As a child, I distinctly remember our disheveled and consistently irritated neighbor, Mr. Oberman, gas on about the weather to no end. Strategically intercepted when trying to sneak my dirt bike past his house, I sat through long diatribes covering the intricate differences between dangerous and tame fronts, the varying sizes and textures of hail, …
Food
LIWF 2010: "The Access Zone" a Place to Talk about Wine Online – Call for Papers!!
This is exciting, I mean really exciting!! Catavino is proud to announce that this year, we’ll be at the London International Wine Fair with a 60m stand. Called “The Access Zone”, it will be a blend of a press area for social media in combination with live events. Containing WIFI, power points, and a dedicated …
The Real Business Behind Wine Fairs: Behind the Scenes at Alimentaria
I had never been to one of these monster food-and-wine fairs before, so when Gabriella and Ryan invited me to join their team at Alimentaria 2010, I jumped at the chance. Others are writing about the sexy stuff: the wonderful wine tastings with the head sommelier at El Bulli; our fine meal at Cinc Sentits; …
What 1% increase in spending will sell you more wine?
Depends. The answer is not by increasing the quality of your wine. With the one exception of moving from a Parker rating of 89 to 90, there is very little chance that you can find any benefit to a 1% increase in wine quality leading to a measured increase in wine sales. Yet wineries everyday …
Is Cork'd Playing Fair with Wineries, with their Community? I Think Not.
I like Social Tasting note sites. I’ve been a Cellartracker user since before you could freely sign up for an account. We also help consult with Adegga.com a direct competitor to Cork’d, so please consider that when you read this article. None the less this article is meant to not attack Cork’d but rather raise …
Bibendum – Taking risks so as to not find their heads in the sand
A confluence of factors has led to my landing in London, not one week after getting back from an extended holiday in the States. Meetings and future event planning all made for a trip that without a single landmark event, has allowed me to enjoy a few days of sightseeing and tastings. This opportunity has …
Wine Marketing 101 – Have fun and your customers will reward you
This year, I had the pleasure of meeting many a hero in the wine world – Jancis Robinson, Steven Spurrier, Robert Parker, and Randall Graham among others. And every time I crossed paths with one of my personal wine idols, I was pleased to know that they all had one very simple element in common: …
Wine Future Conference in Longroño, Spain – Controversial but Interesting
Image via Wikipedia There is plenty of controversy around the upcoming Wine Future Conference in Logroño, Spain, this week. Parker is in town and there are lot’s of winemakers who are hoping to snag an audience with the Emperor himself. While Jancis, Oz, Steven and others will also draw big crowds, the other big news …
Do not send me your wine tourism initiative, unless….
Today I recieved another press release from another winery telling me about their tourism initiative. What tastings they offer and how beautiful their winery is. Nothing else. Today’s free piece of advice is: Please do not send me these, since I can’t hit the delete button on my email quick enough…that is unless: You include …
Social Media Talk at the London International Wine Fair
Last May, Catavino headed north to kick off the European Wine Blogger’s Conference at the London International Wine Fair. However, while attending the event, we also spoke in one of the London Wine Trade Fair’s official ‘Briefing’ slots, on “Wine and the Web: the Business of Getting Social“, sharing the stage with both Dan Coward …