Same thing that makes any blog worthwhile - great style and interesting information.

If you taste maybe a hundred or so wines a year, or if you've been drinking wine for five years and have decided you're equipped to write all about it, you'll be like most bloggers. Some people like to write about their experiences discovering new grapes that most people already know. That can be nice, but it's like writing about your relationships. Some people like to read that kind of thing but then again, some people read Cosmopolitan. It's not really a wine blog at that point.

So if you don't have any particular expertise, or new information, or news, or experience to share, then you should be an excellent stylist so that people will read your blog for the literary value. Given the illiteracy of the American populace, if you take that route, you might consider a language other than English.

Ok gentlemen, you both seem to have strong ideas on this topic. So please educate the uneducated. What exactly denotes particular expertise, new information, news, or experience in your world? Are you saying that you'd rather read something poorly written if it contains breaking news of minor import? Do you not care about the personality of the individual when reading about wine? Are tasting notes on exclusive and high dollar wines that normal people can't afford where your head is at? Do you feel that a person's impressions and feelings about a wine they have tasted are invalid because they've only done it for a couple of years and/or tasted only a couple of hundred wines? Or that you can't be bothered with them because serious wine tasting is an exclusive club?

Yeah, I'm a touch defensive here mostly because what you said makes you come off as an elitist snob that looks down upon the general populace and their appreciation of wine. Look, I'm not trying to invalidate your feelings, you have a right to them same as anyone else. However, the attitude you've just expressed is exactly what some of us bloggers attempt to work against. Exposing people to the intricacies of wine, including the opinions of someones uneducated palate is not a bad thing. In fact, I would argue that it may be better for the people just entering the world of wine to read that sort of thing because the Robert Parkers of this world just aren't in touch with the common man any more. But hey, that's not you so why worry?

Jimmy Cocktail -> At Least I'm Enjoying the Ride (http://www.corrundum.net)

Not at all Jimmy. I don't know where you read anything referring to the price of wine. Or anything mentioning tasting notes, especially on rare wines. It seems as if you're arguing with something you want to have read, not something that was actually stated.

I'm not sure what the offense is. I think I've posted a number of times about the lack of correlation between price and quality.

But I'm curious - your post suggests that you are suggesting that a blog must be about tasting notes of inexpensive wines? That could be a very good idea. But how is that any different from any other blog? What would make it better or more compelling reading than another one doing the same thing?

My point was only that many many blogs already exist and they cover much the same area. And if you want the average opinion of the average customer, then Snooth is one of your best bets because the varying opinions are aggregated and available in one place. A good blog however, should aim for more than simply adding to the background noise.

As far as "exposing someone to the intricacies of wine", that's laudable. But are you suggesting that Parker's many books, or Robinson's, or Oz Clarke's or Hugh Johnson's or those of many others, somehow don't cover that ground and don't do it well? I'm certain that you've at least read some of Parker's books because you express a confident opinion about his writing, but what is it that he or the others failed to do, that could be done so much better by someone else? The wine audience in general is small, and the audience for specialized areas is even smaller, so most wine writers try to cast a wide net.

For general information regarding an area, a grape, or a practice, I would argue that it is better for people just entering the world of wine to read those authors, who spent a number of years tasting and researching, because they are more reliable than someone who is traveling the same path as the novice. Similarly, in a college biology class, the professor is usually a more reliable source of information than the person sitting next to you.

However, that's not to say that the student next to you can't be a great writer with interesting things to say.

I'll take a layman's / "non-expert" / blogger's crack at answering the original question...

If you want "expert" opinions and facts based on research and experience - go to the experts. If you want to see what the average person has to say about something, learn some interesting trivia, take part in an interesting discussion, and NOT feel like you've be spoken down to then come to the blogs.

What makes it good for me is reading a bunch of folks' opinion on any topic and thinking about something differently than I have in the past - perhaps even getting a good suggestion that I never thought of before - hopefully being able to do the same for someone else.

I have read the "experts" and to me - their years of experience and research gives me a point of reference that is helpful. I would expect someone who professionally drinks several hundred different types of wine a year, for 20 plus years be able to speak intelligently about why a 2000 Chateau Mouton-Rothschild is or is not better than a 1996 Chateau Latour - the average person (including me) will never get there - so that information is meaningless to me.

What is more valuable to me is getting a note from a fellow Snoother saying - "Hey T, I was reading some of your blogs, and read the types of wine you like - if you havent tried "Woop Woop Shiraz" yet, give it a go. I think you might like it". That's what makes a site like this fun and interesting for me.

So,if I may cast that proverbial cat amongst the pigeons here- what makes this wine blog worth reading?

I'm going to argue that many of the comments that were listed above aren't all that applicable in describing the appeal of this particular piece of literary gold.

However, what I want to know is your opinion on whether that is because the question is atypical for a wine blog, or because our level of interest/expertise with wine is atypical, or perhaps for some other reason?

Your wine for thought...