We get asked for recommendations on which competitions and industry events our off-shore clients should participate in and attend, so I've compiled a list with some of the key dates and links. These are posted roughly in order of their deadlines or event dates.
-NY Wine Expo: Feb. 26-28 at the Jacob Javitz center (I'll be there)
-South Beach Wine and Food Festival Event Feb. 25-28, 2010
-San Francisco Wine and Spirits Competition
Event Mar 13-14. Deadline for entries Feb. 19
-Ultimate Spirit Challenge (judging takes place March 1-3 in NY, and Ultimate Cocktail Challenge (judging takes place April 12-14 at Astor Center in NY but entry deadline is Feb. 15. These are two new events which split from the SFWSC. They represent a new concept in spirit review methodologies and also a new contest specifically dedicated not just to spirits but the cocktails that are made with them.
-BTI Eastern European wines deadline March 25.
-Wine and Spirits Wholesaler Assn. WSWA takes place April 6-8 in Las Vegas Nevada. This used to be an "old boy networking" event but has evolved in the last few years to be more egalitarian. The exhibit floor used to be a minor adjuinct but now has become much more significant. It's not the answer for exporters looking to find importers in the U.S., but it's a good start.
-Winery and Wine Distribution Law: April 29,30, Inn on the Lake, Canandaigua, NY. This is the third of these beverage alcohol law seminars hosted by Nixon Peabody that I've spoken at. They attract a stellar list of attendees and speakers including Craig Wolf of WSWA, a senior staffer at TTB, Ted Jansen of Inertia Beverage, Bill Tomaszewski of Wine.com, Jason Eckenroth of Ship Compliant, and hosts Vince O'Brien of NP and Ron Fondiller General Counsel for Constellation Brands. A lot of what will be presented at this event will focus on the issues surrounding direct shipping.
-Manhattan Cocktail Classic: Takes place May 14-18 New York. This is also a new event backed by some major names in the US spirit business including Dale DeGroff, Simon Ford, Doug Frost, Allen Katz, Steven Olson, Paul Pacult, Sasha Petraske, Gary Regan, Julie Reiner, Audrey Saunders, Andy Seymour, Charlotte Voisey and the man with the Civil War-era beard David Wondrich. They had a “test” launch of the event in the fall that was well represented by spirits suppliers and the may event is eagerly awaited by the cocktail community.
-Ultimate Wine Challenge Deadline for entries May 25, Event June 7-11, New York
-Aspen Food and Wine Classic This event is an interesting blend of consumer and trade participants, but you have to be an advertiser in Food and Wine Magazine to be an exhibitor. Aspen, CO, June 18-10, 2010.
-US Wine Bloggers Conference June 25-27, Walla Walla WA. I'll be there this year, but was unable to attend the first two. I heard some very good things about the USWBC as well as its European Counterpart.
-Fancy Food Show Event dates for NY: June 27-29, 2010 and San Francisco, Jan 2011
-Tales of the Cocktail: Tales is the Grand-daddy of cocktail events and the one that defined and democratized spirits well before social media became cool. Unfortunately I've not been invited to speak this year (but I'm available!) and will be joined by my daughter Lindsay who's now a very successful Brand Ambassador for Mekhong, The spirit of Thailand working the Meatpacking district in New York for them.
-BTI World Value Wine Review for wines under $20 deadline is Aug. 6.
-US Drinks Conference Oct. 12/13, 2010 in NY. (Full transparency...we are the organizers of the USDC) This will be the fourth year of the conference and last year we attracted 160+ delegates from 11 countries...we're hoping for 250 next year, so please pass this on.
-European Wine Bloggers Conference Vienna Austria, Oct. 22-24 (and sponsored by our client the Austrian Wine Marketing Board! Thanks to Susanne Staggl and Willi Klinger for hosting the event.!) I plan to be there and look forward to meeting my blogger friends from Europe.
-NY Wine Experience (M.Shanken Publications)
NY: Oct. 28-30, 2010
-Miami International Wine Fair
Oct. 16-20, 2010
-BTI Wine Packaging Competition (takes place Dec. 29, 2010)
-BTI Spirits packaging contest takes place Dec. 30, 2010
-Boston Wine Expo Jan. 2011, Boston, MA
-BTI Spirit review schedule covers all categories which have various deadlines throughout the year.
-BTI Wine review schedule runs throughout the year for various regions, countries and wine types
Sphere: Related Content
Friday, February 12, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Virtual Vino Seminar at Vino 2010
Wow! I’ve had some time to reflect on Thursday’s panel “Virtual Vino” at the Italian Trade Commission’s Vino 2010 event. It was standing room only and great to see so many familiar faces in the audience. The feedback we got was extremely positive and clearly reinforced just how important…and controversial…social media is in the U.S. wine market.
With only two hours for presentations and discussions, it was a pretty big subject to cover, so we were really able to only touch on some of the more “sensitive” issues. The overriding theme centered around the implications of the democratization of information created by this thing known World Wide Web or informally as the Wild Wild West.
Fred Plotkin asked the first audience question which led us right into the conundrum of how blogging is impacting traditional journalism and where the line demarcating fact from opinion lies.
I’ve been thinking about all the ramifications of Fred’s question which initially centered on the idea that “authenticity” was a critical issue to Millennials. He asked how I defined the word. And as I’ve had the chance to cogitate on it I realize there are two definitions that need to be addressed individually. One is in regard to authenticity as “honesty”, and that is more a function of voice of the writer/blogger. The second relates to authenticity as “truth”: facts and disclosure about the source of the content.
As to the writer’s voice, the conversation at the seminar revolved around the subjectivity of wine criticism and review. Your “notes of tobacco, tar and leather” may be someone else’s “bold, assertive and ripe fruit.” No one is “right” and a numerical rating scale is inherently flawed in that it presupposes the reviewer is comparing all wines against the same set of criteria. There’s been a lot of discussion on wine blogs about evaluations focusing more on a scale of “I like it” to “I hate it”. It’s perhaps more of a useful way to rank (not rate) the personal appeal of all wines against what is inherently a complex of personal opinions. At the end of the day, a Parker 94 and a 1WineDude “I really liked Wine A better than Wine B” are equally useful. The former more so from a commercial perspective and the retail price elite wines can command in the marketplace, the latter because I’ve found from personal experience that Joe Roberts and I share similar preferences in wine. (but Joe's opinion is free, Parker's you have to pay for)
Regarding facts and disclosure, the operative word is transparency. The FTC has mandated that bloggers must disclose the source of samples. (Interestingly, traditional journalists are not held to the same standards.) Many if not most bloggers have been doing this routinely anyway. But it came to a head with Tyler Colman’s (aka Dr. Vino) outing of Robert Parker and The Wine Advocate’s inconsistency in enforcing its own policies on samples and trips. The original post thread begins here and there is also a good summary published on Slate by Mike Steinberger. My personal opinion is that we will look back on Tyler’s post as being the point at which the influence of established wine critics and journalists crossed with the influence of the online world. And let me be perfectly clear here. It may have seemed that the whole seminar was saying that Andy Blue's self-described dinosaurs are going extinct, but that's not what we were saying at all. The point was the internet has created a new medium that enables regular folks to weigh in, and an audience that respects those opinions more highly than the traditional journalists. The very real problem faced by many traditional writers is how to get compensated for those skills and services they've honed over the years when arriviste bloggers don't expect to make money at all.
I’ll be writing more on this in my next post, but wanted to get this up in response to requests for access to the video archive of the session. http://bit.ly/9jXwou For those who want to see the slides I presented, they can be found here: http://bit.ly/bBm6hG. The Vintank report on Social Media in the Wine Industry, Tyler’s original post on the Robert Parker Kerfuffle and Mike Steinberger’s summary of the hoo-haw Dr. Vino created at http://www.slate.com/id/2229518/pagenum/all/ Sphere: Related Content
vino10 on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free
With only two hours for presentations and discussions, it was a pretty big subject to cover, so we were really able to only touch on some of the more “sensitive” issues. The overriding theme centered around the implications of the democratization of information created by this thing known World Wide Web or informally as the Wild Wild West.
Fred Plotkin asked the first audience question which led us right into the conundrum of how blogging is impacting traditional journalism and where the line demarcating fact from opinion lies.
I’ve been thinking about all the ramifications of Fred’s question which initially centered on the idea that “authenticity” was a critical issue to Millennials. He asked how I defined the word. And as I’ve had the chance to cogitate on it I realize there are two definitions that need to be addressed individually. One is in regard to authenticity as “honesty”, and that is more a function of voice of the writer/blogger. The second relates to authenticity as “truth”: facts and disclosure about the source of the content.
As to the writer’s voice, the conversation at the seminar revolved around the subjectivity of wine criticism and review. Your “notes of tobacco, tar and leather” may be someone else’s “bold, assertive and ripe fruit.” No one is “right” and a numerical rating scale is inherently flawed in that it presupposes the reviewer is comparing all wines against the same set of criteria. There’s been a lot of discussion on wine blogs about evaluations focusing more on a scale of “I like it” to “I hate it”. It’s perhaps more of a useful way to rank (not rate) the personal appeal of all wines against what is inherently a complex of personal opinions. At the end of the day, a Parker 94 and a 1WineDude “I really liked Wine A better than Wine B” are equally useful. The former more so from a commercial perspective and the retail price elite wines can command in the marketplace, the latter because I’ve found from personal experience that Joe Roberts and I share similar preferences in wine. (but Joe's opinion is free, Parker's you have to pay for)
Regarding facts and disclosure, the operative word is transparency. The FTC has mandated that bloggers must disclose the source of samples. (Interestingly, traditional journalists are not held to the same standards.) Many if not most bloggers have been doing this routinely anyway. But it came to a head with Tyler Colman’s (aka Dr. Vino) outing of Robert Parker and The Wine Advocate’s inconsistency in enforcing its own policies on samples and trips. The original post thread begins here and there is also a good summary published on Slate by Mike Steinberger. My personal opinion is that we will look back on Tyler’s post as being the point at which the influence of established wine critics and journalists crossed with the influence of the online world. And let me be perfectly clear here. It may have seemed that the whole seminar was saying that Andy Blue's self-described dinosaurs are going extinct, but that's not what we were saying at all. The point was the internet has created a new medium that enables regular folks to weigh in, and an audience that respects those opinions more highly than the traditional journalists. The very real problem faced by many traditional writers is how to get compensated for those skills and services they've honed over the years when arriviste bloggers don't expect to make money at all.
I’ll be writing more on this in my next post, but wanted to get this up in response to requests for access to the video archive of the session. http://bit.ly/9jXwou For those who want to see the slides I presented, they can be found here: http://bit.ly/bBm6hG. The Vintank report on Social Media in the Wine Industry, Tyler’s original post on the Robert Parker Kerfuffle and Mike Steinberger’s summary of the hoo-haw Dr. Vino created at http://www.slate.com/id/2229518/pagenum/all/ Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Vino 2010: Panel Discussion on Marketing to Millennials
The Italian Trade Commission is bringing the wines of the Veneto, Calabria, Puglia and Tuscany to the Big Apple this week via Vino 2010. I’ll be speaking on a panel moderated by Anthony Dias Blue (author, editor of Tasting Panel Magazine, San Francisco Wine and Spirits Comp, and wine and food personality) alongside Susannah Gold of Vigneto Comms., Susanna Crociani of her family’s eponymous winery in Siena, Doug Cook of Able Grape and Alder Yarrow, author of Vinography, arguably the oldest wine blog in the world. The focus of the panel is “Millennials, social media and technology's seductive appeal, and its growing role in reaching, informing, entertaining tomorrow's Italian wine drinking customers.”
The bad news is if you haven’t reserved a seat, the session is sold out. But the good news is, the ITC folks will be video streaming the session on the Vino 2010 website. And true to the title of the session, viewers will be able to interact with the panel by tweeting questions and comments to @vino2010 or @JRvino2010. (You can also tweet me @Stevenraye)
I’m still fine tuning my intro but will be presenting data on who the Millennials are, how they’re different from prior wine-consuming generations and how to engage with them using the new tools of social media.
(The pic is of me in Pompeii at one of the many "wine bars" in the city that set the fashions for Imperial Rome...Falernum anyone?)
The real fun will be the conversation and questions that follow the panelists’ opening comments. Joe Roberts of 1WineDude called Andy out on comments he made about the legitimacy of bloggers in the July 2009 issue of Tasting Panel Magazine:
“And who are these bloggers anyway and, more important, what is their motivation? It would be comforting to find that they are altruistic wine lovers who see their purpose as bringing insight and valuable information to like-minded consumers. But the image that presents itself is of bitter, carping gadflies who, as they stare into their computer screens and contemplate their dreary day jobs, let their resentment and sense of personal failure take shape as vicious attacks on the established critical media.”
Never content to leave well enough alone, Joe posted AGAIN with a great title: “Guy who possibly hates wine blogging to give talk on Wine Blogging at Vino 2010”
Inflammatory? Yes, but that’s what sets up a good panel discussion. I expect that Andy’s vitriol may have been tempered by time (hey, 6 months in Internet time is an eternity) and I look forward to hearing him squizzle out of this one.
To be fair, I spoke to Andy about his POV and it was more a function of contrasting blogging with traditional journalism where editorial review, fact checking and “journalistic integrity” have a history as a profession. I was a communications major in college and while I never had a "legit" journalism job, coming from the school where Strunk and White taught and wrote their little book I take the subject very seriously.
So much so that I organized a Wine and Spirit Blogger summit last year. We gathered some of the top thought leaders from both the wine and spirit blogosphere to explore why there is such a dichotomy in philosophy and practice between the spirits and wine folks and what each group could learn from the other. What came out quite clearly was that the spirit folks actively court involvement and engagement with brands and their PR agencies. In contrast, the wine bloggers are more likely to publish their angst about integrity, transparency, bias (both real and implied) and whether its ok to accept samples or trips. The net result of the summit wasn’t what I had hoped, but it did highlight the dramatic and one might say polarizing difference between the two categories.
So back to Vino 2010…if you’re at all interested in this subject, then I think you’ll find the conversation on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 10AM EST interesting and enlightening. You can access the video stream somewhere on the Vino 2010 site (I’ll post a direct link if I can get the exact URL). And do please participate in the discussion by contributing your questions via Twitter. Sphere: Related Content
The bad news is if you haven’t reserved a seat, the session is sold out. But the good news is, the ITC folks will be video streaming the session on the Vino 2010 website. And true to the title of the session, viewers will be able to interact with the panel by tweeting questions and comments to @vino2010 or @JRvino2010. (You can also tweet me @Stevenraye)
I’m still fine tuning my intro but will be presenting data on who the Millennials are, how they’re different from prior wine-consuming generations and how to engage with them using the new tools of social media.
(The pic is of me in Pompeii at one of the many "wine bars" in the city that set the fashions for Imperial Rome...Falernum anyone?) The real fun will be the conversation and questions that follow the panelists’ opening comments. Joe Roberts of 1WineDude called Andy out on comments he made about the legitimacy of bloggers in the July 2009 issue of Tasting Panel Magazine:
“And who are these bloggers anyway and, more important, what is their motivation? It would be comforting to find that they are altruistic wine lovers who see their purpose as bringing insight and valuable information to like-minded consumers. But the image that presents itself is of bitter, carping gadflies who, as they stare into their computer screens and contemplate their dreary day jobs, let their resentment and sense of personal failure take shape as vicious attacks on the established critical media.”
Never content to leave well enough alone, Joe posted AGAIN with a great title: “Guy who possibly hates wine blogging to give talk on Wine Blogging at Vino 2010”
Inflammatory? Yes, but that’s what sets up a good panel discussion. I expect that Andy’s vitriol may have been tempered by time (hey, 6 months in Internet time is an eternity) and I look forward to hearing him squizzle out of this one.
To be fair, I spoke to Andy about his POV and it was more a function of contrasting blogging with traditional journalism where editorial review, fact checking and “journalistic integrity” have a history as a profession. I was a communications major in college and while I never had a "legit" journalism job, coming from the school where Strunk and White taught and wrote their little book I take the subject very seriously.
So much so that I organized a Wine and Spirit Blogger summit last year. We gathered some of the top thought leaders from both the wine and spirit blogosphere to explore why there is such a dichotomy in philosophy and practice between the spirits and wine folks and what each group could learn from the other. What came out quite clearly was that the spirit folks actively court involvement and engagement with brands and their PR agencies. In contrast, the wine bloggers are more likely to publish their angst about integrity, transparency, bias (both real and implied) and whether its ok to accept samples or trips. The net result of the summit wasn’t what I had hoped, but it did highlight the dramatic and one might say polarizing difference between the two categories.
So back to Vino 2010…if you’re at all interested in this subject, then I think you’ll find the conversation on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 10AM EST interesting and enlightening. You can access the video stream somewhere on the Vino 2010 site (I’ll post a direct link if I can get the exact URL). And do please participate in the discussion by contributing your questions via Twitter. Sphere: Related Content
Snooth.com
Constance Chamberlain and I attended the CT Wine Expo at the Mohegan Sun Casino this weekend and had the chance to meet up with Gregory Dal Piaz, editor-in-chief at Snooth. 
We covered a lot of ground but the topline takeaway was that we're seeing continued convergence in wine websites. Snooth still has a major function as a shopping comparison search engine for wines. But their goal is to be much broader than that and to provide a wide range of content on regions, varietals,food and wine, wine tourism and of course ratings. Much of this content will be user generated, but unlike Wikipedia, subject to gatekeeping by the editorial folks both on staff at Snooth and via volunteer curators.
Constance offered to curate the Austrian section and we're waiting for Greg's formal OK on that.
To illustrate the convergence factor, you can link an account at Snooth, (and I would assume Wine Searcher and WineZap) to your twitter and facebook accounts. Sphere: Related Content
We covered a lot of ground but the topline takeaway was that we're seeing continued convergence in wine websites. Snooth still has a major function as a shopping comparison search engine for wines. But their goal is to be much broader than that and to provide a wide range of content on regions, varietals,food and wine, wine tourism and of course ratings. Much of this content will be user generated, but unlike Wikipedia, subject to gatekeeping by the editorial folks both on staff at Snooth and via volunteer curators.
Constance offered to curate the Austrian section and we're waiting for Greg's formal OK on that.
To illustrate the convergence factor, you can link an account at Snooth, (and I would assume Wine Searcher and WineZap) to your twitter and facebook accounts. Sphere: Related Content
Friday, January 22, 2010
U.S. Drinks Conference Redux
We had the pleasure of reprising the U.S. Drinks Conference for a trade delegation from Eastern Europe this week. The U.S. Commerce Department's International Trade Administration invited us to present a distilled (or should I say fermented) version of the conference to winery representatives from Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia
under the SABIT program. And if you can't put your finger on just where Moldova is, this map may help.
Only a few of the delegates spoke English so we had two interpreters who do simultaneous translation. That's a pretty intense task so they needed two to pass the baton every 10 minutes.
It was pretty hard to tell how well the audience were absorbing the arcana of the U.S.'s "Three Tier System", but the feedback we got from Tanner Johnson who coordinated the event (and was behind the lens in this photo)was that it was well received.
Mike Ginley of Next Level and John Beaudette of MHW did their usually brilliant job of putting things in perspective and I covered allocating marketing resources and also an overview of social media marketing. It was fun trying to explain Twitter and Facebook to someone unfamiliar with them. But my intro slide talks about Social Media having replaced porn as the #1 activity on the web, and that if Facebook were a country it would be the fourth largest in the world. So they might not have gotten the concept of why anyone would "Tweet", they did understand the scale of impact social media is having on consumers.
For any of my readers who will be going to Vino 2010 next week in NY, I'll be on a panel discussion on marketing wine to millennials moderated by Anthony Dias Blue with fellow panelists Kevin Zraly, Alder Yarrow, Susannah York and Doug Cook. Sphere: Related Content
under the SABIT program. And if you can't put your finger on just where Moldova is, this map may help.Only a few of the delegates spoke English so we had two interpreters who do simultaneous translation. That's a pretty intense task so they needed two to pass the baton every 10 minutes.
It was pretty hard to tell how well the audience were absorbing the arcana of the U.S.'s "Three Tier System", but the feedback we got from Tanner Johnson who coordinated the event (and was behind the lens in this photo)was that it was well received.
Mike Ginley of Next Level and John Beaudette of MHW did their usually brilliant job of putting things in perspective and I covered allocating marketing resources and also an overview of social media marketing. It was fun trying to explain Twitter and Facebook to someone unfamiliar with them. But my intro slide talks about Social Media having replaced porn as the #1 activity on the web, and that if Facebook were a country it would be the fourth largest in the world. So they might not have gotten the concept of why anyone would "Tweet", they did understand the scale of impact social media is having on consumers.
For any of my readers who will be going to Vino 2010 next week in NY, I'll be on a panel discussion on marketing wine to millennials moderated by Anthony Dias Blue with fellow panelists Kevin Zraly, Alder Yarrow, Susannah York and Doug Cook. Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Are These The Best Salespeople on Earth?
Having visited the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul the week before Christmas, I’ve got myself convinced that these are the best salespeople on the planet. Granted they’ve had over 500 years to hone their craft, but these guys are GOOD. They’ve got the basics of good salesmanship covered…never ask a closed end yes/no question, learn about the prospects needs so you can personalize the pitch etc. But these guys have taken a skill and turned it into an art form.
Anywhere else in the world, if you make eye contact, they’ve got you. Here, they almost assault you from all sides before you can even look around…”you American?”, “Here, come to my shop, it’s very near,” “Of course you’re in Istanbul to buy a rug, some come see the best.” But assault is probably the wrong word…it may feel that way to a Westerner initially, but you’ll find out pretty quickly it’s more of a personal invitation. Courtesy according to the guidebooks, dictates that if they do get you, you have to go to their shop, have some tea and small talk and then get down to the important business of the day… home décor. It’s not an unpleasant experience but the concept of “NO” has no meaning other than, “you haven’t addressed my real need yet.”
Still and all, visiting the Bazaar is a real trip, it’s well organized chaos and if you’ve been there you know the oxymoron makes sense. There are sections dedicated to category…leather, rugs, silver, gold, antiques and street maps with vendor locations are available. In fact, the streets in the Bazaar are better marked than many cities I’ve been in.
A funny thing happens when you sit down for a cup of tea, or better yet, Turkish Coffee (which I was humored to find out was called “Greek Coffee” in Greece). Nobody bugs you. It’s like there’s this unwritten rule that if you’re on the move you’re fair game. But if you’re eating or drinking, then your personal space is inviolate. And while there are Starbucks and Gloria Jean’s all over the city, there are none in the Bazaar and that means….no cardboard “Go cups”. If you’re going to have coffee you have sit down, relax, engage in conversation (and smoke…everybody smokes everywhere there). It is very civilized approach I think. Sphere: Related Content
Anywhere else in the world, if you make eye contact, they’ve got you. Here, they almost assault you from all sides before you can even look around…”you American?”, “Here, come to my shop, it’s very near,” “Of course you’re in Istanbul to buy a rug, some come see the best.” But assault is probably the wrong word…it may feel that way to a Westerner initially, but you’ll find out pretty quickly it’s more of a personal invitation. Courtesy according to the guidebooks, dictates that if they do get you, you have to go to their shop, have some tea and small talk and then get down to the important business of the day… home décor. It’s not an unpleasant experience but the concept of “NO” has no meaning other than, “you haven’t addressed my real need yet.”
Still and all, visiting the Bazaar is a real trip, it’s well organized chaos and if you’ve been there you know the oxymoron makes sense. There are sections dedicated to category…leather, rugs, silver, gold, antiques and street maps with vendor locations are available. In fact, the streets in the Bazaar are better marked than many cities I’ve been in.
A funny thing happens when you sit down for a cup of tea, or better yet, Turkish Coffee (which I was humored to find out was called “Greek Coffee” in Greece). Nobody bugs you. It’s like there’s this unwritten rule that if you’re on the move you’re fair game. But if you’re eating or drinking, then your personal space is inviolate. And while there are Starbucks and Gloria Jean’s all over the city, there are none in the Bazaar and that means….no cardboard “Go cups”. If you’re going to have coffee you have sit down, relax, engage in conversation (and smoke…everybody smokes everywhere there). It is very civilized approach I think. Sphere: Related Content
Friday, November 20, 2009
Report of Twitter's Death is Highly Exagerated
E-marketer just issued a report showing continued declines in Twitter "numbers" and a whole lot of folks are mistakenly saying "I told you so." But dig a little deeper and the real insight appears. 
Twitter users are continuing to grow rapidly to an estimated 26 million or 15% of the internet population. That's huge!
What's happening is that people are accessing Twitter through channels that ComScore and Nielsen don't count...mobile phones in particular, but also third party apps like Ping.fm...43% according to Crowd Science. Sphere: Related Content
Twitter users are continuing to grow rapidly to an estimated 26 million or 15% of the internet population. That's huge!
What's happening is that people are accessing Twitter through channels that ComScore and Nielsen don't count...mobile phones in particular, but also third party apps like Ping.fm...43% according to Crowd Science. Sphere: Related Content
Friday, November 13, 2009
Ryan Opaz's Speech at Winefuture Conference
Great speech by Ryan Opaz at the Winefuture conference taking place right now in Rioja. I couldn't agree more with everything he says. Here's the link to Catavino: www.catavino.com
When Robert Parker first started his newsletter in 1978, no one believed that an amateur outside the wine world could say anything worth listening to about wine. Then 1982 happened in Bordeaux, and Parker won the day. I may be simplifying a bit, but what he was responding to at the time was a problem in the fine wine trade with conflicts of interest and unscrupulous salesmen hawking plonk with fine wine labels attached. At the time the wine industry needed a shake up. It needed someone to step up and speak for the budding wine consuming public who wanted to understand and trust in the wine they purchased.
Using the simplest and cheapest method he had at the time to publish content with, he took a $2000 loan from his mother and a mimeograph machine with which he published the first issue of what we know today as the Wine Advocate. Struggling to find subscribers and make a living at it, his early days draw stunning parallels with today’s new wine media.
Today things again need a shakeup. For the past decades the everyday consumer has been ignored. I’m not talking about the high end or even weekend wine geek, but rather the consumer who likes wine, wants a better bottle and could give a shit if the wine has terroir or 90+ points. They want to enjoy the wine for what it is, social lubricant, and while in some cases this may lead to a new wine geek in training, it most likely leads to some sort of brand, or grape loyalty by an individual looking to unwind after a long days work.
The problem is retailers, importers, and the press were all trying to sell the same package of BS that you need to “know wine” to love wine. It’s the teach first drink later model, which I believe leads too often to consumers afraid that they might do something wrong, and as a result they end up simply buying based on price and what the label looks like. Why, because they are the only things not trying to tell them that they aren’t smart enough to enjoy wine. They were the only indicators of possible quality other than the advertisement hanging around the neck saying so and so thinks this wine tastes like some number.
Today things have begun to change. The consumer has choices, or is starting to, and the internet is bringing us these choices. Gary Vaynerchuck is one of these choices. I constantly hear wine professionals talk about how they can’t stand to listen to him, and they wonder if he knows what he’s talking about. “How can anyone listen to him scream like that?” is the common refrain. Truth is he could care less. We “the wine geeks” are not his audience. We have no value to him. We are observers, jealous that we didn’t see the millions of weekend wine drinkers who were looking for a new voice. Gary found those who didn’t care about wine in any significant way other than to know if it went with their pasta, or if they could woo the women that they were bringing home that night. He speaks their language, one that puts wine in the middle of life and does not try to separate it out.
What is happening now is incredible to watch, these weekend wine warriors, are beginning to care. They are beginning to listen, but they do it without the silly tasting terms that we traditionalists espouse. They do it in a way that makes sense to them and that they can relate to. They own this new conversation, and the internet is facilitating it. Yes there is crossover with the world of us self professed “geeks” but that is simply the grey areas you see in any discipline, where amateur becomes devotee. In the end these consumers now are talking about wine and buying wines, and are doing it with the tools they use to communicate within their social circles everyday.
Facebook, once a college meet up site, is now a place where brands are being built. Individuals can become “fans” of brands, and create groups for their favorite grapes. On the other hand Twitter, a seemingly ridiculous idea, 140 characters about what you are doing, has become a nexus point for sparking conversations and new ideas, not to mention a place where information about what wine to buy tonight is being searched out. No matter what you think of it, it is powerful, and important. (Photo from by vivancowineculture)
While in another more recognizable form for many of us we have Social tasting note sites like Adegga and Cellartracker which are allowing consumers to share online what wines they own and to see what their friends are drinking. These Social tasting notes are even more powerful when you look at the way that Google indexes them. Often times a wine searched for on Google leads a consumer to a social tasting note site, before they find the winery website for the wine (if it exists at all).
These simple internet based tools and networks are making significant waves in the wine world, and they are only now in their infancy? Take for example the AVIN a unique code attached to every wine in the world, similar to the ISBN for books. Today it is being converted to an open source project so that the whole wine industry can benefit from it’s utility and contribute to its success. A lot of people laugh at these online tools but it reminds me of a quote I found online: “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” This was Western Unions response to the telephones invention.
Ironically similar statements are being made about blogging today. The truth is that we are seeing the fading away of yesterdays’ tools of communication, giving way to a new way of looking at wine:
Today we again see the future.
Like before when people said Parker would never get anywhere, we hear the same voices today about blogging. So many misconceptions and falsehoods surround the world of blogging that I could spend the next two days dispelling them, and still not finish. This past week in Lisbon 120 bloggers, or “want to be bloggers” gathered for 3 days to talk about wine, the internet, and to taste and discuss wine. The line was blurred with mainstream reporters, pure bloggers, wineries, and PR types, all trying to learn more about this growing world. The reality is that blogs are today’s mimeographs, and even though anyone can start one, it takes talent and effort to make one work. There maybe thousands of blogs, but only a few that work hard enough to shine. It’s also true that we might not like what they are all saying, but how is this any different from today’s media where every town has multiple newspapers with contrasting loyalties. Smart brands will realize this, and are beginning to pay closer attention to them.
This is the future, some may even say the present. Go ahead stick your head in the sand, pretend it’s a silly fad and that it is just a “phase”. Truth is whatever the look of wine communication is in the coming years, it will be different from todays. Your choice is either to adapt and take advantage of the opportunities it offers, or you can sit there and complain, and let it pass you by.
Today’s consumers have voices. The internet have given them voices, And these voices are not your competitors or enemies, but rather clients, readers, buyers, and sometimes new friends.
Our job as wine writers and educators today is to make sure that these consumers are given good information and an opportunity to learn more.
Our job as wine producers and marketers is to learn how these new tools work so that you can join in the conversations that are going on. The conversations going on today are everywhere. Before these conversations stayed in peoples homes, at parties, in the bar down the street, spreading ignorance and falsehoods without a way to measure their influence, or a way to correct them. Today these conversations are online. They are searchable, they are contextual, they are everywhere. But most importantly they are offering you a chance to join in.
But the real truth is that the consumer is tomorrows critic. And in the end if they don’t know where Tempranillo comes from it doesn’t matter, they do know whether or not they like the wine. As a group they have an aggregated voice that is powerful and broad. These consumers may never be the educated WINE GEEKS we all wish they were, but they will be the ones to buy your products, and share their thoughts with their friends, just like they always have. If you do not listen to them…you lose. If you choose to engage with them…you win.
Remember Wine is a conversation. My favorite bottles have been shared with friends, late into the night, searching out the solution for all the worlds problems. At the time of opening these wines, points, varietal, terroir may have all been important, but as the last drop was drained all that mattered was the person I was sharing them with. The conversation, lubricated by the liquid we all love, is what I cherish most and the reason for opening the bottle. Today the internet is also a conversation. It is not monologue it is a dialog. If you are not prepared to engage and talk to your consumer, be prepared for disappointment. Today’s consumer wants a conversation…no they expect one.
Today you can drive your own sales, rather than waiting for the critic to do it for you. But only if your honest, open and real. The internet is not a place to sell BS, it’s a place to have a dialog…join in and you will win.
Thank you.
Ryan Opaz Sphere: Related Content
When Robert Parker first started his newsletter in 1978, no one believed that an amateur outside the wine world could say anything worth listening to about wine. Then 1982 happened in Bordeaux, and Parker won the day. I may be simplifying a bit, but what he was responding to at the time was a problem in the fine wine trade with conflicts of interest and unscrupulous salesmen hawking plonk with fine wine labels attached. At the time the wine industry needed a shake up. It needed someone to step up and speak for the budding wine consuming public who wanted to understand and trust in the wine they purchased.
Using the simplest and cheapest method he had at the time to publish content with, he took a $2000 loan from his mother and a mimeograph machine with which he published the first issue of what we know today as the Wine Advocate. Struggling to find subscribers and make a living at it, his early days draw stunning parallels with today’s new wine media.
Today things again need a shakeup. For the past decades the everyday consumer has been ignored. I’m not talking about the high end or even weekend wine geek, but rather the consumer who likes wine, wants a better bottle and could give a shit if the wine has terroir or 90+ points. They want to enjoy the wine for what it is, social lubricant, and while in some cases this may lead to a new wine geek in training, it most likely leads to some sort of brand, or grape loyalty by an individual looking to unwind after a long days work.
The problem is retailers, importers, and the press were all trying to sell the same package of BS that you need to “know wine” to love wine. It’s the teach first drink later model, which I believe leads too often to consumers afraid that they might do something wrong, and as a result they end up simply buying based on price and what the label looks like. Why, because they are the only things not trying to tell them that they aren’t smart enough to enjoy wine. They were the only indicators of possible quality other than the advertisement hanging around the neck saying so and so thinks this wine tastes like some number.
Today things have begun to change. The consumer has choices, or is starting to, and the internet is bringing us these choices. Gary Vaynerchuck is one of these choices. I constantly hear wine professionals talk about how they can’t stand to listen to him, and they wonder if he knows what he’s talking about. “How can anyone listen to him scream like that?” is the common refrain. Truth is he could care less. We “the wine geeks” are not his audience. We have no value to him. We are observers, jealous that we didn’t see the millions of weekend wine drinkers who were looking for a new voice. Gary found those who didn’t care about wine in any significant way other than to know if it went with their pasta, or if they could woo the women that they were bringing home that night. He speaks their language, one that puts wine in the middle of life and does not try to separate it out.
What is happening now is incredible to watch, these weekend wine warriors, are beginning to care. They are beginning to listen, but they do it without the silly tasting terms that we traditionalists espouse. They do it in a way that makes sense to them and that they can relate to. They own this new conversation, and the internet is facilitating it. Yes there is crossover with the world of us self professed “geeks” but that is simply the grey areas you see in any discipline, where amateur becomes devotee. In the end these consumers now are talking about wine and buying wines, and are doing it with the tools they use to communicate within their social circles everyday.
Facebook, once a college meet up site, is now a place where brands are being built. Individuals can become “fans” of brands, and create groups for their favorite grapes. On the other hand Twitter, a seemingly ridiculous idea, 140 characters about what you are doing, has become a nexus point for sparking conversations and new ideas, not to mention a place where information about what wine to buy tonight is being searched out. No matter what you think of it, it is powerful, and important. (Photo from by vivancowineculture)
While in another more recognizable form for many of us we have Social tasting note sites like Adegga and Cellartracker which are allowing consumers to share online what wines they own and to see what their friends are drinking. These Social tasting notes are even more powerful when you look at the way that Google indexes them. Often times a wine searched for on Google leads a consumer to a social tasting note site, before they find the winery website for the wine (if it exists at all).
These simple internet based tools and networks are making significant waves in the wine world, and they are only now in their infancy? Take for example the AVIN a unique code attached to every wine in the world, similar to the ISBN for books. Today it is being converted to an open source project so that the whole wine industry can benefit from it’s utility and contribute to its success. A lot of people laugh at these online tools but it reminds me of a quote I found online: “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” This was Western Unions response to the telephones invention.
Ironically similar statements are being made about blogging today. The truth is that we are seeing the fading away of yesterdays’ tools of communication, giving way to a new way of looking at wine:
Today we again see the future.
Like before when people said Parker would never get anywhere, we hear the same voices today about blogging. So many misconceptions and falsehoods surround the world of blogging that I could spend the next two days dispelling them, and still not finish. This past week in Lisbon 120 bloggers, or “want to be bloggers” gathered for 3 days to talk about wine, the internet, and to taste and discuss wine. The line was blurred with mainstream reporters, pure bloggers, wineries, and PR types, all trying to learn more about this growing world. The reality is that blogs are today’s mimeographs, and even though anyone can start one, it takes talent and effort to make one work. There maybe thousands of blogs, but only a few that work hard enough to shine. It’s also true that we might not like what they are all saying, but how is this any different from today’s media where every town has multiple newspapers with contrasting loyalties. Smart brands will realize this, and are beginning to pay closer attention to them.
This is the future, some may even say the present. Go ahead stick your head in the sand, pretend it’s a silly fad and that it is just a “phase”. Truth is whatever the look of wine communication is in the coming years, it will be different from todays. Your choice is either to adapt and take advantage of the opportunities it offers, or you can sit there and complain, and let it pass you by.
Today’s consumers have voices. The internet have given them voices, And these voices are not your competitors or enemies, but rather clients, readers, buyers, and sometimes new friends.
Our job as wine writers and educators today is to make sure that these consumers are given good information and an opportunity to learn more.
Our job as wine producers and marketers is to learn how these new tools work so that you can join in the conversations that are going on. The conversations going on today are everywhere. Before these conversations stayed in peoples homes, at parties, in the bar down the street, spreading ignorance and falsehoods without a way to measure their influence, or a way to correct them. Today these conversations are online. They are searchable, they are contextual, they are everywhere. But most importantly they are offering you a chance to join in.
But the real truth is that the consumer is tomorrows critic. And in the end if they don’t know where Tempranillo comes from it doesn’t matter, they do know whether or not they like the wine. As a group they have an aggregated voice that is powerful and broad. These consumers may never be the educated WINE GEEKS we all wish they were, but they will be the ones to buy your products, and share their thoughts with their friends, just like they always have. If you do not listen to them…you lose. If you choose to engage with them…you win.
Remember Wine is a conversation. My favorite bottles have been shared with friends, late into the night, searching out the solution for all the worlds problems. At the time of opening these wines, points, varietal, terroir may have all been important, but as the last drop was drained all that mattered was the person I was sharing them with. The conversation, lubricated by the liquid we all love, is what I cherish most and the reason for opening the bottle. Today the internet is also a conversation. It is not monologue it is a dialog. If you are not prepared to engage and talk to your consumer, be prepared for disappointment. Today’s consumer wants a conversation…no they expect one.
Today you can drive your own sales, rather than waiting for the critic to do it for you. But only if your honest, open and real. The internet is not a place to sell BS, it’s a place to have a dialog…join in and you will win.
Thank you.
Ryan Opaz Sphere: Related Content
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wines of Chile: Can you say QPR?
I was invited to Santiago to address about 60 wineries on Social Media Marketing in the U.S. Wine industry in a seminar put on by Wines of Chile. WoC were kind enough to assign me a driver to visit seven wineries over the next two days, most of which hadn’t been able to attend the seminar.
Chile reminded me of Napa about 20 years ago…most everyone I met was younger than 35, the level of technical oenological knowledge was amazing, their search for and experimentation with new viticulture areas was nothing short of passionate and relentless…and there’s a lot of territory in which to search for terroir. Also many of the operators I met are family companies (Cousiño Macul is 7th generation), or else owned or backed by money folks from the major industries in Chile…mining, shipping, telecom etc.
We were doing a tasting at one of the smaller but cutting edge technology oriented wineries when my host Max Darraidou pointed to the old vines…which were planted in 1999.
He and oenologist Ignacio Casali are doing some fabulous work identifying soils, varietal clones, hillside orientation and microclimate patterns in the Leyda Valley, home to the eponymously named winery.
The folks at Santa Carolina really demonstrated the warmth of the Chilean character with an American flag flying in concert with their national banner to welcome me at the winery entrance.
The energy and enthusiasm in the room were palpable, and we all toasted Richie Scelfo, an old friend who represents them in the U.S. with Carolina Brands USA at a fabulous lunch of Chilean specialties…I had my first taste of Chirimoya, a native fruit there, but scant time to finish it because our focus was on talking…that’d be me doing the talking.
I also met with the Santa Rita winery whose business offices are in Santiago, and another family operation from down south named Viña Maquis which is doing some really interesting things with Rose’s and dessert wines along with their table wines. They hosted a dinner at a very innovative restaurant in an beautiful old part of town where the rich folks lived in the late 1800’s and is now being taken over by artists.
The next day was a whirlwind of tastings with a lunch at the organic and soon to be biodynamic Matetic where winemaker Paula Cardenas hosted me at the winery’s restaurant. I had my first taste of Loco…a local seafood delicacy that was explained to me as being “like Abalone” but was really just a VERY LARGE SEA SNAIL. They don’t call it loco for nothing…you have to be crazy to eat it. A visit to the hacienda of Viña Mar capped off the trip. It’s located between the coastal range and the Andes and the hacienda was a beautiful building in the center of vineyards…sort of like a South American version of Falcon Crest for those of you who are old enough to remember the old TV show. Another flight of spectacular wines with Melissa Hahn and winemaker Patricio Celadon and I was off to the airport and home.
Bottom line, I went down there with no real sense of what makes Chile, well Chile. And I came away with a newfound respect for a country that may be somewhat unknown, but is clearly on the cutting edge of responding to the changes we’re seeing in the American wine consumer. A nod to Dr. Debs of Good Wine Under $20 for borrowing her QPR tag in the headline. It stands for “Quality Price Ratio” which I suppose doesn’t need any further definition. QPR is what American wine consumers are looking for, and I found a whole country that delivers it. How cool is that? Sphere: Related Content
Chile reminded me of Napa about 20 years ago…most everyone I met was younger than 35, the level of technical oenological knowledge was amazing, their search for and experimentation with new viticulture areas was nothing short of passionate and relentless…and there’s a lot of territory in which to search for terroir. Also many of the operators I met are family companies (Cousiño Macul is 7th generation), or else owned or backed by money folks from the major industries in Chile…mining, shipping, telecom etc.
We were doing a tasting at one of the smaller but cutting edge technology oriented wineries when my host Max Darraidou pointed to the old vines…which were planted in 1999.
He and oenologist Ignacio Casali are doing some fabulous work identifying soils, varietal clones, hillside orientation and microclimate patterns in the Leyda Valley, home to the eponymously named winery.The folks at Santa Carolina really demonstrated the warmth of the Chilean character with an American flag flying in concert with their national banner to welcome me at the winery entrance.
The energy and enthusiasm in the room were palpable, and we all toasted Richie Scelfo, an old friend who represents them in the U.S. with Carolina Brands USA at a fabulous lunch of Chilean specialties…I had my first taste of Chirimoya, a native fruit there, but scant time to finish it because our focus was on talking…that’d be me doing the talking.I also met with the Santa Rita winery whose business offices are in Santiago, and another family operation from down south named Viña Maquis which is doing some really interesting things with Rose’s and dessert wines along with their table wines. They hosted a dinner at a very innovative restaurant in an beautiful old part of town where the rich folks lived in the late 1800’s and is now being taken over by artists.
The next day was a whirlwind of tastings with a lunch at the organic and soon to be biodynamic Matetic where winemaker Paula Cardenas hosted me at the winery’s restaurant. I had my first taste of Loco…a local seafood delicacy that was explained to me as being “like Abalone” but was really just a VERY LARGE SEA SNAIL. They don’t call it loco for nothing…you have to be crazy to eat it. A visit to the hacienda of Viña Mar capped off the trip. It’s located between the coastal range and the Andes and the hacienda was a beautiful building in the center of vineyards…sort of like a South American version of Falcon Crest for those of you who are old enough to remember the old TV show. Another flight of spectacular wines with Melissa Hahn and winemaker Patricio Celadon and I was off to the airport and home.
Bottom line, I went down there with no real sense of what makes Chile, well Chile. And I came away with a newfound respect for a country that may be somewhat unknown, but is clearly on the cutting edge of responding to the changes we’re seeing in the American wine consumer. A nod to Dr. Debs of Good Wine Under $20 for borrowing her QPR tag in the headline. It stands for “Quality Price Ratio” which I suppose doesn’t need any further definition. QPR is what American wine consumers are looking for, and I found a whole country that delivers it. How cool is that? Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Upcoming SMM presentations
I was invited to reprise my Social Media Marketing presentation from the USDC at two upcoming seminars being held by Nixon Peabody, the industry’s top law firm whose bev alc. practice is headed up by Vince O’Brien. The seminars are Nov. 17 in NY and Dec. 2 in San Francisco. They are invite-only event, but if anyone is interested in attending, please email me and I’ll forward it ono to the organizers.
Sphere: Related Content
Monday, October 19, 2009
Wines of Chile: Social Media and Ecomm presentation in Santiago
No sooner did we leave our post conference meetings in NY, than I’m on an airplane again winging my way across the equator to Chile. I was invited by Lori Tieszen, Exec. Dir. of Wines of Chile USA to give a presentation on social media marketing to a bunch of producers. Those of you who read this blog know that SMM is particular passion of mine, and we have been doing some really interesting thing in the space for wines and spirits. Lori is an old friend from my Palace Brands days and has had a fabulous career with Domecq, Moet Hennessey and now WOC.
Amazon.com was scheduled to present their wine plans and unfortunately bailed with two days notice. Lori asked if I’d fill in and do a presentation on ecommerce as well, which I of course said yes to. So I ended up spending Saturday polishing the SMM pres and scrambling to pull together one on E-comm. Not sure what Amazon’s rationale was, but they sure didn’t make many new friends by canceling at the last minute.
It’s spring in Santiago, but unfortunately a dreary day here and I can’t see the Andes. The speech is Monday and then I’m going to spend Tues and Wed visiting some of the wineries, so should get a better view of the country then.
Update: The presentations went extremely well, the sun came out setting the Andes ablaze, and it turned out one of the winery owners was a Cornellian too (both Lori and I went there)...small world. the common questions I get are how do I get started and won't this suck up my time. My recco on the former is to just set up a blog with Google's Blogspot and start writing. The key is to be authentic, write from the heart and your audience will find you. Regarding the time suck...only if you let it...fewer and more thoughtful posts are more valuable than poundage.
Clearly Chile is in a unique position of potential...great track record of QPR (Quality/Price Ratio) and the wines get better every year. They are running in the slipstream of Argentina and getting great press coverage (according to WoC, up 400% and bottle sales up significantly as well. Now the challenge is to realize the potential. l I believe they have the people in place who can make that happen. At lunch after the session I met their management and internet marketing teams and was really impressed with their knowledge, capabilities and passion.
I'll be visiting some wineries tomorrow and Wed, then a night flight back to NY for an Austrian event hosted by the one and only Willi Klinger of AWMB. Sphere: Related Content
Amazon.com was scheduled to present their wine plans and unfortunately bailed with two days notice. Lori asked if I’d fill in and do a presentation on ecommerce as well, which I of course said yes to. So I ended up spending Saturday polishing the SMM pres and scrambling to pull together one on E-comm. Not sure what Amazon’s rationale was, but they sure didn’t make many new friends by canceling at the last minute.
It’s spring in Santiago, but unfortunately a dreary day here and I can’t see the Andes. The speech is Monday and then I’m going to spend Tues and Wed visiting some of the wineries, so should get a better view of the country then.
Update: The presentations went extremely well, the sun came out setting the Andes ablaze, and it turned out one of the winery owners was a Cornellian too (both Lori and I went there)...small world. the common questions I get are how do I get started and won't this suck up my time. My recco on the former is to just set up a blog with Google's Blogspot and start writing. The key is to be authentic, write from the heart and your audience will find you. Regarding the time suck...only if you let it...fewer and more thoughtful posts are more valuable than poundage.
Clearly Chile is in a unique position of potential...great track record of QPR (Quality/Price Ratio) and the wines get better every year. They are running in the slipstream of Argentina and getting great press coverage (according to WoC, up 400% and bottle sales up significantly as well. Now the challenge is to realize the potential. l I believe they have the people in place who can make that happen. At lunch after the session I met their management and internet marketing teams and was really impressed with their knowledge, capabilities and passion.
I'll be visiting some wineries tomorrow and Wed, then a night flight back to NY for an Austrian event hosted by the one and only Willi Klinger of AWMB. Sphere: Related Content
Sunday, October 18, 2009
U.S. Drinks Conference...Success!!
Wow! After months of planning and endless detail the U.S. Drinks Conference 2009 was a great success that exceeded even my optimistic hopes. We had SRO both days with some 151 attendees from 11 countries, 32 speakers on nine separate panel discussions. We’re still sorting through the eval forms and I’ll post pix next week, but the anecdotal feedback we got was “absolutely fantastic.”
Our goal was to focus the conference on practical information that attendees could put to use right away. Some folks came away with an improved understanding the complicated three-tier system from the mouths of the regulatory folks who write the rules, and some with new ideas on how to work with on and off premise operators. Wine folks got to hear some fascinating dialog and different perspectives from giant (Pernod Ricard…Jeanne Eliades), medium (Winebow…Leonardo LoCascio) and small/new (Darcy and Huber selections…Carlo Huber). The spirits panel provided an earful of great insights from two startups who are leveraging innovation and creativity to compete with big budget brands (St. Germain and Leblon). And the internet panel staffed by Paul Mabray, Derek Bromley and Peter Spande helped put perspecitive and flesh on the bones with practical examples of how social media marketing is being used in the industry.
We did of course start the morning off with some traditional presentations…John Beaudette on market entry options and economics, and Jeff Grindrod and Mike Ginley gave a data packed overview of the U.S. market structure for Wine, Beer and Spirits. And I gave a speech on budget allocations and Social Media Marketing that engendered a whole lot of interest, questions and follow up requests.
Interestingly, we also got requests from some country trade associations to see if we’re interested in reprising a shortened travel version of the conference to present to their producers…Madrid and Santiago look interesting.
We also had some meetings with prospective clients including a Turkish wine producer, a Dutch company interested in reintroducing a one time big volume brand, and a new-to-the-industry Peruvian Pisco producer introduced to us by my friend Johnny Schuler.
For those of you who attended…thanks, and for those on the fence, you definitely should plan on coming next year. Yes, we’re going to be holding it again in 2010, probably in NY, date TBD. Sphere: Related Content
Our goal was to focus the conference on practical information that attendees could put to use right away. Some folks came away with an improved understanding the complicated three-tier system from the mouths of the regulatory folks who write the rules, and some with new ideas on how to work with on and off premise operators. Wine folks got to hear some fascinating dialog and different perspectives from giant (Pernod Ricard…Jeanne Eliades), medium (Winebow…Leonardo LoCascio) and small/new (Darcy and Huber selections…Carlo Huber). The spirits panel provided an earful of great insights from two startups who are leveraging innovation and creativity to compete with big budget brands (St. Germain and Leblon). And the internet panel staffed by Paul Mabray, Derek Bromley and Peter Spande helped put perspecitive and flesh on the bones with practical examples of how social media marketing is being used in the industry.
We did of course start the morning off with some traditional presentations…John Beaudette on market entry options and economics, and Jeff Grindrod and Mike Ginley gave a data packed overview of the U.S. market structure for Wine, Beer and Spirits. And I gave a speech on budget allocations and Social Media Marketing that engendered a whole lot of interest, questions and follow up requests.
Interestingly, we also got requests from some country trade associations to see if we’re interested in reprising a shortened travel version of the conference to present to their producers…Madrid and Santiago look interesting.
We also had some meetings with prospective clients including a Turkish wine producer, a Dutch company interested in reintroducing a one time big volume brand, and a new-to-the-industry Peruvian Pisco producer introduced to us by my friend Johnny Schuler.
For those of you who attended…thanks, and for those on the fence, you definitely should plan on coming next year. Yes, we’re going to be holding it again in 2010, probably in NY, date TBD. Sphere: Related Content
Saturday, September 26, 2009
The King is Dead, Long Live the King
Great post today by Dr. Vino with a link to a very good summary post by Mike Steinberger on Slate that gives a well written overview of what I've termed the "Parker Kerfuffle".
For those not familiar with the specific issue this was a watershed moment in the evolution of the modern wine industry. Steininger titled it the democratization of wine drinking but I think it goes much further than that...it marks a tipping point in the democratization of wine evaluation, wine communications and wine marketing. And the ramifications are just beginning and will be felt far beyond our little wine and spirits industry.
OK, the king may not be dead, but Dr. Vino and Co. just pulled aside the green curtain and it turns out the king has what may become an incurable case of gout. Sphere: Related Content
For those not familiar with the specific issue this was a watershed moment in the evolution of the modern wine industry. Steininger titled it the democratization of wine drinking but I think it goes much further than that...it marks a tipping point in the democratization of wine evaluation, wine communications and wine marketing. And the ramifications are just beginning and will be felt far beyond our little wine and spirits industry.
OK, the king may not be dead, but Dr. Vino and Co. just pulled aside the green curtain and it turns out the king has what may become an incurable case of gout. Sphere: Related Content
Friday, September 25, 2009
How Social Media is Changing our World
Here's a great video presentation by Clay Shirky, Prof. at NYU and internet and technology thought leader on how the media landscape has fundamentally changed. What I like about this is his very clear, cogent and simple distillation of the tectonic shift we're witnessing.
Sphere: Related Content
Sphere: Related Content
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Wine Trade Survey Data Released
I participated in a trade survey recently for which the results were just released at the Wine Industry Financial Symposium in CA. There were some interesting conclusions, none of which were new or surprising, but it is nice to have the stats to evolve opinion to fact. They’re publishing data from a consumer study next week.
Here are my summary comments on what the trade opinion survey data show:
-Category growth is in under $20 wines, over $20 is getting hammered and $10-$15 is the sweet spot
-In the under $20 category, Chile, Argentina and Spain in that order are the most rapidly growing import countries
-In the over $20 group, most respondents reported volume is “same or less” with out a few countries cited as showing any growth at all. And it’s the same countries and order
-On premise, significant growth in BTG under $8 and BTB under $30, with corresponding decreases at the higher end
-Australia continues to show the biggest declines at both the low and high end
-Regions selling value wines now, will prosper in the recovery (meaning Argentina, Chile and Spain)
-Consumers are more price-driven than ever
-Distributors' top priority is reducing inventory
-Social media is avery important tool to communicate with the trade (that’s interesting…we’ve known that to be the case with consumers for a while, but this is significant in that it’s the trade.
-Top wine bloggers are Eric Asimov, Eric Orange, Jancis Robinson, Stephen Tanzer, Tyler Colman, Alder Yarrow Sphere: Related Content
Here are my summary comments on what the trade opinion survey data show:
-Category growth is in under $20 wines, over $20 is getting hammered and $10-$15 is the sweet spot
-In the under $20 category, Chile, Argentina and Spain in that order are the most rapidly growing import countries
-In the over $20 group, most respondents reported volume is “same or less” with out a few countries cited as showing any growth at all. And it’s the same countries and order
-On premise, significant growth in BTG under $8 and BTB under $30, with corresponding decreases at the higher end
-Australia continues to show the biggest declines at both the low and high end
-Regions selling value wines now, will prosper in the recovery (meaning Argentina, Chile and Spain)
-Consumers are more price-driven than ever
-Distributors' top priority is reducing inventory
-Social media is avery important tool to communicate with the trade (that’s interesting…we’ve known that to be the case with consumers for a while, but this is significant in that it’s the trade.
-Top wine bloggers are Eric Asimov, Eric Orange, Jancis Robinson, Stephen Tanzer, Tyler Colman, Alder Yarrow Sphere: Related Content
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