Seems the Wine 2.0 meme is spreading and Andrea over at Inertia Beverage’s REthink blog posted her thoughts. The part that struck me was this:

“These companies are changing the world of wine through technologies that are helping to expand the direct sales channel for the wine industry.”

Perhaps it’s just semantics (or marketing) but I don’t think Wine (or Web) 2.0 is all about selling stuff. Sure, connecting the wine consumer with the source is part of it, but it’s not the whole enchilada. What’s happening is the customer is getting a lot more information through these online social networks and wineries are no longer in control of the message. The smart ones are joining the conversation about their wines online via blogs and podcasts. So I agree the times are changing and Wine/Web 2.0 is for real, but it’s a lot more than just eCommerce.

To expand and adapt O’Reilly’s examples in the context of wine:

Web 1.0 –> Web 2.0
Winery websites –> Winery blogs & podcasts
Email marketing –> Search engine marketing
Fax in order form –> Online store
Control message –> Open conversation

Another view was posted by James over at the Scurgy blog; seems we are in agreement that it’s way too soon to know what will work in this space or not.

Finally, Joel over at Vivi’s Wine Journal also chimes in that I have a “Wine 2.0 section” now. Great idea, Joel; I’ll have to put that up on the menu He also makes some good points in the comments to my last post.

You can also join the conversation here or on your blog…