I was recently interviewed by WineSpiralProject.com, as part of their series on wine industry innovation, in which they interview personalities in the wine world and ask them to share thoughts on the wine biz and how it can/should innovate.

Yeah, I know, I’m not 100% certain why they picked me either, but what’s done is done so let’s just roll with it, okay?

You can check out the entire series of interviews at this link; I’ll give the the super-short, edited-down-to-the-bare-bones-Cliff-Notes version of my interview right here:

Wineries are amazing at production innovation; Wineries suck at engagement innovation.

It’s not in bottling lines or fermentation vessels that we need an innovation push in the wine biz; we need innovation in adjusting the attitude that most wine producers have towards consumers. What do I mean by “engagement innovation?” Short answer: using the single most innovative outreach platform ever developed in the history of the human race – the Internet – to directly engage the people who buy their shiz. This may sound like common sense to you, but a lot of the producers I encounter seem to need reminding that those consumers – and not critics – are the ones who matter the most…

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Chances are pretty high that, if you’re reading this (and you’re reading this), you are a wine geek.

And by “wine geek,” I mean that you are atop the U.S. wine consumer pyramid (that’s if you’re living in the U.S., of course – those of you outside the U.S. are just gonna have to play along on this one). As in, the tippy, tippy, holy-crap-it’s-a-looooong-way-down-from-here, tippy-top of the pyramid.

And it doesn’t even matter if you consider yourself an avid oenophile or not – simply by virtue of treating wine with any semblance of importance in your life, you’ve firmly entrenched yourself in wine-geek-out territory, at least when compared with the general consumer-going public in America.

And don’t worry about it…. because it’s okay.

In fact, I’m going to explain why that’s not only okay, but that you ought to revel in the fact that you are in the upper echelon of the wine-buying U.S. public. In fact, I’m going to explain why it’s downright awesome.  After a bit of exposition, of course.  C’mon, you think I’m gonna let this thing go under 1300 words?  Are you nuts?

It all came to me after day one of the 2011 Wine Bloggers Conference, during a steamy, 8-billion degree, 5000% humidity evening in downtown Charlottesville (I might have exaggerated that last bit), in which a bleary-eyed (due to travel-, conference-, weather-, and wine-induced-fatigue) yours truly took part in an off-premise “fireside chat” on the topic of Wine & Tech, which eventually turned about as heated as the sweltering northern Virginia night.

The event was organized by wine industry think-tank group Vintank and Crushd (the team behind a newly-released iPhone wine-journaling app). Thankfully (since most of us were already melting through our clothing) there was no actual fire was lit at the host venue (Orzo Kitchen & Wine Bar), and to assist (as if we needed it) getting our tongues wagging and opinions flowing, there were several interesting Rioja wines being poured courtesy of Vibrant Rioja (I can now attest personally to the tastiness of a well-chilled 2010 Marques de Caceres dry white Rioja on a stiflingly sultry Virginia Summer evening, by the way)…

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As if you weren’t sick enough already of my South American wine coverage (and believe me, people it’s not over yet!), in an oddly synchronous but otherwise completely unrelated turn of events, I’ll be a panelist next week at Wines Of Chile’s 2011 Grand Tasting event at the Metropolitan Pavilion in NYC.

There’s both industry and consumer portions, and if you hurry your ass up you might still be able to get in on the action! If you need extra incentive (besides the lure of a lot of wine and food, I mean), some of the proceeds from sales of the consumer event tickets will be donated to the Surfrider Foundation, dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world’s coastlines and beaches, and purchasing a ticket automatically enters you for a chance to win an iPad (I could use one of those myself, come to think of it…).

Here’s the skinny:

This year’s WoC event theme is “A World of Taste,” and in addition to pouring 300 wines from 60 wineries at winery stands, there are four specially themed rooms where you’ll have the opportunity to taste those Chilean wines with different types of foods.  There will also be two seminars for the industry side of things (one of which is the panel on which I’ll be sitting, along with Jody Rones from Thrillist.com, Lindsey Johnson from Lush Life and Gregory Dal Piaz of Snooth.com, being held 1:30-2PM on the topic of Wine Marketing in the Digital Age).

If you’re going and you’re of the tweeting persuasion, the hashtag will be #tastechile. Event details are below after the jump - hope to see you there!

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Hey East Coast Wine Peeps!

It’s that time of year again – the time when I miss the annual NY Wine Expo because I’ll be in Napa.  Doh!

But just because I won’t be there doesn’t mean that you can’t get in on the fun via 1WineDude.com – and you can get a $10 discount on the price of the Grand Tastings on Friday and Saturday, just by being a 1WineDude.com reader!

The 4th Annual New York Wine Expo is scheduled for February 25-27, 2011 at the  Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in NYC, and will offer the opportunity to seriously up your wine tasting IQ by sampling over 600 wines from over 150 winemakers from around the globe in the Grand Tastings.

To score your discount, enter the Discount Code WINEDUDE when you order your tix online.

In the past, the Grand Tasting has received mixed reviews from 1WineDude.com readers – some find the big crowds off-putting, others are more inclined to brave the large turnout for the chance at networking and getting to taste the large array of wines from all over the world.

Personally, I’m somewhere in the middle – I love a good crowd, meaning a crowd that’s passionate and energized with a feel-good vibe going (and of course I dig the chance to taste a nice variety of fine wines), but if too many folks get plastered because they’re not spitting then things can get ugly.  And if that happens, those big events can sometimes turn into big bug-outs.

Where do you stand on big wine tasting events?  Good?  Bad?  Indifferent?

If you’re going, check out my mini survival guide for getting through these big tasting events alive.

Cheers!