Hugh over at gapingvoid has published a rough draft of his Wine Blogging Manifesto. If you are already on board the cluetrain and know all about web 2.0, this is nothing new. But Hugh is a marketer by trade and presents a compelling argument in favor of wine blogging aimed at the non-techie types that may impede your organizations ability to start a successful winery blog.

A quick quote:

So you’re in the wine business. You’re probably wondering what the future of the wine business is (at least if you’re smart, you are).

Guess what? The future not about the usual bumph: terroir, vintage, cork vs screwcap, Sauvingnon vs Pinotage, Australian vs Argentine, hipster labels vs old-fashioned labels etc. Nobody cares.

The future of the wine business is- actually- the same as the future of all business.

The future is, of course, the internet.

The very first thing I did after we decided as a family to make the plunge, before we had a logo, before we had a slogan, before we even had a winery name, was to download and install some wordpress software and begin this winery blog.

It was the best decision I’ve made so far and Hugh helps outline why having an accessible online voice is so important for those of us in the wine industry.