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Our regular round-up of what’s creating a buzz in the wine blogosphere takes in opinions on Burgundy ’09, making money from wine blogging and a trip to the Douro.
Jamie Goode’s blog on how wine writers can make money on the internet inspired a flurry of replies (33 and counting) from readers and writers alike, including Tim Atkin MW, eRobertParker.com’s Neal Martin and Ryan Opaz of tech-savvy Spanish wine website Catavino.
Taking the loss of newspaper wine column inches as a starting point, Goode explores the options available for wine writers seeking to migrate from print to online.
For wine writers to succeed online, they mustn’t “value their own work too highly to give it away”, Goode says, but rather view online writing as a way to generate an audience, “then pick up work on the back of that recognition”.
“I don’t expect to ever charge for access to wineanorak”, Goode proclaims, making his money instead through advertising, which “has been growing of late”.
Goode references a recent article by John Lanchester in The London Review of Books about the future of print media:
“Making money from the internet is not just hard, it may be fundamentally opposed to the character and momentum of the net”, Lanchester says, concluding that the future of newspapers lies in online-only versions that charge for access.
The shared opinion from the copious comments posted is that there is always a place for quality journalism, and that passion will prevail.
Ryan Opaz talks of a “culling of the old herd” and advises wine writers to try and “think differently”, while Atkin weighs in: “anyone who thinks that he or she will be able to make a decent living from printed wine writing in the future is deluded”.
Like Goode, Atkin advises writers to “broaden their scope”, to include education, public speaking, judging and even photography, while Martin believes: “You have to build up serious content and goodwill before people are willing to pay”.
Why aren’t wine sites as popular as food ones? This is the question Steve Heimoff is asking on his blog space. More importantly, what are the “foodistas” doing right that “wine-istas” can copy?
He looks in particular on the budding cooks who post videos on YouTube. Apparently a “food” search on the site returns 2.5 million hits, “wine” barely finds a sixth of that.
Food fans, it appears, have taken certain video-bloggers to heart. One, Pailin’s Hot Thai Kitchen, is reposted all over other bloggers’ sites and Hippy Gourmet now has his own PBS television slot. Heimoff uses Gary Vaynerchuk as an example of a wine-writer who has turned to video but there is, as yet, no “star”.
Clearly, “amateur cooks are way ahead of amateur wine writers in successfully using the internet to launch careers.” The problem being, he continues, “Everybody loves to eat. Lots of people love to cook. Not everybody likes wine, and there’s a limit to how interesting a wine video can be. Watching a chef slice, dice and spice her way through the preparation of a meal on TV can actually be exciting.” Asking winemakers over and over again “how did you get started?” and “what’s your favourite wine?” is not.
Then again, he concludes, despite the limitations of wine-videos, wine-bloggers should take heart from food’s success in turning people to their computers for entertainment and education. “Anything’s possible”.
The Wine Singer, aka Charles Metcalfe, offers his own early assessment of Burgundy’s 2009 vintage.
Starting with his tasting of Louis Latour, Metcalfe notes “attractive and forward” whites, although he observes: “My attention wasn’t fully engaged till I reached the Puligny-Montrachet 1ers Crus. And they’re not cheap.”
For the Latour reds, Metcalfe picks out the Mercurey as “a perfumed, inexpensive delight”, then revels in the grand cru reds. Included in his highlights here was “the poised, elegant Echézeaux” and “the fresh, candied, accessible Charmes Chambertin”.
Moving on to report on the Goedhuis portfolio tasting, which featured over 100 reds alone, Metcalfe notes the consistency of Ghislaine Barthod, Louis Boillot, Hudelet Noellat, Sylvian Cathiard and Jean Grivot. For the “sensational” though, he points to a trio from Méo-Camuzet: Clos de Vougeot, Corton Clos Rognet and Vosne-Romanee Aux Brulées. Other superstars came from Roche de Bellene, the young negociant business set up by Nicolas Potel, and Comte Armand.
Summing up the vintage as offering “More Côte de Nuits successes than Côte de Beaune”, Metcalfe shares the view of many critics in his judgement that “The reds are lovely already, and the best will last well. The best whites are already seductive, and are probably best enjoyed in their youth.”
The Wine Detective – aka Sarah Ahmed – blogs on a trip to Oporto in Portugal last summer to meet up with The Douro Boys, the crew behind Quintas do Vallado, do Crasto, do Vale Dona Maria, do Vale Meão and Niepoort.
Sampling their 2008 wines for the first time, Ahmed claims she was “bowled over by some particularly refined, mineral sluiced wines with lovely definition and freshness to their bright fruit”.
Ahmed is clear on the wines she regards as the main highlights of the range. “Among the top tier wines, Niepoort Batuta blew my socks off and Cristiano Van Zeller’s CV Curriculum Vitae is different but very much on par with the 2007 vintage which made the cut for my 50 Great Portuguese wines,” she opines.
“Mid-priced stunners include Quinta do Crasto Reserva Old Vines and Niepoort Redoma. For around a tenner, Vallado Red, Niepoort Drink Me and Van Zeller’s Rufo Red (new) offer plenty of class.
“As for whites, Redoma Branco Reserva 2009 is another knock out vintage for Niepoort.”
db, 14.01.2011