Good Grape Wine Company

February 29 2008

Around the Wine Blogosphere

Ever wonder what Gary Vaynerchuk does when he is not in the offices at WineLibrary? 

Apparently, he gives keynote speeches to internet marketing audiences, and probably for enough dough to pay my mortgage for the next year. 

Good for him because the people that truly get wealthy are the folks that figure out how to make money in both pockets, like the winery that watches their land ownership appreciate at a level that far exceeds what they make from operating a winery. 

I was sucked into the vortex of this internet marketing market, which is not completely different from the wild-eyed evangelical capitalist program that Amway runs, if I can say that in a non-offensive way, by reading the blog business site problogger.net.  Problogger.net had a link to an article by a guy named Yaro Starak, who then had a cross-promotion with a guy named Rich Schefren, who sells marketing programs to internet denizens with dollar signs in their eyes.  Schefren had linked up with our own Gary Vaynerchuk in a “Maven” program.  I wrote about this in a post found here.

Weird how these internet pathways occur.  Or, really, weird how small our world is.

I was initially skeptical of this market, but I have come to view it now as a part of the huge self-help industry and, well, ‘live and let live,’ I say.  A million and one books are printed every year about “getting rich” and lord knows that “The Secret” has sold a million copies by itself, so who am I to be a ‘Debbie Downer’ for this market?

Check out the brief video of Gary in action here. The real news is what many in the wine internet space have been wondering for months—when is Gary going to blow up and go mainstream?  In his talk, he alludes to being represented by Creative Artists, one of THE premiere talent agencies in the country. 

Godspeed to Gary.  I do not think he will forget where he came from, and, more importantly, I think he is smart enough to say “no” more often than he says, “yes.” Translated in exact terms, that means no reality television.

Perspective on Bordeaux

Like a lot of people, I think I have been inured into believing that 2005 Bordeaux was out of reach for my pocket book, yet, despite the eight 100 point scores that Wine Spectator recently bestowed upon wines ranging in price from $4,975 for Chateau Petrus to $260 for Chateau L’Evangile, there is hope in the form of perspective. 

In another quote from the March 31st edition of Wine Spectator:

“The superexpensive wines represent only about 2 million bottles of the 900 million produced in Bordeaux in 2005,” insists Mathieu Chadronnier of CVBG, one of the region’s biggest fine wine merchants.  “It’s not that much of the production when you look at it properly.”

Jill from Domaine547.com has several ‘05’s for sale including a well-reviewed wine from WS and Parker for $30.

Elsewhere, I bought a couple of bottles of the St. Emillion from Cameron Hughes for $20 a piece. 

That is good advice, especially as the ‘05s make their way to store shelves in the states.  I am guilty of wistfully looking at folks that lived in other eras and had access to terrific wines that are legendary and wish I had their generational luck.  Turns out, I now have my own luck and with reviews across the board being stellar, there is really no reason not to buy some of the 2005’s and lay them down for the long haul. 

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