Every morning on every business day, I sit down to curate the best of the wine web. Hundreds of articles, podcasts, and videos about wine are captured from the past 24 hours and evaluated. How do I choose the 20 or so that will appear in THE SPILL? This is what I want to answer.

CONSUMER FOCUSED
The first bar that the piece of content must pass is “Does it appeal to consumers and wine lovers?” If the article, the podcast, or the video is primarily of interest to the wine trade, then it is highly unlikely to make the cut. But if the content contains information that a budding, experienced, or geeky wine consumer might enjoy, then it can make it into THE SPILL.

PAYWALLS
Does the content reside behind a paywall? This is generally a binary issue. If the content is behind a paywall, it doesn’t appear in THE SPILL. I know the frustration of seeing a headline of interest, clicking through, and getting nothing but the first few sentences before I’m required to pay for access. I understand and support subscriber-only content. Publishers should make a living. But readers of THE SPILL will not be exposed to that kind of frustration.

ACCESSIBILITY & VIEWABILITY
This is different than paywalling. If the content is so poorly coded, so obscured by ads or pop-ups, so poorly laid out, or otherwise obscured by the page design, it is unlikely to make it into THE SPILL. Why? I don’t want to be responsible for frustrating subscribers.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & SPONSORED CONTENT
I am always trying to avoid including content that is created by artificial intelligence. This is sometimes difficult to do. AI detectors are often wrong when they deem something created by AI. However, some content—usually without an attribution to a real human being—reeks of AI creation. Additionally, if I’m not familiar with the writer, I’ll go about confirming they are real before including them in The Spill. Finally, I generally won’t include content in THE SPILL that has been sponsored or paid for by the subject of the article.

QUALITY CONTENT
Some content is better than other content. This is obviously subjective. However, I’ve been reading, writing and studying wine content and wine articles for more than 30 years, and I think I have an excellent eye for good information, good journalism, good writing, and good presentation. Still, I always ask…

-Is the writing stylish?
-Does the writing show a depth of knowledge?
-Is the subject fully explored?
-Does the content further the education of the reader?
-Is the content genuinely entertaining?

This is what I am looking for.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT GOING FORWARD
The goal is to serve wine lovers by delivering easy access to high-quality, interesting, and entertaining content about wine. Additionally, THE SPILL is a way to promote the best writers, podcasters, and video creators working in the wine space and share their work as widely as possible.

Down the road, subscribers will likely see more ads. Additionally, I’m hoping to bring you subscriber-specific offers for wine, accessories, books, and subscriptions. This will all happen gradually, with time, and with the primary focus remaining on serving subscribers with the best wine content on the web.

ARE YOU A WRITER, PODCASTER, OR VIDEO CREATOR?
If you regularly publish wine content, chances are I’m monitoring it. If, however, you want to make sure I am, just shoot me an email with the URL where your work is published and I’ll make sure it’s on my radar: [email protected]

DO YOU WANT TO PARTNER WITH THE SPILL?
Whether through advertising, promotional partnerships, events, or otherwise, if you have a thought on how you can help me better serve subscribers and expand the reach of THE SPILL, just email me. I’d love to talk: [email protected]

Thank you for being a subscriber to THE SPILL!

Cheers,
Tom Wark, Editor
THE SPILL