Posts from — April 2008

I came across this article a ways back and wanted to come back to it today, Earth Day, the day where we all think a little harder about our impact on this planet…I think this is a great concept but of course not really viable for world wide wine distribution…or is it? 1800’s ship hauls 60,000 bottles of wine from France to Ireland…..

I ran across an article briefly describing a new packaging for wine. WineSide, from France, is apparently producing “test tube” sample sizes for wine. The sizes offered are 6cl for whites and 10cl for reds which for us non-metrics, means about 2 to 3.5 ounces. Although these packages are not a full glass size yet, they do provide enough wine (more than you might get in a tasting room) to know if you would like to buy more. I foresee the application of these new micro-bottles of wine to be far reaching.

Firstly, shipping five samples of five different wines to try would be a cinch and cost effective. A customer could choose a sample pack before making a larger wine purchase to ensure they will like the wines. The cost of shipping the samples would probably be in the five dollar neighbor hood, (if the $3 adult signature fee was waived) and a seller would sell them for cheap hoping to convert a larger volume sale of wine after the customer tries the wine.

Secondly, these “wine tubes” could be the wine industry’s solution to the “problematics” of the 750 ml bottle. When you and your significant other crack a bottle of wine, you are making a commitment to four large glasses of the same wine. Yeah, you can “save” it sometimes with vacuum sealing gadgets and what not and crack another bottle to try something else in the same sitting, but what a pain in the ass! When you want a beer, you crack A beer, and you don’t have to drink a whole six pack. I imagine these little tubes could carry a chicness to them that a wine bottle brings but you could for example start the evening with a glass of Columbia Valley Rieslng, move to a Willamette Valley Pinot, and end with a rich, steak suiting, Napa Cabernet. You could have three seperate glasses from three separate wineries,regions and varietals, no spoilage and each bottle was just as fresh as the next! Other attempts have been made to deal with this issue such as canned single pack sparkling wine, or small little gallo bottles but these tubes are sexy enough to catch on! What do you think?

Single Serve bottles, Canned Sparkling Wine, and Boxed Wine, alternatives to the 750 ml

Alright so there are a bazillion wine community sites out there and many more probably being developed. Here is a brief accounting of the ones I’ve comes across so far:

Corkd.com, OpenWineConsortium.org, OpenBottles.com, WineChatr.com, Vinorati.com, Winelog.net, Snooth.com and the list will go on for a quite a bit longer if i had the patience to hunt them all down.

Now these sites are pretty good however, I have never been sucked into any of them and I am a community guru in my opinion. The reason none of these sites will explode with users is because they are all too focused at any one type of wine drinker or age group, in this already niched group….the wine drinking group. Whether the site is too focused on the millennials (corkd.com needs to remember what happened to Wine X magazine) and distanced from baby boomers, or the sites are catering to only buyers and not the hardcore reviewers these sites will have a short life span.

Thus this last week I have taken my stab at the Wine 2.0 scene and launched WineSocial.com (I have already built a solid consumer and winery community at AmericanWinery.com, but this takes shape as an “Amazon” like community, and my attempt is to build a “Facebook-ish” community based on social interactions.)

With WineSocial.com I will build a community that encompasses many aspects of the industry, from winemakers to vineyard managers, and casual tasters to Robert Parker wannabes, WineSocial.com will become a hub for many types of wine drinkers looking for many different things, give me two years I expect catching some criticism for this endeavor but I feel that the folks attempting to build wine community sites have missed the boat in many areas. Im not going to go much further into it, just signup and have a good time!!!

Sign Up Here: WineSocial.com!

Lloyd

Next Wednesday I am off to San Francisco for Wine 2.0, this will be my second year in attendance and I am as stoked as ever about this event. This year over 200 leaders in the web and wine sphere will rendezvous for what will sure to be a banging time. Last years highlights were panel discussions from top leaders succeeding on the web with their current wine tech ventures. Panelists included Cameron Hughes, CEO Cameron Hughes Wine, Gary Vaynerchuk, Star of Wine Library TV, Michael Brill, Founder of CrushPad, and many others.

This years venue is being held at CrushPad and the event will be without the panel, and will take shape as a more informal networking party. This year there will venture capitalist groups in attendance making the event a possible opportunity for newer companies to score some funds. I look forward to this event for so many reasons. Firstly it gives me the opportunity to connect with many folks in the industry that I dont see nealy often enough due to the fact my company is based in Walla Walla, WA and most of these companies are located in SF or Napa. Secondly this trip allows me to see what developments are being made on all fronts in this industry. Last year I took so many insights back to WW with me that directly turned into features and service on AmericanWinery.com, ultimately benefiting my winery partners. Wineries are encouraged to attend this event.

AmericanWinery.com is a proud sponsor of this event.

For more information and registration info go to www.winetwo.com

WHEN:
Thursday
April 24th
7pm - 10pm

WHERE:
Crushpad, Inc.
2573 3rd Street
San Francisco, CA 94107
DIRECTIONS

Lloyd | lloyd@americanwinery.com

Golden Crisp Colors

Nose: Warm fresh bread layer (pleasant yeast component), green apple, very light mineral aromaFeel: Light bubbles, pleasant contrast to those explosive bubblers who ravage your palate into smithereens. medium weight on the tongue, nice sour sweet balance.

Flavors: Green apple, oyster shell, and a little bleu cheese component, mid palate. Finish turns sweet.

Overall: Very nice bubbler that would actually pair well with food. Balanced acidity and sweetness. Bubbles are not explosive which is nice. I drank room temp and was quite pleased with what i tasted.

89 points | Lloyd