Elementary, my dear Watson!

What do you think we will be doing during the last days of August? Elementary, my dear Watson , harvesting grapes of course! A hectic, busy time, when neither winemakers nor the rest of the winery staff have time to sleep or rest! Not great timing, therefore to be participating in the first European Wine Blogger Conference , which will be taking place in Rioja on the 29th-31 August. Reluctantly, we will have to spare Jose Eduardo during those few days, who will be attending as the only representative of a Portuguese Winery Blog.

In advance of the conference, we have been asked to send our thoughts on the following – “why do you think blogging is important to the future of wine? ”

Elementary, my dear Watson. From the winery’s point of view, a guestbook/ notepad/ blog should be an integral part of any winery’s website, to cultivate feedback and input from the people who actually drink the stuff. For many years prior to starting our blog, Cortes de Cima had an online guestbook which worked in a similar fashion, albeit without all the web2.0 features (tags, categories, etc).

While you EWBC2008 conference goers are sitting and chattering away in a nice air conditioned room , spare a thought for us winemakers, out there sweating in the vineyards and winery, making the stuff you will be imbibing during your many conference lunches and dinners.

Also, please think about and discuss the negative image problem that we Bloggers have to deal with. Too many people view blogging as just another source of unrestrained, unprofessional chatter – too much “blah, blah, blah”.  As a Winery Blogger, we need to remember to keep our Blog focused on the real issues of winemaking and our wines. In the spirit of the American election year, I will borrow a phrase Walter Mondale used in his 1984 presidential run against his rival Gary Hart , which we Winery Bloggers would be wise to remember – “Where’s the Beef! “