Alternative Voices and Thirsty Readers
Like most adventures, this one was born in a moment of tipsy braggadocio. In June, I attended a women winemakers’ night at Jan Manni’s wine shop, The Wine Attic, to pour my own personal production of sangiovese that I produce (almost) every year. As the weather was beautiful and everyone was headed to the beach, the event was lightly attended. So later in the evening there were only five of us—the shop owner and four women winemakers. The topic drifted around to numerical scores and critics’ tastes, and winemaker Elaine Villamin said that although she felt there are quite a few excellent women wine writers, she didn’t feel there were enough women wine critics, and that women’s tastes are still poorly represented. I think at that point I said something stupid, like, well, why don’t we try it?
The loosely but enthusiastically conceived idea originally included wine tasting activities (of course) and reviews, but as we are all winemakers, the peer review issue is a difficult one for us, so the concept has morphed into an online center where winemakers, writers and bloggers can explore alternative methods and voices in wine writing.
We hope this blog will become a center for intelligent and friendly discourse on a range of wine topics, and a place for alternative voices in wine writing to reach thirsty readers. A place where we can explore the uncharted wine territory between a linear land of point scores and pithy reviews, and a wine marketing boudoir of pink websites and labels. Wine writer Daniel Rogov has written a well-researched piece on pregnancy and wine which we’ll be publishing shortly, and we’ll also be hearing from other winemakers, wine writers and bloggers.
We held our first semi-official meeting in July, to taste rieslings and to explore our new idea. After the meeting, one of my assignments was to ponder ideas for activities and to further refine our goals. For that, I decided to turn to some online sources for help. I began a thread in the wine forum at eGullet.org, Women Wine Critics Board, describing our idea and asking for input. In this thread, the following people provided thought-provoking questions and discussion:
The eGullet website receives 2 million hits per month, and many of the top food and wine magazines watch the site for article ideas and news trends. Shortly after posting there, Slate Magazine included news of our fledgling organization in an article about marketing wine to women. The Slate site receives 5 million hits a month. Within hours of the Slate article going online, a gentleman posted a link to the article on the eRobertParker site, and another discussion was started there.
By that time, however, we were into the harvest season and our women winemakers were fully involved in crush. So it’s taken me awhile to get this blog organized and up, to figure out the Typepad interface and how to get the Bloglet code installed. But in the meantime, we’ve received emails, subscriptions, and articles. I’d like to thank everyone who has emailed us to date for your support! We have also received wine samples from distributors, sent to the Wine Attic in Paso Robles. Now, how fun is that for a change? We’ll be getting together soon to pop some corks and discuss the wines, particularly in the context of matching them with food.
As we move forward in our exploration of uncharted, or at least sparsely populated, wine territories let’s consider the following comments and questions posted in the eGullet.org wine forum:
"I think it's a great idea to make women more confident and break down barriers. A lot of the tastings I go to here are for stuffed shirts and a 30 something woman who dares to ask questions is sniffed at."
"Are there varietels and styles that suffer -- whose dedicated producers are punished, economically -- because of the testosterone-heavy nature of the tasting world?"
"I guess I'd spend energy looking at what do you, as women, have to say that isn't being said? What is the voice that's missing from the choir? And how can you do that without offending your own gender, and balancing femininity and feminism?"
"How are women consumers . . . being slighted by the wine profession? I may be wrong, but I think the marketing of wine is geared much more heavily toward women then men. But if the marketing is inappropriate or insulting, then by all means pick up the torch. Wine criticism, on the other hand, I will grant you is probably geared more toward men. So I'd look at what you have to say to women that isn't being said."
"What do you, as women, have to say to women that is fresh?"
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Mary Baker is co-owner of Dover Canyon Winery in Paso Robles. She also writes the Dover Canyon Winery blog, and is the author of Fresh from Dover Canyon.
What are your thoughts on wine cellars? Is it the woman or the man who is more interested in having one in their home? Please provide any insight you have.
Posted by: Michelle | November 13, 2007 at 03:36 PM