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February 24 2007
I’ve been interested in the intersection of wine and the internet for several years now and started writing about this subject on my own blog last year. What started with a virtual meet-up in Second Life has turned into a discussion between a group of like-minded techies, wine bloggers and entrepreneurs kicking around these ideas in a Google Group and during monthly online chats. What is evolving is an understanding of the technologies, functionality and business models of combining Web 2.0 and wine. But let’s start with a bit of background first.
Web 2.0 has been defined all around the internet as the “social web” (not to be confused with Web 1.0’s dotcom-led “information web”). While you can find great write-ups at places like Wikipedia, I think this short YouTube video visually demonstrates Web 2.0 and defines it’s essence:
(Note: aggregator readers might have to click back to the site for the video)
So how this applies to wine is both social and commerce related. On the social front there are numerous sites that allow users to log, tag and share their tasting notes. Places like Cork’d, WineLog, Bottletalk, Vinorati, Logabottle, TastyDrop and WineDemocracy. All of these sites feature tagging and ways to share wine experiences with others but when it comes to finding and buying the wine everyone but TastyDrop leaves it up to you to figure it out. While the Wine Searcher links at TastyDrop are a nice touch, they are not nearly as easy as an online wine store.
The second class of wine-related Web 2.0 sites are devoted to selling wine online such as WineQ, Openmarket Wine and Boutique Wine Cellar. Because of the dynamics of the wine distribution system currently entrenched in the U.S. and shipping costs, all these sites are concentrating on small production, boutique wines. This makes good sense as these wines are more difficult to find at retail and the aggregation of many small brands at one store creates critical mass for consumers and economies of scale for wineries and web store owners. All of these sites have some sort of social aspect to them and I expect this to grow as more consumers participate and the recommendation algorithms get better (think Amazon and NetFlix style suggestions). What remains to be seen is who can generate the traffic and sales necessary for long-term success.
I’ve taken to calling all these sites “Wine 2.0” and maintain a listing of links to these sites at Winecast. Over the course of the next year I will write about this subject in greater detail, tracking it’s development. I expect there to be new entrants and somewhat of a consolidation among the tasting notes sites. Whatever the final outcome, there will certainly be more ways for wine lovers to share their experiences online.
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Tim Elliott
Winecast
February 20 2007
There’s an interesting piece in Decanter about the demise of Wine X magazine. For readers unfamiliar with this wine publication, it’s been around for about 8 years and targets young adults with hipster lingo and quite a dollop of irreverence (sample wine review: “Tastier than a food fight at the Playboy Mansion… and the best part is lickin ’ it clean.”). Jeff posted about their recent “Just Points” campaign a few weeks back. Founder and editor Darryl Roberts blamed the entire wine industry for the shuttering of his magazine, stating, “The wine industry says it’s interested in young adults but spends all of its ad and promo money targeting the same people it’s been targeting for the past 30 years - rich, old white people.”
I don’t think the wine industry is as completely to blame as Mr. Roberts accuses here. Sure, this is a very traditional industry slow to catch onto online marketing or the targeting of demographic groups other than Baby Boomers but Wine X itself deserves much of the blame. That’s because they didn’t evolve with their target demographic who don’t read print publications. Yes, I know they have a hip website complete with RSS feeds, podcasts and email newsletters but these always seemed secondary to the print magazine.
It’s interesting to note that when Wine X started, back in 1997, their demographic was Gen-Xers as the oldest Millennials were only in their early teens. Over the past 8 years, Wine X continued to cater to entry level wine drinkers in their early to late 20’s who now are predominantly Millennials. This group has taken to wine, but not exactly like their Baby Boomer parents, and tend to gain their information via the internet. So if Wine X had evolved to serve this group, they would have beefed up their web presence while phasing out the expensive print magazine. Even their “podcasts” were played on the radio; not the way to get into the heads of the iPod generation. And since Millennials are multitaskers, reading blogs while listening to podcasts while watching Family Guy, they just don’t read many magazines. It’s really that simple.
I’m sorry Mr. Roberts, you have to shoulder most of the blame for Wine X’s demise. Let’s hope you have enough funding to reboot your website and really market wine to Millennials.
Cheers,
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Tim Elliott
Winecast
PS: Sorry to say that it’s been 3 weeks since I posted here so this will be the first of a triple-shot this week to get back on track.
January 28 2007
While tasting at yesterday’s Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) Festival, I came across an interesting new brand that is targeting their wine squarely at the Millennial Generation. Muse Winery has launched this wine as “Mingle” and not the more expected “Zinfandel” because the Millennial buyer is looking for different wine taste experiences and is more tolerant of unconventional blends than their Baby Boom parents. Mingle delivers on the different blend front with Zinfandel being joined by Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon instead of the more common Petite Sirah and Carignan. The result is quite nice with forward black cherry fruit, a touch of black pepper and smooth tannins. I rated it a very good 86 on the 100-point scale. It’s not just the wine, but also the packaging, that will appeal with this demographic as Muse has created a colorful label, unconventional bottle shape and “Peel, Pop and Pour” cork closure last seen on inexpensive sherry and port.
For readers not familiar with the Millennial Generation, I’ll back up and give you some background. Born between 1979 and 2002, Millennials follow GenX and The Baby Boom in the generations since WWII. Now coming of drinking age in large numbers—they are 100 million strong in total—this generation is the first to get into wine in a big way since their parents Baby Boom cohort. Unlike their parents, they are not looking for status wines or cellaring, preferring instant gratification. Wine should be unpretentious and just good to drink with Millennials who also look for food friendly wines. They are also squarely in the value category from a price perspective with the sweet spot being between $10 and $15 USD a bottle.
From a marketing perspective, Millennials present several opportunities for wineries. Since they are really just looking for a pleasant beverage for enjoying with food, scores and awards are not important. This means no brand building in the pages of Wine Spectator, Decanter or Wine Enthusiast magazines. Millennials are also the most wired generation, never knowing a time without the internet. This presents the wine marketer with the opportunity to market online and add social media to the mix. I’m currently working with a consulting client on launching a brand to this generation and a My Space presence and podcast are key elements of our marketing plan. We are also spending time on simple, colorful and attractive labels, unique bottles and Stelvin twist-off closures.
So it’s not business as usual selling wine to Millennials but it is pushing the state of the art for wine marketing forward. Anything that compels wineries to embrace blogs, podcasts and online communities is alright with me.
Until next week, cheers.
—
Tim Elliott
Winecast
January 23 2007
Greetings Good Grape readers, this is Tim Elliott of Winecast with the first of my weekly posts here. Jeff, the proprietor and chief bottle washer of this blog, has asked me to write posts here in place of the personal blog feed I donated to the Menu for Hope campaign. More than $60,000 was raised for the UN Food Programme and Jeff was the lucky winner of my donation.
Let me start by giving you a bit of background about me and my wine blog and podcast. Like many wine geeks, my introduction to the fruit of the vine was through jug wines. While in college in Northern California, I developed a taste for wine so I’d pick up one of those 3 liter jugs of Gallo Hearty Burgundy every couple of weeks for around $8 (this was back in the early 1980’s). As I got more into wine, partially via trips through Napa Valley, I wanted to discover new tastes so I picked up bottles from Wente Brothers, Mirassou, Jekel and Sebastiani. I soon developed a preference for Zinfandel and discovered the wines of Ridge Vineyard (particularly their Sonoma Geyserville bottling) and the Lytton Springs Winery (today, Ridge Lytton Springs). My house Zin was from Sebastiani that I bought for $2.50 a bottle.
Once I graduated college and made my way into the working world, I started to drink more expensive wines but mostly stayed with wines from my native state of California. The closest I came to a “transcendent wine moment” came when I noticed a 1974 Heitz “Martha’s Vineyard” Cabernet by the glass at a restaurant in 1986. At about $20 for a 3 oz. pour it wasn’t cheap, but it did put me firmly on the path to wine geekdom.
In September of 2004, I discovered podcasting—audio programs made by individuals and syndicated via the internet—and Winecast was born soon thereafter. Since us podcasters use blog software to deliver our shows, within a few short weeks I also became a wine blogger. Over the past 2+ years, I have produced almost 80 podcasts and reviewed hundreds of wines.
Enough about me; let’s get to what I will be writing about… Jeff and I have agreed that my posts here on Good Grape will fall within 3 categories:
Web 2.0 and Wine - One of my passions is the internet and Web 2.0 has slowly made it’s way into the wine world. As this evolved last year I began to blog about it at Winecast. Some of those ideas will make their way into my posts here, as well.
The Wines of Italy - Both Jeff and I love Italian wines but don’t know too much about the subject. That’s going to change over the next year as I go deep into the country’s wines and history of viticulture. Although I will cover well known regions like Tuscany and Piedmont, I will try to spend most of my time on less popular areas of the country looking for values and memorable wines to sample.
Wine Marketing - I have been doing marketing consulting with wineries for the past year and will blog about this subject here. My preference is for internet marketing and integrating social media into the wine context, but I’ll also spend time on some of the more traditional methods, too. You can expect somewhat of a revival of the Cluetrain Manifesto inspired posts Jeff blogged about last year.
So that’s the plan; my posts will go up on Sunday evenings starting next week. I’m excited to get this train out of the station… join us for the journey!
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