Wine Brands

Dog or not dog on the label?

2009-11-30T02:26:00.000-08:00

Last week I was interviewed for the French TV channel France5 on how to market efficiently French wines to international markets. The first question of the journalist was: is there any difference between "Old World" and "New World" wine labels? She wanted me to show some "New World" labels. I pointed the "Red Rover" label to her as being "fun" and efficient with the dog face, the name "Red Rover" and the obvious grape mentioned on the label. She was sure no French wine could feature a dog on a label. Really?

Next day I had lunch with a friend in a Bordeaux restaurant and we both ordered a glass of Château La Folie 2005 with our lunch. We asked to see the bottle. And bingo! There was the cutest little dog on the label. Of course the style of the design was very different: I didn't have my camera and couldn't take a picture but it was one of those nice looking dogs - not the impressive mean-looking dog of Red Rover.

What does it mean? First of all, French labels are getting more contemporary. Wine makers are now aware that pets are part of our everyday life, like our wine and food. This kind of design is a good way to reach the consumer and appeal to his/her emotional side. Then, it also means that wine makers are ready to simplify their message on wine: wine is not always a serious and difficult subject. It's fun and can be drunk without commenting on it for hours. Enjoy your wine in front of the fire place with your dog sitting at your feet during the cold season or outside in the garden while your dog is playing when it's nice!

A new blog on international wine tourism

2009-11-26T06:17:00.000-08:00

Wine tourism is a difficult topic when you're not a specialist of... tourism but love wine. Promoting both at the same time is a difficult exercise: wine is part of a local culture. When you didn't travel to the place where the wine comes from, you discover a region through the wine. How to connect both?

Some people found the right answer and founded 10 years ago the "Great Wine Capitals Network" or GWC. The network includes the major wine regions of some parts of the world: Bordeaux in France, Mendoza in Argentina, Bilbao and Rioja in Spain, Mainz in Germany, Napa Valley in California, Cape Town in South Africa, Porto in Portugal, Firenze in Italy and now Christchurch in New Zealand. It is the only such network to encompass the so-called ‘Old’ and ‘New’ worlds of wine, and exists to encourage travel, education and business exchange between their internationally-renowned centers. In its 10 years of existence, the network has created many interesting initiatives: the "Best of Wine Tourism awards", an annual international grant for students, organization of many symposiums and conferences as well as facilities to promote wine tourism.

The GWC is managed by its General Secretary, Catherine Leparmentier, based in Bordeaux, France. The group is very active on the Net with a Facebook group, a Twitter account, a LinkedIn Group and now a blog. Quite recent, the blog opened about 3 weeks ago but has already many interesting posts. I especially enjoyed the ones on Tourism 2.0 and the Vivanco Dinastio Wine Museum.

The Great Wine Capitals are really in Web 2.0! Long live to their blog!

Tasting and Branding

2009-11-09T02:57:00.000-08:00

Last week I was invited to the "Panorama" Tasting of the on line store Millesima.com on Sauternes and Barsac. I was privileged enough to taste château d'Yquem 1998, 2002 and 2005, Château Climens 1998, Château Rieussec 1997, Château Rabaud-Promis 1997, Château Coutet 1998 and 2004, château de Fargues 1996 and 1997. Many others were presentend but I was not able to taste all of them. Useless to say, those wines were gorgeous and it was a delight to go through the beautiful chais of Millesima, talking to wine makers and other passionate wine lovers while tasting those classics.

Of course, as you well know, I'm not an enologist and will not disgrace myself by writing tasting notes (Suffice to say they were wonderful). But I must say that among those jewels of Sauternes and Barsac, I found two pearls I never heard about: Château Liot and Château de Myrat (no site). Both wines were amazing and I started digging around trying to understand why they do not shine as much as they should. The case of Château de Myrat is rather puzzling. The estate belongs to the Pontac family - the very same Pontac family that created the notion of "cru" in the Bordelais and the very first brand, Haut-Brion, in the 17th century. Indeed the Pontac family owned Château Haut-Brion until the middle of the 17th century and its descendants now owns Château de Myrat. Why didn't they apply the same strategy as their ancestors to brand their delicious wine? Of course, times changed but branding has now a lot more tools at its disposal than three centuries ago. Château Liot is a more discreet estate, located in the Barsac appellation - of course, less famous than the Sauternes - and belongs to the David family.

It is really too bad for two great brands not to get the proper attention. It would be so easy to have a good web site in French and English and try to use some of the new tools. Their wines deserve better communication.

Adegga, the technical wizard behind EWBC

2009-11-05T01:06:00.000-08:00

Since the Social Media Report by VinTank published a couple of months ago, the notoriety of adegga.com increased tremendously and got a much deserved attention. Founded in Portugal by Andre C. Ribeirinho, adegga.com is a very innovative company whose technology is well advanced.

In spite of being Portuguese born, adegga.com is an international platform available in Portuguese, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Dutch. Adegga.com and its team, the two Andres and Emidio, were the technical wizards behind the EWBC: all technical problems and glitches were solved with energy and efficiency by the smiling guys. But the interesting part was the discussions with them about what is their very unique creation, the AVIN code (Adegga Vin Identification Number). You certainly heard about the ISBN code, the identification number for books that allows any libraries or bookstores to identify a book by its very unique code. Adegga created the same system for wine. An AVIN code will be given to every vintage of the same wine.

Even more amazing is the ability for a consumer to access information on the AVIN coded wine through a mobile phone. A winery can apply either the diagram with the code on its back label or only the AVIN number. When the diagram is applied on the bottle, the consumer directs the phone camera on it and has direct access to the wine information on the adegga site or, very soon, on an other site.

This impressive technology is a big improvement for the wine consumer as well as the wineries. The consumer can access useful information while the winery has a direct access to its consumers.

EWBC Goes Green - Part 4

2009-11-02T00:50:00.000-08:00

Back to work and to reality after 3 days in sheer bliss working on wine and social media, meeting my virtual (but good) friends and getting to know more people.

Technology people are very often environmentally conscious as they mostly try to work without paper and if they use it, recycle it. They're also aware of the environmental risks created by discarded computers' parts and technological waste. That's why I was not quite surprised when I got the pre-package of the conference sent by email by Gabriella Opaz. Under the self-explanatory title, "EWBC Supports Sustainable Living", our Dream Team set the few sustainable principles of the conference:

- all the documents are available on a 4gb USB Flashdrive held to the nametag. It stores a lot of information on the sponsors, the speakers, the conference as well as various booklets. Having had a look at the contents when back in my room, I refrained to grab too many booklets from our sponsors, knowing the information was on the key.

- when arriving, we were handed a 100% biodegradable bag. It was very useful during the conference to carry around a laptop anda notebook (yes, I know but we usually use recycled paper notebook!). When leaving I packed it carefully - thinking it would be very useful to have it at the bottom of my bag for last minute grocery shopping at home.

- the Dream Team also convinced our 5* hotel to recycle the many bottles we emptied during our various tastings and meals.

I'm glad EWBC set such a great example of sustainable consciousness and I just hope other conferences sill follow the same pattern for the sake of our planet. Keep the good work and thanks for having set such a great example.

European Wine Bloggers Conference - Part 3

2009-11-01T01:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday Oct. 31st was THE day of the EWBC conference. We actually worked hard going from one session to an other one, getting in touch with each other and working on important topics: what is a social wine brand? What is the impact of the social media on wine travel? How can wineries answer the challenging issues brought by social media? What kind of relationship can wineries and wine bloggers build? What is the future of the social media in the wine industry?

Of course none of us brought a definitive answer to any of those questions. But a few ideas emerged of the lively and sometimes contradictory discussions while some problems were clearly addressed. Wineries in Europe are not really set to receive consumers and travelers. With the rise of the social media, can they afford to turn away a consumer and risk their reputation through a blog post (Winery X could not receive me for a tasting: how rude!), a Tweet or aFacebook notification (Don't go to winery X)?

The way we use social media was also widely discussed. Should we have a very large and indiscriminated circle of friends on Twitter and Facebook or be more selective? Should we all try to be Gary V. or be ourselves? Should we make money with our blog or social media use or should we be more "conservative"? The session on "Monetising the social media" did not provide THE answer but helped clarifying the various issues: a commercial endeavour (nakedwines.com, a retailer such as Bibendum Wines or a wine travel site) will make a commercial use of the social media and they're right to do so. But what about a wine blogger? How should (s)he use his/her influence if (s)he has any?

Doug Cook, founder of Ablegrape.com and now head of the Twitter Search, comforted a more selective approach of search engine and developed what he called "search engine friendliness". He gave us useful tips on how to get good search engine results: trying to get the widest traffic might not be the best strategy as the web visitors are not qualified or relevant to the topic of our site or blog.

After so many hours of work, we needed a nice break which Charles Metcalfe, the "wine singer", provided through a tasting of amazing Portuguese wines. We then ended the day at the Eleven Restaurant on their beautiful terrace overlooking "Lisbon by night" and nibbling on their delicate food.

EWBC might be over technically today. But there are still many things that happened we'll discuss in the next few days. EWBC is just the once a year meeting allowing us bloggers, wineries, Facebook and Twitter friends to meet face to face and talk about social media, blogging and wine but it keeps linking us over the year until the next conference. The discussion will keep going on through social media between us and next year, when we'll meet again (hopefully), we'll have even more topics to talk about.

European Wine Bloggers Conference - Part 2

2009-10-31T00:20:00.000-07:00

Our first day of conference ended last night with a grand buffet and the pouring of the wines of the Douro Boys. But before we were rewarded by such a feast, we had to work hard through two tastings.

Both tastings were a real initiation to Spanish and Portuguese wines. Esteban Cabezas, Marketing Director of the Wine Academy of Spain, conducted a fascinating tasting of the fortified, dessert and natural sweet wines from Spain and Portugal usually featured during the Vinoble Fair (Salon de los Vinos Nobles) held in Jerez from May 30 to June 2, 2010. Esteban made a brilliant presentation of the style and history of those wines followed by the tasting of two Amontillado wines, some Port wine, a red Moscatell, a Madeira and the mysterious Garvey Gran Order PX. It was a trip in the history of various wine regions and through elegant and unusual flavors and aromas.

After a much needed palate cleansing, we were back in the tasting room facing 18 wines of the energetic and talented Douro Boys. The Douro Boys is a group of five wineries: Quinta do Vale Meao, Quinta Vale D Maria, Quinta do Crasto, Niepoort and Quinta do Vallado. After the serving of their white wines, each wine maker conducted the tasting of his wines.

Questions on wine making were asked by the floor and the Douro Boys answered with humor and talent. We had a fascinating and entertaining event. As a wine marketer, I was also interested by their branding strategy. Douro is a very easy name to remember whatever the native language. As one of them pointed out, "boys" might be more ambigous in some countries but to most people, the Douro boys is a group of wine makers from Douro. This collective branding strategy was the first step that now allows them to differentiate each winery from the other ones. The tasting showed clearly that each winery has a different style of wines. Every attendant has the possibility now to make his/her choice among the various styles of wines.

Besides tastings and panels, the EWBC is the best opportunity for us, bloggers, to meet face to face with our contacts and Facebook friends. I also had the opportunity to see again some wine professionals I rarely have the opportunity to meet. I was delighted to exchange ideas and renew acquaintance with a lot of people. And I'm looking forward to getting acquainted to many of the other participants - all fascinating people from different countries.

Thanks to the Dream Team of EWBC to bring us all together!

European Wine Bloggers Conference - Day 1

2009-10-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

I just arrived at the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon. The conference started yesterday with the live tasting of Cortes de Cima and I'm really sorry I missed the experience.

But the fun began as soon as I stepped in the beautiful VIP Grand Hotel in Lisbon (5* - nothing less). I met Gabriella Opaz from Catavino who told me a conference by Ryan and Andre from Adegga was starting. I ran to my room, threw my bag in the closet and went back down. Ryan and Andre were lecturing wineries owners about launching a blog. Very interesting topic that generated a lot of questions from the audience.

The real fun will start at 5:00 pm with tastings and a great dinner and tomorrow, back to work. The EWBC agenda will keep the participants busy all day and the speakers will need a lot of energy to carry on. Stay tuned on twitter and facebook for more info!

A creative wine cellar management system

2009-10-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

From time to time I love to venture in innovative systems created in the "real" world instead of my beloved Web 2.0 world. I was caught up in reading a web site on a very creative wine cellar management system - we could even call it exclusive because I think there are only 2000 devices available for sale.

What is it about? called "Mémoire du Vin" (Wine memory), it looks like an elegant dresser that can stand in the wine cellar. The goal is to preserve and manage the information on each bottle stored in the cellar. The ring you can see on the glass is the secret to the system: it registers and stores all the information of the bottle (producer, vintage, date of entry in the cellar, value bought) and allows the owner to follow the evolution of the cellar as well as the rising (hopefully) value of the bottles over the years. The cellar owner has a complete and uptodate image of the cellar.

Like technology? This new system is for you!

Social Wine Brands

2009-10-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Next week I'll be on my way to the European Wine Bloggers Conference in Lisbon, Portugal. I'm one of the lucky one who'll get to speak twice - once on Social Wine Brand and the second time on the Future of the Social Wine Brand.

But what is exactly the social wine brand? More and more winery owners are getting aware of the importance of social media to reach their consumers. They start writing blogs, create a page on Facebook and an account on Twitter. Those are great initiatives but they're far from being as efficient as they could be. Indeed being part of a social media network means a lot more. It means interfacing with other wine professionals - even peers - and, of course, consumers. One of the weaknesses of the European wine network is the lack of communication and cooperation between winery owners and wine makers. Europe is more individualistic and competitive than its New World friends - i.e. Americans, Australians or South Americans. It impairs the launching of efficient networks. Indeed, networks require trust and sharing information and tips. Europeans are usually more retentive and don't give away information or tip to an unknown party.

Is there a solution for this situation? Yes, we see in Europe innovative initiatives coming from wine makers who understood how working together (and not against each other) is important. The French "Mes Vignes" network is one of the best examples. Several winemakers from various French producing regions got together to offer wine lovers the opportunity to rent some vines for a year and create their own wine. In Cahors, the wine makers "banded" together to promote their wines in the US through blogs and buzz marketing. I'm sure other countries have many success stories they'll share during this panel on social wine brands.

Blogging is certainly one of the best social media a winery can develop. But it is not enough to write posts on the state of the vine or how the wine is doing in the vat or in the barrel. The blog needs to bring value to the winery or the shop owner by creating a special relationship with the final consumer. The blogger needs to create links with other bloggers by sharing information, giving away ideas or starting interesting discussions. Topics can vary. I recently read a discussion on Facebook initiated by David Corey on : "would you rather buy high priced wine discounted or small production wines with consistenly fair pricing? let's say $29 and under?" The question is a very good example of the kind of topics consumers are passionnate about: over 30 people answered and commented upon each other's comments.

Don't hesitate either to join professional networks such as OpenWineConsortium or LinkedIn with its Wine 2.0 or Wine Business section. Be proactive, create relationship and emotion around your brand. Comment on other people blogs, give away information to help somebody, get involved in discussions you are interested in - "just do it" or "think differently" but whatever you chose to do, do it in a spirit of cooperation and with an open mind.

Twitter in the wine business for charity

2009-10-16T00:29:00.000-07:00

Twitter and Crushpad winery partnered to create two wines to support Room to Read,
a San Francisco-based non-profit which aims to empower millions of children in the developing world through education.

This is the first Corporate Social Innovation initiative of Twitter. The label is dubbed Fledgling Wine. In addition to its Web site, the project has a Twitter page launched a few hours ago.

"As a company that's only one percent into its journey, we're always thinking about our long term impact on the world," Twitter co-founders Ev Williams and Biz Stone wrote on Fledgling Wine's home page. "The Fledgling Initiative embodies two things that are at the core of Twitter's mission: providing access to information and highlighting the power of open communication to bring about positive change."

Crushpad is associated to the project as the winemaking facility. It will help create the two wines, a Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay recently harvested. According to Michael Brill, CEO of Crushpad, Crushpad's "goal is to seriously over-deliver on both quality and experience."

The Fledging Wine site will provide multimedia content documenting the wine's development step by step, in-person events at the winery, tweet ups (of course!), and even chances to taste the wine as well as the news and updates.

The Fledging Project is significant to the social media development for several reasons:

- it's initiated by a very young company, Twitter, that gave itself the best way to explain its mission. Indeed, for many people, Twitter is just this micro-chat where privileged and educated people with time on their hands tell the world they just had their capuccino or they're depressed because it rains in their part of the world. Twitter is a lot more than just a micro-chat for over-spoiled people. It has a social value and can expand its benefits to developing countries. Indeed, without reading skills, no tweets and no access to the world. It also has a professional value that is very often overlooked by people.
- it shows that the technological world is not cold and heartless: two technological advanced companies - Twitter and Crushpad - partnered to help Room to Read and to extend their hand to the world. Their partnership gives an other dimension and meaning to the expression "social media". Technology is not self serving: it is at the service of mankind.
- Wine is the best link between people. When wine is often diabolised, this project shows it also links people together from the US to Europe, to Africa and to Asia. Wine might not be a world language like music, but it carries positive values.

Web 2.0 is about sharing not only knowledge but also riches. I wish the best to the three partners of this beautiful adventure and I hope there will be a lot of pre-ordering those bottles of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, lovingly made by all contributors.

Meet Doug Cook at EWBC

2009-10-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Doug Cook is the founder of ablegrape.com and head of Twitter Search. EWBC is the European Wine Blogger Conference held in Lisbon, Portugal, from Oct 30th to Nov 1st, 2009.

Ablegrape.com is the wine search engine I already raved about on this blog. I will spare you an other post on the subject. But if you want to know more about the man behind the search engine, read his interview on the blog of the conference. As the date of the conference is getting closer, I'm looking forward to meeting Doug Cook and many other interesting attendees or panelists. Stay tuned to the EWBC site as the speakers' names and the final program are going to be uploaded very soon.

See you in Lisbon?

Wine and Health in South Africa

2009-10-13T05:42:00.000-07:00

2009 is the 350th anniversary of South African wine production. South Africa is now a wine producing country largely recognized in many parts of the world - at the sad exception of a few European countries. France is one of them but fortunately, every two years, a charity auction reminds French wine lovers that South African wines are gorgeous.

The charity auction is organized every two years in Paris by the Artcurial Auction House. The beneficiary of the auction is the Phelophepa Health Train, which means “Good clean health” in Tswana. Born in 1994, the brainchild of two dynamic women who renovated and transformed an old train into a brand new medical train, with its own generators, it meanders through the rural regions of South Africa bringing medical treatment to people who do not have access to doctors due to their economic and geographical situations, far from urban medical infrastructures.
The train stops for 4 to 5 days in small towns across the country for 10 months each year before its annual 2 month refurbishment for the following year. The train has several medical units; dentistry and eye clinics, general practitioners, pediatric and psychology units and carries out screening for diabetes, for example.
The Phelophepa was given an award by the United Nations in 2008 for outstanding community service, a recognition of the importance and effective care given to patients of all ages and cultures.

As a tribute to the handful of French Huguenots who arrived in the Cape in 1688, the 2009 Phelophepa auction will carry not only some outstanding South African wines but also some exceptional wines from great French producers who have vinous links to South Africa, such as Lurton, Angélus, Rolland, Laroche, Gosset, Schaal, or Moueix.

2009 is the Third Edition of this very special Charity Auction. The two previous events enabled 63 000 people to be treated and many French wine lovers to discover the gorgeous South African wines.

Isn't it the proof that wine is good for your health? If you are in Paris on October 27th, stop at the Artcurial Auction House and be part of a beautiful event. For more detail, contact Allison Bonnett.

Millesima.com, on the way up to Web 2.0?

2009-10-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

Videos, Google-style search engine, blog, Facebook page - Millesima.com, one of the leading e-commerce site, is gearing up towards Web 2.0 level and entering the age of social media.

Millesima.com is positioned as a very high-end e-commerce site. It sells only 12-bottle cases of Bordeaux classified Growths, Burgundy or Rhone Valley wines. Their customers are passionate wine amateurs and connoisseurs. Prices are obviously high and there is no bargain or discounted prices. Millesima.com sells in Europe. In their US on line store, the offer differs slightly as it sells sought-after South American, Italian, American and Spanish wines.

The move towards Web 2.0 is not without danger. The image of Millesima is linked to the image of the Bordeaux Chateaux, Burgundy domains or Champagne houses the store sells - an image of excellence and prestige. Their chais hold over 2,000,000 bottles of the best wines in the world by cases of 12 or special formats (Magnums, jeroboams). That's why its entry in the world of social media has to be well thought out. Gerard Spatafora, the Web Marketing Director, chose a rather elegant strategy. With the help of a former wine journalist and expert in communication, Frederic Lot, he launched a series of high quality videos about some of the estates and their wines sold by the company. Those videos are in three parts: a presentation of the estate, a more technical part and a third one wore consumer oriented with wine and food pairing or drinkability of the wine, for example. They're implemented in a separate section of the site and have a different design. The videos are not meant only to sell more wines but also to share with Millesima's customers the world of culture represented by prestige wines. At the moment, the videos are only in French but English and German versions are in the making. When the series will be completed, there will be 150 videos - one for each reference stored by Millesima. But even with only 3 videos, the section is like a little oasis of culture in the middle of an e-commerce site.

At the same time as Millesima launched the video section, it opened a Facebook page. It's still a little too early to see any significant initative. For now their page is only announcing their events or the new features of the site. It needs a little kick up to become a real Web 2.0 tool in their communication strategy.

Let's Millesima keep working on their Web 2.0 strategy. See you in a few months with more news on an innovative e-commerce site!

VinTank's New Report on iPhone Apps

2009-10-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

As usual, a report by VinTank creates a lot of interest amongst wine aficionados and tech people. Good iPhone apps in the wine business are not that easy to find. VinTank's report is of great help to the wine consumer: Paul Mabray went through all the hard work of buying the apps, and creating various filters to test them (wine reviews, wine and food pairing, wine journal, social media capabilities, Point of purchase option, User Interface, innovation and data cleanliness). With those 8 features, any wine consumer can chose the app most pertinent to his/her use.

VinTank's paper is very informative on the best BtoC apps. The top apps recommended are good tools to establish and maintain contact between wine companies and consumers.

This said, my main concern is that there is no real app for wine professionals. As such I'm also interested in price comparisons between two or more sites and not only what the price point. I'd also be interested in auctions for more expensive wines.

Next steps for the industry: mobile site for all wineries to maintain the stream between wineries and consumers, more BtoB apps and specific apps for high end wines (Opus One, Haut-Brion, Palmer, Sassicaïa, etc.). And more reports from VinTank!

Can we talk about wine like we talk about food?

2009-10-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

This question asked by wine and travel writer Salma Abdelnour in a very witty article made me smile at first. Wine was part of food for several centuries in Europe. Then my American culture kicked in and reminded me wine is not food anymore - especially not in Europe - and is just a pleasure. Why is that we can't talk about wine as easily as we exchange recipes or opinions about food?

But are we really so relaxed about food? Some consumers studies show that a lot of people don't dare mention the fact they enjoy eating a hamburger in a fast food or a frozen pizza. Some don't even know the meaning of the word "gourmet". Is it such a crime? Not at all. Wine and food are part of the little pleasures of life and some people are not sensitive to this kind of pleasures. They'd rather go skiing or dancing.

Does wine need to be intimidating? No, wine needs to be enjoyed. If you find contentment with a simple Pinot Grigio, enjoy it without asking yourself if you're drinking the "right" wine. Wine is like reading: some enjoy detective stories and others poetry. Is one category right and the other wrong? No, they're different people with different tastes and deserve the same consideration.

The world of wine and food is rich and diverse enough to accomodate everybody and every taste. So enjoy your wine - simple or complex - and your food - gourmet or fast food!

A Wine Channel in France

2009-10-02T07:34:00.000-07:00

For any other country having a TV channel devoted to wine is... no big deal. In France it requires to go through a major administrative work. Why is that? First of all, because wine is now considered as a very dangerous drink leading to alcoholism and major health problems. Second, because the French law require to ask "permission" to open a new channel to a very special authority overlooking the media, the CSA (Audiovisual Committe). Last but not least, the lobbies against wine are very strong.

This new TV channel, Edonys, just applied for permission to start working. Its mission statement is to produce films on the culture of wine in France but also all over the world. The channel will be broadcasted in Europe and at least in two languages, French and English. The project is very appealing to any wine lover, whether professional or consumer. That's why the initiators of the idea are already lobbying to get the support of the wine community in France. Let's hope the project will meet with the approval of the Audiovisual Committee.

A woman's smile on a wine label

2009-09-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

This is the very unusual sight I came across today. At first the title of the article read: "Wine for women". I got mildly annoyed and was about to move away when a sentence caught my eye: "Every smile has a story. And many stories are shared over a glass of wine". Banal? Yes, but true. In our days of bad news, a smile is to be treasured preciously.

Back to wine! SmileVino is a weird but touching try to reach people through the best of their heart. Each label depicts a woman smiling. Each smile carries a different emotion: compassion, accomplishment, whatever. The back label tells the story behind the smile. What about the wine? There are two bottles - one of Merlot and one of Chardonnay, both from California. My feeling is that the wine is just the messenger for woman's charities in various communities in spite of Nancy Moore, vice-president, affirmation: "Our signature Chardonnay and Merlot were specially created in California and offer a fresh taste for wine lovers."

I like the positive side of the story: smile, telling a positive story, giving back to the community. But why only women and why so little on the wines?

I have a couple of issues with gender marketing applied to the wine business. First, many studies showed clearly that women don't have special attraction to "feminine" wines, such as pink or sweet wines. Second, women are now learned in wine: they know what they like and what they want to buy. Last but not least, they are usually sharp shoppers and detect easily the false bargain or the marketing trick. Because let's be honest and even brutal: a wine designed for women is usually poorly made - too sweet, heavy, poorly balanced. Give us real wines - with a smile, yes but also a wine that will bring a smile to our face!

Google or Ablegrape.com?

2009-09-25T02:26:00.001-07:00

When it comes to finding information on wine on the Net, is it better to google or ablegrape? This morning I made a very simple test. I "googled" a few wine brands or names and then checked comparatively on ablegrape.com. Guess what? I had more pertinent answers through ablegrape.com.

Let's take one example. Clarendelle is a relatively new Bordeaux brand. The brand never really advertised but has a web site of its own in French and English. It is distributed mostly on international markets. Google found 3,960 answers for Clarendelle but about 95% were not pertinent or linked to pages saying "There is no answer about Clarendelle on that page". Thank you for the information!

Ablegrape.com was more helpful in that sense that I was able to figure out faster and more accurately if I would be able to find the information I was looking for on the page. It found 1,764 entries for Clarendelle, most of them quite pertinent. The page also gave the language and the type of site (wine store, blog, producer, trade). It was also possible to search by tasting notes, reference, producer, etc.

What is ablegrape.com? Behind the search engine, there is a man, Doug Cook, passionate about wine and good programmer. Instead of talking about search engine optimization (SEO), he'd rather talk about "search friendliness", a concept he brilliantly presented during the American Wine Bloggers Conference in July 2009. His work is a work of love and passion he keeps improving with the help of a strong community and a team of wine lovers like him. He's committed to present the wine trade, wine writers and wine consumers with the best tool to research on wine.

In the current situation where SEO strategies through Google are challenged by brands, a search friend specifically designed for wine is certainly one of the possible answers. I was rather impressed by all the improvement Doug brought to ablegrape.com since I first reviewed it in February 2008. If you're a wine professional - whatever your area of expertise - or if you love buying and drinking wine, ablegrape.com is certainly the most adequate search tool offered at the moment. Enjoy!

The Palate Press - a new digital wine magazine

2009-09-23T00:56:00.000-07:00

Go green! More and more print media are going digital to complement their paper edition but it is rare to see a 100% digital wine magazine. That's why the recent launching of The Palate Press by David Honig is a most welcome move.

David is no newbie in the wine business. He initiated the now famous 89 Project to promote those unfortunate wines rated below the lethal 90 points limit established by some prominent critic or magazine. By doing so he allowed us to drink nice wines at very nice prices.

Some very good wine writers joined the team: Rick Bakas, Andrew Barrow, Amy Corron Powers, Catie McIntyre Walker, Gabriella Opaz and many others (sorry for those whose names are not mentioned: they're as talented!). Some of those people know very well the digital world and wine writing for such a format.

The various sections have funny names, like "Hot Potato" - where some controversial or unusual topics are debated (Brett in Whites?) or "Soap Box" with some "slippery" subjects like the role of wine critics! There are more in-depth article. I read a great history of the Walla Walla region, not to be called the "next Napa", where the next American Wine Bloggers Conference will take place!

You guessed by now I enjoyed the tone of The Palate Press, its format and the various topics. There is a little of everything for everybody whether you are a wine professional, a wine consumer or just an avid reader about wine and its wide world. Enjoy as much as I did!

Vintank, the Digital Think Tank in the Wine Business

2009-09-21T05:13:00.000-07:00

In the pre-Internet days, think tanks could be impressive by the secrecy surrounding their members, their goals and their means of action. Today, in the (almost) full bloom of the Web 2.0, think tanks should be leading the way to the Web 3.0. And some do.

Who didn't hear of VinTank's Social Media Report? It was certainly one of the most reviewed and commented upon report on the subject in the wine industry. Previously to reading the report, I had heard of Paul Mabray and some of his partners. We spoke from time to time through podcasts, Twitter or email. Think tanks in the wine industry are not common (maybe even non existent) in Europe and I was getting more and more curious about VinTank's work and strategy. Their web site is very clean and to the point: they talk to the wine people (to introduce them to technology), to tech people (to introduce them to wine) and to people - the real wealth of any business, and more specifically of the wine business.

VinTank shows a great understanding of the new technologies and have deep inside knowledge of the wine industry. The team is full of ideas, creative and innovative while always offering new services, like the digital pipeline management system VinTank launched or helping develop a great idea like the social media monitoring created by Evan Cover and his team of Cruvee.

This new generation of think tank, dedicated to a very vertical market, is certainly the way to lead the wine industry to a better understanding of social media and marketing as well as providing wineries with the most up to date tools to monitor and develop their business on line. Does it mean that the wine business is very much aware of the newest marketing tools and can become one of the leaders towards a new economy, based on relationship inside the virtual world? Maybe, maybe not but thanks to VinTank, its innovative strategy and its network of partners, the wine industry is well equipped to face the hardships and the competition ahead. Ready to embark on a new adventure? It's as exciting as space travel!

Wine travel with Web 2.0 tools?

2009-09-17T08:33:00.000-07:00

I'm fascinated by the use of the Web 2.0 tools made by consultants, wineries, start-ups in the wine business. Everyday there is a new site, a new application, a new idea by someone or a company. We know VinTank and its super innovative process, Cruvee, ablegrape.com, snooth.com, thewinespies.com, vinobilia.com and many many others. Don't be offended if I didn't mention you: I'd like to finish writing my post before breakfast tomorrow morning!

Is the user of the Net - you, me, anybody who is not in the business of producing wine or communicating/selling/marketing wine - as innovative and creative? Do we use those tools to organize a trip to a wine country? I just read the post of Rebecca Kelley on her trip to Napa Valley. She used yelp.com and an iPhone to identify the wineries she'd like to visit. This strategy requires from the wineries to be social media savvy. And it worked! Rebecca had a wonderful time.

Could we do the same thing in Europe? Why not? More and more wineries are now now using social media for marketing and branding: some have blogs regularly updated, some have mobile sites available from iPods or 3G phones, a lot have Facebook and/or Twitter accounts. They're accessible also on various wine communities who share tasting notes or trip experiences. Unfortunately we don't have any yelp.com - yet! - but it could be a good idea for an European entrepreneur to start such a site.

Whatever the outcome of this idea among European start-ups, it seems the European wine world is getting more and more Web 2.0 savvy. My next travel trip will be done only using Web 2.0 tools and I'm sure it will be a great adventure!

Wine at the touch of your fingers

2009-09-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

If you love perusing a heavy leather cover wine list in a restaurant, this is not for you! Exit the wine list painfully typed by the sommelier or restaurant owner and rarely updated! I usually get slightly annoyed when I order a bottle of wine of the 2003 vintage and hear the waiter tell me: "I hope you don't mind having the 2004 because the 2003 is sold out." Yes, I do mind because I enjoy an updated wine list with the right vintage, the right wine and... the right answer.

My wish will be granted soon (hopefully) when all restaurants will have adopted the SmartCellar, the newest product in the SmartTouch series of Incentient, a company based in Jericho, NY. SmartCellar is a a 9-by-5-inch wireless high-definition color touch-screen device similar to a tablet computer smartly designed to look good on a restaurant table. The SmartCellar is connected to the database of the restaurant and can be updated everyday if necessary by the sommelier or the waiter. No more disappointment!

If you live in New York, you'll be able to experiment this new device at SD26, the restaurant of Peter May. I can't wait to see it coming to more restaurants in the US and in Europe!

PS. By the way a funny little detail: Incentient didn't update its web site and SmartCellar is not represented in the "Applications" section. So much for helping restaurant keeping their wine list updated if they don't apply this very simple principle to their own company. Cheers!

Innovative move in France: A wine bloggers tasting

2009-09-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

The French blogging scene is a rather unknown phenomenon at the international level. That's why I didn't miss the opportunity to meet some French bloggers in Paris at the initiative of the store chain Monoprix. Monoprix is the equivalent of Ralph's in the US - a middle upscale grocery store with a nice wine selection.

Monoprix just opened a new store, Monop' Store, in the trendy Saint-Emilion shopping center located in the old "chais" of the now defunct wine quarter in Paris. Wine bars, trendy restaurants, nice stores thrive in this elegant center. Monoprix stores offer a selection of wines in their stores for the traditional September wine fairs. The selection itself was done in a rather original way: Monoprix selected a few of their customers to be part of a jury to select some of their wines. The jury knew also the origin of the wine (Bordeaux, Burgundy, etc.) and the price point. Question: would YOU buy this wine at this price on our shelves? The wines selected by the customers will then submitted to the final approval of two French famous wine critics, Thierry Desseauve and Michel Bettane. The selected wines were then singled out on the shelves with a special aknowledgement in the "Gourmet" brand of Monoprix. The "Gourmet" series of wines represents about 10 to 15% of the wine brands sold in Monoprix stores.

To promote this new selection process and the "Gourmet" brand, the Monoprix Internet Manager (with the help of the Sowine Agency) imagined to ask several wine bloggers to taste their selection of wines being promoted during the September wine fairs all over France. About 10 bloggers met at the Monop'Store in the Saint-Emilion quarter. Most of them were... men, French speaking and only interested in tasting the wines. From what I heard, the wines were very eclectic and represented in fact a rather wide array of tastes and styles. Which means that French wine drinkers, mostly Monoprix customers, are certainly different from what we imagine: they have diverse tastes, don't hesitate to select more "difficult" wines and enjoy easy to drink wines at the same time. We're far away from the image of the traditional French wine drinker - either "amateur" of great Bordeaux or Burgundy wines or drinker of mediocre table wines. I just wished I could have a better description of the wine consumers on the MOnoiprix panel.

It is significant that this first experience was launched by a middle size distributor. It is a good way to associate consumers, producers and bloggers to promote wine in a country that seems to be losing its interest in one of its best accomplishment - a pleasant lifestyle associating wine and food.

2009 European Wine Bloggers Conference, Lisbon, Portugal

2009-09-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

The 2009 EWBC will take place from Oct. 30 to Nov 1st, 2009 in Lisbon, Portugal. As the date gets closer, I'm getting more and more excited about the event. The program is well thought out and covers issues important to wine bloggers, such as "Monetising the Social Wine Brand (retailers, social networks, wineries, affiliate schemes" and "Social media to better reach your audience?" The round up session will be about "Social Wine Brand Future: New technologies, new media, and publishing". All keynote speakers and panelists are not yet confirmed but trust Ryan and Gabriella Opaz of Catavino and Robert McIntosh of the wineconversation to get the best!

The most challenging issue the organizers are facing is the language issue. English has been chosen as the "official" language as very often the case in international conferences. But let's be clear about it: a lot of participants or speakers are not native English speakers. Their blogs are usually in their native language, meaning French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese or German. All of us will gather to share information, experiences, tips through a foreign language. It will be a fascinating experience to meet face to face with bloggers I "know" through their blogs and sometimes painfully tried to read. I must confess my German is very rusty, my Italian very "practical" and my Spanish almost non existent. I'm certainly not the only one to deal with such a problem and the EWBC will be the perfect opportunity to open better channels of communication between us through a common language.

European (and a few American) wine professionals and wine bloggers will meet in Lisbon at the end of October. We'll also taste great wines but mostly we'll try to create stronger links between the national communities and put together our knowledge of the social media and the wine world to create a future of better communications between the wineries and their consumers at the European level. Cheers and thanks to Gabriella, Ryan and Robert for putting together this incredible event! See you in Lisbon!