The Winery Web Site Report

Free Winery Video Critique

If you're a "green" winery, then this may be of interest to you:

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Winery Videos Critic offered at Green Wine Summit  

Do you ever wonder why some wineries get more attention and press than others? It could be the way you are delivering you message, whether in print, with photos or through video clips. Wineries are invited to submit marketing videos for critical review and counsel on how to maximize messaging and reach through extremely impactful video channels.

Wine Industry marketing panelists will offer critical feedback as well as best practices tips:
Mimi Gatens, Winery Marketing Consultant, Moderator
Michael Duffy, Principal, Michael E. Duffy & Associates and WineryWebsiteReport.com
Laura Levy Shatkin, President, L Squared Productions
Lisa A. Walter, Principal, Adams Walter Communications

Upload videos to the YouTube Green Wine Summit Channel by November 15, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/user/GWSVIDEO

Info and tickets for the Green Wine Summit can be found at www.greenwinesummit.com
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(disclosure: I am speaking at The Green Wine Summit)

Pay By Webcam?

This is an interesting development in the world of e-commerce: pay by holding your credit card up to a webcam.

I can't recommend this payment service to wineries for their websites because of the delay in payment (30 days with a 10% rolling reserve), but it's good to keep up with the latest advances.

And hey, it's kinda cool.

(via Dave Kaminsky's Web Video University)

The Anatomy Of A Landing Page

This is just a nice summary from the folks over at Formstack (who, incidentally, do landing pages).

One of the biggest marketing errors I see wineries make is to promote something via AdWords or e-mail, and then direct people to their home page, rather than a landing page specifically tailored to convert the visitor.

From the Bad Ideas Department: 9/11 Memorial Wine

Update 2011-08-25: Lenn Thompson weighs in with a different take on the subject.

I appreciate the nod to charity, but this  9/11 Memorial Wine from Lieb Family Cellars just seems in poor taste.

You can read the original story in the Los Angeles Times, or add your vote to a poll on CBS News.  Here were the poll results just before I posted this:

I expect the reaction might have been more positive if they had donated all the money to charity (not just "making a donation from sales of this wine").

How does this pertain to winery websites?  While there's a tiny announcement on the Lieb Family Cellars home page, it isn't linked to the page about the wines (or on the "Media Room" page, the other place you would expect to find it).  Nope, it's buried two levels down under our wines and then Great Wines for Good Causes  (and why is the wine "Great," but the cause only "Good?"  Just sayin').

If you know (or hope) that a story (good or bad) about your wine is breaking, make the information you want people to see OBVIOUS. 

Thank you.

Dear comment spammers....

I find it highly unlikely your real name is Gucci Bags.

In other words, if you leave a comment, you'd better

• use a name that meets standards for normal, 
• use a URL which isn't hawking Air Jordans, herbal supplements, or some new atrocity, and
• post a message which contains content and links relevant to winery websites.

Otherwise, I will delete it and/or mark it as spam (depending on how much ill will you've generated for yourself).

Thanks for listening.

Sincerely,
Mike

Do you use QR codes on your wine bottles?

If so, writer Paul Franson would like to talk to you for a story he's doing for the packaging issue of Wine Business Monthly.

How to Make Your Shopping Cart Suck Less

Check out what Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal says you might be doing wrong on your winery website:

How to Make Your Shopping Cart Suck Less

Warning: language and/or humor may offend some people.

 

My Vineyard

Now from Facebook, it's MyVineyard.

Quote: Run your own vineyard, harvest grapes, make delicious wine, and share it with your friends!

Can You Taste The Tannins?

Probably not.  But, at least you think you can.

The (Wine) Shop I Want...

There are some great lessons for wineries in this post, entitled The Shop I Want. 

We’re in a world where you can find anything you want, which is great, except when you realize there’s a lot of everything...The shop I want is full of people who are dedicated to their opinion. Who are happier understanding a thing rather than wanting it. These people will happily tell the story of [how they] happened upon this opinion and I want to hear it because the opinion of someone I trust is just as valuable as my own.

He goes on to talk about Twitter as (one example of) a source for opinions about stuff.

There are some great thought-starters here for those who are willing to ponder a bit.  We live in a world full of wines.  We're looking for opinions with stories behind them.

We are all suckers for a good story.

(PS - When you find a blog post that's interesting, don't forget to read the comments as well.  In general, comments are at least as valuable as the original post.  It's where you see what the author missed, for one reason or another, and get the insights of other smart people.)

Is Your Winery Sinking?

A great post from the always-a-pleasure-to-read Mary Baker at Central Coast Wine Blogs: 10 Signs Your Business Is Sinking, and how to recover

For each of the 10 signs (taken from a more general article), Mary brings it home for wineries who find themselves taking on water.

Man the pumps!

It's Heimoff vs. The Millennials

In this corner, Steve Heimoff, noted professional wine critic.

His opponent: The Millennier (Leah Hennessy), speaking on behalf of a generation.

As Janet Jackson sang, "Who's right, who's wrong?"

Leah makes a pretty good case, IMHO.  Although, I did like Steve's picture of Wonder Woman.

"My God, it's full of wineries!"

 

The US is full of wineries. According to Wines & Vines, there are now 6,589 US wineries (based on my experience with The Winery Web Site Report, probably half of them have Web sites).

76% make less than 5,000 cases a year (41% make less than a thousand).

How do you intend to stand out from the other 6,588 wineries?  You're all selling, in one form or another, fermented grape juice.

What's your unique, engaging story?

PS - the original quote was "My God, it's full of stars!"

Conspicuous Consumption

A thought-provoking essay on luxury goods from Seth Godin.

It might not be a better price than what you could buy at Target, but the very fact that you can pay for an artisan to create it, an artist to design it, a talented worker to bring it to life--that act makes a powerful statement about what you can afford and what's important to you.

Worth your time to read, particular for "artisanal" winemakers and marketers.

Breakthrough Customer Service In Your Tasting Room

I've never been to Everything Wine, a retail wine superstore in British Columbia, but this blog post from Fast Company is worth a read, as is this MarketingProfs post which directed me to the FC post and is better organized.

Three years ago, after retiring as President of Diageo, Paul purchased two small retail wine stores, and turned them two into wine super stores. He’s now planning on opening a third store at the end of July.

If you have a tasting room at your winery, it's well worth a read.

In the comments on the FC post, one person places "value the customer" as the primary rule.  Another embraces "value the employee."  What do you think?

American Wine Blog Awards

Nominations are now open at wineblogawards.com.

If you think The Winery Web Site Report meets the specified criteria, I would appreciate your nomination for Best Single Subject Wine Blog (it probably also fits in the Best Industry/Business Wine Blog category, but I was intimidated by the blogs already in the nominations).

As they say, it's an honor just to be nominated.  I'm totally realistic about my chances of winning.

Regardless of whether you decide to nominate this blog, please take a moment to look at the categories and participate!

Inside A Wine Scam

I'm playing working with my brand-new iPad (remember my post about iPads for winery tasting rooms?) today, so I'm going to re-direct you to this well-written and interesting series from Mary Baker at Central Coast Wine Blogs as she takes us through the mechanics of an actual wine scam:

• Introduction: Inside a Wine Scam
• Part I: How the Wine Scam Works
• Part II: The 'John Nelson' Letters
• Part III: "It ain't TV, lady."
• Part IV: Who's in Your Wallet?
• Part V: The Worm Turns
• A Final Note About Money Orders

I learned a lot from her posts, and I certainly admire Mary's detective abilities.  She's done a real service to all the small businesses (not just wineries) targeted by these scammers.

And yes, Virigina, there really is an Alfalfa County in the state of Oklahoma.  You can't make this stuff up.

Now go read it (and pass it along to your local winery association members).

Dilbert On Your Winery Web Site

Today's strip made me chuckle (click to embiggen):

 

Hello There

If you've arrived here today via Mary Baker's Central Coast Wine Blog, welcome!

I hope you'll take a moment to look through some of my recent posts. If you find it interesting, please consider subscribing to my blog, either via e-mail or my RSS feed.

Thanks again for stopping by!

For my regular readers, here's a link to the first post in Mary's three-part interview with me.

The Millennier

What do you mean you've never read it?

If you're wondering who you'll be selling wine to when every one in your club has died off, go read Leah Hennessy's blog about marketing wine to Millennials.

That is all.

On The Value Of Omniscience...

Consider this: for every person who has purchased wine from you, you *know* what they bought:

Dear Ralph:

Remember that '97 Acme Winery Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon you bought three years ago? Now might be a good time to drink it.  Just sayin'.

Sincerely,
 The Acme Winery Team

PS - the 2009 vintage is now available, and because you bought the '97, we have a little surprise for you...

This is the tremedous power of data.  And you're the only one who has it.

Just sayin'.

Lazy Sunday: Wine For Dummies?

I was surprised to see how many wine-related titles there are on this list of all the For Dummies books (in order of popularity): 

• Wine For Dummies *
• Wine All-in-One For Dummies
• French Wine for Dummies *
• Italian Wine for Dummies *
• California Wine For Dummies *
• White Wine for Dummies *
• Canadian Wine for Dummies

The "All-in-One" combines all of the starred titles in one book.  Reflecting the growth of interest in certain wine regions,  Australian & New Zealand Wine For Dummies will be released on March 18, 2010.

(Just to put wine books in perspective, the best-selling For Dummies book has an Amazon sales rank of 413.  Wine For Dummies is ranked 13,943rd.)

In contrast, the Complete Idiot's Guide series has only a couple of titles related to wine:

• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wine Basics, 2nd Edition
• The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting and Running a Winery

I've purchased the latter title, and will review it in a few days with respect what it says about a startup winery's online presence.  It appears, however, you must be a complete idiot, and not merely a dummy, to start a winery. <grin>

What Wine Goes With An In-N-Out Burger?

 

Do you believe that wine is fun?  Learn About Wine does.  Here's the promotional blurb for their BLIND DATE Cab + Burger event:

Hey, we can pour great wines and you can take them all on a cheap date! Speed date, whatever… let’s get together and taste 20 really interesting wines and see which one you like best.

This is a small 1 ounce pour but… you will taste an entire bottle by the end of the tasting! All wines are pre-poured, but we will not tell you which one is which until you have tasted them and noted your favorites. Then we will unveil the wines…. One at a time…

Who is the best in this line up? Taste-date them all and see which one you like the best.

Seriously folks – this is a lot of fun and the wine list is “ridiculous good” !

And the Cabs (mostly from the 2005 vintage) do seem interesting.  The event appears to be a series, each one featuring a different varietal paired with In-N-Out's deservedly-famous Double-Double.

Wine and food is a natural, and the fast-food angle is an easy way to draw attention.  Consider working with a local restaurant (fast food or otherwise) and promoting it via your Web site (of course) and social media.

Man, I'm hungry!

(via Iconoculture)

Who Links To Your Winery Web Site?

 

It's interesting to see what other sites link to your home page (or actually, any page on your site, such as the product page for your best-selling wine).  It's free and easy .

1. Go to http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com/
2. Type the URL of your Web site or Web page into the box at the top and click "Explore URL."
3. A new page will display.
4. Click on the Inlinks button near the top of the Results box.
5. Select "except from this domain" from the Show Inlinks: drop-down box.

You should now see a list of sites which link to yours.  If you like this sort of information, you should sign up for Google's Webmaster Tools (free!), which offers even more details to validated site owners.

Ah, To Be Harlan Estate

 

At the Direct To Consumer Symposium last Tuesday, I ate lunch at the same table as three emissaries from Harlan Estate.

First of all, it was interesting to see Harlan representatives at a show where, ostensibly, people are trying to figure out how to sell their wines direct, a problem which Harlan doesn't appear to have.  Perhaps it's related to their recent acquisition of Diamond Oaks.

Second, they make 2,000 cases of a $500 a bottle wine ($6,000 a case).  About 60%, or 1200 cases, is sold to their mailing list.  30% goes to the trade, and the remaining 10% is donated or placed in their wine library.

(I'm probably overstating things, since 600 - 800 of those 2,000 cases are significantly-less-but-still-expensive The Maiden, not the Proprietary Blend).

If they have real costs of $100 a bottle (hard to imagine, even with the fancy stationery), that's a  very nice profit. $5.76 million from the mailing list alone.

Nice work if you can get it.

Final Day for 2010 Winery Sales Survey!

I'll be closing the 2010 Winery Sales Survey tomorrow, so if you are a winery owner and you haven't yet taken the survey, this is your last chance to help me out.  As I've mentioned, the results will be summarized in a future post (no individual winery information will be released).

Thanks for helping me out!  I really appreciate it.

A Gentle Reminder: Time Is Running Out!

If you're a winery owner, please take the survey .  If not, please pass this post along to any winery owners you know.

THANK YOU!

(sticky note image creator)

2010 Winery Sales Survey

If you own or manage a winery, I'd really appreciate it if you would take the following survey.

It's easy: there's only one required question (and only four questions total).  There are no dollar figures, just percentages.  You can do it anonymously.  And all the information you provide is completely confidential: I will not share or publish your individual response.

Clarification added on 2010-01-10: I plan to summarize the results of this survey in a future blog post.  I'm trying to gain insight into how wineries think about the various channels through which they sell wine (and receive income).  I appreciate your help.

If you know winery owners/managers who don't read this blog, please pass the survey along to them by sending them this URL:  http://tinyurl.com/wwsr-survey.

Questions? Drop me a line at mike@winerywebsitereport.com

Don't forget to click Submit Your Answers at the end!

This Is Your Web Site On iPhone

The iPhone is a best-seller (despite AT&T).  As a single phone, it is probably the dominant US-based mobile phone today.

If you haven't yet taken time to see what your winery Web site looks and feels like on an iPhone, please do (I'm sure at least one of your family or friends owns one).  Some sites are truly hideous. Flash-based sites don't work at all.

This has been a public service announcement.  Thank you.

PS - the Apple tablet computer (the iSlate?) appears to be coming soon.

PPS - Everflight does mobile winery Web sites.

2009 Best Of Wine Online

If you haven't already done so, check out Jeff Lefevere's two-part awards post at Good Grape: Part 1, Part 2.

I think Jeff deserves some recognition as well for taking the time to consider thoughtfully the state of wine online.  Please take time to read and comment on his posts.

Thanks, Jeff!  Looking forward to more Good Grape posts in the new year.

WineRelease.com Surveys Winery Mailing Lists

 

Neil Monnens at WineRelease.com recently conducted two surveys on winery mailing lists (one for consumers, one for wineries), and he's now released the results.  To encourage you to go look, here are the questions:

CONSUMERS (435 responses):

1. How do you feel about the following winery mailing list practices? (6 practices to rate)
   
2. Should US wineries adjust their pricing, as Bordeaux does, depending on the quality of the vintage?
3. If a winery gave a discount to long-time list members who consistently purchase, would you { purchase every year, increase purchase amount, not change }?
4. What is a reasonable shipping/handling cost, per bottle.
5. If a winery has more wine to sell, which method do you recommend?
6. Do you ever resell wines you're forced to take in order to stay on a winery's list?
7. Are you on any mailing list with the intention of reselling the wine for a profit?
8. Over the past year, have you { increased, decreased, not changed } your mailing list purchases?
9. What percent of the wine you purchase is purchased direct from the wineries?
10. What method do you prefer for receiving information from wineries?

 see the results

WINERIES (155 responses):

1. Do you offer a mailing list?
2. Does your mailing list require any of the below? (6 potential requirements)
3. Should US wineries adjust their pricing, as Bordeaux does, depending on the quality of the vintage?
4. What do you charge for shipping/handling, per bottle?
5. If you have more wine to sell, which method do you use [to distribute the excess to your list]?
6. What is your method of communication with your customers?

see the results

One of the nice things is that Neil includes the verbatim comments for each question, which makes the survey results much less sterile.  This is a great way to see how mailing list customers view the world, and how other wineries handle their lists.  Go read them.

I also wanted to call your attention to Neil's site, WineRelease.com.

WineRelease.com informs wine enthusiasts about upcoming North American wine release dates.

(Like this blog, WineRelease.com is a labor of love, aided by a handful of winery sponsors and some advertising.)

Neil has about 2,000 subscribers, and he strives to make sure that people who subscribe do, in fact, actually read the newsletter by periodically re-qualifying his list.  Here's an example of the monthly newsletter Neil sends out to his list. 

Astonishingly, only 1,519 wineries use WineRelease.com to distribute information about their new releases For a winery, signing up is as easy as sending an e-mail to Neil (see here for the address), and it's free!  

Why wouldn't you take advantage of one more way to let people know about your wines?  By implication, if you are telling people when your wines will be available, they must be worth knowing about.

Lazy Sunday: Judging Wine

From this excellent Wall Street Journal article on wine judging, it appears that wine critics aren't particularly consistent, nor do they share the same opinions of a given wine.

Francesco Grande, a vintner whose family started making wine in 1827 Italy, told me of a friend at a well-known Paso Robles winery who had conducted his own test, sending the same wine to a wine competition under three different labels. Two of the identical samples were rejected, he said, "one with the comment 'undrinkable.' " The third bottle was awarded a double gold medal.

So, drink what you like, medals and points be damned!

WinesTilSoldOut.com

WinesTilSoldOut.com (WTSO) is very much like wine.woot: A new wine goes on sale each day at 12 AM.

Paul Mabray of Vintank tweeted about WTSO the other day, wondering who is behind the site.  The site itself is a bit coy:

WTSO.com is an online store that focuses on selling wine at 30%-70% off store and internet site prices. It started as an in store department of the parent company that will remain nameless so we can continue to get all these great wines at ridiculous prices and pass them on to you!

 So, I put my Internet Detective hat on and went to work.  Turns out, it's not much of a secret.

The man behind the WTSO domain registration is Joe D. Arking, who LinkedIn reveals to be an executive vice-president at Roger Wilco Wine & Spirits in scenic Pennsauken, NJ.

Free Book

I'm a great believer in non-fiction books as a very cheap way to get smarter.  So, when a book is *free*, I'm inclined (a) to get a copy for myself, and (b) tell other people about it.  This is part (b).

Sam Carpenter wrote a book called Work the System: the simple mechanics of making more and working less.  Now you can get it for free (as a PDF).  Why free?

If the book resonates – you’ll know one way or the other by the end of the introduction – consider buying a hard copy for yourself and maybe another copy as a gift for someone else. 

The short version: send an e-mail to pdf @ workthesystem.com with the words simple mechanics as the Subject: of the e-mail.  You'll get the PDF by return e-mail.  Note: your e-mail will automatically be added to their mailing list, although you can unsubscribe at any time.

Let me know what you think of the book by leaving a comment.

Oh, Dear!

The economy is still moribund:

BFS-175918: Winery - Custom Crush Facility Location: Other California (Sonoma, CA) Asking Price: Between $2.5 Million and $5 Million ($2,750,000) Summary: 65,000 case custom crush facility with existing, long-term clients. Room to expand. Profitable. Owners looking to retire. The equipment is in excellent condition. Business is mostly small-lot producers,...

BFS-175915: Wine Estate in Distress Location: Other California (Sonoma, CA) Asking Price: Between $5 Million and $7.5 Million (Make Offer) Summary: Beautiful 80+ acre wine estate located in Sonoma, California. 14+ acres of planted vineyard. Approx 20+ plantable acres. Main house + guest house. Ample water supplies. Private lake on property..... As always, the details are at MergerNetwork.com

Giving Through Growing: An Analysis

Giving Through Growing is the name of a partnership between Robert Mondavi's Woodbridge brand and the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA).  Here's the full press release from June 19 of this year.

The basic idea is that Woodbridge will contribute $1 to the ACGA for every "e-seed" sent from the Giving Through Growing Web site, up to $40,000.  A e-seed, it turns out, is an e-mail message which you send to your friends with a picture of a packet of seeds (tomato, basil, carrot, or radish) that you select, plus the following copy:

For every virtual eSeed I plant, Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi will donate $1 to the American Community Gardening Association, a nonprofit group that supports community gardens around the country. And I think that′s a great cause – community gardens encourage neighbors to work together to grow fresh produce and flowers in unused outdoor spaces.

Send your own free eSeed and help support community gardens

Since this falls in the category of "online winery promotion" (the broader topic of this blog), I took time to visit the site, and send myself an e-seed.  Having done that, I'd like to offer my thoughts for other wineries that consider doing this or similar promotions for good causes.

• The first thing I encountered was the 10-second wait for the Flash-based site to load.  And I've got a blazingly fast cable connection to the Internet.  There are probably good reasons from Mondavi's point of view, but not from the perspective of someone who is waiting to the site to load.

• The second thing I encountered was a roadblock: the dreaded "you must be 21 years or older to enter this site" check.  In this particular case, there doesn't seem to be a need for it, other than the fact that it's part of the Woodbridge site infrastructure.  Once inside, there isn't any wine-related copy that I can see, so why restrict it to 21-year olds (other than the desire to add people who can drink to your mailing list).

• From a PR perspective, I couldn't locate the press release announcing the partnership on either site.  The link above is to Reuters.  Why?  Isn't this important to both participating groups?

• The domain name GivingIsGrowing.com is available. Why didn't somebody spend $10 to register it for the next year?  This isn't rocket science, folks.

• There's no link from the ACGA site to the Giving Is Growing site.  Woodbridge features it on their home page.  This makes me feel that its not something the ACGA cares much about, although it's precisely because of them that people are motivated to participate.

• What will be done with the e-mail addresses I provide after the e-seed message is sent?  Although the form provides an opt-in "to receive news and product announcements from Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi," and it does say "We will not share your contact information with third parties," it doesn't say the thing I want to hear:  we will forget we ever saw your friends' e-mail addresses once we send this e-seed.

• Is this really necessary?  The fine print mentions that $1 will be contributed to ACGA, "up to the guaranteed $40,000 donation."  If it's guaranteed that ACGA is getting $40K, what am I doing here giving Woodbridge my friends' e-mail addresses?

• Finally, you can send an e-seed to up to 5 of your friends at once.  If you do, however, each recipient gets a message with all the e-mail addresses visible in the To: field.

 In my mind, the biggest issue is not clearly addressing how my friends' e-mail addresses will be used, followed by revealing the addresses of people I sent e-seeds.

One last thing: I hope that I will receive a message at the end of this campaign letting me know how many e-seeds were sent (and how much was donated to ACGA).  I should be able to opt-in to that separately from other promotional messages from Woodbridge.

I'm all in favor of wineries promoting causes in which they believe to their customers and fans.  I just think you need to be mindful of the details when you do it.

What do you think about wineries promoting good causes?  How does your winery do it?  Please leave a comment.

 

(Incidentally, this is the kind of consulting work I do -- helping people to have a more effective online presence.  That'll be 5 cents, please.)

 

(thanks to Jon Bjork of Pantheon Cellars for passing along a copy of the press release)

Gitcher Wineries Here!

From The Merger Network, signs of the economic times (free registration required to view full listings):

BFS-172810: Cult Winery Napa - One of a Kind Location: Other California (Napa) Asking Price: Between $10 Million and $15 Million (15,000,000) Summary: Extremely rare opportunity: Cult Winery for sale. The owners are retiring and this is an opportunity to own one of Napa's finest cult winery estates. Turn-key operation, very profitable. Expandable...

BFS-162369: Custom Crush Winery 200,000 Gallons Capacity Location: California (California) Asking Price: Between $2.5 Million and $5 Million (4,750,000) Summary: This is a complete package. A Winery with up to 85,000 cases capacity, 200,000 gallons of stainless tanks, 2,000 barrels and ample facilities for managing in excess of these amounts. The Winery has a...

BFS-172809: 180,000 Case Winery - Growing and Profitable Location: California (Sonoma County) Asking Price: Not Disclosed Summary: 180,000 case winery & vineyard on well-known road in Healdsburg. Very profitable business with opportunity for continued growth. Excellent reputation and turn-key operation. This offering is highly...

BFS-172808: Sonoma Winery, 10 Acres Vineyard, Home Profitable Location: California (Sonoma County) Asking Price: Between $2.5 Million and $5 Million (3,650,000) Summary: 10 acre winery estate on a beautiful wine country road. Open hours tasting room permit with 25,000 gallon winery permit. Turnkey, profitable business with opportunity for expansion. Great for your...

Any guesses on who's who?

Help!

I've had a pretty good run of posts lately, but the well has temporarily run dry (in part due to business travel earlier this week).

So, Faithful Readers, I turn to you.

Do you have a question or need advice related to your winery's online presence?  If so, please leave it in a comment.  One way or another, I'll answer it (either in response to your comment, or as a whole post here).  Think of it as Dear Abby for your winery Web site.

(you can also drop me an e-mail if you'd like to keep our exchange confidential)

...And thank you for your support!

What Wine Goes With Rubber Chicken?

Only one such as El Jefe would dare to ask such a question. Worse, he's trying to answer it!

Help him out with a link to  his post on this classic food-andwine pairing.

Fun With Google Suggest

Google has a feature built into the search box that suggests search phrases based on what you've typed thus far.  Of course, someone recognized the opportunity for humor.

I couldn't help but add my own small attempt:

Feel free to suggest your own questions in the comments.

Winery Profitability

What winery isn't interested in that topic?

I just ran across a new blog called, in fact, WineryProfitability.com.  Steve and Kelley Richards have been posting since February of this year, and have about a dozen long-form posts on a variety of topics.  I particularly like Kelley's "customer perspective" posts.

Steve works for Farm Credit in western New York state, and has a Winery Benchmark program which may be of interest to my readers in that area of the country.

It's worth checking out their blog -- with only a few posts, you can scan through it pretty quickly and see if it interests you.

(Remember, if you use a blog reader, it's easy to follow lots of blogs because you don't have to check each blog yourself.)

My Fourth Anniversary

Today marks the 4^th anniversary of The Winery Web Site Report blog.  Just in case anyone was wondering.

Thanks to everyone who has read, commented on, linked to, and otherwise offered their support to my little project.

It's Sheer Lunacy!

If you like the idea of biodynamic wine, you're gonna love drinking wine by the lunar calendar.

Where'd I leave my cow horn?

You Probably Already Have A Job, But...

This one looks like fun!

TTB USA AVA FYI

An up-to-date list of American Vinicultural Areas, courtesy of The United States Government and Lew Perdue (whose Wine Industry Insight blog is well worth your time).

Living in western Sonoma County, on the edge of the Green Valley appellation, I am amused by the name change from "Sonoma County Green Valley" to "Green Valley of Russian River Valley."  It's all about the Benjamins.

We have a winner!

Congratulations to Steve Bachman of The Wine Collector for winning The American Wine Blog award for Best Business/Industry Blog.

I read Steve's blog, and so should you.

Don't Forget to Vote for The Winery Web Site Report

Today and tomorrow are the last two days to cast your vote in The American Wine Blog Awards, where this blog is nominated for "Best Business/Industry Wine Blog."

If you find this blog informative and useful, I'd certainly appreciate your vote.  Just click the badge:

Voting ends tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 4th) at midnight, so cast your vote today.

"And thank you for your support."

w00t! I'm a finalist!

This showed up in the mail this morning:

Congratulations!! You are a finalist in the category of "Best Business/Industry Wine Blog" in the American Wine Blog Awards. I will be sending you a badge you can use in any way you see fit. The voting begins tonight at www.fermentation.typepad.com and will end at 11:59 on March 4. Congratulations!! Tom.... Tom Wark Wark Communications

(I'm grateful just to be nominated.  But if, after you look at the other nominees in this category, you feel that it's warranted, I'd appreciate your vote!)

French Wine In One Minute

Hilarious.

The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of The Winery Web Site Report (except maybe that bit at the end).

 

(stolen shamlessly from the Sandihurst Wine blog, an interesting blog about making wine in New Zealand which just got added to The List)

This is the kind of wine video that could go viral.  Anyone care to try this for their region or varietal?  Even better: Biodynamic Wine in One Minute (Laurence Sterling, I'm talking to you).  And it's just the sort of thing that Tom Wark might do.

My (early) Birthday Present from Adegga.com

OK, I've probably worn out my welcome with four posts in a single day, but it *was* my birthday after all.

Here's a early-birthday present from a couple weeks back from Adegga.com: Meet-A-WineBlogger: Mike Duffy from The Winery Web Site Report.

Thanks for the nice words, guys.  It's nice to be recognized so publicly.

Yay, me!