Growing up there was always Port in the house.  My father was in the Navy for 23 years where he learned about Port from centuries of naval history and tradition, which began with the 18th century British naval forces.  Thanks to the Methuen Treaty of 1703, merchants were immediately allowed to import wines from Portugal at low cost.  Britain just happened to be at war with France during this time and were denied French wine, so they quickly became Port fans.  At first, the wine would often spoil on its long journey by ship from Portugal to England, so they began to fortify these wines via the addition of grape spirits, initially Brandy, so that the wine would remain viable during the trip.  This also resulted in a sweeter wine that as also higher in alcohol reaching about 18-20%.  Celebrate this sweet treat with the rest of the globe on #PortDay on January 27, 2012.

Grapes

Traditional Port, also known as Porto, is made only from grapes from the Douro Valley in Portugal.  Over a hundred varieties are allowed, but only a handful are used the majority of the time including, but not limited to, Tinta Cão, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francesa.  Today, many wineries around the world make their own type of Port-style wine using the traditional grapes as well as others, but real Port only comes from Portugal.  Pair it with your favorite rich desserts like bread pudding or chocolate.

Tradition

After a meal, it is British naval tradition to enjoy Port while still seated at the table.  The process is very formal in that each person is required to pour a glass of Port to one’s right and pass the decanter to the left, or port side, where the next person would do the same until it came all the way back around to the host.  If for some reason the decanter doesn’t make it back around, the host asks the offender if he knows the Bishop of Norwich.  This is a rhetorical question, however, and is meant only to coerce the passing of the decanter because it is considered poor form to ask for the decanter directly.  However, if the offender responds with a “No” or similarly stating he doesn’t know the clergyman, the host replies with, “he’s an awfully nice fellow, but he never remembers to pass the Port!”  It is also tradition to not leave the table until the entire decanter is consumed.  Really, that should just go without saying!

‘Tis the Season

When Fall and Winter come around along with cooler temperatures and festive holidays, I reach for the Port bottle more often.  Whether its the warming feeling due to the alcohol level, the sweetness that pairs with most goodies prepared this time of year or simply the fact it adds to the ambiance of a fire with family and friends, Port just gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling inside.  Whatever it is, don’t be the Bishop and always remember to pass the Port!

Question

If you know who the Bishop of Norwich is and why his name is used in the British Porto tradition mentioned above, share it below in the comments.

… and everyone eagerly awaits to see who limps out of the carnage to be crowned champion and slip on the coveted belt, screaming to the world, “I have the best Pinot in all the land!”

To my eye, the consensus on the twittersphere is that many enjoyed some great wine and time with friends old and new throughout the day, which was our ultimate goal.  I think we have achieved celebrating this beautiful grape and building community around it online.  It was good to see so many venues from the land of OZ and the Kiwi’s, to Atlanta, Austin, Washington, Oregon, Sonoma and Napa to name a few.  Saw several conversations about the ageability of Pinot Noir which may come as a surprise to many since it is a “lighter” red, but a well balanced and structured (meaning acid) Pinot can make it 5-10 years in many cases.  Here in Napa, we enjoyed a 2002 from Morey St Denis and 2005 from Gevrey-Chambertin which were cases in point.  Several of the 2008 and 2009 New World Pinots from Oregon and Sonoma were still just too young, but still quite tasty.  Another set of tweets that stand out in my mind this foggy (figuratively and literally speaking) morning is the high ranking of a #CHilean Pinot from the Paul’s venue in Atlanta.  Would love to hear more about that from our pal Joe (SuburbanWino).

So, with all the drama and suspense of an American Idol elimination round sending the audience on the edge of their seats to a commercial break, let’s take a look at some of the “results” of the day’s activities…

Official Stats

• 4042 tweets
• 2351 “votes” for favorite regions via 2-letter hashtag
• 946 contributors

Reach & Impressions

Some various reach and impression stats throughout the day (not comprehensive often due to last 1500 tweet max limit by analysis sites unless you pay big $$ for more):

• Reported by @MastermindTB early in the day around 8:30p AUS/NZ time: 3,352,418 impressions, reached  300,000+ people, 1800+ tweets from over 500 contributors (tweetreach.com)
• My report from this morning: 2,653,219 impressions, reached 236,448 people, last 1500 tweets, 368 contributors (tweetreach.com)
• Last 1,000 tweets generated 2,117,424 impressions, reaching an audience of 484,877 followers within the past 24 hours (hashtracking.com)

And now for the results.  It was a much closer race this year, with the top 3 regions being separated by only 23 TWEETS!

You feel that sting?  That’s pride farkin’ with ya!

#NZ    568    24.2%

#OR    549    23.4%

#CA    545    23.2%

It’s that time of year again and Twitter Pinot freaks have been clamoring for a date to celebrate our beloved freaky grape: Pinot Noir.  Last year’s event was a huge success and resulted in over 2000 tweets in the 2 hour event timeframe.  The reigning champ going into this event is #WV – Willamette Valley (but with the new rules – see below – this will be considered #OR for Oregon)  This year we are going 24 hours — All Day!  This keeps in line with some of the more recent grape day tastings and we want to give other regions around the world an easier opportunity to participate.  Big props go to New Zealand who had several wineries and wine associations participate in 2010 during our 2 hour event window even though that was about lunchtime for them.

How To Participate

It has been shown that these events have created hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of impressions for wine brands around the globe. Never mind the fact they are just freaky fun!  Last month, for example, Rick Bakas’ #Chardonnay day reached over 4M people, created almost 30M impressions from over 3200 contributors.

For those new to social media, an online Social Media Community Tasting is simply when people who love wine gather socially both at physical locations, such as wineries, wine shops and their own homes, and virtually via Twitter, Facebook or any social channel turning the event into one big wine party! Throughout the event, wine-lovers from across the country and the globe will share their thoughts on the wines they’ve chosen to drink on this night and “conversing” with like-minded connoisseurs. It’s a captive audience totally focused on Pinot Noir.

Register

Now is the time for Pinot Noir to shine and I invite and emphatically encourage you to join in the festivities and reap the benefits.  To register please go to http://pinotsmackdown.eventbrite.com/ where there are also some basic instructions on how to get started on Twitter. More importantly, you will want to consider planning an event at your winery and/or your favorite local wine merchant to share your wines and this cool experience with others. Some wineries often put together discounted “taste packs” available for sale from their websites specifically for these types of events.

If you are a winery and plan to participate, please email me your logo file and I’ll be sure to include it on the EventBrite invite as well as future blog posts.

The Smackdown

What makes our event so different, is that we put a competitive edge on it, thus the descriptor: SMACKDOWN! So, where is the best or your favorite Pinot Noir produced? To vote via your tweets simply add another 2-character hashtag after #PinotSmackdown and we’ll count the votes so that region gets bragging rights for the night!

The biggest feedback from last year’s event is the fact we had way too many regions to keep track of, so this year we are going to make it simple and at a high-level (see below).  However, this does give us an opportunity to consider a subsequent Smackdown within the winning region such that the sub-regions can duke it out.

Region “voting” hashtags:

• #OR – Oregon
• #CA – California
• #WA – Washington
• #NY – New York
• #46 – U.S. The “Other 46,” outside of the Big Four
• #FR – France
• #IT – Italy
• #DE – Germany (Deutchland)
• #EU – Europe, beyond France, Germany, Italy
• #CN – Canada
• #NZ – New Zealand
• #CH – Chile
• #AR – Argentina
• #AU – Australia
• #SA – South Africa
• #WD – World, as in none previously listed

Who do you think will win?  P.s. Smack Talk is highly encouraged!

The Winner receives this cool virtual belt courtesy of @SuburbanWino and bragging rights for the year!

The online world will be paying attention to Pinot Noir between now and August 18th, especially with Pinot Days on June 18th and IPNC on July 29-31, so you won’t want to miss the opportunity to learn more about this wonderful grape, meet some new friends, talk with winemakers of Pinot Noir and discover some new wines and regions.

After a day of packing, 2 bottles of wine and a movie, I found myself on Twitter late last night while the wife headed off to the sack.  Having been on the west coast now for over 5 months, I didn’t expect too much activity this late, especially as it was well beyond midnight on the east coast.  Then again, it was Saturday night, so anything is possible.  Perhaps, I would be entertained by some drunken tweets or worse.

Instead, the first tweet I saw in my “Wine” stream was Gary Vaynerchuk talking about his new book, “The Thank You Economy.”  I had heard of the book, but  hadn’t purchased it yet (still haven’t – don’t tell Gary) and is a fan of his first book, “Crush It!”  What caught my eye was the 100,000% then-current real-time sales growth of the book on Amazon.  Gary was hitting the Twittershere to rally his fans to move the mercury from 13th to #1 in the world.  Talk about big hairy audacious goals.

Getting up this morning and checking my round of news, wine, and social media channel information, I still found conversation about his activity last night.  This time from @DaleCruse:

So, I go check Amazon and it looks like Gary was able to “move the needle” on the sales of his book to get it from #13 to #7 in the world with 202,842% growth practically over night.  Impressive.  See the snapshot from Amazon’s page here at Gary’s website.

Click for Story

Virginie Boone, of the Press Democrat, shares premier Russian River Valley Pinot Noir producer Ross Halleck’s experience with his first online tasting, the global #PinotNoir Twitter community tasting held in July.  Furthermore, wine country social media specialists, Rick Bakas (St. Supery) and Lisa Mattson (Jordan Winery), also chime in on the benefits of tasting online.  While this form of collaborative wine-tasting is still in its infancy and can certainly improve, below are 5 items that I believe add value to this format.  If you have feedback on how online Twitter (or other channel) tastings can improve, please take this short survey HERE.

1. Complementing the online Twitter tasting with a physical venue.  It’s important to understand that social media isn’t successful when using only online tools.  We hosted our event at Paul’s restaurant in Atlanta with the help of Tower Beer Wine & Spirits, a local retailer, as well as two distributors (Empire and Quality Wine & Spirits).  I think wineries have benefited the most because they can host an event at their winery or tasting room, offer some kind of special just for the event and gain broad brand exposure online.  However, the ability for consumers to follow along while at home or host their own party is also a great option.

2. Engagement directly with other wine lovers as well as direct access to wineries/winemakers.  The twitter tasting gives everyday consumers direct access to other wine lovers and wine experts in their area and abroad.  Furthermore, they have the opportunity to ask questions directly of the winery, and even the winemaker, at times, about the wine they are drinking. This is unprecedented and was practically impossible before unless you visited the tasting room/winery and the winemaker happened to be there.  In many cases, these connections become real long-term relationships.  Vis-a-vis, this gives wineries direct access to new prospects as well as long-time consumers of their wines.

3. Specials.  Discounts or special “taste packs” are often offered by wineries or retailers during the event.  For the Pinot Noir Twitter Tasting we also teamed up with Andrea Robinson who has a new line of stemware.  She allowed us to offer a discount for a set purchase from anyone who participated online and also provided a FREE red stem for all participants who physically attended our Atlanta venue.  I have not yet heard from Andrea about how the event helped in any additional sales of her stemware.  Finally, the restaurant we used for our venue also offered a 10% discount for any participant who joined them for dinner prior to the event.

4. Traffic to venues and websites.  Additionally, the event itself generates a lot of interest, so has been helpful in driving traffic to websites, eCommerce pages as well as physical venues.  Our venue, Paul’s restaurant in Atlanta, sold out in 3 days (80 participants).  The post HERE shows some of the statistics regarding interactivity during the event and this also translated to increases in pageviews, comments and web traffic in the weeks leading up to the event.

5. Having fun.  Ultimately, these events are set up to have fun.  You must realize that not everyone has a presence online or understand tools like twitter.  So, you have to be flexible and be able to accommodate those with and without mobile devices and social media accounts.  It becomes a learning opportunity for those who are new to social media where they can see the reach and interaction that can be experienced via these channels.  We had about a half dozen wineries from New Zealand also participating with us on Twitter during the event and many in the room at my venue were amazed with that concept.  During a Twitter tasting is it easy to see how flat and accessible the world really is these days due to technology.

What has worked well for you and how do you think twitter tastings can improve?