This question seems ludicrous to a lot of American wine professionals if I believe what I read in the last few days about the new TTB guidelines. In Europe and mainly in France this question was answered years ago by the Evin Law: yes, talking and writing on social media and/or on the Net about a wine or a beer brand is advertising. It also falls under the restricting law related to health and to young people. That is why in 2008 the French site of the Heineken beer was closed as it was supposedly targeting young people. Some critics on Champagne (just before the holidays) were considered advertising and as such the magazine was fined. Some videos on Champagne (yes, Champagne) could not been shown in France but were available on YouTube in their “American” version for everybody to watch them.

Will the new guidelines of the TTB impact the American wine industry as heavily as French laws did for the French industry? Maybe not.  According to Cathy Bussewitz in her article in The Press Democrat, wineries will have to list their name and address on their Twitter account. On videos, even on YouTube, they would have to include mandatory mentions.  What will be the impact on YouTube Channels such as the ones of some preminent wineries – richly paid for to YouTube?  What will be the consequences for digital tastings on Twitter and all the various #ChardonnayDay or #CabernetDay twittering?

Those questions are still open to discussion. Wine and digital media professionals do not have the same answers. According to Bussewitz, Foley Family Wines and Jackson Family Wines aim to follow regulations, citing Andrea Smalling, chief marketing officer of Foley Family Wines. Digital media professionals are more skeptical: is it really necessary to have more rules? If one considers how negative an impact rules had on the French wine industry, one might just hope that the American wine industry will band against an other freedom-destroying regulation.

In 2011, The Wine Management Institute of Dijon, in Burgundy, France launched a 5-year study on international wine blogs under my direction with the help of our 40 to 50 students coming from all over the world. The first year (2011) was devoted to American and Chinese blogs. We are on our way for the second year (2012) studying South European wine blogs, British, Canadian and Chinese (again) wine blogs. The purpose of the research is to draw a portrait of bloggers all around the world, a typology of blogs and a first approach of digital writing all over the world. The research aimed at helping the wine professionals to get to know this new strategy of communications and academics to have a better understanding of the practical aspect of marketing in the wine industry.

To read the full study in English.

A recent survey conducted by Vinexpo on women and wine in United Kingdom, France, Germany, Hong Kong and the US showed that cultural differences are an important factor of differentiation in appreciating wine.

What did those women agree upon? They usually prefer red wine over white wine. They are driving the sales for rosé wines:  16% said they’d rather drink rosé (over only 6% in 2009). This is an increase of 160% in 2 years! 70% drink wine while socializing with friends or on a date: 68% consider wine important and even essential on a romantic dinner. French women are leading the trend with 50% of the answers while 10% of British women and 5% of Hong Kong female drinkers would not go on a date without some wine.

This first breach in the consensus opens the door to the deeper cultural differences. Women do not agree on the factors leading to their choice. 70% of French women consider that the country of origin is their first criteria while it is important for only 50,8% of British women. In the USA, grape variety is the most important criteria – not surprisingly. Price (58,5%) and country of origin (67,8%) are most important in Hong Kong.

The deepest difference appears with the question : is wine part of tradition or a part of your lifestyle? American women answer loudly and strongly that wine is part of a lifestyle while for French women it is part of the tradition.

This survey is an interesting marketing tool because it was conducted on line in 5 countries in partnership with several sites of various magazines: Elle in France and Hong Kong, Konsum Göttinnen in Germany, Wine Enthusiast in the US and Decanter in England. Interestingly enough, the sites partnering with Vinexpo are not wine-related in France, Hong Kong and Germany. They are more lifestyle- or -women-related magazines. In UK and in the US, it is the opposite: the surveyed women were readers of wine magazines, but they claimed wine as a lifestyle choice.

Even more fascinating is the use of Internet as a tool. The survey revealed that the women wine drinkers in the age 18-30 are using most the Internet (14%) while in France only 3% go on line to look for wine. Let’s just hope that Internet will be more and more used to discover wine(s) from all over the world, and not only by women.

Last year, I wrote in my French blog about winefair.com, this French initiative: a virtual and 3-D wine fair. I was impressed by the technology and the design of the site. This year, the second edition of winefair.com opens up to international markets.

During the last few weeks, I was in contact with many American winemakers and opinion leaders. The concept is not easy to grasp because it is rather innovative and creative: the site is mostly a business platform allowing winemakers and professionals to get acquainted, meet, talk and keep in touch after the show. In order to enjoy all the functionalities of the site, you must register as a visitor: you’ll then access the list of exhibitors, be able to see when they will be available on their booth (a green dot next to their name) and even make appointments with them on the agenda.

Wine enthusiasts are also encouraged to register as they’ll access a description of the winery, presentation of the wines available and also be able to chat with the producers.

Who are the producers ? A lot of them are French, some are American (Randal Grahm from Bonny Doon, Craig Camp from Cornerstone Cellars, Jeff “El Jefe” Stai from Twisted Oak Winery), Australian (Mark Gifford from Blue Poles in the Margaret River area), Portuguese or Spanish.  Consumers and professionals can take advantage of the agenda of each producer to come and meet them. It is a rare oppportunity as most of those international producers do not sell their wines in Europe.

As all fairs, conferences in French and in English will take place during the 5 days of the show: they are live video conferences. I listened to a couple of French conferences live today and was impressed by the level and interest of the content.

The first conference (image above) was with the CEO of the Spanish Qude Bodega about organic wines and wine tourism. This afternoon, the discussion was on the site wine-sign.com, linking communications and wine. It is a lot of fun to chat on line with the speakers using their tchat tool or Twitter.

There were some technical glitches yesterday during the opening. The site was even cut off for a few hours – thanks to a lot more connections than expected on Monday at 9:00 am!  But things seem to be fixed by now and hopefully the site will run smoothly from now on.  The wine fair might open an extra day next week to answer all the requests of people and give more time to the exhibitors to meet with the crowd.

Take the time to stop by the fair and enjoy the English-speaking program we designed specifically for you!

[Note: I work with winefair.com because I believe in the project, my first criteria to accept a new mission.]