Gary Vaynerchuk and the Bandwagoneers

Sounds like a cool band, but I for one am tired of the same old tune. I do not like the noise they are making and just wonder why people are so attached to points and meaningless descriptors. I was reading Alice Feiring's blog earlier this week and I noticed something that she wrote about the blogger's conference last week. What caught my attention was the fact that Gary Vaynerchuk  stated if a blog was not making 6 figures from its site than it was not successful. I guess its time to wrap this little project up because according to the almighty dollar and master Gary I am a failure. I have to say that over the last 6 months of writing I have felt like a failure at times, but that is because I feel like the only person in this country that cares about the authenticity of wine. By authentic I mean real, and by real I mean balanced, food-friendly, elegant, complex and made with nothing more than grapes, yeast, bacteria, minimal SO2, and a storage vessel.

Just like everything else I do and say I think that I am somewhat alone in this statement, but I do not like Gary Vaynerchuk. I have watched his blog a few times and frankly he annoys me. He acts like all the wines I despise...over the top, obnoxious, trying to cover up the lack of substance with fluff, and simply trying to imitate  someone else's success. Although I am sure he is a great person and has a great following I believe  Gary is suffering from the bandwagon effect and I am afraid that he will influence others keep jumping on. Wikipedia defines the bandwagon effect as...

"the observation that people often do and believe things because many other people do and believe the same things. The effect is often pejoratively called herding instinct, particularly when applied to adolescents. People tend to follow the crowd without examining the merits of a particular thing. The bandwagon effect is the reason for the bandwagon's fallacy success.

The bandwagon effect is well-documented in behavioral psychology and has many applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads clearly do, with "the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who
have already done so". As more people come to believe in something, others also "hop on the bandwagon" regardless of the underlying evidence."

Gary, along with the majority of other popular blogger's are doing just that. They are not coming up with anything new to offer, just a different perspective of the same broken system and it seems that money is the driving factor. Blind tasting, points, and meaningless descriptions and irrelevant writing are plaguing the world of wine blogging as well as traditional print media. Often these people will in one sentence criticize Parker or other wine critics and then in the next sentence rattle off points for the wines they are reviewing. Gary does it in front of a camera instead of print but the same greed and lack of real knowledge are apparent. My goal here is not to bash Mr. Vaynerchuk, but rather to make people think. 

It is true that success breeds imitation and Mr. Parkers 100 point system was certainly successful, but at what cost. There is so much more to wine than meaningless points and vintage charts. There are the people, the land, the soil, the tradition, the style, the art, the beauty, the joy, the love, the labor, the weather, the grape, the vine, and of course the vintner. Immerse yourself, ask questions and drink (moderately) as we try to understand how a certain varietal is supposed to taste from a certain area instead of using our preconceived notions and relying on someone else to tell you what it is supposed to taste like. Do not be a bandwagoneer. The system is flawed and if you do not like points stop using the point system and stop listening to those who do. Take the plunge. Really begin to learn about wine.

Comments

[Adam]

Jerry,
Sorry about the animosity. I was having a rough week last week and I let it come through my reaction. Thank you for your questions and I realize that up until this point I have not communicated all of my thoughts and philosophies.

The reason I have come up with lists and standards for myself as a writer is to filter through all the fluff. There are so many wines being today and yet there are so few that I actually enjoy.

I found that the ones I truly enjoy are those that are low in alcohol, balanced, food friendly, complex, subtle and let the land speak through the wine. I have also found that these wines can only be produced in a certain manner.

This is the reason for all the lists. If I did not ask questions I would be stuck in one wine region for the rest of my life trying to make sense of it.

This way I can narrow down the lists of producers I enjoy to a manageable few and get to know as much as I can about them and then pass that information along to other people who enjoy the same type of wines. There is a method to my madness.

Again, I am sorry for any hostility or animosity. Please do not let it keep you from making future comments. I enjoy the thought process.

[Adam]

Jerry, all of those things can be discovered by an email to the winemaker. It is not that difficult. Once again if you read my other posts then you will have had your questions answered.

Next time you come to the site read The Art of Wine Tasting and Its Not About You Jancis and your questions will be better answered. I have already written about every question you ask and it is not worth my time to write it again.

I would rather spend that time researching wines so that I can know as much as possible. Thanks again.

[Jerry Murray]

Adam,

You are creating quite a list of things that must be "known" before someone can review wines, with credability.
My question then becomes; How can anyone, with any degree of credability, review more than a handful of wines in a lifetime? Wouldn't a reviewer be limited to only reviewing wines made by thier neighbor if your criteria were strictly adhered to? Is it really possible, as you state, to know "everything that has gone into the bottle of wine you are reviewing"?
Then there is the issue of degree's; how much does one have to know about Sugar and acid levels, the "soil type" of the vineyard, the climate that year?
As a side note; do you really expect people to sit through your reviews of wines you haven't tasted, rants about indicting winemakers, and book reviews before they ask a question specific to a recent post? Generally speaking, when I see the "post a comment" section I tend to think someone is wanting to stimulate discussion. I appologize for my confusion in this matter.

[Veronica]

Beautifully said.
I admit, what draws me in to watch Gary, is that he is so entertaining (even when he is annoying, which is more often than not).
Thanks for putting light to the subject.

[Adam]

Welcome back Jerry. As always I appreciate your comments, but really wish you would take the time to read everything that I have posted on this blog before you decide to ask questions.

In response to the first question the answer is yes and no. Yes dismissing points could become a bandwagon, but according to the definition it would have to become successful first to become that bandwagon. Right now it is not successful, but hopefully one day it will be. I have never "flatly dismissed scores without question." This has been a 10 year journey and until the last 3 years points were my go to. I finally realized how useless they are and that is why I am trying to convey this to other people.

There is nothing wrong with making a living in the wine business. I am trying to do just that. There is a difference between greed and making a living.

The "real knowledge" I am talking about is tangible knowledge. Where the wine was made. Sugar and acid levels at harvest, the soil type of the vineyard, the climate that year, the winemaker and his beliefs, everything that has gone into the bottle of wine you are reviewing. I watched one episode of Gary's show and he did not even know the winemaker of the wine he was reviewing let alone anything else that I mentioned.

Points are useless and if you review a wine without learning everything possible about that wine you do not have a knowledge of that wine.

[Jerry Murray]

Adam,

Is it possible that there is more than one bandwagon? Is it possible that flatly dismissing wine scores is as 'bandwagonish' as embracing them without question?
"Gary does it in front of a camera instead of print but the same greed and lack of real knowledge are apparent." You write alot about greed in the wine bussiness. Is there really something wrong with someone making a living in the wine business?
How would you define "real knowledge" as opposed to what ever kind of knowledge Gary has gained? Who are the 'keepers' of this "real knowledge" and how did they gain it? Most importantly who determines if the knowledge is "real".