Almost Quit My Blog

Almost quit my blog*

It happened just the other day

I was getting kind of bored

I had nothing left to say

But I didn't and I wonder why 

I feel like letting my wine freak flag fly

And I feel like I owe it to someone

But I'm not giving in an inch to fear 

Cos I promised myself this year 

I feel like I owe it to someone 

(* Sung to the tune of Almost Cut My Hair with apologies to David Crosby for minor lyric changes)

When I started this blog five years ago my purpose was to explore the region in which I live, the vineyards and wineries of my backyard, the Russian River Valley. My blog was a catalyst for my own exploration of wine and wine travel. I never expected it to become more than that. But things changed.

Largely due in part to my blog, I was invited to speak at wine conferences around the world about marketing, social media, writing, and wine tourism. I went from being a newbie at the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference to a featured speaker on Creating Compelling Content at the 2013 Conference. I even won the Rhone Rangers Wine Blog contest two years in a row see here and here.

Because of my blog I got the opportunity to explore well beyond my backyard including the wine regions of Portugal, Spain, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Canada {especially B.C.} and much of Washington and Oregon. I received assignments to write about wine and travel for several publications and was chosen to become a corespondent for Forbes Travel Guide covering Napa and Sonoma.

But in the midst of all this activity, my blog got left behind.

It was no longer a touchstone of exploration, but a tool to support my other writing activities. It became less spontaneous and more predictable. I no longer wrote posts for the sheer impulsive fun of it all. And slowly, without even realizing it, I squeezed the life out of my blog.

In short, my blog had become a burden.

Many past posts (all of which are fully disclosed) were the result of sponsored or comped access to events at wineries and tastings. I have never compromised my own thoughts and impressions to please anyone regardless of the circumstances, yet the pressure to maintain a high standard of quality posts, under non-implied but always hovering expectations, is exhausting.

Then last year I founded and launched a writing retreat program called Writing Between the Vines that hosts writers on vineyard properties for personal writing retreats of up to one week in length. This program was a direct result of all my travels and the people I’ve met along the way. Now that Writing Between the Vines is up and running I’m re-establishing my commitment to my own personal writing projects.

I will continue to cultivate relationships directly with wineries, wine regions, and destinations that I have an interest in writing about for this blog and other outlets. But for the time being, I'm stepping away from the majority of media invites that come barreling into my inbox while I get back to basics.

So I’m not quitting my blog after all, and like the song says, I feel like I owe it to someone--to me I guess, and especially to my sister, to keep going. I’m going to get reacquainted with it--unfiltered and unsponsored. I hope you will too. Whomever the heck you are.

Portugal Preview

In 10 days I’m on my way to Portugal to participate in the 3^rd International Wine Tourism Conference, in Oporto, Portugal starting January 31^st.

The three day conference will bring together an international audience of wine tour providers and the wineries seeking to host them. In addition to conference sessions on Portugal as a wine and culinary destination, there will be presentations on wines from other regions, and a full slate of marketing seminars designed to help attendees get the most out of their tour programs and offers incorporating the tools of social media.

I will be speaking at the conference in a seminar called Beyond the Brochure—Blogging with Personality and Content that Connects. My talk will explain the joys of incorporating narrative elements using text and video. There will be seminars and talks on a huge array of topics and you can see them all by downloading the IWTC 2011 app. That’s right, there’s an app for that. Pretty cool, huh? You can find it in the app store by searching IWTC 2011.

I’ll also be joining the Blogger/Media Press trip to the Minho and Douro wine regions, and I am beyond excited to visit these areas. I can’t wait to delve into the many aspects of Port and visit Vinho Verde country. I know press trips can be overwhelming, but this one promises to be packed with absolutely everything I would have chosen for myself, including historical lodging in Pousadas and dining in acclaimed restaurants of the region. You can find links to the Pre-conference program here.

I’m especially happy that the press tour will take us to Quevedo Winery in São João da Pesqueira. I’ve been planning to visit Oscar Quevedo’s winery ever since I met him two years ago at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa, California. I’m also looking forward to meeting the other participants and celebrating my birthday in style along the way. (Oh yeah, did I mention it will be my birthday while I’m there?)

Palácio de Freixo

So come on, what are you waiting for? Come meet me at the beautiful conference venue, the Palácio de Freixo, in Porto. I know you’ll want to attend my talk to help hone your story telling skills and learn a few tips and tricks using social media. And of course you’ll want to be there to wish me a happy birthday too! Right? Just kidding…

But if you can’t make it in person, stay tuned-- I’ll be blogging and tweeting all about it in just a few weeks.

The Accidental Wine Blogger

NOTE: I cut this section below from my post on the Wines of Burgundy because it did not seem relevant to the story. But then this morning I awoke to see twitter all a twitter about the latest wine blogger bashing. So I thought I’d include it here separate from the original post:

I guess this goes without saying that I write these posts for my own enjoyment and don’t expect to influence anyone about anything, but I think any journey worth taking is also one worth sharing. I say this because I got a “Who do I think I am?” response from a person at the Burgundy event when I told them I have a wine blog. I responded to them by saying --“Why do you care what I write unless you believe it in some way diminishes what you do? I don’t let anyone define me so why would you?” The person just stared at me.

It’s not like anyone but my friends and family are reading this? Right? Anyway I thought it was funny and I suggested they actually read my blog so they could rest assured I was not someone to fear, nor was I corrupting or influencing the wine buying public. Hey, we’ve got Wine Spectator for that. Just kidding. I subscribe to WS and find it very entertaining and informative. I’m not dissing them. Cue Rodney King—”Can’t we all get along…?”

Full Disclosure: Last year I moved to Sonoma County and decided to learn about the vineyards that are all around me. Through twitter I met some local people and attended a live twitter tasting at Estate in Sonoma. I had a great time and became friends with many of the people I met there. Although I am mostly a travel writer, I started my “wine blog” a year ago because I wanted to attend the Wine Blogger Conference in Santa Rosa and you had to have a blog to register. So overnight I became a wine blogger. The title of my blog, Come for the Wine, is actually taken from the title of my book about my adventures (and major misadventures) when I lived in Italy and the full title is Come for the Wine, Stay for the Surgery. (Although it might as well be titled: Eat Red Meat. Drink Red Wine.)

After I started the blog I really embraced the oppourtunity to learn all about all aspects of wine in the area I live. In the process I’ve met some life long friends and had more fun than I could imagine thanks to the generosity of the local wine blogging community. I don’t write reviews really, I just write about what I find interesting and fun. But it never ceases to amaze me how hopped up people can get over wine bloggers. My experience noted above was kind of a shocker. I don’t take my self that seriously so I was surprised anyone else would. But I do take learning seriously and I learned a tremendous amount in the last year because of my blog. In one year I’ve been to tastings both live and on twitter, picked grapes at crush, visited crush pads at the peak of harvest, toured wineries and vineyards, blended a bottle of Cabernet, learned about the scents in wine and wine barrels, tested different types of wine glasses, met winemakers and sampled a lot of great wine. Having a blog gives me a chance to filter and distill what I experience and an outlet to share it with anyone who is interested.

So am I a wine blogger? I don’t know. I think of myself as a writer (a travel writer mostly) with a blog, and right now it happens to be about wine. But if I keep this up I might have to admit that yes I am a wine blogger --The Accidental Wine Blogger. Hey maybe that should be the new name for my blog!