Comments on: TONG: A new kind of wine magazine http://www.thevineroute.com/wine/tong-wine-magazine/ Stories, culture and people behind wine Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:39:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Filip Verheyden http://www.thevineroute.com/wine/tong-wine-magazine/comment-page-1/#comment-188 Filip Verheyden Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:01:56 +0000 http://www.thevineroute.com/?p=735#comment-188 Hi Tom, Many thanks for the very nice review you've made. I think you understand the concept very well! However, about the price. Maybe I should put a manifesto on the website to explain why the price is so "hefty" as you put it. There are three main reasons for this. First, there is no advertising allowed since we do not want to spoil the unique lay-out of each issue. Secondly, because of the unique format approach of each issue, the production cost is very high. But most importantly, we strongly believe that one has to pay for in-depth knowledge. TONG is a statement against the cheap and superficial contents of too many magazines. Journalists do not know their fields of work anymore, everybody has become a "specialist". That is why we do not want to work with journalists. If we want to capture the essence of the theme we need the real specialists. Wine writers will write about anything you ask them, and most of them will just make copies of what they read in the books they have. I know this, I was a food and wine writer for ten years and I've seen many people claiming knowledge that was not their's. Furthermore, if you have a meal in a restaurant, what do you get for 25 euros?? Not much. Why do people make no problem about spending 100 euros for two hours of eating. But they don't want to pay the same amount for 200 pages of in-depth knowledge about wine, which is garanteed to stay up to date for at least five years? This is because of how the press has lowered standards in writing and transmitting knowledge to their readers and how they have made "life style" out of everything. Glad to respond to your remarks. Best, Filip Verheyden Editor & publisher, TONG About Wine Hi Tom,

Many thanks for the very nice review you’ve made. I think you understand the concept very well!

However, about the price. Maybe I should put a manifesto on the website to explain why the price is so “hefty” as you put it. There are three main reasons for this. First, there is no advertising allowed since we do not want to spoil the unique lay-out of each issue. Secondly, because of the unique format approach of each issue, the production cost is very high. But most importantly, we strongly believe that one has to pay for in-depth knowledge. TONG is a statement against the cheap and superficial contents of too many magazines. Journalists do not know their fields of work anymore, everybody has become a “specialist”. That is why we do not want to work with journalists. If we want to capture the essence of the theme we need the real specialists. Wine writers will write about anything you ask them, and most of them will just make copies of what they read in the books they have. I know this, I was a food and wine writer for ten years and I’ve seen many people claiming knowledge that was not their’s.

Furthermore, if you have a meal in a restaurant, what do you get for 25 euros?? Not much. Why do people make no problem about spending 100 euros for two hours of eating. But they don’t want to pay the same amount for 200 pages of in-depth knowledge about wine, which is garanteed to stay up to date for at least five years? This is because of how the press has lowered standards in writing and transmitting knowledge to their readers and how they have made “life style” out of everything.

Glad to respond to your remarks.

Best,
Filip Verheyden
Editor & publisher, TONG About Wine

]]> By: Iris http://www.thevineroute.com/wine/tong-wine-magazine/comment-page-1/#comment-183 Iris Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:05:55 +0000 http://www.thevineroute.com/?p=735#comment-183 Thanks for presenting this wine magazine. I hadn't heard about it before, but after a quick look at their website and the contend of the terroir edition, you cited, it seems really interesting. I was not surprised to find Claude and Lydia Bourguignon among the authors. Claude made our first soil analysis before we planted our vines in the early 90th. I still remember him digging a deep whole in the middle of our cirque des Cèdres and becoming enthusiastic like a child about what he called "une des plus riches vie microbienne" he had seen in the region. For us, no surprise, because we knew that our terroir had had around 40 years to recover and even before had never been treated with chemicals - so no problem for diversity, both in flora and fauna. He told us, that the special schist (colourful schists flyshoide) would be valuable for storing warmth during the day, give a good natural drainage and the descending winds in the arena would help us to cope with too hot summer days - and he was right! When he ended by telling us, that the place reminded him of Coulée de Serrant in the Loire valley, we felt very moved... All that to say, that we liked his holistic view of soil, plant and wine, which was what we were trying to put into practice - not limited at the at that time still usual NPK (nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium) analysis, which you rectify by industrial powders., which boost perhaps your plant, but are far from giving it the natural equilibrium , Oliver Humbrecht mentions in his contribution to Tonge, which helps it to elaborate a genuine taste. Thanks for presenting this wine magazine. I hadn’t heard about it before, but after a quick look at their website and the contend of the terroir edition, you cited, it seems really interesting. I was not surprised to find Claude and Lydia Bourguignon among the authors. Claude made our first soil analysis before we planted our vines in the early 90th. I still remember him digging a deep whole in the middle of our cirque des Cèdres and becoming enthusiastic like a child about what he called “une des plus riches vie microbienne” he had seen in the region. For us, no surprise, because we knew that our terroir had had around 40 years to recover and even before had never been treated with chemicals – so no problem for diversity, both in flora and fauna. He told us, that the special schist (colourful schists flyshoide) would be valuable for storing warmth during the day, give a good natural drainage and the descending winds in the arena would help us to cope with too hot summer days – and he was right! When he ended by telling us, that the place reminded him of Coulée de Serrant in the Loire valley, we felt very moved…

All that to say, that we liked his holistic view of soil, plant and wine, which was what we were trying to put into practice – not limited at the at that time still usual NPK (nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium) analysis, which you rectify by industrial powders., which boost perhaps your plant, but are far from giving it the natural equilibrium , Oliver Humbrecht mentions in his contribution to Tonge, which helps it to elaborate a genuine taste.

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