These Wine Bloggers Are…
I’ve been staying out of wine blogging politics of late, and of wine blogging for that matter. Soon the store will be done and I’ll get back to writing again. I hope! In the meantime, another small battle has erupted, and Jeff’s post at Good Grape gives a good run-down of the latest power struggle between the wine writing establishment, and the (not so) new wave of bloggers like Tyler Coleman, aka Dr. Vino. I’d say it’s worth reading.
I happened to get my copy of The Tasting Panel a few days before Jeff’s post, and had noticed the same editorial from Anthony Dias Blue (firmly in the establishment camp) that Jeff references in his piece. Without taking issue or articulating my thoughts on the nuanced level that Jeff is able to, I feel like it’s worth pointing out — on the eve of the Wine Bloggers’ Conference 2009 — the most egregious statement ADB makes in his piece, titled “…And Who Regulates the Bloggers?”
Anthony Dias Blue writes,
And who are these bloggers anyway and, more important, what is their motivation? It would be comforting to find that they are altruistic wine lovers who see their purpose as bringing insight and valuable information to like-minded consumers. But the image that presents itself is of bitter, carping gadflies who, as they stare into their computer screens and contemplate their dreary day jobs, let their resentment and sense of personal failure take shape as vicious attacks on the established critical media.
While many bloggers have been (understandably) upset by this statement, I think maybe the most useful response is to actually answer Dias Blue’s question. Just who are these wine bloggers anyway? Off the top of my head, and with a little help from Twitter, where I just posted a tweet asking wine bloggers about their day jobs, here’s a (non-comprehensive, non-alphabetical) list:
