On February 19th I’ll be in downtown Minneapolis participating in the Twitter Taste Live event before the screening of the new film, “Merlove.” Think “Sideways” as a documentary with Merlot as it’s central focus.

Twin Cities locals can join me down at the Ritz Theater with the pre-show tasting starting around 6:00 p.m. local time. I’ll be Twittering notes and maybe even sending up some live video if the wifi connection is cooperative. Wine sponsors Sacre Bleu and Haskell’s promise some nice wines for tasting. Merlot goes without saying. Knowing how provocative Sacre Bleu can be, maybe even Miles’ favorite Pinot might be poured, who knows?

I’ll be recording another edition of the now-rare full length podcast and including my review of the film. Hope to see some local friends in attendance. Get your tickets here.

And, yes, I love Merlot.

Best of the wine blogosphere for January 1st through January 11th:

• A look at Naked Wines
• Facebook, social networking for wineries and a new use for a winery blog
• 2003 Smith Madrone Cabernet Sauvignon, Spring Mountain District, Napa
• Will the tanking economy help speed the transition away from print toward social media?
• The Travesty of Wine and Social Class in America
• Can you make money on twitter from wine with breakfast?
• 25 Great Bargains of 2008
• Taking Naked Wine Tasting Outside the Box
• Data Indicates Lowering Prices Is NOT The Path To Profits
• News, Notes & Dusty Bottle Items
• 50 Great Wines of 2008
• Wine predictions for 2009
• The 2009 Wine Book Club

Best of the wine blogosphere for December 20th through December 31st:

• Last Day to Get Fabulous Wine Prizes for a Steal!
• New Years resolution : Drink Value – Episode #602
• The LENNDEVOURS 2008 Wines of the Year
• Two Suggestions for a Blessed New Year
• Xmas Eve Loire-apalooza
• Iberian Reflections on 2008: We’ve Come a Long Way!
• 2008: The year that was
• Fine wine retailing in a tough economy
• The best box wines of 2008
• Stars of 2008
• Snooth PTP – California Cabernet Blind Tasting
• Catavino’s Favorite Trips of 2008 – It’s been a great Iberian Wine Year
• 10 Inexpensive White Wines (Not Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc)
• Announcing WBW #53: Wine for Breakfast!

Best of the wine blogosphere for December 13th through December 19th:

• Snooth PTP – Value Nebbiolo blind tasting
• Bargain Wines: What the Wine section staff thinks of the readers’ picks
• South Central Coast Syrah / SFGate: Wine
• Important New Wine Information Source…Read It! – Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog
• The Dude’s Top 10 Most Interesting Wines of 2008 – 1WineDude :: Serious wine talk for the not-so-serious drinker!
• 2008 Top Twenty Wines Under $20 – Good Wine Under $20
• The importance of being… – Lusciouslushes’s Blog
• Announcing A Menu For Hope 2008: Win Fabulous Wine Prizes – Vinography: A Wine Blog
• Fermentation’s Top Online Wine Influencers – Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog

Updated December 22, 2008 with links that actually work (thanks, Dyan!)

Image via Wikipedia

Best of the wine blogosphere for December 5th through December 12th:

• Prepare: It’s About To Get Real Ugly Out There
• Threshers 40% Off Voucher December 2008
• Top Ten Wine Stories of 2008
• WBW #52: Value Chilean Reds
• No Reservations: Now With 100% Less Pig!!!
• Wine Spectator
• Gift Ideas for Wine Lovers: A Roundup of Great Books
• Most Intriguing New Wine Blogs of 2008
• The Chronicle Wine Selections: Grower Champagne
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #52: Value Reds from Chile
• Wine Widget from NY Times
• 5 Reasons Why Chilean Wine Kicks Ass (Wine Blogging Wednesday #52: Chillin
• Bloggers and Wineries: Partners? Notes on the 1st Bloggers Tasting Forum
• The Biggest Problem with Technology
• Gift Ideas for Wine Lovers: Giving Wine that Gives Back
• Wineries and Social Media
• Beyond blogging: Twisted Oak explores the possibilities of social media
• Wines of Hope, Hopeless Wines
• Alcoholism, a cure? and some thoughts
• Snooth and friends taste Mondavi Cabernet Reserve 1975-1979

Image by Muffet via Flickr

Best of the wine blogosphere for November 17th through November 29th:

• stormhoek in the west texas desert
• 2006 Jean-Paul Thevenet “Vielles Vignes” Morgon, Beaujolais, France
• 2008 Holiday Gift Guide: Under $20
• The FERMENTATION 2008 Wineogram
• 2008 Holiday Wine Guide now available!
• Heron Hill Winery 2005 Riesling Reserve
• Thanksgiving After the Fact
• How to Survive Thanksgiving
• The Wine Tools Needed To Suvive An Ugly Economy
• Holiday Wine
• How to Sell More Wine by Offering Less
• Stop The Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations!
• 100 Wines: A Chronicle, #9
• Thanksgiving Buying Guide for the Wine Novice
• The Skeptic’s Guide to Biodynamic Wine
• The Responsibility Revolution:
• Cru Beaujolais, a near perfect option
• Have an iPhone? Like wine?
• …And They All Got Baked… (Wine Blogging Wednesday #51 Wrap-Up)

It’s time for another Twitter Taste Live but this time all the proceeds go to charity. Humanitas takes the “Newman’s Own” philanthropic ethic to wine and founder Judd Wallenbrock has been giving back to charities in the communities his customers live in for 7 years now. His approach is simple: produce good wines for $20 and under, sell them direct to consumer and donate all the profits to charitable organizations. In recent months he has added very limited production, single vineyard wines that are a bit more expensive.

Longtime listeners will remember my interview with Judd back in Winecast 45 three years ago. His passion for the Humanitas vision has not changed since that interview and he is still a one-man operation. Like last weekend’s Twitter Taste Live 5, I will live blog the event for those who can’t attend or want to revisit the tasting later. 

Disclosure: I donate my time to help Humanitas with social media outreach.

I’ve decided to live blog tonight’s Twitter Taste Live using COVERITLIVE, a service I used for live blogging a tech event earlier this week. All the presenting bloggers Twitter accounts will be captured here along with others I will add during the tasting. You can also post comments right here in the view below. If this works, I’ll continue to cover these online tastings for those who can’t join us live.

Best of the wine blogosphere for November 3rd through November 14th:

• “stormhoek. made In south africa. drunk in west texas.”
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #51: Baked Goods
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #51: Baked Goods
• Wine with a Cause III
• Wine vote carries Obama to victory!
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #51:
• WBW #51 Baked Goods and Madeirized Wine
• It’s Not What You Make, It’s What You Stand For
• Wineries in Social Media
• Kohl’s or Couture?
• Drink Charitably: Twitter Taste Live w/ Humanitas Wines (November 21)
• Domestic Riesling
• November Wine Events (Reminder: WBW #51 is Nigh!)
• A Letter To Steve Heimoff
• Bargain Wine of the Week
• Thanksgiving Wine Under $20: 2008 Picks
• My Problem with Terroirists
• Chateau Montelena Sale Canceled
• Wine Blogging ~ Are Wine Bloggers All Just Writing for Themselves as a Community?
• Thinking Out Loud

Best of the wine blogosphere for October 3rd through October 17th:

• Boycott Beaujolais Nouveau
• The state of American wine
• What We Talk About, When We Talk About Food
• Cork USB Memory Stick
• Imagining a world after Parker
• Are Wine Magazines Shattering on the Vine?
• David Lett and an Eyrie Vineyards retrospective
• Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2008: 2nd Annual Contest at domaine547
• David Lett Dies
• Can We Talk?
• Tell Him What He Needs To Know!
• Baked Goods: Announcing Wine Blogging Wednesday 51(WineDude) Edition!
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #50: The Great Outdoors
• Souschef helps you keep your recipes organized
• Wine Blogging Wednesday #50: Wine and the Great Outdoors
• WBW#50: Into the Land of Rancho San Antonio and the Torremoyon
• Good Wine Under $20: Now Entering Its Third Year
• Wines at the Beach
• Dry Creek Vineyard Goes Accounable and Authentic
• Serious Grape: Back to the Barrels? An Old-Fashioned Proposal