Imagine: you, in Tuscany, surrounded by hectare after hectare of olive trees and wine grapes, sipping on one of the over 30 DOC and half a dozen DOCG wines from the region. This Fall and for, drumroll please … free.
Online and print foodie magazine, Relish.com, and DaVinci Wine, have partnered to offer a fantastic opportunity for four special storytellers in Tuscany, Italy, this September, 2014. The DaVinci Storyteller Experience takes place in the heart of the famous Tuscan wine region in the town of Vinci (home of the eponymous DaVinci wines), and offers a week of world-class education, exploration, entertainment and experiencing the Chianti harvest. After their week in the birthplace of Leonardo da Vinci, Storytellers have until the beginning of November to use their creative talents to share their stories about the people and places behind DaVinci wine on Relish.com and DaVinci’s Facebook Page.
Wine bloggers are prime storytellers and this opportunity begs for you, steadfast communicators of the world of wine, to submit your applications. Photographers, videographers, and artists are also encouraged to apply.
A total of 12 finalists will be selected and voted upon by DaVinci Facebook fans to determine the final four. There are three areas of criteria that applicants will be scored on: Social Media Influence, Personal Pitch, and Samples of Work. Each portion of the application will be judged equally on creativity, originality, and appropriateness of theme
The Storytellers that are chosen to visit historic Vinci will have a chance to help tell the story of Tuscany, the birthplace of Chianti, and all the other fantastic wines produced in this region. Airfare, lodging, all meals, transportation, and excursions are paid for in full.
Get your blog hats on! Time to submit for this amazing storytelling opportunity. Applications are being accepted through May 31, 2014 at http://bit.ly/QYQJrs.
I don’t see a problem as long as the writer discloses the fact it was a paid trip. Why are we wine bloggers? Because we want to learn and experience all we can about wine. This is an opportunity many cannot afford to do on their own.
Even if you ended up not liking their wines you would still have a great story about the region, the winery and the process of harvesting the grapes. Yes, our judgement of a wine can often be clouded by the ambiance of where and when we tasted but the quality of the wine is just a minor part of your story.
When you are invited by a region group rather than a single producer you still are expected to write a positive article about the region. Just a difference of scale is all. You know if you write an article that is negative about the region you visited you won’t get invited on more trips so they are “prostitution opportunities” too.
You are advertising this as a “blogging opportunity.” It is funded and organized, however, by one single Tuscan winery looking for more exposure. In my mind, this is more of a “prostitution opportunity”–a contest for people to show how enthusiastic they can be in promoting this particular winery.
I do go on media trips organized by wine regions and their promotional authorities. I see those as opportunities for wine writers to become more familiar with a particular region and a number of its producers. There is never an obligation with those trips to write about any particular producer, or even to say positive things about the region. There is no editorial control on the part of those organizing such trips at all. With this “opportunity,” however, someone accepting it would be totally obligated to promote DaVinci wine. I think it’s important for newer wine bloggers to be educated about the difference between this kind of offer and the more traditional wine region media “fam” trip.
I would never accept an offer of a trip from a single producer, let alone compete for the “opportunity.” I can’t imagine any legitimate wine writers who would.