People who have taken to internet blogging in order to speak casually about wine, have suddenly become a serious influential force in the wine industry- or so it seems.

In the short, few months that I have been blogging, I’ve stumbled across a vast number of citizen wine bloggers who blog about everything from the ethereal consumption experience of a 30 year old Vouvray to what wines were served at the recent presidential inauguration.

I didn’t realize what sort of influence or at least perceived influence wine bloggers have had on the consumer market, until I started noticing that many of these bloggers actually receive press samples from wineries looking to have their wine reviewed.  Obviously the wineries have some sense that these wine blogs wield some influence on the consumer wine market.

The influence felt by wine bloggers is not only confined to wineries, but to industry associations as well.  Wine Business.com prominently features a rotating list of wine blogs on their front page so that visitors can use them as a resource for industry news and opinion.

I think that one of the factors, that has allowed wine blogging to attain the reach and impact it has in the mainstream are the blogs’ use of other social media tools such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Linkedin and Stumble Upon, just to name a few.  These cheap and often free forms of media allow information to sometimes travel more quickley and freely to the consumer than traditional industrial media.

To help make sense of it all, Vin-Tank, an independent wine consultant/think tank that analyzes the use and impact of technology in the wine industry, has undertaken a study on the effects of social media in the wine industry.  It will be interesting to see the results of the study.  For more info, click here.

I undertook wine blogging as a way to keep my mind sharp and “in the game” as I transition from my owning my own wine shop to looking for a new gig in the industry.  I, like many others on the wine blogosphere have also taken to wine blogging simply as a way to share my passion about wine.

Overall, it is indeed interesting to see how consumers, wineries and industry organizations have begun to take seriously, a rather unsuspecting group of people simply writing about their adventures with fermented grape juice.  Who knew?