I thought I could share my opinions… hopefully some of it will be of value.
1. Most wine blogs out there seem to be written for an audience that is highly interested and very knowledgeable about wine and in many cases are wine bloggers themselves. In other words, it is like a community of people writing for each other about a topic that they are all passionate about. That’s great if that is what these bloggers intended to do from the start. I like these blogs and I read them regularly. However, I believe that there is a need for bloggers who write to the new wine drinkers who don’t want to be consumed by the political issues behind wine distribution, global-warming, or pruning techniques. They just want to learn how they can improve their enjoyment of wine in a simple way. A blend between the two audiences may be possible but I’ve found few blogs that do this well today.
2. I currently subscribe to 52 wine blog feeds (more than what I can keep up with). I would say that about half of these are blogs which contain weekly wine reviews. At least once a week I read one wine review that makes me want to purchase the wine. How many times have I succeeded in purchasing this wine in let’s say just the past three months? ZERO. To the point that I have pretty much given up on looking… which is now turning into giving up on reading the blogger’s review all together. What is the point of reading a wine review of a wine that I know I have little chance of being able to purchase? We all know that we have to keep on fighting to modify the three-tier-system in the US. State laws are changing rapidly but it may be several years before barriers are broken down to the point where everyone in America has access to every bottle of wine produced or imported into this country. In the meantime it would be great to find a solution. I do not have an answer for this, nor do I think that it is the responsibility of wine bloggers to “fix” the problem. But while Tom Wark and Co. continue to battle the “system”, it would be great if bloggers found a way to REALLY get wine into people’s hands.
Marco Montez
· 1 year ago
Hi Ryan,
I thought I could share my opinions… hopefully some of it will be of value.
1. Most wine blogs out there seem to be written for an audience that is highly interested and very knowledgeable about wine and in many cases are wine bloggers themselves. In other words, it is like a community of people writing for each other about a topic that they are all passionate about. That’s great if that is what these bloggers intended to do from the start. I like these blogs and I read them regularly. However, I believe that there is a need for bloggers who write to the new wine drinkers who don’t want to be consumed by the political issues behind wine distribution, global-warming, or pruning techniques. They just want to learn how they can improve their enjoyment of wine in a simple way. A blend between the two audiences may be possible but I’ve found few blogs that do this well today.
2. I currently subscribe to 52 wine blog feeds (more than what I can keep up with). I would say that about half of these are blogs which contain weekly wine reviews. At least once a week I read one wine review that makes me want to purchase the wine. How many times have I succeeded in purchasing this wine in let’s say just the past three months? ZERO. To the point that I have pretty much given up on looking… which is now turning into giving up on reading the blogger’s review all together. What is the point of reading a wine review of a wine that I know I have little chance of being able to purchase? We all know that we have to keep on fighting to modify the three-tier-system in the US. State laws are changing rapidly but it may be several years before barriers are broken down to the point where everyone in America has access to every bottle of wine produced or imported into this country. In the meantime it would be great to find a solution. I do not have an answer for this, nor do I think that it is the responsibility of wine bloggers to “fix” the problem. But while Tom Wark and Co. continue to battle the “system”, it would be great if bloggers found a way to REALLY get wine into people’s hands.
Robert
· 1 year ago
I think these are very valid points. I have been thinking much the same as Marco in his second point. I almost always skip over the tasting element of tasting notes, looking for the general information on the winery and its business instead. The tasting is irrelevant if I cannot find the wine in this market.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
Robert
· 1 year ago
I think these are very valid points. I have been thinking much the same as Marco in his second point. I almost always skip over the tasting element of tasting notes, looking for the general information on the winery and its business instead. The tasting is irrelevant if I cannot find the wine in this market.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
Robert
· 1 year ago
I think these are very valid points. I have been thinking much the same as Marco in his second point. I almost always skip over the tasting element of tasting notes, looking for the general information on the winery and its business instead. The tasting is irrelevant if I cannot find the wine in this market.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
Robert
· 1 year ago
I think these are very valid points. I have been thinking much the same as Marco in his second point. I almost always skip over the tasting element of tasting notes, looking for the general information on the winery and its business instead. The tasting is irrelevant if I cannot find the wine in this market.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
thirstforwine
· 1 year ago
I think these are very valid points. I have been thinking much the same as Marco in his second point. I almost always skip over the tasting element of tasting notes, looking for the general information on the winery and its business instead. The tasting is irrelevant if I cannot find the wine in this market.
I REALLY like the idea of Domaine547 where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
All Comments
I thought I could share my opinions… hopefully some of it will be of value.
1. Most wine blogs out there seem to be written for an audience that is highly interested and very knowledgeable about wine and in many cases are wine bloggers themselves. In other words, it is like a community of people writing for each other about a topic that they are all passionate about. That’s great if that is what these bloggers intended to do from the start. I like these blogs and I read them regularly. However, I believe that there is a need for bloggers who write to the new wine drinkers who don’t want to be consumed by the political issues behind wine distribution, global-warming, or pruning techniques. They just want to learn how they can improve their enjoyment of wine in a simple way. A blend between the two audiences may be possible but I’ve found few blogs that do this well today.
2. I currently subscribe to 52 wine blog feeds (more than what I can keep up with). I would say that about half of these are blogs which contain weekly wine reviews. At least once a week I read one wine review that makes me want to purchase the wine. How many times have I succeeded in purchasing this wine in let’s say just the past three months? ZERO. To the point that I have pretty much given up on looking… which is now turning into giving up on reading the blogger’s review all together. What is the point of reading a wine review of a wine that I know I have little chance of being able to purchase? We all know that we have to keep on fighting to modify the three-tier-system in the US. State laws are changing rapidly but it may be several years before barriers are broken down to the point where everyone in America has access to every bottle of wine produced or imported into this country. In the meantime it would be great to find a solution. I do not have an answer for this, nor do I think that it is the responsibility of wine bloggers to “fix” the problem. But while Tom Wark and Co. continue to battle the “system”, it would be great if bloggers found a way to REALLY get wine into people’s hands.
I thought I could share my opinions… hopefully some of it will be of value.
1. Most wine blogs out there seem to be written for an audience that is highly interested and very knowledgeable about wine and in many cases are wine bloggers themselves. In other words, it is like a community of people writing for each other about a topic that they are all passionate about. That’s great if that is what these bloggers intended to do from the start. I like these blogs and I read them regularly. However, I believe that there is a need for bloggers who write to the new wine drinkers who don’t want to be consumed by the political issues behind wine distribution, global-warming, or pruning techniques. They just want to learn how they can improve their enjoyment of wine in a simple way. A blend between the two audiences may be possible but I’ve found few blogs that do this well today.
2. I currently subscribe to 52 wine blog feeds (more than what I can keep up with). I would say that about half of these are blogs which contain weekly wine reviews. At least once a week I read one wine review that makes me want to purchase the wine. How many times have I succeeded in purchasing this wine in let’s say just the past three months? ZERO. To the point that I have pretty much given up on looking… which is now turning into giving up on reading the blogger’s review all together. What is the point of reading a wine review of a wine that I know I have little chance of being able to purchase? We all know that we have to keep on fighting to modify the three-tier-system in the US. State laws are changing rapidly but it may be several years before barriers are broken down to the point where everyone in America has access to every bottle of wine produced or imported into this country. In the meantime it would be great to find a solution. I do not have an answer for this, nor do I think that it is the responsibility of wine bloggers to “fix” the problem. But while Tom Wark and Co. continue to battle the “system”, it would be great if bloggers found a way to REALLY get wine into people’s hands.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
I REALLY like the idea of <a href="Domaine547" target="_blank">http://domaine547.com/">Domaine547where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.
I REALLY like the idea of Domaine547 where she puts together packs for bloggers and based on bloggers reviews. I think that has real potential for the future. If there could be some way to get hold of the wines reviewed around the world and order a selection based on that, I'd buy it in a snap.
Of course shipping laws and costs currently make this almost impossible, but yet ...
However, I am a blogger and not the target of the question. I am sure others out there have their own thoughts.