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The Necessary Tension between Public Relations and Bloggers: A Second Look at the Conversation

writing-a-blog-postEditor's Note: Yesterday, Rob Bralow of the "Wine Post"  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 conversation. Please chime in with your perspective in comments! After the 2009 Wine Bloggers' Conference, 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. Megan (Wannabe Wino) wrote in her post "In the Fishbowl": "Have you ever felt like a goldfish? It'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. ...

The Web Should be Something Different – Repost and Request for Your Thoughts

Editor's Note: Back in 2007 I posted this post on WineBlogAtlas.com where it quickly spread and was linked too many times, and commented on by many bloggers. I recently revisited it and though that it deserved a re-post, and some additions/updates. But after thinking about it for awhile I decided that the best thing I can do is to re-post it here, and to invite all of you to please tell us what you think has changed, or if anyone is really doing any different today, as compared with 2 years ago. There are some obvious bits that are out of date, and today probably considered silly, but it is fun to look at what was on our minds back then. Please leave examples in the comments, but better yet explain why those examples are important. Alternately please tell us what has yet to change. The Web Should be ...

Wine Bloggers – One shoe does “not” fit all

Wine Blogger Logo 500pxA bit of crowd sourcing for today. I have a question. With all this talk of ethics, and what a wine bloggers should be, I've wanted to begin the process of sorting out who wine bloggers really are. I say this because it's naive and silly to assume that all wine bloggers are created equal and therefore, should be held to the same standards. Should a Winery Blogger be just as objective as a Wine blog that rates wines? No, I'm pretty sure we can agree on that. What about a blog like Catavino.net where we do not rate wines? We do talk about wines we like, and we do try to disclose possible conflicts of interest, but we are not giving out points to wines in an ...

The People’s Wine Press

revolutionary war and wineHave you ever found a quote that completely and utterly summed up a feeling that you've had but you couldn't necessarily put it into words? After Robert Parker's crack at the wine blogging industry last week, I've had a ball of frustration inside me sitting idle without the appropriate words to describe its composition. Sticky, thick and irrational, I felt bound by my nervous system, encapsulating my logic, until now. Over the past few weeks, I've been enthralled by Jeff Shaara's book, "Rise to Rebellion", giving words, feelings and much needed context to a war I vaguely understood in high school textbooks: The Revolutionary War. Nearing the end of the book, Benjamin Franklin, physically worn from years of fighting an uphill intellectual battle over the freedom of the colonists  from English ...

False Truths in Print Media: The Credibility of Wine Blogs as a Publishing Tool Among the Circle of Wine Writers

465px-printer_in_1568-ceWhat if man still used stone tools from 2.6 million years ago, never advancing to the hammer or pneumatic nail gun? What if smoke signals were still used to communicate messages across long distances, instead of the digital phone or via chat? What if man still traveled solely by foot or raft rather than by car, ship, plane or spacecraft? What if Gutenberg's creation of the printing press, first launched over 500 years ago, was considered the only viable tool to share information about wine? Over the course of evolution, man has found newer, and at times, better ways of accomplishing a goal. Through logic, creativity and community, we have excelled past old ways of thinking and doing, by embracing change, growth and innovation. The printing press is a tool that was, and still is, effective for ...

What is Wine Blogging?

(Previously Published in La Rioja Alta's Boletín Informativo de Invierno 2009) It was in 1975 that a young wine lover wanting to express his views on wine searched for the easiest and most effective way to publish his thoughts. Being that computers were reserved for colleges and research institutions, he accepted a loan from his mother and began a small newsletter that he hand-mailed to a list of wine lovers he culled from local wine retail mailing lists. His goal was simple: to be a consumer advocate for wine lovers and an independent voice. His name is Robert Parker. Today young wine lovers enamored with the mystery and beauty of wine are also reaching out for the cheapest and easiest method of publishing their thoughts on the beverage that has gripped our imaginations since Roman times. The internet today provides tools, free of ...

Lookery.com Breaks Down Wineblogger by Demographics

Image representing Lookery as depicted in Crun...Image via CrunchBaseLookery, an advertising and user-targeting network for websites, has recently featured Wineblogger.net on their front page! Statistically, Lookery mentions that Winebloggers primary traffic source is from the USA, and more specifically, from California and Georgia. Why would we have so much traffic from Georgia? Any thoughts? (you must register with Lookery to see the full statistical break-down of Wineblogger.info). Internationally, Sweden, Portugal, Netherlands and Spain are the four primary traffic sources, listed in consecutive order. What is interesting to me, is that neither the ...

No More Predictions – Top 10 Things that WON’T Happen in the Online Wine World in 2009

Instrumental temperature record of the last 15... Image via Wikipedia I'm sick of it! Amateur prognosticators trying to tell us what trends to look for in 2009 when it comes to wine, the internet and social media. In then end, almost everyone starts out, "Well, last year I had almost none of my predictions come true, but I'll try again..." Do us a favor, and don't. That said, I can tell you one thing: what won't happen this year! Or rather, I'll place odds of 10 to 1 on any of the following items actually occurring. Seeing that we're here in Spain, I can guarantee that Spanish wineries will not move away from FLASH web design in favor of something useful, ...

What Constitutes “The Best Wine Blog”?

How does someone judge a wine blog? How does one assess what constitutes the “best”, “the most creative” or “the most popular or social” blog? Are there certain criteria I should abide by, tools I should be aware of, or even a base knowledge of should have in order to be a fair and an objective judge? This was the central question we struggled with at 10am yesterday morning as we judged 18 non-commercial Catalan wine blogs in the first ever DO Catalunya Wine Blog Competition. Five judges comprised of two Internet wine marketers, Ryan and I (counting as 1 vote); the President of the Catalan Association of Sommeliers; a freelance programmer from Barcelona; the Director of DO Catalunya; and a gentleman from INCAVI, who casted his vote previous ...

Free Advice – Write for your Audience, not for your Peers

The wine blogg-o-sphere seems sick right now, contaminated with a nasty, dangerous virus and full of evil overtones. There is a self-absorption infection that is destroying that which makes us unique, and quite honestly, it's making me sick. However, I'm curious if it will function like a blog-based form of natural selection, weeding out the weak in favor of the strong. This infection seems to have caused perfectly good wine bloggers to stop talking about wine, and instead, to focus on their own insecurities precieved or real. Lately, we're losing wine bloggers right and left in favor of wine blog critics or MSM (main stream media) bashers. It needs to stop. This BS in the wine blogging world is destroying that which we're fighting for, to be ...

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Wineblogger.info was created by Catavino.net as a way to collate and track the many diverse and varied wine blogs. This project is open to offers of collaboration, suggestions as to how to improve and feedback of all sorts. As always, you can contact us with this form, and if you are a wine blogger, you can grab a wine blogger badge here.

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