Save the Wine Column
Tuesday 9 February
Join my new Facebook campaign: Save the Wine column.
Following news that Sunday newspaper The Observer is slashing Tim Atkin MW’s weekly column, something has to be done to save wine writing being marginalised to specialist magazines.
The popular page, which Atkin has written since 1993, will go down to three wine recommendations a week, according to decanter.com. This follows Joanna Simon’s Sunday Times column being axed a year ago, replaced with an in-house journalist who knows little about wine.
Newspapers are cutting costs with dwindling circulations and a move to online media but wine is getting hit hardest. Why? Is wine seen still an elitist product? Not if the figures are anything to go by: more people are drinking wine than ever before. In the five years from from 2003, consumption of wines per head increased from 24.6 litres to 27.2 litres in the UK. This is forecast to rise over the next five years to 28.3 litres, according to the IWSR.
Foodie column inches have clearly grown, such as The Observer’s Food Monthly magazine. But wine has not shared in its success. Admittedly some national columnists could do with upping their game but Atkin’s column was thoughtful, accessible and entertaining. I bought the Observer rather than The Independent every Sunday because of his column and it was the first thing I read. Even my parents, who have little interest in wine other than a good deal at Tesco, enjoyed it.
How do we make wine more appealing to readers and save wine from disappearing from the print media? A Facebook campaign is a start but that won’t stave off the deeper malaise. What do we do?
I joined the Facebook campaign the moment I heard about it.
For me it’s also the first thing I read in the Observer colour mag and his recommendations I thought were always appropriately priced for the readership ie: not high end wine. It also fits well with the food and gardening columns so I think the Observer are shooting themselves in the foot.
- by Colin Smith
Thanks Colin.
We now have 300 members after just 24 hours of the campaign starting. Let’s hope we can get over the 1000 mark and then we’ll let the Observer know how disappointed we all are with their decision.
- by Rebecca
Hi Rebecca,
In Spain some weeks ago, Sibaritas, the most important Spanish Wine magazine run by Jose Peñin shut down. It was a magazine similar to Decanter, featuring people like Jancis Robinson or Bettane. Yesterday, I arrived from the US, where I have been for 18 days, travelling around the country visiting wine shops and meeting all type of wine professionals. They are also closing down several wine columns in the most important newspapers and magazines. Why? I humbly think…. because they are boring for most of the people, normal people, the vast majority of the people who really build up those publications’ audiences. Some people blame the economic crisis, but the wine column space was already shrinking long time before the financial collapse. I remember a Jancis Robinson´s speech about the diminishing space in non-specialized media in 2007.
Consumers are not MW students or wine geeks. They want to learn but not be talked down to about stuff they don’t understand. They need friendly-to-read information that helps them to grow step by step, otherwise they disconnect because it becomes too complicated. Even if they would like to know more, they don’t need it. It happened to me when I started in the wine business; I was lost, and to be honest, there is not much information available to start learning step by step until I found the WSET courses three years later. I had some frustrations trying to understand every single wine column and trade magazine… it seemed elfic language from the Lord of Rings.
Do you know which are the most followed wine websites in the US? Gary´s Wine Library TV and one guy from California called 1winedude.com. Both of them have more viewers and followesr that all the professional wine writers from the UK have in total. I have meet several wine professionals of all types (including wine writers) in the US and they don’t really like this type of wine communication because it is too loud, too over the top… Drinking from the bottle? A Cru Classe wine tasting in swimming suit by the pool? But it’s fun, and most importantly people understand what they are talking about.
What do you think normal people would like to follow http://www.wineontherocks.com or Gary V ……or Andrew Jefford, Jamie Goode, or Jancis Robinson, all of 3 I love to read? We are missing the point in talking to people, normal people about the wine world we love. They feel alienated, frustrated and sometimes dumb. I can show you several consumer research studies showing the average wine consumer knowledge.. between 2 and 3 in a scale of 10. Shouldn’t we talk to normal people differently?
It is really pity that the Observer closed down its wine column, which I have never read before… so I don’t know if it was good or not. But a good amount of these columns that I have read in the previous years were, in my humble opinion, too geeky and boring for most normal people.
Very best!
Esteban Cabezas
- by Esteban Cabezas, Spain
Hello Rebecca
You are young and courageous and this brings a touch of freshness and optimism to our profession.
However, I am really very sad to say that you’re missing the point.Simply and only because of your optimism and good will…
Unfortunately,the situation is a lot worse and difficult than what Esteban Cabezas desribes and analyzes.
In my opinion,the situation for our colleagues and ourselves-for our job-worsened not because of the crisis of the printed media (specialized or not)
but mostly because of the very nature of our job.
In fact,it’s years and years that our job has started to worsten:from the moment wine has started to become a status symbol and we (wine writers) have started to be considered as life-style gurus.
From the moment that “dealing” with wine has become a “have you seen me? I am trendy and glamorous;I drink wine “and a pretentious life style activity AND more and more often-we (wine writers) have accepted MORE AND MORE to be offered trips,free visits,gourmet dinners and expensive gifts (a situation that is very well known)....Very few people were concerned by what we were writing in our pages and columns and WE (wine writers) in general have started lacking respect and serious consideration.
Wine Writers-icons like Jancis,the French Michel Betane, some Decanter people and others from other continents cannot set the rules of our job. They are such icons that NOBODY could ever think of a world without them.
More and more excellent wine is produced all over the world (which is true and undeniable), more and more pretentious and “wannabe-glittering” influenced people get involved in wine….AND less and less serious people are concerned by wine.
And the situation has grown rapidly to a dreadfully ugly one from the moment our “colleagues” from the ex-communist AND some Asian countries have started to be accepted everywhere because of the size of the potential markets their countries represented.
You know very well,dear Rebecca,that nowadays there are MORE AND MORE so-called “colleagues” having 1.very little knowledge of wine 2.no real concern for what is for US a full time job 3.a very ugly idea of what they might acquire through their involvement in wine
These parameters are very heavily (though unconsciously,in some cases) felt by many decision makers,by many opinion leaders who can’t see anymore what wine pages/columns offer.“Jancis” YES,“Michel Betanne” YES,“Bob Campbell” YES…...but NOT “W-I-N-E”,not anymore.And in addition to this,“food” and “foodies” are far more easily accepted and digested:far more extrovert and playful,a lot easier to be accepted and admired.
Therefore,I am afraid WE are in crisis-OUR job and OUR identity are in considerable crisis
(have you heard how low remunerations have gone on a world level)
Wine is NOT considered to be a serious thing anymore, wine writing is NOT considered to be a real job anymore, WE are not considered to be serious or respectful people anymore. Go EVERYWHERE in the world, DON’T say you are a wine writer and ask ALL the wine authorities (let alone the average people) what they think of wine writers and wine journalists….you WILL see what the reality is.
WE have created this situation, WE are responsible-in fact-of the decreasing wine pages/columns everywhere in the world, WE are responsible of what is thought of wine writers
It’s OURSELVES we should blame, NOT the Observer, the Sunday Times, the Evening Standard, or other Continental newspapers and magazines, for firing our respectful colleagues
In my strictly personal opinion….we should RE-consider the whole thing,in order to save our job….in order to save ourselves.
I am fully aware of the difficulty to accept a so bitter reality but I am obliged to take a serious risk
Wine, a very beautiful thing, is mostly for normal people. We should never forget this.
Kindest Regards
Alex Sakkas
Wine Editor and a 100% full wine professional
GREECE
- by Alex Sakkas, Greece
Hi Alex
Thank you for your passionate comment. Yes I am an optimist but I don’t think I’ve missed the point. I am very much aware of the current state of the print media and the wine media but I am not prepared to lie down and accept it.
I do not consider myself a wine writer, I consider myself a journalist who writes about wine – and we need more of those. The public and wine industry will always need trusted and impartial commentators on wine and wine regions. Whether that’s through blogs, magazine sites on the internet or traditional print media, I think there will continue to be a place for those who are good at their job and do it professionally.
You say “we should reconsider the whole thing,in order to save our job….in order to save ourselves.” What do you suggest?
- by Rebecca Gibb