Hypocritcal, Uneducated Wine Bloggers Unite

I have an opinion that makes me a hypocrite. I knew when I started this blog that I would inevitably develop opinions and philosophies about the culture of wine. There are few subjects that come with such passion (and believe me there is passion around wine out there) that avoid controversy, opinions, elitists, rebels, etc. I would have previously espoused that the only thing that matters in drinking wine is what you like, and what your palette tells you. The more I learn the more I do not believe this is true. Now hold on, I'm not trying to elevate myself into some elite snobby position. I'm just saying like most arts, trades, or human endeavours, there is such thing as true quality. It's okay to not like something, and therefore not spend any time or money on it, but there is good and bad wine, period. Just because you don't want to sit through an opera is not grounds to argue that Mozart had no value. There is also a lot of wine somewhere in the middle in which personal preference inevitably plays a very high factor in perceived quality. Now the reason I am a big, (b)old hypocrite is because I have absolutely no grounds on which to judge the true quality of a bottle of wine at this point. I simply have not learned enough, or tasted enough. It would be like me deciding I am a book editor, or a fine art appraiser just because I want to. So when I give a rating to a wine (and usually a cheap wine) on The Vino File it is based purely on my preferences or tastes, not on the inherent quality of the wine (which I argue above DOES exist). So I'm a hypocrite and my blog entries mean nothing. I'm okay with that.

That leads me to subject 2. When I decided to start this blog I had no idea there was such a huge world of wine blogs out there. I was not someone who read a lot about wine, perused wine and food blogs, and wanted to get in on the action. Actually I was just looking for a creative outlet, something to do for myself that I would enjoy and could pour some excess energy into. I never even once thought that by posting innocuous and uneducated articles on some free Google-hosted webpage that it might be interpreted as an attempt to enter the world of wine writing, to be a part of a revolution, or to shill for Simpleton Shiraz. To be honest I barely knew who Parker was, let alone had any aspirations to contribute to wrestling his elite position away from him and returning the world of wine writing and criticism to its rightful place amongst the people. I also never had any idea that people might become interested in giving me free passes to events, or free bottles of juice. I simply thought it might be interesting to keep a diary of what I was learning and drinking, and how I felt about it. And if people wanted to read it, comment on it, point me in different directions in my own little personal journey, it might be fun. If the existence of my words in a public domain allowed me to find a community of like minded people with whom I could share my experiences, well that sounded nice. What I did not see coming is that The Vino File would become one of at least 500 wine focused blogs in the US alone, and therefore become a statistic used in a swirling debate about their relevance. This debate, ironically, is primarily played out on wine blogs and at wine writing conferences in a sort of a self-effacing attempt to be clever, differentiate oneself from the other 499 bloggers, or even just sort of be an asshole (albeit a funny asshole). There are sort of two schools of thought going around:

Camp A - Social media is the inevitable wave of the future, and the participation of the wine world is absolutely necessary. All online discussion of wine is important (not necessarily in part, but in whole) as it creates a discussion that shapes trends and impressions about wine. Controlling your own information in this 'cloud' of discourse is very important. I have read arguments that a mention on a wine blog may be picked up by 20 other wine bloggers, and if 5 of their readers each go try this wine then there is a direct monetary impact (but I don't buy this, nor do I usually buy the wine recommended by other bloggers, personally). Then there is just the idea that the elevation of the conversation, the comptetion for attention from the established wine writers is what makes each voice in the wine blogosphere important and worthwhile.

Camp B - Of the 500 US based wine blogs, 497 of them are uneducated, inaccurate, poorly written drivel, and they are going to stumble over themselves right out of having any impact. In fact the majority of them are in it for free stuff (event admissions, samples, trips, even pens???). This idea espouses that the extreme uptick in wine blogging is merely a distraction, and true wine people should not be distracted. Sampling wine bloggers, or even spending time learning about local wine events from this group of incestuous, self-congratulating, group of idiots is a waste of time. If you want to make money in wine, work in wine. It seems to me camp B is trying to argue that amateurs are amateurs from a reason, and WAY less relevant than they like to think of themselves. Many, many wine bloggers in the past couple of weeks have, in a creative way, admitted that this camp is probably mostly correct and they gladly participate as inconsequential, bad writers.

I would like to officially announce Camp C, and am looking for participants. I know you are out there because I get the 'vibe' from several blogs. Camp C are people who totally did this for fun, and for selfish reasons. They never thought about doing this to change the wine world as a whole, beyond their readers. They like to have readers, they love to know when a winery or fans enjoy one of their articles, or try one of the wines. They like to think that someone out there might be inspired to look into wine, or try something new because of a post they wrote. But they don't expect to be 'discovered' by a publisher or editor, they don't hope to topple Wine Spectator subscription numbers, in fact they don't even expect or ask for free stuff. Lets not forget that White Zinfandel and jug wines are still the best sellers in America. So talking to these folks is not a job that Napa Valley Lifestyle Press is ever going to get to do. A lot of us Camp C bloggers do have less than completely pure motivations at time, a 'dusting' of hypocrisy if you will, in that they would accept a press pass, or a sample, but not out of a place of entitlement or inflated self importance. Camp C, for me, are those of us who are people who write wine blogs and enjoy it, versus who consider ourselves first and foremost wine bloggers who are taking over the world.

So to Camp A and B, you can continue to use me and The Vino File in your statistics and arguments. To Camp A I have to say that as of last night I drove a reader to buy 2 bottles of wine that I recommended at a local wine shop, so you can use that in your rants. And Camp B, you can probably run just a simple spell checker (and know that my degree was not in English, literature, or journalism) and you can use that in your argument. As for me I'm going to sit to the side and continue with my original goal of documenting my journey and experience with wine. Me, my hypocritical, uneducated self, and a glass of a big spicy Syrah, I hope. Oh, and look here next week for a stupid, pointless, desperate review of that Syrah (so you can run out and buy a bottle).