Two years ago, in January 2008, I shyly started blogging on wine, wine brands and innovation in the wine industry. My goal then was to update on   a regular basis the contents of my then to-be-published book, “Wine Brands”.  18 months after the publication and over a few hundreds posts, it’s time to move on to something different.  The blog had already by itself driven me to other places and horizons.

What’s different? The blog is still the expression of what I think important in the wine industry : new technologies, creative initiatives and brands, innovative software or strategies, new trends and new consumers.  I’m just moving a step ahead by integrating it more deeply in my professional practice. I’ll still be searching for new trends and new consumers, watching new markets but I’ll be more aware of the European side of technology. Weirdly enough, at a time when the European wine consumption is sharply declining, I sense some  growing interest in the French and European wine industry for innovation. A new generation of winemakers and vineyards’ managers is rising and opening the doors to a fascinating new world. Welcome in winebrandsblog.com generation 2!

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!