Wine Doctrine or Wine Education: How Wine Bloggers Can Encourage Healthy Drinking Habits

“The WINE in MODERATION Programme is an initiative of the European wine sector aimed at promoting moderation and responsibility in wine consumption and contributing towards preventing excessive consumption and misuse of alcoholic beverages in Europe.”

This international program, still young in its inception, was created to not only help preserve and promote the culture of wine, but also, help discourage abuse of alcohol. As wine bloggers have become one of the main channels for wine education, we felt it was important to help promote dialogue as to whether you would like to support the program.

Below are questions we posed to George Sandeman, one of the major spokesmen for the Wine in Moderation program, as to why bloggers should be interested in the WIM program.

If you have any questions for George, please don’t hesitate to place them in the comments. If you are interested in registering for the program, go here. And if you’re interested in reading a more comprehensive version of the interview, please go here.

Why is there a need for this initiative (Wine in Moderation was it – WIM)?

Over the last 20 years there has been both an increase in sensitivity and pressure on the need to reduce alcohol related harm. The various sectors of alcoholic beverages have taken up the challenge to ensure responsible marketing and to work with national and regional authorities to achieve this objective.
Wine in Moderation (WIM) is the program developed and in implementation by the European Wine sector.

After your speech at the EWBC, many wine bloggers mentioned that they had never heard of the project and were a little skeptical of its potential success. In your opinion, why should bloggers care?

Due to Wine in Moderation being in the early stage of implementation, it is quite natural that many wine bloggers who are not focused on the Alcohol & Health dossier would not be familiar with the project. It is natural to be sceptical of “new projects”, but in the case of WIM it is important to register that its success of depends on the weight and commitment of the entire EU Wine filière.

As socially responsible people, and linked to wine, bloggers should have the same concerns as other citizens.

There has been loads of debate as to how wine blogging is an effective medium to educate the masses about wine. Add this to the fact that bloggers are generally talking about quality wines, rather than about drinks that cause health problems, where do you see a blogger’s role in disseminating the “moderation” message?

For WIM there is no doubt that the support of wine bloggers is important in spreading the word about “wine in moderation” – especially because the consumers of quality wines are the cultural example to which we so often refer.

Where can bloggers garner more information and is there someone they can talk to directly about the project?

There is information regarding Wine in Moderation at www.wineinmoderation-eu as well as through the national organization responsible for implementing the WIM project in each country.

For a personal intervention, bloggers can contact the secretariat of Comité Vin – CEEV (ceev@ceev.eu) and depending on the type of information required (ie political or scientific) someone will be designated.