Archive - 2008

Hugel Wines and Twitter

August 19, 2008 in Uncategorized with 8 Comments

I’m a sucker for wines from Alsace. I love the variety of styles, the rich flavours and the amazing expression that can come from just one small (albeit beautiful) region of France.

When I discovered that wines from Alsace would be featuring in an upcoming rather unusual live wine tasting, I thought I’d do my best to be part of it – and I’m glad to say I succeeded because this should be quite an experience!

THE WINES
These will all come from Hugel & Fils (www.hugel.com):

LOCATION:
What makes this tasting different from 99.99% of all other wine tastings happening in the world right now is that it will take place live, in Europe and the US, using Twitter and also, because it can happen simultaneously anywhere in the world, we are going to be able to be joined by Etienne Hugel himself.

[If you are not familiar with Twitter, it is a web application that basically is a cross between blogging, sending an SMS and instant messaging/chat. Very addictive! It should make the comments, and tasting notes, a bit of an entertaining challenge.]

TIMING:
The tasting will start at 00:00 UK time on the 22nd of August (that’s midnight folks!) because we are joining in with our US friends who start at 19:00 Eastern on the 21st).

I will be trying to stay awake and post my thoughts on the wine (and the food we will match them to) along with Andrew from Spittoon (see below) both on twitter and on this blog.

If you want to follow the tasting live you’ll need to sign up and ‘follow’ me (add me as a contact) and some of those below. My username is thirstforwine

Other that will be participating include (and there will be plenty more I’m sure):
binendswine (USA) http://www.binendswine.com
(the coordinator of the event)
wine_scribbler (UK) http://www.spittoon.biz
catavino (Spain) http://www.catavino.net
gabriellaopaz (Spain) http://www.catavino.net
1winedude (USA) http://1winedude.blogspot.com
dalecruse (USA) http://drinksareonme.net
winecast (USA) http://winecast.net
richardpf (USA) http://passionatefoodie.blogspot.com

If you are a fan of Alsatian wines, or maybe you want to learn more about them, you can join us live, or look out for the report of the event. It promises to be a fun experience and a new way to share the fun of a wine tasting without the pressure

Airship Photos

August 17, 2008 in Consumer marketing with 1 Comment

I’m working on a post with some thoughts about beer marketing (you won’t be surprised it stems from my recent brush with Stella Artois marketing efforts) but in the interim, I thought I’d post a link to my photos so I can share them with those of you who have been following my attempts to get airborne, and those I met on the way that I promised this to.

Click here for the full set (click on the slideshow button for the full effect)



When good things come from bad

August 14, 2008 in Uncategorized with 9 Comments

Well, another aborted attempt to soar like an eagle through the skies of London (well, more like a weather balloon than an eagle I suppose) on the Star Over London, but more on that when I’ve finally managed it – hopefully tomorrow.

As I had to come back through London, I stopped off in Spitalfields market as suggested by Eating Leeds and tikichris, to taste Sherry and Tapas. I admit, I love sherry, so I don’t need to be convinced. However, younger consumers in general are yet to be fully convinced, and words alone will not change their minds. So what will?

Well, like the recent Tapas Fantasticas event, the Sherry Institute has decided to get glasses into consumers’ hands and set up a bar in the middle of the City, in Spitalfields market.

Not only are they making it accessible, but they’ve been able to get Heston Blumenthal (yes, that chef!) involved to develop the menus.

Now, food is much trendier in many ways than wine. There are a hundred times more column inches and TV minutes dedicated to food rather than wine, and there are plenty of TV chefs, but very few TV winemakers, tasters or critics. Shame!

So, great food, good endorsement, easy to get hold of, it must be a winner, right?

Well, I must admit that although I didn’t mind having to pay to get a sample, I think that £6 is quite an investment for someone unsure about the wine in the first place. However, for my £6 I did get three samples of sherry AND 3 interesting little ‘tapas’ (not a portion most Spaniards would be accustomed to however!). There was a £3 option for a full glass of sherry as well if you wanted, and that was pretty good value compared to a local winebar.

Since the menu had to be limited (this is a tent in a middle of a square after all) and the sherry was matched to the food, the choice of sherries was limited.

The fino, I must admit was nothing special although reasonably pleasant, and I can’t say I’m a fan of Cream sherry (however good quality). Being a fan, I KNOW what I want, and that’s an aged, dry Amontillado or Oloroso, or my personal favourite, a Palo Cortado. However, the sweeter style of Oloroso that they served was very nice and I shall be looking out for this bottle again.

I congratulate the Sherry Institute for organising this event, and I wish them well. We need more people trying sherry and realising that despite the common misconceptions about sherry, and the appalling way it is often served (warm, oxidised and in tiny glasses) that it is a fabulous drink worth exploring.


It is rather last minute, but if you are around the City on Friday 15th August, check out the Sherry Bar outside Patisserie Valerie.

Oh, and if you are there in the late afternoon (after 5pm) look up in the air and I will try to wave from the Airship/Zeppelin as I fly over.

Crowdsourcing Wine

August 13, 2008 in Uncategorized with 5 Comments

Ever heard the term “crowdsourcing“? If you haven’t check it out! It is a great idea, perfect for the “social networker” in all of us – either as a producer looking to create new products, or a consumer eager to get involved in shaping new solutions.

From Wikipedia:

Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task, refine an algorithm or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data (see also citizen science).

The term has become popular with business authors and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. However, both the term and its underlying business models have attracted controversy and criticism.

There are loads of examples of crowdsourcing happening around the world, taking full advantage of the benefits of social networks to get the word out, and involve lots of individuals all over the world.

I came across this example of a crowdsourced cafe today, called Elements.

Members share ideas of what to call the project, choose its logo, what to serve, why, how to communicate its values – even what those values are. All the while, this group is creating a loyal community that will hopefully turn into loyal customers in future.

So, who is doing this in wine?

You could argue that the clever chaps over at Crushpad have started this sort of thing, allowing groups of virtual winemakers to create their own wines, from choice of grapes and how to ‘make’ the wines, all the way through to packaging design.

These wines are, therefore, available only in limited quantities and are expensive. I should admit I’m involved in one Crushpad group being run by Tim Elliott but, in an example of the limitations of taking these virtual projects into the ‘real world’ it may be legally impossible, and financially impractical, for me to ever actually drink this wine!

But, are any of the big brands in the wine world working on something like this? It would seem ideal territory. Who knows, maybe we’ll hear something exciting in the not too distant future.

With thanks to Springwise for the tip about Elements

Site changes

August 13, 2008 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

I thought I should warn you that over the next few weeks you may see a few changes around here.

I’ve used the Blogger platform since the beginning, and I would recommend it for anyone starting out in the world of blogging, but if you want to develop your own ideas further, there are other alternatives that are more flexible.

I am working on the second generation of The Wine Conversation (with the help of some friends) and hope this will roll out in the near future.

In the interim, I may test out some ideas and features. Today’s change was the addition of Google AdSense. My intention is not to turn this blog into an advertising vehicle, but as I’m writing an article on how wine bloggers might become more professional and earn a living from this craft, I thought I’d get some first hand experience of the features and management of this now, fairly ubiquitous, solution.

Hopefully the new ideas we are working on will be of use and interest to you, so if you mainly follow me in your feed readers, do keep an eye on the site from time to time.

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