Wine Blog Awards and What’s New
The Wine Blog Awards Finalists in 8 categories have been announced and voting is open to the public until June 27th. This is the 5th Annual Awards. I have a special interest in these award, having founded them back in 2007 with the hope of turning on readers to the best of the wine blogging world and encouraging wine bloggers to excel in this medium.
What gets me most excited about the Wine Blog Awards these days is the category of Best New Wine Blog. With so many wine blogs on the market today, many written by seasoned writers and seasoned bloggers, it might seam daunting to someone who wants to spread their word. And yet serious wine bloggers keep emerging. This year's crop of finalists is impressive. And I wanted to highlight them here.
NEW RUBY PRESS
This is among my favorite new blogs. It's host, Andrea Frost is a superb writer with a tender sensibility for the importance of wine that shines through in her prose. It's always a pleasure to read a thoughtful writer and she is just that. She peppers her writing on consumer topics with personal anecdotes that connect the reader to the writer and make the subject matter more compelling. New Ruby Press is an impressive new entry into the world of wine blogs.
REVERSE WINE SNOB
The challenge the Reverse Wine Snob has set up is that they enter a niche that is well travelled: reviewing and recommending affordable wines. This is a well trod niche it the wine blogging world. Yet the clear, concise, easily accessible way by which this blog presents is findings is compelling and useful. It's the kind of blog that sets out to do one thing and do wine thing really well and it succeeds.
SEDIMENT
CJ and PK, the writers behind Sediment are fantastic writers. The blog focuses on reviews of wines they find in their UK market, but really the joy of this blog and what surely gained it entry into the Best New Wine Blog category is the strength of its conversationalist prose. Reading their post one gets the distinct feeling you are sitting down with a couple of folks you really love their wine and take pure joy knowing that others like it and want to talk about it. There no smoke being blown here. This is the joy of wine and writing combined.
TERRORIST
Back in November I profiled Terroirist on this blog saying that "The Terroirist had arrived" and noting that "It's new, it's good, it's smart, it's daily and it's on my "to read" list." This blog keeps gettilng better and better due precisely because its author, David White of Washington, D.C. is an acute observer of the wine world and the implications of the impact of media, politics and consumers on that world. This blog is a must read.
VINO FREAKISM
The author behind Vino Freakism is exactly what he says he is, a geek. That geekism shows up across this blog which seems to have taken the Wine Blog Award judges by storm having been named a finalist in three categories. Vino Freakism has the appearance of being a very serious magazine on wine and a very good one at that. There is opinion and bias here, which is perfect for this venue. Real Vino Freakism with relish. My hope is that it will be around for a long time.
WINELINES ONLINE
Take note of this blog. It is written by Bob Johnson who has been traversing the wine world as a writer for more than two decades. Though very new, the blog is packed with back reviews and articles that are professional, well researched and all encompasses in a beautiful looking package. An outstanding new entry into the online wine world.
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My own blog, Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog, is a finalist in both the Best Industry Blog and Best Overall blog. I'm very grateful for this. I'm coming up on my 7th anniversary writing this blog and trying to update it on a daily basis, this being the 2,261st blog post. Suffice to say, this vehicle for getting things off my chest, exploring ideas, exploring wine marketing, keeping my eye on an industry and indulging in personal digdowns has become integrated into my life in ways could have never imagined.
My connection with the Wine Blog Awads is among the things that have come out of this blog that make me most proud of what's transpired in the past seven years.
Congrats, Tom. You deserve an award! — jo
Many thanks for the kind words Tom & all the best in the awards!
What percentage of blogs in general are wine blogs? I don’t know if numbers exist on this, but being in the middle of wine, we may be over (or under) estimating the importance of wine blogs to the world beyond the vineyards.
Nice article and thank-you for the comments. A great line up of views, blogs and writing styles. Good luck to all.
It was your own Adlai Stevenson who said that flattery is alright, if you don’t inhale. We are holding our breath until the results are declared. In the meantime, thank you for your extremely kind comments – and the best of British to all other finalists.
A wonderful list of Blogs Tom. Thanks for sharing with us.
I would like to point out this is the first time that Tom’s blog, Fermentation, is even eligible. He did not make his blog eligible when running the awards and we did not allow his blog to be eligible last year to remove any sense of favoritism towards the founder of the Awards. So great job, Tom, on getting two nominations.
RE: Finalists List
It’s Terroirist, not Terrorist.
Tom,
Thanks for the kind words. And best of luck to everyone!
As Miroslav points out though, the name of my blog is Terroirist — not Terrorist. I don’t want the FBI knocking on my door!
Great work, Tom. It is a truly wonderful effort you put out, year after year, to cite up and coming blogs. Hell, I got my start through your mention!
this roster of new wine blogs is so terrific that it’s scary…. we old-timers (blogging since Dec. 2006) had better polish up the act, refurbish the graphics and try to keep up with this refreshing competition.
http://www.biggerthanyourhead.net
Tom –
Bob Johnson over here at Wine Lines just passed along your mention of our new blog. We’re truly surprised to be competing this year and we can’t thank folks like you enough! As the webmaster for the site, I get pretty excited about this stuff, for obvious reasons 🙂
Thanks again and all the best! Every contestant this year is truly a great addition to the wonderful wine world – and what a world it is!
Cheers,
Tom Madrecki
I like read your blog. I’m always can find interesting or usefl information.
Good list of wine blogs. This list will give me a good read for the next couple weeks!