Wine For Newbies

With cold weather setting in, my thoughts always turn to Syrah or Shiraz. So, for the first Wine For Newbies video show test run, let’s drink some Syrah/Shiraz.

Here’s how it will work. On Friday evening at 9:00 pm EST, go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/wine-for-newbies to start watching. Bring your Syrah/Shiraz, your questions, your comments, and join the conversation. We’ll go for about 30 minutes or so, longer if we get a whole throng of people there.

Please keep in mind this is the equivalent of a beta test, maybe an alpha test. I fully expect things to go wrong. Just hang in there and we’ll see how this experiment works out.

The details still need to be worked out, but we’re going to try an experiment with the free online wine seminar. It will happen on Friday, November 7 at 9:00 PM Eastern/6:00 Pacific. Depending on your point of view, we’ll either be celebrating or mourning the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. Or, more likely, we’ll be celebrating the end of another long campaign season.

This thing will definitely be an experiment–I cannot make any promises that the technology, lighting, or anything else will work properly. I hope to use a video streaming service that will allow viewers to chat back at me–although I won’t be able to see or hear you, I should be able to read your comments/questions and respond as they come in.

This thing could be very cool, a huge bust, or something in between. Join us on the 7th to find out!

Well, maybe not a crazy wine idea, but an idea that might be worth exploring and trying. I’ve seen a few people experimenting with this thing called UStream. It occurred to me that I might be able to use this to offer live wine tasting seminars via the Internet to just about anywhere. It could be one that I develop that’s sort of standard, or it could be one that I develop with you to tailor it to your needs or interests.

Sound interesting?

Now, as you know I’ve taught wine courses before and have been paid to do it. I value my time and knowledge, so I’d prefer to do this sort of thing on a paid basis. But I don’t want to start off with paying clients to find out that the bugs aren’t all worked out.

So here’s what I’m thinking: I need to do some “dress rehearsals,” and I’d do those for free while I get the thing running smoothly. These would be limited in number, and we’d obviously need to plan ahead so I know what wines you would have on site for the tasting. (Not to mention we’d have to set up the date and time, factoring in the time zones. I’m in the Eastern time zone in the U.S., which is GMT -5:00 I believe.

Anyway, if this idea interests you and you’d like to be one of my guinea pigs (or it might be canary in the coal mine), leave a comment and let’s get something set up.

As I wrote earlier, there are a few wine tools available for your new iPhone and iPod touch. I downloaded Wine Log yesterday and can offer my critique. 

Wine Log has a simple interface, but that doesn’t mean it’s a simple application. It’s stocked with plenty of features. The app allows you to input the name of the wine, the winery, the region, the varietal, rate it from 1 to 5 stars, and add a note about the wine. You can also use the iPhone’s camera to take a picture of the label. You can sort through the wines by name, region, and so on. 

What I like about the app is that it has built-in flexibility. You are not limited, for example, to the varietals that the authors have included. Adding a new one is a simple task. 

The only thing I can think of that I would like to see added is a feature where it uses iPhone’s location services to find retailers nearby who have that wine in stock–that would be really amazing, but I’m only half-serious. 

This is a really nice application, and for $3 (US), it’s hard to beat. Five stars out of five here.

Wow…this is rather humbling. Sometime within the next, oh, sixty days or so, the 1,000,000th podcast episode will be downloaded. Unfortunately, I don’t have any tools that will let me identify who the person is that downloads that file, otherwise I’d offer up some kind of prize.

As regular readers know, I’ve taken quite a bit of time off here to enjoy a bit of a sabbatical from the blog and things related to WFN. I’ve enjoyed the time off, and I think it’s time to get back into being a hardcore wine enthusiast again.

With that in mind, I plan to do a few things. First, I plan to get back into regular participation in Wine Blogging Wednesday events. Second, I plan to start a series of articles to accompany the podcast episodes–not necessarily show for show, but a logical progression of topics that hopefully can evolve into a book.

As for the podcast…I’m not sure what to do with that yet. Maybe we’ll start up Volume Two and cover topics that we haven’t touched upon so far (which would be mostly about different wine regions). Maybe we’ll go back and re-record the episodes to eliminate certain annoyances. I still believe firmly that podcasting has a role in wine education, and given that some 44,000 episodes were downloaded in the month of March, 2008, alone, obviously a lot of people agree.

Look for the first article in the near future. I’m working on it (and revising it) even as you read this.

Let me begin by saying that I really appreciate all of the nice comments and emails I’ve received since I announced that WFN as a podcast has come to a close. It’s rewarding to know that the podcast has been useful to so many–which, of course, is why I want to leave it “out there” for new people to discover. I’ll probably have to record a show that will be seen as the most recent and that will explain how to use the podcast.

I certainly don’t intend to auction off my recording equipment, but exactly what role it will play in the future of this wine resource is unclear at this point.

At the risk of sounding like sour grapes (no pun intended!), I have a few observations about podcasting to share. When podcasting first started off, it was a great thing–independent voices from around the globe could bring us news, views, humor, education, and much more. Podcasting was a true social media–we, the society were its producers. The mainstream news and television outlets were nowhere near it.

If you look at the iTunes Store today, you’ll see that the top podcasts come from CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CBS, NPR, PBS and so on. Professional content dominates, and with so many podcasts out there, it’s becoming harder and harder for the amateurs to be heard. I am hopeful that good amateur shows will not be shut out by the corporate media, and it’s clear that guys like Gary over at WineLibrary TV are enjoying success that most of us can only dream of.

What makes podcasting great is all the “little guys” like Gary or the crew over at Grape Radio who are sharing their passion for wine (or whatever topic) with us. All of these shows have a place in podcasting, and it will be great if the can continue to grow their audience. One way I may try to help is by directing your attention to great wine podcasts that I run across.

As for what I’ll be doing here on this page will get worked out. I’m headed off to Walt Disney World and the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival on Friday, so I’m sure that will give me plenty of material to write about. And you can count on some pictures as well.

To all of the fans of my podcast, I again offer you my sincerest thanks. Spread the word about the audio resource, burn episodes to CDs and give them to friends, whatever you’d like to do. I’m blessed to be able to help people learn about wine without having to pay a fortune to take a class (although, I have to say, if you want to pay me a small fortune to fly out to your place and do some teaching, don’t hesitate to ask!). Thanks for all you’ve done to make the podcast what it is.

As for the future, it’s a blank page–which can be the most frightening thing in the world because there’s nothing on it. But it can also be the most exciting thing in the world for the same reason–it’s waiting to have something drawn or written on it. Right now, I’m looking at a blank sheet, and it’s kind of exciting. Stay tuned!

Wine for Newbies 77 gives you some ideas on wines you might try for the September 12, 2007, installment of Wine Blogging Wednesday. Download the file directly, use the Podtrac player, or get the show via the iTunes Store.

You can check out the Wikipedia entries on the wines mentioned in this show.

Edited to add: does anyone else think the sound is off? Or is it just my crummy hearing?

In this episode, we look at some ideas on how to start up your own wine tasting group. You can download the file directly, use the Podtrac Player in the upper right corner, or visit the iTunes Store to listen to the show.

Show Notes:

• Bagged Wine
• De Long Wine Tasting Note Form
• Wine Aroma Wheel
• Vinography’s Aroma Card (this post has the card in various languages)
• Neil Monnen’s Tasting Group Info

Technorati Tags: Wine, Wine Podcast, Wine Tasting, Wine Tasting Group

In this episode, we learn why oak is used in wine barrels (as opposed to some other wood) and how oak affects the wine. As always, you can download the file directly, use the Podtrac Player up in the upper right corner, or follow the crowd and use the iTunes Store.

Technorati Tags: Wine, Wine Podcast