During this week's Riesling Rendezvous in Bellevue, Wash., I was asked on five occasions what I thought of the annual Wine Bloggers Conference, held June 25-27 in Walla Walla. Now that I've had a couple of weeks to contemplate it - and compare it with the Riesling Rendezvous, here are a few of my thoughts:
-- I had no idea what to expect heading into the conference. As the conference drew near, I read blogs that extol the virtues of wine blogging, as well as those that belittle the medium.
-- As a member of "traditional media," I have never worried too much about wine blogs putting me out of business. Someone on the outside might see blogging as our doom. But until they actually try to put in the same amount of work as journalists, they don't realize just how difficult it is. This is not meant to minimize the work that bloggers produce; rather, those who think one medium will end another don't understand either very well. Those in the "traditional" camp who constantly concern themselves with bloggers seem rather shortsighted, as well. In fact, we should embrace more voices. Those who think bloggers will put them out of business probably need to just work harder.
-- The bloggers conference had about 300 attendees, the same amount as those attending the Riesling Rendezvous sessions. I'm not sure which is a bigger deal: that 300 bloggers would trek to Walla Walla or that 300 Riesling enthusiasts would gather from around the globe to celebrate the world's greatest white wine.
-- I found the live blogging sessions fascinating. Basically, eight bloggers had exclusive rights to a winery representative for five minutes. They tasted wine, asked questions, conducted video interviews, etc. Then the winery person moved to the next table, and it started anew with a fresh group of bloggers. I've read in blogs and on Twitter that many industry types thought this was trivial because it gave little time for doing anything in depth. I thought it was an awesome way for wineries to get important face time with a large group of wine lovers. In fact, I am going to use this idea with a number of tweaks in the near future.
-- During the session I spoke at ("Improving your writing"), I was and remain deeply amused when the conversation evolved (devolved?) into a discussion on whether you were a better writer if you didn't get paid, with the primary protagonist arguing that he would feel no freedom to write whatever he wanted if someone else signed his paycheck. Others rightly pointed out that this goes with the responsibility of holding a job.
-- Comparing the rather raucous and happy-go-lucky crowd at the Wine Bloggers Conference with those who attended the Riesling Rendezvous, I failed to see much opportunity for crossover. Yes, there were a few traditional wine journalists at the WBC and a handful of pure bloggers at the RR, but the vibe in one didn't match the other. In fact, those bloggers I saw at the RR were among the finest in the Washington wine blogging scene, writers who take their efforts very seriously. This isn't meant to denigrate other bloggers; I just didn't think the RR was their scene as much as, say, Taste Washington.
-- At this year's Wine Bloggers Conference, I moved beyond liking the medium into loving it. I saw a room filled with 300 people who love wine so much, they want to write about it. In decades past, people with this much passion might start a newsletter at best but more likely simply meet with like-minded fans and discuss what they learned. (It was in this setting, in fact, that Wine Press Northwest magazine was born.) If someone is so driven by their devotion to wine that they will write all their reviews in haiku, then I shall not be the first to judge them. Rather, I will embrace and applaud them.
-- I need to figure out a way to highlight Northwest wine bloggers better. We do this a bit on our blog aggregate page, which I set up using Yahoo Pipes, as well as links on Twitter to favorite articles and posts I run across. I have a few ideas on how to do this better.
Bottom line: I went into the WBC without many expectations. I emerged entertained and, most importantly, enlightened.
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