The Flood of Advertising – A quick foray into the Monday Rant

Rich at The Passionate Foodie has the right idea. He has started a Monday rant column on his blog. Every Monday he picks something to rant about. I think it is a great (and therapeutic!) idea.

Begin rant:

It really bothers me to see some practices in the PR world. In today’s communications universe, where PR and marketing are so closely related that they spill into each other, I should not be too surprised about these issues, but non-the-less I find it a little frustrating. Being in the PR industry myself, I sit and shake my head in amazement at some of the e-mails that come my way. Huge kudos to the Bad Pitch Blog for exposing ridiculous pitches.

For example, now that I am a blogger and I am listed in media databases such as Cision, I receive product pitches. That is as it should be, it is the whole reason I allowed myself to be listed there. However, when it is less of a “write about my product” and more of a “go buy my product and then go write about it” approach, I get a little cranky.

And when I politely ask if they have any samples for review, the answer I get back is one of shock! How dare I ask to try out the product that they want me to write about in my blog! I should go spend the $69.99 on my new brand of tequila, or travel to japip to pick up a bottle of wine only sold at 3 retailers in the U.S.

No, I will not go buy your product just because you told me to. If you want to send me a sample, that’s fine. But I have no compelling reason to go find your product, which for most of the ones I have seen require me to go to specialty stores or websites to go find these things.

I also get invites to launch events, which I always appreciate. Then I read further and see that the event is in California!

People, there are bloggers everywhere! Most of the time you can figure out where they live by reading their blog! Do not have time for that? (no really, I can understand that) Then when you put my information down on your spreadsheet in the first place, make a note of what state I am in. Ask me! I will point you in the right direction, I promise!

Finally Got the Tickets - Wine Blogging Conference

So I did finally buy plane tickets to go to the North American Wine Blogging Conference. This year the conference will be held in Sonoma, July 24 - 26. This will be the first time I will be at the conference and I am very excited to meet face-to-face with many of the bloggers that I have spoken to over twitter and e-mail. It is also nice to meet the person whose blog posts you read religiously.

Already around the blogosphere there is a building wave of posts about the conference. For instance, if you wanted to donate so that a blogger can go to the conference I would suggest checking out http://wbcscholarship.wordpress.com/.

Thea The Wine Brat has also posted a list of all the bloggers that will be attending, along with their website URL's and their twitter handles. You can find all of that here.

Taking a look at that list, I am wondering how I am put on the industry blogger list while there are some other winery representatives that have been put on the citizen bloggers list. Without a link to a blog! I do not want to call anyone out, especially the friends of mine in the industry, but some of the people on that list are not even in the wine industry!!

I am just saying, if you are going to break people out into groups and call them all bloggers, at least be fair about it. I noticed that on the WBC09 website they changed the list and just grouped everyone together. probably a smart move.

Today I start my NEW JOB!

And now... the announcement I am sure at least three of you have been waiting for...

Today is my first day starting at Gregory White PR.

I am very excited to be working with this company of a few reasons. The people are great and extremely enthusiastic about wine and spirits. The company is also very interested in what social media is and how it will impact (has been impacting...) the wine industry landscape, something I think is extremely important to understand.

And I also get to work with new wines! One of the reasons I started this blog was to force myself to better understand, research, and write about wine I am unfamiliar with and regions that I have little knowledge of. However, I do not think that there is any substitute for hands on learning. To be able to touch a bottle and understand a wine region, with the expectation that you are going to be required to explain everything you know to another person, is a priceless education.

For a list of the clients Gregory White PR represents, you can check here.

I will likely announce more information about the specific clients I will be working with at a later time. I would like a few days to get updated on the procedures that GWPR have (like what the access code for the bathroom is, are there regular after-work drink places... you know the IMPORTANT stuff!!). For now though, I would like to reiterate (as I have in previous posts) that I will never review a product that my company represents in any way.

I have also added another disclaimer to my profile information. It seems a little silly, but with the story about bloggers being put under FTC guidelines, I feel like it is well worth putting two sentences on the side of my blog...

TasteCamp – The BYO Dinner

Send an e-mail to all your friends right now and ask them what they are doing tomorrow night. If the answer is “nothing,” you should round them up at your place and tell them to each bring a bottle of wine. That is what Lenn did with all of the bloggers that were on the trip to Long Island and it was really interesting to see what people brought.

There was a really interesting Vidal from Canada, the Lapostolle Clos Apalta 2005 (Wine Spectator’s wine of the year), a Gevrey-Chambertin, a bottle of blackberry wine (eee-GADS that was sugary sweet), a bottle of Duckhorn, a few wines from Virginia, some Riesling from the finger lakes, a crazy good white Rioja from 1999, and all manner of other wines. There was even a silky Kentucky bourbon.

This is something that is easy to put together and the more people the more booze... I mean the more variety of wines you will have.

I brought a few bottles of Altair 2003, one of my favorite Chilean producers. The winery started in 2001 as a joint venture between Chateau Dassault and San Pedro Wine Group, but now I believe it is fully owned by San Pedro. Regardless, I really like these wines and have a few stashed away in my mother's basement (not so much room in NYC apartments, and if you don't believe me check out the Wine Enthusiast website... the "before" photo is of my kitchen area...) to see how they will taste in 10-15 years.

So, grab your friends, get together and see what people bring. I promise it will be interesting.

Disclaimer:

I was previously employed by RFBinder Partners and a member of the team in charge of the Wines of Chile account.

Eight Chilean winemakers walk into a bar...

Last night was the first Wines of Chile Online Blogger Tasting, and it was far from a joke. Michael Green, Wine & Spirits Consultant for Gourmet magazine held a discussion with eight of Chile's winemakers live via video conference.

And bloggers from all over the US got a chance to watch and taste the winemakers' creations.

If you would like to check out descriptions about the wines and the winemakers, you can read about them here.

I thought the tasting was everything a wine blogger could have wanted it to be. The winemakers were loose and dressed casually, Michael was informal and funny, and the wines were very good. Even a three minute break in the action, due to a technical problem, was easy to move past.

It was interesting to see how the bloggers were responding during the tasting. Many latched onto twitter to push out comments and notes as the tasting was happening. You can read the comments here. Already there are many blog posts about the tasting.

In today's online, instant information world, it is hard to say how influential wine bloggers are and how influential they are going to be. Besides my mother, a few friends, and a slew of other bloggers, I am not sure how influential my own blog is. Sure, I have numbers of how many people visit each time I put up a post, I have numbers of how many eyeballs read my words each month, and I know where in the country (or world... yes, my blog is read all over the place... although I think it might be just one person who flies around a lot) the people that read my blog are located. These numbers are tiny when compared to the reach of the wine trade publications. But that is not why I write, so what does it matter anyway?

The great power of blogs are when large groups all talk about the same subject at once. That is where I think marketing is going in the wine world and why events such as this tasting make sense to me.

I thought all of the winemakers did a great job explaining not only their wines but the philosophy of Chile as a major wine player in the world. I tasted the wines with several friends of mine and I do not think there was a wine that the group did not like. My personal favorite was the Errazuriz Single Vineyard Carmenere 2007. For me it was smooth and vibrant, like having rich and ripe blueberries in a glass.

I am going to now start reading the other bloggers' posts to see what they thought was the best. It is very interesting to see how tastes differed.

CORRECTION:

I really should listen to that persistent voice in the back of my head, the one that sounds like my mother. Yesterday I wrote that the Online Blogger Tasting was my idea. It was firmly pointed out to me that I might have been mistaken, as Michael Green made the suggestion to the CEO at RFBinder back in August, whereas I put forth the idea in October. I have absolutely no wish to take credit that is not mine and beg the pardon of Michael Green.

Disclaimer:

I was previously employed by RFBinder Partners and a member of the team in charge of the Wines of Chile account.

As requested, a comment about Wine Spectator

Yesterday WineWonkette added this comment on my post Have you met me?:


Rob: Have any comments on this?
http://www.redwinebuzz.com/winesooth/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/wine-spectator-statement.pdf found on twitter


Here is my response:
Thanks for putting this link up here Wonkette!

This is a well thought out statement that Tom Matthews sent, which shows a lot of great work by him and his PR staff (everyone has a PR staff) because he obviously expected the letter to be posted online for the world to see.

I can only speak to my experience with James Molesworth, who covers Chile (the country I represent).

The give and take between wine writers and PR/marketing people such as myself is one that strikes a careful balance, one that I believe is truly necessary.

For instance, everything that Tom Matthews wrote in that letter I find to be accurate in terms of how the magazine reviews wines and how they conduct themselves in relating to the worldwide wine industry (2.5 million readers seems high me, but he would have the numbers in front of him). I have what I consider to be a good relationship with James Molesworth. He travels to Chile roughly once a year to speak with winemakers, check in on new plantings, see what new regions are showing promise and which ones need more time, and to generally cover the news coming out of Chile. Every year I offer any services I can provide that would make his trip easier. If he would let me, I would happily buy his plane ticket, set up the visits for him, set up his hotel arrangements, the works. However, every year he says thanks but no thanks and coordinates the entire trip himself. I would not be doing my job if I did not offer my services, especially for such an influential publication in the wine industry. His publication has enough financial security to allow him to travel to Chile on their dollar; therefore he uses his right to do so.

Consider this however; does every wine writer have that luxury, especially in this economy? Would you as bloggers have as much information about Chile available if Wines of Chile was not here? And this expands into all other country programs, be they Germany, Spain, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Australia, etc.

I could digress to many tangents here but I want to stay on the subject of Wine Spectator. There is one thing that James does come to me for, information that he would not have access to such as overall industry statistics. I have provided him with the facts that Chile is growing in the U.S., more land in Chile is being put under vine every year, and that the hot varieties are Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Carmenere (with Pinot Noir and Syrah showing healthy gains in the market).

For all other publications, from the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times to Wine Enthusiast and Wine & Spirits we abide by their requests and policies. Each has earned their audiences’ trust, and I think with good reason.

I relate to bloggers in much the same way as I relate to other journalists. Everyone has a right to information and I do my best to distribute the information, giving everyone full access.

I would be interested to hear what you think about the back and forth between PR people such as myself and the universe of media, both print and online. If you have something to say leave a comment below.

Meeting people is a great way to want to try their wine

A while ago I went to Total Wine to explore the store and pick up a few bottles. I ended up with more than a few bottles, but one of the many I picked up was the Hahn Estates Meritage 2006. Around the blogosphere I got to know Lisa de Bruin, the New Media Marketing Director for the winery. Lisa writes her own blog, where she explores the world of relating to social media and how the mass amounts of bloggers relate to the world. Lisa and Hahn Estates are easily at the forefront of what I believe will be a growing trend of wineries and country promotional organizations having a dedicated staffer whose job it is to explore and relate to online media. I think Lisa and Hahn Estates do a fantastic job. They have started what they hope to be a regular bloggers tasting forum where wineries and bloggers can come together to discuss how each views the wine industry as it is today.

It seems to me that the people doing the best work for bloggers are other bloggers that have access to wineries, samples, or information. Besides Lisa, Lenn Thompson has been very influential in the New York wine industry and has set up a blogger event called TasteCamp (which I am very pleased to be attending). Other bloggers including dudes and lushes, all the way up to established wine writers such as Steve Heimoff of the Wine Enthusiast make mention of other bloggers that they find to be thoughtful and interesting to read. It should be noted that if I mention someone here I think it is well worth the time to check them out.

With that aside however, I want to focus on Hahn Estates.

Nicolaus Hahn and his wife Gaby founded Hahn Estates in the mid 70’s when they experienced that bug that led to a compulsion to start a winery. May I be inflicted one day with the same disease. After meeting with success for their Smith & Hook brand they started the Hahn Estates brand in 1991. The Hahn Estates line is meant to be more approachable by the average consumer as well as reasonably priced.

The wine was pleasant. It had a purple red color and smelled of sweet red cherries with muddled assorted berries. The taste started on the sour cherry side and then transitioned into blueberry punctuated by black pepper. At first I found the wine to be a little disjointed, with a sense of it not knowing how it wanted to present itself. However, once I added food I was very pleased with my purchase. I think this wine was made for rosemary lamb chops with focaccia bread. The blend on the wine is 33% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 19% Petit Verdot, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 7% Malbec. There were 10,500 cases produced and the suggested retail price is $20, although I purchased the bottle for about $17.

I had a few questions for the winemaker, so Lisa put me in touch with Paul Clifton, who is in charge of the Hahn Estates, Hahn SLH (Santa Lucia Highlands), and Lucienne lines from the winery. Since the bottle said Central Coast as the AVA I wondered if the blended grapes came more from one region within the Central Coast than the others.

Paul said:

“Regarding the fruit for the Meritage: The Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc, Petite Verdot come from Paso Robles or southern Monterey County in the San Antonio AVA. The Merlot comes from Arroyo Seco and the Malbec comes from the Santa Lucia Highlands. Over the past 7 years, with the growth of our brands, we have worked with many growers up and down the Central coast with all these Bordeaux varietals. Through a lot of trial and error in working with Growers, as well as our own vineyards, we have determined these AVA’s to be the best for the style of Meritage we put together.

Most of the Bordeaux varieties do very well in warmer areas like Paso and southern Monterey County. However, in 1999, we planted a small block of Malbec in the Santa Lucia Highlands (a cool climate) for a tasting room wine and it has turned out to be an incredible blender with dark color and intense tannic structure. Since it was successful, we planted more Malbec to blend into the Meritage.”

Overall I would say this is a fair wine. It gave me just as much as I felt I had paid for, which is a rare marvel these days.

Have you met me?

I am but a simple wine peddler, spreading a little bit of public relations love to all of the bloggers I know on the Internet. Or at least that is my modus operandi.

I really love bloggers. There are so few people in the world that truly appreciate the work you do and bloggers not only give you thanks, but then shout it from on top of their soapboxes about how you helped them.

Maybe I skipped ahead a little too far, so I will backtrack a little bit. I do PR work in the wine world. I also blog (if you have not figured that out, please stop reading and smack yourself in the head, twice). However, I will never write about any wine or winery that I currently work for in any way. For instance, I work for Wines of Chile. You will never see me review any Chilean wines here on this blog. I am just not a credible source and I do not blog to please my clients.

In my job I send out samples to journalists, charities, art shows, embassies, government agencies, restaurant owners, retailers, party organizers, theater producers, fish wranglers, snozzberry lickers, horn wagglers, and bloggers. And the most appreciative group of all of those by far is the bloggers (the snozzberry lickers just can’t get their faces off the wall paper…). The bloggers say thank you, and they say it with such feeling and poetry that I just cannot help but feel good about myself.

For instance, one of my bloggy friends sent this to me:

“It's just like Christmas here! The wine arrived today, and all of Cratchits - er... I mean [editorial deletion] are beside themselves with joy. Thanks so much! I can't wait to try it.

Thanks again Santa - I mean Rob.”

How could you not love that? And that was yesterday!

However, I am certainly not the only PR person that has learned the art of putting wine into a box and putting it in the mail. Many PR companies are now scouring the Internet, looking for a blogger to send wine to in hopes of a favorable review. Some expect a review, and here is where things get sticky and really the reason I wanted to write this post.

I will never expect a review to come out of a wine I send to a blogger. My job is to make suggestions, supply information, and help all types of media (blog or print) form stories about the wines (or country) I represent.

I do not think bloggers are under any obligation to do anything with the wine I send them. If they want to drink it, give it away, or toss it out without posting on their blog about it I would understand. If they think the wine sucks and they want to write about that, I would understand. If they think I am a horrible PR flack (the term my friend at the New York Times gives PR people who bug her with stories that are completely irrelevant to the topics she covers) and want to write about that, I would understand.

However, I hope that most of the bloggers I have created relationships with do not feel that way. In fact, I hope they find me as a useful part of their society (and even a member of the blogosphere). There is definitely no greater feeling than having sent a sample to someone who then writes about how that wine changed his or her view about a certain variety or perhaps even the country where it came from.

Since I know that my blog is mostly read by other wine bloggers, I wonder how you feel about PR people? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Cheers!

You’re friendly neighborhood Chilean Wine Peddler…

Yup, that's me...

What happens when you just don’t dig the wine?

Nice people are everywhere. I have even been accused of being a nice person from time to time (shhhh, do not tell anyone!). There are even nice people in the wine world, lots of them. And nice people make it very hard to not like their wine.

I will name the winery in a few paragraphs, but I want to go deeper into the how simple courtesies make such a difference in how you view the products of a company. It’s one of the reasons why so many people are so adamant about how wine publications should taste all of their wines blind. I think for a true professional, they are so used to being treated well that it really only sticks out in their minds when hospitality is lacking.

A major example of this was when a few bloggers went to go visit Domain Chandon. The experience was posted by WineDiverGirl, and then joined by her friends at Shana, and the Luscious Lushes. It then kept rippling with other bloggers, such as the Wannabe Wino, with mentions and notes about how Domain Chandon treated their friends. Domain Chandon then did their best to correct their mistake with WineDiverGirl, which is really the least they could do. I would bet there was a pretty serious meeting with the tasting staff after that (and it goes to show just how bloggers can shake up the world a little). There was a similar incident that happened with the writers of the Wall Street Journal wine column, when they visited some of the best restaurants in New York and were almost completely ignored and rushed out the door.

But enough giving shout-outs to other bloggers that I read (and you should too), and back to the problem of nice people. A PR representative contacted me and asked me if I wanted to stay at a hotel in Napa on their dime in order for me to review my stay on my blog. A very nice offer, but since I have no plans to be in Napa anytime soon, nor do I really have the means to take a spur of the moment vacation right now, I declined. Being the good PR person, he said no problem and then actually read what I write about (ok, so he was good but not a great PR person) and asked if I would like some samples from a winery client of his. I said of course and he then sent me three desert wines from Quady Winery.

Quady is a family owned and operated winery and has been making wines since 1975, and only dessert wines. When I tasted the wines I was struck by the very manufactured feeling in the wines. I feel like these were an attempt to create a wine instead of allowing the fruit to show through. I tasted the wines with a group of coworkers and when we tasted the Orange Muscat wines not a single person could come up with a fruit to describe the wine. In a dessert wine you should always be able to pick out some type of fruit! In fact, that could probably be said for any wine. All we could find was notes of fruit roll-up and other artificially flavored fruit snacks. It then got a bit weirder as we tried one that had been infused with mystical plants and aphrodisiacs. Definitely not wines for me, although someone else might like them.

The one I liked was the Black Muscat, the Elysium. It was a breath of fresh air after the other wines, with fruit that showed through, some cherry and raspberry. It was something that would have gone quite well with a piece of chocolate cake, or a dark chocolate mousse.