – “I enjoy and respect the discourse”
I do too because it continues the conversation and hopefully it will wake people up to the fact that Social Media levels the playing field. It allows people another outlet to engage as a consumer, as a wine industry rep or just a wine lover or maybe even just a media lover that would like to see conversations develop into actionable ideas.
We can let major wineries get in here and sway the average consumers opinion or we can have people like WineDiverGirl come in from a different perspective and challenge our thinking and offer potential solutions to think about. NOT IMPLEMENT WITHOUT THINKING – just consider and maybe make a recommendation or two.
But I have always had a pet peeve about people who “pick things apart” but offer no solutions. That is such a part of a way of thinking that I wish would go away.
We do not get to be great by breaking things down and offering no solution or even considering a potential solution. THAT is not what enables progress. THAT stifles progress.
Let’s work together and get off of the pedestals and make sure that this niche is not taken over by the corporate entities but remains where we can actually make an impact.
By the way my last comment was directed towards;
http://www.steveheimoff.com/?p=1094
It seems obvious tome as a mostly traditional print guy who follows wine blogs that the blogging media is still finding itself. In that respect, the ideas you present here seem like a sincere effort to help bloggers and wineries evolve together. Personally, I see nothing at all wrong with the specific ideas — presuming that the blogging that results from these opportunities be done transparently. In other words, if a blogger posts about experiences had during a “sponsored” trip, then he/she should be upfront about that. (Too bad magazines won’t do the same…)
As for avuncular Steve Heimoff lambasting your ideas, I can’t help but think he has found himself stuck out in Nowhere Land between bloggers and traditional media. And while he may have the highest of personal ethics, he is in fact paid to write AND blog for a magazine with numerous questionable ethical practices. See http://www.wineexpress.com for one; shameless advertiser-heavy “Wine Star” awards for another; and a so-called “buying guide” festooned with unidentified paid ads for yet another. (And yes, for disclosure sake, I worked there 1988-98, and have skewered W.E. mag and many other traditional media folks since becoming a “recovering wine critic.”
My suggestion is to stay on the high and progressive road here. Do explore opportunities. Just be forthright about it. As long as bloggers are honest about their connections to the subjects about which they write, no one can complain. The goal here is to move wine communication forward into the 21st century; trying to satisfy the old lions of print media is not going to help achieve that goal. And as long as you handle your efforts with transparency, you’ll actually be way ahead of the print-media folks. It won’t be long before readers and the wine industry alike come to embrace the fresh take of bloggers.
Hi Dhonig:
I must take exception to something you said in your post: “Any blogger who … only posts good reviews, should become a pariah in the community. They will hurt the rest of us.”
First, could you explain this assertion. How does a blogger who only posts good reviews hurt everyone else?
Second, I know several bloggers who only post positive reviews. Some don’t want to waste time writing negative reviews. Others have a philosophy of only posting about matters they like. Yet I have never heard anyone denigrate them for doing so. I have never heard them be attacked for just posting positively. There are certainly wines they do no like, but they just don’t see a need to write about them.
Third, it certainly seems that The 89 Project exists primarily to post positive reviews of those wines that only scored 89 points. Sure, the possibility exists that a negative review could be posted, but practically that rarely, if ever happens. Does that mean it is hurtful to the blogger community? I don’t think so.
Richard
RichardA,
Fair questions. I’ll explain. First, why do I say “Any blogger who … only posts good reviews, should become a pariah in the community. They will hurt the rest of us.”? Please note, this is only in the context of free samples, not all wines. I never go to the store and ask my wine guy to pick out something that sucks. That said, if you accept samples, but only review things you like, you raise a question with only two answers. The question- “why?” The answers- A. “Because you pimp anything free;” or B. “Because you withhold your opinion of bad wines, leaving it up to us to have bad experiences.” Both answers are bad. The only reason to ONLY write good reviews of samples it to get more samples, and that, in turn, raises questions about just how open and fair you are when reviewing those samples, since you have already demonstrated a willingness to at least withhold some information in exchange for free juice.
As for The 89 Project, well, I fear you have it exactly backwards. The whole idea is to figure out just what “89″ means, even if it means “this should be a lot better, but it comes from a great name and costs $250 or more.” The WineBiz Radio interivew about The 89 Project goes into a lot more detail, and that will fill out some of the blanks if you have more questions. Also, unless the 89 rated wine was a sample, this has little relevance to the above conversation.
Thanks for the questions. I tried my best to answer them. I hope I satisfied. If not, please feel free to ask again, preferably at 2 Days per Bottle, where I am more likely to see them.
An interesting debate, and I am definitely straddling both camps. But, I would like to ask whether dhonig would consider Alder of Vinography (a ‘veteran’ blogger?) to be ‘a pariah of the community’ – see this post of his: http://tinyurl.com/68op8m
As much as it pains me to admit this…I think Heimoff is actually making some sense here.
But, I always have to remind myself that there are many different “types” of wine bloggers. That is what gets lost in a lot of these discussions. As DHonig mentions above, there are also two audiences for blogs…other bloggers and the general public.
There are a TON of bloggers who clearly write only for one another. Then, there are those of us who hope to fill a content niche that isn’t filled by anyone else in the wine industry.
While many wineries “work with me” in the sense that they send me samples and invite me to their tasting rooms/wineries/etc. they all know that I’m not going to act as a marketing/pr vehicle for them. Not blindly at least. I’ve written plenty of bad reviews over the life of my blog and print writing and some wineries have stopped sending me samples. Clearly they were hoping that I’d only write good reviews (and as we know, many bloggers do work that way) if I reviewed at all.
Of course we also all know bloggers who seem to like every single wine they put in their mouths. Those are the people who I think hurt the community. Have an opinion beyond “Yum” all the time! There’s a lot of crappy wine being made all over the place (yes, even here in NY
)
It’s silly to talk about these sorts of credibility/ethics issues in generalities. The wine blogging community is still so young and developing. Some bloggers (myself included) want to and do act like journalists. Others are hobbyists who don’t feel the need to adhere to any such ethical guidelines.
And let’s not forget how many bloggers work for wineries or some closely related business, including WineDiverGirl. They clearly have some level of bias (and I don’t mean that as a put down).
This is a rambling comment, but just remember that every blogger blogs for a different reason. That’s their choice.
And it’s our choice to decide if we want to read them or not. And regardless of what some people think, blog readers aren’t stupid. They will see through the bullshit and the hacks.
I am one of those “pariahs” who only writes positive reviews. It was very nice of you to ask “why?” and then limit me to only two answers, dhonig, neither of which is applicable. Maybe you should have also added, C) Because it is doubtful that anyone gives a shit what wines I (or you, for that matter) do not like.
On my site we tell readers about wine that we have tried, whether we paid for it or not, that they might like. I am not egotistical enough to believe that I am some sort of arbiter of taste. If I don’t like something, I just won’t drink it, why should I insult any of my readers who may happen to like it? I don’t aspire to be some half-assed Robert Parker wannabe, I aspire to entertain and inform my readers. Knowing that I dislike Franzia Chardonnay does neither for them.
In addition, when someone sends me a bottle of something for free, they have probably taken the time to seek me out with the intent of giving me something that they are probably proud of. Yes, they want something in return for it, but they did more than waste my time with a press release. Taste is subjective, food, medication, mood, the company I am keeping, even the weather can influence my perception of a wine, not to mention a flaw could have been introduce when the wine was in transit to me. So, it tastes like beet juice to me? If putting it aside to write about something else makes me a pariah, so be it. I’d rather be a pariah than someone who believes that they get to define what a wine blogger is.
Hi Dhonig,
Ok, it was unclear originally that you were only referring to free samples in your comments. In that case, my thoughts on the 89 Project are really not applicable.
I still though disagree with your thoughts. I don’t accept the two limited answers you supply. I think it is a very acceptable answer to state one only reviews good wines because one is simply trying to provide positive recommendations.
Your two answers presuppose that bloggers have a duty to provide negative reviews, though there is no logical reason why that duty exists, unless a blogger intentionally accepts that duty.
Your answers also lead to the conclusion that you MUST review all free samples you receive. Which I think potentially raises far more questions. If you only review some of those free samples, whether negative or positive, then you open yourself up more to accusations of bias or prejudice. For example, if you received 10 free samples, and only reviewed 7 (including two negatively), there is a big question then of why you did not review the other three.
Yet if a person only provides positive reviews, ignoring any negative ones, then their objective is clear. We know why they are reviewing wines and why they are not. The wineries that sent free samples that such a person did not review, may not send samples in the future. The ones that got good reviews may send more, but that does not mean those additional samples will get reviews.
Thanks,
Richard
(I was considering posting this as well on your site but was not sure where it would be appropriate to post it)
With all due respect to everybody, the argument that taste is subjective, therefore there is no reason to write negative reviews, is absurd. Why? Because it applies equally to positive reviews. If you don’t think you’re an arbiter of taste, why are you writing positive reviews?
As for the observation that my premise requires that I review all free samples, well, I agree. Look at what I write under my review policy at 2 Days per Bottle and you will find I write exactly that:
“Do you want me to review your wine? I would love to do so. But first, know what you are asking. Take a trip around the bloog. See what The Little Wooden Guy, The Big Wooden Guy, and I have to say. We are not always generous or kind. And we WILL review your wine. Honestly. Every time.”
dhonig: Your editorial decisions are admirable. For you.
I’ve followed this thread for a while and thought about what WineDiverGirl wanted to accomplish. I would like to see her develop each point with posts on a forum. Each point would have its own thread. One of the OWC forums or groups would work.
I like bad wine. It is useful for breathing when I get hay fever. Clears the sinuses, removes nose hairs, and sets a standard for other wine. Too bad so many responders above don’t appreciate the usefulness of un-tasty wine
- jim
[...] consumers and wine technology businesses. Yes, I’ve covered parts of this topic before (Wineries and Bloggers). And there is something to add to this conversation based on recent blows, insults and online [...]
.”; I am very thankful to this topic because it really gives up to date information “*-