Beau from Basic Juice has joined the Cellar Rat as a fellow CrushPad winemaker this vintage. The creatively named “Juice Crew” is also featured on the Crushnet site. If you are so inclined, join in on the fun!

So here are 10 wine blogs for Jancis to start with; let’s hope she posts again after truly experiencing the wine blogosphere.

This got me thinking about how many wine reviews are needed for the average blog reader to take a wine blogger seriously and affect the sale of the reviewed wine. I know that my reviews here and on my podcast have sold wine from reader and listener emails, so even a very small number of reviews can be effective if even in a very small way. But for true legitimacy, and significant impact on wine sales, a certain threshold must be crossed in order for wine stores to put our reviews and scores on shelf talkers and the like. But is it 200-400 a month? Something less? More? Whatever it is, one day in the not too distant future a wine blogger or two will cross-over into the space now occupied by wine pubs and critics. I’m not sure that the review model is the same as existing wine publications or critics, however.

The first winery blog I linked to was Champagne Tarlant. I can’t remember exactly when, but it was early in 2005 right after they linked here. I just received an email from Mélanie Tarlant asking me to vote for their video podcast (a.k.a vlog) for a Belgian blogging award. It is against some strong non-wine competitors so they need all the help they can get. If you read French as poorly as I, you might need some translation help to determine your votes in the other categories. My vote in the final section is recorded in the photograph.

Bonne chance, Mélanie.

The results are far from complete, but here are the current “top 10″ wine blogs sorted by Technorati Ranking:

1. Professor Bainbridge (1,209)
2. Vinography (5,129)
3. Stormhoek (6,372)
4. FERMENTATION (15,346)
5. LENNDEVOURS (16,150)
6. Winecast (16,513)
7. Basic Juice (17,772)
8. Spittoon (19,648)
9. Dr. Vino (20,594)
10. Grape Radio (24,143)

I’m pleased (and humbled) to see my blog on this list and happy to see that 20% here are podcasts. I’m sure I’ve missed a few blogs on my list, but think this is an interesting first cut. Let me know if you have another approach that makes more sense.

So I guess this blog is not on Tom’s proposed, “Top Ten Wine Blogs That Don’t Advocate Top Ten Lists”

A German Riesling from the Rheingau. Johannishof is one of my favorite producers and I’ve had some great ’04’s. If you can’t track that producer down, my second choice would be Leitz (Rüdesheimer Klosterlay). Both of these producers Kabinett wines can be found in the U.S. for $20 or less.

The second stand-out varietal from 2004 is Sauvignon Blanc. If you like the lightly grassy, floral style, look for Cliff Lede SB from the Napa Valley. If you like the “slap-your-face” gooseberry and acid whack attack, Kim Crawford’s SB from Marlborough, New Zealand is hard to beat for under $20 a bottle.

I’m looking forward to many more years of Beau’s wisdom, tasting notes and whimsey. Happy 2nd Birthday, Basic Juice!

For me, I’ll stick with the relative civility of the wine blogosphere. If you don’t know where to start, here are my top ten picks:

Vinography
Basic Juice
LENNDEVOURS
Good Grape
Fermentation
Spittoon
The Zinquisition
The Pour
Pinotblogger
Cellar Rap
Bonus: Wine Blog Watch

When I was at Kodak, I was trained by PR flacks on how to answer any type of question and not say anything that was “off-message”. In many cases, this leads to repeating the same canned response highlighting the product or services’ key benefits and how much we care about our customers’ business… blah, blah blah. Much of this attitude still pervades large companies today and most likely the wine industry where healthy egos and lots of money are also at stake. I only mention this because blogs, as marketing guru and blogger Hugh MacLeod says:

“…are not selling channels, they are disruption channels.”

What winery wants to be disrupted? Aren’t battling the weather, rogue insects and the taste buds of Parker and Tanzer enough?

I’d say most every winery needs to be disrupted and blogging is the most efficient medium to accomplish this goal. Why? Because of direct shipping, oversupply, brutal price competition and industry consolidation. Disruption is everywhere in the wine industry and most wineries need to change in order to stay competitive. Why not be on the leading edge and expand your market beyond the interests of your distributor and the status quo?

Johnnie Moore, another marketing consultant/blogger, summarizes the value of blogging well:

“…the value may not be the immediate impact of their words on the market, but how the conversation changes the blogger. As Hugh says, it may be a mistake to focus on using blogs to sell things; it’s more about creating real engagement - where you are changed too.”

In the wine blog world, I suggest you check out The Wine Chicks. It’s always a fun read and great to get a female perspective in the male dominated world of wine blogs.

I must confess that I am fairly new to the food blog scene, so my recommendation here is the widely linked new blog, Slashfood. I really like the mix of subject matter, their wacky themes such as Grilled Cheese Day and Andrew’s incisive wine posts.

Thinking locally, I enjoy reading (and watching) Chuck’s Blogumentary and Garrick’s gFeed, both legendary Twin Cities bloggers.

And finally, in the podcast world I have to point to a brand-new wine podcast: The Valley Vine. Gotta love a wine podcast featuring country music and covering the wine happenings in North Dakota’s Red River Valley, and he’s a Mac user to boot

Viva Blog Day!

I second the bloggers credo:

I believe that wine is a beverage that should be enjoyed frequently, alone or with meals. I believe that wine, since it is made from a fruit, should produce a liquid reminiscent of that fruit, not cedar, moss, pipe tobacco, barnyards, manure, pencil lead, or band aids. As such, I believe that good wine can come from any country, but it must be labeled in such a way that the consumer doesn’t need an atlas and a wine encyclopedia to figure out what’s in the bottle. I believe that the United States should not trail the civilized world in wine consumption per capita and that neo-prohibitionists, wine snobs, and liquor distributors are all joined in a trilateral commission to hinder wine consumption. I believe that wine needs to lose its elitist image by embracing alternative packaging, alternative closures, non-vintage wines, stronger branding, and lower retail prices. I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last……..uh….sorry, I got carried away.”

Right on, man!