As the title suggests, this is a wine blog post about wine blogs.
There are plenty of other ones out there
besides Vinography.com. I’ve flipped through a few dozen of them and assembled a list of the
best ones, so that you don’t have to! These might serve as good resources as
everyone works on final projects.
General resources
o Massive
website with everything from ratings to meal pairings to general articles
o Venerable
website for the masses, with quizzes, tasting notes, dictionary, educational
content, and discussion forum
o Longer-read pieces
about goings-on in the business. Worth posting here because he also writes
about other blogs
The serious stuff: wine
business, economics, politics
o Explores the
intersection of wine, politics and business, including commentary on current
court cases
o Shares
the latest research and advances in wine-making and comments on general
industry themes
o Posts
about everything from the importance of wine competitions to rankings of the best
wine businesses
o All
about the culture, history, and human behavior around wine
Region-specific Blogs
o Run by a
photographer, with insights on everything from corks to the best Paris wine
bars
o About Chinese consumption and
sales more than production, though there is some of that as well. Not exclusively
China-focused, but with plenty of Asian content. Yao Ming has a wine brand?
o Not
just Italy (also California and Texas)
o Not
just NY, mainly looking at Midwestern wines, and even some beers, liquors, and
food. Supports local growers.
Other tasting and general
wine blogs
·
Wine Curmudgeon -- http://winecurmudgeon.com/ (check out the
post about the Shark Tank pitch of flavored wines and single-serve bottles!)
·
The Morning Claret --
http://www.themorningclaret.com/
I’m sure I’m missing at
least a few essentials. Share your favorites with us in the comments!
There are also sources that cover the industry! The Wine Business Daily Digest (http://www.winebusiness.com/news/) will aggregate all the major news articles about the wine business. The Napa Valley Register is a great source for Napa wine news. The Press Democrat is good for Sonoma wine news.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the question from Friday, I definitely agree that differentiating between blogs is incredibly difficult particularly after giving all of these sites a cursory glance. However, I think deciding to follow a wine blog is very similar to trusting a particular wine critic, in that you opt to follow the one that is most similar to you and your approach to wine. While most people are first entranced by a clever blog title, I have found that most blog followers simply opt for the blog that has a voice that sounds most like them or most closely aligned with what they want to learn.
ReplyDeleteSome of the blogs you included provide amazing insights about the world of wine and all the elements ad dynamics surrounding it. Others take a humorous approach to expressing their foibles with wine. Some portray themselves as experts with extensive knowledge about the various regions, while most take an "everyman approach" to just trying to figure wine out. They are the most influential to both the trade and consumers. A lot of these bloggers' voices can carry immense influence in the wine world and I am curious to see the potential for wine blogs to partner with existing brands as well as the growth of blogs directed towards the new younger generation of consumers.
I also think some of the blogs that analyze wine and food can be fun. Because they complement one another and influence flavor and taste, it provides a new way to think about wine. Although we didn't touch on this in class, it looks like Alder Yarrow strongly opposes this idea: "...our food and wine pairing obsession is as unhealthy, not to mention fruitless, as I have suspected." (Link to article here: http://wapo.st/1TLYEpW) He argues that sommeliers, chefs, and the food media reinforce this erroneous concept.
ReplyDeleteHe states, "The single most important variable in the success of wine and food pairing lies completely out of the control of every sommelier and chef in the world. And that variable is me, you and every single person that sits down to a mouthful of food and a swig of wine.” This seems like quite a strong opposing view - and even argues (to some degree) against the benefits of wine critique during some of these "real life" meal-time experiences. I am curious what people more experienced in the industry - sommeliers, chefs - might think. I do believe that there are some interesting food and wine pairings out there - I met one chef who enjoyed the challenges of pairing steak with chardonnay, and believed that - with the right chardonnay that had seen enough time in French oak - the pairing had the potential to be on par with or even better than the more typical cab sauv-steak pairing.