Tag Archives: Wine Curmudgeon

Welcome to the paid version of the Wine Curmudgeon

Today is the debut of the paid blog newsletter. If you’re getting this, that means you support what we’re trying do here – help wine drinkers find great cheap wine.

You’ll get all of the same features as before, as well as access to the almost 4,000 posts and 13 years of cheap wine news on the website. That includes the Hall of Fame and Cheap Wine of the Year, plus 52 wines of the week that focus on value and quality. If you didn’t get an email with website log-in information, let me know.

Plus, I’m still keeping my reporter’s eye on the wine business, so you’ll know about all of the foolishness perpetrated to sell you wine that you don’t want to drink at a price you don’t want to pay.

So enjoy. Because wine should be fun and not a maze of scores and winespeak, yes?

The paid version of the Wine Curmudgeon debuts on Monday

The free version of the blog ends today, so anyone who gets the posts via FeedBlitz (the email with all the ads) won’t get any more blog posts. After today, you’ll have to subscribe to get some of the most honest, straightforward wine writing on the Internet. And, as a bonus, without ads. Current subscribers can continue for a 20 percent discount — just $56 a year. Click this link to subscribe.

Yes, one media publishing empire had a different approach to the revenue dilemma — start an online casino. But, frankly, I’m a lousy gambler; I don’t bluff enough and I play much too conservatively. I would drive the people around me at the blackjack table crazy. So I probably don’t have the chops to become the next great casino mogul, and will stick to paid subscriptions.

And, if you subscribe, nothing else will change. You’ll still get all of the same features and the blog will still focus on the wine that most of us can afford to buy – wine costing less than $15 (and usually much less than that). The Hall of Fame and Cheap Wine of the Year aren’t going anywhere, and you’ll still get 52 wines of the week that focus on value and quality. In addition, subscribers will get access to some 13 years of wine writing and almost 4,000 posts.

Questions? Click here to email me.

The paid version of the Wine Curmudgeon starts on March 15 — and lots of you are coming along

The free version of the blog ends a week from today, and response to subscriptions has been amazing. I’ve already made more money in a week than I would have made in two years from ads. Thank you.

Starting March 15, you’ll have to subscribe to get some of the most honest, straightforward wine writing on the Internet. Current subscribers can continue for a 20 percent discount — just $56 a year. Click this link to subscribe. And, as a bonus, no more ads, either here or in the newsletter. I’ve turned off the ads on the site starting today.

Because, as one reader wrote me, “I have always thought I got your true opinion on value wines not tainted by big money. No one was paying you for favorable press.”

Otherwise, nothing will change. You’ll still get all of the same features and the blog will still focus on the wine that most of us can afford to buy – wine costing less than $15 (and usually much less than that). The Hall of Fame and Cheap Wine of the Year aren’t going anywhere, and you’ll still get 52 wines of the week that focus on value and quality. In addition, subscribers will get access to some 13 years of wine writing and almost 4,00 posts.

Questions? Click here to email me.

You can’t – so the blog is moving to paid subscriptions on March 15

The blog will move to paid subscriptions, beginning March 15. It’s a decision a long time coming, and one I have agonized about for months. But it’s the only way that I can continue to offer the kind of wine writing you deserve and that I want to do.

And, because I value those of you who read the blog, current subscribers will get a chance to move to the new system at a substantial discount.

Otherwise, nothing will change. You’ll still get all of the same features and the blog will still focus on wine that most of us can afford to buy – wine costing less than $15 (and usually much less than that). The Hall of Fame and Cheap Wine of the Year aren’t going anywhere, and you’ll still get 52 wines of the week that focus on value and quality.

Plus, I’ll still keep my reporter’s eye on the wine business, letting you know about all of the foolishness perpetrated to sell you wine that you don’t want to drink at a price you don’t want to pay.

Because, as one subscriber wrote when I was trying to figure out this subscription thing: “I have always thought I got your true opinion on value wines not tainted by big money. No one was paying you for favorable press.”

And that certainly won’t change.

Hence, the same five posts a week, 52 weeks a year, plus access to the website – and, as a bonus, no more ads. What will change is that it will cost $7 a month for the blog, or $70 a year. Current subscribers can continue for a 20 percent discount off of that — just $56 a year. Click this link to subscribe. Otherwise, the daily email will stop coming when I turn it off on March 14.

Yes, I know some of you won’t make the move with the blog. And I’ll be sorry to see you go. You’re one of the best things about doing this, people who are as passionate about cheap wine as I am. But, given the economic realities of the Internet these days, there isn’t much of a choice. If I don’t move to a subscription format, the blog will have to end sooner rather than later, and that might have been at the end of this year.

In fact, the change probably should have happened sooner. I’ve been so hung up on circulation (one of the curses of being an ex-newspaperman) that I didn’t see the larger picture. Circulation doesn’t matter on the Internet anymore; what matters are people willing to pay for high quality, informed, and honest writing.

And, with all due modestly, that’s what I’ve been doing five days a week for more than 13 years. That’s certainly worth the price of a good glass of cheap wine each month, yes?

Photo courtesy of type-writer.org, using a Creative Commons license