Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

The Vendetta Against Wine Drinkers in Michigan

What would possess the state of Michigan, it's Attorney General and the Michigan Liquor Control Commission to embark on a vendetta against Michigan consumes? This is is exactly what they've done.

Apparently the Michigan Attorney General has decided to appeal a Federal District Court decision that reiterated what everyone should have already known: It's unconstitutional to ban consumers from having wine shipped to them from out of state wine retailers while allowing it from in-state wine retailers.

The appeal will go to the same court that earlier this decade told the state of Michigan that their discriminatory law that banned shipments into Michigan from out-of-state wineries while allowing shipment to Michigan residents from in-state wineries was unconstitutional.

I wonder what kind of outcome they expect this time? What's that old saying about doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

The problem with this appeal, however, goes deeper than just suggestions of insanity.

1. While the appeal is in process (and it will probably take a good 9 months to play out, Michigan residents will be unable to access the full measure of the American wine market.

2. The cost of the appeal will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars that Michigan residents will have to pay

3. While the appeal is ongoing, Michigan will be forgoing the sales tax revenue they could be collecting if they only passed a simple law allowing out of state retailers to obtain a state-issued permit to ship wine to Michigan residents.

Now, in addition to the state appealing this Federal District Court ruling, the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association ("intervenors in the case) have also appealed. This really comes as no surprise. Wholesalers have demonstrated over and over again their willingness to get beat down by the courts in futile appeals they should know are without merit.

However, there is a connection between the Michigan Government's decision to appeal this case and in the process screw Michigan consumers and the wholesaler's decision to do the same:

-Between 2000 and 2008, Michigan alcohol wholesalers have doled out more than $2.4 million to Michigan state political campaigns

-The political contributions of Michigan alcohol wholesalers between 2000 and 2006 have totaled more than in all but seven other states across the country.

-Between January 1 2007 and July 2008, the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesales Association have contributed more to Michigan state political campaigns than any other entity in the entire state.

It's important to keep in mind exactly what the goal of Michigan alcohol wholesalers is. In 2005, in the wake of the Granholm v. Heald Supreme Court decision, the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association actually sponsored a bill that was voted out of committee that would have banned Michigan wineries from shipping wine direct to Michigan consumers. This was their response to the Supreme Court decision: Screw Michigan wineries and consumers. What wonderful citizens they are.

The fact that this bill actually got out of committee (though passed into law) can be best understood by remembering a series of articles published by the Detroit Free Press that outlined the ways by which the Michigan Wholesalers have wine and dined Michigan politicians.

Most recently, Michigan wholesales have decided to go all the way down the path of deceit by actually publishing on their website a series of accusations against folks that are merely asking for direct shipping rights to the effect that these advocates want nothing but a complete absence of regulation on the sale of alcohol in the state. Putting these blatant lies aside, it's just indication of how desperate the state's publicly supported wholesalers are to keep their privileged position in place.

These kind of revelations about the wholesaler lobby in Michigan shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the ways and means of politically-connected and desperate alcohol wholesalers living in a world when antiquated distribution models are being dismantled.

But what is very disturbing is the Michigan Attorney General's decision to completely disregard the interests of Michigan consumers as well a the State's tax coffers by pursuing an appeal, rather than recommending a law be passed allow well regulated direct sales of wine to Michigan consumers by out-of-state retailers.

Hey, Let's Kill The French Wine Industry!!

If I got together some co-conspirators, huddled in a dark place with candles aglow and hatched a diabolical plan to destroy the French wine industry, one of the things at the top of my LIST OF DIABOLICAL THINGS TO DESTROY THE FRENCH WINE INDUSTRY would be to ban free tastings of wine.

But since I don't know any dark places, have no candles and can't think of a single person who would want to conspire to destroy the French wine industry...Oh...wait, it appears there are some potential co-conspirators out there for me to huddle with.

But they beat me to the most obvious plan for destroying the most prestigious industry the French possess.

These French! They have no sense of efficiency.Clearly they are attempting to destroy the French wine industry, but their problem is that they are going about it in drips and drabs. And this is what separates the Boy countries from the Men Countries. There are much easier, quicker and effective ways to kill the cash cow of France.

Come'on you guys! Think straight and just do the following as quickly as possible and be done with it.

1. Enact Prohibition
2. Put a 90% tax on the sale of all grapes for production purposes
3. Ban all visual representations of wine in public

That should do the trick.

Rodin, Pollock and Harlan: A Question of Value

Lest anyone ever forget that wine is art, just send them over to Vinfolio and their newly introduced "Wine Price File" service. No, I'm not reiterating that wine is a product that derives from the same creative impulses that drove Rodin, Pollock or Ben West. No. I'm reminded by Wine Price File that Wine is art in the sense that it collected, horded, traded, priced, bought and sold in the open market, just like the works of of these artists mentioned above.

When I was working at Winebid.com I saw just how serious collectors were about this art and I saw many different types of collectors. The most interesting collectors, as I look back on it now, were those who approached the stockpiling of wine not merely as an indication of their aesthetic disposition, but as a business. These were the folks who bought wine as an investment that involved short, medium and long term strategies.

Although they did not always know what their investments in first growth Bordeaux, Grand Cru Burgundy, Vintage Champagne, Vintage Port, the classic American Cabernets and the newly emerging Cult Wines were worth at any given time, they did know they were increasing in value. What was missing for them, as investors, was the same instant valuing process that Wall Street and security investors possessed.

Even though these folks were very astute about what they had squirreled away in temperature controlled locations, and even though they knew down to the penny what they paid for each and every bottle, they could not be entirely sure what it was worth at any given moment. The minute they submitted their list of collectibles to the likes of Winebid.com, Christies or other auction houses they'd find out.

The beauty of Vinfolio's free Wine Price File is that the mystery for collectors as to what their wines are worth on the open market has been stripped away. There is no more mystery as to the value of a bottle of 1997 Harlan ($1180—up from about $700 three years ago), 1990 Bollinger Grande Annee ($131—up from about $89 three years ago), 1963 Croft Vintage Port ($124—up from about $90 three years ago) or 1985 Chateau Latour ($326—up from about $200 three years ago).

Wine Price File seems to be a final step toward complete and total transparency in the wine arena. Of course the information on what a wine was worth, what kind of price ascent it was on over the years and what was most recently paid for the wine was always available to one degree or another, but you had work at it or go to a specialist. That work and effort deterred many people from contemplating using their collection as an asset to be valued and potentially liquidated on the open market. Not any more.

Vinfolio does a great many things. Primarily it is the full service wine collectors emporium and hub driven by beautiful technology. Wine Price File is the topping off of those services. It will be used extensively not only by wine collectors, but by other other auction houses and collectors services companies as the instant and comprehensive wine valuation resource.

There is more to learn about the new Vinfolio Wine Price File with this press release and a great deal more to learn about the financial implications of wine collecting at Steve Bachmann's Wine Collector Blog. Finally, take a look at this story on one man's relationship with his own wine investments.

A Different Kind of High School Experience

I've sympathized with the French wine community over a variety of issues as well as mocked them over others. I think their various laws on how wine can be produced are archaic enough to hold back creativity as well as the production of good new wines.

But I've also noted the absurdity of laws that prohibit wine and other alcohol related companies from promoting their products on the net.

But here's a little tidbit that that really made my jaw drop concerning some new proposed laws. From a story detailing French winemakers' anxiety over various proposed laws comes this remarkable snippet:

"At the heart of their anxiety is a government proposal last week to raise the legal age for purchasing alcohol to 18 from 16. Aside from hiking the legal age, the proposal will also prohibit the sale of alcohol at highway gas stations and will not allow all-you-can-drink open bar evenings at French high schools."

What? It's allowed now? "All you can drink" open bars at French High Schools?

I realize that the culture of drink in France is different than here in America. But are there really all-you-can-drink nights at French High Schools? When I was in High School in Novato, California, every Friday and Saturday night was an All-You-Can-Drink evening. But the High School didn't sponsor it.

National Lampoon Goes To English Wine Country

This story out of England plays like a bad National Lampoon movie, but it is instructive too, as well as funny.

First and foremost, who wants to go to college at Cambridge. Apparently for years it was the policy of the St. John's College Dining Hall that students were allowed a bottle of wine each at supper. Now how civilized is this? Damn civilized, if you ask me and very English.

century would do. They started a However, it appears by the change in policy that the find students of St. Johns were throwing back rather than tippling. Out of the blue the policy was changed to allow only two glasses of wine per person. I know! How barbarous. The students thoughts so too and did what any good English kid in the 21stFacebook group called, "St John's Has Banned Us Taking Wine To  Hall". Not too catchy, but I think the point was made.

But here comes the Lampoonian twist. Apparently the Dean of St. Johns became part of the group under an assumed name ("Pedro Amigo—I swear)  to get the lowdown on what was being planned by the now more sober conspirators on Facebook.

Once discovered the Dean denied it. Then kinda denied it. Then justified the spying.

All over the reduction of wine drinking at the dining hall.

But never let it be said that the students of St. Johns College at Cambridge represent the best minds England has to lend to the future:

Rosanna Dawes, a second-year Classics student, said: "It must have been the Dean because it was his email address. I wouldn't have minded if he had used his real name but to use a false name is a bit stupid. I think it is morally repugnant. They are saying that Facebook is a public space and people are making public comments, but in fact most people see it as a private place to express themselves and use it that way."
Ms. Dawes, the Classicist in training, believes there is some sort of expectation that a Facebook group is a private place into which no outlying eyes will or should wander. Hmmm.

Perhaps the retreat from a bottle at dinner to only two glasses per meal is a good idea. Nevertheless, there a below average comedy swimming around this story somewhere.

A Wine Blogger's Guide to Wine

This has been a good year for Tyler Colman, the first Wine Blogger to go mainstream.
Earlier in the year he saw published, and has since gained a great deal of publicity for, "Wine Politics"—— a book about its title that I loved. On November 11th, Tyler will begin swimming in the deep end of the mainstream wine media with the publishing of:

 

"A Year of Wine: Perfect Pairings, Great Buys and What to Sip for Each Season".

This book has been written before. In fact, the same book is published numerous times each year. Of course I'm talking about the Wine Drinking Guide genre of wine books. Like it's numerous duplicates, "A Year of Wine" seeks to educate the average or budding wine drinker on the ins and outs of all things wine. The key, of course, is to try to re-write this book in a unique way and with a unique and authoritative voice.

I think Colman has succeeded on both counts.

In this rendition of the wine guide, Tyler introduces readers to a variety of subjects by categorizing them by month and season. After an introductory chapter in which the reader is tutored in the various characteristics of different red and white wines, how to choose stemware, pairing food and wine and other basics, Tyler jumps into January. Here we get riffs on the "Resolution" to take better wine notes, on visiting Australia during their summer while it's winter in the northern hemisphere, and a primer on Port, the wine that will keep you warm.

By July Tyler is discussing "Independence Day" and American winemakers worth seeking out, Rose for the warm summer months, and an introduction to box wines for the summer picnic.

The final December chapter gives Tyler the opportunity to discuss giving wine as gifts, what to do about New Years celebrations, and tips on what to drink in honor of December 5, the anniversary of the end of Prohibition.

You get the idea. Tyler's a pretty darned bright guy and could have found any number of themes by which to organize his vast wine knowledge into a guide for the beginner and semi-experienced wine drinker. The seasonal approach is very clever and works. This organizational format make the book something more of a "read" than a "flip through". The pages are filled with various wine recommendations, interviews with sommeliers, solid and easy to digest primers on various subjects, and some creative approaches to otherwise common topics for these guides.

 Plus, Tyler has an authoritative but not boorish voice that comes though with clarity in the pages. You get a sense for a dedicated, educated, enthusiast who has has no hint of the classic wine-snob-educator, a type that used to write these wine guides. I suspect this book will sell well over the next two months and beyond.

My favorite part of the book is the Introduction where Colman lays out his main themes: Drink outside the box and try new things, appreciate wine in he context of the moment and place it is drunk, match your wine choices to the season. His voice is most prominent in this part of the book too.

Tyler's blogging background, while spelled out on the cover of the book ("Author of the award-winning wine blog Dr. Vino.com"), comes through also in "A Year of Wine's" pacing. The entries in each chapter could all be blog entries. Within each month you have self contained entries that could stand alone as a blog post...and I suspect some of them probably have in one form or another. But beyond this, there isn't much on the topic of blogs and blogging.

As I said before, this is a big year for Tyler. The publishing of two wine books in a single year increases his visibility in numerous ways and puts him in line for serious consideration for a number of year-end awards and honors. I hope he gets them.

If this review of "A Year of Wine" isn't as enthusiastic as my review of Tyler's "Wine Politics", it's only because the subject matter of his new book doesn't appeal to me much. However, I'm not really the target audience. That said, "A Year of Wine" is a terrific addition to the Wine Guide genre that will enlighten many a wine drinker by making their relationship to wine deeper and more meaningful...and probably more fun too.

For me, however, this book feels like a graduation ceremony. Its appearance seems to to me to announce Tyler's graduation from the Wine Blogging Community into the Mainstream Wine Writing Community. This isn't a disparagement of Wine Blogging. It's an acknowledgment that good writers in the blogosphere who hold a deep knowledge on a subject tend to be identified quickly by publishers and are plucked up and given a wider stage.

This book should also serve as a warning to wine bloggers everywhere who might aspire to following the same path into the mainstream as Tyler has: You better be a very good writer and you better know your subject matter in a deep and intimate way. Even for your basic Wine Guides (particularly for your basic Wine Guides) the bar has always been set pretty high. Tyler's entry into that genre of wine writing shows that the standards have not slipped one iota.

The Battle For Wine and How I Learned to Love Alice Feiring

Alice Feirng is an anti-establishmentarian that believes beauty is extracted from order. This puts her at odds with American wine and probably modernity too. And yet this strange and compelling perspective also gave her open entry directly into the hearts of the audience I watched her address yesterday.

Last night, in the grand, old tank room of Sonoma's venerable Sebastiani Vineyards, with lights dimmed and candles lit, Ms. Feiring held court in front of a crowd that was decidedly modern: a group of 100+ wine bloggers and wine industry participants interested in understanding this burgeoning genre of writing spawned of new technologies.

The message Ms.Feiring had for gathering was surely familiar to most of the older people in the crowd who came of age when Ms. Feiring did: Don't give in to the managers of crude compromise that seek to put everything in the employ of profit and mediocrity; stay true to blogging's roots and continue to stir the pot.

How could this gaggle of wine bloggers, who properly understand themselves as the wine industry's literary equivalent of the crowd with pitchforks and torches, not embrace this message? I know it appealed to me.

Feiring, who explained that she fell into blogging by happy accident, lamented much of the simple minded writing she is too often asked to produce where wine is concerned. "Wine Entertaining" articles for the Kmart and Target crowd had gotten to her. Blogging at her In Vino Veritas blog, though producing for her no immediate income, had given her a place to express her deepest concerns for the wine industry, a place to extol the virtues of authentic wines, and a place to explain what's right and wrong with wine in the 21st century.

For anyone who might wonder what Ms. Feiring believes is wrong with wine, and particularly California wine, one need only read her LA Times editorial from last May that succinctly summarized her book that would soon follow: "The Battle for Wine and Love -- Or How I Saved the World from Parkerization." She pulls no punches in her LA Times Article:

"When I first stopped drinking the Left Coast, it was because I was offended by the overuse of wood, boring flavors and lack of structure....when I evaluate them [California wines], I think not in terms of whether I like them but whether I can tolerate them."

But it's not just California wines that have offended Ms. Feiring: "But take heart, Golden State, you're not alone in making what I consider to be undrinkable wine. About 90% of the rest of mondo del vino has been similarly corrupted."

What Ms. Feiring believes will save the world of wine, California included, is a dedication to dirt; a commitment to authenticity by the makers of wine; winemaking that is "fiercely committed to working with, not against, nature."

Within Ms. Feiring's message to bloggers not to give into those that would turn blogging into just another place to publish more boring, dreck-filled "Wine Entertaining" articles that please advertisers and those with a disposition toward the color grey, is an implicit reiteration of her problem with 90% of today's wine: it is mainly "overblown, over-alcoholed, over-oaked, overpriced and over-manipulated." Her explanation for how this has happened, this corruption of nature, is somewhat complex but one of the primary culprits is the desire of winemakers around the world to conform to one man's palate. Robert Parker's seeming demand that good wine be big, fat, unnaturally ripe and extracted, over oaked and flabby has influenced winemakers, marketers and accountants to eschew the creation of wines that reflect the place where grapes are grown.

Alice Feiring is an incontestably beautiful woman. Small and slim in stature with a long graceful face and flowing red hair, there is a pixie queen quality to her. She sparkles too. This is not the sparkle of a bright, over sequined stunner that leaves a wake behind her as she glides across a crowded room. It strikes me as the sparkle you see in the eyes of carefree, curious, optimistic youth who still believe that beauty is God made, not man made.

For the short time she addressed her fellow bloggers, she demonstrated great command of the art of holding a room. This, I've learned, is not an easy thing to do when the room is filled with a collection of people who are defined in large part by a strong desire to express themselves—at all times. Nevertheless, Alice quietly addressed the crowd and explained that, amazingly, it was her first time ever giving a talk, as opposed to a reading.

Mostly she spoke of how she came to blogging, her experience being the "anti-Parker", her view of what blogging means and ending with a substantial nugget that I hope did not get past everyone in the room: she explained to those who put together the Wine Bloggers Conference that this was the first time wine writers had been organized. This was a two fold compliment. At once she acknowledged that a few people had actually managed to herd the cats into a room, while simultaneously giving bloggers entrance into the fraternity of Wine Writers. Wow. I hope no one in the room last night took this comment lightly.

And yet, for all of her beauty, grace, generosity and insight, Alice Feiring has problem. The kind of natural wines to which she so desperately wants to see winemakers dedicate themselves and drinkers embrace, are not really "natural" at all, but rather artifacts of inertia, government decree, and the forces of order.

The reason we know what Chambolle Musigny taste like in its natural, unmanipulated state is because we know what Pinot Noir tastes like and there are very specific rules for how "Chambolle Musigny" is to be produced—from vine to bottle. This government-ordered state of nature is a product of many things, not the least of which is powerful brand equity that has been built around a certain style of wine made in Burgundy over many years. Were these rules to change, diminish, or be discarded all together then the state of nature, the definition of "natural wine", would change.

We don't regulate what wine should taste like in America. At least not much. This is why in a place like Russian River Valley it is nearly impossible to say what we can expect from a wine that hails from Russian River Valley. It might take its taste from any number of different varieties of grapes. It might take its taste from any number of growing techniques or ripening philosophies. It might take its taste from any number of winemaking techniques. But what it won't take its taste from is government decree.

I think Alice wants drink wines that taste like Russian River Valley. I think she wants to drink wines that taste like Anderson Valley. I think too she wants to drink wines that taste like the dirt and climate of Eaglepoint Ranch vineyard. She's a Terroirista.

Ironically, her desire for natural wine and her bent toward railing against the establishment and her call for bloggers not to give in and to keep stirring the pot all express her inner anti-establishmentarianism, while her desired outcome for reform of winemaking and wine appreciation calls for well ordered rules that would tell us what is best gown where and under what conditions it is grown and how it ought to be produced.

It seems to me that Alice extracts beauty from order, not the low level form of chaos she otherwise promotes.

I may be overstating the contradiction of Alice Feiring. It may be that she could find happiness in wine were it just to be made from grapes that are not quite so ripe, not quite so steeped in oak, not quite so manipulated for the tastes of the majority; that wine be made a bit more often to the demands of her own palate and that it be made by men and women that have a bit more dirt under their nails sing a more spiritual tune. I don't know.

But here's what I do know. I'm in love with Alice Feiring. And I told her so last night. I told her that I loved her spirit, her measured contrarianism, her generosity and the inspiration that oozes out of her. I hope she gets her wine.

13 Things I learned at the Wine Bloggers Conference

13 Things I learned at the first day of the American Wine Bloggers Conference

1. Amy Atwood of Cleanskins & My Daily Wine blog is a fascinating lovely woman whose two websites don't completely scratch the surface of her potential or involvement in the wine industry. She's one of the folks from the Wine Blogger's Conference who I immediately liked and immediately knew was meant for much greater things. Nice handbag too.

2. Quivira Winery in Dry Creek Valley's one of the best defenders of biodynamicism I've ever come across. And this comes from a "Radical Secularist" where things biodynamic are concerned. Their winemaker in particular, Steve Canter, is a fascinating, articulate fella who I'm absolutely sure I'd like to spend some time talking with over a bottle of 16.4% alcohol Zinfandel and talking about the mystical properties of Biodynamically grown grapes.

3. Vino Chapeau, that little plastic disk one places over the top of their wine glass to capture the aroma before it fades, REALLY does work. I thought it a little silly when I first saw it. When I used it I was amazed.

4. Snooth, the wine locating and information aggregation website, continues to amaze me with the time-sucking, worthwhile, innovative all together cool and enormously useful services they provide not only to wine lovers but consumers also.

5. Gary Vaynerchuk's insights and motivational qualities are only eclipsed by his stamina.

6. The folks who run the Flamingo Hotel do a fantastic job of service their guests with one exception. They need to teach their bartends how to make a good, simple pastis.

7. Terroir is a concept nearly as mystical as Biodynamicism, but much more practical to the marketing of wine.

8. Kim Stare Wallace, the lovely and talented woman who runs Dry Creek Valley Vineyards and whose Fume Blanc recently won the coveted Sweepstakes White award at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, and who maintains a terrific blog called Wilma's Wine World, is someone I regret not having gotten to know many years ago.

9. The Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley are a wine association that does not do things in a half hearted way. They are innovative, active, well put together, filled with great representatives, and as an promotional organization, make a great case for driving right past Russian River, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma Coast and heading west at Healdsburg.

10. The image of me at the top of this blog is not just too inaccurate, but deceptive. No less than 7 people at the Wine Bloggers Conference came up to me and said, "You look nothing like your picture." Only problem: Can't figure out if that's a good thing.

11. Randy Hall of Wine Biz Radio, besides being part of the glue that makes the Wine Blogging Community so cohesive, has the best, most authentic authentic laugh of anyone in the electronic wine world.

12. Melissa Dobson of the Family-Love-Wine blog, PR Professional, and contributor to Lenndevours, is someone any rational person looking for PR or communications help MUST consider hiring! Wark Communications surely will.

13. Cruvee, a new social networking site with great content, knows talent when they see it. They engaged Thomas Pellechia to help maintain their blog. Thomas is one of the most insightful and and experienced wine writers in America who brings remarkable perspective to his craft. This means two things: 1) Smart folks at Cruve—which bodes well for their site and 2) I get to read even more of Pellechia's work beyond his own VinoFictions.

On The Eve of the First Wine Bloggers Conference

The power and importance of The Wine Spectator, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Wine & Spirit's Magazine, the Wine Enthusiast or any other wine print publications isn't determined by the quality of their content. It isn't measured by the number of wines they review. And it's not measured by the insight of their various columnists, editors or writers.

The power of these publications and any others is determined by one single thing: The number of eyeballs they attract.

With eyeballs come hearts and minds. And it's the heart and mind, working in tandem and calculating personal values, that results in action.

To this extent the power of any given wine blog currently in existence is relatively light, though a few are creeping into the consciousness of the dedicated wine lover and the wine trade itself. However, if you consider the number of people reading wine blogs in general, then you have to conclude that something of a power shift (migration) has been initiated by the world's wine bloggers.

As over 100 wine bloggers get set to meet at the first American Wine Bloggers Conference, the question of what wine blogging means isn't so self indulgent, even if it's asked by a wine blogger. The question is of great significance to members of the wine trade who always feel shifts and migration in the hearts and minds of their compatriots before the general consumer feels the quake. The wine trade is like the dog that perks up before the ground moves.

What are the implications of a large percentage of newly-minted wine lovers turning to wine blogs as well as to traditional wine publications to get their fix of wine info? What are the implications of a good percentage of these new wine lovers turning to on-line sources exclusively in order to get that needed dose of winespeak that lovers of the beverage seem to commit to for a lifetime once struck by the bug?

The first thing that those in the wine industry, wine publishing and into wine blogging need to recognizes is that the 500-800 wine blogs that exist are in no way like the better recognized and better understood political blogs that have changed political reporting. Wine has no news cycle. Our taxes, our children's future, our mortgage payments and our safety in the world have little or no connection to wine. It is an indulgence. That is to say, wine "matters" very little in the grand scheme we each connect to.

And yet, there are 500 to 800 wine blogs.

The reason for this is that taste is very subjective. The diversity of wine alone tells us this. Wine lovers know this. It's why the same wine book is published 10-20 times each year under different titles. Wine lovers are willing to listen and learn from many different sources. The fact that up until a few years ago only a very few publications world wide (printed or digitized) provided wine information to the world's wine lovers was an anomaly driven by the lack of an easy, cheep and efficient way for the subjectivity in taste to express itself.

Enter the wine blog.

To understand the implications of this, consider that there will never again be a Robert Parker, Jr. Many people have asked what will happen when Mr. Parker retires? The answer is nothing. His readers will migrate to the 1000s of other sources, easily found and easily searched and easily evaluated, in order to fulfill their needs. In this respect, Robert Parker Jr.'s Wine Advocate and the Wine Spectator are truly remarkable entities. Wine marketers the world over really should take a moment to step back and appreciate them for their uniqueness, their success, their influence, the way they changed wine and the wine industry, for the talent they gathered and showed off, and for the fact that they were a one of a kind venture that will never be duplicated.

However, they did confirm something of which wine bloggers and the wine industry should take note: Wine lovers follow voices.

They'll look for that voice that speaks to them by browsing among many. But once they find the one that sings to them, they'll be loyal listeners. And though I don't think any wine blogger will soon wield the kind of game changing influence that Mr. Parker or the Wine Spectator did (do!), I think we can count of five or ten of them rising beyond the pack, attracted a significantly larger readership than all others, and wielding significant influence among their readers. And this will happen because their voices are the right ones for the times.

But wine bloggers, particularly those who believe what I'm writing, should not begin to get excited or giddy at the prospect of become among the influential or semi-influential. Nor should they revel in the idea that the traditional wine print publications many of them scorn will somehow die off.

That's not going to happen.

While the print editions of newspapers are likely to die a slow, ugly death, magazines will live. And Wine Magazines will be among the living.

The nature of blogging strikes me as being rather visceral. The content of blogs most often reflect momentary insights, the substance of a blogger's current ire or delight, a first impression of events, the immediate declaration of what their palates tell them. This is not to say that wine blogging can't be reflective or synthesizing. It just rarely is. This is not a dirty secret or a bad thing. Human beings rarely find themselves in a reflective mood, rarely synthesize complex ideas, and too often appear incapable of doing so even if it were something they wanted to indulge in. It's the rare human being that is more often reflective than reactive. Blogging is a much more human way of expressing ideas.

But we do reflect, some of us. And that's what print magazines are best at demonstrating. They provide a perfect package for filling up with longer, reflective ideas. They provide a vehicle for teasing out distant connections that force the reader to take a longer intellectual journey. Print Magazines are more tactile-friendly when this kind of journey is desired than a computer or phone can be. I fully expect and fully hope that the greatest editors and publishers, those with a disposition toward reflection and synthesis, will gravitate toward the printed word, rather than the digital word.

Printed wine publications really must excel at this reflective form of prose because they have no chance of competing in the areas where blogs will mow them over like a Toro gliding over a thick summer lawn.

Consider the idea of community and communicating. At the very heart of the blog format is the assumption that what is written will be discussed by the readers...and discussed right away. The "letter to the editor" section is something that no print publications should be publishing now or ever again. Put it where it should be: on-line.

It's an ugly fact that while print publications will provide bloggers with fodder for posts, the conversations provoked by the print publication will occur at blogs completely unassociated with the magazines. Let's hope bloggers appreciate this gift and let's hope editors and publishers of the print publications have the foresight to encourage this kind of subscriber enhancing activity.

Everyone who grows old has the opportunity to tell the young'ens in earshot that "I was around at the beginning of..." It's supposed to be impressive. It rarely is to the younger folk. Still, we make our claim to fate because it's impressive to us. I'm impressed by being able to say that I was around and I was involved when wine blogging began and when it began to change how wine lovers got their information and how the wine industry markets their wares. It's a very small claim in the larger scheme of things. But it is among my claims. And, it's among the claims that can be made by all the bloggers who will be attending the first American Wine Bloggers Conference this coming weekend. I want them to appreciate the claim they can make.

Wine Bloggers Conference: Frequency of Posting and Vistors

The Wine Bloggers Conference is quickly approaching. At the conference Alder Yarrow and I will be conducting a seminar focused on Increasing Your Readership & Visitors. One of the fundamental points that I will be making at the seminar is that frequency of posting has an important impact on a blog's readership. Basically, the more frequently one posts, the better and higher the readership.

To illustrate this point, I looked at the frequency of posting for just two months of the top 10 and bottom ten ranked blogs at Ala Wine's Top 100 Wine Blog Rankings.

Guess what I found.

The top 10 ranked blogs post on average 14 times per month.
The bottom 10 ranked blogs post on average 8 times per month.

This is admittedly a crude way of looking at the issue. But the results are exactly what I expected to find. The fact is, the more posts one publishes, the more opportunity for links back to these posts and the higher likely hood that search engines will rank the blog higher in searches—two factors that lead to higher readers ship.

Whether frequency of posting is the most important factor in increasing the readership of one's blog is by no means determined. Many other issues play a key role. Yet, I'd venture to guess that if you posted 20 times per month for 5 months, you'd see a significant increase in your visitors and readership and RSS subscribers.