15 Years of Come for the Wine!

Fifteen years ago I began writing this blog with my first post titled In Real Life.

I started Come for the Wine to record and share my adventures in and around Sonoma. I would never have believed that this humble blog could led me to so many amazing opportunities. From press trips around the world to elegant wine dinners and guided tastings, to podcast host! Most importantly my blog led to making contact with industry leaders, wine makers, editors and lasting friendships with fellow wine lovers. 

It kinda goes with out saying, but wine people are some of the best people. Curious, engaged, fun, and of course very opinionated. They are also some of the most generous people.

Oh yeah, this blog led to wine samples too! So many wine samples that I had to employ a strict no sample policy unless I requested them. It was just too much.

Additionally this blog led to many speaking gigs and well paying writing opportunities with a variety of publications. Even a fellowship to the 2017 Symposium for Professional Wine Writers at Meadowood in Napa Valley

Because of this blog I've had the opportunity to travel to wine regions in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Croatia, Croatia (!) Austria, Germany, Sicily, Switzerland, Hungary, British Columbia, Ontario, Montreal, and even Lativa, to the one experimental vineyard that was there at the time. And the many wine regions in the US including Oregon, Washington, California, Virginia, Texas, and New York.

Having a wine blog has been a trip --literally!

Also because of the blog and the inherent networking opportunities it created, I can add Award Winning Podcast host to my credits.

For a while there I thought maybe blogging was dead, but in the last few years it feels like it's more important than ever. 

Cheers to the wine blog and long may it wave!

A Rant and a Solution for the Wine Bloggers Writing Workshop

I attended the Sunday Writing Workshop at #WBC14 led by Mike Dunne, Jim Conaway and Steve Heimoff, the same guys who were on the Saturday Wine Writer panel I wrote about here. The Sunday workshop had problems in my opinion, so I’d like to offer a solution on how to fix it for future conferences.

Oh, and I’m going to rant a bit too, so read on.

The conference agenda described the Sunday workshop as follows:  “… a two-hour workshop on Sunday that will help wine bloggers with their tone and writing.”

The general advice given by the panel was sound—use proper grammar, check your spelling, gain command of comma usage, and if possible, get someone to edit your work.*  Yet when they got down to the actual critiques, it felt like the panel was scrambling to organize their thoughts on the fly and did not read the submissions completely. I’ve heard and read comments that many people in the workshop felt bewildered by the critiques. The panelists mainly evaluated the work for print publication, not the blog medium. (Which may have been the directions they were given. I don’t know.) But not all wine bloggers aspire to be print journalists. And once the panel discussed the economic reality of working as a wine writer, I doubt any will pursue full-time print writing at all.

For one submission, about winemakers in Istira, Mike Dunne advised the writer to avoid using weak descriptive language, but then he suggested the entire piece be re-written to focus on the use of Acacia barrels in the region. Yes, that would be lovely, but it was a profile piece on the winemaker, not the barrel program. How helpful was that to the writer seeking help improving a profile piece?

Next, Steve Heimoff commented on my wine tourism piece about DeLoach Vineyards and cautioned us not to “get spun” by our subjects. And then he added pointedly—“ Jean-Charles Boisset is not your friend. He does not care about you.”

What?

I was not even in Steve’s group, I was in Jim’s group. Later, via some back and forth on twitter, Steve said there is a fine line between advertorial and editorial and that my piece read like a paid PR vehicle. I can assure you I was not paid by DeLoach.

Steve Heimoff (shown right) with Mr. JCB, his friend, not mine apparently.

A journalist from the Press Democrat attended the DeLoach event and filed a story that was almost identical to mine in terms of content and facts, yet the tone was impersonal and detached. (As a  journalistic piece should be.)  My blog post covered the same facts but was imbued with my personality and experience. That's what blogs do! Enthusiasm and humor does not make it an advertorial.

You can compare and contrast for yourself. Here are links to both:
Press Democrat—DeLoach
Come For the Wine—DeLoach

I think perhaps Steve failed to consider who my audience is and may not comprehend that my readers understand my tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. I took his advertorial remark as that of the pot calling the kettle black given his new Wine Marketing Communications role at Kendall Jackson. Or maybe he secretly covets my plucky marketing acumen. (I’ll admit you can take the girl out of marketing, but you can’t take the marketing out of the girl.) But I know the difference between writing for an audience and selling to an audience.

The truth is, I actually do admire Jean-Charles Boisset and I think his efforts to create interesting, fun, and educational experiences for visitors to his wineries presents a model of wine tourism. My goal is to encourage travel to wine regions. People who read the DeLoach piece said it peaked their interest to visit. Thus, mission accomplished.

And for the record, I don’t have anything against Steve. We are quite similar really. I like hats and dogs and wine too. And unlike some bloggers ( see #7)* -- I don't think his is a doddering, out of touch, grandpa. Heck, we may be the same age for all I know. (Just don’t call my blog advertorial, Gramps!)
*Well, anotherwineblog.com in link above only said -- "grand-fatherly” -- not doddering and out of touch, those are my words.

End of rant.

Now, on to my suggestion for improving the workshop.

SOLUTION--

I think it was difficult for the panel to read so many posts and try to offer something concrete for each participant. Workshop was the wrong word to describe what the session delivered.

If WBC wants to offer this type of session again, I think the format needs to be recast as a PAID one-day pre-conference workshop and taught by a qualified writing instructor.

Workshop discussion topics could include:
*Framing a story
*Crafting a lede
*How to decide which form is best for your story
*Creating a compelling story arc
*How to write vivid prose and avoid clichés
*How to pitch stories
*How to work with editors
*How writing for the web differs from writing for print!!! -- Because it does! {Unicorns be damned}

The workshop should also include in-class writing exercises.

So what should something like this cost? I’d say around $200-$300 per person. This amount would be a massive bargain compared to fees for similar one-day writing workshops and help ensure the chosen instructor is compensated and worthy. No qualified writer would or should ever do this kind of thing for free.

Marcy & Steve on the advertorial/editorial slide.
--It’s a slippery slope.

By the way, the day you can't rant on your blog is the day the Internet ends.

* WARNING: this blog may contain typos, grammatical errors, and egregious misuse of commas.

Related Post: Impressions on the Wine Writers Panel at #WBC14 Buellton and My Hunch About Jim Conaway’s Next Book

Five Blogs by Chicks That Really Click

Recently Lettie Teague wrote an article in the WSJ called “Five Blogs I Really Click With”— but none of the five she clicked with were written by women. {Although she did cite wine writer Alice Feiring as a blogger she reads on a regular basis.}

Ms. Teague’s desire was to find bloggers with talent and passion and a “genuine curiosity and interesting point of view”--I look for that too. Blogs that interest me are usually personal stories of bloggers who have something to say beyond what’s in the glass, on the nose and the palate. Wine blogs are non-required reading, no one MUST read a wine blog. In order to attract readers blogs must inform or entertain--preferably both. And it's the writing style of story or a post that makes it compelling, not the content alone.

So why can’t Lettie find a few good women wine bloggers who meet her criteria? Do they lack passion? I don’t think so.

In the article, she spoke with Allan Wright, of Zephyr Adventures, who organizes the annual Wine Bloggers Conference and had recently conducted a survey about the "State of Wine Blogging".  Over 83% of the bloggers surveyed cited “passion” as the reason for writing their blogs. But I think that’s due in part to the fact passion was the only reasonable option to select in the limited multiple-choice survey. {Incidentally, I think passion is so over used it’s become a buzzword without value that should be retired for a few years to let it air out.}

To be honest, I find the majority of “popular award-winning” wine blogs written by men to be tedious and trying too hard to replicate MSM content with regurgitated industry news posts and wine reviews that are just plain boring. Alder Yarrow is mentioned as a monetary success for his blog Vinography, but frankly, I think Alder’s most interesting work is under the “rants” section not reviews.

I mainly read wine blogs by people I have met in person or from links in tweets that I happen to see on the fly. I don’t do Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, LinkendIn, or any other social media poison. My blog is most likely not read by fellow wine bloggers unless I happen to catch their attention with a well-timed tweet. My core readers are mostly wine tourists or travelers looking for information on wineries, lodging and restaurants in wine regions and entered search parameters that delivered them to my blog doorstep. I’m pretty sure they don’t care how I rate a wine and that’s good because I don’t give out stars or points or any other kind of ratings crap. I merely describe how I experienced a wine or food pairing for me, myself and I. If you can glean some value out of that--good for you.

Fortunately, many women wine bloggers take a more generous approach than I and provide plenty of great content for those interested in the world wide web of wine.

Here are my selections for Five Blogs by Chicks That Really Click. Perhaps Lettie will take a look when she recovers from her wine blog research overload.

1. Gwen Alley-- For sheer prolific output and interesting angles I like Gwen’s two blogs-- Art Predator and Wine Predator.
http://winepredator.wordpress.com/
http://artpredator.wordpress.com/

2. Madeline Puckette-- Wine Folly is wonderful fun for novices and experienced wine aficionados alike. It’s not a solo effort, but who cares.
http://winefolly.com/

3. Meg Houston Maker – Makers Table is Meg’s wine blog, but her eponymous blog is equally interesting filled with linguistic high wire acts that I find thrilling but sometimes feel show-offy. Yes, I just made up a word.
http://www.megmaker.com/
http://www.makerstable.com/

4. Lily-Elaine Hawk Wakawaka –Wakawaka Wine Reviews offers tasting notes wrapped around a narrative about the winemaker and vineyards. But mostly I like visiting the blog for her cool little drawings.
http://WakawakaWineReviews.com

5. Thea Dwelle -- Luscious Lushes delivers a high–octane romp of posts that are informative and very enthusiastic.

http://lusciouslushes.com/

Oh, and just in case you wondering what other types of wine bloggers Lettie may have come across in her search, here is a round up. What kind of wine blogger are you? Click here to find out.

Folks, We Got Trouble

I wanna be a blogger!

(Ya Got) Trouble

 -- lyrics by Meredith Willson from The Music Man (with a few changes in boldface by me) 

Folks we got Trouble--

And it starts with B and it ends with G

And its name is Blogging

Trouble, oh we got trouble,

Right here in River City!

With a capital "T"

That rhymes with "B"

And that stands for Travel Blog,

We've surely got trouble!

Right here in River City,

Right here!

Gotta figger out a way

To keep the young ones {employed} after school!

Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble...

I recently had a conversation with a young man – 18 years old-- whose mother asked me to speak to him because he wants to quit school to become a travel blogger. Yes, apparently “travel blogger” is a now career path.

The mother was panicked about all this but at the same time curious if it was indeed a valid career pursuit. On the one hand-- they could save a bundle of money if he did not go to college. On the other hand-- they may end up paying more in the long run keeping him housed and fed while he “develops” his career from their home-- rent free.

She wanted him to be happy. And she was willing to let him skip school if this would bring him happiness.  Well this whole happiness concept makes my blood boil.

I know you want to give your kid everything and support them in any way you can. You want them to be happy and fulfilled. But happiness is not an inalienable right. The constitution says we are granted “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” —you are free to pursue it –but nowhere does it say you deserve it or will actually attain it. The pursuit of happiness is just that a pursuit—not a guarantee. But by all means go out and pursue it—on your own dime.

I went to college. I worked and paid my own way. I lived at home for one month after graduation and then left. Forever. It was more the expected pattern when I was a kid.

Things are different now--

So I spoke to Max (not his real name--his real name is Mark). And he wants to have a life of adventure and freedom and thinks school is a waste of time because he believes that when he graduates “there will be no jobs for [him] anyway.” And he feels it is beneath him to take any old job instead of a career position, and by his logic if he skipped school he would be years ahead of his peers in earning power. Those were his words “earning power”

But that was an interesting point. When I graduated from college it was in the midst of a recession and there were very few jobs available, so I took the retail and service sector jobs and kept looking for a break. Eventually I got a “real job” and made real money-- but what Mark said is true-- if you spin your wheels outside of a career track you are at a disadvantage and are set back in your “life long earning power” compared to peers that entered the job market at the same time and got career positions. But lucky for me the dot-com years came along and I more than made up for it. I made way more money than I ever imagined, but also gave away a huge hunk of my life for it. I don’t regret working in corporations and in startups – in a way it was very much like traveling to a foreign county with strange customs and language. It was wild. I saw the sights! And got paid handsomely for it.

I asked Mark why he thought travel blogging was the path to success and how he would make it work. He said it would cost him almost nothing to start up a blog and then all he had to do was “…go to conferences and meet the hotel and travel people who give out the free trips…”

AGGGHHHH!!!

“Where did you hear that?” I asked.

“I saw a post about it.” he said.

Yes, he did mention TBEX—all those sweet tweets about free hotels and tours and lavish parties got his attention. His mother told me he wants her to pay his way to TBEX in Toronto so he can launch his career. She had no idea what TBEX was and asked me if it was worth it for her to pay and send him. (DOUBLE AGGGH!!! )

I did not try to crush his dream (yet),  instead I suggested he write up some of his travel experiences. Mark said his only prior travel experience was with the family on a Carnival cruise – which he claimed,  “…was awesome.”

I suggested he go to Cuba and write about it.

“Cuba! You can help get me a trip there?”

“No. Just get in your car and drive to Calle Ocho ( 8^th street in Miami) and you are essentially in Cuba. Walk around Little Havana, talk to people, eat some street food and then write about it.”

“But no one speaks English there. And I don’t drive”

AGGH-- When did this no teen driving thing happen?

“Take a bus. Real travel is all about public transportation.”

“I don’t know. That’s not the kind of travel I have in mind.”

“What kind of travel do you have in mind?”

“The kind where people pay you to go and blog about it.”

Thank you Internet for creating this monster of misinformation!

Well, the conversation deteriorated from there. Oddly, Mark felt that all he needed to do was declare what he wanted to be, and it would happen. And he wanted to be a “travel blogger”. The level of entitlement he seemed to have was astounding.  

I told him his whole idea was a fantasy. I laid out the cold hard facts that “being a travel blogger” is not a real money making career save for a handful of people out there that are more about selling advertising than writing about travel.

I told him if he really wanted to see the world and get paid for it—he should join the Marines.  Of course this pissed his mother off that I suggested the military, but hey, that’s at least a real career path. 

Now if only he wanted to be a wine blogger. Because everyone knows wine blogging is the path to fame and glory!!

Folks we got Trouble ….

UPDATE:
August 2014-- Our wannabe travel blogger, Mark, is enrolled in an on-line course to study animation and currently has a job at Starbucks. He never did make it to a TBEX. He still lives at home. (sigh)

The Five Stages of Wine Blogging*

{*The Five Stages of Wine Blogging are based on The Kübler-Ross model, commonly known as The Five Stages of Grief.}

Denial — "I am NOT a wine blogger. I'm a writer! This can't be happening, not to me!" Denial is usually only a temporary defense as the individual realizes they have an irresistible urge to write a wine blog.

Anger — "Why me? It's not fair! How did this happen to me? Wine blog judges are idiots!" Once in the second stage, the individual recognizes that denial cannot continue. Anger and jealousy issues arise. "My blog is just as good as Dirty Mouth Wine or Grape-a-Saurus and Sniff This! Why don't I have more readers and awards? I want an award! And why can't I have a crazy unpronounceable name like Yalder Arrow? I'm somebody toooo!"

Bargaining —  "I will post every day for a year if I can just get a trip to France and several cases of wine samples every month. I promise I will only blog on weekends and days that end in 'Y" and I vow to see my family more than once a week."  The third stage involves the realization that you might get some free stuff because of your blog, but maintaining a wine blog is a lot of work. This stage is more difficult for bloggers who have non-blogging spouses and actual day jobs.

Depression — "Hey, what's with all those other bloggers I see going on press trips? And where are my wine samples!?! How come I'm not getting all that free stuff? My blog is not the ticket to respect and credibility I once thought it would be." The sad realization you are not, and never will be, The HoseMaster of Wine sets in.

Acceptance — "I am a wine blogger. I attend conferences. I have business cards. I go on press trips. I get free wine samples." Admitting that you are a wine blogger is the first step to a normal blogging life, quickly followed by complete acceptance. "I am a slave to my blog. I am so depressed." 

NOTE: I started my blog because I wanted to attend the 2009 Wine Bloggers Conference and the sign-up page required you submit the URL of your wine blog. So I bought a domain and started a wine blog. Just like that. I had no idea where this ruse would lead. But I must say wine blogging has been berry berry good to me.

If you don't have a wine blog I urge you to start one today. You'll be amazed at how many people you'll irritate and annoy if you do. Plus, the 5th Annual Wine Bloggers Conference is in Portland, Oregon this August, and you need to have a wine blog to attend. Hope to see you there.

ADDENDUM:  The Portland WBC is sold out. But I hear Ron Washam is holding a poodle grooming and blogger de-programming seminar that weekend. Apply now by sending Ron a 500-word essay on why you deserve to live, along with your $1200.00 non-refundable deposit check.

{*The Five Stages of Wine Blogging are based on The Kübler-Ross model, commonly known as The Five Stages of Grief.}