According to the editors at Gourmet, consumers that dine out less frequently to save money, will turn to wine and chocolate – since they are affordable luxuries. Makes sense, and in fact both industries have seen an explosion of boutique brands and products over the past few years – many at the very high-end. Both vitners and chocolatiers face the same challenge however – getting consumers to discover their product, besides retail display. The web can help of course, with hundreds of independent food blogs cataloging the latest foods and delicacies – and now a growing number of websites enabling consumers to discover and buy wine. We all know of Robert Parker, and his eponymous wine ratings site, but our favorite is Snooth – a community-driven site that combines great research and discovery with price comparison and shopping tools.
Snooth is a great example of why we decide to add certain sites to the Halogen Network: we use the site ourselves and appreciate its function and design, its audience is of the size and quality to appeal to our advertisers, and the owners and publishers of Snooth are willing to implement and integrate advertising campaigns that will really engage their readers.
Snooth is a key publisher in our Food and Wine Channel and will deliver an upscale, affluent audience that is spending a little more time at home in 2009.