Wine Blogger Doesn’t Read Own Wine Blog

I have recently received some good advice, that I should start being more like myself and less like Alder Yarrow. I have been told I am a funny guy and should show that more. These are inaccurate assumptions. While I may be a Mini-Yarrow, I assure you I am in no way a funny person. The comments did get me thinking though about what I dislike in most wine blogs.

For a long time I have felt wine bloggers as a whole, are an irrelevant bitter group of individuals filled with incredible ego and little talent, who are out to make names for themselves while gobbling up free samples, demanding special attention, and possibly running illegal dog fights on the side. Plus, most can’t no write good (guilty here too, look how long that first sentence be).

The recent round of complaints and accusations from some of the non-finalists for the 2010 Wine Blog Awards demonstrates my theory. I have not heard so much bitter complaining since Sean Penn or Kanye West last said anything publicly. I will say I am a finalist for Best New Wine Blog. I am happy about this…why wouldn’t I be? As most of the other wine bloggers, I work hard on my project. I do the project, because I love it and would not have felt personally slighted if I was passed by for a nomination. The people of America may have felt slighted on my behalf, but I would have handled it with stoic grace. As far as the 11 secret judges and their massive conspiracy to shun real wine bloggers, I don’t give much attention to that. I imagine they take their position seriously. If you want a conspiracy, find out who put the TOP in Top Ramen or the real reason why Mr. Rogers always changed his shoes before inviting us to be his neighbor. It’s funny that all of these rants and theories appeared AFTER and not BEFORE the finalists were announced. Would there be so much bitterness from certain individuals had their name been included? I think not. Last I checked, there is no H in wine?

So, instead of a rant after I lose for Best New Wine Blog, how about a rant before I lose?

This is not really a mean spirited rant. While I am not overly familiar with each finalist in the various categories, I am genuinely happy for all the nominees. The list includes a few people I consider friends and persons I admire. I assure you while I am not funny, I am a nice guy. Yet, I feel compelled to write about issues I have with some wine blogs.

Taken as a group wine bloggers are horribly uncreative. There are talented individuals out there that deserve much respect for raising the bar of online wine writing. Many vineyard blogs don’t fall into that camp of horribleicity…a word I made up. Blogs produced by Tablas Creek, Ridge, and Wes Hagen of Clos Pepe actually provide an environment to learn about wine and how it is made. They are incredibly valuable. But most are horrible, myself included or course…just kidding, I am incredibly talented. Even I though, with all that talent don’t take as much advantage of the blogging platform as I should. There is room for improvement.

I have a hard time getting excited about most wine blogs. While I don’t dislike critics I get bored with everyone wanting to be one. Too many sites are based around “this is what I am drinking and now I am going to rate it so you don’t have to think for yourself.” You gave a wine 4 gold stars did you? What are we? Eight? Soon I will role out my 100,000-point scale, now that’s a rating system! The Internet and social media make it too easy for everyone to be a critic. In fact, it is so easy to fancy ourselves a critic that we forget that professional critics are highly knowledgeable and gifted at what they do. I was good at pogs. I am good at watching TV. I am not good at wine reviews, so I don’t do them. Case in point, I once visited a winery where I was told I had to see the piece of land to get the wine. The wines are not completely my style, but the land is amazing and the experience changed my opinion of them. Now, had I sampled those wines at home, with no context and then reviewed them, the outcome might have been incredibly shallow because my understanding was shallow. When we only focus on what we think about the wine, we can miss the context behind it.

I know some will take this to mean that I hate online wine reviews. That is not true. If a person finds pleasure in experiencing many wines and writing about them, then I can respect that. If they find an audience for it, that’s even better. Some of the best critics today got their start in a similar way. I would even argue that there is some advantage in a multitude of critics since many voices are often better than a few. My point is this: why do we all feel the need to do more or less the same blog? We should be interested in moving the cause of wine further along and while critics play a role in that, they can also be the reason many are turned off by wine. Many of us wine bloggers seem to take ourselves way too seriously, something seen in the rounds of online furry directed at the organizers of the Wine Blog Awards.

When we realize that there is no book deal coming, no TV shows, no movies (Krankl and Krankl), no critical acclaim, then I think we will all be better off. Sure, a few will get those things, but most will not. This should be for the fun of exploring and learning. If something bigger comes out of it, fantastic! If nothing does, well it was fun while it lasted. Our blogs should not be a passport to free samples or a pathway to fame and respect. A very smart CEO recently told me, “wine is about an experience and a story,” I couldn’t agree more. For me, that’s the point of my project summed up in eight words.

So at the end of this weekend, when the wine blog world is full of angry blog-ites, sitting late at night in their dens of bitterness, furiously typing away while surrounded by ash trays, free wine samples, and dog fighting videos, I will be quietly doing what I have always done: writing the best wine blog the world has ever seen. Now I am off to the fights! Come on Killer! Poppa needs a new pair of everything!