During the past week, I’ve been watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” show on my TiVo (as I write this post, more is being recorded as part of a marathon on The Travel Channel). Of course, I’ve been aware of Bourdain’s antics over the years but have not read any of his books or really watched his TV show until the past week.
In typical fashion for me, something resonated with his world-weary sarcasm, irony and, yes, discovery which led me to watch 10 hours of No Reservations and pick up his first book “Kitchen Confidential” of which 161 pages are now read.
How did I miss the pleasure of his wit, insight into the restaurant business and recommendations on when to eat seafood while dining out? Until this past week, Bourdain was the snarky judge on Top Chef who I assumed Tom Colicchio demanded be on to make him seem more reasonable by comparison. But now I see Bourdain as an old friend who is giving me the inside skinny on what it’s really like behind the scenes in restaurants. So it made me wonder who would do the same for the wine industry?
Almost every book about wine props up the romantic notion that great wine mostly comes from privileged ground in the Old World where centuries of learning and adaption to the earth produce these ethereal beverages. The French even invented a word/marketing strategy called “terroir” around this notion. While some of this is based upon fact, the real story is drastically less romantic based upon my short time working in the wine trade. And because I take non-disclosure agreements seriously, you will not see many such anecdotes on this blog unless anonymous sources start sending me emails.
Sure, there are a few juicy books about the wine business that sometimes expose insider details but they are always told from an outsider’s point of view. James Conaway’s “Napa: The Story of an American Eden” and the more recent “The House of Mondavi” by Julia Flynn Siler come to mind. But no one has taken on the first person, I-know-where-the-bodies-are-buried approach to demystifying the wine industry.
So who will tell the real insider story here, a la Bourdain?
By way of Dr. Debs, I learned that the Wall Street Journal’s wine writers Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher have released their Top Wine Bargains of 2007. It’s great to see these picks out behind the subscription wall (at least for now) but I was delighted to see their piece enhanced with a video podcast.
Longtime Winecast listeners and readers will remember that Gaiter and Brecher’s “Tastings” column was one of the inspirations for starting this podcast and wine blog. As I haven’t subscribed to the Journal for some time now, I have not kept up with their writing but will watch for their column online from now on.
Next week looks like “Delicious” wines of 2007… until then, enjoy their video:
Tonight at midnight Pacific time is last call for this year’s Menu for Hope. I’m pleased to see the total amount raised is $70,000 as I post this but there is still time to participate if you haven’t had the chance yet.
Thanks to all who have bid on my prize of 3 bottles of the Roussanne I’m making with the Winecast Crushpad group. If you want to try to get those bottles, just go here and make a donation referencing WB17 in the notes field. You best do this soon as there are only a few hours to go.
Readers of my personal blog know I’ve been checking out Hulu this morning, NBC’s video streaming service. While browsing the selection of programs one last time I noticed they had Sideways posted. It’s the full-screen version but it looks pretty nice in full screen mode on my Macbook. So if you don’t have this movie on DVD, just watch it below (sorry, Hulu is U.S. only right now so folks overseas will have to muck about with proxy servers).
As I begin my 4th year of podcasting I present the final Unfiltered show of it’s first season.
Jeff and I welcome a panel of some of the top wine bloggers today: Alder Yarrow, Dr. Debs and Gabriella & Ryan Opaz. We talk about the state of wine blogging, where it is going and share some wine picks.
Show Notes:
00:25 - Introduction
01:40 - Question for Alder
04:21 - Question for Dr. Debs
05:46 - Question for Gabriella & Ryan
08:10 - Question for Jeff
09:19 - Are Wine Bloggers Having An Impact?
15:04 - Where Is Wine Blogging Going?
36:53 - Will Wine Bloggers Adopt A Common Rating Scale?
55:13 - Gabriella & Ryan’s Wine Pick
57:17 - Dr. Debs’ Wine Pick
59:13 - Alder’s Wine Pick
60:00 - Tim’s Wine Pick
62:30 - Everyone Plugs Their Blogs
64:00 - Jeff’s Wine Pick
67:00 - Feedback
Feedback: winecast@gmail.com
Copyright 2007 Acan Media, Inc. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.5/
…I went down to my basement, tasted three Zinfandels and Winecast was born. It really doesn’t seem like that long ago, and in some ways really isn’t, but this blog and podcast turns 3 today.
I have to be honest that the last couple years have been challenging but I’m looking forward to an excellent 2008 with a return to more frequent podcasting. I really appreciate everyone who has participated here over my first 1,095 days. The best is yet to come.
Not a week goes by without an email announcing a new Wine 2.0 community. I check these out to maintain my list of links but I’m also very interested in where this space is going. A few, such as Snooth and the newly launched Vinquire, are interesting takes on the Wine-Searcher/WineZap business model that I will be covering here in more detail in coming days. Unfortunately, however, most of the new sites are Web 2.0 versions of online wine stores with social media features bolted on.
We don’t need another online profile to manage; please, stop the madness!
What we do need is a place online for wine lovers of all levels to gather and share their passion for wine. Perhaps features like cellar management and finding wine online and off-line would also be part of this wine community. It would be one part eBob, one part CellarTracker, one part Wine-Searcher/WineZap/Snooth, a dash of Twitter, all chased down with a bit of Scrugy and Wine Life Today.
It seems most of the new entrants are trying to be the Facebook of wine, which is not the right model as I think Facebook will fill this role. What we do need is one place to go with a single sign-on (OpenID, please), slick user interface and engaging feature set that will attract everyone who is now scattered across the multitude of Wine 2.0 sites.
So who will build such a service? Certainly eBob could be expanded and improved but I don’t think this will happen as the current model is working well right now. The same goes for the folks at Wine Spectator who seem so focused on their paid service that you have to even pay for their blogs. I think it’s likely that there will be a roll-up of leading Wine 2.0 contenders to make up such a service; my money right now is on Snooth doing this next year.
But another player has recently emerged that I think bears closer study: WineZap (disclosure: I am a WineZap affiliate). They have added social media features to their core wine search service turning it into more of a community site. Although they don’t have many of the features of the ideal wine community outlined above, I think they have the potential to roll these elements together. I’ll post a review and comparison with Snooth and Vinquire over the holiday break.
I’ve been catching up on my blog reading today and noticed an interesting new feature of Google Reader: friends shared items. As I read wine blogs, I “star” notable posts but always wondered what the “share” choice was for. Now I get it and am enjoying reading links shared by friends, listeners and readers.
If we’ve crossed paths via Gmail or Gtalk, it’s likely that you will see my shared links automatically appear in your Google Reader. I’ve also posted the widget to the right sidebar of the blog so you can see what I’m reading. Because I went back and shared all my previously stared items today, most of what is there now is a bit old. Going forward, you can keep up with the best posts from wine blogs in my shared feed.
In the first 5 days of the Menu for Hope 4 campaign, almost $25,000 has been raised from over 600 benefactors. That’s a great start and I’m hoping to see a lot more donations made this weekend.
I also noticed no one has made a donation to win my lot of 3 bottles of our open-source Roussanne blend. For only $10 per chance you’ll get 3 of the first bottles off the line after it’s finished aging next summer. I’ll be happy to sign and/or personalize each bottle before shipping them to your door. They would make a great gift or complement your Thanksgiving table next year.
If you’d like to donate, make sure you use code WB17 for your chance to win this rare wine. It’s fast and easy, just click here to go to the page at Firstgiving. There are a bunch of other great wine prizes that need some love, as well.
During the past week, I’ve been watching a lot of Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” show on my TiVo (as I write this post, more is being recorded as part of a marathon on The Travel Channel). Of course, I’ve been aware of Bourdain’s antics over the years but have not read any of his books or really watched his TV show until the past week.
Pim has 
Tonight at midnight Pacific time is last call for this year’s 
I’ve been catching up on my blog reading today and noticed an interesting new feature of 
