BLOGGING OVERKILL

It seems as if bloggers are everywhere these days, spouting their opinions (either as raves or rants) on just about everything, including wine. But when it comes down to actually purchasing wines, it turns out that shoppers trust their own retailer far more than the word of the blogger. Independent bloggers are one of the least trusted sources for wine information in the US, UK and France, according to research published by the group Wine Intelligence. The report found that 5O% of wine consumers trust the advice given over the counter by a wine merchant, compared to one in five who trust what independent bloggers have to say about a wine. In the US, wine merchants are even more revered, with 8O% of consumers surveyed saying they trust wine merchants. In France only 1O% of wine drinkers seeing independent bloggers as a trusted source. The internet, however, is seen as a trusted platform for information about wine. Some two thirds of regular US wine drinkers surveyed now look for wine information online, with one in three using social media as a source. The UK and France are a little less wine-active online, with just under half the wine drinking populations in these countries using the internet for wine information and 16% using social media. In the UK supermarket websites are seen as the most popular online source about wine, while in France consumers prefer to go to branded websites. In the US it is websites run by wine shops, newspapers and smaller wine producers that are the most used online sources, with supermarket websites ranking below Facebook.