Is this assertion of Ron Washam a wake up call for wine bloggers? What is the purpose of wine blogging? What is the real influence or importance of bloggers in the wine industry – in comparison with micro-blogging on Twitter or talking on Facebook?

There are many types of wine blogs: blogs from producers, marketers, journalists, enologists or foodies as Pr. Liz Thach explained in her well researched paper on “Do wine Blogs impact your brands?“. Does it mean a blog post should help a winery increase its sale or a writer sell more copies of his/her book? Do wine bloggers have to carry the same role as print wine media? Wine bloggers have one advantage over print writers: they are their own masters and have to answer only to their own conscience, assuming they don’t take ads or too many samples or review copies.

Blogging is the privileged moment of the day when a writer, a consultant, a winemaker or a foodie can take a break and really think about real issues or topics. The wine business is complex enough to make room for any type of wine blogging: are bloggers really barking like lonely poodles? Not at all. Bloggers have now access to Twitter, this beautiful micro-chat tool letting them reach out to their readers in real time. A monitoring tool like Cruvee shows that there are hundreds of thousands of online conversations on Twitter going on at once every month. Conversations can also be carried out on Facebook with winemakers and news makers.

Ron Washam’s provocative assertion might be referring to the now defunct image of the blogger writing away in his/her Ivory Tower. Bloggers are now all over the Internet – talking, interfacing and reaching out to the wine industry and to the wine consumers. Welcome to the 21st century blogging world!

Back to work and to reality after 3 days in sheer bliss working on wine and social media, meeting my virtual (but good) friends and getting to know more people.

Technology people are very often environmentally conscious as they mostly try to work without paper and if they use it, recycle it. They’re also aware of the environmental risks created by discarded computers’ parts and technological waste. That’s why I was not quite surprised when I got the pre-package of the conference sent by email by Gabriella Opaz. Under the self-explanatory title, “EWBC Supports Sustainable Living”, our Dream Team set the few sustainable principles of the conference:

- all the documents are available on a 4gb USB Flashdrive held to the nametag. It stores a lot of information on the sponsors, the speakers, the conference as well as various booklets. Having had a look at the contents when back in my room, I refrained to grab too many booklets from our sponsors, knowing the information was on the key.

- when arriving, we were handed a 100% biodegradable bag. It was very useful during the conference to carry around a laptop anda notebook (yes, I know but we usually use recycled paper notebook!). When leaving I packed it carefully – thinking it would be very useful to have it at the bottom of my bag for last minute grocery shopping at home.

- the Dream Team also convinced our 5* hotel to recycle the many bottles we emptied during our various tastings and meals.

I’m glad EWBC set such a great example of sustainable consciousness and I just hope other conferences sill follow the same pattern for the sake of our planet. Keep the good work and thanks for having set such a great example.

Saturday Oct. 31st was THE day of the EWBC conference. We actually worked hard going from one session to an other one, getting in touch with each other and working on important topics: what is a social wine brand? What is the impact of the social media on wine travel? How can wineries answer the challenging issues brought by social media? What kind of relationship can wineries and wine bloggers build? What is the future of the social media in the wine industry?

Of course none of us brought a definitive answer to any of those questions. But a few ideas emerged of the lively and sometimes contradictory discussions while some problems were clearly addressed. Wineries in Europe are not really set to receive consumers and travelers. With the rise of the social media, can they afford to turn away a consumer and risk their reputation through a blog post (Winery X could not receive me for a tasting: how rude!), a Tweet or aFacebook notification (Don’t go to winery X)?

The way we use social media was also widely discussed. Should we have a very large and indiscriminated circle of friends on Twitter and Facebook or be more selective? Should we all try to be Gary V. or be ourselves? Should we make money with our blog or social media use or should we be more “conservative”? The session on “Monetising the social media” did not provide THE answer but helped clarifying the various issues: a commercial endeavour (nakedwines.com, a retailer such as Bibendum Wines or a wine travel site) will make a commercial use of the social media and they’re right to do so. But what about a wine blogger? How should (s)he use his/her influence if (s)he has any?

Doug Cook, founder of Ablegrape.com and now head of the Twitter Search, comforted a more selective approach of search engine and developed what he called “search engine friendliness”. He gave us useful tips on how to get good search engine results: trying to get the widest traffic might not be the best strategy as the web visitors are not qualified or relevant to the topic of our site or blog.

After so many hours of work, we needed a nice break which Charles Metcalfe, the “wine singer”, provided through a tasting of amazing Portuguese wines. We then ended the day at the Eleven Restaurant on their beautiful terrace overlooking “Lisbon by night” and nibbling on their delicate food.

EWBC might be over technically today. But there are still many things that happened we’ll discuss in the next few days. EWBC is just the once a year meeting allowing us bloggers, wineries, Facebook and Twitter friends to meet face to face and talk about social media, blogging and wine but it keeps linking us over the year until the next conference. The discussion will keep going on through social media between us and next year, when we’ll meet again (hopefully), we’ll have even more topics to talk about.

Our first day of conference ended last night with a grand buffet and the pouring of the wines of the Douro Boys. But before we were rewarded by such a feast, we had to work hard through two tastings.

Both tastings were a real initiation to Spanish and Portuguese wines. Esteban Cabezas, Marketing Director of the Wine Academy of Spain, conducted a fascinating tasting of the fortified, dessert and natural sweet wines from Spain and Portugal usually featured during the Vinoble Fair (Salon de los Vinos Nobles) held in Jerez from May 30 to June 2, 2010. Esteban made a brilliant presentation of the style and history of those wines followed by the tasting of two Amontillado wines, some Port wine, a red Moscatell, a Madeira and the mysterious Garvey Gran Order PX. It was a trip in the history of various wine regions and through elegant and unusual flavors and aromas.

After a much needed palate cleansing, we were back in the tasting room facing 18 wines of the energetic and talented Douro Boys. The Douro Boys is a group of five wineries: Quinta do Vale Meao, Quinta Vale D Maria, Quinta do Crasto, Niepoort and Quinta do Vallado. After the serving of their white wines, each wine maker conducted the tasting of his wines.

Questions on wine making were asked by the floor and the Douro Boys answered with humor and talent. We had a fascinating and entertaining event. As a wine marketer, I was also interested by their branding strategy. Douro is a very easy name to remember whatever the native language. As one of them pointed out, “boys” might be more ambigous in some countries but to most people, the Douro boys is a group of wine makers from Douro. This collective branding strategy was the first step that now allows them to differentiate each winery from the other ones. The tasting showed clearly that each winery has a different style of wines. Every attendant has the possibility now to make his/her choice among the various styles of wines.

Besides tastings and panels, the EWBC is the best opportunity for us, bloggers, to meet face to face with our contacts and Facebook friends. I also had the opportunity to see again some wine professionals I rarely have the opportunity to meet. I was delighted to exchange ideas and renew acquaintance with a lot of people. And I’m looking forward to getting acquainted to many of the other participants – all fascinating people from different countries.

Thanks to the Dream Team of EWBC to bring us all together!

I just arrived at the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon. The conference started yesterday with the live tasting of Cortes de Cima and I’m really sorry I missed the experience.

But the fun began as soon as I stepped in the beautiful VIP Grand Hotel in Lisbon (5* – nothing less). I met Gabriella Opaz from Catavino who told me a conference by Ryan and Andre from Adegga was starting. I ran to my room, threw my bag in the closet and went back down. Ryan and Andre were lecturing wineries owners about launching a blog. Very interesting topic that generated a lot of questions from the audience.

The real fun will start at 5:00 pm with tastings and a great dinner and tomorrow, back to work. The EWBC agenda will keep the participants busy all day and the speakers will need a lot of energy to carry on. Stay tuned on twitter and facebook for more info!

While I was tasting wines in New York City, one of the most respected and knowlegeable wine expert, Hoke Harden, started his own blog, Elixir Vitae. Why am I so excited about it? I had the privilege and the pleasure of meeting Hoke personnally and professionnaly. On a personal level, Hoke is delightful: witty, funny, loving wine and food. Ask him any question about wine: he has the answer. Some of you might know I was born and raised in France and, as such, thought I knew everything about French wines. Alas! Hoke showed – quite inadvertently – how ignorant I was: I owe him some of the most interesting wine experiences.

Professionnally, he is certainly one of the best wine professionals I met, either in Europe or in the US. He was in marketing for many years before he switched to wine education. He’s on the Board of the Society of Wine Educators and I followed some of his presentations during the New Orleans conference. I heard him telling fascinating stories and answering tricky questions with ease.

His blog is quite at his image: fun, full of facts and ramblings on wine and food. I especially liked the piece on wine and book: this so personal experience is rended with elegance and finesse – quite like a good Margaux wine – the perfect combination on a rainy day like today! Don’t miss either Hoke’s consideration on what there is in a wine name: you’ll be surprised!

OK… You got the picture. Follow Hoke’s blog and enjoy it! Cheers!

Here it goes again: Ryan and Gabriella Opraz, from Catavino, are putting together, with our friend Robert McIntosh, the Second European Wine Bloggers Conference. It will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, from Oct.30 to Nov. 1 2009. The theme is: “Wine Writing and the Social Wine Brand.” Inspired? Save the date and register! See you there!