So it’s not just you – I really have been popping up all over the place lately.

In what was an odd but fun (there’s a fitting life summary, actually…) stretch for me, I was interviewed several times over the past several days, twice for radio (on WBAL’s The Sipping Point and The Wine Crush with Laura Lawson – embedded below for your listening pleasure, if you consider me rambling about eating insects pleasurable, that is), and my Wined Down column starting running in earnest on Playboy.com.

So if you’re not already sick of me, I thought I’d share some of the video content I’ve been producing for the Wines.com blog.

I’ve had a lot of (odd) fun with that video material, the settings of which have had me interacting with winemakers, 100+ year old vines, and large mountain-dwelling mammals (that last one – understandably – didn’t make the cut for the Wines.com blog, but can still be viewed on their YouTube channel).

Anyway, while I’m dealing with the insane logistics of a rapid turn-around from Colorado to touring a large part of the wine regions spanning Australia (more on that one when I get a chance to poke my on-line head out from Down Undah!), here’s a run-down of the vids I’ve published for them so far, in the hopes that you’ll find some enjoyment out of them (and give me your feedback!):

• Talking balanced wines with Raj Parr (at IPOB in NYC)
• Nuanced wines with Ornellaia winemaker Alex Heinz (at NYC’s EarsNova)
• Merlot Set For A Comeback? With Twomey & Silver Oak Winemaker Daniel Baron (at Daniel’s home in Napa Valley)
• Wine As Argicultrue, Not Romanticized Farming (filmed while feeding alpacas – yes, really)
• What Goes Into A Wine’s Retail Price? (filmed in one of Lodi’s oldest & most historic vineyard sites)
• Does Social Media Work In Selling Wine? (with the legendary Cathy Corison in Napa)
• Does Red Wine Really Cause Headaches? (hint: almost certainly if you drink enough to get hungover)
• Natural Wine “Explained” In About 5 Minutes

Wine Crush with Laura Lawson

Cheers!

Actually, it’s not social media and wine that I’m going to be talking about here – it’s social media and engagement. Engagement with actual people who actually spend their actual hard-earned cash for the purpose of drinking actual wine…

It’s taken a while for me to respond to this plea for me to lighten up when it comes to social media’s place in the wine world. The delay is mostly due to me having been on the road, and otherwise waiting for the Universe to present a pertinent example of what I was talking about (it didn’t take long – more on that in a minute or two).

I’m not lightening up. If anything, I think we all should be making more of a fuss over this stuff, not less.

The best responses I can give to any challenge on the power of engagement in the wine world come from my own experiences. So let me talk to wine producers directly here for a minute or two (…or fifty), and share some of those experiences with them. It will sound harsh at times, but that’s because I keep hearing arguments that are the equivalent of telling me that my experiences didn’t happen, and I’m not a psychotic (at least, not yet) so there’s definitely something a bit screwed up here. And most of what I’m saying is not unique – it’s been said by others, I’m just culling many of the points together.

For those that don’t want to wade through the damn-near 1800 words that follow, the bottom line is this: if you are producing wine, and in this day and age you are letting someone like me (or any critic) dictate the majority of your brand message to current and potential customers in online engagement channels (twitter, facebook, etc.), then you need to audition for a Jim Henson Company project, because you’re acting like a Muppet…

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Apologies in advance if this video gets preachy or pedantic, but I’ve gotten a lot of questions from wine bloggers lately about how to increase following and engagement, and openly asked recently via twitter and facebook if this info. would be helpful to others (almost unanimously the answer was "Yes").  This is what has worked for me, your mileage may vary. So I hope you’ll take it as a sort-of “tough-luv” bit of well-meant advice, and let me (and everyone else!) know your thoughts!

Cheers!

Yep. Really.

I’m crazy excited to tell you that I will soon be authoring a freelance wine column on Playboy.com.

So now you have some legitimacy behind the “I’m just going there for the articles, honey!” excuse (you’re welcome!).

The folks behind Playboy.com reached out to me many moons ago, and the whole thing has been even many more moons in the making, so I’m thrilled to be able to get started – and humbled and honored by the opportunity to work with such an amazing brand. I don’t know how long this gig will last, and the column doesn’t have an official name yet (please shout out your ideas in the comments – I’ve got a feeling those will be very entertaining!), but we have some great ideas for content, which naturally will be exploring the more sensual sides of wine.

Now, I’ve never featured beautiful nude women on 1WineDude.com (though I’ve come close!), but I suppose you could say that there’s a bit of “spiritual alignment” in my writing style and the serious-but-accessible-and-slightly-irreverent take on the subject of wine that Playboy.com was looking for. To me, it’s a bit like Forbes.com bringing on Jeff Lefevre’s smart, analytical writing style, or how the populist, grounded voice of Vinography’s Alder Yarrow fits in so well with JancisRobinson.com. So you can add one more name to the list of home-grown wine bloggers being tapped by long-standing on-line brands.

There are a few things you probably should know about this Playboy.com gig…

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