Great Wine Content Found in a Sea of Information

Posted by Tom Wark on Feb 13, 2012

One of the defining aspects of on-line wine content today is that it has become increasingly difficult to track what is available on the Internet, whether you are a consumer or a member of the trade. This is as much so for myself—who has a job that requires tracking of wine content—as it is for the average (or even above average) wine consumer.

And so when I come across new sources of wine content and information that arouse my interest and admiration, I always think…"do folks need to know about one more source of information and commentary"? In these cases, I think you do.

KEITH LEVENBERG'S CELLARBOOK
Keith, who started his CellarBook blog about a year ago, is not prolific in his postings, but he is comprehensive when he does post. More importantly, what he has to say about wine is provocative, well-put together, generous and though provoking.

Keith's latest post is entitled "On Language and Dogma" in which he responds to a variety of criticisms and observations of the natural wine movement. It's a very thoughtful post that I don't agree with in general, but it also is a really well-rendered post that will give you an idea of why you ought to be watching this blog for new posts and reading them when they arrive. 

Keith is not new to wine commentary. He has written other blogs on food and wine, as well as being a regular participant in on-line wine message boards. I can highly recommend him.

UNCORKED MAGAZINE
Uncorked Magazine, readable in digital but not print, is not in its third issue and its really very good looking, includes great content, is tightly edited and is a great addition to the world of digital wine information—a world that is surely to increase in size over the next few years.

Uncorked is the brainchild of Stephen Yafa, a writer, editor and winemaker. Uncorked is described thusly:
"Wine from Grape to Glass. Engaging and accessible coverage of the world of wine from an editor who’s actually a vintner himself. Uncorked brings you wine news, discerning reviews, taste tests, and unexpected but delicious food pairings. You’ll also get plenty of luscious photos and behind-the-scenes stories from vineyards and winemakers around the world."

It really is all this and it is designed to take advantage of the iPad's remarkable ability to render beautiful content, provide interactive content and to give you information you can take and read anywhere. It's very exciting to see a magazine such as this emerge. The field of tablet publications will quickly become crowded I think, but if Uncorked continues down the road it has hoed so far, I think it will do well. Uncorked comes highly recommended.

BUY MY WINE
"Buy My Wine" is a very new wine blog aimed at the wine trade, and specifically to winery marketers and sales people. It got my attention when its creator and author, Merritt Olson, issued a post on Franchise States that very clearly and succinctly laid out the pros and cons of selling wine in a Franchise State where distributors essentially have something of a lifetime right to distribute a winery's products.

You don't see to many blogs emerge that are geared exclusively to the wine trade, let alone those that primarily sell and market wine. I asked Merritt what she was trying to accomplish:

"I started a blog because I get asked questions about wine sales by friends in the industry all of the time, and I spend a lot of time thinking about wine sales for small wineries in general, since that's what I do for a living. Additionally, I get frustrated by friends who own wineries and make beautiful wines but are completely idiotic when it comes to selling their wines. I just wanted to put something out there to let people know that selling wine, even if it's insanely good, takes a lot of calculated work, and I thought it might help some to share tips."

What's interesting his how "Buy My Wine" resulted from the responses Merritt was getting from her Tweets and Facebook posts: "I decided to start the blog when I began to see that most of my friends on Facebook and twitter were in the wine business (as opposed to an even mix of industry and non-industry friends), and the status updates/tweets I wrote that were about wine sales got the biggest response. I thought, "This is something people are really interested in and are reacting to. They might be thinking about this stuff just as much as I am!" I would get messages and calls regarding those posts and people would be asking my advice, so I just thought maybe I could write it in one place and it could be a sort of "user guide" to sales for independent wineries."

So far so good. Merritt is only five posts into her new blog, but even with this small catalog of posts, it's clear that anyone selling wine or in the business of marketing wine is going to gain insight from keeping tabs on what she has to say.