I Sense a Disturbance in the Force

There is a shift going on in the wineblogging world.  Or at least the subset that I have the attention span to pay attention to these days.  At first it was mostly about the wine, the label, the fruit-forwardness, the nutty characters and spicy finish for only $14.99 at the grocery store down the street, but not anymore.  Hell, that’s how I started my freakish blog.  Wine blogging has become so much more and the shift is on to better align bloggers with their audience and the wine industry and get away from the mundane wine notes.

Many were already there with the likes of Jeff Lefevre’s Goode Grapeand Tom Wark’s Fermentation and have been role models to look up to (Tom doesn’t do wine reviews either).  Others are recently finding their own niches that are resonating loudly with all types of audiences and are on their way to stardom such as 1WineDude‘s Joe Roberts and Hardy Wallace of DirtySouthWine, while still others (maybe myself included) are searching for their voice.  Most recently the WineWhore has denounced his previous “advertorials,” seemingly based on some very direct feedback from his audience, and will now be telling a different wine story.  Sure, hardly earth shattering events and some weak linkages I am trying to use to illustrate that things are changing and I think for the better.   What will happen next?  Will the Hosemasterfinally realize he is actually one of those very same bloggers he’s constantly berating searching for attention and finally use his tremendous wine skillz for good?  “Look at me!  I know more about wine than you do, so shut the F*** up!  See, I have a Wine Blogger Award Finalist badge on my site, but I really don’t care about this blogging stuff.”  — or maybe he’s been right all along? — it could happen, just sayin. 

On Wark’s Fermentation, Joe Robertslooked into his crystal ball and opined about how wine bloggers should use their influence  — check out question #11 as Joe responds: “Now… what are [we] gonna *do* with our influence?”  Yes, this makes the bold statement that wine bloggers have influence, but VinTank already stated “Bloggers, Blobbers, Whatever, They Got Some Power” in their now infamous social media report — and we better live up to that statement.  For more on blogger influence and wine marketing overall, check out John Corcoran’s Facebook site — he’s a blogger, a believer and backs it up.

The Wine Blogger’s Conference in July certainly showed there was interest in social media by the wine industry (as well as their marketing agents, ahem) and their ability to take advantage of it.  The big question still out there is can it really work or is it going to be like the Dot Com boom a decade ago where money will be thrown into this blackhole with no value, in terms of real return, coming out the other end?  That remains to be seen.  This represents yet another shift with wineries like Murphy-Goode, St. Supery, Bonny Doon, Twisted Oak and Eagles Nest Winery among others taking the lead to show that social media can at least extend brand reach and develop communities of evangelists for product, story, personality, etc. 

How can wine bloggers continue to add value to YOU, our dear reader and fellow wine-lover… and YOU our friends the winery, winemaker and wine industry?  How can we get together around the campfire and sing “kumbaya” all whilst sharing and enjoying our favorite grape juice?  Or is that just pie in the sky talk?  Find your niche, speak your mind and love what you do…  the force is strong in this one.