Today I am at the 2011 North American Wine Bloggers Conference in Charlottesville, Virginia. And you may be asking yourself, “Why the hell is there a wine bloggers conference in Virginia?” Well, there is actually some very tasty wine made here… it doesn’t all come from California. I haven’t had a chance to taste much Virginian wine yet, but I’ve had some. In fact, this morning I tasted Virginian viognier, cabernet franc and even a nebbiolo that were really nice, all from Barboursville Winery. And we’re about to taste more wine from Virginia and other regions.

Live blogging at these conferences is like a speed dating version of wine tasting. A producer comes to our table and gives us a sample of their wine, tells us about it and we can write about it, all within a couple minutes. It’s really fast. This is my third year doing it and the first year I took it really seriously and tried to get detailed notes on all the wines, but now I know better and I just have fun with it. I’ll highlight a couple wines that stand out.

We are actually doing two live blogging sessions, one today and one tomorrow. The one today is all white, rose’ and sparkling wines.

So far we’ve already had a couple sessions. Jancis Robinson gave the keynote to get the event rolling, and she had great advice for aspiring wine writers, as one would expect from her. Here’s a picture of the scene for that.

After that, I attended a session on aromas in wine wherein we practiced our craft of detecting aromas in wine with six wines and a tray full of comparative aromas. This is always a fun exercise and something you can’t practice too much, if you want to better your wine assessment abilities. Here’s a picture of the aroma tray.

Alright… so bring on the live blogging! I’ll be updating this post as the tasting goes on.

First up, is wine from Texas! WTF?! It’s the 2009 Viviana from Llano Estacado Winery, which is mad from a blend of gewurztraminer, riesling, viognier and muscat canelli. It’s very aromatic with a touch of honey, lychee and herbal aromatics. It smells like it would be sweet, but it is a dry wine. The flavor profile is focused on citrus. It’s crisp and refreshing and much better than you’d expect from a hot, dry place like Texas. Nice job! The suggested retail price is $22.95.

The next wine is a rose’. (Note: I’m typing this on my iPad and it takes too long to dig out the special character for the ‘ over the e). This wine is from Chateau Morrisette. It has a nice delicate, lime and mineral aroma. The flavors bring a hint of strawberry, but it’s dry not sweet, along with apple and citrus. This one is from Virginia. It’s another nice wine.

Next up is the Boxwood Estate Rose’ which is made from juice pulled off from their red wines. This one is another lime and mineral story on the nose. In the mouth it’s a touch of apricot, a touch of pear and a touch of citrus. Nothing too intense. This one comes from Middleburg, Virginia.

Back to the white wines, this is a viognier from Baboursville Vineyards. I actually tasted this wine earlier today and it’s a really nice one. Viognier does very nicely in the Virginia area. This is a nice aromatic wine with good floral characteristics as well as some citrus. On the palate, it’s very citrusy. Sometimes viognier can be a bit oily in mouthfeel and sometimes a bit more crisp, this one is on the crisp side. It’s great. I love it!

Tabarrini Adarmando is the next wine, and it’s Italian. So, we’re leaving the country now. This is a deep golden color. It has a nice deep aroma with notes of petrol and hay and other herbal aromatics. The palate brings some cooked pear flavors and citrus, with nice intensity. It’s a fun wine.

Now we’re coming back to Virginia for another viognier from Michael Shaps. The aromas are floral in nature (of course) and I’d say, lanolin. The palate has a really nice crispness with great acidity and citrus flavors. This particular wine comes from a bottle, but the producer says they are also doing a bag-in-box wine that retails for the equivalent of $7.50 a bottle! I can say that the one from this bottle is great. I’d like to try the one in the box too.

Jefferson Vineyards brings the next wine, a Pinot Gris. It’s grown on land that was at one time owned by Thomas Jefferson. It smells nice a crisp with lime aromas, and it tastes crisp too, with lime and mineral flavors. It retails for $18.95.

OK, so we’re tasting some California wine while we’re here. This is a sauvignon blanc from Sivas-Sonoma, which is part of the Sabastiani family. This is a nice, grassy and grapefruit smelling sauvignon blanc which has outstanding aromatics. The palate is grapefruit, apple and mineral. It’s very nice. Much better than many Californian sauvignon blanks that I’ve tasted.

The next wine is from Maycas, and it’s a chardonnay from the Limari region in Chile. This is an oaken chardonnay, in French oak. It’s a very crisp chardonnay, with nice citrus flavors making it apparent that it didn’t undergo malolactic fermentation. A+

Coming back to Virginia, the next wine is the 2010 Verdejo from Keswick Vineyards – which is the only Virginian verdejo you can buy. It’s a delicate wine on the nose, with soft citrus aromas. On the palate, it’s crisp with delicate citrus and mineral flavors.

Tarara Winery in Leesburg presented the next wine, which is a blend of chardonnay and viognier. This vineyard is right off the Potomac River and they try to show that terroir in this wine. It has very herbal aroma. The acidity in this wine is bright. There’s an herbal flavor in this wine too. It’s a big angular, but distinctive and interesting.

The final wine of this tasting is from The Williamsburg Winery, and it’s their 2009 Chardonnay. It’s a burgundian-style chardonnay made with a combination of stainless steel and oak fermentation. The oak aromas are light, definitely not overdone. The palate is approachable and had a nice balance of fruit and earthy flavors. It retails for $14, which is a great deal for this wine. It’s a nice one and a great food wine.

And that’s all for this tasting. Cheers!

Each year, there’s an event called the Wine Blog Awards in which, as the name implies, wine blogs are given awards.  Now that I think of it, I should nominate the Wine Blog Awards for Most Clearly Named Award Show.  But where would I do that?  Maybe I need to invent a new award show.  Anyway, I’m getting on a tangent.

Cheap Wine Ratings was nominated in the “Best Single Subject” category, which means a blog that is focused on a single theme.  Again, they are very clear with their naming

To be honest, I haven’t paid much attention to the Wine Blog Awards over the years.  I know there have been some great blogs recognized through these awards, which is nice, but award competitions like these just have never made much sense to me.  I don’t know which blog is “the best,” but I know which blogs I enjoy reading, which blogs I learn from, which blogs I find helpful, etc.  And they’re not all the same wine blog.  Asking me which one is the best, is like asking me which wine is the best.  There isn’t just one!  I like different wines for different reasons and different blogs for different reasons.

I find myself in the same situation with our own nomination.  There are four other finalists in this category, and they’re all great blogs!  I recommend you read them.

Here are the other finalists for Best Single Subject:

• Elloinos – Everything you ever wanted to know about Greek wine.
• New York Cork Report – In case you didn’t know, there’s some great wine made in New York.  These guys will tell you all about it.
• Reverse Wine Snob – If you like Cheap Wine Ratings, chances are good that you’ll like Reverse Wine Snob as another resource to find tasty wines under 20 bucks.
• Swirl, Sip, Snark – All about Virginia wine.

So, read their stuff — and keep reading ours too!  And if you feel like casting a vote in the Wine Blog Awards, please do so.  Voting is open through June 27. There are a number of other categories in the competition and even more outstanding blogs nominated in those categories.  If you cast a vote for us, thank you.  And if you cast a vote for someone else, I understand.  I like those blogs too.

Cheers!

The second US Wine Blogger’s Conference began earlier today and I’m glad to in attendance once again.  It’s a gathering of hundreds of wine bloggers like me, along with just many participants from within the wine industry.

We’ve already done our opening events (i.e. registration, meet the sponsors, lunch, welcome, etc.) and it’s time for our first “real event,” Live Wine Blogging.  The event is something like speed dating between wine makers and wine bloggers.  A producer comes to our table tells us about their wine and gives us a sample while we blog our thoughts about the wine, on the spot.  And we only have about 5 minutes with each wine!

We did this event last year, and I took it all too seriously.  I did my best to do a reasonable job taking notes and coming up with a rating for each wine.  But it was a chaotic frenzy throughout the event.  And to be honest, I can’t do justice to my reviews in that time frame.  So, this year I’m taking a different approach.  I’m enjoying the experience, blog about the experience, and I might mention a couple wines that catch my fancy.  But I’m not going to review every one of them.

Here’s a glimpse of the conference, during lunch before the live tasting started.  This is just a sliver of the crowd here.  We’re getting more crowded since I took this shot, especially since a couple wineries are stuck in traffic and late for the live blogging… therefore we’re consolidating tasting groups at fewer tables.

Let’s bring on the tasting!!

Delay: We were on the cusp of starting this event and due to wireless Internet connectivity issues they changed the schedule on us.  Live blogging will begin in 20 minutes or so. (posted 6:10 ET)

OK… finally, the live blogging is back on (6:33 ET)

Sounds like we’re starting with some Fish Eye.  It get’s no cheaper than this, so we are on equity for CheapWineRatings, the suggested retail price is $6.99. And it’s a pretty straight-forward, cheap pinot grigio.  Lime, mineral, a little pine tree aroma. Light, almost flavorless on the palate other than a slight sweetness.  It’s not a bad wine, just very light… not much to it.  Could be refreshing on a hot day.

On to our next wine and it’s Pinot Evil, pinot noir.  It’s a boxed pinot noir and another bargain wine at $18.99 for a box with the equivalent of 4 bottles.  It actually has an OK nose, unexpected from a boxed wine.  It has a little licorice, a little tar, a little cherry.  It’s a little sweet, but otherwise, not a bad pinot for the price.

Onto Cupcake Cabernet Sauvignon.  I’m already taking it too seriously again.  Time to just start having fun.  This is a good Cabernet Sauvignon for $13.99.  Solid structure, interesting nose.  Nuff said.

Next up is a blend from Snows Lake.  Blend of Cab Sauv and Cab Franc.  It’s a fantastic wine.  On a side note, Mrs. Cheap Wine Ratings has bailed on the live blogging to spend time poolside.  As a result all the wine reps have decided that the open spot she left is the perfect place to stand while they tell us about the wines.  So, I have to taste these wines with random stranger’s asses next to my face.  Not fun.  Wifey is in trouble for this one.

I’m scooting over so that I can taste the Line 39 2007 Petite Sirah without ass in my face.  It’s a beautiful purple wine.  The nose is a little tight, but it’s big and fruity on the palate with lingering dark fruit.  You know, as short as most of my posts are, it usually takes me an hour and a half to taste, take pictures and write something up.  This is fun.  But not condusive to meaningful reviews.

Cline Cellars just walked up with a 2007 Ancient Vines Mourvedre.  I thought they would have a Zinfandel, which I’ve already had, so I’m glad to see it’s a new variety.  Dirty, dirty dirty on the nose with cassis and licorice.  I just inhaled too quickly and made myself dizzy.  This wine retails for about $16.  The palate is fantastic… full of dark berries, black pepper, coffee and cocoa.  Splendid.

After a number of reds, there’s nothing like shaking things up with a Chardonnay, and here comes the Tandem 2007 Chard. It has a powerful nose.  This is one of the most floral chardonnays that I’ve tasted.  It’s great.  The winemaker, Greg La Follette, has a flute in his pocket… seriously.

Another wine rep is squeezing herself into the spot next to me, getting uncomfortably close.  I don’t even know what wine this is.  She’s not presenting it very well.  All I know is that it’s white and it’s a 2007, that’s all I could hear, and I can’t read the bottle from this angle.  There’s another rep across the table from me covering the label with her hand.  I still have no idea what wine this is.  I did just hear that it retails for $18.  Finally, I see that it’s a chardonnay, but I could have told you that from the taste.  I still don’t have the name.  It’s Foggy something.  She left.

On to the Clif Syrah.  Presented much more effectively than the last rep.  This one is a big syrah with tongue-coating berry flavors.  Yadda, yadda.  That tells you nothing, I know.  Berry… how many friggin’ wines have that characteristic?  I have no patience to try to do real tasting notes in this crowd.  But it is a good wine and this second wine I’ve had from Clif that has impressed me.  I just took a picture of the wine, but I felt like I was taking a picture of the reps chest. I’ll post it later.

Yet another uncomfortably close rep, leaning over me and speaking loudly about the wine.  I can feel his breath on my head as he speaks.  He just said terroir, the first one to use that word on me today.  Anyway, the wine is a Pinot Noir from Benovia and it’s the best Pinot Noir I’ve had so far today.  A bit of raspberry, a touch of pepper, a touch of mushroom (I guess that’s the terroir).

2007 Lion’s Pride Pinot Noir, for which the grapes are grown by students at the El Molino High School.  A different winemaker makes the wine each year and part of the program is to teach the kids about growing grapes.  It’s a good, spicy pinot noir.  Not as good as the Benovia, but it’s tasty.  Only 100 cases are produced, so it’s not a wine you’ll find in your local store, but you can buy it from their website.  I grew up in farmland area in Illinois, so I understand agricultural programs in high schools.  Good for them to get to do this.

It’s time for our last wine, and it’s Rockaway from Rodney Strong.  YES!!! Great wine, but one I can’t get in my local shops.  It’s only available through allocation (i.e. you need to be on a list to buy it – you can sign up on their website). It retails for $75.  Nobody comes to this website to read about a bottle of wine that is that expensive.  But so what?  It’s an outstanding wine, but not worth $75 to me.  That’s why I do this site.  There is diminishing returns on spending more for wines.  Yes, this is great… but you can find plenty of wines for under $20 that you would like nearly as much, just as much, possibly more.  Nothing against this wine.

The live blogging is over, and I just sold some ads to Atkins Cuisine.  I’ll be presenting here at the conference on Friday about monetizing wine blogs, so good timing on a sale to highlight during my talk.

If you’re a wine blog reader (and you wouldn’t be reading this if you were not one) then your opinion matters for a study about wine blogs being conducted right now.

Tracy Rickman, a doctoral candidate studying consumer research at Auburn University, is studying the viability of wine blogs as an information resource, and the influence wine blogs have on readers.  This project is for her dissertation, and many of us wine bloggers are anxious to see the results.  She has been conducting interviews for months to build her case and is now conducting a survey to add to the research… that is where you come in.

She has asked me and a number of other wine bloggers to spread the word and encourage you, our readers, to complete this survey.  It will take you about 15 minutes to complete it, and once you start it you cannot go away and come back to finish it later.  So once you start it, please stick with it to the end.

I encourage you to participate, as your input will not only help Tracy earn her doctorate, but it will also help wine bloggers like me better understand what info you seek on blogs and write better stuff for you.

At the recent Wine Bloggers Conference there was quite a bit of dialogue about wine blogger credibility.  John Witherspoon at Anything Wine shared some post-conference thoughts about the topic, and I wanted to share some of my own.  In my opinion, the debate about credibility is really not just about credibility—or at least it shouldn’t be.

When someone asks me, “are wine bloggers credible?” I don’t know how to answer that question.  Credible against what measures?  If a wine blogger is claiming to be a certified sommelier and they are not, then clearly they aren’t credible.  But if you’re asking if someone is credible to give their opinion about wine, well that’s just a silly question.

Certainly some wine bloggers are more knowledgeable than others about wine and some have more experienced palates than others.  But part of the beauty of blogs is that you get opinions from individuals with different tastes, different backgrounds, different experiences and different niches.  You don’t get a homogenized perspective of what wine is supposed to be.  I certainly try to serve a niche here by focusing on finding good value wines, while some others may tell you that only expensive wines are good.

Considering the fact that there is no entrance exam and no licensing board for wine blogging, the measures of credibility are difficult to set.  It seems to me that credibility is a less relevant topic than integrity.  Be honest and transparent about your background.  Don’t pretend to know more than you really do.  If you’re new to wine that’s OK as long as you’re up front about it.  Your level of competence will show in your writing and you’ll attract readers who are at your level, while others looking for more advanced wine writing will look elsewhere.

In many cases, attracting readers will have less to do with credibility than style.  Which brings me to my next point.  What seems more interesting to me than either credibility or integrity is influence.  This is a topic I find worthy of further discussion.  Regardless of credibility, competence, integrity or other measures of elitism that old-world media luddites and highbrow wine bloggers alike will spew about venomously to discourage new wine bloggers, you can still have influence.

If you create good content that readers find interesting, you will have influence.  If you cater to a niche that is under served, you’ll have influence.

But how do we measure influence?  Is it by web traffic?  Visitor loyalty?  Commenting and social participation on blogs?  Or is it measuring purchase decisions motivated by blogs?  I think all of these are contribute to measuring influence, but the latter is what the wine industry wants to know about.  Do wine blogs influence purchase behavior?  And I think it’s an important measure to establish the relevancy of wine blogs.

Jeff Lefevere at Good Grape recently tried to conduct an experiment which could have revealed some of the influence of wine blogs.  But that experiment became clouded by a manufactured controversy about the experiment itself.  The idea was that a select number of wine bloggers recieved a sample of a wine before it was released and before the traditional media recieved samples.  The bloggers all agreed to write their reviews of this wine within a defined window of time.  The controversy swirled around the idea that the bloggers had been used as PR agents for the wine company and had been manipulated.  Controversy aside, I like the idea of this experiment as if the only publicity in market about a wine is found on blogs, then the influence of those blogs can be revealed.  It’s an elusive thing to measure and this is one way to find get a glimpse of influence.

Tracy Rickman, PhD student and one of the moderators of the credibility session at the Wine Blogger Conference is planning to do a study which may shed some light on the true influence of wine blogs.  I look forward to seeing the results.

I know from feedback I’ve gotten from visitors to this site that they have been influenced in a way that impacted purchase behavior, but I don’t know the extent of it.  I also know that I personally have purchased wines because I learned about them on wine blogs.  What are your thoughts?  Do you find wine blogs influential?

I say let’s drop the debate on credibility as it’s really going to vary from one individual to the next.  And it’s a debate that’s mired in elitism.  Let’s explore influence more, as it’s a better measure of the value of what we do.  That’s my opinion.  Cheers!

Prelude: I know most visitors to this site come here for wine reviews.  Pardon me for a moment while I write an article addressed at the wine blogging and wine producer communities.

I observed some interesting dynamics at the Wine Bloggers Conference a couple weeks ago. There were some bloggers who were interested in monetizing their sites, while there were others who were adamant about not having ads. Those who expressed an interest in monetizing questioned how profitable their blogs could really be, and were (for the most part) unsure of how to go about monetizing. Those against it claimed that they only create their blogs because they are passionate about wine. And there was yet another group of bloggers who would accept advertising, but would not let wineries buy that advertising because they didn’t want to create the impression of a conflict of interest.

I personally don’t understand why some bloggers are uptight about earning an income from their blogs.  Steve Heimoff stirred up some controversy when he suggested that attendees at the conference were interested in monetization.  I know that not everyone wants to monetize, but I think that many do.

As you can see by looking around this site, I have no problem with advertising. I have ads on this site and I will continue to do so. While I am also passionate about wine, there are expenses to building and hosting a website. And as they say, “time is money.”  It’s great to do something because you love it, but it’s even better to do something because you love it and get paid.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not getting rich from the ads that run here and I won’t be leaving my day job any time soon.  I agree with Alder Yarrow when he says that even the most successful wine blogs don’t make much money.  But at the same time, I think most wine blogs could be more profitable than they currently are (mine included).

Conflict of Interest?

As I mentioned, some blogs will include advertising as long as it’s not from wine producers.  Personally, I’m not concerned about creating the illusion of a conflict of interest by having winery ads. My reviews reflect my opinions of the wines I try, and the quantity of wines reviewed here—from different producers—should negate any perception of a conflict of interest.

Some folks may point fingers at me and say it’s a conflict of interest or call me a shill.  I really don’t care.  If I were going to be a shill, I would do so in a much more lucrative space than wine blogs.  And I just don’t consider ads to inherently create a conflict of interest.

There are plenty of ads for wines in traditional wine publications and their reviews seem to be influential—even if some people suspect a conflict of interest. There are also plenty of blogs in other genres with ads for the products they review and nobody is complaining about a conflict of interest there. Why should I be held to a different standard?

Untapped Opportunities

Another twist to the dynamics at the conference was that I got the sense that some wine producers are interested in advertising on wine blogs, but they’re not sure how to go about doing it. Perhaps that’s because of the few vocal bloggers who won’t accept ads from wine producers.

Couple the interest from wineries to place ads with the number of bloggers interested in monetizing and I smell a huge opportunity.  Not a huge opportunity for me, but for the wine industry to get dirt cheap advertising on wine blogs—at least in the short term.

The reality is that many wine bloggers earn little to no money on their blogs. Most of those interested in monetizing have no idea what their sites are worth and will sell out at bargain-basement prices. The first of those in the wine industry to move on this will get the best deals on highly-targeted, highly affordable ad placements. But the bargains won’t last forever. As more producers realize the influence and opportunities in advertising on wine blogs, bloggers will start to understand the value of their web properties. The result will be a rise in ad prices, but I still think it will be some of the most cost-effective advertising available.

In my opinion, there are untapped opportunities galore out there.  Wine bloggers should drop the pretense that winery ads imply a conflict of interest.  And wine producers should take advantage of the opportunities on wine blogs. Do you know who reads wine blogs? Wine consumers!

Wine bloggers should also get creative if they want to monetize.  Don’t just think of banner ads as the only thing you have to sell… sell the background of your site, sell video, sell text ads, sell your services offline, be creative and work with advertisers to come up with new ideas.  The most successful publishers are getting more and more creative with how to create innovative sponsorships.

I’ll put myself out there too.  My door is open to any reputable advertiser who wants to come up with a new way to advertise.  Here’s a creative idea… I’m available for sponsorship at the next Wine Blogger Conference.  If the price is right, I’ll wear your schwag and publicize your brand.  OK… so I’m getting into shameless self-promotion territory here, but I’m trying to show an example and make a point.  There are innovative opportunities out there that are passing us up every day.  Let’s embrace them and find more success for all of us.  Cheers!

Creating a wine blog – or a blog of any topic for that matter – is a lonely venture at first. You often feel like you’re blogging into the ether, and for the most part you are. It takes a while for people to discover your blog. And it takes even longer for readers to trust you and become a regular audience.

Another thing that makes it lonely when you start a new blog is the fairly cold reception you typically get from other bloggers. Blog communities are generally distrustful of newbies — at least that’s my perception. I’d like to change that in the wine blogging community to make it more inclusive and welcoming toward new bloggers. And to do so, I plan to highlight new wine blogs that I find which I think hold promise. I can’t write about every new blog, as it seems like there’s a new one every day, but I will pick out those that really grab my attention and focus particularly on blogs that feature value wines.

The first blog I want to spotlight is Everyday Wine by Gretchen Roberts.  This blog is only just over one month old, but it is already on my regular reading list.  One thing I like about this wine blog is the fact that it’s focused on affordable, everyday wines.  Obviously, that is the sweet spot to which I relate.

Another thing about Everyday Wine that stands out is the great writing.  Gretchen is an experienced writer who has written for magazines like Wine Enthusiast, Cooking Light, Better Homes & Gardens and several others and her experience shows.  (Note: I realize that if I were writing in a serious journalistic style I would have written “Roberts is and experienced writer…” but I prefer to be more conversational with my writing.  If you don’t like that, too bad.)

Everyday Wine features some reviews, but also includes a number of posts that are more topical and interesting than simple reviews.  (I know I need to do more of this too, but reviews are my priority.)  She writes about What to do with bad wine, How to save a sparkling wine and How to open champagne.  Gretchen also shares my perspective on shopping at local wine shops and making friends with the staff.  She discusses this in her Twin Palates post.

Among her affordable wine recommendations there are a few that I haven’t had, but I’ll need to try.  And there are others that I have had and wholeheartedly agree with, such as Cousino Macul Cabernet Sauvignon, Brancott Sauvignon Blanc, and Rosenblum Cellars Zinfandel.  (Note: While I agree that Rosenblum is a good Zinfandel, I think you can do better and my summary on Zinfandels will be posted within the next few weeks where you can see my top picks.)

Be sure to check out Everyday Wine and add it to your everyday reading list.  Cheers!