I'm attending a party in NYC tonight where the official theme is food and wine blogging. I say "official" because I am guessing the real purpose of the gathering is to socialize â€" with advertising people, media people, PR people, and blogger people. Among the many folks attending is David Weinberger, co-author of the Cluetrain Manifesto. But among the folks not attending is New York Times marketing columnist Rob Walker. One of the event organizers says that Rob â€" who is based in Savannah â€" send his regrets, as well as a link to a blog post on the topic of, well, blogging. It's worth reposting in its entirety.

No serious wine consumer makes decisions about what to buy based on the aesthetics of the label or the bottle.

But here at Murketing HQ, that's exactly what we do. And it is for this reason that we â€" "we" being me (henceforth known as "R.") and my wife (or "E," to you) â€" have founded The International Review of Wine Packaging Aesthetics.

Other than that, it seems pretty much self-explanatory. We will add only this point of clarification: Many wines we buy regularly and enjoy will not be included here, because the packaging is of no interest.

The International Review of Wine Packaging Aesthetics will appear once in a while.

Volume 14: Irony vs. Sincerity: The showdown.

Volume 13: "Not just a 'tude wine â€" a novelty 'tude wine."

Volume 12, (Double-Dog Special!): "This celebrates the dog. The other one humiliates the dog."

Volume 11: "Punk rock in a bottle?"

Volume 10: "Stylish. Yet still somehow cute."

Volume 9: "'Cone-shaped stone buildings' unique to the Puglia region. Yeah?"

Volume 8: "A bit too self consciously 'design-y' â€" but that's why we bought it."

Volume 7: "The very idea is repellent."

Volume 6: "A wine inspired by posters? Stupid. But great-looking."

Volume 5: "Big bold fleur de lys, rendered in a tattoo style. Eye-catching!"

Volume 4: "The clearness and the little guy -- very exciting."

Volume 3: "The bottle design is, self evidently, awful."

Volume 2: "Let us be honest: What made us buy this was the monster illustration."

Volume 1: "We find this gimmick to be fully satisfying."

As the saying goes, in vino veritas. I'm looking forward to a frank talk with the bloggers tonight.