wine sooth

Blogging is being touted as the next medium of mass communication. A grassroots voice that will change the world. But why blog? Why change the world? What do we want out of blogging?

The North American Wine Bloggers Conference (this weekend) will attempt to answer those questions - at least in the context of wine writing. The conference will include four key seminars (actually, moderated discussions) which will explore the most burning issues on wine bloggers’ minds.

Tom Wark of Fermentation and Alder Yarrow of Vinography will lead a discussion entitled: “Increasing Visitors to Your Blog”. Philip James from Snooth and Joel Vincent from the OWC will lead: “Making Money from Your Blog”. Tracy Rickman and Steve Heimoff will co-moderate the “Wine Blogger Credibility” discussion. Jason Korman from Stormhoek, Evan Cover from Cruvee, Joel Vincent and Paul Mabray from Inertia will lead the “Beyond Blogging” discussion. “Blogging for Your Wine Business” will be led by Jason Korman from Stormhoek and Steve Bachmann from Vinfolio. “Wine Industry & Blogger Interaction” will be moderated by Tim Elliot of Winecast as well as representatives from Schlumberger Winery and Robert Larsen from Rodney Strong. (more…)

In just over half a year, the OpenWine Consortium has gathered 2000 members. They have been bloggers, writers, marketers, growers, producers, importers and exporters, retailers and wine enthusiasts. They have organized into diverse groups focused on interest, region, pursuit and wine industry sector. As one of the community’s administrators, it has been very exciting for me to be part of that growth.

The OWC now has members on every continent. This global, online network with administrators in North America and the European Union has reached people from different sectors of the wine industry. People located on opposite sides of the globe can now interact in a meaningful way. (more…)

Over a month ago, I wrote about a small experiment aimed to determine the incidence of TCA taint in a real-world setting. I created a survey on FreeOnlineSurveys.com to gather data from volunteer contributors. The aim of the survey was to gather real-life data of the incidence of TCA taint in wines finished with natural closures. The survey was prompted by discussion of the true incidence of cork taint on the OpenWine Consortium (OWC), initiated by Remy Charest.

The participant cohort was comprised of 12 individuals (including myself): at least two winemakers and other wine professionals who describe themselves as writers, public relations professionals, wine education professionals and wine importers. (more…)

The wine world is changing. Wine is changing. Amidst recurring discussions of trends and the globalization of wine (as a result of the influence of a purported small cabal of people), and murmurs that not every wine-producing region has the stuff to make world-class, complex wines, there is one essential point that goes unmentioned:

Democratizing luxury goods - making them appealing and accessible to the average consumer - devalues them and causes a decline in quality standards.

A luxury commodity is devalued by democratization because increased supply makes the good more common and, thus, less desirable. This seems to be the basic tenet of this book. Additionally, quality inherently declines with increasing volume of production. (more…)

Did you know there are vineyards south of San Francisco? Really, there are! Over 100,000 acres! That’s Napa and Sonoma put together. But it seems that, in some people’s mental maps, there is no noteworthy wine country outside of these two regions.

I make no contentions that Napa and Sonoma don’t produce quality wines. They do. I don’t argue that these regions don’t deserve their reputations. They do. However, when news reports about frosts and weather flukes as well as harvest updates omit mention of the Central Coast and call Napa and Sonoma the premiere wine country and when wine websites categorize Central Coast wines as “Other California Wine”, I am compelled to make a point of clarification. (more…)

Viral marketing is alive and well. And if you don’t think it pays, ask Gary Vaynerchuk or the folks at paltalk.com who produced the slick, fun video piece above. (Hell, ask whoever told Robert Parker about the pending Ch. Montelena sale).

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I buy wine at supermarkets. Not all of my wine, but whether I am doing full-on grocery shopping or if I get sent out to pick up anything from tomatoes to toothpaste, I like to poke my head into the wine section.

The two supermarkets near me - Ralph’s and Albertson’s have pretty good wine sections. Albertson’s has a good selection of Central Coast wine, so I like to see if there is anything I might like to try and possibly write about. The Ralph’s near me is one of the test stores for the chain’s Wine Steward program. The stewards are generally helpful and they taste the wines they stock. There is even a large, walk-in, climate-controlled cellar where they keep the pricy stuff. Both stores will occasionally have some obscure import for under $15 - like the $9 torrontés I found at Ralph’s (which turned out to be a dud). (more…)