Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Bloggerview #18: Mark Fisher

Bloggerview #18
Who: Mark Fisher
Blog: Uncorked
Where: http://www.daytondailynews.com/o/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/wine/index.html

Mark Fisher thinks like a reporter and this is what makes his blog, Uncorked, so relevant and so good. Of course, he is a reporter for Ohio's Dayton Daily News and was their wine writer before he began blogging at that paper's website back in late 2005. Besides good concise writing, you can count on Uncorked to point it's readers toward important questions for the wine industry and for consumers. There is an investigative quality to Mark's blogging the surely is a result of his reporter's mentality, but the other thing that comes through in his writing is a true love of wine as well as an obvious desire to serve his readers. I was very happy when Mark agreed to be Bloggerviewed.

1.  When did you begin blogging and why?
I began blogging in September 2005 because I wanted to be like Tom Wark. Well, that and a couple of other reasons: The executive editor of the Dayton  Daily News at the time encouraged me to start a wine blog. And my reporter colleague who sat next to me in the newsroom had just launched an education blog, and I was, well, jealous of all the damn attention he was getting. We print journalists are very competitive, you know. And perhaps most important, I had been writing the Taste of Wine column for the Dayton Daily News and Cox News Service for 16 years, but it was published only twice a month, and, well, I had a LOT more to say about wine than two dinky little columns a month. A blog meant no editors, no space restrictions – in other words, heaven on earth or a print journalist. Thus, Uncorked was born.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
Focus? Who said anything about focus? Hey, this is a blog, fercryin’outloud. Okay, here goes: The focus of Uncorked is commentary, opinion, an occasional poke in the eye of the wine establishment and of wine producers and (especially) wine marketers (except for Tom Wark, of course), a place where wine can be fun but not trivialized, a place for discussion, where readers can learn from each other. Oops, too many sentences.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
Well, first, see question #2. But in addition, I think Uncorked has a distinctive mix of national and local content. If wine industry types want to see, in a snapshot, what we’re drinking and tasting here in the heartland of America (Dayton, Ohio, is God’s country, after all – at least, for one week in May, the weather’s PERFECT)), they can tune in every Friday to Uncorked to see an astonishing list of wine tastings, dinners and other events that will offer a window to the wine market here in “flyover country.” We might just surprise you. Many other posts are not local at all in content, and they attract comments from all over the country (and on occasion the world, this being the web), so Uncorked offers a bit of everything.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
A slow, steady climb, although one particular post just a few short months following the birth of Uncorked, entitled "A Trader Joe's Wine Buying Experience", put Uncorked on the cyberspace map very quickly. The entry speaks for itself, but it demonstrates very clearly how wine blogs can, have, and will, change the future of wine discourse. Not revolutionize it, mind you – I think that would be hyperbole – but change it, yes.

5. Do you accept samples for review?
Sadly – tragically – no. But I like to hear about the new releases, and if something captures my fancy, I’ll go out and buy it on the open market, and will write the occasional wine review, or fit it into something I’m working on.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I don’t use a 100-point scale, or any other scale, really, just descriptions, except for very, very occasional instances when I’m covering a vertical or horizontal tasting, and even then, rarely. For all of the reasons that have been covered extensively here on Fermentation and on Uncorked and elsewhere.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
Easy – and yet, not so easy. I usually blog first thing in the morning, before I go into the office (My “day job”: I am the food and dining reporter for the Dayton Daily News, and Uncorked is part of the DaytonDailyNews.com web site). But more importantly, I enjoy it. Immensely. And, quite frankly, I’ve become addicted to it. In a good way.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I’m not shy about marketing my blog via email and other avenues. I am a subscriber to a Dayton-based wine listserv, and I routinely let my fellow listserv subscribers know when I’ve posted new content on Uncorked, which is almost daily. And I send occasional (at least I THINK they’re occasional) emails to other folks in the wine industry when (and only when) I’ve written something I think may be of broad interest, or specifically of interest to them. My blog is among those monitored and occasionally featured on Wine Business.com as is Fermentation and many other fine wine blogs, which has helped build an audience.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
First and foremost, wine blogging offers an extraordinary opportunity to interact directly with readers and fellow wine enthusiasts in ways that print journalism can’t match – and keep in mind, I wrote (and continue to write) a wine column for a daily newspaper (sometimes picked up and distributed by a national news service) for 19 years. The instantaneous feedback is very, very exciting, rewarding, gratifying, stimulating – you get the idea. In addition, no space restrictions, no editing … THAT, my friends, is delightfully liberating for us print guys. Throw in a potential audience that literally knows no geographic bounds (as I quickly discovered with the Traders Joe’s entry I mentioned above), and, well … who wouldn’t want to write a wine blog?

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
Fermentation. You mean there are others? No, really … I read a slew of them, but with great irregularity.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Yes. But we’re just gettin’ started.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Paris. Hey, I’m a food and dining reporter, remember? Good lord, give me a month (or a year), and I’ll eat my way through the City of Lights. Then I’ll wash ashore in the Caribbean as a beached whale -- but I’ll have a smile on my face.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Dog. A thousand times, dog. Okay, nothin’ wrong with cats, but our 7-year-old lab-shepherd mix, Rosie, is the sweetest dog in the world.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
I’m from Ohio. What’s this “New Yorker” publication you’re talking about? Does it have lots of purty pitchurs?

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
Would I have to give up my Honda Accord?  Forget it.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis. But California chardonnay is getting better. Call me an optimist.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
As a food and dining writer, this question haunts me – it’s sort of like asking a parent, “Who’s your favorite child?” I could fill a book, but suffice to say there would be crablegs involved, and rack of lamb. And don’t even get me STARTED on the wines (okay, French syrah with the lamb, but please, don’t MAKE me say more …).

18. What is Heaven Like?
See question #17.

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
My father, who was a martini and Manhattan man for the most part, would most definitely be there. I’d invite John F. Kennedy – I think my dad would enjoy talking with JFK – and I’ll put Thomas Jefferson next to me, so we could talk wine (and perhaps spend a minute or two on the whole founding fathers gig). The four of us would have a helluva conversation, I can tell you that. And I suspect the wine would flow.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Hate to borrow a slogan from the corporate world but … JUST DO IT. There is ALWAYS room in the blogging pool for one more voice. If you don’t find it rewarding or satisfying, you’ve lost nothing. And if you DO find it rewarding and satisfying, you’ve gained something very important: the chance to be like Tom Wark.

Bloggerview #17: Thomas Pellechia

BLOGGERVIEW #17
Who: Thomas Pellechia
Blog: Vino Fictions
Where: http://www.vinofictions.blogspot.com/


This man produces some of the most lucid, well-written and well-informed wine content on the web. The bonus is that he's terribly opinionated. Thomas Pellechia has a background born for blogging. Winemaker, writer, wine salesperson. It's all there. His blog, VINOFICTION, is somewhat subversive to the cult of wine due mainly to Thomas' somewhat skeptical and cynical nature. Yet what you can count on is a very unique perspective on the issues that swirl about the wine industry. VINO FICTIONS is one of the few wine blogs That I actually place in browser's tool bar, making it always accessible immediately. That's precious real estate. But VINO FICTIONS deserves it.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?

I started the blog at the beginning of 2007. I got sick of the stuff I was reading on the wine forum sites. Too many people think opinions are facts and way too many people don't know the difference between the objective and the subjective. Plus,  the same subjects keep going around those sites, and the same misinformation, too, or maybe it's disinformation!

When it occurred to me that some forum moderators are gaming the participants, I decided to create my own outlet.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
My aim is to impart information about wine and the wine industry. I know, that's only one sentence, but that's what happens to a columnist--be concise.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
I don't know. I only hope that I am meeting my goal to impart information. I do think that I offer a unique background among the bloggers; it includes commercial winemaking, owning and operating a winery, working as a distributor sales rep, owning and operating a wine retail shop, and a wine and food writing career.

The fact that I haven't the time to blog daily, gives me more time to think about what it is I want to say. I craft my entries as if they were going to be paid for, by a real editor. I try hard to make the entries readable, and maybe even lucidly thought out.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
I started with zero readers and I ended the first year averaging 6,000 hits a month. I have no idea if that means success, mediocrity or failure, but I characterize it as growth, especially since the numbers increased each month in 2007.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
We had this discussion on your blog a few weeks back. Right now, the wines that I talk about on my blog I buy at retail. Not that I don't accept samples--just that I'd rather be up front over who's paying for the wines that I talk about. Having said that, I must have pissed people off, because samples have diminished over the past year but, sadly, inane press releases have increased!

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
The only time I rate wine is when I serve as a judge at a competition. Then, the rating is technical and usually under the Amerine/UC Davis 20-point scale. Of course, to evaluate technically, one should have had at least some technical training.

Rating wine in a subjective realm makes no sense to me--anyone, trained or not, can do it. Over my lifetime, I've tasted many highly critically acclaimed and rated wines that  either failed or squeaked through a technical evaluation.

To me, the worse part about ratings is that the general consumer seems to think the numbers indicate a technical measure of quality, when of course that's not true. And I don't buy the disingenuous statements of critics who say that their descriptions are more important than the numbers they assign. If so, then why assign numbers at all?  The answer is that in the numbers game, there's an implication that a wine critic is the arbiter of subjective perfection, and whether they are gaming the geek or really believe they are the arbiters of perfection, I find each concept distasteful.

I've never understood the notion of "calibrating" my palate to someone else's and then tying a number to it. To me, the exploration is the fun part--my exploration, not someone else's. In truth,  I'm uncomfortable telling people what I subjectively like or dislike about a wine. I don't know why anyone should care what I like or don't like.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
I'm a writer, so I sit at the computer all day. When I take a break from whatever it is I am working on, I check my email, my blog, and other blogs, etc.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Nothing specific. My name stays out there thanks to the three newspaper columns that I write, my magazine articles, my two books (I'm writing a third), and posting on blogs and other wine sites. It helps that I usually speak my mind. Anyone dumb enough to do that will definitely get free publicity, whether it's good or bad.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
Well, a blogger works on his or her own schedule. Although I am my toughest editor, there's no editor to answer to as a blogger, no deadline, no subject forced on the blogger, as well as no length and pace requirement--of course, there's no pay either...The other thing great about blogs is that people have a voice and we don't have to listen to only the self-ordained arbiters of taste.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
Well, let's see, there's that one called Fermentation and then Rockss and Fruit, Bigger Than Your Head, Good Grape, Diary of a Picky Eater, Wineanorak, The Wine Guy, Vinography, Asimov's blog, and some I can't think of right now. I don't post on all of them because I just don't have that much time.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Truth is, I've never thought about it. I hope that we have. I hope we are better than the wine forum sites simply because we are each speaking from an individual perspective instead of hosting what often turns out to be a free-for-all pissing contest. I also hope we are making a positive impact on the wonderful world of communication.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
My blood and my sentiments are definitely geared toward the Mediterranean.  Both my parents were Italian, and I grew up in an insular Italian community in Brooklyn.
Having said that, I do love Paris and Trieste.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
My wife and I play host to a handsome black, large standard poodle named Henry, who thinks he's smarter than I just because he can type better. Our cat recently died and hasn't been replaced.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
The New Yorker, it's just about the only magazine that I read these days, although their fiction editor needs to know that the short stories are beginning to sound the same to me and the poems generally suck!

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
We own a Honda Civic Hybrid and a Subaru Outback. The Honda is for the frequent drives to New York City (300 miles one way) and the Subaru is to navigate our home turf--the Finger Lakes region.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis, so long as it is in the steely, minerally style.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
This is the toughest question of all. I'm a food as well as wine loony, and my taste in each is spectacularly (for me) eclectic. I know that after choosing anything, I will wonder why I hadn't chosen something else. But if I really had to choose I might go for the following:

Start with cannelini bean (is that spelled right?) and escarole in broth with carrots, shallots, garlic and a touch of grated Grana Padano cheese.
The wine: a Friulian Pinot Bianco.

Soft shell crabs, lightly sauteed in butter, garlic and lemon, with a touch of cayenne, served with Portuguese style thin sliced fried potatoes.
The wine: a clean Chablis or maybe a Sancerre, but if the cayenne is too much, maybe a pink wine.

Arugula and Swiss chard with slices of sweet red pepper and oil cured Moroccan black olives, sprinkled with balsamic fig vinegar.
The wine: a Finger Lakes semi-dry or a German Auslese Riesling.

Espresso cheese cake.
The wine: Madeira Bual.

18. What is Heaven Like?
No deadlines, no responsibilities, no bureaucrats, no snow, and no insecure, wealthy wine geeks!

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
I've had this idea for years that I have yet to act on. I want to invite a group of people to dinner who have little or nothing in common; then, start the conversation and see what happens. With that in mind, my guests would be: William James, Dorothy Parker, Oprah Winfrey, and Bill Clinton. I'll cook and I'll bring the wine, thank you very much!

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Get out of town. There isn't room for you and us. Seriously, a blogger, any writer, should find his or her voice and go with it, and always tell the truth as you know it. Also, it boosts credibility if you can spell.

Bloggerview #15: Lyle Fass

Bloggerview #15
Who: Lyle Fass
Blog: Rockss & Fruit
Where: http://rockssandfruit.blogspot.com/

It didn't take me long to figure out why I really, really liked Lyle Fass' Rockss & Fruit blog. Lyle is an "advocacy wine blogger", my favorite kind. Don't take it from me, just read the interview below ("My blog represents the forces of good...in the battle vs the forces of evil"). Let's face it, it's just more interesting to read someone with serious opinions, especially when they express them as well as Lyle does. Lyle also happens to be a wine merchant in NY. They guy knows his wine, his wine industry and he knows what he thinks will make the wine industry a better place and what will make wine drinkers better wine drinkers. It all makes for one of the most entertaining and educational wine blogs out there, and Lyle makes for one of the best Bloggerviews yet.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I started blogging when I left my last job as I had to find something to pass the time and needed to express myself. I have such a big mouth and so many opinions it was a natural progression from posting on wine bulletin boards to establishing my own blog. Another factor is the wines I tend to taste and enjoy are not really written about that much on the Internet so this is a perfect forum to pontificate about everything from Grauburgunder to Irouleguy. The world does not need another blog to praise Caymus or Harlan.  I blog to bring attention to the small, artisanal producers with terrific, unique wines and great price to value ratios.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
A daily report of the wine wars from the front lines.  My blog represents the forces of good (natural, unique wines showing terroir) in the battle vs the forces of evil (spoofulated, high alcohol boring wines that all taste the same).

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
The wine world is at a crossroads.  The popularity of Robert Parker has caused increasing numbers of winemakers to create wines to target his palette.  In this Brave New World, wines have high concentration and high alcohol.  They all taste the same with gobs and gobs of fruit and little other flavor.
While it is certainly nice to able to quaff big fruity wines once in a while, the uniqueness of wineries that are centuries old is something precious and that is in danger of disappearing.  Winemaking should be an art form, not a brutal Stepfordian science designed to produce spoofulated wines to please the average palette. A counter-revolution has begun with a small band of wine lovers trying to present an alternate view.  They are creating natural wines that speak of the people and place where they are made.  These wines taste unique and even casual drinkers can tell the difference.
In my blog, I try to explain the philosophy of natural winemaking and also to point out examples of these wonderful, unique wines.  I detail in-depth visits to wineries like Paul Furst’s winery in Burgstadt.  I talk about the wines of Jean-Paul Brun in the Beaujolais, Francois Chidane in  Montlouis and Angiolino Maule in Veneto.  I recently completed a [14] part series on my travels to Germany.
My blog also covers the life of a wine buyer/retailer in New York (for example, eight course meals with wine lovers at the best restaurants in the city with crazy wines from our cellars).
I also try to be funny in an absurd type of way.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
The growth has been pretty remarkable. In the beginning I was begging people to read it. I was sending multiple e-mails out per week saying “Look everybody I have a blog! Read it please!” But then with some key mentions in The Pour, other blogs and bulletin boards more people started to read. Nowadays some things I post get picked up on some random sites and readership is growing virally. This month I will smash last month’s record. But no rest for the wicked as I want it to grow and grow and keep doubling readership every month.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
I am wine retailer so samples are my life. People do not give me samples explicitly for me to review, but usually they find their way on my blog. And I am cutthroat. If I don’t like a wine it will get railed despite the fact that it was free. I will treat it with equal jubilation if I like it.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
Well you need to know I am anti-points and rating systems. I used to not be and when I posted stuff on bulletin boards I used points but then one day I said to myself “Who the bleep are you to give points to a living breathing thing that is changing constantly and all you are getting is a snapshot in the life of this wine.” Since then no points and no ratings. But if pressed I use the tried and true, would I buy it again?

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
Pretty much if I get an idea or see something interesting I stop what I am doing and blog about it. It’s just the way I am. Spur of the moment, spontaneous. Some of my most inspired posts were never planned and just happened in the moment. I try to post every day and multiple times a day if I can because I want people to keep coming back and checking multiple times a day and thinking “What is this loon going to write next?”

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Besides my shameless self-promotion and whoring of myself every chance I get  in the name of Rockss and Fruit, no.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
I am so far from being a professional writer it is not even funny. A book could be published on all the spelling mistakes and grammatical errors on my blog. Blogging is current. Blogging is controversial. Blogging is funny. Blogging does not conform to any traditional format. Blogging is witty, self promoting and irreverent.  Most importantly it seems that wine bloggers are part of an underground community that is forming. It seems with traditional wine writing, there are factions that have developed and have always been there. The British camp versus the American camp is good example. Not happened yet with blogging. I hope it doesn’t.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
First if I have left you out it does not mean I don’t read your blog. It probably means you don’t update it enough for me to read regularly! In no specific order:

Pickyeaters
The Pour
Old World Old School
Mcduff’s Food & Wine Trail
The wine importer
Wine Camp
Alice Fering
Brooklyn Guy Loves Wine
Do Bianchi

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Oh yeah. For me personally I have gotten emails from happy and unhappy winemakers about things I have written about their wines. I read blogs for wine news, tasting notes and general commentary. Its where the most interesting wine writing these days by a mile. They have made a pretty big impact now but the big impact will happen in the future. The best is yet to come.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Paris. I mean . . . its Paris. . 10 times out of 10. You seen one beach you seen ‘em all. I have seen one.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Cat. Ozzie has even made an appearance on Rockss and Fruit.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
Ha! Me read on a plane. I am usually so freaked out you have to peel me off the floor But if I had to choose it would be People because it is brilliantly mindless and that is what I need when I am freaking out.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
I’ll answer that when I get my license.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis. I have not actually drunk a California Chardonnay voluntarily since 2001. Tasted a bunch but never drank one.  But I really don’t drink much Chablis as there is too much Riesling out there.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
It would be a tasting menu I create from all the great meals I have had in my life. It would start of with those light cracker-wafer things from WD-50. Then some beautifully prepared simple vegetable (carrot, squash, celery) from Blue Hill. Then the cucumber and garlic from Grand Sichuan. After that a selection of Sashimi from Gari. Then an intermezzo of fried chicken from the Cornerstone Grill. After that back to Grand Sichuan with tea-smoked duck and spicy chicken with Chinese broccoli. No desert as it is not my thing. I would wash this all down with the 2001 Donnhoff Niederhauser Hermannshohle Spatlese. I am assuming this would be in 2025 when this wine is mature.

18. What is Heaven Like?
Watching the sun set over Kastanienbusch in the Pfalz from the main road in Birkweil.

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
This was a tough question because I am not sure I would want it to be four famous people I have never met because what if I don’t like them? I mean I could get in a verbal battle with Aristotle or Bogart and it would be a mess so I would want someone there I know. There are two reasons I would need someone there I know. If for some reason there is a weird vibe between me and the other three famous people the person I know would make me feel comfortable. The other reason is I know what is in their cellar so they would bring the wine. With all that said it would be Woody Allen, Matthew Barney, my buddy Mark Dumeez who is the sommelier at Savoy in NYC and my best wine buddy in the world who also would bring the wine and Keith Olberman as he covers politics and sports.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Write what you feel and don’t think about

Bloggerview #15: Alice Feiring

Bloggerview #15
Who: Alice Feiring
Blog: Veritas In Vino
Where: http://www.alicefeiring.com/

Alice Feiring is not incapable of pulling her punches. I just don't think she has any interest in doing so. This is a sure indication of a person who is makes every attempt to get on with life. Alice is a writer in the best sense of the word. When reading her work you get the sense that you are reading HER, rather than her notion of what someone will want to read. This is a treat, this is not all that common and we can all see what it looks  like by reading her blog. Veritas In Vino is where Alice sounds off without pay. It's where she lucidly weighs in on any and all controversies that interest her and it's where she pull no punches. If you've been reading these Bloggerviews for any time now you'll note that she is commonly listed as one of the blogs other bloggers read regularly. I've always harbored the theory that we each read certain writers regularly because we want to be them or their characters. I'm not sure we'd want all wine bloggers to be Alice Feiring. But it sure would be nice if a whole lot more emulated her approach.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
It started all so innocently. Initially I wanted one place I could send editors to see my work. Josh Mack, my designer pushed me hard to blog as well.  In retrospect, I see that my initial posts were the seeds for my forthcoming book. I used it to test material and expand on experiential notes.  Slowly, the blog became a home where I could write –cut loose—and not beholden to an assignment or compromise my voice. You know, an actor and writer both need an audience and it picked up the creative slack when my phone wasn’t ringing as much as I would have liked.  It also turned out to be the perfect place to unload the juicy bits that got cut out of bigger stories, observations and writings that I couldn’t find a home for.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I guess it comes down to a search for authenticity in wine and the world according to Alice.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
I think I’m known for a certain brand of honesty and no fear of controversy.  Also, am I the only full-time, freelance journalist bloggers out there? I can’t think of anyone else who fits into the category. My profession and years of experience also gives me great access to the industry. I have one constraint. Since I do make my living from articles and not the blog, I have to always balance my topics and details and make sure I don’t scoop myself out of a paying gig. Sometimes I have to wait until a story comes out in print to give the underbelly notes.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
I don’t know if I can characterize that. My readership fluctuates between 4,000- 8,000 regular readers. If I have a story in the New York Times or people on Robert Parker’s bulletin board are discussing me, it can jump to 30,000. I also find I have a pretty solid following in France, Italy, Germany and Japan which I find very exciting.

5. Do you accept wine samples for review?
Accept? Just try to stop them from coming! It’s impossible. I get a mini-mountain of samples (mostly industrial stuff) delivered constantly to my door; most of these I have utterly no interest in tasting let alone reviewing.  I usually redistribute those and the others to my unsuspecting neighbors, the Fed Ex guy or the plumber.

On rare occasion a bottle sneaks in and surprises me. That mostly happens when people take the care to actually read my blog and know what I am all about.  Then, if I like the wine, I will write it up. If the bottles have outrageous packaging and they are vile, I’ll write that up too.   I also get a great kick out of reviewing press releases. One that stands out was the bottle that came with the rock to extol the virtues of the terroir. For the life of me I couldn’t find out where the vineyard was or who was the winemaker.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I don’t believe in them. I believe in words and making people read. But now that I’m thinking of it, if I had to, Alice’s system might be something like.
* I can’t put it in my mouth.
* Down the drain, not the hatch.
* I can drink it, but I’m not happy.
* I can drink this. It does no harm.
* Every day? Sure, why not.
* What a quirky wine. Interesting.
* I really like this wine.
*I love this wine.
*I can’t stop thinking about this wine.
* I can’t live without this wine.

Of course there would be a few descriptive tells on each, but I would never reduce it to a #1 or a #3.

7. How do you fit the maintenance and writing of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
Each morning I obsessively check for spam (as well as throughout the day). I check my stats daily to see where my hits are coming from. I answer emails as they come in. I try to blog at least twice a week. For a day or two after I keep on editing the piece, making sure I didn’t make a complete fool of myself. (This is when I long for an editor!).  For some reason, I just can’t get it right until it is up there and vulnerable. Every once in a while I email Josh about some tech difficulty. HELP!

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Ha!  I don’t make any money off of this thing so that’s almost immaterial. If people are interested in my kinds of wine, they seem to find me. I do admit when the Parker board has a thread on me, I pick up several escapees. There were two jolts early on in the blog that were tremendously helpful in building my base; being included in Food & Wine magazine’s story on the top seven wine blogs and when my blog was nominated for a James Beard.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
A blog is all about voice.  I don’t have to deal with an editor saying, “My you have a strong point of view, we’ll have to work around that,” which is something an editor actually told me when I was writing the Food & Wine Guide some years back. I can breathe in the blog. Also, my style is talky and informal, as if I were writing emails.  I don’t have to worry about finely structured stories or coming up with a great lead or a killer kicker. In other words, for better or worse, come take a peek into Alice’s brain and heart.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
Sometimes I think only bloggers read other bloggers! We’re a self-referential group, aren’t we? I read several but the ones that make it on my feeds are yours, Joe Dressner, Eric Asimov, Jeremy Parzen and Lyle Fass and Amy Lillard and Wine Terroirs. I also really enjoy stopping by Ray Isle’s blog, which reminds me, I’ll add him to my feed now. Now, his great example of a difference between the edited voices as appears in Food & Wine, and his own personal (and terrific) voice on his Food & Wine blog. Edited but still, it is all Ray.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
I’m not sure a blog is going to dramatically increase wine consumption or help America finally get out of Prohibition, but they will slowly –as more wine civilians start to read them-- influence the drinking and buying habits and choices. Drinkers will find their personal wine guru and follow them to the stores, viewing them as more independent and trustworthy

I see the growing influence in the increase of marketers wanting coverage for their client on my blog. A few years ago nothing mattered to them but print

12. Vacation Choice: Paris or the Caribbean?
That’s a choice? Paris.

13. Pet Choice: Dog or Cat?
Dog.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
Gosh, how predictable am I? I wish I could say People just for effect. But, New Yorker.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
I live in New York and mostly get around by bike! In theory I would say Prius, but it depending on what the driving needs are…..who knows? 

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Guess!

17. What Would Your Last Meal on Earth Consist of?
I would love to know the circumstances of why this is the last meal because when I thought I was having it on 9/11, nothing I ate or drank tasted good to me. But I am assuming I will have an excellent appetite and thirst here ….my last meal and happy about it.

Dripping, purple Cherokee tomatoes (salt, novello olive oil from Umbria, crusty bread). Fonduta and cardoons with unlimited (I control of the shaver) white truffles. A side order of sautéeed morels and porcini  and twenty-year old Barolo, let’s say Bartolo Mascarello, or anything else that it going to give me that hit of rose petal and tar sensuality  I need to go off into the great yonder. Just to make sure I cover my bases, stinky époisses with old Burgundy like….1937 Camille Giroud Cuvée Blondeau that I had at Becky Wasserman’s.

18. What is Heaven Like?
I don’t really believe in Heaven but…I think love, intimacy, peace, health, wine, truffles, literature, no angst,  old burgundy, Barolo and five- year old syrah and supplies of aligoté,  muscadet (just to freshen it up) and a rent-controlled loft sounds pretty great to me.

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
A dinner party has to have at least eight people! But, that said, today’s choice would be; Philip Roth, Maimonides, Edith Wharton and Aubert de Villaine (to bring the wine—I could have said Lalou Bize-Leroy but I think Aubert would be a better mix with my other guests.)

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Have a point of view bigger than what you drank last night. Have a good friend check your post before you mount.   Post often. Be truthful but don’t shoot yourself in the foot.

Bloggerview #14: Mary Baker

Bloggerview #14
Who: Mary Baker
Blog: Dover Canyon Winery Blog
Where: http://dovercanyon.typepad.com/dover_canyon/

Mary Baker is one of the finest bloggers I know. She is also a regional correspondent for Appellation America. And, she's a partner at Dover Canyon Winery in Paso Robles, California. Her Dover Canyon Wine Blog is far and away one of the best examples of winery blogging and how to make it work not just for the winery but also, I suspect, for how to make it work for you personally. Mary is remarkably genuine and it comes through not just on her blog but also in the comments I see her leave across the blogosphere. I've been wanting to bloggerview Mary for a while because I think she brings a unique perspective. You should also note that Mary as been at this blogging thing since 2005, a very long time in this strange cyberworld. So, she has a good idea of what it's all about.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
In May, 2005.  I was curious:  would a blog would be useful as a marketing tool?  Blogs seemed to be a cross between an email and a newsletter, and I have indeed found a blog to be less intrusive than emails, and much more current and interactive than newsletters.  Plus, a blog is just plain fun to write.  I was quickly hooked, and we were one of the first nine wineries listed as having a blog at the Winery Web Site Report. 

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I can do it in one—the focus is on our winery, our wines, our vineyard, and our lifestyle.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
My “pack” would be other commercial winery blogs, right?  I don’t know that I’m much different than the other fine winery blogs out there.  But this is what I try to do to express the essence of Dover Canyon:

•    Be aware of what readers enjoy reading
•    Be upbeat and brief
•    Be generous with knowledge and industry tips
•    Mix up the topics, keep everyone a little off balance
•    Show no fear—don’t be afraid to be human
•    Write to the best of my ability

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
Slow and steady as far as readership numbers.  But what is most amazing to me has been the growth in nationally diverse readers and international readership.  If people around the world enjoy reading our blog, that reassures me that our customers and fans are also enjoying it, even if they don’t post frequently. 

5. Do you accept samples for review?
No, but I get them anyway!  Somehow I got listed as a wine writer in the Wine Institute press list.  I forward any samples I receive to Laura Ness, who reviews wines for Appellation America. 

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
Although I don’t review wines per se, I do occasionally write an analysis of an older wine from our library.  I try to be very honest in my assessment, because there are people out there who still have these wines.  We give conservative cellaring estimates, especially on the zins, as we feel higher alcohol caramelizes the flavors of zin and suppresses the pepper.  If the wine is toast, I’ll say so, and why, but I also get really excited when an older wine shows well.  Some of Dan’s wines have surprising longevity, and I always burst with pride when someone raves about an older vintage. 

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
It’s almost impossible during harvest.  And I’m not even the wine talent in the family, just the cellar rat. But the rest of the year, I like to write in the evening while dinner is roasting and the kid is doing his homework.  Or on the occasional sunny weekend afternoon when I am not needed in the tasting room.  On winter days, I sometimes sit in my saltbox greenhouse with its west-facing sun panes and write at the gardening table, watching the winter rains approach from the ocean, with coddled plants and kittens around me.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I only utilize marketing practices to remind our customer base to check in with the blog.  I put color photo postcards inside retail purchases and online orders, and I link to the blog from our winery emails.  But I have discovered that posting good content and offering commentary on other blogs builds a network of referrals that can become an amazing force in itself.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
I don’t think there’s a sharp division.  Wine blogs are generally much more personal and introspective but I think that is how the medium is often utilized—not a definition of the medium itself.  With the long lead times of the traditional print media, magazines seem more suited to indepth articles on trends, or lifestyle productions featuring dreamy photography of untraveled wine routes.  But even so, there is no reason why a wine blogger with a thirst for knowledge, some reportorial expertise, and some daring could not write a serious expose or industry piece that would blow the print media out of the water.  Basically, I think the print media has only two advantages over wine bloggers—the voices and ratings of their well known critics, and the fact that they are easier to read in the bathroom.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
No lie, Fermentation is the only blog I look at every day.  But I have a long blogroll that I like to stay current on, so about once a week I check in on other winery blogs like Cima Collina, Tablas Creek, La Gramiere, Pinotblogger, and others.  I also check in regularly at the Winery Web Site Report. Mike Duffy offers up amazing information and encouragement for wineries.  Vinography and Wine Camp are favorites, too. 

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Not yet. Ironically, I think podcasts are having more influence right now because they fit into the lifestyle of Disposable (Wine-dedicated) Income Persons (DWIPs).   Podcasts are downloadable, can be listened to while commuting, and generally address the hot topics and producers of the moment.  Wine blogs still seem to be a mainly industry readership with a large but inert layman audience.  However,  I think wine blogs are poised to have a major impact.  With the popularity of wine podcasts growing among the commuting crowd, I think there will soon be growing recognition for the leading wine bloggers as well.  I recommend a stronger cross-platform presence (bloggers appearing on podcasts or featuring podcasts) and more bloggers scooping the print media on wine news and commentary.  There are already several accomplished and respected wine reviewers out there, but the wine blogging community as a whole needs to build referential weight.  When retailers start putting out shelf talkers with Alder’s reviews, then we’ll know we’re almost there.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
I have been to Paris, but not the Caribbean.  My vote, however, would be for the Carib and feeling ‘irie’. 
We vacation on Moloka’i, where we spend a full month every 18-24 months.  If you are good at entertaining yourself, don’t need fancy restaurants, pools and hotels, and don’t mind mixing your own drinks, Molokai is a slice of heaven—even quieter than our little hilltop.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat? 
What’s one without the other?  Our dog is very protective of her kitties, and in turn they like to groom her—which she finds really annoying. 

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
People.  My guilty secret.  I mostly read books, so I only get to read People at the dentist’s office and airport bars. To me,  the New Yorker has such a proscribed, monotonous attitude that I can’t stomach it.  I can imagine them sending Mark Twain a rejection slip. I’d rather read about miracle cancer cures and the latest celeb in tank.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
I really prefer a Ford pickup, because it’s useful and my dog likes to accompany me everywhere.  But if I have to choose, it would be a BMW.   I’ve seen them score more parking spots than any other brand.  I think it conveys a sense of entitlement and daring to the driver, which is very useful in crowded parking lots.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis.  I’m sorry!  That’s so . . . unpatriotic. 

17. What Would Your Last Meal on Earth Consist of?
That depends on why it’s my last meal on earth.  If I were ill, a chunky chicken soup with leek, jalapeno, ginger, and shitake mushrooms, finished with a twist of lime.  If I were wicked, a Tom Jones feast of fowl and game, with chins dripping with grease and bones flying everywhere.  If I were old, a heavy goblet of my favorite red wine, with crusty, fresh baked bread spiked with coriander seed.

18. What is Heaven Like?
It’s a place where one can deeply, truly be of service to others and bring them comfort and hope.  It also has a gigantic library with so many levels that you have to be able to fly just to get around.

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
My fantasy evening would be . . . Ignace Jan Paderewski, who planted one of the first zinfandel vineyards in Paso Robles, T.H. White, George Leonard and Dr. Kary Mullis.  All four gentlemen would be entrusted to bring wine. 

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Focus.  Whether it’s writing about affordable wines, writing about a particular region, writing about your own winery, or discovering the soil types of vineyards . . . choose a place, style, or other focus and then  research, research, research. 

Bloggerview #13: Dr. Debs

Bloggerview #13
Who: Dr. Debs
Blog: Good Wine Under $20
Where: http://goodwineunder20.blogspot.com/

Dr. Debs' "Good Wine Under $20" seemed to come out of nowhere. One day I was seeing it linked to by many folks I respect. I investigated. And then I understood. Debs is a wonderful writer, that's clear, but it was also obvious immediately that the topics she wrote about and the reviews of wines she wrote were given very serious attention. That might seem like faint praise. But actually I find it a rare thing in the blogging world. I was immediately taken by her blog. But what's better is that Deb is a person that went all the way with something that I was incapable of doing and for that I respect and envy her further. She studied hard and became a professor of History in Southern California. In an email conversation she and I were discussing what seems to be the fact that folk interested in History often show up in the wine world. She's right. They do. This expertise informs her blogging, but more important I think the particular techniques associated with the historian's craft help set Good Wine Under $20 apart. New wine bloggers can get some good tips by reading this interview. Wine lovers can get some very good information by reading Good Wines Under $20.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I began blogging by accident in early October 2006 because I needed to set up a blog for a project. Reading the instructions didn't help--I just had to dive in there and do it. I went wine shopping that day, and wrote about my purchases for a sample entry. I gave the blog a name, wrote up a profile, and enabled comments to see how those features worked. Unbelievably, people like Neil Dorosin at the Brooklynguy Loves Wine and Food Blog found the post and commented on it. By the second week it was clear that I was not going to stop blogging. I was having too much fun and I was learning too much from fellow bloggers and my readers.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I focus on "everyday wine culture," which means that I write about wines that are not terribly expensive, pair well with food, and are relatively easy to find or obtain (at least in California). A common misconception holds that if you don't spend much on wine you aren't that interested in it--but I like to prove that this isn't so by also providing information about wine culture, wine making, wine news, and wine travel.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
In my efforts to provide the kind of information to everyday wine drinkers that I would have found useful when I started learning about wine, I combine wine reviews with features on food pairing, profiles of California family wineries who also promote everyday wine culture, my reactions to big tasting events that my readers might be interested in, book reviews, and opinion pieces on everything from biodynamics to wine writing and objectivity. I try to make my posts as varied as possible while staying true to the "everyday wine" mission by sticking to wines that are under $20, with occasional forays into the over $20 bottlings.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
My readership has grown significantly in the past year. Seasonal readership spikes around Thanksgiving, Christmas/New Year's, Valentine's Day, and Graduation brought new readers to the blog. Early mentions by you on Fermentation, and being included in Tyler Colman's list of the "5 Best Wine Blogs You're Probably Not Reading" in Wine & Spirits Magazine certainly increased the readership, too. I would describe most of the growth, however, as "slow and steady." I get more readers every day, and more subscribers every week. It's a good way to build a following, and I'm particularly pleased at the rising number of daily subscribers that I have. They're the heart and soul of a blog--your regular readers. I feel like my regular readers are friends, and their comments improve the quality of the blog for every other reader.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
Yes, I do. I grappled with this at first, because I was afraid it would remove me too much from the average wine consumer I was trying to reach, but the clear thinking of Fred Koeppel on this issue persuaded me that accepting a wine for review was no different from attending a wine tasting open only to the trade, or reviewing a book for work. It was just a way for me to bring greater coverage to my readers. I try to balance out reviews of samples with reviews of wines that I purchase myself, and I think it is working. I haven't had any complaints! If you want to send me a sample, follow the instructions in my blog profile and I'll be happy to consider it.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I rate wines by their quality-to-price (QPR) ratio. I don't like the false sense of precision that you can get from the 100 point scores, and think that the pursuit of 90+ point wines is keeping a lot of good wine out of the hands of US consumers. After years of agonizing over student grades ("is this an 88 or an 89?") I just want to admit that all grades and evaluations are subjective to some degree. I judge a wine based on a combination of its varietal characteristics, its food friendliness, and its price on a scale that ranges from excellent, to very good, to good, to poor. I do a lot of research, and read a lot of reviews on blogs and in print, so I am happy to report that I don't drink many poor QPR wines--but it does happen occasionally.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
Writing is part of my professional life, and I realized early into my blogging that writing nearly every day and pushing the little "PUBLISH" button was a great way to get over good old writer's block. Writing the blog also helps me to make writing my first priority of the day, rather than my last. Typically, I write rough drafts of the week's five blog posts over the weekend. Then, each morning, I revise the relevant post and publish it to the blog. From that point, it's easy to turn to my other writing and get an hour or so done before I start answering email, teaching, going to meetings, and doing all of my other work. So, oddly enough, writing the blog has helped my daily schedule in ways I didn't anticipate but they are very productive nonetheless.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I read a lot of blogs and I comment on my fellow bloggers' posts. I find this makes your blog more visible than more complicated and expensive strategies. Be a good citizen, and people will find you.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
It's faster and more responsive. That's the crucial difference, I think. I was just listening to a recent episode of Tim Elliot's Winecast that involved Tim, Jeff Lefevre of Good Grape, Mary Baker of Dover Canyon, and Alyssa Rapp from Bottlenotes. They were discussing the important contribution that bloggers make simply by being more timely in their reviews and notices. Magazines and books have long lead-times, but  my lead time can be as short as the 25 seconds it takes me to put down my wine, go to the computer, and start writing. And there have been times I've been so thrilled or mad enough to do just that! As bloggers get greater access to press releases, trade tastings, and establish their own relationships with wine makers and others in the industry, I think that a blogger's ability to post something quickly and effectively is only going to become more important in the upcoming years. Magazines and print won't disappear, but they will be only one segment of wine writing--not the majority of it.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
I read 58 wine blogs every day, and even more on an irregular basis. Some I read for news and excellent coverage of a particular region or issue (like Fermentation, Dr. Vino, Good Grape, The Pour, Jancis Robinson, Catavino, Through the Walla Walla Grapevine), some I read because of their excellent reviews (like Benito's Wine Reviews, Jamie Goode, Spittoon), some I read to get a glimpse into winemaking (like Tablas Creek, El Bloggo Torcido, Dover Canyon, and La Gramiere) and some I read because I love the writer's "voice" as well as their approach to wine (like Bigger Than Your Head, Brim to the Dregs, Wine Scamp, Domaine547's Freshly Pressed, Behind the Vines, Winehiker, Wannabe Wino, and Basic Juice). Then there are the blogs I love to look at, chief among them Chateau Petrogasm. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. Scary.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
I believe that we are starting to make a mark. There are far fewer raised eyebrows now when I say who I am and what I write for than there were even six months ago. I think the wine industry is lagging somewhat behind consumers, because I think 99% of all consumers get most of their information about wine from the web. This is based on the sheer number of hits I get every day from people looking for quick information on a particular wine. But the industry is beginning to pay attention to the way that consumers are learning about wine from the 'net--and with that comes more opportunities for bloggers, and more responsibility, as well. 

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
London.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
The picture says it all. Dogs. Multiple dogs.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
Usually I'm reading student papers or articles on history, but a mindless People magazine would be a nice change!

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
I think I'll wait until they put a hybrid engine in a Lexus IS.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis. But I'd really rather have riesling if that's ok.

17. What Would Your Last Meal on Earth Consist of?
Anything Italian and a bottle of smooth red wine, or two (or three).

18. What is Heaven Like?
I'm with Eric Asimov on this one: the Sonoma Coast, and more specifically the Sonoma Coast between Stewart's Point and Gualala.

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
I would invite the three 19th century "Champagne Widows" (Barbe-Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin, Louise Pommery, and Mathilde Emile Laurent-Perrier) to join Jancis Robinson and me for dinner. The widows would bring the wine, no question. Ms. Robinson, I am confident, has better French than I do, so she could shepherd the conversation. I would cook dinner. We would have a very interesting discussion, drink too much excellent champagne (if there is such a thing) and hopefully people wouldn't pay too much attention to the food.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Start keeping detailed tasting notes on the wines you drink and see if you can regularly read and comment on some blogs. If you can't manage these two activities, you probably can't manage blogging. If you decide to blog, give your blog a good name and not one that's impossible to pronounce or figure out. Post regularly. If you post once a week, you will develop a readership. If you post 26 times one week and then not again for 9 months, you will not develop a readership. Don't take on too much too soon, and give yourself some time and room to develop as a writer--and as a wine lover. And remember what I tell all my students: don't be afraid to say you don't know about something. In 12 hours you will have answers from your readers, because what you don't know someone else surely does.

Bloggerview #12: Eric Asimov

Bloggerview #12
Who: Eric Asimov
Blog: The Pour
Where: http://thepour.blogs.nytimes.com/

When Eric Asimov's wine blog, The Pour, first appeared at the New York Times website I couldn't wait to see how the New York Times would interpret "the wine blog" format. Would they misunderstand the medium? Would it be a vehicle merely to move folks to their other digital products. Then Eric started writing. Regularly. "The New York Times" disappeared from my understanding of The Pour and I began reading "Eric Asimov". The most fascinating thing about The Pour is that we see a different type of writer than the "Eric-Asimov-of-the-New-York-Times". It is a more personal, introspective, even opinionated, writer. I understand this difference as the difference between traditional journalism and traditional blogging. Still, it turns out Eric is among the most wine-knowledgeable bloggers around. More importantly, his blog posts identify him as among the best writers in wine blogging.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I began in March 2006, and it wasn’t my idea. As everybody knows newspapers are having a tough time finding their way in the online world, and as The Times was gingerly developing its online presence several columnists, including me, were asked by editors if they wanted to start blogging. They offered almost no guidelines about what they wanted in a blog. Essentially, they left it to me to do what I wanted, which is sort of unheard of at The Times and was very liberating. I presume they were trusting that we early bloggers could do something Timesian even if it did not conform to the rigid structures of the newspaper. I wasn’t sure how I would manage the added work. But I was excited to have a platform beyond my weekly column. I wasn’t sure where it was going to go, but it’s been remarkably rewarding. 

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
Drinking, not tasting, was the original thought and it still pretty much holds true. It’s also a chance to deal with news, issues and more personal occurrences that don’t really fit in the newspaper.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
Well, of course I benefit greatly from having the institutional visibility and resources of The Times. As a reporter and critic I have access that most people don’t have, so I have an unusual point of view in writing about issues and personalities. Beyond that, in my blog I’ve tried to take a stand against the tyranny of tasting notes that has overtaken the wine-drinking world. I don’t write about wines that I’ve tasted and spat, I write about wines that I’ve drunk, most often in the context of a meal. So I feel that I’m giving a more complete picture of the pleasures of wine drinking than you get reading the usual litany of wines and scores.  Also, though wine is my primary focus I write also about beer and spirits, which I hope can help bring down the absurd boundaries that seem to force people to choose one and deride the others. Why can’t we have it all?

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
I hate to say it but as a blogger for a great big company we have people who worry about that thing so that I don’t have to.  While I really have no idea about page views and things like that, I can judge by the people who comment on the blog that I have a consistent readership of people who know a hell of a lot about all aspects of the business. One revelation for me has been just how much knowledge is out there.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
The short answer is no. Any wines that we review we purchase ourselves through the various retail outlets. Now I’m speaking of the wines we review in the newspaper through the NYT wine panel. We can only sample a finite number of wines, and we don’t want to give an advantage to those producers who send us samples. So we simply rule them out. For my blog, I don’t taste vast numbers of wines, so I tend to buy specific wines that I intend to drink. Samples that I taste – because we still receive an awful lot of them – are strictly for my own edification.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I don’t rate wines at all in my blog. In the newspaper we use a zero-to-four star scale. I’m not philosophically opposed to ratings. They’re handy consumer cues in the context of long lists of tasting notes. Honestly, most tasting notes sound pretty much the same anyway, regardless of what kind of wine is being tasted, so when you are dealing with many different bottles it helps to penetrate the sameness. But in my blog, I’m not dealing with lots of different wines. I’m not going to write about 20 different Napa cabernets, so there’s no point to scoring wines.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
Maintenance? Again, I have the luxury of not having to deal with the technical aspects of a blog site. I’m fortunate to have experts to compensate for my computer illiteracy. 

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Don’t mean to repeat myself, but again I have an advantage that sets me apart from many blogs. I have not had to worry about the technical and marketing particulars, which makes my blog very different from the more typical one person labor of love. At the same time, I like talking about my blog, and when given the opportunity I’ll natter on until told to shut up.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
Well it’s absolutely different. First of all, it’s completely democratic, so anybody can create a podium for themselves, and the audience selects what’s important and what’s not. Blogging creates an opportunity for many voices to be heard. For somebody like me, who operates according to the fairly rigid structure of a weekly column, it’s been a wonderful opportunity to expand and go off in ways that are not available in print. As a writer there’s a great freedom to knowing I can say as much or as little as I want, without having to worry about confining myself to 1000 words.  I know wineries worry about the negative impact of letting anybody say whatever they want, but I do think the audience eventually recognizes who has something knowledgeable to say and who does not, who is stooging for a particular winery or writing more as a marketer, and who are the independent voices.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
Well aside from Vinography, Fermentation and
Dr. Vino, I am a big fan of: Rockss and Fruit—http://rockssandfruit.blogspot.com, Do Bianchi— http://dobianchi.wordpress.com, Jamie Goode’s blog—http://www.wineanorak.com/blog/index.htm, Brooklyn Guy Loves Wine—http://brooklynguyloveswine.blogspot.com, Bigger Than Your Head, http://www.biggerthanyourhead.net, Mondosapore—http://www.mondosapore.com and Alice Feiring. http://www.alicefeiring.com/  I keep track of a lot of other blogs, as you can tell from my ever-expanding blog roll, but these are my most regular reads.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Of course they have, at least as far as wine culture goes. Voices come from everywhere! The raw intelligence around the world now has an opportunity to weigh in. You can listen or not as you wish. My guess is the wine industry, like the restaurant industry, has rabbit ears.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Paris, 9 times out of 10. I can’t completely deny the occasional need for mindless baking, gorgeous waves and tropical drinks.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Both.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
New Yorker, except for flights under 20 minutes.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
Look, I live in Manhattan. How about a cab?

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
What is it with these this-or-that questions? Must we be so categorical? Can’t we enjoy each for its special qualities? OK, Chablis.

17. What Would Your Last Meal on Earth Consist of?
Fresh eggs imbued with truffles; a small portion of spaghetti carbonara; a beautiful roast pork, full of flavor, the edges just barely caramelized, the fat meltingly sweet; Sichuan tea-smoked duck; the most wonderful fresh-baked bread; morels sautéed in butter; my wife’s Brussels sprouts; a ripe epoisses; wild local strawberries and fresh cherries. A great Champagne, a 20-year-old Montrachet, a beautifully aged Gevrey-Chambertin, a great old Barolo. And by the time I say trockenbeerenauslese, I’m ready to go.

18. What is Heaven Like?
It can’t be much different from the Sonoma Coast.

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
Excluding my wife and two sons, whom I have the privilege of eating with most nights: Bob Dylan, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and my father. In fact, I’d give up the others if I could have one more meal with my father.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Be passionate, have a point of view, enjoy writing, and do it because you love it and can’t help it.

Bloggerview #11: Amy Lillard et Matt King

Bloggerview #11
Name: Amy Lillard & Matt King
Blog: La Gramiere
Where: http://lagramiere.typepad.com/blog/

I think I first started wanting to be Amy and Matt sometime last year.

I began reading their blog, La Gramiere. It was a simple little blog about two Americans who moved to the Rhone to start their own winery. There was nothing particularly groundbreaking about their tales. There was no used of interesting blogging tools. It was merely two Americans in a foreign land trying to make the most interesting and delicious wines they could and letting us all know what their world looked like. I was hooked. Today, Ann and Matt's daily travails and adventures are a regular staple in my reading. Reading La Gramiere represents a short mental break from everything else and I always come away smiling. These are fine folks from all I can tell. I'm going to meet them one day when I invade their lives with my wife and kids in tow on a French vacation. That will be a good thing for me, but an even better thing for my kids. It will show them that even living your dreams might mean a little bit of hard work...but that's the point.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I began in July 2005 in order to chronicle this crazy adventure we had just embarked upon.  Mainly to keep friends and family in the loop.  Then one day I was poking around some other blogs and asked if they would link to my site, that’s how it all started, Alder and Lenn both put links to my blog on their sites, and I started taking it more seriously, realizing that it could be a great way to build interest in our new endeavor and eventually in the wine itself.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
Two crazy Americans farming the vineyards, picking the grapes and in the end making wine in the Southern Rhône Valley. Take part in our daily adventures, trials, successes and failures of our new life as vignerons!

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
I think it’s my honesty and my self-effacing, stream of consciousness writing.  Writing in this way makes people feel like they have a front row seat in the creation of this winery and our first wines.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
To be honest, I was 2 years into blogging before I even realized that you could track things like site visits, page views and referring addresses!  I am definitely what you would call a low-tech blogger.  I see “widgets” on other people’s blogs and wonder how they get them there and what those widgets do!  I think the growth is steady, but I’m certainly not breaking any records.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
If someone wants me to taste their wine, I’d be happy to, but it’s not what my blog is about!

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
My best accolade for a wine has always been the word “Yum!” next to my tasting notes.  The more exclamation points the better it is.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
That’s a tough one.  There are times when there’s lots going on and lots to talk about, then it’s easy, you just make time, because you want to share.  Then when things are a bit slower, and you are into your third year of making wine, the posts can seem a bit repetitive, but then before you know it something new arises and you’re off again.  I think it’s better to post often when you have something to relate to your readers.  When things are quiet I tend to not post as much, when it becomes a burden, it’s just not fun -  for the reader or the blogger, I’m sure readers can tell when the posts are less interesting and more “obligatory.”

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Like I said in the beginning I started out by asking other sites to link to mine. Then I was lucky enough to have people like you at Fermentation and Craig Camp  at Wine Camp promote my blog, that helped a lot.  Basically that’s it.  I don’t really have the time to spend finding all of the different ways available to market my blog.  Maybe someone out there has some pointers???

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
The great thing about blogging for me is that it’s immediate.  Especially during harvest when people want to know how things are going.  Never before have we had the ability to show wine lovers what’s going on in the vineyards in such a timely fashion.  For that matter, winemakers/wineries have never had to ability to so directly communicate with the public.  For us, just starting out, our blog created interest in our wine even before it was bottled.  Now that’s pretty amazing.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
Let’s see besides the obvious ones that I’ve already mentioned, I read Jamie Goode, Joe Dressner, Alice Feiring, Eric Asimov, and have recently enjoyed Lyle Fass.  There’s also some really great French winery blogs that I enjoy, but you’ve got to be able to read French!

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Definitely, I think it’s demystified the whole industry and made it much more accessible to consumers.  Just look at us, who would have ever heard of La Gramière if it weren’t for my blog?  You have journalists like Alice Feiring and Eric Asimov writing much more personal accounts of their wine experiences than you would ever find in print media.  Importers?  Take Joe Dressner, his blog lets you into the somewhat crazy world of a wine importer.  Before blogging/the Internet, importers were hardly ever emphasized, now it’s common to see names like Terry Thiese, Kermit Lynch and Joe Dressner among many others, mentioned in posts and articles.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Ahhh vacation.  Before owning vineyards, I wouldn’t have hesitated, it would have been Paris, even though I’ve lived there and even though I can still get there in 2.5 hours on the train. Now though, I must say, a week lying on the beach soaking up the sun and sipping tropical drinks sounds pretty darn good!

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Both, we have a dog and two cats, love them all.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
New Yorker although I admit that it can be over my head at times…

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
Here in Europe we have diesel engine BMWs that get virtually the same mileage as the Prius.  That, combined with the fact that hybrids are most efficient in stop and go traffic, and the fact that for me to make the 40 minute drive to Avignon there isn’t one stop light, I might have to choose the BMW…  But my little blue 1978 Renault 4 is still the best car ever!

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis, no question.

17. What Would Your Last Meal on Earth Consist of?
Pata Negra, foie gras, and a dry-aged rib-eye,  the kind that only exists in the US, and finish up with a French cheese plate that would bring De Gaulle to his knees!  Nope, not a vegetable in the lot. Of course there would be wine, I would have the sommelier choose it, and he would know just what I was in the mood for if it was my last meal on Earth.

18. What is Heaven Like?
Hmm, not sure it exists, life is pretty good, so it’s hard to think about what’s next…

19. If you could invite 4 people dead or alive to your fantasy dinner party, who would they be and who would you have bring the wine?
Richard Olney, RW Apple, Edward Behr and Frank Schoonmaker.  I figure that would make for an interesting evening.  Everyone would bring a favorite bottle… I do feel a bit sheepish about not having any women, Gabriella mentioned MFK Fisher she’s definitely on the list and if I could add another it would be Colette.  Colette made me think of Hemingway too, can’t we make the party a bit bigger?

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Ask yourself why you’re writing it, and why someone would want to read it.  What do you have to say/relate that sets you apart from everyone else.  For me blogging is a personal thing, and you definitely have to be willing to identify yourself and give people a reason to believe in what you are writing about.  Find your niche and explore…

Bloggerview #10: Russ Beebe

Bloggerview #10
Name: Russ Beebe
Blog: Winehiker Witiculture
Where: http://www.californiawinehikes.com/winehiker/

How could I not like a blog written by a fellow who would invite both Willie Mays and Thelonius Monk to his dinner party? Actually there's more to Russ Beebe and his Winehiker Witiculture Blog than his good taste in dinner companions. Russ does something with his blog that few others do well: combine his interest in wine with a distinctly different avocation: Hiking. When I first ran across Winehiker this is what struck me immediately: there was was felt like a very nice and natural combining of these two seemingly different pursuits at WineHiker. So, despite Russ' rash decision to do a post that include many terrible and unsettling photos of large spiders crawling near human beings, I thought it important you meet the man behind one very original and well done blog.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
In the late Spring of 2005, I received a layoff notice from a job I'd held for over eight years.  I suddenly felt compelled to focus on two activities for which I had long held great passion – hiking and wine tasting – and taking them to a professional level as a wine country tour guide with a "nature" twist.  I began building a website for my tour business, californiawinehikes.com, which eventually launched on the first of January 2006.  Meanwhile, I had a hunch that I should support the business with a blog – seems everyone was doing it – and thus I wrote my first post for Winehiker Witiculture on December 7, 2005.  Looking back, that seems to be a time in which a lot of wine and hiking bloggers jitterbugged onto the blogging dance floor.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
Winehiker Witiculture is for hikers who love wine.  It's also a blog for wine lovers who love to be – or desire to be – active outdoors.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
It's rather non-denominational in that I write for both the wine and hiking communities as one greater whole.  The demographic overlap between the two groups, and the realization of the wine country ideal for both, is huge.  I believe that I'm rather unique in this niche since nobody else, as near as I can tell, is blogging about winehiking, much less using the term, which I secretly hope to someday see defined in Wikipedia (and written by an objective third party).

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
The blog started life humbly, but hardly a month has gone by since the Spring of '06 in which its readership hasn't grown. Nurturing a blossoming community of readers – and a devoted band of commenters – has helped me to blossom, in turn, because the blog keeps me engaged in networking, researching, and learning, which therefore allows me to entertain and grow my readership further.
Toward that goal, I believe I've done best when I've taken the time and patience to strike a responsive chord with my readers.  There's something about being in the wine country – fully experiencing its potential for renewal and reward – that goes beyond where to hike next or how a wine tastes.  It's about developing a connection between people and the natural world that is all around us, but which we seem to easily forsake.

I want to place people on the winehiking path, figuratively and literally.  I prefer to write, then, with a sensibility that produces a physical desire on the part of my readers to pursue a winehiking vacation.  I therefore expect to continue writing about the things that tend to draw people to fully experience not merely the wine country as a place, but as an emotional or spiritual destination, a notion of the nature that surrounds the place in which the wine we love is created. 
This notion also describes the way in which I approach my tours.  When you're on the trail with me, you're not just walking – you're using me as your conduit to reconnect with something vital.  A self-guided tour offering nothing more than a map, a hotel reservation, and a boilerplate itinerary cannot approach this kind of genuine natural connection. So I would characterize the growth in my readership as being reflective of the values of a community that feels the attractive intangibles of the wine country as strongly as I do and, like me, wishes to reach out to connect with its very nature.

5. Do you accept samples for review?
Yes.  I tend to purchase my review wine most of the time – sometimes because I've already tasted it – but I do nevertheless disclose how I come by the wine I write about.  I admit that I've wrestled with how my review could potentially make or break a budding winemaker.  I feel, however, that I should express honesty at all costs, even if it seems displeasing.  Isn't that what other critics do? 
I've talked this issue up with my friends, most of whom suggest that if I don't like a submitted sample, I should just keep my yap shut.  However, that's the opposite of the tacit business schema in which silence is acceptance; maintaining silence about a wine I didn't like will not convey much to the winemaker about his or her need for improvement.  Why should a winemaker – or anyone else – assume false illusions?  I don't believe in tacitly perpetuating mediocrity; it's passive-regressive. Reality dictates that action should breed consequence.  And I do believe winemakers should make good wine, not bad wine.  Call me an iconoclast, but I refuse to be politically correct for fear of reprisal or lost subscribers.  I just plain won't write an honestly good review about an honestly bad wine.  But I'll still write it, given the bandwidth.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
Each system has its purpose.  To me, merely liking a wine is not enough; I want to know why I like a wine (or not).  I also want to apply reasoning to my ratings based on a wine's separate attributes - color, aroma, body, balance, finish, etc.  And while the five-star rating system is good for the quick glance, I find it too simplistic to be of educational value; conversely, the 100-point scale seems too mincingly complex to successfully employ in a wine blog.

Because I regularly host blind wine tastings, I use a variation on the 20-point scale (originally developed at UC Davis) because it possesses the capacity to aid learning.  I've since applied some design and formatting to my version of it and added a second page that combines individual scores to result in a group favorite and to see how individual tasters' palates compare and contrast to each other.  In retrospect, I'm glad I added the group scoring feature; the tastings that followed were much more engaging (read: fun!) for my guests.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your winehiking blog into your daily schedule?
I somehow fit it in between CNBC and the Colbert Report.  And a full-time job.  Weekends?  Naw:  I'm usually out getting my winehiking ya-yas.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I have explored a number of tools for distributing the