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HiYa! If you're new here, you may want to Sign Up to get all the latest wine coolness delivered to your virtual doorstep. I've also got short, easily-digestible mini wine reviews and some educational, entertaining wine vids. If you're looking to up your wine tasting IQ, check out my book How to Taste Like a Wine Geek: A practical guide to tasting, enjoying, and learning about the world's greatest beverage. Cheers!

Disappointed that your wine sales aren’t seeing an impact from your social media efforts?

Then this study of the social media impacts experienced by nearly 400 U.S. wineries strongly suggests that you are approaching social media incorrectly. Which will come as a surprise to exactly.no-one who reads this big regularly.

http://www.winebusiness.com/news/?go=getArticle&dataid=135492

A quick quote:

“The results show that 87% of wineries in the sample report a perceived increase in wine sales due to social media practices.”

That’s it, we’re done here, the end. Seriously, go read the summary, and then if you decide that you’d rather not increase sales, don’t bitch and moan if your winery or band tanks eventually.

The debate on this topic is over. If you still think social media has no/little place in wine, then in the words of Obi-wan Kenobi, “you are lost!” If that remains your stance, I cannot help you; go back to sticking your head in the sand in your flat, 3,000-year-old earth where humans didn’t evolve from primates and the climate isn’t warming.

Cheers!

Every once in a while, you get a gig that is so good, you just have to pinch yourself to test if it’s all real and you’re actually getting paid to have so much fun.

Such was the case at the 2014 San Francisco International Wine Competition, which wrapped up a couple of weeks ago and recently announced its results. Over 30 countries and 26 U.S. states compete in this competition, which is billed as America’s largest such international vinous battle royale. The pinch-inducing vibe came courtesy of my lucky draw in amazing wine competition panel-mates, which included cult winemaker Heidi Peterson Barrett (small tidbit of advice: do not get between her and shoe shopping!) and competition organizer Anthony Dias Blue. The latter meant, of course, that at some point our panel would probably be getting some of the better wines entered into the comp, and that indeed did come to pass when we kicked off the second day of judging and were greeted with the wine lover’s breakfast of champions: a stellar flight of mostly vintage bubbly.

Did I mention that I love my “job?” Well, I do.

As for the specifics: the judges were divvied up about 3-4 at a table, tasting several related flights blind, knowing basically only the residual sugar, grapes, and price points of each wine. A splendid time was had by all (at least as far as I could tell), and I was happy to have leant my judging palate to a competition that was so well-organized, well-run, and that represented such a stellar group of wine-biz-insider-type judges. As always, I felt that I was bringing the overall class levels down a few notches by my attendance, though I think I made up for it in humor (we laughed a lot at our table…).

Anyway, here are a few of the stellar picks from that stellar bubbly lineup that had my table more-or-less swooning..

Read the rest of this stuff »

This weekend, I’ll be partying at attending the 2014 Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Barbara, an area with which, I’m happy to say, I am now quite familiar, and where I have quite a few friends trying to make a living in this crazy wine business of ours.

During the first full day of the conference (Friday, July 11), I will be part of a panel discussion (along with wine industry veterans Steve Heimoff (formerly running the CA wine beat for Wine Enthusiast) and Patrick Comiskey (a friend, and a great writer and taster, from Wine & Spirits Magazine).

Our topic, as described by the WBC organizers:

How do we analyze a wine while capturing its unique story? Discover more about the sensory and analytical process employed by wine pros as they translate what’s in the glass into words on the page. You’ll refine your own strategy for critiquing wine while learning more about the complexities and insights behind wine evaluation. The discussion will be led by Steve Heimoff (former California wine critic for The Wine Enthusiast) and features panelists Joe Roberts (acclaimed wine blogger) and Patrick Comiskey (wine critic for Wine & Spirits Magazine) as they reveal the methods behind effective wine assessment and wine writing for the public.

Critical wine tasting is a topic about which I think way, way, way too much, as in totally-unhealthy-obsessive-compulsive levels of “too much…”

Read the rest of this stuff »

So, like, what is this stuff, anyway?
I taste a bunch-o-wine (technical term for more than most people). So each week, I share some of my wine reviews (mostly from samples) and tasting notes with you via twitter (limited to 140 characters). They are meant to be quirky, fun, and easily-digestible reviews of currently available wines. Below is a wrap-up of those twitter wine reviews from the past week (click here for the skinny on how to read them), along with links to help you find these wines, so that you can try them for yourself. Cheers!

• 12 Longoria Lovely Rita Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills): Not exactly lovely, but it's mete-ring out rich berry fruit & 'maid' to please. $32 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 11 Longoria Fe Ciega Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sta. Rita Hills): Like an abstract painting of a field, it's green in all the right places. $48 A- >>find this wine<<
• 11 Longoria Tempranillo (Santa Ynez Valley): Well, it most definitely has got 'em, and it most definitely is smoking 'em, too. $36 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 11 Dunstan Durell Vineyard Pinot Noir (Sonoma Coast): Poised to please, & to grow on you; the pleasure increases as the night goes on $50 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 13 Dunstan Durell Vineyard Rose Wine (Sonoma Coast): Somehow, paradoxically, both somewhat reserved & ostentatious at the same time. $25 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 11 Dunstan Durell Vineyard Chardonnay (Sonoma Coast): A bit too much showy jewelry and makeup, but a very pretty lady nonetheless. $35 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 10 Cadaretta Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia Valley): Deliciously, tastefully, crowd-pleasingly in the Now, & seems quite happy about it $40 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 10 Merryvale St. Helena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa Valley): Tough for Cab to smell any purer, just needs a spring in its step. $95 A- >>find this wine<<
• 11 Frei Brothers Reserve Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel (Dry Creek Valley): Muscles will be flexed, dried herbs smelled, & jam devoured. $20 B >>find this wine<<
• 12 Clos Du Val Sauvignon Blanc (Napa Valley): About the only things missing from this tropical scene are the beach & the coconut tree $24 B+ >>find this wine<<
• NV Lallier Premier Cru Rose (Champagne): Well-bred, intelligent rich kid cranberries with unspoiled, down-to-earth, spunky attitudes. $44 B+ >>find this wine<<
• 11 Soho McQueen Pinot Noir (Central Otago): A slight misnomer; it's big, but much more nuanced than its Hollywood tough-guy namesake. $39 B+ >>find this wine<<