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	<title>Wine Blogger &#187; Blog</title>
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	<description>Wine Bloggers Unite!</description>
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		<title>Palate Press: The Online Wine Magazine by Bloggers</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2010/02/palate-press-the-online-wine-magazine-by-bloggers/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2010/02/palate-press-the-online-wine-magazine-by-bloggers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:03:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[

Editor&#8217;s Note: Palate Press is an online magazine that features wine writers from all walks of life. From citizen bloggers to big wig writers, it&#8217;s packed with stories from wines across the globe. What&#8217;s unique about PP is its editorial process. Bloggers are an independent bunch and tend to stay clear from someone telling them [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: center;">
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/pp2.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-403 aligncenter" title="pp2" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/pp2.jpg" alt="" width="704" height="116" /></a></p>
<p><em><strong>Editor&#8217;s Note:</strong> <a class="zem_slink" title="Palate Press" rel="homepage" href="http://www.palatepress.com">Palate Press</a> is an <a class="zem_slink" title="Online magazine" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_magazine">online magazine</a> that features wine writers from all walks of life. From citizen bloggers to big wig writers, it&#8217;s packed with stories from wines across the globe. What&#8217;s unique about PP is its editorial process. Bloggers are an independent bunch and tend to stay clear from someone telling them what stays or goes before publication. Therefore, the mere hint of an editor is typically shunned before the 3 syllables escape one&#8217;s lips. Yet PP has thrived with its editorial review, allowing any writer to submit their article as long as they&#8217;re open to editorial criticism. </em></p>
<p><em>We want to congratulate founder, David Honig, and his crew for putting in the hard work, sweat and elbow grease it&#8217;s taken to get this project successfully up and running!! Below is an interview we conducted with David last week. If you have any further questions for him, please don&#8217;t hesitate to place them in the comments below.<br />
</em></p>
<p><strong>Why did you think you could create what it turns out is quite an ambitious project?</strong></p>
<p>In retrospect, an interesting question. I think the simple answers are (a) I didn&#8217;t think &#8220;I&#8221; could, but thought perhaps &#8220;we&#8221; could, and (b) I had no idea it would be as big as it is, so &#8220;ambitious&#8221; is only apparent looking back. But that&#8217;s too simple, so in a bit greater depth&#8230;</p>
<p>Palate Press: The online wine magazine, in retrospect seems quite ambitious, but I don&#8217;t think anybody anticipated it would be what it is as quite so quickly. Instead, we, and I must emphasize &#8220;we,&#8221; for it was from the beginning a group effort, really had no idea if it would work. We approached it, not as a project, but as an experiment in the next generation of wine blogging. We looked around and saw just how much great content there was out there, how hard it was to separate the wheat from the chaff, and wondered if there were a way to turn the best of it into something valuable.</p>
<p>I only began to suspect it might work when amazing people, people like WR Tish, Jeff Lefevere, Gabriella Opaz, and others said &#8220;yes, I&#8217;ll give it a shot.&#8221; It was always the team of people, as writers and as editors, that made success possible.</p>
<p><strong>What have you learned in doing it?</strong></p>
<p>I was an infant, and now I feel like a wobbly toddler. Walking and talking are tremendous achievements, but running and conversing are skills to be honed. I could barely begin to list all the things I have learned, but I will offer the first ones that come to mind, that I struggle with or enjoy daily:</p>
<p>For every ten people who enthusiastically volunteer to work on a project without compensation, one will actually do the work, and for every ten that actually do the work, only one will do so consistently and over an extended period of time.</p>
<p>People will ALWAYS surprise you. They will surprise you in good ways and bad. They will surprise you with their lack of follow-through or with their amazing dedication. They will surprise you with the quality of their writing, from poorer than you expected to astounding talent. The lesson to take from this, when dealing with a large group of people, is to be careful not to rely on your assumptions about them, but to let their personalities play out over long periods of time, until each individual settles comfortably into their own role, rather than trying to force them into the role you expect them to play.</p>
<p>It doesn&#8217;t hurt to ask. The question I got more than any other in the first few months of Palate Press was, &#8220;how did you convince Tish to join?&#8221; The answer was, &#8220;I asked.&#8221; I never expected him to say yes, but it cost little more than free email and we had the cornerstone of our launch.</p>
<p>It doesn&#8217;t hurt to beg, either. That is really a subset of &#8220;it doesn&#8217;t hurt to ask,&#8221; but really means &#8220;don&#8217;t take no for an answer.&#8221; Several of our greatest talents said &#8220;no&#8221; when first approached. They lacked time. They had their own website and did not see why they should cannibalize their writing for another. They did not see where the project was going. I suspect a few just didn&#8217;t like me, and that&#8217;s okay, too. So I begged. I became so annoying, for those I deemed essential to success, that it eventually became easier to just say yes (this is the same method I used to persuade my wife to marry me, by the way). Some saw the project as a success and stuck around. It was worth the effort.</p>
<p>Great content is not enough. I truly believe Palate Press has the best content about wine anywhere, but that means nothing if nobody saw it. It took press releases, cross-posting, Twitter, Facebook, and a constant effort to say &#8220;HERE WE ARE, LOOK AT US!&#8221; for people to notice.</p>
<p>Social media is the beginning, not the end. Wine blogs, Twitter, Facebook, <a class="zem_slink" title="Open Wine Consortium" rel="homepage" href="http://www.openwineconsortium.org">Open Wine Consortium</a>, etc., are a great way to jump-start an idea, but not the end. Eventually, you capture the few thousand people actively participating and just talking to each other. Success online will only come when you break out of that limited circle into the internet in general. That, in turn, means you have to think outside the blogger&#8217;s &#8220;what will make other bloggers think I&#8217;m great&#8221; mindset, and into &#8220;what do wine lovers want to read&#8221;? It also means formatting content for the general public, not other bloggers.</p>
<p>Editing makes everybody better. At first, we had a lot of push-back against editors, each blogger used to publishing their own content with the push of a button. Some stayed away, or left, because of it. But the ones who stayed all said the same thing, &#8220;editing made me better.&#8221; Of course it did. Yes, we have made errors as editors, but overall, and certainly in the long run, editors make writers better. Additionally, we have seen an interesting phenomenon. When people send stories to Palate Press, they send their very best. Almost universally, what people send in has obviously been more carefully written, and re-written, than something they would post on their own site. Whether it is the knowledge they would be edited or understanding that we have multiple stories to choose from, we get everybody&#8217;s best work. One interesting question is whether they go back and put similar effort into their own sites and if Palate Press helps increase the quality of content across the whole wine blogosphere.</p>
<p><strong>What is the reception you&#8217;ve had to the ad network?</strong></p>
<p>Shock and excitement. People inside the blogosphere forget how small a minority we are. People outside the blogosphere are just starting to figure out how the internet works. It is a revelation to a local wine store owner to learn that the local wine blogger might get 80% of his page views from thousands of miles away, but that through geo-targeting he can focus on-line advertising. Bigger advertisers appreciate the ability to focus on such a tight niche, wine, with such great economic demographics. Right now on-line advertising is down across the board, but as advertisers pull out of the doldrums they are looking for ways to believe on-line advertising can work, and a very large niche-network seems to be a model they are willing to try.</p>
<p>From the bloggers, it has been equally enthusiastic. Until now, most wine bloggers either did not bother with advertising or just took a few pennies from Google advertising. No single blog was ever big enough to justify a sales force. By collecting so many blogs together, now we can justify a sales force.</p>
<p>Perhaps most interesting, the bloggers in the Ad Network are also enthusiastically buying into the concept behind the magazine, understanding not just that the ads they run fuel the magazine, but that the magazine anchors the network. They also see, and I think are excited, that the magazine provides a venue where they can be professional writers, selling their content if they produce the very best. Our advertising partners have become a source of many of our new stories.</p>
<p><strong>Where do you hope to be one year from now as a site and an ad network?</strong></p>
<p>As a site, we would like to continue to grow in readership. I regularly hear we have the best wine content anywhere, and we need to work hard to keep that impression with those who have it, and give it to those who don&#8217;t have it yet. One big change we hope to put into effect by the end of the year is to be able to pay for every story we run, to truly turn into the site where everybody everywhere writing about wine turns to publish their work. We have been watching what is happening to newspapers, where wine columnist are losing their jobs. We want to hire everybody, one story at a time, and publish the best available content every day.</p>
<p>For the network, we want to be the place anybody advertising about wine turns. We want to be the place bloggers turn to if they want to &#8220;monetize&#8221; their blog. We want to reach the point where a person who googles &#8220;wine&#8221; sees our ads within three clicks. If we can do that, the advertisers and the bloggers will come to us.</p>
<p><strong>Finally how can bloggers get involved? Can they submit stories, to Palate Press? How do they sign up for the ad network? Any restrictions?</strong></p>
<p>We accept story submissions from anybody, anywhere, any time. Send a story idea, just title, lead, and a sentence or two of explanation, to submissions@palatepress.com. We review every story individually. Ideally, every time a blogger says to themselves, &#8220;I have a great one this time,&#8221; their next thought will be &#8220;this is something I should send to Palate Press.&#8221; Our only restrictions on stories are that we ask for an exclusive on stories we run, that they be original, and that they not expose us to potential litigation (no defamation or copyright violations).</p>
<p>Anybody with a wine or food site can apply to be part of the ad network. Just send a note that says you&#8217;re interested to dhonig@palatepress.com. We will accept anybody with a wine or food site with a reasonable amount of traffic, assuming there is not something obviously offensive about the site. We are thrilled to add &#8220;WhatIDrankLastNight.com,&#8221; but have not interest in &#8220;Porn&amp;Wine.com.&#8221; We have network members with just a few hundred page views a month, and some with hundreds of thousands of page views a month. We also have sites in other languages and want more. We can create geo-targeted ad campaigns anywhere in the world and are not restricted to English ads.</p>
<p><em>Thanks again David, and again, please don&#8217;t hesitate to put your questions in the comments below!!</em></p>
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		<title>Wine Doctrine or Wine Education: How Wine Bloggers Can Encourage Healthy Drinking Habits</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/12/wine-doctrine-or-wine-education-how-wine-bloggers-can-encourage-healthy-drinking-habits/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2009/12/wine-doctrine-or-wine-education-how-wine-bloggers-can-encourage-healthy-drinking-habits/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:30:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wine Blogger Tool]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[European Union]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WIM]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wine in Moderation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wineblogger.info/?p=395</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8220;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.&#8221;
This international program, still young in its inception, was created to not only help preserve and promote the culture of wine, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.wineinmoderation.eu/templates/wineinmod_main/images/logo_top.gif"><img class="alignright" src="http://www.wineinmoderation.eu/templates/wineinmod_main/images/logo_top.gif" alt="" width="342" height="93" /></a>&#8220;The <a href="http://www.wineinmoderation.eu">WINE in MODERATION Programme</a> 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.&#8221;</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>If you have any questions for George, please don&#8217;t hesitate to place them in the comments. If you are interested in registering for the program, <a href="http://www.wineinmoderation.eu/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=24&amp;Itemid=46&amp;lang=en">go here</a>. And if you&#8217;re interested in reading a more comprehensive version of the interview, <a href="http://catavino.net/wine/wine-in-moderation-catavino-formally-adopts-an-educational-stance-on-wine-consumption/">please go here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Why is there a need for this initiative (Wine in Moderation was it &#8211; WIM)?</strong></p>
<p>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.<br />
Wine in Moderation (WIM) is the program developed and in implementation by the European Wine sector.</p>
<p><strong>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?</strong></p>
<p>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 &amp; 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 <a class="zem_slink" title="European Union" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union">EU</a> Wine filière.</p>
<p>As socially responsible people, and linked to wine, bloggers should have the same concerns as other citizens.</p>
<p><strong>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&#8217;s role in disseminating the &#8220;moderation&#8221; message?</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p><strong>Where can bloggers garner more information and is there someone they can talk to directly about the project?</strong></p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
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		<title>Robert Parker on the Future of Wine &#8211; Wine Future Conference, Rioja, Spain</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/11/robert-parker-on-the-future-of-wine-wine-future-conference-rioja-spain/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2009/11/robert-parker-on-the-future-of-wine-wine-future-conference-rioja-spain/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:14:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[
Credit: Vinus TV
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Credit: <a href="http://vinustv.es">Vinus TV</a></p>
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		<title>3rd annual Flickr Group: Wine Harvest 2009</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/09/3rd-annual-flickr-group-wine-harvest-2009/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2009/09/3rd-annual-flickr-group-wine-harvest-2009/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2009 08:21:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>gabriella</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcement]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wineblogger.info/?p=382</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Are you, or your fellow wineries, currently working the harvest? If so, we want your photos! If you have any pictures of the harvest, whether that be from picking the grapes to driving the tractor, please share your experiences with us at: Wine Harvest 2009! This group is not reserved to one side of the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/3861043761_98b2c0f677.jpg"><img class="alignright" title="Wine Harvest 2009" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/3861043761_98b2c0f677.jpg" alt="" width="248" height="164" /></a>Are you, or your fellow wineries, currently working the harvest? If so, we want your photos! If you have any pictures of the harvest, whether that be from picking the grapes to driving the tractor, please share your experiences with us at: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/wineharvest2009/">Wine Harvest 2009</a>! This group is not reserved to one side of the world or another. This is an equal opportunity photo group, regardless if you&#8217;re making ice wine in Canada, Tempranillo in Spain, Carmenère in Chile or Shiraz in South Africa. Let your fellow wine aficionados share in the fun and post your pictures today!</p>
<p>Also make sure to check out the discussion forum there. If your a wine maker, please leave a comment about what your harvest is shaping up to!</p>
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		<title>The Necessary Tension between Public Relations and Bloggers: A Second Look at the Conversation</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/09/the-necessary-tension-between-public-relations-and-bloggers-a-second-look-at-the-conversation/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2009/09/the-necessary-tension-between-public-relations-and-bloggers-a-second-look-at-the-conversation/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:23:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>gabriella</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[Editor&#8217;s Note: Yesterday, Rob Bralow of the &#8220;Wine Post&#8221;  published a piece that was both compelling and thoughtful, discussing the merits of having a little tete-a-tete between both old and new media. As a result, we asked Rob if we could re-post his piece here, allowing wine bloggers  far and wide to contribute to the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-376" title="writing-a-blog-post" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/writing-a-blog-post.jpg" alt="writing-a-blog-post" width="348" height="216" />Editor&#8217;s Note: </strong>Yesterday, Rob Bralow of the &#8220;Wine Post&#8221;  published<a href="http://rfbwinepost.blogspot.com/2009/08/necessary-tension-between-public.html"> a piece </a>that was both compelling and thoughtful, discussing the merits of having a little tete-a-tete between both old and new media. As a result, we asked Rob if we could re-post his piece here, allowing wine bloggers  far and wide to contribute to the conversation. Please chime in with your perspective in comments!</em></p>
<p>After the 2009 <a href="http://winebloggersconference.org/america/">Wine Bloggers&#8217; Conference</a>, there were many bloggers who felt that too many public relations and marketing representatives were there. Not only were they there, but they were there to watch.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.twitter.com/sonadora">Megan</a> (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/sonadora">Wannabe Wino</a>) wrote in her post &#8220;<a href="http://wannabewino.com/2009/07/29/in-the-fishbowl/">In the Fishbowl</a>&#8220;:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Have you ever felt like a goldfish? It&#8217;s quite interesting really. I think the focus of the conference this year seemed to skew more towards wineries, PR folks, and other industry types. And I felt like people were there to figure out what wine bloggers are, what their motivations might be, and how best to market (I think that&#8217;s what I want to call it&#8230;) to them.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p><a href="http://www.twitter.com/winehiker">Russ</a> (<a href="http://www.californiawinehikes.com/winehiker/1/the-2009-wine-bloggers-conference-a-foundation-for-raising-the-collective-spirit/">Winehiker Witiculture</a>) wrote in his post &#8220;<a href="http://www.californiawinehikes.com/winehiker/1/the-2009-wine-bloggers-conference-a-foundation-for-raising-the-collective-spirit/">The 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference: a foundation for raising the collective spirit</a>&#8220;:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;In the hotel&#8217;s meeting halls and hallways as well as in some Napa Valley venues, bridges were not particularly being built between bloggers, PR/marketing types, and winery reps. Perhaps those that were not regularly engaged in blogging or other social media avenues were on-hand merely to witness what all the fuss was about.&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>These comments inspired me to dig a little deeper into the relationship between bloggers and public relations.</p>
<p>Media professionals and public relations professionals strike a careful balance in the wine industry. Writers jealously guard the access to their audience while starving for information that will continue to entice readers. Public relations agencies that represent wineries have an over abundance of information that they have been charged to communicate to writers, with the intent that these editors will express such information to their audiences. With the rise of the blogosphere, many more writers have entered the arena, creating an ever increasing pool of outlets for information.</p>
<p>Wine bloggers themselves tend to have very little training in terms of writing for an audience craving entertainment and information. The majority of bloggers are website designers, information technology professionals, lawyers and doctors; occupations that have either given them the necessary skills to run a blog or the resources to experience the world of wine, which can be an expensive venture. Their unifying characteristic is an overwhelming passion for an alcoholic beverage created from fermented grape juice.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-377" title="pr-contacted" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/pr-contacted.jpg" alt="pr-contacted" width="346" height="215" />There is a prevalent desire among wineries and wine producing regions to be on the cutting edge of technology and media. However, the reality is that the majority of wine producers do not have the resources to follow the ever-changing technological landscape of communication. To meet this need, digital technology firms, advertising firms, and public relations agencies are now in a competition to show that each has the best understanding of the new media outlets. The drive to generate results propels winery representatives to target a wider variety of outlets and any result becomes twice as promoted, both to the nebulous consumer as well as to the client, looking for their hired representative to produce. While sometimes misunderstood, a hired agency&#8217;s primary objective is to promote their client, with a strong secondary objective to promote themselves back to their client or other potential clients. This makes bloggers a very attractive focus for these agencies.</p>
<p>Bloggers are currently in search of credibility and recognition. Without certifications from wine education channels, such as the <a href="http://www.wset.co.uk/">Wine &amp; Spirits Education Trust</a> or the <a href="http://www.societyofwineeducators.org/public/index.aspx">Society of Wine Educators</a>, most bloggers have nothing but their word and their writing to give them defined credibility.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.steveheimoff.com/">Steve Heimoff</a>, blogger and West Coast Editor for <a href="http://www.winemag.com/"><em>Wine Enthusiast</em></a> responded to a <a href="http://shanaray.com/social-media/social-media-is-a-tool-people-a-tool/">blog post</a> by <a href="http://www.twitter.com/sharayray">Shana</a> (<a href="http://shanaray.com/">ShanaRay.com</a>), founder of Breath(e) Media and used an example of a wine blogger being invited on a trip to show that wine bloggers can fall into numerous traps that will in the long run hurt their credibility. He wrote in &#8220;<a href="http://www.steveheimoff.com/index.php/2009/07/30/when-blogs-go-bad/">When blogs go bad</a>&#8220;:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The worst thing a wine blog can do is to shill, however inadvertently, for a winery or region. The minute I read about someone&#8217;s &#8220;delightful&#8221; visit to so-and-so, they&#8217;ve lost me. Visits may indeed be delightful, but the writer shouldn&#8217;t say so, because it just sounds &#8211; I don&#8217;t know &#8211; smarmy and credulous. If the blogger describes the visit as &#8220;delightful&#8221; then her credibility suffers, in my mind. What if the wines suck? Would the blogger say so? Or is the blogger so delighted with the visit &#8211; with the hospitality of the owners, the personally guided tour of the winery and caves, the lovely luncheon by the pool, catered by the winery chef, and with the gorgeous tranquility of wine country &#8211; that he&#8217;s unable even to know that the wine is mediocre?&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>Shana <a href="http://shanaray.posterous.com/in-response-to-when-blogs-go-bad">replied</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;The news (speaking generally) has always had a bias and used scare tactics or fluff stories for the sake of entertainment. I learned at a young age to take the news with a grain of salt&#8230; Same goes with anything I read online through a blog, a tweet, a review on Yelp, or even an article in a magazine.</p>
<p>&#8230;You stated that you were going to explain the difference of good and bad blogs &#8220;for some of us.&#8221; My case was that for the rest of us, we read what we like&#8230;&#8221;</p></blockquote>
<p>In the end, the only measure of credibility that really matters is the size of a publication&#8217;s audience and their influence on the buying habits of other consumers.</p>
<p>Earlier this year <a href="http://www.erobertparker.com/members/home.aspx">Robert Parker</a> was challenged as to the <a href="http://www.drvino.com/2009/04/16/changes-at-the-wine-advocate-correspondence-with-parker-and-miller/">credibility</a> of his contracted reviewers, a charge that Robert Parker has fielded in the past and will likely come across again in the future when he is forced to relinquish his publication to the next generation. However, no matter how many confrontations his publication encounters, the name of Robert Parker is perceived by the wine industry as one of the most influential in the business today because of the influence over consumer purchasing that the Wine Advocate&#8217;s ratings embody.</p>
<p>Once a wine writer begins to establish credibility, the agency world begins to take notice, giving a writer more access to different aspects of the industry. The more access a writer has to their subject, the better they become at communicating the nuances and differences, which then in turn leads to better writing and the potential for larger audiences. Then credibility is considered established and the flood of information from the agency world truly begins.</p>
<p><strong>A Survey of Bloggers<br />
</strong><br />
<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-378" title="pr-useful" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/pr-useful.jpg" alt="pr-useful" width="345" height="264" />In July, I surveyed 100 wine bloggers on their interactions with public relations professionals and wineries. Fifty-one bloggers responded and described an interesting story about how they find their information and how they interact with the public relations world.</p>
<p>Wine bloggers are being reached in a similar manner to how a traditional news reporter is targeted: press releases, focused pitches, invitations to events, etc. The tactics that result in the best response from both types of media are much the same. Mass distributed press releases and story ideas with vague introductions of &#8220;Dear Esteemed Blogger&#8221; are nearly instantly deleted, while personal correspondence and interaction are rewarded with attention.</p>
<p>And bloggers are definitely being reached. The survey revealed that 60 percent of the bloggers that responded are contacted at least once a week by public relations professionals, with half of those being contacted at least once a day if not more. From anecdotal reports, there are a select group of public relations agencies who are reaching out to bloggers and getting fantastic returns on their outreach. Combined with the fact that wine bloggers read each others&#8217; blogs, the reach of a single blog post can influence another blogger to purchase a wine to review, which then increases the potential audience.</p>
<p>However, just because a public relations agency is reaching out to bloggers does not result in an instant review. The quality of the outreach is extremely important. Only 40 percent of the bloggers surveyed found that public relations assistance was consistently helpful. In fact, 21 percent found that PR people were rarely or never helpful, which highlights the issues of inconsistent quality among the public relations world.</p>
<p>The main complaints that these bloggers had were that they were not being engaged by agencies looking to promote their clients and just being sent mass communications in hopes that they will write about them. What most bloggers do not understand is that this is a common occurrence among traditional journalists and has been a long-time complaint for them as well. This problem is so well documented, that there is a blog set up specifically to expose <a href="http://badpitch.blogspot.com/">poorly conceived or written pitches</a> that are sent en-mass to journalists nationally. I leave it to bloggers that are also journalists to tell this story better than I ever could.</p>
<p>The problem stems from lazy public relations practices and just as lazy editorial practices. While it seems impossible for such tactics to yield results, I submit that they must. In the same way that the majority of people would never click on a link in an obviously SPAM e-mail, such e-mails continue because they find people naïve enough to pursue the 2,800,000 Euro prize they won from some far away country, otherwise they would have long ago been abandoned. There are publications and web portals that will publish whatever is sent to them.</p>
<p>Wine bloggers, like the rest of the technologically advanced society, find most of their information on the internet. The survey showed that of the 51 responses, 47 went to the website of the winery to find more information about the wine they taste. The next most common way that most bloggers learn about a winery is by physically visiting the winery. I will accept that this is perhaps biased based on the fact that many wine bloggers live in wine country, however this is a good indicator to show that all aspects of a winery&#8217;s image are important, from the wine in the bottle to the people at the tasting room and through to the messaging a winery puts on their website.</p>
<p><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-379" title="samples-for-review" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/samples-for-review.jpg" alt="samples-for-review" width="352" height="200" />It is intriguing how contacting the public relations representative for the winery and reading other bloggers&#8217; reports on the winery were at the same level for the wine bloggers that were interviewed. Almost every wine blogger has a good sense of the other bloggers in the wine category, and especially the <a href="http://www.vinography.com/wine_blog_list.html">top bloggers</a>. The fact that most bloggers do not reach out to PR people as a first course show a possible reluctance on bloggers to trust these contacts for accurate information. It could also be that the public relations contact for a winery is simply not visible enough for a blogger researching a wine to find their information.</p>
<p>Among established wine journalists there has been a prevailing feeling that wine bloggers are only interested in receiving free wine samples, which is what drives a person to blog about wine. There is at least <a href="http://www.winewhoreblog.com/">one blogger</a> who promotes themselves as willing to review any wine that is sent to them. There are also plenty of other bloggers, such as Katie (<a href="http://gonzogastro.wordpress.com/">Gonzo Gastronomy</a>) who <a href="http://gonzogastro.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/karma-police-arrest-this-man/">find this practice distasteful</a>. As for the rest of the wine blogging world, the survey showed the majority of wine bloggers use samples less than 25% of the time to review on their blog. With the current increase in wineries with available samples looking for positive reviews, it is interesting that wine bloggers continue to purchase wines from wineries or trusted retailers in order to find content for their blogs.</p>
<p>Wine bloggers are an ever increasing force in the wine world, and the industry is paying attention. A well written, well researched blog post can become top news in the Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, and <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124330183074253149.html#articleTabs%3Darticle">has in the past</a>. An event targeting bloggers can spread over <a href="http://rfbwinepost.blogspot.com/2009/05/absolutely-and-totally-geeked-out.html">dozens of websites</a>. The next step in wine blogger evolution is discovering how the public relations community can work with these writers to not only elevate the wineries and wine regions that they work for, but to also highlight the select bloggers that have influence over consumer audiences.</p>
<p><strong>Note:</strong> <em>Rob Bralow has been writing the blog &#8220;</em><a href="http://rfbwinepost.blogspot.com/"><em>Wine Post</em></a><em>&#8221; for almost one year and currently works for </em><a href="http://www.gregorywhitepr.com/"><em>Gregory White PR</em></a><em>, an agency that represents high profile wine and spirits companies and regions. Any and all ideas and opinions expressed in the above article do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Gregory White PR.</em></p>
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		<title>EWBC is Filling Up and 2010 WBC is Gearing Up Too! &#8211; Win a Trip!</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/ewbc-is-filling-up-and-2010-wbc-is-gearing-up-too-win-a-trip/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/ewbc-is-filling-up-and-2010-wbc-is-gearing-up-too-win-a-trip/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 15:26:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[OWC is again organizing the annual Wine Bloggers&#8217; Conference.  The WBC is a global event with the EWBC fall conference in Lisbon, Portugal and the Spring AWBC event in 2010 in Walla Walla, Washington.  Information for attending and sponsoring can be found at http://www.winebloggersconference.org/america and http://www.winebloggersconference.org/europe .
The AWBC has teamed with the Wine Future Conference (http://www.winefuture.es/) and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>OWC is again organizing the annual Wine Bloggers&#8217; Conference.  The WBC is a global event with the EWBC fall conference in Lisbon, Portugal and the Spring AWBC event in 2010 in Walla Walla, Washington.  Information for attending and sponsoring can be found at <a href="http://www.winebloggersconference.org/america" target="_blank">http://www.winebloggersconference.org/america</a> and <a href="http://www.winebloggersconference.org/europe ">http://www.winebloggersconference.org/europe </a>.</p>
<p>The AWBC has teamed with the <span class="il">Wine Future</span> Conference (<a href="http://www.winefuture.es/" target="_blank">http://www.<span class="il">winefuture</span>.es/</a>) and with &#8220;The Golden Mile Wineries&#8221; of Ribera del Duero in Spain to give away <strong>a FREE all-expenses-paid trip to Spain to attend <span class="il">WineFuture</span> Conference</strong> for one person who is registered for the Spring conference in Walla Walla by August 31. <a href="http://winebloggersconference.org/america/register/">Register for it here.</a> Included are 2 nights in Ribera Del Duero visiting wineries, and two nights in Logroño, La Rioja attending the conference. All flights are also included and you are guaranteed to have a good time!</p>
<p>So you have 4 more days to make sure your entered in the contest! Sign up now!</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
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		<title>Actively Seeking International Winebloggers to Contribute to Palate Press, An Online Wine Magazine</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/actively-seeking-international-winebloggers-to-contribute-to-palate-press-an-online-wine-magazine/</link>
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		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:15:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>gabriella</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[David Honig began his blogging career in politics and political cartoons. After suffering through eight years of the Bush Administration, he decided it was time to relax with a nice glass of wine. 2 Days per Bottle, his first wine blog, explores wines over two days to get an idea of its cellar life and [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-367" title="palate2" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/palate2.jpg" alt="palate2" width="646" height="118" />David Honig began his blogging career in politics and political cartoons. After suffering through eight years of the Bush Administration, he decided it was time to relax with a nice glass of wine. <a title="2 Days per Bottle" href="http://2daysperbottle.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">2 Days per Bottle</a>, his first wine blog, explores wines over two days to get an idea of its cellar life and drinking window. Soon he started to notice variations in wine scores, particularly in the cluster around one particular score, and the group blog <a title="The 89 Project" href="http://89project.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">The 89 Project</a> was born. As he got more involved with the wine blogging world David noticed that there was a tremendous amount of knowledge and talent, but it was spread so thinly across the internet that terrific content often disappeared before anybody noticed it.<br />
<a title="PALATE PRESS: The online wine magazine" href="http://palatepress.com/" target="_blank"></a></p>
<p><a title="PALATE PRESS: The online wine magazine" href="http://palatepress.com/" target="_blank">PALATE PRESS: The online wine magazine</a>, launches this September. PALATE PRESS is an experiment in the next generation of wine blogging.  The hypothesis is simple- collecting the very best of the wine blogosphere and carefully editing and publishing it will create a top quality and commercially viable online wine magazine.  The experiment is well under way, preparing to launch with some of the most talented and best-known wine writers on the internet, including Deb &#8220;Dr. Debs&#8221; Harkness, of <a title="Good Wine Under $20" href="http://goodwineunder20.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Good Wine Under $20</a>, Lenn Thompson (<a title="LENNDEVOURS" href="http://www.lenndevours.com/" target="_blank">LENNDEVOURS</a>), Jeff Lefevere (<a title="GOOD GRAPE: A Wine Blog Manifesto" href="http://goodgrape.com/" target="_blank">GOOD GRAPE: A Wine Blog Manifesto</a>), and Hardy Wallace (<a title="Dirty South Wine" href="http://www.dirtysouthwine.com/" target="_blank">Dirty South Wine</a>). Other Editors and Contributors from the world&#8217;s <a title="top 100 wine blogs" href="http://alawine.com/wine-blog-rankings.html" target="_blank">top 100 wine blogs</a> include Gabriella Opaz (<a title="Catavino" href="http://www.catavino.net/" target="_blank">Catavino</a>), Richard Auffrey (<a title="Passionate Foodie" href="http://www.passionatefoodie.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Passionate Foodie</a>), Michelle Lentz (<a title="My Wine Education" href="http://www.wine-girl.net/" target="_blank">My Wine Education</a>), Russ Beebe (<a title="Winehiker Witiculture" href="http://www.californiawinehikes.com/winehiker/" target="_blank">Winehiker Witiculture</a>), Joe Roberts (<a title="1 Wine Dude" href="http://1winedude.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">1 Wine Dude</a>), Craig Camp (<a title="Wine Camp" href="http://winecamp.squarespace.com/" target="_blank">Wine Camp</a>), Kori Voorhees (<a title="Wine Peeps" href="http://winepeeps.com/" target="_blank">Wine Peeps</a>), Andrew Barrow (<a title="Spittoon" href="http://www.spittoon.biz/" target="_blank">Spittoon</a>), Remy Charest (<a title="The Wine Case" href="http://winecase.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">The Wine Case</a>), &#8220;Sonadora&#8221; (<a title="Wannabe Wino" href="http://winepeeps.com/" target="_blank">Wannabe Wino</a>), Ken Payton (<a title="Reign of Terroir" href="http://reignofterroir.com/" target="_blank">Reign of Terroir</a>), and Tim Elliot (<a title="Wine Cast" href="http://winecast.net/" target="_blank">Wine Cast</a>).</p>
<p><a title="PALATE PRESS: The online wine magazine" href="http://palatepress.com/" target="_blank">PALATE PRESS: The online wine magazine</a> will launch with a solid core of writers, but that is only the beginning. If wine bloggers are willing to participate, PALATE PRESS can have a staff larger than every wine magazine in the world put together. Wine bloggers are everywhere. Where there is a wine story, there is a wine blogger to write about it. Did drought and wildfire effect wines in Australia? There are wine bloggers there to write about it. Is there controversy about St. Emilion classifications?  There are wine bloggers following the story. PALATE PRESS accepts, indeed it quite actively desires, submissions from wine bloggers around the world. Wine bloggers interested in considering assignments for specific stories, or who have story ideas they want to submit, should send them to <a href="mailto:submissions@palatepress.com" target="_blank">submissions@palatepress.com</a>.</p>
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		<title>Wine Blogger Resource: Helpawinery.com</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/wine-blogger-resource-helpawinerycom/</link>
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		<pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:51:05 +0000</pubDate>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wineblogger.info/?p=359</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Wine bloggers, more importantly, American Wine Bloggers, are you getting wine samples? Most likely there is a mixed bag of both &#8220;yes&#8221; and &#8220;no&#8221; responses. Well, if you&#8217;re interested in receiving samples, Josh over at the infamous Pinot Blogger has a new service called, Helpawinery.com, that connects wineries with wine bloggers interested in reviewing wines. [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-360" title="wine-guy" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/wine-guy-150x300.png" alt="wine-guy" width="150" height="300" />Wine bloggers, more importantly, American Wine Bloggers, are you getting wine samples? Most likely there is a mixed bag of both &#8220;yes&#8221; and &#8220;no&#8221; responses. Well, if you&#8217;re interested in receiving samples, Josh over at the infamous <a href="http://www.pinotblogger.com/">Pinot Blogger </a>has a new service called, Helpawinery.com, that connects wineries with wine bloggers interested in reviewing wines. Here&#8217;s how it works:</p>
<blockquote><p>You sign up for the list, and soon after you&#8217;ll start to receive emails with offers of wine samples from various wineries. The offers will be based on the types of wines you prefer to review, or the geographical area you specialize in.</p></blockquote>
<p>I had a chance to talk to Josh a bit about it when I was at the <a href="http://winebloggersconference.org/europe/planning/wbc-reflections-from-ryan-and-gabriella/">WBC</a> last month, and I have to say, it&#8217;s a great idea. I also talked to him about how it could be more international in scope. I hope he listens, because I know that this model would run well on a broader scale.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re a wine blogger in the USA, please go to <a href="www.helpawinery.com">www.helpawinery.com</a> and sign up!</p>
<p>Cheers,</p>
<p>Ryan</p>
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		<title>What Is Wineblogger and How Can You Help?!</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/what-is-wineblogger-and-how-can-you-help/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/what-is-wineblogger-and-how-can-you-help/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2009 17:25:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>gabriella</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[General]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[English language]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FeedBurner]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Flickr]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Foreign language]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[On the Web]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[RSS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Syndication and Feeds]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Weblogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wordpress]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wineblogger.info/?p=347</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When Catavino asked me to add blogs to the wineblogger database, I thought, &#8220;Sure! This could be fun. I&#8217;m good at wine, foreign languages and basic database work, so this shouldn&#8217;t be difficult.&#8221; Nine months later, I realize that categorizing and imputing almost 900+ wine blogs is quite challenging, but there are ways we can [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif"><img class="alignright" src="http://l.yimg.com/g/images/spaceball.gif" alt="" width="1" height="1" /></a><a href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/384854457_583f5cb447.jpg"><img class="alignright" title="Helping Hand" src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/180/384854457_583f5cb447.jpg" alt="" width="330" height="221" /></a>When Catavino asked me to add blogs to the wineblogger database, I thought, &#8220;Sure! This could be fun. I&#8217;m good at wine, foreign languages and basic database work, so this shouldn&#8217;t be difficult.&#8221; Nine months later, I realize that categorizing and imputing almost 900+ wine blogs is quite challenging, but there are ways we can all make this easier with a little teamwork!</p>
<p><strong>First, we need your help! There is zero money coming into this project, and we need all the extra support we can get! If you are fluent in a language listed on this site, become a Wineblogger Editor!! Job description: ensure that all blogs listed in that given language are active and relevant. Per month, this would take you less time than shampooing your dog or mowing the lawn. And in return, we&#8217;ll put your name on the front page with a link to your site. How can you say no to that?!<br />
</strong></p>
<p>Where else can we use your helping hand? <em>(Flickr photo by <a title="Link to nicdalic's photostream" rel="dc:creator cc:attributionURL" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicdalic/">nicdalic</a>)</em></p>
<p><strong>Submitting Your Wine Blog</strong></p>
<p>We would like to thank everyone for their interest in the site and their submissions, without you, we wouldn&#8217;t have made it to almost 1,000 blogs in so little time! But, in order for us to correctly categorize and place your submissions on the site in a timely fashion, there are a few things I would truly appreciate if everyone would do, both for people with wine blogs already listed on the site and future submissions.</p>
<ol>
<li>Ensure that the link to your blog&#8217;s homepage is working properly</li>
<li>Ensure that you have a WORKING <a class="zem_slink" title="RSS" rel="wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS">RSS feed</a>. This doesn&#8217;t mean a &#8220;<a class="zem_slink" title="FeedBurner" rel="blog" href="http://blogs.feedburner.com/feedburner/">feedburner</a>&#8221; link, but preferably, a RSS 2.0. Also make sure that you have a link to the RSS feed on the top, right hand corner of the page, not halfway down the blog, or at the bottom!</li>
<li>Please include the language of the blog in your submission!</li>
<li>Most importantly, if your blog is written in English, please include a BRIEF description of what you blog about on a consistent basis. Matching it to one of the sub-categories we already have would be even better!</li>
</ol>
<p><strong>Sponsoring</strong></p>
<p>We want to make Wineblogger more robust, offer more features, and overall, make it more relevant to you. And a small investment can make it happen. You can invest in this ever growing site in either money or through an in-kind sponsorship, which could include programming, administration, design or whatever your imagination can conjure up. Make us an offer we can&#8217;t refuse!</p>
<p><strong>Questions for You</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>If you look at the English language category, there are several sub-categories listed. Many of these have been created on the fly, but we know there are other we&#8217;re still lacking. More specifically, if you look at the &#8220;general&#8221; blog category, it appears much like your junk drawer in your kitchen &#8211; filled with sites that don&#8217;t have an overarching theme as of yet. What sub-categories would you like us to add?</li>
<li>How can we better organize the blogs in general? Currently, those listed at the top of the page are the ones most recently submitted, but this isn&#8217;t very useful. Our goal is to make the organization relevant to you, without offending anyone who is listed anywhere other than the top. Hence, what is the best way to list each wine blog on a page?</li>
<li>What are we lacking in the site in general? What can we do to make this site more useful for you?</li>
</ol>
<p>As mentioned, we need your help if we intend to make this site run smoothly and effectively. So please contact us if you want to lend a helping hand! Finally, never hesitate to share your suggestions and thoughts! We appreciate all the feedback we can get!</p>
<p>Cheers,</p>
<p>The Wineblogger Team</p>
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		<title>Almost 1,000 Active Wine Blogs Have Been Registered!</title>
		<link>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/almost-1000-active-wine-blogs-have-been-registered/</link>
		<comments>http://wineblogger.info/2009/08/almost-1000-active-wine-blogs-have-been-registered/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2009 19:41:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>gabriella</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Announcement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[#wbc09]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[California]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[EWBC]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[OpenWine Consortium]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Santa Rosa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Santa Rosa  California]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Spain]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wine blog]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[wine blogger]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wine Blogger Conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Wine Bloggers]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://wineblogger.info/?p=339</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Having just come back from the American Wine Bloggers Conference held in Santa Rosa, California, where wine bloggers across North America gathered together in an effort to better both the wine blogging field and the wine trade in general, it is with great pride that we announce our growing numbers. To date, we have reached [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/themes/onenewspremium/images/wb70h.gif"><img class="alignright" src="http://wineblogger.info/wp-content/themes/onenewspremium/images/wb70h.gif" alt="" width="261" height="70" /></a>Having just come back from the <a href="http://www.winebloggersconference.org/america">American Wine Bloggers Conference</a> held in <a class="zem_slink" title="Santa Rosa, California" rel="geolocation" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=38.4486111111,-122.704722222&amp;spn=0.1,0.1&amp;q=38.4486111111,-122.704722222%20%28Santa%20Rosa%2C%20California%29&amp;t=h">Santa Rosa, California</a>, where wine bloggers across North America gathered together in an effort to better both the wine blogging field and the wine trade in general, it is with great pride that we announce our growing numbers. To date, we have reached 952 wine blogs, ranging in style, location, type and subject matter.</p>
<p>As you will readily see, almost half of all blogs registered on Wineblogger.info are written in English. And of those, <a href="http://wineblogger.info/english/regionally-focused/">Regional</a> and <a href="http://wineblogger.info/english/general-wine-blog/">General</a> Wine blogs take center stage with approximately 200 sites registered.</p>
<p>Interestingly, blogs written in <a href="http://wineblogger.info/french/">French</a> are the second most registered wine blogs, yet seem to be the least represented in major wine networks like the <a href="http://www.winebloggersconference.org/europe">European Wine Bloggers Conference</a> and the <a href="http://www.openwineconsortium.org/">Open Wine Consortium</a>.</p>
<p>What is also fascinating about this statistic is that although Spanish takes a close second, the majority of the <a href="http://wineblogger.info/spanish/">Spanish</a> written blogs are located within Spain, rather than South America; which means, that either word hasn&#8217;t spread about wineblogger.info directory or South America hasn&#8217;t caught the wine blogging bug as of yet.</p>
<p>There is still a lot more work we need to do with Wineblogger.info as a community, but we need your help. If you want to submit a post about the wine blogging world, know a wine blog that has not been registered or are interested in sponsoring this site, please contact us! This site was build for the community, and it is our sincere goal to have it managed and run by the community. Please lend a helping hand if you have either the inclination or time!</p>
<p><strong>Total: 952 </strong><br />
Catalan:  6<br />
Chinese: 3<br />
Czech: 6<br />
Dutch: 13<br />
English (All Categories): 452<br />
French: 68<br />
German: 50<br />
Italian: 37<br />
Japanese: 10<br />
Norwegian: 3<br />
Polish: 7<br />
Portuguese: 41<br />
Spanish: 54<br />
Swedish: 39</p>
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