Big Pimpin (or marketing with masses)

I've decided to widen the scope of Basic Juice.  Sadly, no, I won't be discussing celebrity sightings.  I will however be aiming to use this blog as a tool for good in the wide world of wine.  My goal is to help small wineries & lesser known producers take part in the wine blog conversation.

Why am I doing this?
Publishing Basic Juice is great fun  I've met a number of interesting folks and learned more about wine than I ever expected.  It is also extremely time demanding.  Those of you with your own blogs can attest to this.  And those of you (most wine bloggers) who pay for the wine you write about can also attest to the fact that this whole do-it-yourself wine reviewing thing is pricey.  So reason #1 is I want to make this blog a fresher, edgier destination for all things wine (& food, & spirits, & other good stuff).  That will take more time & more $.  I'm hoping that by doing some work with wineries who are eager to interact with our corner of cyberspace, I'll be able to make an extra buck or two, which will allow me to make Basic Juice even Juicier.  Reason #2 is that I want to increase wine diversity.  Huh?  Perhaps you've noticed the recent trend of mega-wine-conglomerates enveloping other wine-conglomerates.  I can't say that this is a good thing or a bad thing.  I do however think that it may lead to less wine diversity (and that would be bad, in my opinion).  I hope to highlight wines that have something different/unique to offer. 

How am I going to do this?

• I'll be a catalyst for conversations about new and unique wines (think: something sort of meme-like)
• I may work with a winery to get such a conversation started
• I will never push plonk - I'm not interested in starting a conversation about some lame/boring/bad wine
• Whenever I review a wine (i.e. I rate it from one to five stars - like I've done here) I will have purchased said wine with my own dough.  If I like it I'll tell you.  If I don't (and I paid $30) I'll also tell you
• When I work with a winery to begin a wine blogosphere conversation, I will let you know up front.  In other words, you won't get any, "Oh man!  You've got to try JimBob's Chardonnay.  It's GREAT!"  Rather, you'll get something like, "Hey, I discovered this Oregon state Riesling.  The producer's an interesting cat.  If you're interested in sampling his wine, let me know, we can hook you up."

Finally, allow me to direct your attention to the upper right-hand column.  You'll notice Million Dollar Wine & a site sponsor ad.  MDW is my stab at an alterna-ad.  It's a long term virtual wine billboard project.  Read more about it here.  I'm also opening space up for site sponsorship (hence the "become a sponsor" ad).  You may say Basic Juice has sold out.  Well, I'm simply selling out just enough to build the site and grow it into one juicy chunk of blogoliciousness.

And that's all I have to say about that (for now).

Comments

[Lenn]

Love the idea. As you well know, I write almost exclusively about small and lesser-known producers...so I'm on board with ya!

And, you'll get to taste all kinds of wine on Friday that is probably only known to me in the blogosphere. Great idea and I look forward to seeing how it develops.

[Steve-o]

Neat concept, hope it works out well!!! I'm interested in seeing where things head.

[beau]

LI-Lenn
I'm looking forward to discovering your corner of the wine world - been stretchin out the nose & tongue

Thanks Steve - you've got some mad wine skillz. Perhaps I see a wine/food blog from you in the future?

[Steve-o]

Since the can of worms has been opened...

(not to derail the comments away from your own blog's evolution)

Thanks, Beau - a wine/food blog might eke it's way out of me yet... I've got two hurdles to get over, first. First, I'd hate to start something and not be able to keep it active. An important element of a good blog, I believe, is not only solid, substantive updating, but also good interaction with the readers - responding to comments, etc. Ever been to a blog where a readers comments appear to be so much flotsam and jetsam because the blogger never responds? It may not be that the blogger isn't interested, but silence on the other end of the screen tends to cool people off on interacting - and ultimately from visiting. Anyway, as a lawyer in New York, I'm not confident that I have the time to commit to making a blog all it could (should?) be.

Second, figuring out the angle. I find the wine/food blogs that I visit the most have a distinct take - Lenn with his focus on LI wines; Tom with his "wine media" focus, Huge with his unapologetic and unshakable viewpoint, and so on. Part of that develops organically over time, I realize... but before I put virtual pen to virtual paper, I need to think it through a bit. Compliments in particular to your blog, Beau - as it strikes a great balance among your interests (music, pets, food, wine, random weirdness) without losing focus as a wine-centric blog.

One thing that's a ways off yet (a year, perhaps?) but may prove the catalyst for a blog is my eventual intended move to Washington (state). As an - I admit it - Euro-centric wine drinker, I think that it may well prove to be an interesting experience to dive in and explore the world of Pacific NW wines and get out into 'wine country' up there. Plus, I suspect that living out there will provide for a little more free time to actually pontificate on it all in a hopefully interesting way.

Ooops, I think I've used up enough inches of text to talk about /my/ potential blogging, considering that this post is actually about Beau's blog! Back to your regularly scheduled posting.

[beau]

S-o,
I think the concept, "Euro-centric oenophile explores Pac NW wine" is compelling. I know I would visit regularly.