Vinifico! The Original Vancouver Wine Blog

After the great treatment Graham and I received from the folks at the ZAP tasting down in San Francisco, we were both looking forward to covering our local wine festival here in Vancouver – our home town.

The media accreditation form finally went live on their site yesterday and we applied. We both thought it was pretty cool that in addition to the trade tastings, media were also encouraged to choose up to 4 other special events we could possibly attend during the week of the festival.

So, not long after hitting “Send” on the media form, we both received a response from their communications manager. “That was nice and quick”, I thought to myself. Then I read it. Here’s what we were emailed:

* The email has been removed at the request of the sender.

Personally, I really liked the “consider” in italics… and the “(!)” added for emphasis as if the request for a pass to that event is so out of our realm… even the “Please do not submit any more applications from your site” has a warm and fuzzy feel to it. Can you feel the love? I sure can.

Wow. You know what this says to me? It says all the wrong things about wine festivals in general. The folks at ZAP were what festival folks should be like – unpretentious, fun and friendly wine-lovers. The Vancouver folks?.. Not so much. Am I wrong here?

It’s grape juice. It’s a festival about big boys and girls drinking tasty grape juice. It’s supposed to just be fun, educational and a bit of a party.

As the literacy and breadth of information available for people on the web continues to evolve, we think blogs are a legitimate form of media. This is yet another opportunity/forum for the VWF to sell their festival – given the links to wine sites around the world and winemakers around the world accessing the site. There is no pretense or alterior motive here (selling books, magazines etc…) – simply a passion for wine and the desire to share it.

When massive festivals like ZAP (that sell out regardless) identify the value of blogging in the promotion and support of wines and winemakers, it’s a sign that other festivals should follow suit. At ZAP we were tasting right alongside the writer from the Wine Spectator.

We would have enthusiastically promoted their festival for what, to them, amounts to free. Last year, I gushed about some of the wines being poured. Now, after having gone to the festival for most of the last 20 years as both trade as well as a paying customer, I’m just not feeling it.

OK, this has been a bit of a long-winded rant, but I wanted to get it out of my system.

What do you folks think?

UPDATE: I’ve received a response from the Wine Fest’s communications manager. I’ve been asked to supply site traffic numbers, which is entirely reasonable.