Wine Life Today|Adventures and opinions on wine, technology, and marketing

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OK, so there’s alot of hub-bub about that the Wine Spectator expose that happened by blogger Robin Goldstein.  And first let me say a couple things.  Bloggers are extraordinarily important to the world and this is just the latest example of some good citizen journalism.  Bravo to Robin for the work on setting up this sting.  Nice, ethical, and well executed.

As a marketing professional for a decade and a half I’ll say this though - what did you think the award was?  Wine Spectator is a “for profit” private entity that has what, 100 employees?  I’ve dealt with many many awards for the rediculous number of products and companies I’ve launched and I’ll tell you this, whenever there is a for-profit entity involved then you’re going to pay-to-play.  And if you pay-to-play then you’re probably getting an award!  There are several technology related firms that have pay for entry, then I win the award, then they call me back and pitch me Ad space, and then tell me to be involved in the award ceremony I have the great opportunity to present my product/company at a high profile industry show…for yet another fee.

update: On side note for the history books.  In the late 1990s, what I call “Bubble Days” of tech, pay-to-play got ridiculous.  There were analyst firms that would take EQUITY in a startup and then write a positive report.  Subsequently, these firms would go public and thanks to the Tech Bubble some people got very rich for their “award” or “positive outlook”…nuts…

This Wine Spectator debacle is nothing new or unexpected.  They’re leveraging their brand, which has the power today to make a $20 wine into a $100 wine overnight, to make more money.  What is unexpected is the fact that they were complete IDIOTS about it and obviously do zero vetting not a very thorough job vetting applicants.  Dumb dumb dumb.  But I’m not surprised the award is the way it is.  Not at all actually.  Maybe thats part of the marketer’s secret code or something but thats how these things go.  If this didn’t happen (the dumb non-vetting move being exposed), who wouldn’t pay $250 for this “Excellence” award, hence “profit” opportunity.  Look, even now, if you have a real restaurant whats to stop you from fudging the wine list?  The sting was a totally fake place, but what stops you from doing this again?  Pay-to-play, thats how it works.  Its a revenue generator for the company, thats all.

Now, I do want to point out something in stark contrast.  The “American Wine Blogger Awards“.  Whenever they come around everyone gets in Tom Wark’s grill about “who are you to judge me” and “what makes you think this award is valid at all”, and so on.  I mean he gets HEAVY criticism.  Well guess what - its decided on by people submitting nominations, then the finalists are chosen by a panel and voted on by the people again.  Oh yeah, and it FREE.  In fact, when I offered to sponsor the AWBAs Tom turned that down.  So even though its not perfect I view it kind of like how I view the American Democracy - its not perfect and sometimes its not fair (just look at my tax bill every f’in year), but its about the best you’re gonna get!

Cheers!

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Here a cool thing. After haggling with the folks at Wikipedia, I finally got a page “OK’d” on Wikipedia for OpenWine Consortium.

I thought it’d be important as I setup that organization to outlast my tenure as Executive Director. I’m taking it step by step. Its established now, even attracting sponsors and producing the events (like the Wine Blogger Conference in Sonoma in the Fall). Behind the scenes I am preparing to announce the board of directors, a new strategic partner that will help attract potentially thousands of members, and eventually closing on getting official non-profit status (because there isn’t a membership fee I really need to get some revenue to pay for the non-profit paperwork preparation - a non-trivial task).

In the meantime, its pretty cool to have the Wikipedia page, in a geeky sorta way.

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This week was the Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS) and last week was Inertia Beverage Group’s DTC Symposium.  At both venues I gave a talk about social media (the term that has been hijacked by Web2.0) and why the wine industry needs to pay attention.

My bottom line points are simple.  I’ve written about and preached on the “Wine Life Value Chain” where I talk about how the strength of a relationship basically has direct correlation to influencing a wine buyer.  The closer you are, sociallogically, to the source of a wine recommendation the faster and more likely you are to buy it.  So with that theorum guiding my thoughts we look at social media.

Social Media is basically conversations online, but the nice thing for wine (or bad) is that “word-of-mouth” becomes lightning quick and globally scalable.  So get on board and incorporate it into your business.

The reason for this post is we basically had a case study in the power of social media yesterday with Twitter and the wine crew (or it seemed like the wine “hit men/women” on Twitter yesterday!).  Here’s what happened.

The scene starts with Jill finding a wine writer in Florida at Tallahassee.com using the pseudonym of one of our fellow wine bloggers (DrDebs).  Jill tweets “Hey, someone is hijacking DrDeb’s good name” and to boot she was reviewing TERRIBLE wines and giving them good ratings - Yellow Tail, et al. A bunch of people immediately flocked overthere to check it out and left some choice comments for Fake DrDebs.

Next, one of Jill’s “followers”, Brittany aka WineQT, is from Florida and notices that the reviews from Fake DrDebs is eerily similar to a newsletter written by Nat Maclean.  Sure enough, it was plagarized!  We quickly see WineQT tweet out that “Fack DrDebs ripped it off!”.  Subsequently, Jeff Stai of Twisted Oak Winery sees this, logs a complaint with the website “Tallahassee.com”.  Within an hour the post is removed from the site for copyright violation!

Within an hour, a small post about wine that was plagarized was noticed by someone in LA, recognized as a fake post by someone in Oakland, and taken down by someone in Florida!  THAT, my friends, is Social Media.  That is word-of-mouth to the 100th degree.  And that is what wine companies can tap into if they just take the time to learn how!

Cheers!

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This weekend was the Inertia Beverage “Direct to Consumer” Symposium. I had the pleasure of presenting one of the larger sessions called “Marketing on Social Networks” and basically took it a little more horizontal and spoke more on “Marketing in Social Media”.

I think the presentation went well but a few things we are very certain in my mind as I start to evangelize and encourage people to participate via the OpenWine Consortium social network - since marketing in social media is a sociology problem and not a technology problem, wine companies have more of a head start then they think. Sure there are a blizzard of tools out there, but what is happening is that these technologies are moving in a direction that allows the skills that every wine brand already has offline - building a community around their product and getting to know their customers - to leverage the Internet to build that community on a much larger scale. Thats the basic synergy with Inertia’s business model. Once that broader community is established beyond just the tasting room, the final step is translating the connections made into a wine sale. Without the technology to do that, a winery is pretty screwed.

I really wanted to wineries to feel a little more comfort then they seem to be. Two main reasons - 1) online social stuff is happening and fast, but its not replacing everything tomorrow and 2) There are ways for wineries to benefit even though they are wearing many different hats already (and many don’t involve sitting in front of a computer 25 hours a day). This is where my talk and my co-presenter - Gary Vaynerchuk - differ. Always one for a bit of hyperbole (go figure) Gary says - email is dead (for some and many millenials, yes, but not completely), you have to be on every network all the time, and you can’t control your brand (which I agree with but influence is different from control). Ah yes, and he believes that there is no role for PR anymore with the new technologies - a point we differ on, its changing but PR doesn’t stand for Press Release so having built billion-dollar brands I can tell you PR is vital to a strong brand. Without PR there would be no Gary Vaynerchuk. PR is the art of image shaping and influence and there is alway a role for that. Most people have to outsource it, but others control it themselves (GV obviously controls his own PR). Anyway, long discussion.

Overall it was a good talk and hopefully we can get calmer heads to prevail and really help wineries to move forward with online strategies rather then just use “the sky is falling” discussions.

Well, now the in-laws are gone, daycare is back on (they had a week off for vacation after the 4th), so I have to try to get back into the groove!

Cheers!

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Here it is.  Wine Life Today in all its glory.  Just spent a little time updating the look and adding “My Story” (which I happen to think summarizes whats going on here pretty well).

I like the Digg-clone for wine that was formally WLT, but I have bigger fish to fry.  I’ll soon make an announcement of what my next move is in the wine industry but I can assure you things are gonna change - there is a Vincent in the wine industry now and I intend to make that mean something.

Cubicles suck and as of July 3rd, the paperwork I handed in is my official “Hasta La Vista” to cubicle nation(hence my “fugitive of a cubicle nation” tag) but there’s no denying that we all may have to work in them some day.  My intention is to make sure that if/when I do, its on my terms.

I don’t feel like I’m going it alone though.  As word trickled out that I’ve made a move to the “free” world, friends from all over (virtual and real world) have offered me great advice, support, and love.  This is going to be fun!

When I read Inertia Beverage’s announcement of a change of CEO it was not only interesting but actually a very wise move by the current CEO and a friend of mine Paul Mabray.  I don’t want to get into a long post on my business philosophy but I thought I should post a short commentary as I saw some conversation breaking out that made it seem as if this was a negative thing.

I know many times press releases put alot of spin on a bad situation to make it seem like a good one.  I know because part of my role in various marketing jobs had been to do just that and I always put out the story before someone makes a "scoop" and spins it negatively first.  Thats just good PR.

But I view Paul’s announcement differently.  I’ve been in High-Tech since the 1980’s even before I was in college (when I was working for a software retail company).  But more importantly, my view is shaped by something my mentor, Don McKinney, imparted on me when I first moved to Silicon Valley.  Basically, if you want your company to really succeed you first have to recognize that the company will require different CEOs and RARELY does the same person have the personality to be all of these.

1. the "$0 to $10M" CEO - this CEO thrives on the startup situation.  Risk taker, entrepreneurial, big-game hunter, and business developer (as well as visionary and marketeer), this CEO is usually one for the founders.  The key here is to have a sales person in this role and drive the initial products to be customer-oriented with a saavy product team.  This CEO recognizes that getting A+ players on the team is more important then having the right structure or hierarchy.
2. the "$10M to $100M" CEO - This CEO can take those first few BIG customers and nourish them such that they can be cash cows for the company.  At the same time he/she starts to pull in trusted sales and business development folks as well as marketing folks to compliment development and empowers them to do their job.  What can happen to a company that may cause it to fail is if CEO #1 thinks he/she is CEO #2 but isn’t really and has trouble either getting help to create new business, create a polished brand, or both because he/she still thinks he/she has all the best ideas and no one else can do it for them.  Its the beginning of scaling the company.
3. the "$100M to $1B" CEO - This CEO recognizes that the company is going to go BIG TIME and needs processes that allow the organization to scale.  Oh the dreaded "P" word, but its true.  At this point, customer care is still job #1, but setting up the structure to scale operations is becoming more and more important and this CEO needs to allow that to go to a professional A+ COO type.  Again, failure can happen here when a CEO doesn’t appreciate what an operationally oriented person’s value is (i.e. can make the organization scale in ways the CEO never dreamed up).  This CEO also has to be able to attract the investment levels that typically the founding CEO doesn’t have access to.  This is usually when you see a CEO finally step aside but it can be too late.
4. the "$1B to $10B" CEO - Now your talking about the professional CEO that you see at the top of Cisco, GE, and companies like that.  Charismatic and oozing leadership that can rival Bill Clinton in his prime.  This CEO still focuses on his top customers but there usually are so many that the top 10 are likely the only he/she gets to visit.  This CEO could be very very smart but is really removed from day-to-day so is fed development information and status from a staff of A+ lieutenants but likely has a big company filled almost 50% with B players (inevitable at this size).  The hope is that CEO #3 created solid enough processes that the company will thrive and compensate for some incompetence that has inevitably creeped into the the ranks of the company.

Thats the idea in a nutshell.  You can move the revenue bands up and down a little but this is generally true.  I had this wisdom passed on to me in the early 1990s and I’ve seen it proven out time and time again.  What I see in the Inertia announcement is a smart man that wants to see his company do great things.  But I say "smart man" because from my conversations with him, he intuitively sensed he wasn’t CEO #2 or #3, checked his ego at the door, and did the right thing.  He’s still working in there directing strategy and given his history in the wine business thats probably a good move.

The employees of Inertia should be excited.  As a Silicon Valley veteran, I can tell you more often then not that a move like this initiated by the CEO prevented this from happening later in your lives when the Board of Directors forces this decision (and they always do) because the CEO isn’t scaling the company for the big time.

Cheers!

I’m in the process of closing down Wine Life Today the social bookmarking service and making it into my personal blog so that I can dedicate my time to creating real change and real value for the entire wine industry.

WLT is a two year old project that had a decent amount of success and even generated some advertising revenue which is cool.  But I never intended it to be a revenue source as much as it was a learning experience.  I LOVE the wine community and I spend tremendous amounts of time creating and learning from my creations/experiences.  So I always thought that creating things for the wine world would be the best of all worlds - I could meet more and more people in the wine world all while having my creative outlet.

Recently, OpenWine Consortium, a brainchild of mine that was inspired by the need of some industry friends I met through my other creations (this blog and WLT), has emerged as an unmitigated success.  With really no marketing whatsoever, it has garnered attention across all corners of the world, been written up in Wines & Vines magazine, signed up nearly 1000 members in less than three months, and really become something I can spend GOBS of time working on.  Its special, it fills a need that the industry has, and most of all, its something I’m very proud of but believe it can be so much more.

I believe OpenWine Consortium is 10 times more useful at 1000 then it was at 100 in terms of affecting change in the industry.  Real business connections are being made, value is being created through the exchange of expertise and advice, and new ideas are being spawned just through the interaction.

Guess what…I also believe that is OWC were 10,000 people is would be 100 times more useful and would create 100 time the value it does today.  So I’m setting a goal for myself and the OWC community.  The industry needs this site to be at 10,000 members from every corner of the globe to make it an invaluable place to be on the Internet if you are in the wine trade.  This goal is SOOOO doable its rediculous.  There are tens of thousand of wine brands and just an un-Godly number of service businesses that work with those brands and ALL the employees/owners/proprietors of all these businesses can benefit from the OWC community - the interaction, the community, the technology exchange.

So that is my goal today.  I’m very proud that we’ve gained 1000 members.  But I’m going to dedicate the time and effort needed to really move the needle in the industry and I hope others in the community who see the value will do the same.

I’ll start with something simple - a Logo that others can get behind.  Some good friends have put time into creating a logo and I”ll get it out there soon.  Look for the preview here.

What are some other things I can do?  Partnerships with others in the trade, training to properly use OWC as a tool for trade associations, implementing the changes that the membership wants to see on the network.

Me and about 1000 of my industry friends should be able to make a difference so lets see where this takes us!

Cheers!

(almost makes me want to say “To infinity and beyond!”…but I’ll refrain)

So yes, its finally here. I apologize to all those who’ve graciously met the deadline that I went and slipped! Tell you the truth, I am only NOW getting my own chance to take a breath and relax. I started last night, after my daughter’s second week. She’s an angel, healthy (well, healthy lungs THATS for sure), and Mom is doing great as well. The house is just about done, had to tweak a few things for the city to approve the construction (if you don’t know the background, my contractor abandoned my project - a home addition for the new baby - just before the holidays and my Dad and I had to finish it ( good thing Dad know’s what he’s doing!!!). So that’s done.

The OpenWine Consortium is now humming along with 530+ wine trade people networking and socializing and familiarizing themselves with using a social network online with great effectiveness! I’m getting all sorts of good feedback and seeing business connections and personal connections (the wine trade is a tight knit group) being found and/or being rekindled. That brings a smile to my face! That too was alot of work. Not necessarily the programming, I found a great platform to run the site, but getting the right elements of the wine trade to use the site and tell their friends. Now there are CEOs, Wine makers, fellow bloggers, importers, tradeshow producers, you name it and they’re all there using the site to the tune of hundreds of absolute unique visitors per day staying an average of 11mins each (according to Google Analytics). It surpassed this site (which has healthy traffic) in the first two weeks! And we’ve only just begun. I’m signing up corporate sponsors and getting ready to do some great things for the industry. Very exciting.

Ironically, I was pressuring myself to get this post done and that’s the most stress I’ve felt in about a week! But that’s Type-A Joel being Type-A Joel. Reading through the entries made me calm down a bit. In fact, like many of the entries, this very write up made me stop and think about “smelling the roses”. Its like I tell my wife (a SUPER Type-A), you need to somehow get “Relax” as an action item on your priority list. If writing something for this topic was that action item (which it seems it was for many people) then I’m really glad I picked this topic!

The entries have been a real pleasure to read.

So for my entry, I actually grabbed a bottle of Enkidu 2005 Russian River Valley Syrah that Agent Red of WineSpies.com gave to me as a gift at lunch the other day for the new addition (to the family, not the home) and read on with great enjoyment!

The Enkidu is the product of what I think is a fairly new winery in California. It had a DEEP purple, ink-like quality. The aromas were nice and an delicate with a little pepper, black cherry (cherry coke as my wife described it), and some smoke in there I could swear. Smooth and very well balanced (you weren’t going to get the heat from the alcohol in this wine!) the black cherry comes through nicely with a smoky pepper finish. The Wine Spies have a the stuff on their site so if you can get it shipped to you I highly recommend it! Secretly, while it was a gift I think he knew I’d be back on the site to get a case lickedy-split! Great stuff!

So on to the entries.

Let me start with one of my favorites. I don’t know why but when I read this it made me feel pretty cozy. Claudia at ChronicNegress chimed in with a Trapiche Oak Cask Malbec 2005. Now, this whole entry - from its brevity to the simplicity of her relaxation, to her slightly off-beat name, just made me smile. She also lists my Alma Mater - MIT - in her Friendster profile. On OpenWine Consortium, which she has recently joined, she describes herself as a “Negress of some distinction”. Love it! She suggests kickin’ this Malbec with “flannel pajamas, burrito leftovers and split pea soup with Tabasco as food pairings to savor.” Why? Cause that’s how she rolls…

Dr Debs, from Good Wine Under $20, is the unspoken inspiration for this theme. A little while ago she wrote a post about wine and her childhood that made me think of my little girls. I relish the fact that those things that I remember so fondly about home and translate into making my life and home so comfortable (you know, a memory of Christmas morning or playing soccer with Dad) are now what I am imparting on my little girls. Deb posted about how fondly she recalls the nights with wine on the table in her parents home and how drinking it to this day brings her back to those warm memories. It would fill my heart with unending joy if one day one of my girls wrote something that nice about something I may not even be paying attention to right now but that they are going to carry with them into adulthood as a fond memory. Its one of the small, odd reasons you become a parent.

So that became the inspiration for this theme. I wanted to hear more experiences and what better way then hearing how everyone integrates wine into their lives in a positive way (who knows, maybe one day your little one will remember your relaxation and wine routine as well). All that being said, its apparently a contest between Deb and I on who is going to give more love to the other because as I was inspired by her post she one ups me on her entry by dedicating the wonderful 2001 Clos de l’Oratoire des Papes Chauteuneuf du Pape in honor of the birth of my daughter. If you read the post, yes, its true, I Twittered (or Tweeted?) the birth of my daughter Alex from the labor and delivery room of the hospital. Up until I had to be “hands on”. While I think Twitter is the hallway conversation of the Internet and sometimes valuable conversations are lost never to be acted upon, I thought it was kinda cool doing that …demented and sad, but social… Thanks Deb.

Joe at 1WineDude gives a great mini-history of Chauteuneuf du Pape, his comfort wine, but also tells the story of his choice. Turns out his younger brother had a struggle with a congenital heart defect that nearly took his life. CDP floods his soul with the feeling of relief as it was the wine they all shared when they finally knew he was going to be alright. Joe, thanks for sharing. This really is what this topic is about and you brought in the backbone to this Meritage of a tasting theme. Thanks brother.

Along those same lines Catie, the Walla Walla Wine Woman we all wove and winner of the wine illiteration contest, has the best quote:

Now you might think this seems odd, but everytime I taste Waterbrook Melange it tastes like Autumn in Walla Walla. And don’t ask why or what Autumn tastes like, but there must be something about the taste that seems to trigger a special moment or event in that time frame.

Check out her Washington (state) selection Waterbrook Melange, produced in the Walla Walla Valley.

Erika Strum of StrumErika.com goes with a Gnarlier Head 2005 Dry Creek Valley Old Vine Zinfandel which she attributes some of the “relaxation” to the high alcohol content. I disagree, unless you get lit off a glass or two. In which case we need to watch out when the Strum sisters hit Vegas again!

Michelle at Wine-Girl gets into the groove by starting with her comfort food - for her Mac and cheese or chicken or dumplings - and she seems to be having a heck of a time herself so I’m glad this posting made you sit down and reflect Michelle! Carol at PourMore analyzes her comfort foods as well to arrive at a good QPR, accessible Ravenswood Lodi Zinfandel and she catches on to a theme through out a bunch of these submissions - comfort wine should be easy enough to add to “relaxing” experience…unless judging a wine competition is your idea of relaxing then easy isn’t a bad way to go!

Sean at Interwined video submits a tasting of California Bordeaux blend 2000 St. Clements Bordeaux blend (Meritage) which he uses to get comfy and cozy on those cool London evenings. Nice job on the video! After my software crashed I wish I just video taped this round-up!

Diane at Loveswine gets into the spirit of things with a really comforting sentiment. She has her Calgon moment (Calgon was an old bath soap brand that had a relaxing commercial that chimed “Calgon, take me away!” probably 20 or so years ago…man I watch too much TV) with a a bottle of Taylor Fladgate 10 year old Tawny Port. I can definitely picture this scene - “I fill the glass to the brim and slip into the tub. Aahhh. I’ll stay there for half an hour, and sometimes I’ll call to my husband to bring me a little more. The nutty, caramel flavor and stronger alcohol work like charms for me.” That’s what I’m talking about. Did I mention my new home addition includes a 72″ spa tub with German fixtures. Why 72″? Because I’m 6′ 3″ and Diane and I have similar rituals!

Farley at BehindtheVine goes for a flight of Sparkling wines with the support of fellow sparkling wine lover Michael at FoodandWine who kicks in a Avinyo Brut Reserva Cava, while Kori at WinePeeps dives into a good wine (2002 Peter Lehmann Shiraz) while picking up a book he’s been meaning to read for while.

Marcus of Doktor Wiengolb tries to get us to think about which kind of comfort we’re looking for with some extensive, well wriiten notes on cozy Grenache and Luxurious Chauteuneuf du Pape. Lia Huber takes that concept one step further exploring several wines with several situational relaxation postures - First day of summer, gathered around a fire, on a picnic, eating crab, with a winter braise, or just eating pizza on a weeknight Lia knows her relaxation wines! Now this is in stark contrast to Alex from Leeds in the UK who say that if she were to relax it would be with Château de Goëlane Bordeaux Supérieur. Alex, take my advice - you’ll save two hours of debugging code for 30 minutes you take to enjoy the wine life! When you’re going to that vineyard in the sky and taking your last breaths I’m pretty sure you’re not going to say “I should’ve commented my code better…”, but you might say “I wish I had finished that last bottle of Enkidu 2005 Syrah that’s in the cellar….”

Ryan and Gabriella go down the path that Marcus started and suggest that “comfort” of wine suggests the characteristic of the wine and therefore there are several that fall in that class. That wine that is just plain good and allows you to enjoy what makes you happy rather than think about the intricacies of the wine are what you’re looking for. Nice post, definitely worth a look. Roija brings Hank from Honest-Foods back to a time when he was first venturing into wine. When things seemed simpler as each and every bottle he opened (from Roija) was solid. I think we all have a similar memory. Its runs like that which spark our collective passion and we end up spending the rest of our lives in pursuit of more runs of that nature! Hank breaks out a nice 2000 Herederos del Marques de Riscal Riojo Reserva which sounds like something Ryan would enjoy because, according to Hank, “It lets you do the thinking; all it does is listen.”

John at CorkDork has his take on on a similar idea. While not necessarily advocating going with the straight forward, he wants to simplify the wine choice to enhance the experience. To that end, you’ll find John relaxing with a wine he knows will be consistently good so its more a matter of what you want that good wine to go with rather than worrying about if the wine is good in the first place. I can get with that logic!

RichardA at Passionate Foodie gives a counterpoint to that opinion. Reflecting on his favorite comfort wine is actually what relaxes him. Thinking about the complexities and the sheer artwork of his Pleiades XVI without the pressure to write up a note or judge it for any competition is what recharges his soul. Tim Elliot of Winecast.net agrees and chooses the muscular yet balanced Ridge Vineyards, Zinfandel, Lytton Springs, Dry Creek Valley 2004 as it takes him back to his early journeys in wine.

A few entries roll in that get straight to the point: Andrew at Rougeandblanc goes for simple, uncomplicated with good QPR 2003 Royal Oporto Douro Porca de Murça Red, Dale from Drinksareonme is more than ready for the ultimate relaxation time - summer - with his 2006 Charles Krug Sauvignon Blanc, Catherine at Purple Liquid just gets back from France and perks up with a glass of 2004 Chinon Domaine de la Noblaie Les Chiens-Chiens, Sharon the Bloviatrix is new to wine (be sure to head over and welcome her with tips!) so she submits a recommendation she received - Jean-Marc Burgaud Morgon Cote du Py Vieilles Vignes 2006, all while Joe in Montreal warms up the cold winter nights with 2000 Penfolds Bin 389 by the fire (great picture of the Penfolds in a snow bank!).

Jeff at GoodGrape (my American Blog Awards Graphics arch-nemisis ;-), goes for something that he feels the need to defend a bit, but I think if he reads through this he’ll realize that the are many that go with straight forward and easy when they relax and you really don’t need to defend it! His choice? 2005 V. Sattui “Crow Ridge Vineyard” Zinfandel. I mean, even Dave at Winections agrees and goes for a “fruit bomb” that is so straight forward that there’s no need for analysis, he just likes it!

And yes, Jeff beat me out for ABA Graphics last year. I’m just having a bit of fun. I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a stalker.

Turns out that when she’s not boiling the ocean, Megan of Wannabewino is knockin’ back her favorite varietal. She had to go with a whole varietal because of he tendency to boil the ocean… just kidding - who says there are no inside jokes embedded in WBW write ups. She chose it because it (Zinfandel) evokes good memories, puts a smile on her face, and almost always puts her in a good mood.

Don’t worry because Jill of Domain547 is right there with you Megan! In fact, she goes even broader detailing why the pursuit of wine is in and of itself the fulfilling adventure.

Jim Eastman kicks back in Ohio, listening to Nina Simone, with a very unique selection - a wine from Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin who produces a Prairie Fume off-dry white wine made entirely from seyval. He explains what Seyval is and the fact that its hard to find outside of Wisconsin, USA!! My wife’s from Green Bay so I’ll have to give this one a try personally. You can’t tell a CA brother he can’t find a certain type of wine! Now I HAVE to find it!

David McDuff relays how a bottle accidentally cellared (i.e. you know that one you threw in there a little too far back and 10 years later, when you’re reorganizing, you stumble across it?) can lead to a very rewarding and comforting experience. Its not something thats re-occurring but a serendipidous addition to the “comfort wine” theme. Very interesting read.

Marta from RecentlyConsumed is making me jealous - a great blog design, a great pairing of three great wines with three bad movies, and the ability to enjoy them all, as she puts it, in “a night of comfort between cynical newlyweds enjoying their pre-children freedom”. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. You’re cute, you’re young, you’re still in “that phase” of marriage. Thanks for reminding me… ;). In all seriousness, nice addition to the comfort stories and definitely a blog to check out! And contrary to what others might tell you, when you’re with the right person you MAKE the time to remember “that phase”. In fact, this post is one that makes me say “yeah, I’m gonna do that!”, so personal theme objective achieved!

So thats it. I have to say, I am really happy that the topic was so thought provoking and for all those that had to sit back and take a moment to realize how much wine is actually a part of your life and your relaxation all I can say is I hope you take more occasions to Enjoy the Wine Life!

Cheers!

Wow, when I thought about this theme for WBW (which I signed up for about 18 months ago, btw) I had no idea how badly I was going to need this or how cathartic the topic would be for me.

I believe in balance in life. Truly. I think you must or you won’t survive. That doesn’t me you’ll never get ahead because you take too many breaks, but there must always be balance. I can work like a maniac for days at a time, but not without something to ground me, my kids, my wife, and of course wine!

So that’s where I derived this theme idea. Wine is part of my life. Even when I ran into health problems with my cholesterol some years back, the doctor said I’ll need medication and probably cut out wine…wrong on both points my drug-company influenced friend. See, wine is part of the Yang to my everyday Yin. I love it and its such a part of my life that I believe that when I have that glass, at the end of the day or sometimes at the end of an intense week, my mind and body just release and relax. I never get hammered on wine and no other spirit signals my body to transition to “relax” so its not the alcohol as some may argue. It is the act of drinking it and the memories and good times the wine brings to mind that just lets me drift away.

I think there are enough people out there who know what I’m talking about which is why I chose this theme. Comfort Wines - choose a wine, any wine, that you love to unwind to and tell us about not only the wine but what makes the experience special and relaxing for you!

For me, I’ve just finished a home improvement project (literally getting sign-off from the city in the next week), launched the OpenWine Consortium social network, got my car repaired after an accident, and my second daughter is due March 4th (with WBW#43 due March 5th!). So I’m pretty sure I’ll have a good experience that I can try to convey for that Wednesday.

Remember, I believe in enjoying the Wine Life so if wine is part of a relaxation routine for you lets hear how you unwind - whether is in front of the TV or on the roof of a villa in Spain in front of a grill. Lets paint some mental pictures of tranquility for everyone to read and enjoy. Maybe some of us will have a couple “oh man, I totally have to try that” moments!

Cheers!

Wine2.0 Facebook group. Its definitely an association that has potential but I wonder if the FB group that was created for the purpose of perpetuating Wine2.0 hasn’t done a disservice to the movement itself.

What I have found in the past is that FB groups are simply glorified bulletin boards. A community needs interactivity, networking opportunities, offline events, party hats, balloons…ok, maybe not party hats and balloons but you get my drift.

So, on day 2 of my reign (or is it 3?) here is what I find - the group is still active (there are still people joining), but it won’t be for long. What I also find is this - the group needs a purpose. Here are some suggestions:

* Create a standard for wine entries that facilitates eCommerce

* Become a resource for wine companies to learn about web technologies

* Create a venue to review new companies and award the best company with funding or business or both

I’m completely open. There is alot of potential there. I guess a basic tenet of the group will be to promote and evangelize the use of Web2.0+ technologies throughout the wine industry.

Thoughts anyone?