the 2010 american wine writer survey
TRANSCRIPT
The 2010American Wine Writer Survey
Wark Communications • Napa, California • June, 2010
CONTENTS
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Introduction 1
Section 1:
Age, Gender & Education of the American Wine Writer 3
Section 2
The American Wine Writer in Context 5
Section 3
Interacting with the Wine Industry 14
Section 4
Wine Writing, Blogging & Social Media 19
Section 5
Wine Writers and the Issues 25
Section 6
Conclusions 28
Methodology, Contact Information, About Wark Communications 30
Appendix
“Other Comments” 31
INTRODUCTION: WHO IS A WINE WRITER?
With the emergence of blogs and social media over the past few years, this question is not so
easily answered as it once was. When the 2004 American Wine Writer Survey was conducted
in May 2004, there may have existed up to five sites on the Internet that could, in some cases,
generously be called “wine blogs”. When I began my own wine blog (FERMENTATION: The Daily
Wine Blog) in November of 2004, I found just that many. Today, more than 800 wine blogs can
be found on the Internet and they have changed a the way wine consumers learn about wine,
how the wine trade follows the business of wine and how marketers use the media to sell their
wines.
Furthermore, it is reasonable to question the utility of wine writing today as more and more
consumers obtain information about wine not from traditional wine media or wine blogs, but
from peers and from marketers themselves via social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter
and Yelp, just to name three such platforms.
Yet in the midst of the chaos that has disrupted the wine writing genre and all media over the
past decade, it still seemed reasonable to try to understand and define the changing and evolv-
ing fraternity of wine writers.
The 2010 American Wine Writer Survey is decidedly different from its two previous incarnations,
produced in 2004 and 1995. The primary difference is in who was surveyed.
In 2004, those who received invitation to participate in the American Wine Writer Survey were
easily identified as wine writers in the traditional sense. That is, they all wrote for commercial
wine publications or media of one sort or another. For the 2010 survey, nearly 30% of respon-
dents identified “A Blog” as the primary medium where their writing appears. This is only a
slightly greater percentage than those I would consider primarily bloggers that were invited to
take the survey late in 2009.
By inviting those whose writing appeared only on blogs to participate in the 2010 survey, I was
acknowledging the fact that blogs have in fact become a significant source of information for
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both wine consumers and the wine trade. To conduct this kind of survey without including blog-
gers would have been to create a skewed view of the wine writer fraternity.
Those bloggers that were asked to participate were chosen based on their commitment to con-
sistently providing information in their chosen format. Most were either well known to me or
were vetted for their commitment prior to receiving an invitation to participate. Clearly not all
those with a wine blog were invited to participate. However, I am confident that an impressive
selection of those individuals who blog about wine seriously and consistently are represented in
these results.
The 2010 American Wine Writer Survey attempts to draw a picture of that important group of
individuals that help consumers and the wine trade traverse the diverse, expanding and often
confusing world of wine in the United States. More than ever, the enormous number of brands
and wines in the marketplace make selecting wines for consumption or use on a wine list or
on store shelves difficult, time consuming and confusing. As they have for decades, wine writ-
ers and critics help carve paths through the thicket of choices. And as they have in the past,
consumers and buyers respond by following recommendations and often looking beyond their
comfort zones at the urging of a skilled writer and critic.
Throughout this analysis of the Survey results you will come across charts that illustrate the
findings. In addition to these charts and graphs, be aware that inside the written analysis, you
will find more detailed information based on filtering of the results and applying cross tabula-
tion. This is all to say that while this analysis attempts to give the reader something they can
work through quickly, if they sit with this analysis of the survey and read it through, they will be
rewarded with more information and insights than can be gleaned simply from running over the
charted results.
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SECTION 1:
AGE, GENDER & EDUCATION OF THE AMERICAN WINE WRITER
Odds are that an American wine writer is
male. Sixty-two percent of respondents
identified themselves as male, leaving thirty-
eight percent female. Those familiar with
the wine industry and wine writers won’t be
surprised that writers are more likely to be
male. What’s significant however is that only
twenty-three percent of respondents identi-
fied themselves as female six years ago. This
is a 50% increase in female representation in
this survey.
While the American wine writer has become slightly more female from five years ago, they have
also become somewhat younger. Twenty-one percent are 40 years of age or younger today.
Just six years ago
that group made
up only ten (10)
percent of respon-
dents. This is a
fairly significant in-
crease. A number
of factors are likely
to account for the
increase in younger
people among wine
scribes. We know,
to begin with, that
the Millennials and
late Gen Xers are more inclined to drink wine than their predecessor generations were at their
age. With more interest in and drinking of wine by those in their 30s, it should be no surprise
that this age group would be better represented in the wine writer fraternity than in the past.
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But in addition, technology has made writing about wine for an audience far less expensive and
easier to take up. To be blunt, it costs nothing to start a wine blog and reach a potentially large
audience. This lowering of the bar where reaching an audience is concerned also is contributing
to the increase in younger wine writers.
Finally, consider the
formal education of
the American wine
writer. The 2000 U.S.
census found that
twenty-seven percent
of adult Americans had
a bachelors degree or
higher. Among wine
writers the percentage
is Ninety-one (91) per-
cent. In fact, forty-one
percent of respondents
identified themselves as having a post-graduate degree. At first glance this differential in formal
education between the wine writer and the average American is enormous and seemingly sig-
nificant. But it should be remembered that writers in general tend to be more highly educated
than the average American and 100% of the sample for this survey are writers.
TAKEAWAYS. . .
•Males dominate the profession, but less so than just five years ago.
•The majority of wine writers are over 50, but the 40 and under group is growing.
•Wine writers are very highly educated, compared to the average American
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Section 2:
THE AMERICAN WINE WRITER IN CONTEXT
SUBJECT MATTER
While the basic demographics of the wine writing corps appears to be changing and the tech-
nology used to publish information on wine has changed radically, what has changed very little
over the past 5,
10, 20 or even
50 years is what
is being written
about where wine
is concerned. Just
as in years past,
today’s wine writ-
ers are primarily
in the business
of explaining the
taste of wine and
those who make
it. When asked
to choose three subject areas they write about most often, over sixty-three percent of respon-
dents identified “reviews of wine.” Over fifty percent said “Profiles of wineries or wine people.”
Interestingly, no matter how you look at and filter the survey results, every subcategory of
survey takers choose “reviews of wines” most often as the subject matter they most often write
about. However, it is interesting to note that if you look at the responses to this question by
those who also say they maintain their own blog, these folks are much more inclined to identify
“Commentary or Opinion” as a subject matter they most often engage. Bloggers also happen to
cite “wine reviews” slightly more than the average wine writer.
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WHERE WRITERS ARE PUBLISHED
Where publishing is concerned, the move from print to digital has been swift and severe. Six
years ago ninety-
five (95) percent
of survey respon-
dents said their
wine writing
usually appears in
print. In the 2010
Survey, only fifty-
seven percent of
respondents said
their writing typi-
cally appears in
magazines, news-
letters or newspapers. Meanwhile, forty-two percent said their writing typically appears
on the Internet on a blog or wine-related website.
The importance of this swift migration to digital publishing formats in the world of wine writing
cannot be underestimated. It changes the game for writers, readers and marketers. The best
way to understand this change is to look at the key differences between those whose writing
typically appears in print and those whose writing typically appears on the Internet.
Internet Print
Writers Writers
Write for a National Audience 75% 48%
Published on a Weekly or Daily Basis 80% 46%
Written about Wine for 10 Years or Less 71% 31%
Reviews Wines 80% 85%
Receives 20 or more samples per month 25% 41%
Use Facebook 85% 63%
Use Twitter 77% 51%
Maintains A Blog 68% 31%
Believes Blogs are Very or Extremely Trustworthy 48% 6%
Believes Blogs have very little or no Trustworthiness 9% 26%
Is 40 Years Old Or Younger 32% 13%
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What you have here are two fairly different sets of writers. Internet writers are more likely to
reach a national audience and do so more frequently than print writers. Internet writers have
been at the game far less time than print writers, yet they tend to review wines just as much as
print writers. However, they aren’t getting wine samples to review in the same number as print
writers. Internet writers are more likely to rely on social media and more likely to trust informa-
tion on blogs. Internet writers also tend to be younger.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d suspect that the Internet was set to take over as the platform for
the distribution of wine writing. But what’s still true is that the average print based publication
where writing about wine is published tends to have a larger readership than the average Inter-
net based publication. There is every reason to believe this will continue to be the case for the
next 5 to 10 years. However, it’s equally likely that more people will be getting their fix of wine
writing on the web as the number of print outlets dwindle or migrate online.
This also seems to be the view of writers. When asked “In ten years, what do you believe will
be the primary or most likely source of wine-related reporting and writing,” only 7% said print
publications. Thirty
percent said “On-
line Wine Maga-
zines and Newspa-
pers.” Fully 40% of
respondents said
they expected wine
websites and blogs
to be the primary
place where wine
reporting and writ-
ing took place. And
in what can only be
described as a for-
ward looking view
of the issue, 12%
said they expect So-
cial Media such as
Twitter and Facebook to be the primary medium in which wine writing takes places in ten years.
It should not be shocking that 80% of those who believe Social Media is the wave of the future
happen to use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
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Still, wine writers, be they heavy users of Social Media, bloggers or writers for traditional print
publications, seem to understand that the primary question facing them and their profession
and the wine writing genre is the same one facing all branches of the media: How will informa-
tion be distributed in the near future? The corollary to this question is how will information be
paid for by the consumers?
THE WINE WRITER’S AUDIENCE
When asked to choose between four different types of audiences in describing who reads their
writing, wine scribes broke down fairly evenly, with the exception of those who write primarily
for a wine trade-related audience, amounting to eight percent of respondents.
The one group to take note of is those writers who identified a “regional consumer audience” as
their core readers.
This group of re-
spondents, equal-
ing thirty-three
percent, are those
who write primar-
ily for newspa-
pers and regional
magazines. As a
group, they tend
to write reviews of
wine more often
than the average
wine writer, yet they tend to receive fewer numbers of wine samples from wineries and mar-
keters. Another interesting note about this group is that they tend to find the information sent
to them by publicists and marketers to be of more interest and greater value than the average
respondent, something for the marketers in the audience to think about.
FREQUENCY OF PUBLICATION
Just over sixty (60) percent of survey respondents reported their work was published weekly
or more frequently. This is up slightly from five years ago. One of the interesting things to note
about the forty percent of respondents that are published monthly or less frequently is that, as
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you might guess,
they are more
likely as a group to
write for magazines
and newsletters.
They tend to write
fewer wine reviews
and opinion pieces
and concentrate
a bit more on
producing travel re-
lated, educational
or food and wine
pairing stories. In
addition, this group of respondents tends to have been at the wine writing business longer than
the average writer.
THE WINE WRITER’S STATUS
When asked if they tend to be a freelance writer, write for one publication or outlet or write
for their own outlet, what became clear is that wine writers in America don’t have the kind of
security that the average worker has.
Just over fifty percent of respondents
classified themselves as “Freelance”
writers who work for a variety of
outlets. Another twenty-four percent
said they tend to write for themselves
or a media outlet operated by them.
This leaves only twenty-five percent of
respondents saying they wrote pri-
marily for a single media outlet they
don’t own.
It’s not difficult to imagine what kind
of media tend to keep a quarter of respondents to this survey busy writing only for them in
a single outlet. They are the wine-related magazines and food publications that keep a wine
expert on staff and the larger newspapers across the country. This group of writers is on aver-
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age older and more experienced in the field of wine writing. But this is not the most interesting
thing about what might be called the elite of the wine writing corps. This is a worried and criti-
cal group of writers.
When asked to identify the biggest threat to professional wine writing and wine reporting, they
were more likely to identify economic difficulties and cutbacks in traditional media. However,
they were
significantly
more likely
to cite “The
emergence
of on-line
wine media
(blogs and
websites)
as a source
for con-
sumers to
read about
wine” as an
important
threat to
wine writ-
ing.” And
this con-
cern is not simply a matter of this group worrying about the competition. They actually don’t
have much faith in the wine blogosphere. Only seven percent of writers who work for a single
media outlet said bloggers are very or extremely “credible or trustworthy.” Thirty percent of
respondents who identified themselves as Freelancers or working for themselves believed blog-
gers were “extremely” or “very” trustworthy and credible.
This group of employed writers was also far more critical of the public relations and marketing
people they often deal with. In fact they were three times less likely to say that the work of pub-
lic relations and marketing professionals was extremely or very useful to them than the average
wine writer.
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YEARS WRITING: THE DIVIDING LINE
It should be clear at this point that there is a difference in working habits, working conditions
and attitudes of
younger vs. older
wine writers. How-
ever, the real dif-
ference between
these two groups
show up when you
look at the differ-
ences between
those who have
written on wine for
20 or more years
and those who
have written about wine for 5 years or less. But before we get to that comparison, let’s note
that the breakdown of writers who have written for various lengths of time is fairly even.
Interestingly, five years ago only eleven percent of respondents to this survey said they had
been writing for 5 years or less, while thirty-six percent said they had been writing for 20 years
or longer. What’s happening is that older writers are getting out of the game and are being re-
placed by younger, less experienced writers who are finding their audience in the digital media.
But as mentioned above, the real story is in the different attitudes, writing habits and writing
conditions between those who have been writing for 5 years or less and those veteran writers
who have been at it for 20 years or more. It would be interesting to speculate on whether or not
twenty years ago there were also significant differences in the work habits, interests and writ-
ing conditions that distinguished veteran and neophyte writers. I suspect there probably were
differences, however I can’t imagine they were as significant as those that separate the genera-
tions that emerge from this survey.
The chart below outlines many of these differences and reveals something about what we can
expect from the wine writing fraternity in years to come and how we can expect them to view
their work in the future.
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Writing Writing
5 or Less 20 or more
Wine Review often a subject of their writing 59% 74%
Wine Business often a subject of their writing 32% 15%
Writing Typically appears in Mags or Newspapers 19% 49%
Writing typically appears on Blogs 60% 9%
Typical read by a regional consumer audience 13% 40%
Is a Freelancer, writing for a variety of media 28% 62%
Believes cuts at traditional Media are threat to wine writers 69% 83%
Believes Social Media (Facebook) will be the most
likely source of wine writing and reporting in ten years 22% 8%
Texting 1st or 2nd favorite way to get information 40% 4%
Says info from Wine Publicists is “rarely useful” 40% 20%
Business trends info is most useful to get from Publicists 40% 21%
Receives 30 or more wine samples per month 14% 30%
Uses Facebook 92% 55%
Uses Twitter 85% 42%
Maintains a wine blog 66% 35%
Believes bloggers are extremely or very trustworthy 49% 6%
Believes bloggers have very little or no trustworthiness 2% 24%
Believes trad. media has little or no trustworthiness 4% 2%
Believes nutritional info on wine labels is important to consms. 14% 2%
Believes green winemaking practices are important to consms. 53% 30%
This comparison sheds some light on what the future of wine writing looks like. When you com-
pare responses by these two groups you immediately notice that writing and reporting are likely
to migrate more and more to a digital format. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter and
texting are and will be more important to wine writers in the future. Publicists will face a wine
writing corps far more critical of their work, unless this attitude is something that gets moderat-
ed as writers spend more time interacting with publicists and marketers. And blogging is clearly
a big part of the future of wine writing if the habits of the least experienced and younger wine
writers are to be a gauge. Finally, it is likely that environmentally sensitive winemaking practices,
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the business of wine and consumer issues like nutritional information are likely to become top-
ics of greater import to wine writers in the future.
Takeaways...
• Wine reviews are the most common subject matter for writers
• The move from print to digital publishing has been swift and severe
• The younger or less experienced a writer, the more likely they publish in a digital format
• Writers are well aware of the swift move to digital publishing
• Majority of writers are self published and/or freelancers
• Writers believe economic difficulties in the publishing industry are the biggest threat to wine
writing
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SECTION 3:
INTERACTING WITH THE INDUSTRY
Few if any wine writers can carry on without interacting with the people inside the industry they
cover. The relationship between writers and industry members is often a relatively close one.
This closeness or familiarity between writers and publicists/marketers is not uncommon in any
industry that has a large group of writers covering it, and that includes wine. The fact is, writers
generally need the help of publicists and marketers, while marketers and publicists seek out the
attention of the writers. How these interactions are carried out was the subject of a few ques-
tions in this survey.
CONTACTING THE WRITERS
Wine writers overwhelmingly prefer to be
contacted by e-mail. Ninety-one (91) per-
cent said e-mail was their favorite way to
be contacted by publicists and marketers.
This should not be a surprise. Interestingly,
“regular mail” barely beat out “phone” as
the second favorite way writers preferred
to be contacted, leaving “Text Message and
“Fax” a fairly distant 4th and 5th favorite
method by which to be contacted.
One interesting bit of information to note
is that while “phone” beat out “text message” for the 3rd favorite way to be contacted, texting
was cited by twenty-two percent of respondents as their first or second favorite way to be con-
tacted. Only a few more, thirty-two percent, cited “phone” as their first or second favorite way
to be contacted by publicists or marketers. To drive home the point, “Texting” was not a method
of contact that ever occurred to us to offer as a choice in the 2004 American Wine Writer Sur-
vey.
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Preferred Methods of Being Contacted by
Marketers and Publicists
Favorite: Email 2nd: Regular Mail 3rd: Phone 4th: Text Message Least Preferred: Fax
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THE USEFULNESS OF THE PUBLICISTS & MARKETERS
Across the culture,
publicists or “flacks” as
they are often derisively
called, are not viewed
much higher on the scale
of trustworthiness than
used car dealers or politi-
cians. The typical view is
that they are responsible
for “spin,” a form of com-
munication considered
only slightly more reli-
able than outright lies.
This element of disrespect does appear in wine writers’ views of their relationship with the
industry and its publicists and marketers. When asked to describe the “usefulness of the aver-
age press releases, story pitches or information you receive from wine publicists and marketers”
only nineteen percent said “extremely” or “very” useful. In fact, only three percent fell into the
“extremely” category. On the other hand, eighty-one percent said this information was either
only “somewhat” or “rarely” useful. Fully twenty-eight percent said “rarely.”
For the wine publicist hoping to gain the trust and attention of a writer, this information has to
be disheartening. Where to start in terms of improving the image of the publicist and marketer
in the minds of wine writers is a good question. Perhaps the most obvious place to start is get-
ting the writer the information and items they say they need to better do their job.
WHAT WINE WRITER WANT
When asked to choose the three items that are “the most useful type of information you receive
from publicists and marketers” writers overwhelming chose wine samples. Seventy-six percent
said samples of wines were most useful. This should not be a surprise given that most writers
also claim that reviews of wines are the most common subject they cover. In fact, no other cat-
egory of information came close to rivaling wine samples as being important to survey respon-
dents. Information on wine-related events was identified by forty-six percent of respondents
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while wine-related travel information was appreciated by thirty-six percent of survey respon-
dents.
The degree to
which publicists
can give writers
what they want
will determine in
large part how
their efforts are
viewed. If nothing
else, the results of
this survey indicat-
ed that if you ask,
wine writers will
be candid about
what they really
want from publi-
cists and marketers
(see Appendix #X)
RATING WINE:
WHAT WINE WRITERS DO MOST
It should be no surprise that wine writers
spend a good deal of time writing about
wines. It should also be no surprise that most
of them spend time describing and rating and
ranking wines, and in this way provide the in-
dustry with their primary marketing tool: the
review and rating. This survey demonstrates
those truisms. Eighty-two percent of the
respondents confessed to reviewing wine as part of their wine writing. Interestingly, a higher
percentage, ninety-two percent say they accept media samples. As a side note, the eighteen
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percent of respon-
dents who said
they don’t review
wines as a part of
their wine writ-
ing tend to write
much more often
about the business
of wine. However,
over fifty percent
of this group said
they accept media
samples.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about wine writers’ responses
to questions on rating wine is the reminder that despite its seeming
ubiquity, the 100 point rating scale is really only used by a relatively
small number of writers. Only seventeen percent of respondents
said they used the 100-point rating scale in their reviews of wines. In
comparison, sixty-four percent claimed they only use descriptions of
the wine and no ratings at all. Nine (9) percent said they used a wine rating scale with up to six
quality levels and
only two (percent)
use a system that
includes seven to
20 quality levels.
Still, what the sur-
vey tells us about
those claiming to
use the 100-point
rating scale is use-
ful. Overwhelm-
ingly, wine reviews
are their main focus and they are much more likely than the average writer to be published in
a magazine or newsletter. They are also more likely to be employed by a single media outlet.
They also receive far more wine samples than any other category of writers sliced out of this
survey. Finally, the 100-point scale writers tend to be more male and find the work of publicists
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Do You
Accept Samples?
YES: 92%NO: 8%
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and marketers less useful than the average writer.
In terms of the number of wine samples writers receive on a monthly basis, more than sixty
percent said they receive 20 wines or fewer. In fact, more than forty percent receive ten or less
wines per month. On the other hand ten percent of respondents said they receive more than
50 wine samples per month. This confirms what even the most casual industry observer knows:
a small number of reviewers are responsible for the largest number (and likely most influential)
reviews.
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Takeaways...
• Writers overwhelmingly want to be contacted by email
•Writers have little use for information provided by marketers and publicists
•Majority find wine samples most useful item received from marketers and publicists
• Wine travel and wine event info is also considered useful information to receive
• Most writers receive 20 or less samples of wine per month
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Section 4:
WINE WRITING, BLOGGING & SOCIAL MEDIA
It’s fair to say that the most disruptive force to the world of wine writing is the emergence of
the Internet as a significant channel for information distribution. The impact of this change in
the way Americans receive their news and information (including wine information) cannot
be under-estimated. Today, the newspaper industry, as well as publishing in general, is being
rocked by a switch from paper-based media to digital media and media companies are all con-
templating which revenue model will keep them in business.
Meanwhile, the term “Social Media” has become a catch-all phrase. It is understood by many
to be those digital venues where individuals are able to interact with one another, often in ways
that have a powerful impact on brands and industries as the views of individuals coalesce into
market shaping forces. Wine blogs, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn,
consumer reviewing sites such as Yelp and TravelAdvisor and micro messaging services like Twit-
ter all have traditionally fallen under the heading of “Social Media.”
What’s different about this 2010 Survey of American Wine Writers versus the 2004 version, is
who it was distributed to a selection of “wine bloggers” that have been included on the Wark
Communications wine media list for at least six months. These wine bloggers receive press
releases, offers to receive wine samples from Wark Communications clients, invitations to wine
events and are often contacted and pitched story ideas. In short, they are treated no differently
than the wine writ-
ers for The New York
Times, San Francisco
Chronicle or Wine
Spectator.
This survey was im-
pacted by the views of
people who only write
on a wine blog as well
as those who write for
both wine blogs and
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traditional publications. Given this and given the change that social media has wrought on the
American wine writing community, we thought it important to try to briefly examine the survey-
takers’ views of Social Media as well as the ways they interact with Social Media.
WINE WRITERS AND BLOGGING
When asked if they write for a wine blog, forty-five percent of respondents said they do. This is
an extraordinary number. Of those invited to take this survey, only twenty percent were iden-
tified in advance as primarily bloggers. This means that a substantial number of writers who
do not work primarily in a blogging format do, nonetheless, write for a blog or also maintain a
blog in addition to writing for non-blogging sources. But what’s even more interesting is that
eighteen percent of respondents said that while they don’t currently write for a blog, they are
considering starting one of their own.
The wine blog has become an information distribution vehicle of critical importance to the wine
writing genre and is poised to become perhaps the most important venue for wine writing in
the future. This has important implications not only for wine lovers looking to feed their thirst
for wine information, but also for marketers of wine who, for decades now, have come to rely on
traditional journalistic outlets to promote their wines.
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The Wine Blog ExaminedThe best way to understand blogs is to view them as a new format for distribut-ing information that has specific characteristics. It happens that these unique characteristics have important impact on the readers of blogs, on the information they present and on the character of those who maintain them.
Blogs are still best defined in this way:
1.Digital publishing formats most often maintained by an individual and which order their content or “Posts” in sequential order similar to a diary where the latest article or “post” is at the top and earlier entries appear further down the page in order of the date or time of posting.
2. Generally written and maintained by a single person, though many have mul-tiple authors.
3. They almost always have an interactive character whereby readers can easily comment on the stories and information posted as well as carrying on written discussion with other readers.
4. Blogs tend to include numerous links to information situated outside the blog on other websites and blogs.
5. Their content is generally categorized and accessed by subject matter and date of entry.
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Interesting information emerges when you look at the responses to this survey by those who
identify themselves strictly as wine bloggers. They are a unique group within the wine writing
fraternity and it appears important for marketers and publicists to appreciate their differences
as they go about courting their interest in their goods and services. Among the distinguishing
features of bloggers are:
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While understanding these basic characteristics of blogs is important, what’s even more important to understand about publishing format is that there is no barrier to entry into the blog publishing world. If one has access to the Internet, it is pos-sible to design a sophisticated looking blog in a matter of minutes and to launch it and make it accessible to anyone else with Internet access—at no cost. This means that anyone with Internet access and a desire to write about wine has equal access to the Internet-based wine lover as do the The Wine Spectator, The Wall Street Journal or The Wine Adcocate.
To understand the radical way that having no barrier to entry has changed the wine writing genre it is useful to consider what it took to become a wine informa-tion publisher just 15 years ago. In 1995 if you wanted to make your views on wine accessible to millions of wine lovers, it would have taken considerable financial backing to either go the print magazine route, taken considerable experience to get a column in a newspaper or taken considerable marketing efforts to put your faxed or mailed newsletter in front of an audience likely to be interested in its content. In other words, the barrier to entry into the wine information publish-ing world just 15 years ago was so high that it was rare to see a new publication launch.
It is true that in 2010 established wine publications like Wine & Spirits Magazine, Wine Spectator, Wine Enthusiast and the Wine Advocate retain the most prestige and influence, as well as larger readerships than most wine blogs. And it is true that those individuals writing for these publications as well as those writing the wine columns in newspapers and print magazines tend to be more influential and well known. However, there is no reason to assume with confidence that this will remain the same in ten years.
Wine blogs continue to gain more readers every day. Individual bloggers are becoming much better known within the wine trade and among avid wine lovers. There is every reason to believe that the broader wine drinking community and au-dience for wine information will also turn to wine blogs in the near future. Already there is a set of wine blogging awards that have gained prestige. There is a wine blogging conference that will enter its third year in 2010. Individuals who began writing about wine on blogs are being invited to write books, speak at important wine related conferences and are even courted by the mainstream wine media. What this means is that anyone who discounts the potential for wine blogs to play a primary role in wine publishing in the near future probably isn’t equipped to as-sess the wine media in any serious fashion.
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•They are much more likely to write opinion pieces or commentary
•They are slightly more likely to review wines
•They publish more often
•They have much less experience writing about wine
•They are much more likely to use Social Media tools like Facebook and Twitter
•They are younger
•They have greater faith in the trustworthiness of wine blogs though no significantly less degree of
faith in the trustworthiness of mainstream or print wine media, unlike non-bloggers.
As wine bloggers have become more prominent and more vocal in their opinions, some debate has
emerged inside the wine trade and wine writing community about the trustworthiness and cred-
ibility of wine bloggers.
To examine this issue we
asked the survey takers,
“On average, how cred-
ible and trustworthy do
you find the work of wine
bloggers?” Twenty-five
(25) percent of respon-
dents said “extremely” or
“very.” When asked the
same question about the
mainstream wine me-
dia or other traditional
media outlets, sixty-four
(64) percent said “ex-
tremely” or “very.”
What is clear by parsing
the responses is that the
degree to which a wine
writer believes wine
bloggers are extremely
or very credible depends
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upon whether or not the wine writer is a blogger. Only eleven percent of those who do not
maintain a wine blog believe bloggers are trustworthy or credible. Meanwhile forty-one percent
of those who maintained a wine blog said bloggers were extremely or very trustworthy or cred-
ible.
Interestingly, wine bloggers do not possess the same skeptical attitude toward the mainstream
wine media as the mainstream wine media possess toward bloggers. When asked, “On average,
how credible and trustworthy do you find the work of wine writers in mainstream wine publica-
tions and other traditional media outlets?,” fifty-seven percent of bloggers said “very” or “ex-
tremely.”
USING SOCIAL MEDIA
The rise of Social Media tools and services is a distinguishing characteristic of the time between
the 2004 American Wine Writer Survey and the 2010 version. It is fair to say that few if any of
those writers who
took this survey
would have been
using these tools
six years ago. To-
day, however, the
adoption of these
tools by wine
writers to stay in
touch with friends
and colleagues or
following the go-
ings on of different
groups, organiza-
tions or businesses
or to broadcast
their own movements, thoughts and observations is nothing less than astounding.
Seventy-three percent of all respondents admitted to using Facebook. Sixty-two and sixty-one
percent said they used Twitter or LinkedIn, respectively. It should be noted that those identify-
ing themselves as bloggers more often reported using these services than the average. Those
not blogging admitted to using these social media tools less often.
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One of the features of this analysis of the survey data is that by understanding how younger
wine writers and those who blog carry out and understand their work, you are more likely to
understand what the future of wine writing looks like. The use of social media tools by wine
writers will likely be near universal in the near future. Those marketers and producers who hope
to work with wine writers are probably better looking after their hopes and dreams by also be-
ing involved in social media.
Takeaways...
• A large majority of writers currently write for a blog or are planning to start a blog
• Writers consider the mainstream media much more credible than bloggers
•Writers have adopted Social Media tools in large numbers.
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SECTION FIVE:
WINE WRITERS AND THE ISSUES
Although wine lovers have more tools and services available to talk among themselves today
(see: social media), wine writers still play a key role in defining and reporting on issues of impor-
tance to the wine buying public and, in turn, helping to influence how those issues are under-
stood.
With this in mind two different questions were posed to wine writers, one about a specific issue
and another concerning the importance of various issues.
THE GREEN REVOLUTION AND WINE
The “greening” of the American consumer has affected nearly every industry in one way or
another. Concern with global warming, the condition of the environment, the integrity of the
food supply and
even national
security issues
have all prompted
Americans to think
differently about
the environment
and energy use.
The wine industry
has not escaped
this call for greater
environmental con-
sideration.
The response by the wine industry has been varied from analyzing carbon footprints and energy
use at wineries to more energy efficient distribution methods and new and more environmen-
tally sensitive packaging alternatives. However no green issue has received more attention both
among the wine trade and the wine consumer than organic and sustainable grapegrowing and
winemaking.
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Despite occasional pretensions about wine being art and producing wines that are faithful to
their terroir, the “bottom line” is still the paramount issue for wine producers and for consum-
ers who give significant thought to how much they spend on their wine. With that in mind, we
asked wine writers about this issue of sustainable/organic winemaking.
Asking wine writers to consider the near term importance of sustainable, organic and biody-
namic winemaking, a significant majority of respondents (65%) said that these practices would
only be “somewhat important” to consumers’ buying decisions in the near term. Twenty-five
percent believe they would be “extremely important” to consumers’ buying decisions in five
years from now, while only 9% said these more environmentally sensitive winemaking practices
would be of little importance to consumers in five years.
What’s interesting about these responses is that there is very little deviation when they are
filtered for age or gender of respondent, by the amount of time they have been writing or by
the subject matter writers tend to focus on. Given the extraordinary increase in coverage of all
things “green” over the past five years one might expect more writers to anticipate there being
more concern by their readers with the greening or environmental sensitivity of the winemaking
process.
WHAT ISSUES
WRITERS THINK
WILL BE PRESS-
ING
If wine writers
believe that envi-
ronmental issues
will only moder-
ately resonate
with their read-
ers in the future,
which issues do
they think are
most pressing at
this moment? The
answer is price
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and access.
When asked to choose up to three of six specific issues they thought wine consumers found
most pressing, wine writers overwhelmingly identified “The High Cost of Wine” and “Direct-to-
Consumer Wine Shipping.” It should be noted that this survey was conducted at what was con-
sidered the height of the “Great Recession” in late 2009. Given this, it’s not surprising that over
75% of writers thought the cost of wine was the most pressing issue their readers faced. That
said, in the 2004 American Wine Writer Survey, respondents also identified issues they believed
were important to consumers. Six years ago the price of wine also was the top issue according
to writers, but to the tune of only 52% versus this year’s 75%.
Takeaways...
• Only a small percentage of writers believe that “green” winemaking practices
will be important to consumers in the near term.
• The price of wine and direct shipping are believed by writers to be the
most important issues to consumers.
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Section Six:
Conclusions
For a myriad of reasons, Americans have come to rely on its wine writers to provide not only
basic education in the ways of wine, but guidance in their purchasing decisions. The collectibles
market has also been defined by critics and magazines. Wineries, domestic and foreign, have
used ratings produced primarily by wine writers and wine publications as a key element in their
marketing.
For these reasons, the American wine writer remains a critical part of the wine culture in this
country. So, it may not be too much to say that as the American wine writer goes, so goes (in
part) the American wine industry and wine drinker.
Today the American wine writer is in stark transition. The venues where writing and content is
being published, the ways consumers and the wine trade get information and the very defini-
tion of “wine writer” are all changing.
How and if wine bloggers, who remain largely unpaid and untethered to traditional media, will
affect the wine writing fraternity and the American wine drinker is not yet clear, other than to
say there appears no doubt they will have an effect.
Marketers and publicists, while continuing to vie for the attention of the wine writer, appear to
be no closer to providing them with frequently useful information, which in turn keeps them
gaining the kind of respect they clearly want and need in order to properly represent their inter-
ests.
Finally, there is very real possibility that Social Media tools such as Twitter, Facebook and Yelp
will render the traditional role of the wine media far less significant than it has been in the past.
There is reason to believe that American consumers and American wine enthusiasts are becom-
ing much more comfortable turning to “friends,” “followers” and peers in order to navigate the
increasingly crowded American wine marketplace. Whether this trend will result in any signifi-
cant de-emphasis of the wine writer is yet to be determined, but it most certainly ranks as a
possibility that deserves consideration.
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All that said, it could be that literary-minded wine lovers find themselves in the Golden Age of
wine writing. While transformative influences seem to be altering the traditional media with its
print publications and its massive numbers of reviews, it remains a fact that these publications
continue to survive, even as they search for a sustainable revenue model, and they are available
in even greater number today than just six years ago. At the same time, hundreds of new voices
have found their way on to the scene through the revolutionary publishing format known as
the “Blog.” While most blogs can’t rival the readership of traditional and well-established wine
media publications, more and more people read them. Some blogs attract significant reader-
ship and even influence the conversation on the industry side of the ledger. No one should be
surprised if over the next five to ten years, one or more bloggers emerge as a significant and
influential voice that consumers and members of the trade support and follow in numbers that
outpace today’s most popular wine publications.
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METHODOLOGY
The 2010 American Wine Writer Survey was conducted in late 2009. Four-hundred and thirteen
members of the wine media representing individuals across the country were invited via e-mail
to take the survey. In all, 186 individuals took the survey. Respondents provided their answers
with anonymity and were prevented from taking the survey more than once. The survey was
conducted entirely under the auspices of Wark Communications and Tom Wark. The Survey
Monkey service (http://www.surveymonkey.com) was utilized to collect responses and to ana-
lyze the results.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Tom Wark
Wark Communications
1135 Serendipity Way
Napa, CA 94558
Telephone: 707-266-1445
E-mail: [email protected]
twitter: @tomcwark
Facebook: facebook/tomcwark
Web: http://www.warkcommunications.com
ABOUT WARK COMMUNICATIONS
Wark Communications was founded in 2004 by Tom Wark. The firm provides public and media
relations, advertising, and Social Media consulting to the wine and hospitality industries. Tom
Wark has practiced wine communications since 1990 and worked with scores of companies
including producers, importers, wine retailers, industry associations, technology companies and
publishers. Wark also acts as the executive director of the Specialty Wine Retailers Associations,
publishes the blog FERMENTATION: The Daily Wine Blog, is the founder of the American Wine
Blog Awards and a member of the Board of OpenWine Consortium.
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APPENDIX
“OTHER COMMENTS”
A number of questions in the American Wine Writer Survey allowed respondents to provide
“other” answers beyond or in place of the choices offered. Below are those “other” responses.
Many of these “other” responses provide a great deal of insight.
vdzŜǎǝƻƴ мн
ά²ƘƛŎƘ ƛǎ ǘƘŜ Ƴƻǎǘ dzǎŜŦdzƭ ǘȅLJŜ ƻŦ ƛƴŦƻNJƳŀǝƻƴ ȅƻdz NJŜŎŜƛǾŜ ŦNJƻƳ LJdzōƭƛŎƛǎǘǎ ŀƴŘ ƳŀNJƪŜǘŜNJǎΚ
(Choose up to three)”
1. food and wine pairings
2. good tech info sheets, phone calls, tips on scoops and breaking news
3. descriptions, history and other information included with wines
4. articles about wine--breathing, high alcohol vs low alcohol, wine pairing, etc.
5. Books to review
6. Trends and personalities.
7. availability in my marketplace
8. wine related charity event announcements
9. consumer trends and tips, educational and focused
10. A combination, actually, of samples and information about where consumers can find
the wines. Sometimes publicists are very helpful in getting that information when local
distributors prove useless.
11. Interesting personalities. The main thing is that they know my pub and what I’m looking
for.
12. New wines, new releases, and new concepts in the marketplace. Helps keep me aware
of various and different things.
13. New release literature and tech sheets. Also vintage reviews and analysis.
14. interesting new “hooks”
15. Advance notice travel itineraries for wine personalities coming to my area
16. story behind the wine/winemaker
17. Wine related trends also Competition results too.
18. We don’t review wine, but most publicists can’t grasp that simple fact.
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vdzŜǎǝƻƴ мп
LŦ ȅƻdz NJŜǾƛŜǿ ǿƛƴŜǎ ŀǎ LJŀNJǘ ƻŦ ȅƻdzNJ ǿNJƛǝƴƎ ŀƴŘ NJŜLJƻNJǝƴƎΣ ǿƘŀǘ ōŜǎǘ ŘŜǎŎNJƛōŜǎ ǘƘŜ NJŀǝƴƎκNJŜ-
ǾƛŜǿ ǎȅǎǘŜƳ ȅƻdz dzǎŜΚ ό/ƘƻƻǎŜ ƻƴŜύ
1. say what I like and dislike about a wine.
2. Similar to a school test grading system - e.g., A, B, C, etc.
3. price/quality ratings
4. Whatever the magazine/newspaper uses.
5. Amazon-style 5-star
6. A recommendation by me (as my audience knows) is the rating itself, utilizing a descrip-
tion, SPR, and exactly where to purchase. I WILL NOT write about a wine I cannot stand
behind.
7. I blind-taste numerous wines, often with a panel of experts. I only write up the very best
selections.
8. I use all of the above, depending on the desires of the publication.
9. My stories are generally wine and food pairing stories, with suggested wines to go with
the foods described. So rather than rating on quality, it’s a paragraph description of why
the wine is good with a particular dish.
10. on occasion i cover wine discoveries, trade tastings or wines that move or pain me.
11. May the 100 point system die soon!
12. 20-point rating system
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v¦9{¢Lhb мтΥ
²ƘƛŎƘ ƻŦ ǘƘŜ ŦƻƭƭƻǿƛƴƎ {ƻŎƛŀƭ bŜǘǿƻNJƪƛƴƎ {ŜNJǾƛŎŜǎ Řƻ ȅƻdz dzǝƭƛȊŜ ƛŦ ŀƴȅΚ ό/ƘƻƻǎŜ ŀǎ Ƴŀƴȅ ŀǎ
apply)
1. blogging (is that social networking? It seems like it.
2. I use them socially but not for wine related purposes
3. Primarily Facebook, followed by Twitter. I have accounts on both OWC and Linked-In but
rarely use either.
4. ex-twitter user. Use FB but never to promote my blog. Hide statuses of ppl who only pro
mote their blog on FB. Not interested.
5. Recently chosen as one of the “101 Most Awesome Travel and Adventure Twitterers to
Follow”
6. Plaxo
7. Foursquare
8. PLAXO
9. Snooth and Cork’d
10. college alumni network
11. Plaxo
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QUESTION 22:
Lƴ ȅƻdzNJ ƻLJƛƴƛƻƴΣ ǿƘƛŎƘ ƻŦ ǘƘŜ ŦƻƭƭƻǿƛƴƎ ƛǎǎdzŜǎ ŀNJŜ Ƴƻǎǘ LJNJŜǎǎƛƴƎ ŦƻNJ ǿƛƴŜ ŎƻƴǎdzƳŜNJǎΚ ό/ƘƻƻǎŜ
dzLJ ǘƻ ǘƘNJŜŜύΚ
1. direct shipment is a big issue in maryland.2. The distribution of information and availability of wine.3. Education.4. user-friendly wine closures (screwcaps, etc.); high markups on wine lists 5. Three-tier distribution system.6. ALCOHOL!7. Information about where the wine is really from: the intense locavore movement is making people keen to learn as much about their wine as about their food. Educated wIne consumers want to know more about every aspect of winemaking and pro duction as well. They want to feel like they have an “inside track,” and that is something that hasn’t changed, it has just expanded beyond the original core of wine snobs for whom the wine scoring point system was originally devised.8. Clear, specific, unambiguous information about wines on the label and in other material.9. Trying to figure out what to buy with all the choices10. Not necassarily the high cost, but COST. Cost and achieving percieved value is (I believe) the most important issue for the majority of American Wine Consumer today. 11. high alcohol content in wines 12. Education. Still today, most people will not deviate beyond what they are comfortable with. I still know people (and they know my business) who will not try something new. 13. Identifying wine quality14. Continuing to figure out the maze of the wine which continues to get more complex15. Overwhelming amount of information and over-reliance on 100-point rating systems 16. applicable information about where the grapes were grown and how the wine was made.17. taste and quality!18. state laws restricting wine sales (day of week, retail venue, etc.) 19. Finding reliable, relevant sources of information. There is a blizzard of opinion but few truly reliable, knowledgeable, trustworthy sources for wine reco’s.20. The blurring of the lines between business/promotion and editorial. How does an aver age consumer know the difference?21. alcohol levels 22. direct-to-consumer shipping is only pressing for serious wine enthusiasts, not the aver age consumer. The average consumer probably isn’t even aware of the issue because they buy all their wine in a store. 23. health issues of wine
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