Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Bloggerview #24: St. Vini

Bloggerview #24

Who: St. Vini
Blog: The Zinquisition
Where: http://zinquisition.blogspot.com/

If I had a nickel for every time someone has asked me who writes The Zinquisition, I'd have at least $2.00. For liberal arts majors, that's at least 40 times. Going by the St. Vini moniker, the author of the Zinquisition blog writes anonymously. And he has been blogging longer than nearly every other wine blogger out there, starting with his first post in July 2004. What's clear about St. Vini is that this is a man who works in the wine industry. While he admits this here and there in his posts, you could tell even without his confession. His blog posts almost always have the air of an industry insider. And they are also very opinionated, something I like very much in a blogger. I've been reading Zinquisition religiously since I started blogging and have never stopped. Though his posts are not nearly as regular as I'd like (he explains below), St. Vini remains, in my mind, one of the most insightful wine bloggers.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
Mid 2004. I felt that blogging was going to take off as far as a review media for wine, and thought there should be some apartisan representation from within the industry. This would mean not being able to blog about products that I have (or have had) a hand in making or bringing to market. I was also tired of working for “old school” owners who couldn’t see the value of having decent websites, and who were so full of their own dogma and back label copy that they lost sight of what the customer wanted: good value. A heavy dose of stuffy “traditionalism” went along with many owners’ philosophies, and I felt that was keeping the everyman from enjoying wine to the fullest.

2 In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I focus on the bizarre and otherwise unintelligible happenings hidden behind the scenes. Well, at least I try to…some of it is still unintelligible even through an insider’s lens.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
Anonymity on my part. Maybe the fact that I’m on the inside and probably hear a bit more than most bloggers do about topics important to the industry itself. And again, that I mostly talk about how wine is made and industry topics rather than rate wines.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
Hmmmm….it’s grown quite a bit, and I’ve had more hits from Asia and Eastern Europe in the past few years than I ever did (or ever expected) when I started.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
Never. Despite the fact that I’d have to drop my anonymity to get the samples in the first place, I’d definitely have moral qualms about recommending any wines to people without their first knowing who I was and what possible involvement I might have with the products in question… Hell, I hate being shilled to myself, why would I do that to anyone else? But I don't have any problems identifying wines which I find are defective. I have had plenty of people email me asking if I would taste this, that or another thing. My favorite emails are ones from “Southerly” distillers asking if they can send me some of their tequila for review. Sadly, I have to turn them down.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I find that wines fall into three categories: “Yum! Go grab some more”; “Serviceable, though not a show stopper but worth repeating for everyday use”; and finally “Avoid at all costs!”
Does it need further explanation?

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
Frankly, I don’t. Work takes precedence over blogging, as does family. If there’s time & a good topic out there, then I’ll blog about it. Having said that, I don’t feel the need to update the blog on a daily basis.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I don’t market the blog at all…..

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
Lay people are driving this for the most part. The overly-stuffy professional wine writers are being usurped by the common man (or woman). Egalite!

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
Fermentation, PinotBlogger, Vinography, the Pour, I read most, then it's off to two-dozen or so other blogs on a as-I-can basis. I do try to get these ones read at least once a week if not more often, depending on how busy I am. I'd love to spend more time reading other blogs regularly, but time management keeps me moving a bit too much.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Absolutely! Look at the expansion of the wine blogosphere…five years ago there were hardly any. Now a quick search brings up 47,000,000 hits (some are compilation sites and otherwise redundant entries, so they don’t really count, but even if there are 1/10th of that amount)! Wineries are finally figuring out there is something to this – witness Murphy-Goode advertising for a wine blogger/twitter/facebook person for a 6-month stint. Blogs are where many people are finally finding a forum for voicing their concerns, hopes, triumphs and disappointments.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Rome. Then Chianti, followed by a week in Spain. Fly into Rome, out of Madrid.
Did I leave out Venice? Damn....

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Dogs (yes plural). A house is too quiet without dog(s), and unlike cats, they seem to know when to shut up for a while. Besides, how many stories of people being pulled from icy lakes by cats have you heard of? Dogs are far superior….

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
Sky mall. It’s the most interesting, and useless, reading you can do on a plane.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
Lotus. No wait….Maserati. Damn! My practicality is getting the best of me. Make it the Prius…

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
California Chard, hands down.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
Something ‘rustica’, maybe wild game over polenta or risotto, some hearty soup, crown rack of lamb with a blackberry & balsamic reduction, plenty of bread. And since it’s my last meal, all the butter and olive oil I could stand! Dessert would be Chocolate decadence with a blackberry or raspberry sauce. The wine is tricky. Probably there would have to be 10~12 bottles open of different varietals and styles. 7~8 reds and 3~4 white wines.

18. What is Heaven Like?
75°F, with a light warm breeze out of the SSW. Sunny with partly cloudy skies and an occasional short shower in the afternoon, which nobody seems to care about because it dries up almost immediately.
Damn, I think I just described Hawaii…or Cabo San Lucas!

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 have way too many people on my list to pare it down to four. My fantasy dinner party would have to be for 50~75 people, and both Alton Brown and John Cleese would bring wine. Penn and Teller would bring the meat... Now THAT would be interesting!

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Ask yourself why you’re doing it. I think there are many good blogs out there right now and we’re starting to see a bit of overlap. If I were thinking of starting right now, I’d email someone who has a blog I liked and ask about being a contributor to the common cause. That way you don’t have the obligation of maintaining the blog by yourself, and can even generate discussion within the blog editors via a point-counterpoint forum.

Bloggerview #23: Amy Atwood

Bloggerview #23

Who: Amy Atwood
Blog: MyDailyWine
Where: http://www.mydailywine.com

I met Amy at the first Wine Bloggers Conference last year and was immediately taken with her. This is a lovely woman with passions to spare, though it strikes me she'd give up none of them. Most important where her blog, MyDailyWine, is concerned is that she's got a deep well of knowledge on many fronts. She has worked in the wine industry since 1996 in a number of capacities, including sales, marketing and promotion. These days, her professional pursuits are sharply aimed at organic wines and sake. She has also demonstrated a real and rare capacity for understanding the the usefulness of social media. She lives in LA, but I can't hold that against her. My secret, where Amy is concerned, is that I don't miss a post of her's at MyDailyWine because I like how she thinks and I'm thrilled when I discover she has read a post of mine at Fermentation. If all that is not enough, then read her response to question #18 and you'll understand why I appreciate Amy.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
August 2008. I am a wine geek first and a wine businessperson second. MyDailyWine is my wine passion play, there is no commerce involved.I wanted the means to communicate about the wines I love and the people who make them.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
Taking the junk out of your juice. Wine news and reviews from California, with an Organic bent.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
Mostly my focus on wines made from organic and biodynamic grapes. I review these wines and tell the stories of the people who craft these wines as well. But also, I work in the wine industry and therefore have a different outlook on wine trends, wine commerce, etc.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
Slow and steady with a few peaks and valleys.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
Yes. But I only review what I like. If I do not like the wine, especially due to any inherent flaws or simply low quality, then I do not write it. I will review a wine that is not my personal style but is nevertheless a good wine.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I have rating system fatigue so there are no scores, etc on MyDailyWine. If I write about a wine, it means I saw good value in that wine, period.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
I post about two times a week. And try to read and comment on my favorite wine blogs at least once a week(using their RSS feeds on my Google reader is the secret). I do keep a list of upcoming topics and I often write posts during my business travel.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I enjoy interacting with the wine community on Twitter and other wine social groups on-line.
I do engage with food groups and 'green' groups as well, since they are usually wine lovers.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
Oh yes, wine blogs are the wild, wild west! In all it's glory as well as it's lawlessness. Wine bloggers are not beholden to editors, advertising, etc. We write what we are passionate about. This can be beautiful and soaring or ugly and juvenile....oh wait, maybe we are like traditional print writers after all.

10. Which other wine bloggers do you read regularly?
Alice Feiring, Dirty South Wine, Good Grape, Fermentation, GonzoGastronomy

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
Definitely an impact, perhaps not marked yet but growing. Wine bloggers are helping wine lovers navigate the on-line wine world.The immediacy is so addictive. I picked a print wine mag last week for the first time in ages, all the news was so old!

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Paris...then the south of France afterwards!

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
I have one of each, always have. Love the cat's independence and the dog's slavish love.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
New Yorker but I sneak a look at my neighbor's People too.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
Hmm, where is a sexy hybrid when you need one? Prius until then.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Usually Chablis. But occasionally will crave CA Chard to match with shrimp and grits or buttery lobster.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
Grilled whole fish with garlicky white rice. Green salad with avocado. Champagne.

18. What is Heaven Like?
Waking up with the one you love. No regrets. A gently lapping ocean. A parent telling you they are proud of you. That first sip of Champagne at brunch with close friends. All these small moments we seek every day are heaven, for me it is not a destination after death.

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?
Marlon Brando, a gorgeous intellectual and eccentric. Katherine Hepburn, ditto.  Jeanette Winterson, a poet and a dreamer. Randall Graham,also a dreamer and an iconoclast. There would be spirited discussions and stories of travel and passion. I would ask Jeanette Winterson to bring the wine.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Jump in. Don't let sloth or tech ignorance delay your goal.Establish a posting schedule and interact with your on-line community.

Bloggerview #22: Samantha Dugan

Bloggerview #22
Who: Samantha Dugan
Blog: Samantha Sans Dosage
Where: http://sansdosage.blogspot.com/

This girl has style and it shows through in her blog, Samantha Sans Dosage. The reason I know this is that many of her posts are longer than my typical post, which is too long for this format. Yet I find myself reading every single word of what Samantha writes, whether its about wine, food or the LA Lakers. In addition to posting regularly and carrying out a conversation with your readers, it's important for a blogger to commit to communicating with an authentic voice. That too is what shines through in Samantha's blogging. And it's an engaging voice. Her wine chops are pretty impressive too. All this adds up to a great read.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I started blogging just over a year ago, so March of 2008. I had been resisting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I have serious bouts of writer’s block. I also write for The Wine Country’s, (the store where I work) newsletter, people seemed to really like my style or approach to wine writing, they wanted more so I started a blog. 

2 In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
Tom, are sure you have read my blog?! Focus? Unless we are talking about my one-eyed-stumble “trying to focus” I’m not sure I have one. Hey, maybe that is my focus, it’s more about how wine enhances life and less about structured reviews.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
Man, not sure really, maybe I expose myself a bit more? I may appeal more to the voyeuristic side of people. A good chunk of my posts are about eating and drinking too much, I think that is fun for people that do that too and those that secretly want to. I tend to share a lot, even personal stuff, so people sort of feel like they are there with me all the time, guess that is sort of different.  Not sure it “sets me apart”, I rather like being part of a blogging community…I’m just that crazy aunt that sometimes has one glass too many and drops the wee ones on their noggins.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
I so wish I was one of those super cool cats that could say, I don’t really pay attention to my numbers…nope I need constant affirmation so I check my counter dealie all the time! When I first started I was getting something like 20 hits a week, and I honestly felt incredible about that…I think I even bought myself a bottle of NV Billiot Brut Reserve to celebrate hitting the 500 hits mark, (blushing) but something happened  late in the summer, (may have been the posts from my horrid vacation where I ended up stranded without my bags in Illinois…sharing stories with folks about what it’s like to walk around in a pair of men’s underpants, well, it just brings people together) from there it just exploded. I am still floored every morning when I check the counter…humbling.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
This is the serious “hot button” question right now isn’t it?! (Finger slipping under the collar) “Is is warm in here?” Truthfully I have never been sent a sample per se, but I am a buyer for a retail store so I am tasted on wines nearly every day, sometimes they drop off a bottle but that’s rare. More often than not I am hunched over in the tasting room, sniffing, slurping, spitting and taking notes with sales reps, but the bulk of my posts are about the wines I buy.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I don’t. I will write up wines but I never affix a number or score to a wine, I’ve just never understood that. I tell the story of the wine and it is for the reader to decide if it sounds appealing to them…who the hell am I to grade someone else’s work?

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
You know, sleep is overrated. Seriously though, I almost never blog from work so everything is done either in the morning, before work or when I get home…I’m not a big sleeper so that works in my favor for blogging. 

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Other than having my blog linked to The Wine Country’s website and facebook, not really, seems more word of mouth for my blog.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
Curse words? I think there is a tremendous amount of freedom in blog writing, personality seems a big player in the blog world, much more so than print media…it’s an individual’s perspective, not a publications, somehow feels looser and more relatable for people that may not be in the business or lifelong collectors.  

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
Well Tom of Tom Wark’s Fermentation, I um, read yours. The Pour- I think Eric is fun to read and the comments suck me in. Benito’s Wine Reviews- I love his enthusiasm and crazy cooking stories, not to mention he has been remarkably helpful in getting my blog off the ground. Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel- Peter and I share a passion for Champagne and I love the way he writes. Nancy On Wine- She is an ex Wine Country staffer and dear friend. Alice Feiring- her palate makes sense to me and I gotta love me another spunky wine chick. I’ve just started reading McDuff’s Food and Wine Trail- I really like his style too, kind of wine as seasoning to life, very comfortable for me. I read others too but those are the ones I read while sipping my coffee in the morning.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
I think it is starting to, the more of us there are, with our varied styles and voices, the more people we are going to reach, and that is all good for this industry.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Paris, this chunky girl does NOT dig bathing suit weather.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
I live in one of those evil complexes that allows neither but if I could, a dog Oh and I would not leave it in the car while I went wine tasting…man, do I hate pouring wine for some jackass with wine stained teeth, knowing the whole time their beloved pooch is sitting in the car, “Couldn’t stand to be away from the little darling huh? I mean aside from the three hours you’ve been here getting your drink on”

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
Sky Mall, I am so getting me some of that stuff…they have a 3 foot plaster Bigfoot in there, I’m just sayin’

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
Not sure I’m cool enough for either, I drive a Camry…it is a red one though! So I’ll stay in the Toyota family and say Prius, plus it makes me look all green and junk.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Let me think, now Chablis reminds me of freshly sweating skin and California Chardonnay, (not all of them…don’t jump on my neck) reminds me of that orange that is sitting in the bottom of the bowl a tad too long…gonna have to go with Chablis.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
Half a dozen oysters, icy cold with just a shot of lemon juice washed down with a glass of Agrapart Cuvee Venus. My Mother’s Sunday roast beef, rare with a blob of horseradish for dipping…I miss her, with a glass of Domaine de Montille Pommard Pezerolles. Cheese plate with a glass of Tempier Cabassaou.

18. What is Heaven Like?
This isn’t it?

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 the hardest question for me, so I’m going to cheat by adding a “If your friends and family were all out of town” Dorothy Parker, Barack Obama, Lewis Black and Didier Dagueneau…so I guess I would leave the wines to the wild man from the Loire.  Laughter and politics just do it for me.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Write about what you love. Write something you would want to read. Don’t measure your success by the number of comments on your blog. Post often. Check your facts, credibility is earned. Don’t blather, that’s my gig!

Bloggerview #21: Arthur Przebinda

Bloggerview #21

Who: Arthur Przebinda
Blog: Wine Sooth
Where: http://www.redwinebuzz.com/winesooth/

Arthur Przebinda is a serious guy. At least he takes both his wine sites seriously. He's probably best known as the proprietor of redwinebuzz.com, a site dedicated primarily to investigating and reporting on the wines and wine culture of the California Central Coast. And while redwinebuzz.com is surely the best source on the net for news and information about the Central Coast, I prefer reading his blog, Wine Sooth, where Arthur's serious and sometimes gregarious approach to opining on things wine has something of an urgency to it. I think this is because he's a thoughtful person who puts good thinking behind his writing. You'll see that aspect of Arthur by reading his responses to the Bloggerview questions.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I started winesooth.com at the beginning of June, 2008 – two and a half years after starting redwinebuzz.com, which is my main site focused on California’s Central Coast. Not everything I have to say about wine fits the format of redwinebuzz.com, so, winesooth.com is a place for me to engage some broader academic or philosophical topics. The two platforms now complement each other and allow me to reach different audiences.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I tend to write about the broader culture of wine, taking a “sober thinking” approach to the more incendiary issues related to wine writing, research, production and appreciation. If wine blogging is supposed to stir the pot, then winesooth.com takes the opportunity to stir the pot stirrers’ pots - as intelligently as I can.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
My philosophy is that popularly held notions about wine are not always correct. I try to offer even-keeled commentary and voice an alternate point of view, which I may see being marginalized or when I think that others are gravitating towards groupthink. That might make me seem the contrarian on some topics, but I think of long-term implications of current trends. I’m interested in the legacy and culture of wine in this country as well as its reputation abroad. I also tend to tackle more academic issues. Who knew tannin assays would generate such heated debate on a blog?

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
It definitely demonstrates the existence of the “Wark Bump”! At first, traffic consisted of other U.S. bloggers, but I now see a lot of wineries reading as well as academic visitors (possibly V&E departments, judging by the institutions and topics they’re viewing). I’ve also seen a big rise in international visitors.

5. Do you accept samples for review?
Yes. I try to keep a focus on Central Coast wines - the reviews of which I publish on redwinebuzz.com. That is not to the exclusion of wines from any other regions, but I do want to keep the format focused on the Central Coast. I have reviewed a few Sonoma, Napa and Long Island wines. It was nice to be asked to review these wines and it benefited my readers and me because it puts my way of reviewing wine into a broader context. I am always open to giving my thoughts on a Bulgarian rose or Chinese cabernet, though. Gadgets or paraphernalia have to appeal to me. They must seem like something I might regularly use and can’t involve magic, crystals, magnets, chanting, charkas, harmonic convergences and spiritual currents. I rarely review books or magazines. Usually, I’ll refer the person to a blogger who is better suited to review the book or magazine.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
When I re-launch redwinebuzz.com, I will be using a five-star system to rate components of the wine’s character as well as its overall quality and typicity. I hold each wine I review up to a standard of varietal and regional typicity. The 100-point scale (and all its implications and trappings), then, proved philosophically incongruous with what I am trying to achieve: to spotlight the wines of the Central Coast and convey their charm and quality while taking my preferences out of the equation. Ultimately, I remind myself that what I write in wine reviews is not supposed to be about me, but about the wine and those who might enjoy it so I want to be conduit of information between the two.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
Writing is part of my daily schedule because I have to generate content for both my site and my blog. I cannot do all the webmaster work myself so I’m very lucky to have had a talented guy set up my blog. Corey Thomas [http://www.coreythomaslive.com/design/] is also rebuilding redwinebuzz.com. He’s scripted a custom site with the look and functionality I wanted.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I feed my RSS to my Twitter account. I did the same with the “notes” feature on Face Book. I also let aggregator sites like winebusiness.com know about my blog. I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that my involvement with the OWC gave me a lot of exposure.
I guess if I were to give some tips on this, I would say: Integrate your blog feed into whatever social service you use. Put your blog’s URL in your email signature as well as in your bulletin board/forum signature. Comment intelligently and politely on other blogs and bulletin boards.

 9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
I think they are different. But blogging is really a big grab bag of different on-line publications. At the very basic level, I subscribe to Jo Diaz’s differentiation of “journaling” versus “journalism” but you can make these distinctions within blogging itself.
A great difference lies in the flexibility and affordability of on-line publishing technology. It’s undeniable and, given the current crisis in print publishing, this may be a very potent competitive advantage in the right hands. That said, specialty publications like the Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast or Wine Advocate are not going anywhere. They have solid followings and are, at different speeds, adopting Web 2.0 concepts.
Then, there are also those blogs published by stores or PR firms and such that serve to attract potential clients by demonstrating the author’s credibility or expertise by virtue of the writing. This category is hard to put in the journalism or journaling basket but it is often in the realm of punditry. It is still valuable - to readers and authors alike.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
I make a point to check in on a bunch daily: I read Tom Wark's blog, Alder Yarrow’s Vinography, Steve Heimoff, Eric Asimov’s The Pour, Jeff LeFevre’s Good Grape, Joe Roberts’ 1WineDude, Tyler Coleman’s Dr. Vino, Ken Payton’s Reign of Terroir, Alice Feiring and Juicy Tales by Jo Diaz. Some lesser known places I visit are: DaddyWineBucks and Clark Smith’s GrapeCrafter. I wish Jerry Murray would post more often on his Vintner’s Voice and that Morton Leslie would finally start a blog. Ron Washam’s Hose Master of Wine is addictive.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
The most realistic answer is: “First and foremost: probably with wine lovers who own a computer. Secondly, they also may be impacting the Internet-savvy wine-curious crowd “
My speculative answer is based on my web statistics and traffic patterns. New visitors come to my site seeking either general wine information or information about a specific wine or producer. These are not just passive-but-receptive potential clients. But that’s Web 2.0. It’s a two-way street and requires engagement on both sides of the computer screen.
As for wine culture: On-line publications provide information to those seeking it, so there may be a wine subculture whose common denominator is extensive internet use. This is the subset on which blogs may have the greatest impact. On the flipside, blogs also inform, frame and format their audience’s thinking - for better of worse (and whether their publishers like it or not). So they can shape the knowledge base and attitudes of this sub-culture.
Ultimately, your question does not yet have a clear answer. There is no tangible, reliable, metric for this right now - particularly one showing how blogging has affected the industry and consumer behavior and sales. I’m looking to Paul Mabray and VinTank for that. I spoke to him some time ago about ways to actively track some data and it seems like he was looking at similar concepts, so we’ll have to see what he rolls out.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Wherever it’s less humid at the given moment.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
I am way too busy to properly care for a dog. Besides, we have a very sociable and vocal black Persian who keeps us sufficiently amused.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
New Yorker, but I’ll peruse anything not gossip or sports-oriented.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
I’m waiting for a hybrid Murano…

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
This is where I may be expected to stab the “Central Coast Wine Advocate” flagpole into the ground, denouncing all others as unworthy, but I can’t. I am a firm believer in the quality of Central Coast wines and I think they are often underappreciated, but I like wine form all parts of the world. This probably helps me keep a perspective on the wines I review. That notwithstanding, there is a sea of over-the-top wine from all over the world (and at all price points) that is just a chore to drink.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
I suppose it would be something decadent, indulgent and definitely unhealthy. But it’s my last meal, right? I suppose that if I had the conscious choice, I would pick out whatever was on hand - food and wine and make the most of it.

18. What is Heaven Like?
I don’t believe in an afterlife.

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 want to meet people who made contributions to the world of wine but may be remembered for a relatively singular thing, which may not accurately represent the depth and scope of their thinking. I would want each guest to bring two to three bottles of their favorite wines.
I’d like to meet Harry Waugh, because he’d also bring the jokes - and I’d like to ask him about that “not since lunchtime” quip.
I would want Robert Mondavi there because I’d like to hear his take on current California wine. He was an ardent promoter of wine as an everyday fixture of American life, but he once told Rémi Krug: “I believe we can say that, in only a few years, we have been able to make great quality wines, but they still lack subtlety, and this will take generations to achieve” (thanks to Eric Asimov’s blog for that quote).
I’d like Émile Peynaud to join us. He is known for pushing for higher ripeness of wine grapes – among other things. I suspect that this was more relevant in France than anywhere else in the world and I am curious whether he would see the current style of wine – all over the world - as the fulfillment of his dreams, a runaway train or something else.
Finally, for his wit and to round out the “examination of legacy” theme, I would want André Tchelistcheff there.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Define a philosophical platform, a point of view. Identify about 10 categories of subjects or issues you will be able to comment on intelligently. Stake out your claim in the bloggosphere - be that a regional, varietal, stylistic or philosophical focus. Think: niche.
Be honest with yourself about what you want to write about and why. This will help guide what you do and how you go about doing it.
Be prepared for work and a long haul. There is no immediate payoff to any venture and very few are able to successfully transform their “new-kid-on-the-block” fame into a lasting presence.
Work on your tasting chops, wine knowledge and develop those as the basis of your expertise, trustworthiness and credibility.
Remember that all revolutionaries become the establishment when their cause prevails.

Bloggerview #20: Ron Washam

Bloggerview #20
Who: Ron Washam
Blog: Hosemaster of Wine
Where: http://hosemasterofwine.blogspot.com/

Ron Washam is not your typical wine blogger. Nor is HoseMaster of Wine your typical blog. And this is why he strikes such a chord with me. It helps that he's a good writer; in fact, he's a former professional comedy writer who eventually put down his pen to pursue a career in wine, which he did with great success. When I first came across HoseMaster of Wine I really wasn't sure what to make of it. Nudie pictures and wine? Biting satire. Insightful and personal reviews of wine. Something of a disdain for the entire blogging world. After spending time with both Hosemaster of Wine (I read it for the blog posts) and with Ron, I came to an even greater appreciation of his mission, such as it is. What's fun about Ron is that in addition to making everyone else (including me and this blog) a target of his wit, he often points his words at himself. It's a good sign.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
 I began blogging in August of 2008 after I was let go as Wine Educator at Silverado Vineyards. I suddenly had a lot of free time on my hands. I began HoseMaster of Wine simply as a way to channel my creative energy, never dreaming that anyone would want to read it. I was right. I didn't know anything about blogs when I started, I just knew that the wine blogosphere would be filled with semi-literate, sanctimonious, wildly dull voices. One more wouldn't hurt. I was coasting along with about eight unique hits a day when you "discovered" me and then suddenly my readership skyrocketed into the double digits.

2 In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I think my tagline says it best, "Your Occasional Dose of Stupid Opinion." And trying to taunt the hypocrites that live on the edges of the wine biz.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
It's much harder to conceive and write pieces of satire than it is to publish searingly insipid wine reviews filled with regurgitated information gleaned from websites, or write three thrilling paragraphs of a poorly thought out opinion on Biodynamics, corks, and shipping laws. I have a great time playing the Fool, but it takes more effort than it ever seems worth. Oh, and naked cuties.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
More malignant than benign.

5. Do you accept sample for review?
Of course. But there aren't many wineries, or, more accurately, marketing departments, willing to submit samples to a guy with cheesecake photos on his website, who has a strong point of view, and can churn out interesting sentences. They want safe. Bloggers aren't going to criticize a wine for being insipid or lousy because that would inevitably dry up the sources of their free samples. "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" is the motto of all the bloggers I've ever encountered (admittedly few), and that's what marketing departments want. I have read many glowing reviews of very mediocre wines on blogs, many of those reviews filled with misinformation. That's fine. I'm not on a crusade. But I think it was you, Tom, who said to me that as a marketing guy you'd never recommend a client send samples to me (forgive me if I'm wrong about that). But, oddly, the few folks who have submitted samples to me were very happy with my reviews. Though I play the Fool, I have more credentials and experience and knowledge when it comes to wine than 98% of the bloggers out there. I think that's what makes HoseMaster of Wine work.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I certainly don't assign numbers. I write about the wines in my HoseMaster voice and I think that conveys a strong sense of my opinion of them. I'm not exactly subtle. Wine is about laughter and enjoyment, not adjectives, numbers and dreary analysis.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
I write when I feel motivated. Comedy is, strangely, a contemplative pursuit. I have a thousand ideas at any one time, but I allow my subconscious to sift through them, select a few to work on, and then when the idea arrives in my conscious mind I sit down and take dictation from my subconscious, which I call the Comedy Channel. Because I write HoseMaster of Wine strictly for myself I don't feel any need to do it on a regularly scheduled basis.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Nope. I'm not trying to market anything. In fact, I've had several people in the wine business tell me that they believed my blog, well, basically the nude photos on my blog, was having a negative impact on my career, such as it is, in the business. If that's true, and I'm not convinced it is, it shows you what a conservative, close-minded business the wine business is. It's a far more conservative business than most people believe.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
Wine writing for print demands more thought, editing for space constraints, editing for grammar and punctuation, and is much more permanent. I see very little in blogs that would even be considered for traditional print media, either because of the quality of the writing or the unoriginality of thought.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
I only occasionally spend time reading wine blogs. I find them difficult to wade through. The blogosphere is far too incestuous for my tastes, too self-referential. It seems to be considered taboo to go onto someone else's blog and criticize what that blogger is saying unless you have a terminal disease. It's too much "Great post, Steve! Keep up the good work," and "Wow, I can't wait to try out that wine you just wrote about you make it sound so delicious." And too many blogs begin, "I read a great post on WineMolestor.com and it got me to thinking..." I'm logging off before that sentence is finished.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
No, but I think the wine industry hopes that bloggers will be able to sell wine. A guy like Gary Vaynerchuk can sell wine because he has a wine shop and a license. (I've never seen him or his show and pray to God it stays that way.) When I owned a wine shop my satirical newsletter sold lots of wine too. But that's different than the opinion of a blogger actually triggering a ten-case sale. Blogs are just an easy way for a lot of winery marketing "experts" to pretend they earned their money. "Look," they tell their employers, "we got a nice hit on Vinography, and a mention on MyAchingKidneys." GoogleAlert is a wonderful thing for these people. And I don't think wine blogs have changed the wine culture at all. Who reads wine blogs? Mostly other wine bloggers and winery marketing people. The folks shopping at Costco and Trader Joe's haven't read a wine blog and probably don't even know what a blog is.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
OK, there's a Paris Hilton joke here that I'll avoid (Non-smoking please). Though I once dated a Caribbean Queen.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
I have had a lifelong love of animals, a love even deeper than my love of wine. My wife and I have a Norwich terrier, an Arabian horse, an African Grey Parrot, a Meyer's Parrot, a canary, two owl finches, and two feral cats we take care of.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
Always wanted to publish in the New Yorker. People was used illegally by the Bush Administration, who forced Gitmo prisoners to read it cover to cover

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
Didn't we defeat both of them in WWII? I drive a Prius.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Yes.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
Indigestion. And a bottle of Chateau Rayas.

18. What is Heaven Like?
No idea, but I know there isn't a 100 Point Scale in Heaven. I'm a spiritual person, but not a religious person. I don't believe there's a Heaven, but Hell is the Napa Valley Auction.

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?
You know, the last time I had four dead people for dinner my wife complained about the smell. This is the sort of question where I'm supposed to impress people with my intellect and wide-ranging curiosity by my choice of dinner party guests. Sure. So here goes. I'd invite Mark Twain, Linda Lovelace, Wallace Stevens and Idi Amin. If the party was dull, Idi Amin could eat the other three. I'd bring the wine.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Get a life.

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.

Bloggerview # 19: Peter Liem

Bloggerview #19
Who: Peter Liem
Blog: Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel
Where: http://www.peterliem.com

Peter Liem is the second Wine & Spirits Magazine writer to take up blogging, beating his colleague Wolfgang Weber to the punch by a couple months. Peter's personal blog, Besotted Ramblings and Other Drivel, has a certain derogatory ring to it, but please don't let this fool you. Peter is W&S's Senior Correspondent based in Champagne, giving him a unique and insider perspective particularly on the European wine scene. I learned about Peter's Blog from Brooklyn Wine Guy who highly recommended it and I was not disappointed. Peter's Besotted Ramblings are likely the best source of information on the Champagne wine region and Champagne the product on the net. It's an education in the waiting. Peter was kind enough to agree to be Bloggerviewed.

1. When did you begin blogging and why?
I started my blog in November of 2007, mostly because I was living halfway around the world from the majority of my friends, and it was an easy way to stay connected. It’s since grown into something beyond what I anticipated, and I find that I enjoy writing it.

2 In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
I’m fortunate in that I’m based in one of the most dynamic and intriguing wine regions in the world, constantly surrounded by wine, vineyards and winemakers, and my blog allows me to develop ideas about issues and random bits of information that I encounter from day to day. My goal is to keep it mostly about champagne, but as I travel fairly regularly, I also end up writing about other things that I happen to be drinking or eating at the time.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
You mean other than its babbling incoherence and child-like grasp of HTML? Seriously, I suppose that one unique element of my blog is that among people blogging in English about champagne, I’m one of the very few who actually live in the region, and among those I’m the only journalist, as far as I know (the rest are winemakers or connected with wineries). Both of these things shape my perspective in particular ways.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
It’s been shocking, really. Each week surpasses the previous one. I don’t look at my stats a lot, mostly because I use Blogger, which doesn’t have an internal stat counter. But whenever I do, I think, “Damn, where did all these people come from? And don’t they have anything else better to do?”

5. Do you accept sample for review?
Well, most of my tasting is done at wineries, so I suppose that tasting wine "sur place" constitutes accepting samples in some way. I don’t feel any sort of conflict of interest, since I’m not actually reviewing wine, nor do I feel compelled to write about something just because someone opened a fantastically expensive or rare bottle for me. The whole point of having a personal blog is so that I can write about whatever I want to write about.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I don’t. At my day job I’m required to use the 100-point scale, which I like to think that I can wield competently as a professional. Personally, however, I don’t believe in numeric scoring, although I recognize the need for a system to communicate a concept of quality, if you’re going to be in the business of reviewing wine. Fortunately, my blog isn’t about reviewing wine, and it certainly isn’t about rating wine. It’s more about establishing a context in which to place the wines that I write about, creating a backdrop so that the reader is better empowered to assess these wines for himself or herself.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
It’s a sort of mental exercise, usually in the morning. I don’t like spending much more than fifteen minutes on a post — I’ll pick a sufficiently narrow topic and try to make myself write whatever I have to say within the allotted time. As I often spend much of my day writing other things, it’s a nice change of pace to write a short, focused post on something that I’m interested in.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
I’ve done absolutely nothing to market my blog. In fact, I think the only thing I’ve ever done that could remotely be considered marketing is registering on Technorati. I must be the worst self-promoter in the entire world.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
As others have said, a blog connects you with your readers in a much more immediate way than print journalism. For one thing, you can write much more frequently, and your writing is delivered instantaneously to your audience, which offers huge advantages. When I write for print, sometimes it won’t be read until several months later, which has an impact on both how you write and what you can write about. Also, one of the most valuable things about blogging is a direct interaction with your audience, via comments, e-mails and the like, and it’s very rewarding to exchange ideas in this manner.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
I browse whenever I can, generally around the blogs that I’ve linked to on my site. I like Brooklynguy’s well-written and down-to-earth Wine & Food Blog. Dr. Vino is always a fantastic source of information, and generally a hoot to read. Wolfgang Weber’s Spume is intelligent and entertaining, not always about wine but that’s a good thing. I also like Ray Isle’s blog at Food & Wine — he’s the best writer I’ve ever worked with, as well as an all-around great guy.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
I can’t say that I see a big impact on the industry. On wine culture, I suppose that it gets more people engaged in a dialogue about wine, whether they’re reading or writing. I think that blogs still occupy a fringe element rather than the mainstream, but their presence and influence is only going to grow.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
I would say Paris, except that I live close by and am there quite regularly, so it doesn’t feel like much of a vacation to me! I do love the city, though. For a proper vacation, I try to remove myself completely from Europe and North America, with Asia being a preferred continent to wander in.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Cats, unquestionably. They are by far the more civilized of the two. I’ve been in too many places in the world where I’ve had to carry a pocketful of rocks to fend off canine marauders. In Vietnam, however, I exacted my revenge upon the canine race when I ate dog prepared three different ways, including a boiled paw floating in soup, nails and all. It was a very Lance Henriksen in "Dead Man"sort of moment.

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
The New Yorker. In fact, it’s become something of a ritual for me — when I fly I almost always have both the New Yorker and Wired in my bag. One of the things I love most about flying is that it frees me of all duties and obligations, and I have absolutely nothing to do but sit there and read a magazine.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?
A Prius would be a blessing, with gas prices the way they are here in Europe. Although as my current vehicle is a Peugeot 206, I would be thrilled to drive either a Prius or a BMW. The French make many wonderful things, but automobiles are not exactly their strong suit.

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Chablis, without a doubt. I’m an old-world, old-school, cool-climate, rocks-and-minerals sort of guy. I guess I sort of have to be — I live two hours <I>north</I> of Chablis.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
I would have Kouei Furukawa, the kaiseki-trained chef of Shokkan in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, make me a multi-course extravaganza from whatever he found at the market that morning. I’d bring a ton of champagne, of course, as well as an ample supply of sake, and try out all sorts of combinations with Furukawa-san’s exquisitely elegant and refined cuisine.

18. What is Heaven Like?
Of course the champagne flows freely, and by some miracle it's all organically grown. The views are spectacular, rather like sitting out on the patio at the Ventana Inn in Big Sur. The chefs are Japanese, and the sommeliers probably are, too. And on the television, Arsenal is perpetually thrashing Manchester United, over and over again for the rest of eternity.

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?
There are many famous people living and deceased whom I might choose, but I’d have to say that my group of friends in Portland, Oregon, who all have fabulous cellars and are all complete wine dorks, will always be my favorite dining companions. Unfortunately we hardly ever get to see each other these days. There are more than four of them, but so be it.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
Don’t use Blogger! Just kidding. I think it’s important to remember that while writing on the web allows you to be more casual and relaxed than writing in print, the rules of good writing still apply. Write with a purpose and keep your audience in mind. It doesn’t have to be Pulitzer Prize-worthy, but it ought to have a point — writing “I drank this last night and it was yummy” is not very useful to anybody, plus it’s boring.

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 #18: BrooklynGuy's Wine & Food Blog

Bloggerview #18
Who: Neil From Brooklyn
Blog: BrooklynGuy's Wine Blog
Where: http://brooklynguyloveswine.blogspot.com/

Neil's BrooklynGuy's Wine & Food Blog always struck me as the prototypical wine blog. What's you've got here is someone relating their every day experience with wine. You are discovering what they discover. Tasting what they taste. But...This Guy really does do it so damn well, in large part because his writing is so filled with an authentic voice that it's very difficult to simply dismiss as another wine blog. The posts tend to be long. Anybody who has spent any time at Fermentation will know I'm not opposed to long posts. But as a reader, the article needs to be compelling for me to following down the page. I never fail to follow The BrooklynGuy's words down the page.

1.  When did you begin blogging and why?
I started in September of 2006. I was reading a lot about wine in my down time and I wanted to learn more about the wines of the Loire Valley and Burgundy, but I wasn’t seeing a whole lot about those areas in blogs. I remember thinking “maybe I could write about those wines,” but I didn’t, because who am I to write about wine? I found myself wanting to participate in Wine Blogging Wednesday, and that was the final push for me to start my own blog.

2. In two sentences describe the focus of your wine blog.
My blog focuses on my experiences as I learn about wine and I try to make it as personal as I can by including whatever details are (and sometimes are not) appropriate from my life. I drink more French wine than anything else, and I try to identify and recommend good wines at various price points.

3. What sets your wine blog apart from the pack?
I wrote and rewrote the answer to this question like 6 times, literally. I wrote about how I am a systems thinker and I try to bring that to the blog. About how I care about healthy food and unprocessed wine. About how my blog is better as a marathon and not as a sprint. About the lighter style of red wines that I prefer. And then I realized this: what really sets it apart is the same set of contradictions that define me in real life. I take things very seriously but I make fun of myself and of everything else if I can. I’m respectful but I’m also a real smart-ass. I believe in the establishment but I also think it can go get bent. I cry at the movies and generally am a real softie, but I can scrap with the big boys if I have to. I love the idea of luxurious dining at fine restaurants but I hate shaving and prefer messy clothes. I feel confident about what I know but I love to ask questions and to learn. I’m not into standing on a soapbox but I believe strongly in eating and drinking healthy, and I’ll tell you so every chance that I get. This stuff shows up in my blog somehow – I hope.

4. How would you characterize the growth in your readership since beginning your blog?
Slow growth for a while, but then Eric Asimov included me on his blogroll and things picked up. Then stayed level for a while, until for some reason things picked up again last summer, and after a few notable bloggers mentioned my blog in their Fermentation Bloggerviews, things picked up even more. But you know what - high readership isn’t my goal. I didn’t start blogging with the fantasy of having lots of people watch me. My goal is to learn, and to interact with other people who also care very much about learning about wine. If other people find this interesting and want to follow along and interact with me, I welcome that.

5. Do you accept samples for review?
Yes but only if I get to write or not write whatever I want regarding the wine.

6. What kind of wine rating/review system do you use and why?
I don’t use ratings on my blog. If I did I would be suggesting that I have the breadth of tasting experience to rate a wine among its peers, and I most often do not. And in the very few instances that I actually do have that experience, I prefer to tell whatever story I have with the wine, and let that speak for itself. There are plenty of other places to go for ratings.

7. How do you fit the maintenance of your wine blog into your daily schedule?
I run my own business out of a home office. The boss inside of me is usually pretty cool about allotting a little time each day to the blog.

8. Have you utilized any particular techniques to successfully market your blog?
Nope. I’ve done nothing other than actually writing the thing.

9. In your view how, if at all, is blogging different than traditional wine writing for print?
I don’t read much traditional wine writing for print except for NY Times tasting panel articles, so I cannot say for sure, but blogging is different in that it should offer an assessment of wine that is completely free from any outside interests of any kind. Wine writing in traditional print is like any other job – you have to maintain relationships with people in order to be successful. That probably precludes people from writing negative reviews.

10. Which other wine blogs do you read regularly?
I look at lots of blogs regularly, including all of the usual suspects. But the ones I read most carefully, the ones that most inform my learning about wine include The Pour, Alice Feiring, Rockss and Fruit, McDuff’s Food and Wine Trail, Wine Terroirs, and The Wine Doctor (not a blog, exactly, but close enough). Everyday reads also include Doktor Weingolb, Joes Wine Journal, Fork and Bottle (also not a blog exactly, but close enough) and Lenndevours as I’ve become friendly with the authors over time and I like to see what they’re up to each day.

11. Do you believe wine blogs have made any marked impact on the wine industry or wine culture?
No one who I drink wine with cares about Parker scores, or any other scores for that matter. The scores are important, but mostly because they help retailers sell wine to people who do not have the time or inclination to actually think about wine. Maybe bloggers are speaking to the rest of us.

12. Vacation: Paris or the Caribbean?
Is this some sort of joke?!? Paris, bien sur.

13. Pet: Dog or Cat?
Dogs are like big California Cabernet, always wagging their tails and slobbering everywhere. Cats are more like Chambolle-Musigny, soft, regal, mysterious, and far more complicated. And you can’t herd cats. I prefer cats.   

14. Airplane Reading: New Yorker or People?
C’mon, gimme a break. The New Yorker.

15. Car: Prius or BMW?   
Walk

16. Chablis or California Chardonnay?
Is this some sort of joke?!? Chablis. But lately I’m more into the wines of the Mâconnais.

17. Describe what you would have at your last meal?
It wouldn’t matter what I eat, as long as my wife and daughter are with me. But hopefully there would be some oysters involved, some interesting charcuterie, a simple soup made with home made stock, good bread and cheese, and lots of wine. And ice cream.

18. What is Heaven Like?
People on the subway hold onto their chicken bones and newspapers and put them in the garbage instead of dumping them on the floor of the train, and they turn their headphones down so I don’t have to listen to their music with them. Not high-minded enough for you? I’m a non-practicing reform Jew – what do I know from heaven?

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?
First of all, when I have a dinner party, I like to pick the wine. I would invite Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Theresa, and César Chávez. Just kidding! I am not one of those people who imagines having dinner with other famous people. Maybe I would invite Alice Waters over, and President Bush too, and we could shop and cook together, and hopefully the Prez would have an epiphany and devote the rest of his term and then his life to making sure America’s children have healthy and fresh food to eat in school.

20. What advice would you give to someone considering starting a wine blog?
I will quote Alice Feiring here “Have a point of view other than what you drank last night.” 

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.