User:Agne27/WP:SIGCOV and Valhalla Vineyards

A summary of the "significant coverage" put forth by supporters of Valhalla Vineyards in the AfD and DRV. Of particular focus is whether these items meet WP:CORP's expectation for "...significant coverage in reliable, independent secondary sources...". WP:CORP also notes that ''"Trivial or incidental coverage of a subject by secondary sources is not sufficient to establish notability." WP:SIGCOV further elaborates that "Significant coverage" means that sources address the subject directly in detail, and no original research is needed to extract the content."

The general notability guideline (WP:GNG) also puts on an emphasis reliable sources (plural) noting that " Multiple sources are generally preferred". In the footnotes, the GNG expounds that "Moreover, not all coverage in reliable sources constitutes evidence of notability for the purposes of article creation; for example, directories and databases, advertisements, announcements columns, and minor news stories are all examples of coverage that may not actually support notability when examined".

Notability claim #1-Virginia Governor's Cup
Claim Valhalla is notable because it won wine awards from the Virginia Governor's Cup tasting competition How is this different from....? Winning "best of show", 2nd place, 3rd place ribbons from numerous categories (like best pie and best cattle) at competitions featured at State fairs, county fairs, and by commercial marketing associations across the globe? Response It's not. The Virginia Governor's Cup is ran by a local trade association tasked with the promoting and marketing of Virginia wines. The point is not to pick out the categorically "best" wine but rather to give as many entrants a marketing tool which they can use to "impress" consumers. It is not a national or international wine competition that would even be notable enough for its own Wikipedia article much less casting any type of inherited notability on one of the 100+ medal winners it awards in a typical year. As their website noted-Of the 233 wines who entered their last competition 133 won a medal. As all the wineries entered multiple wines in the Governor's cup, they ended up with every single winery that entered winning at least 1 medal. Is every single one of those Virginia wineries notable then?

Winning a medal at wine tasting events like this is not like winning a medal at the Olympics. There are literally thousands of these tasting events featuring hundreds of thousands of wines every year. These tasting events are not different than the "best pie" and "best cattle" competitions featured at fairs across the globe. In fact, they may be worse. The Wall Street Journal had a recent article about the serious flaws in taking wine tasting competitions seriously--describing winning medals at these event essentially as notable as "winning a coin toss".

Notability claim #2-Wine reviews in Wine Spectator
Claim Valhalla is notable because its wines have been reviewed by the notable wine magazine Wine Spectator. Description 3 wine reviews from Wine Spectator.  How is this different from....? The Michelin Guide reviewing restaurants, Hotels.com reviewing hotels or Consumer Reports writing reviews on brands of razor blades? Response It's not. Products and services get reviewed. The act of being reviewed doesn't necessary make it notable. Wine Spectator reviews over 10,000 wine every year and throughout it 30+ yr history it has the reviewed wines produced by over 100,000 different producers (many of whom are no longer around). It would be silly to argue that all 100,000 of those wineries are notable simply because they have been reviewed by Wine Spectator. It is like contending that every bed and breakfast or restaurant that has ever been reviewed by Fodors or Frommers is notable.

Notability claim #3-Mention in Wine Spectator articles
Claim Valhalla is notable because its has been mention in 4 Wine Spectator articles Description Looking at each article. I believe there is a WP:PAYWALL issue here so I'm including exact text for the purpose of evaluation -Extensive tasting report about the lesser known states producing wine in the US. Includes the results of tasting 617 wines from 31 different states -Numerous wineries mention in this article as well as related articles in the issue dealing with this report. Several wineries received same degree of coverage as Valhalla with many receiving significantly more in-depth coverage. -EXACT text mentioning Valhalla ''"I tasted 61 wines from Virginia, 37 of which scored 80 points or higher. Coming out on top are the Linden Glen Manor Virginia 1998 (86, $23), a plump blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot, along with the black cherry- and sanguine-laced Valhalla Syrah North Fork of Roanoke 1999 (86, $24). Barboursville, Breaux and Tarara have good wines as well.....Valhalla Vineyards owners James and Debra Vascik developed their 21 acres of vineyards in the mid-'90s, and though the state viticulturist suggested certain grapes, the Vasciks went their own way. "Many of the grapes suggested to us were not what we wanted to do. We decided to grow grapes that make wines we like to drink," states Debra, who left her job as a physical therapist to become the full-time winemaker. Husband James handles the office in between his work as a practicing neurosurgeon. Thanks to the shallow granite soils in its vineyards, Valhalla's Syrah performs well. Despite some misfires in the portfolio, the Syrah heads up an intriguing range that includes Cabernet Franc, Viognier, Alicante Bouschet and others. The Vasciks plan to fine-tune their lineup in the coming years, while maintaining their current 4,500-case annual production. ' -Regional overview of the Virginia wine industry in general. Several wineries mentioned. -EXACT text "A couple hundred miles to the southwest, Jim and Debra Vascik have embraced a more ambitious philosophy at Valhalla Vineyards, their 7-year-old, 20-acre property in the hills above the Roanoke Valley. The geography provides a metaphor for the heights they hope to achieve. Their property is perched less than 10 miles from a busy highway, but climbing the narrow road to the winery is like taking on a mountain leg of Le Tour de France (in fact, Lance Armstrong has trained here). Debra, 47, tanned and freckled, makes the wines. Jim, 51, a husky neurosurgeon ("brains and spines," he explains, matter-of-factly), manages the vineyard. "This is Opus -- just not as pretty," he quips, overlooking a bunkerlike combination of concrete winery and 200-foot-long barrel-aging cave that was blasted out of a hillside beneath the vineyard. "All gravity flow," adds Debra, with obvious pride. And, in a state in which the wine trade is driven largely by tourists, Valhalla does not yet have a tasting room." "The Vasciks' priorities are evidence of their commitment to achieving quality juice before they invite the public up to visit the place that produced it. Combined with the steep terrain, the no-nonsense winery evokes a blend of European and West Coast winemaking. It could be standing in the hills above Napa. Or on the slopes of Cöte-Rötie.Without hesitation, the Vasciks have adopted Law's gospel of mountain fruit. Tasted from bottle, their best reds exhibit Rhöne-style power to match the thunder of their proprietary names (such as "Gotterdammerung" and "Valkyrie"; they are big fans of Wagner's operas). Law's subtlety and finesse have yet to be achieved, but in some respects, those qualities seem out of character for wines made by the Vasciks, who openly admire wines with power. And besides, they see winemaking in Virginia in more competitive terms. "There are 10 or 12 producers in Virginia leaving everybody else behind," Vascik says. "People who can't keep up should sell out," he adds, without sentiment. " -A general "Things to do" interest piece listing dozens of winery harvest events in brief little blurbs. -EXACT text "VALHALLA VINEYARDS 6500 Mt. Chestnut Road, Roanoke Telephone (540) 725-9463 Web site www.valhallawines.com Purple toes are happy toes at the annual Big Stomp on Oct. 25. Squish away in the 8-foot vat, take a tour and sample some of Valhalla's wines. Hours are 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Stomp is free; $2 to taste and tour." -General report on the harvest details of the 2003 vintage in the East Coast. Part of an extensive series of harvest reports that Wine Spectator does every year for nearly every wine region across the globe. -EXACT text "Jim Vascik, owner of Valhalla Vineyards in Roanoke, chose to declassify his entire red-wine production, and will produce only whites in 2003. "Twelve inches of rain in May and 11 in June tore the heart out of flowering and reduced potential yields by 75 percent or more," he said." How is this different from....? Newspaper articles quoting business owners on general interest pieces or reports (like the harvest detail). A restaurant magazine like Restaurant Insider include brief snippets of information about small restaurants as part of a larger general interest piece. A gaming magazine like PC Gamer doing an extensive report on several hundred games of a particular genre and including some brief details on many of the games   Response It's not. As a wine magazine, Wine Spectator is going to report on various wineries much like Restaurant Insider reports on various restaurants, PC Gamer'' reports on various games, several Christian magazines reports on various individual churches, etc. Being casually mentioned in any of these wineries doesn't equate to notability. Just as Wine Spectator has reviewed 100,000 wines, so too, have they reported on several thousand wineries. These reports ranging from one line mentions, to a few lines/paragraphs to dedicated articles. None of the above links were features solely about Valhalla and it was always mentioned in a "grouped in" context of a being included in an article featuring several (mostly non-notable wineries).
 * "Tasting America's Bounty: Pioneering vintners around the country offer a cornucopia of flavors in their search for regional identity and popular acceptance"
 * "American Way of Wine: Regional vintners now labor for more than love "
 * "Harvest Happenings 2003: East Coast and Elsewhere"
 * Vintage 2003: Tough Time for Eastern United States Fingers Lakes, Long Island and Virginia faced rain and cold"

Notability claim #4-Mention in Washington Post
Claim Valhalla is notable because it was mentioned in a Washington Post article Description A brief tasting note on a 2001 Rosé featured on the Post's wine review blog How is this different from....? A travel writer's blog review on a bed and breakfast, a food critic's blog review of a local pizzeria or a music writer reviewing a local garage band playing at bar. Response It's not. The WA Post blog does hundreds of tasting notes each year. This is essentially no different than the Wine Spectator reviews. Wines, restaurants, bed and breakfast and garage bands get reviewed all the time regardless if the subject is truly notable or not.

Notability claim #5-Featured in Roanoke Time & Wilmington Star News
Claim Valhalla is notable because it was featured in articles in local/regional papers like the Roanoke Times & Wilmington Star News Description Featured in articles from the local Virginia paper Roanoke Times and the regional North Carolina paper Wilmington Star News. The Star News has an AP authorship listed but there is no evidence that the wine article was published elsewhere on the AP news wire. Regional AP news articles are not uncommon. How is this different from....? Local regional papers talking about local restaurants, bed and breakfast, hot dog eating context, "You-pick" fruit orchards or local bands? Response It's not. The content of the articles themselves are general interest pieces about the winery and the Virginia wine interest. Local/Region papers feature stories on local/ regional events all the time. In the context of Wikipedia, it would be WP:UNDUE weight to attach much significance to regional sources covering topics of regional interest. If several local/regional papers had a featured on the yearly hot dog eating contest at the state fair, would we consider that significant coverage to merit an article on Wikipedia?

Notability claim #6-Mention as "much honored" in the New York Times
Claim Valhalla is notable because it was described as "much honored" in a general interest piece on the Virginia wine interest by a New York Times travel reporter Description A general interest travel piece on Virginia wine where Valhalla gets a casual one line mention. -EXACT text "Even in the commonwealth, it is hard to find the much-honored Valhalla reds (like a cabernet franc called Gotterdammerung and a shiraz) that Dr. James Vascik, a neurosurgeon, produces 2,000 feet above the Roanoke Valley." How is this different from....? Travel writer talking about a "much honored" local mom & pop deli in a general interest piece on Bedford, Indiana or any other "local favorite" tid bits? Response It's not. The "much honored" phrase is a single, off hand comment that doesn't even note by WHOM. Who considers this winery "much honored"? Can this be verified? It obviously wasn't The New York Times own wine writer, Frank Prial at the time, since this is a travel not a wine piece. Travel pieces talk about the local favorites of restaurants, hotels, corner street vendors, etc all the time. These casual, off hand mentions of personal opinion of some vague person/group are weak elements to base notability on.

Notability claim #7-Using a "gravity flow" wine cave
Claim Valhalla is notable because they are one of the few Virginia wineries to use the old fashioned wine making technique of a "gravity flow" wine cave for storage. Description The Wilmington Star article mentioned above makes this note How is this different from....? A local/regional newspaper noting that a local druggist is one of the few druggists in a particular state to go back to using the old fashion technique of a mortar and pestle? Response It's not. The use of a "gravity flow" wine cave (essentially where wine production takes place in successive layers that allows gravity to move the grape/must from sorter to fermenter to barrels) is not even remotely notable in the wine world and has been done for hundreds of years in European wine regions. The fact that Valhalla is one of the few wineries in Virginia to use this particular "old fashion" technique is not notable. It's very labor intensive to build the right set up which is while in this age of modern technology it is not unusual for the other Virginian winemakers to decide to use the easier, less labor intensive methods of wine production. As with the example of the druggist going "old school" and using the more labor intensive mortar and pestle, the fact that he is one of the few to go this route doesn't make him notable.

Notability claim #8-Mention in various travel/wineguides
Claim Valhalla is notable because they have been mentioned in various travel/wineguides about Virginia and the East Coast Description Google books has several travel and wine guides that mention the winery How is this different from....? Fodors and other travel guides listing nearly every restaurant, hotel, motel and inn that has ever been in business? Response It's not. Unlike wineguides and travel guides, Wikipedia is WP:NOTDIRECTORY nor are we WikiTravel. These guides give casual mentions and details about hundreds of totals because they are directories and guides instead of being encyclopedias. The typical wine guide list several hundred wineries. Casual mentions in travel guides are poor claims of notability that wouldn't fly for any other article such as establishthe notability of Bed and Breakfast inns or corner street hot dog carts.

Notability claim #9-"Best wines in the east coast" claim
Claim Valhalla is notable because they were described as making "some of the best red wines on the entire east coast" by an individual wine guide Description The individual wine guide East Coast wineries: a complete guide from Maine to Virginia By Carlo DeVito had the particular claim that "Valhalla Vineyards make some of the best red wines on the entire east coast." How is this different from....? An individual travel guide noting that a particular bed and breakfast serves "the best breakfast in the entire country!" or an individual restaurant reviewer noting that a pizzeria has the "best Chicago-style pizza in New York City" ? Response It's not. Wine guides and travel guides often include WP:POV opinions. These are not objective evaluations but rather the individual sentiments of the writer. Inclusions of statements like this would be questionable in the neutrality of notable subjects much less aid in establishing notability by itself.

Notability claim #10-Mention in the Japan Times
Claim Valhalla is notable because it was mentioned in the Japan Times Description A wine travel article from the Japan Times about the Virginia wine industry How is this different from....? Any other travel article about any other topic? Response It's not. Similar to the New York Times piece (claim #6) above, travel pieces on a region talk about businesses in that region. In this case, the Japan Times wine writer (Davis Barrager who probably doesn't qualify for a Wikipedia article as a "wine expert" or List of wine personalities), visited Virginia and decided to write about the wineries there. While this would qualify as an acceptable reliable source for the article, it is far from being "substantial" by itself.

Notability claim #11-Virginia governor visited the winery
Claim Valhalla is notable because the governor of Virginia visited this Virginia winery Description A news piece in the Roanoke Times about the Virginia governor's visit to Roanoke and the many places he visited How is this different from....? Any governor visiting any business/person/place/event in any city? Response It's not. It is not out of the ordinary for politicians to visit things as part of official business/tours. Now if the governor was using this visit to the winery as an alibi to see his mistress in Argentina....then we may have something.
 * I gotta give you the Sanford reference, that was smooth.--Milowent (talk) 23:31, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

Notability claim #12-Mention in local news station online article
Claim Valhalla is notable because was mention in an online article by a local Roanoke news station  Description A very small local story by WDBJ Channel 7 News Roanoke about the areas local wine industry How is this different from....? A local TV news station talking about a local theatre group or church service? Response It's not. Again, similar to the coverage in local/regional newspapers it is not out of the ordinary for local media to report on local things. The natural WP:BIAS and undue weight given to regional/local issues by these types of sources is expected.

Notability claim #13- "Possibly the best of Virginia wineries" claim
Claim Valhalla is notable because the anonymous "wine expert" of an online travel website described it as "Possibly the best of Virginia wineries (sic)"  Description The Trip Cart, Inc. beta travel site of questionable reliability. How is this different from....? Any website of questionable reliability making any number of anonymous claims about anything? Response It's not. Anyone, especially anonymous "experts", can make any claim online. After all, On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

Important questions to consider
If Valhalla Vineyards was .... ...would the same type of meager coverage in reliable sources be enough to establish notability according to Wikipedia's guidelines of WP:SIGCOV, WP:CORP/WP:MUSIC and WP:N?
 * A pizzeria
 * A Bed and Breakfast inn
 * A drug store
 * A individual church

For more information

 * Notability (wine topics)
 * Wikipedia is not a wine guide