“The web is theoretically infinite; readers value blogs that sort through the confusion to find things of interest. Some of the highest-traffic blogs provide nothing but links.”

That’s a bit from Tom Johnson’s article on Palate Press about the pitfalls of contemporary wine blogging.  He runs his own blog which will apparently change names frequently.  I think the quote above summarizes a concept that I talk about a lot with winemakers.  Aggregate content!  Link to other people!

While Tom’s article picks on wine reviewers and wine bloggers in general, I deal specifically with wineMAKER blogs and I think we have some additional psychological baggage.

Winemakers feel like running a vineyard blog means talking about yourself all the time.  And it’s cool to do that sometimes.  As the Hosemaster of Wine once said, it’s hard to find a blog that primarily focuses on a topic other than the blogger.   But don’t spend all your time doing that.

Unless you’re already insanely famous, very few people will devote time to you on a regular basis just to find out what the weather is like on YOUR vineyard.  And while it’s fun to drum up support for real world wine tastings, only a small geographical area can show up to your tasting.  The Internet gets read by everybody!

“So what do we blog about!?”  You blog about everything.  Writing a good wine blog is probably 90% reading.  You read newspapers and other blogs and then you blog about the most interesting stuff.  But winemakers have an edge.  We are uniquely positioned to hear stuff firsthand instead of discovering them through traditional wine press.  So keep your ear to the ground and talk about things that you find out about in the wine world.   Talk about everybody.

If you spend all day pruning, it’s likely you didn’t get exposed to any cool ideas to put in the blog.  But on a day where you see other people, keep your eyes open and think “would this be interesting to wine drinkers?”

I took clips from George Frêche’s speech at ViniSud to explain why he should adore my website.  The video’s in French, so I wrote up the whole thing in English for you!

Six reasons Georges Frêche loves Love That Languedoc.

1. “You don’t need seniority to be good. You just need to be smart”I get a lot of crap because I’m only 24, I’ve only been a winemaker 5 years, and the website isn’t even 4 months old. Yet I want to come in and change everything like some inexperiencd upstart.  Well, Georges knows that you don’t need seniority!  Heck, there are NO fourteenth generation web designers.  Also, I think a large part of our success on Love That Languedoc can be contributed to our cooperation with individuals and groups that DO bring some wisdom and seniority to the table.
2. “Take what works and throw out what doesn’t work.”I know, right!  This sort of try everything and keep what works is founded in an empiricism that I can really get into.  I didn’t know how Love That Languedoc would play out (and I still don’t! It could go a lot of different directions!)  But I knew that I couldn’t wade through the administrative back channels, building a project through conventional means.  I just launched. And it worked.  So… he’s gotta keep me now, right? 😀
3. “It’s our fault if we’re in a crisis.  We are the masters of our fate.”Georges comes down on winemakers a little hard on this point.  But let’s say that I agree that collectively, we are responsible for the crisis.  It’s not you or me or that guy… but all of us.  And I also agree that we are masters of our fate.  The entire wine industry (not just Languedoc-Roussillon or France) leaves its fate in the hands of journalists and critics.  A few exceptions exist.  Most of the exceptions are massive corporations that have found ways to leverage their size into selling power.  Very few winemaking regions have a public image that they control.  Or our idea of control is to send press releases all the time.  But today, it’s our responsibility to cultivate an audience and give our message to them directly!  (e.g. Love That Languedoc)
4. “Manifestations turn the majority of people against our message by annoying them.”This just reminds me of my wine-alerts project.  We have to get our winemakers to take our infamous street-blocking manifestations to the web.  In the real world, only the French see our manifs and it just annoys most of them.  We alienate.   On the web, we can manifest with a positive message with our clients overseas.  That is so much better than alienating/annoying your neighbors and tourists.
5. “Today, we need to be on the GLOBAL market.”If you want to talk global, you have to talk web.  It’s just stupid simple.  If you have the budget to put billboards and print ads and Maisons du Languedoc everywhere, that’s great.  You should totally continue doing that.  However you should ALSO do the web thing which costs like pennies by comparison.  And if you have no budget but you have fifteen minutes per week, it’s time to start going online.  There are people around the world who will listen to you.  And that’s Love That Languedoc.  I want to bring wine from the region to monitors around the world. And it’s working. So… you gotta love me, right?
6. “Politics bedamned, we need smart people.”I bet you thought I was going to say I’m super smart.  But that is not my point.  Freche says he needs smart PEOPLE, not just one smart person.  Love That Languedoc is succeeding because it brings together tons of smart people.  There are smart people in this region and they have opened their doors to this new project because they see the potential power of communicating our message to the world!  If I have convinced you that Georges Freche loves Love That Languedoc, or if I’ve convinced YOU to Love That Languedoc, please please please visit the website and talk about it to all the smart people you know.  Link that thing up.

We had one of those epic lunches that lasts until way after sunset.  Our friends from l’Oustal Blanc in Minervois La Liviniere came over and we had a lot of great food and delicious wines.  The Fonquerle’s brought us a pretty epic Rhone wine from Plan de Dieu called Calendal (Philippe Cambie & Gilles Ferran).  It accompanied some of these lovely platters of charcuterie quite nicely!  Everything prepared by mom, as usual!

Soon, I’ll post some post video footage of a couple conversations in the winery. For now, I just wanted to post some food pictures before it all spoils. 😀

I toured the restaurant and cellar at La Barbacane, the main restaurant in l’Hotel de la Cité.  This is one of the big attractions at the medieval castle of Carcassonne.  It’s a huge treat because this Michelin-starred restaurant is a landmark in one of France’s most visited monuments!

Georges Gracia, the sommelier and restaurant manager showed me how everything gets done at the restaurant and we took a moment to talk a little about Languedoc wines and O’Vineyards’ place amongst them.  If you speak French, you should just check out the video footage.  Otherwise, the summary is that the Languedoc is going places and winemakers like us hope to be a pretty big part of this future.

I just got an email with my location at vinisud in Montpellier on the 22, 23, and 24 of February. Really, my parents will be holding the fort down while I run around trying to do as many episodes as possible. But come meet my parents and taste our newly released vintages.

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Dans le cadre de votre participation à VINISUD, le Salon International des Vins et Spiritueux Méditerranéens, qui se déroulera les 22, 23 et 24 février 2010 au Parc des Expositions de MONTPELLIER

HALL n°1
ALLÉE B
STAND 29

Download a map of our hall.

Download a map of the whole salon.

I’m throwing a Flickr party on December 19th at my vineyard. There will be free wine, good company and lots of photo opportunities. Please consider attending! Almost all the invitations are going out through Flickr so it’s a big group of strangers with a common interest in documenting the Languedoc with their photography.

On a lot of the flyers, it says there’s a 5€ entry fee but that entry fee is waived for anybody who sets up a free Flickr account or already has one.

You are welcome to the vineyard all day and you’ll have the opportunity to visit the winery and enjoy the peaceful vineyard atmosphere before the party gets started. The main festivities will be from 16:00 – 21:00, with small trips to la Cité de Carcassonne scheduled throughout the day for people who want to visit the castle.

I’m already getting positive RSVPs from as far away as Barcelona. If you live in the area, and want to have some camera fun, flash mob at Domaine O’Vineyards.

Domaine O’Vineyards
885 Avenue de la Montagne Noire
11620 Villemoustaussou
Saturday December 19th
16:00h – 21:00h

Ryan O’Connell
Tel 33 630189910 / 33 963063172