June 2009 Blog Posts (31)

Twitter Followers Vs Raving Fans

Years ago, my social media/marketing consultant told me to start a blog, get on Facebook and LinkedIn and then Twitter. He wouldn’t let me go live on the blog for 6… Continue

Added by Alana Gentry on June 29, 2009 at 2:32pm — 2 Comments

Home Away From Home (and not all that far)

Its summer and we are all hopefully enjoying the weekends, having friends over for barbeques. We sit there and sip our wines, enjoying the sunshine, finishing up with a sweet watermelon or even a bowl of ice cream. Can you imagine the frustration of not having your watermelon or bowl of ice cream? For wine lovers, not being able to make the trek out to wine country to sample the last vintages and discover the latest new winery has that same level of frustration.

According to what I… Continue

Added by Mark T. Norman on June 29, 2009 at 1:22pm — No Comments

Sugarleaf Vineyards

On a recent trip to Scottsville we stopped into Sugarleaf Vineyards, a boutique winery located in the heart of the Monticello Wine Trail. - producing wines from primarily estate grown vinifera grapes. I would recommend visiting their… Continue

Added by Todd Godbout on June 29, 2009 at 5:30am — No Comments

Branding Your Individual Wines

I just read a blog on “authenticity” and how important it is in using social media to bring that honesty to the forefront of your marketing efforts. This blog got me to thinking about how an individual winery’s wine is perceived in the marketplace.

If you look up the definition of “Brand Image” the explanation is just that, how it is perceived by individuals in the marketplace. This then comes to the idea of branding your wine. That is the creation of the image of that wine that is… Continue

Added by Mark T. Norman on June 24, 2009 at 5:51am — No Comments

My best from 2009's Hospice du Rhône

This past spring I attended two massive tasting events: the Hospice du Rhône (May 1-2) in Paso Robles, and World of Pinot Noir (March 6-7) in Shell Beach.

As much for myself as for your possible interest, here are some of the highlights from the Hospice du Rhône – all exceptional wines, worthy of a place in any wine list or cellar – out of about 100 wines tasted, listed in order of my personal favorites:

HOSPICE DU… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on June 22, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

More great Pinots than you can shake a stick at (World of Pinot Noir 2009)

This past spring I attended two massive tasting events: the Hospice du Rhône (May 1-2) in Paso Robles, and World of Pinot Noir (March 6-7) in Shell Beach.

The upshot: there are now more great Pinot Noirs being made than you can shake a stick at. Pinot lovers these days feel like kids in a candy shop at venues like World of Pinot Noir. So as much for myself as for your possible interest, here are some of the highlights from that weekend in… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on June 22, 2009 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Conclusion – Strategy - Making Money with Technology in the Wine Business

If you are not going to integrate your social media efforts with your traditional sales and marketing I would kindly suggest that you will be wasting your time. Don’t expect instant results; plan for at least 6 to 12 months of effort before you see measurable results. Your effort also needs to be consistent, so if you currently don’t have the resources (even if it’s just time) wait until you do!

Since the end result of your efforts should be an increase in sales; especially direct to… Continue

Added by Mark T. Norman on June 22, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

Selling Wine to Restaurants: Rules of Engagement In 2009

It’s still dark before dawn in the wine world. Consumers are still strapped, our operating costs are obliterating margins, and last year’s projections seem as hopeful as a bride without a first date. This goes for restaurateurs as much as wine producers.

So what are restaurants thinking about right now? Of course, we’re battening down the hatches, railing in expenses, focusing on advertising and more aggressive promotions, and tightening up… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on June 21, 2009 at 12:10pm — No Comments

Top 10 Blogs for Exploring Italy

The Sunday Seattle Times & Blogs.com just name MY blog LA TAVOLA MARCHE - http://latavolamarche.blogspot.com 1 of the Top 10 Great Blogs for Exploring Italy!

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/travel/2009331850_trbriefs14.html

About life in Le Marche, day trips, festivals, local seasonal Italian recipes, photos & more!

Added by La Tavola Marche on June 21, 2009 at 4:24am — No Comments

Making Money with Technology in the Wine Business - Part 2 – Wine Clubs

In the Introduction, I mention that I will be writing each blog part separately. I will start by saying that I will continue here with that method (as I did in Part 1 – The Tasting Room) but very importantly, in the real world, these two parts of the winery business NEED to be tightly integrated.

I have had the opportunity about decade ago to design a web site that had over 500 unique search criteria pulling information from over 100 separate databases. So trust me, I… Continue

Added by Mark T. Norman on June 19, 2009 at 7:55am — No Comments

How can we love 'em (i.e. organic wines) when stores & restaurants won't tell us what is what?

"How can I miss you when you won't go away?" goes the old Dan Hicks song. When it comes to merchandising organic wines in stores and restaurants, the song is more like: how can we appreciate them when you don't even tell us what they are?

One thing we do know: like organic foods twenty, thirty years ago, wines produced in organic, Biodynamic®, as well as vegan and sustainable fashions are emerging out of the fringe elements of commercial… Continue

Added by Randy Caparoso on June 18, 2009 at 8:05pm — No Comments

Photos from W & H Network mixer

You can check out the photos taken at this event by either just watching the slide show on this page or by visiting www.loebimages.com/hess

Enjoy!

Michael Loeb

Added by Michael Loeb on June 18, 2009 at 6:38pm — No Comments

Heard it in the tasting room...

I served a guest in the tasting room this week who said, "I think the winemakers are playing with us when they get in the lab and start adding things to the wine, like cinnamon." He truly believed the winemakers are concocting recipes and adding spices to the wines. How does one keep a straight face? Now where is that green apple...

Added by Phyllis Hyland on June 18, 2009 at 12:19pm — 3 Comments

Making Money with Technology in the Wine Business - Part 1 – The Tasting Room

No one out there better be expecting to sell even one bottle of wine directly from a social networking site, but then no one ever bought a bottle of wine directly from a magazine advertisement.

Let me start by restating what I hope is known by everyone in the wine business. Silicon Valley Bank (probably the best authority on industry statistics) and VinTank (don’t truly know their expertise but many acknowledged the significance of their recent report) both clearly stated that almost… Continue

Added by Mark T. Norman on June 18, 2009 at 6:23am — No Comments

SEO Secrets for Travel, Tourism & Hospitality is Available Now!

Hello fellow travel and tourism companies and bloggers.

After you got to know me in the last 2-3 months while giving you free tips and advice on improving your rankings in search engines, I would like to take a few seconds to let you know I just launched my fresh product "SEO Secrets for Travel, Tourism & Hospitality".

I hope I have given you enough free tips to allow myself to send out this commercial… Continue

Added by SEO Secrets Travel Industry on June 18, 2009 at 5:36am — No Comments

Announcing SonomaValleyWineries.org

I've been working on a web site exclusively focused on wineries of the Sonoma Valley -- from Roche Winery in the south to Ledson Winery in the north. My goal with the site is to provide one-stop-shopping for tourists interested in making plans for visiting wineries in the area as well as having fun while they're here.

I presently have at least beginning descriptions of 48 wineries… Continue

Added by Roy Tennant on June 17, 2009 at 8:34pm — No Comments

You can crush at my pad | The Vines of Mendoza in the Financial Times

My boat sank, so I bought a vineyard” might sound like an improbably tall tale told at the end of a wine-addled dinner party. But in the case of Michelle Paris, it’s the truth. It all began in 2007 when the Toronto-based investment dealer discovered that her planned Antarctic trip had been cancelled after the ship she was due to go on unfortunately sank. “So,… Continue

Added by Emily Camblin on June 17, 2009 at 12:32pm — No Comments

Making Money with Technology in the Wine Business

Introduction

Nearly every day now I am seeing new blogs and discussions on social networking, and whether or not businesses can make money using them? In a discussion posted on Tuesday (on LinkedIn) a consultant asked the community if anyone knew of “hard data” on this subject. A number of people left comments and I followed the links in them. As I clicked on these links, none of them displayed pages where I saw any hard data (I have a very extensive background in statistics).… Continue

Added by Mark T. Norman on June 17, 2009 at 8:22am — No Comments

Soil of Serpentine

Winery Entrepreneur Restores Site History, Seeks to Elevate Alexander Valley.

An Interview with Kenneth Kahn of Blue Rock Vineyard.

The surface of Alexander Valley's utmost potential as a wine region has barely been scratched. At least that's the belief of a small cadre of local producers dedicated to crafting premium Bordeaux varietal wines — of whom one is particularly adamant in his determination to help realize that promise.… Continue

Added by Nikitas Magel on June 15, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

The Wine Century Club

What a terrific idea!

I know people who are only white wine drinkers and people who only drink reds. I know people who also just drink “cabs” and drinkers who favor only other individual varietals. Everyone is entitled to drink and enjoy what they like. Yet many of my (winos) friends share the same excitement that my wife and I have for finding great tasting wines of a different varietal. In one of my many google alert emails yesterday was a reference to a Wine Century… Continue

Added by Mark T. Norman on June 15, 2009 at 7:34am — 6 Comments