Wine For Newbies

This evening I learned that this blog has been chosen to be featured in AllTop.com’s wine page. Being included alongside luminaries like Vinography.com, Wine Spectator, and eRobertParker.com is a real honor. There are tons of other great wine bloggers in that list, and I urge you to go check them out.

What’s AllTop.com, you ask? As the site describes itself, it’s almost like a digital magazine rack. Each page (and there are dozens of them on a lot of different subjects) pulls the headlines from the sites that the editors feel are among the best on the web. Each headline links back to the original article. So, you can do all of your wine, autos, politics, or whatever reading from one web page.

To all of you who submitted this site to AllTop, who subscribed, follow me on Twitter, and have left comments to show this site has loyal readers, I thank you. Now I’m fired up to go write some more kick-ass articles.

Word comes that there is a new blog about the new Pinot harvest. Written by some of California’s top Pinot makers, this should be worth checking out. Do not worry if you think you do not know enough to get anything out of it. As with any topic, as you listen to experts talk you will pick things up and learn some things. The blog is at PinotHarvest.com.

Any wine blogger or wine web site owner knows that people are busy. We all have limited time, so we tend to gravitate toward “the best” resources online. Whenever we share a web site that we’ve found or know about, we’re taking a huge risk: people will forget about us. So, we tend not to take that risk.

I don’t care. I’m going to take it because people have to know about Wine Library TV. The host/star/producer/soul of Wine Library TV is Gary Vaynerchuk. He has absolutely blown the wine world away by his success. He owns/manages/something a wine business out east (around New York). He does roughly 5 to 7 video podcasts per week where he talks about wine (and the NY Jets and other things).

In a word, he’s nuts.

I mean that in a good way. He’s nuts about wine. He’s nuts about the Jets (I’m not, but it doesn’t matter). Most importantly, he’s nuts about bringing the joys and miracles that are wine to everyone. He can take some getting used to at first, but once you realize how absolutely freaking passionate he is about wine, you can’t help but like the guy. There are all sorts of things about his video show that may turn you off (”The Thunder Show,” “sniffy-sniff,” etc.) but they all arise out of his amazing passion for wine. He can’t help himself. He’s genuine, the real deal.

I must admit, I don’t watch every episode. Like all of you out there, I’m a busy person with stuff to do. The time available to do things online is limited.

I’m ashamed. I should watch every episode. Vaynerchuk, while not perfect, is a voice worth listening to. (And he absolutely absolutely absolutely says that you have to rely on your own palate–forget what he or me or anyone else says about a wine. If you like it, that’s all that counts.) But every time I watch his show, I can’t help but smile and be a little bit jealous of his passion and the unabashed way in which he shares it. Some feel my podcast was too, um, dull–that’s the inhibitions at work. When I get worked up about a wine, I could go toe to toe with Gary V and not even blink. But doing it publicly is a bit tougher. I absolutely love the way Gary does what he does. I don’t share his passion for the Jets (professional football–gimme a break), but he is who he is, he’s not embarrassed by it, and he loves what he does with wine.

By telling you about his video podcast and stuff, I’m risking losing some of you to his show. I hope you’ll be able to subscribe to both of our web sites, interact with both of us, recognize that we have slightly different roles to play. But I could not sit here and claim to be a wine educator if I wasn’t willing to share one of the great resources out there and turn you on to it. If I didn’t recognize GaryVee for who he is and the effect he’s had on the world of wine, I’d have no integrity at all.

So, please–check out Wine Library TV. But don’t forget this humble little resource. Enjoy the approach that both web sites take. And hey, you get twice as much for your dollar (his show is as free as this blog/old podcast is)!

Technorati Tags: wine education, learn about wine, wine library tv, gary vaynerchuk

Jancis Robinson points us to a great deal: a free e-book that will educate you about Riesling. Now if we can just find someone to send all of us some free Riesling!

Technorati Tags: wine, learn about wine, wine education, riesling

Celebrate Wine has a terrific video of Ken Forrester talking about South African wines. Go watch it and learn.

Technorati Tags: wine, learn about wine, wine education, south african wine

Wouldn’t it be great to have a single web site where every outstanding wine site is featured? It’s out there, and it’s found at wine.alltop.com. Update constantly, it’s a site you absolutely need to bookmark and visit every single day. AllTop.com is the brainchild of Guy Kawasaki. I’ve known about Guy since the 1980s when he was an evangelist for Apple Computer (as it was known back then). Guy wrote a brilliant book, The Macintosh Way, and I also loved How To Drive Your Competition Crazy. His other books are brilliant, of course, but these two stand out in my mind. They still live on my bookshelf after many episodes of removing those books headed to the local library’s book sale. 

Bottom line, you need to become familiar with AllTop.com. 

Why isn’t this site included there? Because this site doesn’t kick ass–yet.

Yes, I know–not too long ago I posted that I was hanging up this blog. Sharp-eyed readers will note that post is no longer anywhere to be found.

Over the weekend I came to the conclusion that my soul still needs to teach people about wine. So, like Lazarus from the grave, the blog has been resurrected.

But that’s not enough. I am not interested in simply writing random posts about the wine world. I want this web presence to become the go-to resource for learning about wine. Will that involve new podcasts? Possibly, but that’s not in the immediate plans.

What is in the immediate plans is to write a series of kick-ass articles that will make you forget all about the old podcast, all about every other book about wine that may be occupying space on your bookshelves, all about every wine education experience in your past. That’s a pretty tall order, I must admit–just thinking about it scares me. But that’s the goal. As someone wise once said, better to aim for the sky and end up in the treetops than aim too low and end up wallowing in the mud.

Over time, I will probably collect some or most of these articles and publish them as an e-book that I will offer for sale. Why sell something that can be had for free on the web site? Well, sometimes it’s nice to have all the items together in one place. Also, it can be nice to have an e-book available for when there’s no Internet connection. Sometimes, it’s nice to be able to print something out and have physical paper in hand–the perfect environment with which to enjoy a good glass of one’s favorite beverage.

The advantage to the web site, however, will be that we can create a conversation from each article. I will try to ask questions that invite you to leave a comment. Others can reply, and I can get in on the discussion. As always, the web site will remain free, but I will allow advertising by interested parties. This, of course, will require a new look for the web site, so keep your eyes open for that. In the meantime, please pardon the cyberdust.

I will need your help, though. I can write great articles all I want, but if no one reads them, it doesn’t do me much good. I need you to spread the word to your friends. Don’t become a spammer, but make your wine-loving friends aware of the articles as they show up.

I think this is going to be great for everyone. I will satisfy my need to teach about wine, you’ll learn more about it, and we’ll have a blast along the way. So, be sure to buckle your seatbelts and get ready for a great ride.

The Internet has been abuzz this week over Apple’s new version of the venerable iPhone. Owners of an iPod touch (basically an iPhone without the camera or phone features) are also benefitting from new firmware and applications.

There are a couple of applications in the iTunes Store that may be of interest to wine enthusiasts. One, Wine Log, allows you to keep track of bottles you’ve enjoyed. If you have an iPhone, you can take a photo of the label. The cost is $2.99.

Another, Wine Snob, appears to be a reference tool with pairing suggestions, tasting notes, facts and other information. It also costs $2.99.

I would expect we will see more wine applications for the iPhone and iPod touch in the near future. For now, enjoy these.

Technorati Tags:
wine, iPhone, iPod touch

I feel like a rube for having been unaware of this resource for so long.

Wine Spectator’s online school has a very nice resource page with some terrific blank forms. There’s also a thorough tutored tasting guide that is worth the short download and time to go through it. I may even have to try it out myself.

The best part about these things? They’re all free. Go get ‘em.

The Wine Lovers Page is an outstanding Internet wine resource, and this article tells you why you should be jotting down notes about each wine you enjoy (or don’t enjoy, as the case may be). If there’s one thing I could be doing better as a wine enthusiast, it would be consistently writing down some simple notes.

Maybe this is the perfect excuse to go buy one of those Moleskine notebooks. Or maybe I’ll continue to use my Circa PDA.