Sure. Why not? Our goals may be different, but our passion for wine is shared.
Yesterday Hahn Family Wines hosted the first ever Bloggers Tasting Forum at their offices in Napa. (disclosure: I work for Hahn, but do not write this blog as part of my employment for them.) Bloggers, winemakers, winery Presidents, winery owners, a journalist, a filmaker, a Director of Vineyard Operations, and a PhD candidate studying bloggers were all in attendance. There were also wine lovers who create content either via podcasts, (Vintuba.com) or a wine search engine (1,000 Corks). Most folks were from the bay area, but some came from as far as Los Angeles, Tennessee, and Washington state. The goals: 1. To taste some of Hahn’s finest examples of Santa Lucia Highlands terroir, learn a bit about the AVA and each other. 2. Continue the conversation about wine bloggers and wineries working together. How could that work? To what end? And how do bloggers and wineries manage credibility and integrity in exploration of the Wine World 2.0 experience.
The variety of guests made for a fascinating and significant conversation. Here’s what I took away from the event at first blush:
- We’d like to host the Blogger Tasting Forum regularly, maybe quarterly. And perhaps at different wineries.
- The variety and inclusive nature of attendees was essential to the chemistry in the room. People from 3 guest wineries were there. We poured from 2 who brought their wines: Twisted Oak, and Pianetta. I wish Judd had brought Humanitas and Schlumberger.
- There are absolutely a number of opportunities for bloggers and winereies to work together in ways totally appropriate and in ways that add tremendous value to the consumers experience, the bloggers experience and the wineries’ business.
- The shift of influence in the wine world from old print media to new on-line media, especially in the form of blogs with character, variety and accessibility to the variety of wine lovers out there is essential to the success of a growing wine industry. I can’t overstate this enough. Those born digital are a massive, significant segment not just of the on-line world, but re-creating the on-line world.
- Anything wineries can do to contribute to wine bloggers readership will help the wine industry in general and wineries and bloggers in specific. It is the best, most interesting and direct access between wineries and consumers to cultivate conversations. The more the better.
- Anything bloggers can do to cultivate relationships with restaurants, wine bars, and their wine buyers to participate in their blog conversations and/or connect with the restaurant/wine bar blog could also have a great impact on the winery, blogger, consumer conversation. Those wine directors and sommeliers are the influencers we’d love to have join the conversation more often. They make the decisions about which wines appear on the wine lists. Bloggers: if you have them contributing to your blog conversations, wineries and many segments of the industry will absolutely HAVE to follow along, or get left in the dust.
The questions that remain are many:
- How do you measure the value, i.e. the bottom line, for how a blogger can positively influence your wineries’ business?
- What is in it for the blogger? Readership? Wine? Consulting/writing fee? Access to their subject?
- What does the wine consumer and wine blog reader gain by this collaboration?
- Is it enough to maintain your own integrity if you disclose the nature of the relationship between the business and the blogger?
- Another important question, squarely in the laps of bloggers, was so well put by Joe Roberts from 1WineDude: “Heaven knows I’ve got no problem whatsoever being courted by winemakers, PR contacts, or the wine media in general (in fact, my view is that it’s about time this has happened). The trick is maintaining the willpower to keep a unique, individual, and (hopefully) credibly opinionated voice as a blogger while the “courting” ramps up.“
Based on what Bill Leigon, President of Hahn, Adam LaZarre, winemaker and Andy Mitchell, Director of Vineyard Operations had to say yesterday, yes, Hahn wants to sell more wine: AND, “…we all have a passion for wine, we’re interested in educating people about our wines, our Central Coast wine region, our winemaking practices.“ And frankly, in the new media world that is 2.0, it is more possible to have a far reaching, diverse, informed conversation with more people without filters more than ever before.
So to the evolution of the conversation, in person, on-line and over a glass of wine.
Cheers!
Photos provided courtesy of Thea Dwelle and Lisa Adams-Walter and Chris Butts.
Great post Lisa! And thank you for sparking off such a great day of wine & conversation.
I for one think that there are many unexplored potential relationship points between bloggers and wineries, and I think that this is the first of many forums to explore that dialogue.
Your questions spark some great conversation. Bloggers that write about a specific wine are giving that winery publicity. Whether that is positive or negative depends on what the blogger is writing. Since bloggers often write about things that they have enjoyed, the vast majority is a positive piece of media regarding that offering. For those smaller wineries, start ups, or those that need a little nudge, this can be a very powerful tool indeed.
A blogger can benefit by gaining exposure, particularly when and if they are quoted in a winery newsletter or via viral marketing efforts – i.e. twitter marketing. If there is a concern of credibility, this does not have to be a paid effort. I for one, enjoy discovering new wines. In the specific example of Hahn, I had the opportunity to taste many wines hat I would not have known about, in an easy forum of convivial tasters. This allowed me to form my own opinion in a group setting while learning about the wine from winery execs and the winemaker.
I personally don’t feel like I lose any integrity by participating in such events. I also don’t think I give wine bloggers a bad name. But that is me, and I form my own opinions independent of anyone else’s. My readers are free to form their own opinions of me. As I taste wines, if I choose to blog about them, I am comfortable knowing that I am disclosing them as samples or winery comps as a part of the piece. I can’t promise I’ll send everyone a Christmas card, even if I like you. Likewise, I can’t promise that I will review your wine, or review it positively just because you invite me to a special event or you send me a free sample.
I look forward to more conversations in the future! Who’s next!?
Nice write-up.
“Wine blogger and wineries work together”, sometimes they are one and the same, as in our case. It is Interesting that I ran across this blog, we make Lone Oak Vineyard Pinot this year for the first time. I wrote about it here: http://winey.wordpress.com/2008/10/
I don’t think that there is any other choice for wineries if there intention is to reach the ever-growing digital generation. In addition, not all content needs to be a review of one wine or another, and it certainly is not.
I can’t imagine Not having a blog to write about our experiance. While I am definitely ware of Joe Robert’s concern for the independent blogger, God knows we do not need another Osteria ( http://osterialintrepido.wordpress.com/ ), for us at least it is an opportunity to keep our friends and family informed of the adventure we started this year and educate them about the winemaking process and he vineyards we chose.
I can’t imagine a more convenient and interactive tool. The comments I usually get from ‘civilians’ is that they really appreciate the updates and the educational aspect of the blog. That is what I enjoy writing about the most as well. So, win, win.
Great stuff – wish I’d been there!
Thanks for hosting us Lisa, and thanks to the Hahn folks. I believe that the ‘controversy’ brewing regarding the relationship between bloggers & wineries is not too distant from the relationship between traditional media and wineries…except that traditional media usually gets paid for what they are doing…either as a freelancer for the piece written or directly from the publication as an employee. The issue of ‘integrity’ is nothing new — but I suppose I simply don’t believe it to be as big an issue as we think. That is, a lack of integrity will be exposed pretty quickly — as it is in traditional media.
That said, there is one area that I feel differs. Traditional media seems stuck on a scoring system – lining up a large selection of a particular varietal – and scoring them in relation to one another. My experience to date is that bloggers tend to evaluate and write about a particular winery, one at a time, rather than a cattle call of wines. To me, this is a deeper, more intimate evaluation of the brand, not just the wines. It seems to be more similar to a restaurant reviewer — evaluating the restaurant itself, rather than lining it up against all other restaurants. To me, as both a consumer and a winery, this is simply more interesting.
Lisa, you weren’t messing around…You told me about the concept of the Blogger’s Forum several weeks back and you followed through to make it happen. Nice to see that action follows thought. Kudos to you.
As a follow-up, I had a great conversation with Rebecca Robinson of ZAP. We are going to have the First Blogger’s Circle for Wine 2.0 at the ZAP festival on January 31st. More to come.
Hi Lisa,
Firstly, I would like to say thank you for keeping this conversation about the social media and wineries and wine bloggers going. It is exciting to be a part of it!
Secondly, thank you for having me be a participant in this forum. On a personal note I loved being able to “pick the brains” of the wine makers and wine marketers which is something that I am not privy to simply as a wine consumer. Not only did I taste some delicious wines but I learned some fascinating things about wine-making and terroir at this forum. Hopefully i will be able to pass this information on to interested readers in a meaningful way (although it may take me a while to actually write it on my blog!) Perhaps knowing this information and sharing it with readers adds to the “credibility” of the blog…However, our blog is really about our voices and how we express our passion for wine. In the end, that is what makes it credible.
Thanks again to Hahn Family Wineries and all who were involved in the forum.
Great stuff Lisa! Glad to see our favorite winery lead the charge! You pave the way, we’ve got your back!
Awesome post Lisa!
Thanks for hosting and starting a much needed discussion that got all of us thinking. It was great connecting with everyone and I hope that we can grow the participant list as we go forward.
Thanks to Hahn Family Winery and everyone else.
Cheers!
[...] interesting post from WineDiverGirl, who continues to explore the ways wineries and bloggers can work together. As readers of this space [...]
Lisa!
What a beautifully organized and informative event you put on! I loved being a part of it. In addition to discovering the Bin 36 I really enjoyed seeing the connection of the new media messaging Hahn is driving. The connection of the product, the process, the Web 2.0 pieces—excellent! I learned a lot and it was super fun as well. Thought provoking discussions and very tasty wines. Thank so much!
[...] 10, 2008 by winedivergirl A couple very brief points based on our conversations at the first Bloggers Tasting Forum and on comments posted since (We hope you and many other bloggers will join us next time, [...]
Really we could thank each other for a long time. And let’s do the Bloggers Tasting Forum again, add wineries, add bloggers, make it better and engage bartenders, and wine directors in the conversation. I’m thinking big here. We’ve got a new vintage of wine every year to get through. Who’s going to help me? I can’t drink it all alone; nor would I want to. Your company is, frankly, at least as good as the wine.
Oh thank you Lisa! hehehe well I thought I’d continue thanking.
Yes! Let’s do it more often. I think we can really cast the net widely and engage a large community. Perhaps, it could be beneficial to host bloggers and consumers in a tasting & discussion. I think the new consumer would value that and it could certainly be a fee based event for the consumer given the value.
And I will ALWAYS help you
[...] weekend Hahn Family Wines in Napa CA hosted their first ever Blogger Tasting Forum, organized by winedivergirl who works for Hahn as their New Media Director. The purpose for gathering us crazy cats together [...]
[...] of joining Lisa de Bruin (Twitter) of Wine Diver Girl and Hahn Family Wines at the inaugural Hahn Wine Blogger Forum, alongside many of my fellow wine bloggers. Also invited were various other wine people prominent [...]
Hi Lisa! Thank you again! As you can see, I’ve finished my post and trackbacked. Can’t wait for the next one…so stimulating!
[...] Bloggers and Wineries: Partners? Notes on the 1st Bloggers Tasting Forum [...]
[...] Blogger Tasting Forums. The first of these was held at Hahn Estates recently, and included several bloggers as well as the Hahn team and other winery participants. This kind [...]
Wine bloggers play an important role these days in what the consumer believes about wine. Many consumers search out wines before they purchase them and many of the optimized posts for these wines are reviews from bloggers. I can see more of his taking place in the future.
[...] love it. They have a passion for all things wine. Wine Bloggers are getting more access to wineries and winemakers, conferences and social sites (thank you Joel Vincent) are growing at breakneck [...]
[...] print media…at least in the wine industry. Just recently Hahn Estates hosted the first Bloggers Tasting Forum and ZAP will have a sponsored Bloggers Lounge offering bloggers free access to the 2 day event. [...]
[...] I think Lisa and Hahn Estates do a fantastic job. They have started what they hope to be a regular bloggers tasting forum where wineries and bloggers can come together to discuss how each views the wine industry as it is [...]
[...] Bloggers Forum will be Hahn’s second such blogger event. Other wineries (St. Supery) have followed suit [...]
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Muah!
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