Feb 1, 2010
"You are an important 'Influencer' in the wine industry". This was part of a message sent to me in an email late last week. Whether they were trying to butter me up or not isn't that important. But it's interesting that they wrote this because of late I've been thinking a lot about the idea of "influencers" and where blogs fit into any calculation of influencers inside the wine industry. I've thought about this idea for two decades actually. As…
Jan 20, 2010
What would you do if you were a wine and food enthusiast and due to a dictate by the Gods, you were only allowed to read one publication to satisfy your enthusiasm for food and drink? No more scanning blogs. No more waiting for the various food and wine print pubs with their dwindling pages to arrive in your mailbox. Just one publication to satisfy your craving for all things food and drink? Personally, I'm nearly convinced that I'd abandon…
Jan 15, 2010
This was lots of fun. It’s always nice to obtain your 30 seconds of fame. However, the discussion of the similarities between wine and marijuana discussed in this CNBC segment to which I was asked to contribute (see 40 seconds in..) raises a lot of questions. The most interesting issue raised is that of “Dope Critics”. Were it legal to buy and sell Marijuana in California, would a crop of “marijuana critics” rise up and flood us with their opinions?…
Jan 12, 2010
Various wine-related Year-End and Decade-End stories have been published and posted at blogs, in magazines and in newspapers. Yet none of these wrap-up stories have addressed the one development over the past decade that probably had the most impact on the wine industry and wine drinkers. That development is this: MONEY CONTRIBUTED TO STATE-BASED POLITICAL CAMPAIGNSBY SECTORS OF THE ALCOHOL INDUSTRY (2000-2009) Alcohol Retailers: $3,219,398Beer Producers: $20,300,278Wine & Spirit Producers …
Dec 28, 2009
Not long ago I was queried by a writer about my thoughts on what if any impact wine blogs have had. Though I put it in more words than this, I think it can safely be said that wine blogs have, are and will impact the wine trade and wine industry. However, the query got me thinking: What do wine blogs and wine bloggers need individually and collectively to make a REAL impact, a bottom line impact, a permanent impact…