What is your profession?
Journalist and e-learning wine, spirit, service SME
Why is wine blogging relevant to you?
So much going on in the wine world and not enough print! I began in radio and blogging is finger radio.
What is the main difference between print and wine blogging?
Main differences: accuracy and acknowledgment of copyright. Digital is less accurate (you can see this by all the often debatable changes that go into a Wikipedia entry) and significantly less acknowledgment of national and international copyright laws.
Are wineries, retailers, importers, etc. open to blogs in your culture?
Yes and no. Yes to blogs in US and France. Continued conflict in France to alcohol online (including editorial). I will say I find most winery blogs (you name the country) sorely lacking due to time, technique, or need to avoid saying anything controversial or wrong.
As a non-blogger, at the moment, how important do you think wine blogging is today?
Blogging is exciting for a writer. How wine blogging develops from a commercial standpoint depends very much on the market, this conference, and the one in the US.
Where do you see wine blogging in 10 years time?
Three tracks may evolve.
- Everyone with a keyboard and a corkscrew will continue to put tasting notes of varying veracity on blogs. The result will be fun for the blogger (and helpful for the producer as tasting notes are often just winery rewrites) and an amazing snapshot of what the world drank at the beginning of the 21st century.
- In 10 years, blogging will be archaic. Communication will take new verbal/visual forms though the written word (and perhaps only as the printed word) will always be there.
- Most blogging doesn’t pay the bills and I can’t guess whether it will in 2018. Wine is expensive and there is a world recession that could have a 5-10 year impact on wine, particularly when paired with climate change and the cost of meeting 2013 and 2020 carbon targets.
What do you hope to gain from attending the conference?
Tons of new ideas, friends, tastings, and a good time.
Do you read wine blogs (if so, can you give us a few of your favorites)?
Yes, of course. I cruise most of the top US blogs. I like Jean-Luc Thunevin and Thibault Despagne who is one of the best and most humorous winemaker bloggers.
4 responses so far ↓
1 ryan // Aug 24, 2008 at 9:53 am
Because something can easily change(wikipedia), does not imply it is inaccurate. In fact as new information comes to light on an issue the ability to change to that new information quickly would imply a higher level of accuracy(though not always).
Also to the copyright issue, what reputable wine blog is not acknowledging copyright? Do you have examples? If so have you approached the authors on this? I rarely if ever see this problem with wine blogs at least the ones that have risen to the top.
See you at the conference!
2 RichardA // Aug 26, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I would agree with Ryan that I don’t see any significant copyright issues with most wine blogs, especially the most prominent ones. I don’t recall any significant copyright scandals and would like to know of any that I might be unaware.
There will always be a few wine blogs that violate copyright laws, but that applies to print media as well. For example, there have been copyright scandals in major newspapers. We cannot generalize and say that wine blogs violate copyright more without supporting evidence.
I also think that as established wine print media continues to make their own inroads intro blogging, that this provides additional credibility to blogging in general.
3 Kathy // Aug 29, 2008 at 9:36 am
Hi Ryan, Richard
As to accuracy, I am not talking about different POVs backed by science or research but simple things like spelling, accents and basic figures that are published and then picked up again and again.
From what I read, you are right about the top blogs.
But unfortunately, I have seen my words and words/tasting notes of many others copied as their own or lifted with credit but no authorization (copyright infringement and likely not subject to fair use doctrine) in blogs and web columns. Yes, one can contact the blogger or website. Occasionally it will be removed, rarely (never) will there be payment.
I wouldn’t call it malicious intent but mostly just a matter of not knowing the law. After all, if you or I write or post something that can be sold again, why would we give it away?
Copyright is complex and, as one lawyer said, is only solved at the judge’s bench.
But the more we talk about and understand the laws in which all publishers need to operate in our countries, the less it will happen.
I would be thrilled to see such a session at ….EWBC II!
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