The Legacy of Robert Mondavi

Robert Mondavi just died. The Internet is buzzing with tributes, articles, blogs, comments on his legacy and what he means to the wine business and community.

As a European who discovered California wines in the '90s, I mostly saw Robert Mondavi as the American winemaker who built a bridge between Europe and California. For Americans, Mondavi is the patriarch of the American wine industry, the charismatic winemaker who carried the image of American wines all over the globe and made the world aware of the growing quality and strength of American wines.

Mondavi was that and a lot more. He is the man who created Opus One with the Rothschilds, the man who contributed so much to Copia along with his friend Julia Child, knowing that wine and food are partners. He's the man who invested in the Italian Ornellaïa and went back to his roots. He's the man who understood that wine is a global cultural heritage and who tried to build a bridge between all wine cultures.

For all that and so much more, thank you, Mr. Mondavi.

Don't miss randulo's interview about Mondavi's influence with Thomas Duroux for the NewWineConsumer.com weekly podcast and conference.

Are podcasts the new online news channel?

Last night, during our podcast on video on the Net, it occurred to me that we got used to new technologies very fast and that they spread all over even faster. Blogs and podcasts - considered new tools a few months ago - are now... would I dare say banal? We all have cameras, know how to use them and post our videos on line; we all know how to create and animate a blog. What's the use?

Like blogs, podcasts are of two types:

• branded podcasts for an estate or a winery;
• thematic podcasts – about wine, food, women, travel, lifestyle etc.
  

Château Palmer, a Classified Growth in Margaux, launched its blog first, then its webcasts. What is the purpose of these unusual actions by a very formal Bordeaux estate? The blog was at first supposed to replace the “News” page of the first site. In 2004, when the second version of the site was opened, a blog was quite a novelty. Château Palmer was the first Classified Growth to open a blog, and, as far as we know, is still the only one to have such an interactive tool. The management very quickly understood the use of such a tool: to interact with their consumers and wine lovers. Their posts are open to comment, and whoever wishes to express an opinion is welcome.

The first video podcasts were launched for the 2006 harvest after much thought. Once more Château Palmer was a pioneer in Bordeaux, and, in this rather conservative area, the Châteaux owners gave interviews which were then published as a podcast. The site of the Wine Spectator is now full of this sort of video. Until this move by Château Palmer, no estate had published its own podcasts. Harvest is a crucial time for a château, and filming it, as well as interviewing the participants, is rather tricky. Accidents may happen, rain may fall, thunderstorms may occur – and everything will be recorded. Of course one may edit the film or the interview, but then where is the honesty in such an enterprise? The idea is to give the consumer information, which is as accurate and true as possible. The risk cannot be described as non-existent for a winery. Château Palmer took the risk, and so became famous for the quality and realism of the information given to its customers and web visitors. This type of “branded” podcast is the best way to reach the end-consumers. Life at the Château and interaction with the team are shared with every end-consumer and Club member.

The thematic podcasts are different. They want to bring together people sharing a common interest or passion, in our case wine or wine and food. From December 2006 to March 2008, at the suggestion of longtime friend Randulo, Robin Garr, the creator of wineloverspage.com, launched the “WineLoversPage TalkShoe”, a weekly live Internet radio show.

The live show was hosted on the talkshoe.com platform, which is a community of web users and show hosts. How did it work? Every week Randulo and Robin chose a topic related to wine: for example, how to read a French label, corkscrew or screwcap, unusual wine and food pairings, wine goes to Hollywood, Champagne, wine and cheese, etc. The audience could listen to the live show, call in to give an opinion or take part in the topic, or download the show after it was completed.

Podcasts are not only videos or audio interviews. Behind the scenes there is a syndication technology called RSS requiring skills in programming and editing, which were provided by Randulo. TalkShoe's technology allows a much better interaction with the web users. People can talk to the show host live and/or can download the podcast – keeping it for further listening on their MP3 or iPod at a convenient time. Podcasts, like blogs, are syndicated and have a life of their own on the Net. Once they start being syndicated they reach more and more people.

How does it answer our question? By their instantaneity, the podcasts, especially when they are hosted on a platform such as TalkShoe that allows live broadcasting, can bring information on very actual questions and serve as news carriers. It's not the "breaking news" of CNN but it provides a very accurate information by its quick realization and the speed of its distribution. The technology brings the world up to speed and people together.

Blogs and Brands

On the OWC group on blogs, there was a post lately asking if/how it was possible to make money with your blog. Indeed more and more people are writing blogs - as a hobby, sometimes - but more often in relation to their work field and their professional expertise. It would seem logical to try to make some money when sharing experience and knowledge with your readers.

Several studies on blogs, bloggers, brands and trends just came out this week. The market research from Via Nova Spheeris is strictly about French blogs but could open some threads of discussion. First a few figures: 38.2% of French bloggers get some income from their blogging activity; 32% would like to get some revenue out of their blog. For 42.5% of bloggers, advertising is the most obvious way of making money. 17% of them see their blog as a way to comfort their professional status and even to get in touch with the traditional medias (TV, press, radio).

French bloggers ready to advertise brands on their blogs trust the brands' communication strategy: 82.9% of them think the brands' communication is "informative" and 68.6% "modern". But they regret that the brands' request for advertising on their blog are not always relevant to their blog's contents. Instead of getting money, they'd rather have products' samples, invitations to events and/or advance information on new products and services. This strategy would allow them to keep their freedom in judging the brand.

This study shows how blogs are difficult to understand by the traditional brands used to traditional medias. A blog is a media where freedom is respected. That's why the traditional medias feel threatened by this space of free speech and communities. The last market study conducted by Universal McCann on a panel of 17,000 web surfers in 29 countries shows clearly the exponential growth of blogs, podcasts and social networks as a direct competitor of the traditional medias. There are 184 millions bloggers in the world and 73% of the population read blogs. The video is now the most appreciated media just before the blogs (72.8%), sharing pictures (63.2%) and social networks (57;3%). Podcasts are now considered a major media by web surfers.

A brand can't ignore those new media. They reach directly the new consumers: young people, women, international consumer. Why wouldn't a company transfer its media budget to social network to touch the new consumers? It would seem a smart move but I'm afraid most brands are not ready to get in the 21st century... yet.