Is Napa Really Ripe for the (blog) Pickings?
Napa and Sonoma seem ripe for the picking.
Maybe I’m just not aware of it, but I don’t know of a wine blog that focuses its energy and words on either Napa Valley or Sonoma County exclusively. It’s not as though these two rather large regions, home to immense amounts of winemaking energy, wines, and wine lover focus, don’t have enough going on in them to justify the attention of a single blog.
I couldn’t stop marveling at this seeming omission in the blogosphere when I came across The Cork Board blog. It’s new. But it wants to be THE blog of Napa Valley. How could the authors of this new, well written, interesting blog possibly find themselves in a position to quite easily be the blogging voice of Napa Valley wine without having to compete with any other similarly positioned blogs?
I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the people I’m personally aware of who, if they chose to make the effort, could easily post with authority three or four times a day on one of the most dynamic winemaking regions on the globe.
So does the Cork Board have what it takes? They just might. A quick look at the site will show that a whole variety of Napa-related topics are covered without spending much time at all reviewing wine after wine, which would be the easy way out for a blogger focusing on a region. Yet all one needs to do to realize there is a better way to cover a region is look at Lenndevours‘ approach to covering the world of New York Wines.
The Cork Board has a similar feel to it as LennDevours. That means it has great potential. I’ve added it to my blog reader because I’m very interested to see how this new Napa-centered blog will develop. I’m curious to see if the folks behind it have the potential to explore Napa Valley in a probing entertaining and enlightening way.
I love these kind of finds. Nothing is more inspiring than real, honest-to-goodness potential.
Now a whole place to find regional blogs: http://www.wineblogatlas.com both of the above mentioned blogs are on it. Please let me know if you know of others.
Wow, what a week!
Its amazing that this blog has only been live for a just about a weekit seems like only yesterday it was but an idea rattling around in our head. This is just a quick post to say thank you to all our readers and all the wine bloggers from…
I had previously seen The Cork Board and it gave me hope. I’ve been searching and waiting for a Sonoma County wine blog similar to it to appear. I’m surprised there aren’t more regional blogs yet but I expect they’ll show up eventually. Maybe the wine blog atlas will help start a few.
The difficulty lies in the fact that to write an effective, thoroughly informed blog, the author needs to be right at the center of the action. Napa and Sonoma are small towns when it comes to the goings on in their wine communities and the politics (personal and business) can be very intense. I would suspect that anyone writing a blog intending to “call ’em as I see ’em” could well encounter some difficulties in the course of their day gigs or at social functions if people know that whatever they say might turn up on a blog sometime.
I began the freerunjuice blog at Vinfolio in September last year concentrating on the newest things related to wine in Napa and Sonoma. I find that I have the opportunity to get an inside look at what is happening in the barrel through visits I make to winemakers as well as wine events I attend. Cork Board seems to be designed for the valley visitor and has some excellent suggestions.
Erwin is right about the repurcusions of “being a fly on the wall” . There are plenty of secrets and gossip floating around the valley but I don’t write about anything that isn’t public record or without permission. Napa is not Hollywood!
Dangit. You found me out.
I am (in fact) starting a wine blog and podcast based out of my ranch house in Glen Ellen. Of course, I’m an enthusiast and only have one foot in the wine industry (my wife is a grower).
It’s true that Sonoma and Napa counties are tricky for tech-savvy (or at least blog-savvy) folks to find work in. I’ll save my tech chops for another time, but suffice it to say I’m starting down the path.
Wish me luck.
–R
As one who lives in Napa I first started my blog Living in the Whine Country sort of as a tounge in cheek about it. But it didn’t take long for me to realize that personally I’m not in a place to blog about Napa’s comings and goings, the top wines, and what’s happening.
After blogging a while about random stuff on my blog, I am starting a simple blog reviewing “affordable” wines at whino.info. And even that I find will not fully work as I’ve not the selective taste that a good wine review blog needs.
Napa deserves a quality blog, and I’ve seen many print “newsletters” that provide what Napa needs in a digital format. I’m just waiting for those editors and authors to make the leap.