Hardy Wallace of Dirty South Wine on Wine Blogging

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1. Why do you feel wine blogging is not a fad? or is it?

Wine has always encouraged people to discuss, write, and share stories of their wine experiences with others.  Blogging allows people to easily do this on a large scale with with virtually no overhead.  People aren’t going to stop communicating about wine.  Will the medium evolve, change, and shift?  Sure.  But  just as the web has matured, wine blogging will do the same thing.
2. What is one thing wine blogs get right?
Partnership and cooperation.  There isn’t internal competition between wine blogs for market share, ad revenue, or even readers. Bloggers often link to other blogs in their posts, communicate through Twitter, on message boards, and are constantly cooperating and interacting.  Can you imagine CNN and Fox News working together to share ideas and content?
3. What is one thing that wine blogs get wrong or need to improve?
Their self-promotion.  As hard as many bloggers work to provide great content, they need to work just as hard to make sure people are aware of it.
4. What do you want wineries and MainStreamMedia to know about your blog?
For wineries-  I think they need to realize that though blogs may not have the overall readership / circulation of MainStreamMedia, it is often where people who are specifically looking for your wines find their information first.
Pretend you are shopper, and Google your winery name and a major city–  What pops up?  A wine magazine?  A store?  A restaurant?  No.  It is often a blog- (Try any of these Littorai Atlanta, Chateauneuf du Pape Atlanta, Riesling Atlanta, etc..)    The people that find these blogs are ACTIVELY looking for your wine.  The bulk of people reading mainstream media are (at best) passively learning about your wine.
My message for MainStreamMedia?  I could out street-dance all of them!
5. What message do you have for wine PR companies as far as interacting with blogs?
To be of greater value to your clients, you have to know the wine blogging community and what the individual blogs are all about.  Learn their focus, their audience, their reach, the frequency of their posts…  If you do, you are steps ahead of your competitors.
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From Dirty himself:

“Wine is Meant to Be Crunk!”  Dirty South Wine (www.dirtysouthwine.com) is published by  aka “Dirty”. The blog has been active and growing since November 2007. Like Dirty South music, Dirty South Wine has global appeal, international readership, and has covered Dirty’s wine adventures throughout the US, Canada, and even Japan.

Dirty’s blend of wine street-smarts and formal training from the International Sommeliers Guild, creates a humorous, down-to-earth style, intended to motivate readers to be adventurous and curious about wine, rather than be intimidated by it. It is this voice that appeals to a wide range of consumers from Gen X and Millennials, to experienced buyers, wine industry professionals, and serious wine collectors.

Along with fresh and often off-the-wall prose, Dirty South Wine is often turned up by cutting-edge video and professional wine photography.
Wine is an international beverage and Dirty South Wine provides great wine information and entertainment whether you are located in Atlanta, Toronto, or in the middle of Lake Titicaca… It is safe to say no other wine blogger writes for those in Lake Titicaca!
You can follow Dirty South Wine at www.dirtysouthwine.com, on Facebook as “Dirty South Wine” and on Twitter @dirtysouthwine
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