Let me start small and move from there.
Blog – A
blog (a contraction of the term "weblog") is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. (Source: Wikipedia)
Blogger – A
blogger is person who writes a blog (or weblog). Bloggers are not a homogeneous group. They have a variety of personal and professional motivations for blogging and they come from a variety of political, economic and social backgrounds. One way of segmenting bloggers is by their blog type:
- Personal: blog about topics of personal interest not associated with work
- Professional: blog about industry and profession topics but not in an official capacity for a company
- Corporate: blog for a company in an official capacity
Blogging is not a full-time job for most bloggers, nor is it their main source of income. A blogger can also be a doctor, a mechanic, a lawyer or a musician, and thus bloggers typically maintain a variety of professional professions for which the act of blogging is their communicative outlet with the public. (Source: Wikipedia)
Wine –
Wine is an alcoholic beverage typically made of fermented grape juice. Wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast consumes the sugars found in the grapes and converts them into alcohol. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are used depending on the type of wine being produced. (Source: Wikipedia)
Note: I used Wikipedia because, when compared to other online resources such as Dictionary.com, I found that Wiki actually gave a much fuller and comprehensive definition. I leave it up to you, the reader, to determine if you believe these definitions are accurate, as Wikipedia is known to be a reference source that can be edited by anyone, even me.
Therefore, a
Wine Blogger is a person who writes a blog, in either a personal, professional, or corporate genre, whose content is focused on the topic of wine.
That is it. That is all the definition you need to identify a wine blogger. However, having met hundreds of wine bloggers, there is so much more to them.
Wine bloggers approach wine the same way that sailors approach a dock full of boats. There are so many boats in the water, so many bodies of water to sail on, with a different direction of wind and strength of gust. And each has its own pleasures.
Some sailors like a fast race, with the wind kicking up 30 knots and the boat heeling to the point where you can touch the water with your nose. Other sailors prefer a leisurely ride, a soft downwind day with a cool breeze behind you and the horizon stretching away in front of you.
There are beginner sailors, who have yet to find the points of sail, others with intermediate skill and have graduated to taking a Laser out by themselves to tack across the bay. There are still other sailors that have been sailing for so long that they do not even need to see the sheets in order to know where the wind is or how the boat is doing; the vibes from the hull tell the whole story.
The different sizes and shapes of a sailboat are just as important as the different types and shapes of a wine glass. Each does particularly well for a different situation. A sailor would not cross the Atlantic in an Optimist and a wine blogger would not taste a Cabernet out of a Champagne flute. Well, you could, but you would not get as pleasurable an experience.
Some sailors work on boats to show others around. Some are captains aboard commercial liners, recreated for the long voyage experience. Most sailors sail because of the pure joy of being on the water with the wind in your face.
And just the way that there is a basic definition for a wine blogger, I put forth the definition of a sailor to be “one who sits (or has sat) on a boat while it sails.”
It takes time and experience to be a good sailor and it requires similar qualities to be a good wine blogger. It takes money, it takes commitment and (more often than not) it takes a good teacher. And just because one is a good sailor, does not mean that one would get paid for doing it. More importantly (for me anyway), one might not want to get paid (the topic of another blog post).
Most wine bloggers are not the youth of America. No, these are individuals that have established their place in life and built for themselves successful careers, more often than not in web-design, information technology, medicine, law, etc. Some are in the wine industry, but the vast majority came to wine through a passion for exploring the cosmic universe of their local wine shop.
And when it comes down to it, they are all regular people. They like wine, and have studied and experienced more than the average person. Wineries should treat wine bloggers the same way they treat their best customers, most of the time they are one and the same. The only difference is that what a blogger thinks about a wine is then expressed where the world can find it.
There are many out in the blogosphere who have the necessary tools, experience, and know-how. Some of my favorites are:
1WineDude,
Another Wine Blog,
Good Grape,
My Wine Education,
The Passionate Foodie,
Rockss and Fruit,
Vinography,
Wannabe Wino. And there are plenty more that are also doing a great job (see the links on my blogroll).
