Tag Archives: book

Lulu Does England

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As you would imagine, being a wine lover and living in the UK is great because we have access to great wines from all over the world. The UK is still one of the biggest, and most cosmopolitan, importers of wine in the world.

This situation arose, in part, because we didn’t have the climate to make the range and volumes of wines we wanted to drink. We simply HAD to go abroad to find it.

However, wine has actually been made in Britain for centuries, mainly thanks to the Romans I believe. What is more relevant, however, is that England today is becoming a great centre for the production of unusual whites (like Bacchus wines) and Champagne-like sparkling wines. Who nows what further warming of the climate will allow in future!

I don’t say Champagne-like lightly, because English vineyards are actually similar in many key ways to those of Champagne, they also grow the same main grapes (Chardonnay & Pinot Noir) and make the wines in the same ‘traditional’ way.

In fact many, including Nyetimber, regularly come above many famous French counterparts in blind tastings (as they just did again)

Now Stephen Skelton MW, a leading expert, consultant and educator on anything to do with English wines, has published his latest book on English Wines and Vineyards: UK Vineyards Guide 2010

What is doubly interesting is that it is only available via Lulu.com a self-publishing and on-demand printing site. It means copies are printed only for those interested in buying the book, so none are wasted just to be eventually pulped. It also cuts out certain intermediaries, allowing the author to have a bigger stake in the books success.

I like this business model a lot and hope it is successful because it provides opportunities for other specialist or creative writers to get their writing published. This is not an easy time to try and get a publisher to take on a book about wine.

Two or more very good reasons to check it out, I hope you agree.

The UK Vineyards Guide 2010
(ISBN 978-0-9514703-4-3)
Price £22.95 + postage and packing.
Available ONLY from: http://www.lulu.com (Ref: 7848482) or http://www.englishwine.com

Crush It! A book review

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Crush It

Crush It

Well, I ‘crushed it‘ in one sitting on the plane on the way to Lisbon for the EWBC.

Gary Vaynerchuck’s Crush It! is a book intended for an audience of entrepreneurs ready to take advantage of the opportunities offered by social media. These opportunities are easier to capitalise on in an age of ready-made blog platforms, template fan pages on facebook and free plug-ins to carry out necessary tasks, so I use the term entrepreneur to mean all those interested in starting their own money-making business, even those with minimal investment or risk.

That’s all of us!

The style of the book is very readable, and very “Gary”. You can hear him dictating the book, pacing back and forth in the room, stopping to make a friendly quip, probably about American Football, then launching back into his well-honed routine as if he had not left off. In fact, it is so much in the “Gary Vay-Ner-Chuck” voice that I had to read it at the speed he speaks, so I got through the book in an hour and a half!

As someone who has been following Gary, on and off, from fairly early on in his Wine Library career, including some of his keynote videos and his business site, much of this book is already familiar @garyvee stuff. It is interesting to have the presentation in one place for reference and in a form I can lend to others (even if video is more entertaining, it is harder to use to research and/or prove a specific point of your own).

The point of this book is not to give his existing followers something new, but to bring his message to those that have not yet committed themselves to social media but who think they want to know more. It is for Gary’s “posse” to give to others to explain their addiction, and for some of us, a useful basic checklist to refer back to.

One thing it is not, for the record, is a wine book, but the messages are still relevant to wine businesses.

If you want a highly readable, passionate and credible book on how to approach building your personal brand in, and through, social media, it is worthwhile reading. However, the world is moving apace and even some of this book is already outdated, so read it quick to get you up to speed on yesterday so you can get on with building your own brand today.

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Cooking with left-overs – with a difference

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I don’t know about you, but I think there is a lot of wisdom in the motto of the late Len Evans:

People who say “You can’t drink the good stuff all of the time” are talking rubbish. You must drink good stuff all the time. Every time you drink a bottle of inferior wine, it’s like smashing a superior bottle against the wall. The pleasure is lost forever – you can’t get that bottle back.

Whilst I can’t afford to follow it to the letter, I do believe that in my life I can only consume a limited number of alcohol units. I do enjoy myself, but not to excess.

In this case, I consider that most non-wine alcohol units that I consume are like smashing that proverbial bottle against the wall – I could have used them to drink more wine instead.

I do enjoy a whisky from time to time, and the very occasional G&T, but I almost never have anything else.

However, as a good host I keep a stock of other drinks for when others are visiting, or bottles that have been gifted. These sit, in silent slumber, in a drinks cupboard in the kitchen. Unloved.

When I first heard about “Cooking with Booze” I thought it was a spankingly good idea for a cookbook, but now it occurs to me it is even better than that. It is a way to use my “left-overs” in a creative way.

One additional reason for liking this book is that the author has “done the web 2.0 thing” and actually made the whole content available free on the internet on the site in recognition of the fact that there are a percentage of us willing to pay for the convenience of having the book at home, and that making the content free will hopefully attract loads of different people, increasing sales. I hope it works!

(It does for me)

So, if you happen to be invited over chez moi in the near future, look out!

(p.s. In case you were wondering, I shall probably skip the chapter on cooking with wine and drink it while I cook with everything else)