AP

The British Liver Trust says that abstaining from alcohol altogether for a short period creates a false sense of security.

Social media is changing business and sweeping aside the traditional gatekeepers that have been responsible for formulating customers’ opinions.

Addressing this year’s Nederburg Auction, US wine blogger David White commented that soon wine consumers would not turn to eminent wine critic Robert Parker or international magazines such as Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast to determine if a wine was worth buying. They would turn to each other – and whether it is through internet sites such as CellarTracker (www.cellartracker.com) or their local specialist wine shop, tomorrow’s consumers would neither want nor need global arbiters of good taste.

The public reviews, written by ordinary wine-loving consumers enjoying their favourite tipple across dinner tables and posted on CellarTracker, mean that 1 700 wines daily are diligently recorded with tasting notes. More wines are reviewed in six days than Parker reviews annually.

Former Microsoft executive Eric LeVine created CellarTracker because he wanted another system for tracking his wines. He put it online so the system could track personal inventories, check out collections and share tasting notes worldwide – but the interesting point is that 90 percent of the site’s visitors, or more than 400 000 people a month, are not registered users.

They are merely seeking reviews written by amateurs and it indicates consumers do not want gatekeepers telling them what they should or should not drink. They want advisers, but more specifically, when they want information they turn to friends and trusted networks.

The influence of people like Parker on buying habits is waning, while the knowledge displayed by the local wine shop owner or hip young sommelier is gaining attention.

In practical terms, it means consumers have access to and knowledge about offbeat, more obscure wines and that provides significant opportunities for producers and retailers to get their wines into consumers’ minds for low capital cost.

Facebook has more than 500 million registered users, 60 percent of whom are over 26. Twitter has 100 million users and both platforms have constant discussions about wine. Social media monitoring platform Cruvee says more than 200 million wine conversations take place across blog sites, Twitter, message boards, Facebook and other social networking sites each month.

It means wineries are no longer only meeting customers in tasting rooms or at official functions, and thanks to social media they can employ a person full-time for one year whose responsibility it is to interact with online consumers for the cost of a single one-page advertisement in Wine Spectator or similar publications.

That blogger can inform consumers worldwide about pinotage or chenin; about little-known South African wineries or about tourism opportunities like winelands restaurants and hotels.

The internet presents the opportunity to interact directly with end-users and has the benefit of demonstrating an investment return. - The Mercury

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