Thoughtfully posted by John on Sunday, August 22, 2010.
I have been in the lovely little town of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania for most of the weekend attending the Livestrong: Philadephia event. And after being swallowed by the couch and waking up from one of the most satisfying naps of my life this afternoon, I caught up with all of my social media – Facebook, Twitter and what seems like an endless amount of wine related stories that come through my RSS feeds each day. One post on Facebook, by Harmon Skurnik caught my attention. It was posted as follows:
Why is seemingly everyone in the wine biz a blogger??? Is it just a way for people to make themselves seem more self-important than they really are??? Don't get me wrong - there are some GREAT blogs out there (not that I have time to read em all) but it seems these days ANYONE can pass themselves off as some sort of expert, no? It's still the wild wild west in cyberspace, I guess.
I understand what Harmon meant by his comments, I am simply tired of hearing it. Not as a wine blogger defending his hobby, but as someone who is tired of the negativity that surrounds an emerging and more important form of media. I think Harmon hits upon a point that has been discussed ad nauseam since wine blogging has become more mainstream. And by mainstream I mean readership as well as the number of blogs being published. Are there too many wine blogs? Well, let’s think of it this way – are there too many wines out there? Are there too many professional sports teams? And are there too many brands of tooth paste considering they all are made of the essentially the same ingredients but sold in a countless number of glittery packages? The answer is to all of these questions, save for the first regarding bloggers is yes. However, when it comes to intellectual curiosity and the attempt to relay that curiosity in a manner which the reader can understand, I say no, there can never be enough.
Each morning I come across roughly 150 or so stories related to wine (twice that on foodie Wendesday). Many of them I glance over and I only actually read a few dozen stories. Like Harmon (and most other professionals who have to run a business), I simply cannot find enough hours in the day to accomplish everything . However, all of these blogs are essential to the development of my personal awareness of what’s happening in the world of wine. Whether it be a review of a wine, a breaking story on a new scandal or a story that covers a wine lover’s trip to a far away and unusual wine region, these stories are crucial to understanding a craft that is too often misunderstood. If more wine drinkers understood the craft that went into a bottle of wine, many wine professionals like Harmon would reap the rewards as his company and a handful of others in the NYC area distribute some of the finest wines on the planet. And many consumers, whether they be fluent in the language of wine or simply looking for a cheap glass of Merlot, need seasoned, professional writers as well as some of the insight that is offered by other, less experienced writers who simply write for the love of writing.
Although I agree that there are frauds out there who wouldn’t know the difference between Malbec and Pinot Noir, most of the wine writers that I consider to be of amateur status are writing because they love wine, not because they want to be seen as ‘some sort of expert.’ And those self-proclaimed experts who don’t know a lick about wine are often found out and subsequently cast away to the dump heap of cyberspace. What we all need is more people that love good wine and if they want to write a little piece about their experience or their views on what’s happening in the wine world, then so be it. What less of is criticism from those who believe that they do not belong. Whether we like it or not, wine is becoming more democratized as is the writing that attempts to extol its virtues. And with a bit of luck, some good writing and the continued efforts from distributors like Harmon, an American wine culture that is less dependent on cheap brands and gaudy marketing might emerge. And for that, we should all be thankful.
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