Announcing Wine Blogging Wednesday 68 – Got Gamay?

I’m excited to be hosting the 68^th edition of Wine Blogging Wednesday this month.   For those not familiar with the concept, Wine Blogging Wednesday is a virtual gathering of wine bloggers from around the world who taste wine based on a common theme each month.  Lenny Thompson of New York Cork Report fame started WBW way back in 2004 – 67 months ago!

Our theme for April’s Wine Blogging Wednesday 68 – Got Gamay? (my apologies for the cheesy cliché title, my capacity for creativity is limited…)

Selecting the topic for this month topic was an easy decision as I’ve developed quite a Cru Beaujolais fetish over the last couple of years.  My penchant for the Cru version of Gamay was born from a tasting at Terrior Wine Merchants in late ‘08, and has continued to grow in my travels as I scour small wine shops in search of gems imported by Kermit Lynch and Louis/Dressner.

On Details…

Gamay is grown throughout the world – in Canada, Australia, a little in Northern California, is showing up in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, extensively grown in the Loire Valley and most notably in the Beaujolais region of France.  Often overlooked and underestimated, Gamay is unfortunately best know as the grape that produces Beaujolais Nouveau, popularized by George Duboeuf.

Although Gamay tends to produce approachable, fruity, high acidity, low tannic wines where ever it grows, the most notable expression of Gamay comes from the ten Crus of the Beaujolais region.

On Rules…

Stop by your local wine shop – pick up a bottle or two of Gamay-based wine, drink it, think about it, stare at it, and share your thoughts about it in written form.  If you’re new to the wonderful world of Gamay, look for wines from your region first.  If you’re unable to find a local Gamay, search out imports from Lynch and Dressner.  If you’re a Gamay fan, please try a new one that you’ve never had before – especially one that’s rare and/or quirky.

Then, on or before Wednesday, April 21st write about your Gamay tasting experience and post it on your blog, or in the comments section here.  Since we are an all-inclusive group, I encourage you to participate even if you don’t have a blog.  You can email me your tasting notes, and I’ll include them in the WBW 68 roundup.

On Exceeding Expectations…

Extra credit is possible.  Pair your Gamay of choice with a meal and include photos and tasting notes.  Or, have a group tasting with friends, or people pretending to be your friend just to drink your wine.  We plan to have a get together here at Chateau Morgan for the event – game hens and Cru Beaujolais.  (If you’re in the Virginia Beach area please let me know, you’ll be welcome to join us). The blogger with the most unique and creative WBW 68 post wins the prize…

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Wine Blogging Wednesday 67

Wine Blogging Wednesday 67 – Seeing Red For The First Time

Today marks the 67^th Wine Blogging Wednesday (WBW).  Our host for this month is Joe Roberts of 1WineDude, and our charge for this month’s WBW – pick a red wine that we would use to introduce a white wine drinker to red wines for the first time.

This month’s WBW theme is timely… for a couple of reasons… One – this month’s theme provides an opportunity to showcase one of my favorite varietals – Gamay! Two – I am scheduled to host Wine Blogging Wednesday 68, and our theme for next month is ‘Got Gamay?’ (ok, I know, terribly cliché’d title, but Gamay will be a great subject for WBW)

A red wine for white wine drinkers?  No brainer – Cru Beaujolais – approachable, friendly, fruity, low tannins, and high acidity.  Not to be confused with the simpleton ‘nouveau’ wine popularized by George Duboeuf – you know, the ones with the bright, flowery, pretty labels intended to appeal to impulse (label) buyers.

Other than Pinot Noir, I can’t think of another varietal that comes close to being more suited for making the transition from white to red than Gamay.

Gamay is grown throughout the world, but the best expression of the grape comes from the Beaujolais region of France (just my opinionated opinion), and in particular from the ten Crus (villages) of Beaujolais – Brouilly, Regnie, Chiroubles, Cote de Brouilly, Fleurie, Sant-Amour, Chenas, Julienas, Morgon, and Moulin-a-Vent.

Although I feel all Cru Beaujolais is a good place to start in terms of introducing a white wine drinker to red wine, there are a few Crus especially well suited for the new red wine drinker.  Each of the 10 Crus produce Beaujolais with notable differences – the Crus of Brouilly, Regnie, and Chiroubles tend to produce lighter bodied juice, which may make them the best place to start for introducing the white wine drinker to red wine for the first time.  For me personally, I am partial to fuller bodied examples of Beaujolais from the Moulin-a-Vent area.

In the spirit of sticking with this month’s theme, I went with a wine from the Regnie Cru, known for lighter bodied Beaujolais.

George Descombe Regnie 2007 Imported by Louis/Dressner, this bottl was a reasonable $18.77 at Basic Necessities near Wintergreen, VA.  Purple-reddish in color, this wine had a nose of fresh flowers, spice, dark cherry, and loads of mineral.  Heavier than expected body, surprising for a Regnie.  Tart cherry, violets,  and mineral in the mouth.   Damn good acidity! This would make a great starter wine for the red wine newbie.

If you’re looking for an intro red wine with a lower price point, one can trade down a notch and go with a Beaujolais-Village wine.  I’d recommend the Louis-Jadot 2008 Beaujolais-Village which carries an exceptional $8.97 price tag (previous post here).

Hat tip to Joe for a cool theme for this month, and to Lenn Thompson for keeping WBW going for over five years!  I hope everyone reading – especially the Gamay doubters – will participate in next month’s Wine Blogging Wedneday, ‘Got Gamay?’  Formal WBW 68 announcement coming soon.

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Results Are In: Virginia – Colorado Smack Down

… well, really wasn’t much of a smack down… instead, it was a cordial gathering of wine nerds (wine nerds in the best sense of the expression).  We may have been the only 7 people in all of Denver drinking wine on St. Patrick’s Day.

What started as a comment on the ColoradoWino.com blog grew in to the Virginia – Colorado Taste-Off.  Last month I stumbled on to the Colorado Wino website while searching for wine bars in the Denver area in preparation for an upcoming trip.   Jake, the founder of ColoradoWino.com, posted an article about a new wine bar in Denver that I commented on which then led to several back-and-forth emails.  In one of the emails, Jake suggested that we have a Virginia – Colorado blind tasting while I was out there.  This sounded like an excellent opportunity to showcase wines from both Colorado and Virginia – two states with great wine that rarely receive much deserved recognition on the national wine stage.  (For additional background on this tasting, check out this post on ColoradoWino.com.)

After several weeks of emailing, blogging, and Twittering about this event – the Virginia – Colorado Taste-Off went down on Wednesday night.  Paul Bonacquisti, owner of Bonacquisti winery graciously opened his winery to host the event.  Bonaquisti is an Urban winery located in a storefront, adjacent to two other urban wineries, in the Highlands area of Denver.

Tasting Format: We tasted in to two flights – a red blend flight, and a cab franc flight.  Each flight was tasted blind.  Seven tasters participated in the taste-off. Each person scored wines based on their preferred scoring methodology, and then select their favorite wine of each flight.  Jake and I revealed our favorites at the same time.  I used a 10-point scoring scale, while Jake used an 11-point scoring scale.

Team Virginia:

• Keswick 2008 Consensus
• Keswick 2008 Cab Franc
• Pollak 2007 Cab Franc Reserve
• Blenheim 2003 Cab Franc
• Mountfair 2006 Inaugural

Team Colorado:

• Alfred Eames 2007 Collage
• Bonacquisti D Red
• Infinite Monkey Theorem 2008 Cab Franc
• Bonacquisti 2008 Cab Franc

(photo taken by Greg Tally @WineCountryInn)

Red Blend Flight: The red blend flight contenders were Keswick Consensus, Mountfair Inaugural from Virginia, and Alfred Eames Collage and Bonacquisti D Red from team Colorado.  The Keswick Consensus was the clear winner – both Jake and I selected this one as our favorite as did the majority of the tasters.  The Keswick 2008 Consensus – a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Chambourcin, and 12% Petite Verdot – was created by a team of Keswick wine club members during the annual Keswick blending party.   Hat tip to the Keswick club members who created this Consensus blend – well done.

The Alfred Eames Collage – a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cab Franc and Merlot – finished second by majority as well (but who ever remembers the runner up ).  I took the remainder of the Collage with me and paired it with lamb chops the next night – even better the second night.

Jake and I after results for the red blend flight. My Colorado counterpart looks surprised as the winner, Keswick Consensus, was unveiled. ‘V’ is for Virginia Victory. #justsayin (photo taken by Greg Tally @WineCountryInn)

Cab Franc Flight: After tallying results from the red blend flight, we moved on to the Cabernet Franc wines.  Representing Virginia in the Cab Franc flight were Pollak, Keswick, and Blenheim, and on team Colorado were Bonacquisti and Infinite Monkey Theorem.  Since Cab Franc tends to grow well and produce exceptional wines in both Colorado and Virginia I was really looking forward to this flight.

The majority of the tasters selected Infinite Monkey Theorem as their favorite Cab Franc. Like Bonacquisti, Infinite Monkey Theorem is also an urban winery located in the Sante Fe Arts District.  Infinite Monkey Theorem winemaker, Ben Parsons, was also in attendance.   Topping Jake’s scoring sheet was the 2008 Bonacquisti followed by Infinite Monkey Theorem.  Ranking #1 on my tasting sheet was the Pollak 2007 Reserve, followed closely by Infinite Monkey Theorem.

I admit that I am very partial to the Pollak Cab Franc Reserve and immediately indentified it by the aroma profile.  I have had many bottles of this wine, and consider it one of the best Virginia Cab Francs.  One disappointment of the tasting was the Blenheim 2003 Cab Franc.  Since 2003 was a very challenging growing season here in Virginia I thought twice about bringing this one.  In retrospect, and in fairness, I should have brought a more recent vintage of Blenheim.

The Winners - Infinite Monkey Theorem Cab Franc and Keswick Consensus (photo taken by Greg Tally @WineCountryInn)

It’s worth noting that the results may have been slightly affected by our respective ‘home state bias.’  With the exception of one wine, I picked each of the Virginia wines as we tasted them.  Given Jake’s knowledge of Colorado wines and the fact that there were two winemakers in the group, they too could easily pick out the Colorado wines.  Nothing wrong with a little home-state bias tho.

Although Virginia-Colorado taste-off was technically a draw, I feel both states were winners in this tasting – we all tasted wines we would not have had otherwise tasted, and both, Colorado and Virginia wineries received recognition and buzz that they wouldn’t have otherwise received.

Takeaways from the tasting:

1. Virginia does have a distinguishable terroir that is very evident in a 1-on-1 comparison tasting with wines from another region.
2. I am partial to Virginia terroir.
3. Both Colorado and Virginia are turning out some great juice.

Lesson Learned: Don’t mix cold medicine and wine.  Unfortunately, I was fighting a cold before I left for Denver that got worse leading up to the taste-off on Wednesday night.  To offset the body aches, headache, and sore throat, I took cold medicine a couple of hours prior to the tasting.  By the time the tasting started I was headache and sore throat free.  However, I learned a valuable lesson that will serve me well in the future – cold medicine and wine do not mix!  Although I only drank about a glass of wine throughout the tasting (I spit mostly), my head was spinning by the end of the tasting.

I will be back in Denver during the Summer and look forward to a rematch – this time with whites and maybe Roses.

(photo taken by Greg Tally @WineCountryInn)

A big thanks to Jake for putting this event together, to Paul Bonacquisti for his hospitality and for allowing us to use his winery for the tasting, to everyone else who attended, and to Kat at Keswick Vineyards for providing the winning red blend!

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Social Media – Do Virginia Wineries Get It?

Do Virginia wineries ‘get’ social media?

I guess that depends on the definition of social media.  If we use the Social Media 1.0 definition – setting up a Facebook fan page that is updated once a month with awesome discounts, or, sending out a couple of tweets each month – then, yes, many Virginia wineries do ‘get it.’

However, if we use a broader, modern definition of social media – that includes using widely accessible and scalable internet tools (in particular Twitter) to proactively engage customers and potential customers – then the answer is NO, very few Virginia wineries ‘get’ social media.

This of course is just my opinion.  I am certainly open to being convinced otherwise (although unlikely given my high propensity of always being right).

I should qualify this statement and note that there are a handful of Virginia wineries that do ‘get it’ – Jen Breaux at Breaux Vineyards definitely gets it, Lori at Corcoran Winery seems to get it, as do Keswick and Hillsborough wineries.  I realize that I may have left out a few others in the same group – apologies.

A few points of clarification for my other Virginia winery friends…

1. Setting up a Facebook fan page to post monthly specials does not meet the definition of actively engaging in social media.
2. Sending a tweet once a week about a weekend festival at your winery does NOT qualify as actively engaging in social media.
3. And, most importantly, simply responding to a tweet where someone mentions your winery is NOT actively engaging in social media.

Each of these actions is considered the minimum level of expected performance in today’s marketplace!!!

I’ve been active in the social media space for about two years now, and am still impressed by wineries that actively leverage social media tools to gain consumers and positively affect sales.  I am also equally disappointed at how few wineries here in Virginia are actively using social media, in particular Twitter, to engage consumers.

Despite the fact that Twitter is one of the most cost effective (it’s free) marketing tools available to a business today, less than a third of Virginia wineries even have a Twitter account.  John Witherspoon at AnythingWine, recently compiled a list of Virginia wineries on Twitter.  According to the list, just 58 Virginia wineries have a Twitter account, and only a few of them actively use their accounts.

Of those select group of Virginia wineries that actually use their Twitter account, even fewer actually ‘engage’ in the dialogue.  Just look at #VaWine Twitter hash tag – the volume of #VaWine Twitter traffic is amazing.  It’s even more amazing how few wineries are engaging in the conversation, even when a tweet is specific to their winery.  Good grief!  Take a look at the last 100 – 200 tweets with the #VaWine hash tag – how many Virginia wineries are actively engaged in the dialogue?  So many missed opportunities.

In addition to the absence of Virginia wineries actively utilizing Twitter, I wonder how many of them regularly post comments to wine blogs and participate in the resulting dialogue?  I haven’t noticed too many Virginia wineries posting comments to the blogs that I read.  I wonder how many Virginia wineries organize tweet ups at their winery (or other locations) for bloggers?  How many of them send out a few bottles of their wine to local wine bloggers for a Twitter Taste Live type of event?  Believe it or not, us bloggers and active Twitterers actually do make a difference. I only ask these questions because many California wineries are doing these things daily, and they are running circles around Virginia wineries in the social media world.

In defense of our wineries, I do realize that winery folk are busy doing important wine stuff – tending the vines, working the tasting room, dealing with the asinine bureaucracy associated with selling an alcoholic beverage in Virginia, and busy making wine.  But ‘being busy’ is no excuse.  Everyone is busy.  It’s now 2010, leveraging social media, and getting engaged in the dialogue is no longer an ‘option.’

Unfortunately, too many Virginia wineries don’t realize this (yet!).

A Simple Case Study in Contrast – A Personal Example:  Over the last couple of weeks I’ve sent out a few tweets about a tasting event that I will be participating in next week.  Since I will be in Denver next week, Jacob (from ColoradoWino.com) and I setup a Virginia vs. Colorado taste-off to showcase wines from our respective states.  For me, this is a chance to shine a light on one the best of ‘the other 46’ – Virginia wines!

Of all the chatter on Twitter about this tasting, only one Virginia winery took the time to contact me about this event.  Rather than ask how they can get their wine placed in the taste-off, they instead offered me a 15% discount on a 3-pack of their wine, normally reserved for full case purchases, if I wanted to include it in the taste-off.  Hmmm.  Well, I guess I can’t fault them for noticing the dialogue on Twitter and at least reaching out.

Conversely, on the Colorado side, several other bloggers and wineries realized the potential of the event and have jumped in on the tweeting, and a local winery with a tasting room in Denver, offered to open their tasting room that evening to host the taste-off (which we quickly took them up on).  Actively engaging in social media – they ‘get it!’

Even wineries in California noticed the tweets on this Virginia – Colorado tasting.  I received tweets or emails from three (yes 3) California wineries about possibly including California wines in the taste-off.  Although the tasting next week is intended to showcase the wines from ‘the other 46’ – Virginia and Colorado – it was refreshing to experience that level of engagement from wineries.

Just one more, quick example of the power of proactively engaging consumers via social media to directly increase sales…  On a recent trip to Napa, I had a tasting appointment at a winery on the Silverado Trail (a winery that I happened to connect with via social media).  As I stopped at a local coffee shop to get my caffeine fix, I tweeted that I was headed to XYZ winery for a tasting.  By the time I drove from Sonoma to the Silverado Trail, two wineries sent me Tweets with an invitation to stop by their wineries also located on the Silverado Trail.  They both complemented the Cabs of the winery I was visiting and noted that they too had excellent Cabs that I might enjoy.  I stopped by both wineries, and purchased wine from both places, and have since made repeat purchases from one of them.  A simple and effective example of active engagement in social media that directly impacted the bottom line – They get it!

Why aren’t more Virginia wineries engaged in social media at this level?

Next post… a few small actions Virginia wineries can take to get engaged and leverage the power of social media.

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*****  ADDENDUM: Post Update – 9:41pm ET, Saturday *****

So, this post has ‘gotten legs’ and a lot of attention.  Although I’ve only received a few comments on this post (below), I have already received 13 direct emails regarding this post, not including a handful of Twitter Direct Messages.

Of course, most of the emails were from out-of-state wineries, wine PR folks, or curiosity seekers.  Big ups to Derek at Gadino for being the first Virginia winery to post a comment (short excerpts below).

To that end, I thought it would be a good idea to append this plea to the post… if you read this post and have an opinion either way, please post a comment below.  I value ‘your’ opinion!  We can all use this as an opportunity to learn from each other and have a valuable dialogue about a medium that is affecting each of us.

As if this isn’t already obvious, I know absolutely nothing about growing grapes or running a winery. I do however, know a whole lot about reading, thinking about, talking about and consuming wine!  So, my post is through the lens of a super-passionate wine consumer AND advocate of Virginia wines.

Given the fact that mainstream print wine publications have seldom shined a light on the Virginia wine industry, or given Virginia wine the respect it deserves on the national wine stage – I feel social media CAN BE the ‘great equalizer’ for the Virginia wine industry.

Conversely, social media could also hurt the Virginia wine industry – especially if wineries do not leverage the medium, they will surely fall behind – way behind their peers from other states who are marketing, conversating, communicating with ‘your’ customers (Virginians) via social media!

Please read this post in the spirit in which it’s intended… to serve as a reminder to this great industry that the landscape is changing.  This can be a great opportunity –  don’t sit on the ‘I am too busy’ sideline watching this happen in front of you – seize it!

(Editorial Disclaimer:  Your not-so-humble correspondent is not a social media expert, and is not claiming to be one.  Aside from being a know-it-all, I am an active user of social media, and support those businesses that engage me personally via the various social media tools.)

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