A large part of one of the chapters of Wine Brands was dedicated to crushpad.com, this luxury winery based in San Francisco. Why was that? Crushpad.com and crushnet allow want-to-be winemakers to make wine... on the Net if they don't live in California. They have access to all the facilities via videos and podcasts. Crushnet goes even further, as stated in their press release: "Crushpad is at the forefront of the Wine 2.0 movement, providing new wine makers with the resources and support to create their own luxury vintage from grape to bottle -- and a unique opportunity to express their creativity through wine making. Something that until now has been reserved only for professional winemakers living in wine country."
There are three features that really attracted my attention:
- "Real-time, streaming video that allows individuals to direct the action from the comfort of their living room: panning, tilting and zooming in on all the activities at Crushpad's 34,000 square foot winery and communicating with Crushpad staff; even cheering on members of their wine making group from afar."
- A wiki : "Enowiki, an online resource that demystifies many of the more technical aspects of wine making."
- "Wine Styler, an online tool that enables individuals to graphically define the style of their wine and automatically drive the associated technical wine making decisions. Wine Styler is also tightly integrated with Enowiki and educational videos to provide a comprehensive wine design environment."
I just wish we had such a tool in Europe!
Showing posts with label wine 2.0. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine 2.0. Show all posts
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Wine critics vs. wine consumers
There is a great post in The Pour, Eric Asimov's blog in the New York Times: "You can please all the people, or you can make great wine". It is the usual controversy on the critics' role in the wine business: should consumers follow blindly their reviews or should they appreciate a wine only on their own criteria and/or personal tastes? Critics are supposed to know their wines but they are also human beings with their own prejudices and tastes. Is there a way to help the consumers?
Some people might write a book, such as the Wine Trials by Robin Goldstein reviewed by Newsweek and commented upon by Eric Asimov in his post:
Consumers now have a new resource, a free wiki wine rating site to find the best wines in a specific location, wineape.com, I already mentioned in this blog. The idea came up when three people, Jeff Dracup, Colleen Wagner and Kevin Jackson, who enjoy trying new wines, found out that most wines had no rating. “We felt the 100-point wine rating system, used by Wine Spectator and others, fell short in many respects. First, the ratings come from a select group of people who may or may not have the same taste in wine as the average consumer. Second, and more importantly, there are just too many wines being released each year for all wines to be rated by such a small group of wine tasters”, said Jeff Dracup in his press release (September 6, 2007, published on pr.com). With that statement, Dracup shares the opinion of Kevin Kells, development director of consumer packaged goods at Google to wine industry executives during the 16th Annual Wine Industry Financial Symposium held in Napa Valley on September 18, 2007, when the latter said: “We don’t believe that five guys sitting in a room should be able to know the right answers compared to the hundreds of people who are out there. We want to hear people’s comments”. He has even gone a little further: "Who is this "critic" to tell me what I should or shouldn’t like? On the other hand if a group of independent consumers say they liked a wine – it is more likely I’m also going to enjoy that wine. I feel more confident buying a wine recommended by many other wine consumers than just a few critics.”
Web 2.0 is about user-generated content, and a wiki such as wineApe.com might bring an other answer to the controversy over critics and consumers: the voice of the people. Isn't it called democracy?
Some people might write a book, such as the Wine Trials by Robin Goldstein reviewed by Newsweek and commented upon by Eric Asimov in his post:
"According to the Newsweek article, the book shows that 100 wines under $15 consistently outperformed more expensive bottles. In particular, the article cited two comparisons: a $9.99 bottle of Domaine Ste. Michelle brut, a sparkling wine from Washington, outscored a bottle of Dom Pérignon, while Two-Buck Chuck cabernet sauvignon was preferred over a $55 Napa Valley cabernet, Artemis from Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars."
This proves only that people have very different tastes in wines, some with discriminating palates and others with simpler tastes.Consumers now have a new resource, a free wiki wine rating site to find the best wines in a specific location, wineape.com, I already mentioned in this blog. The idea came up when three people, Jeff Dracup, Colleen Wagner and Kevin Jackson, who enjoy trying new wines, found out that most wines had no rating. “We felt the 100-point wine rating system, used by Wine Spectator and others, fell short in many respects. First, the ratings come from a select group of people who may or may not have the same taste in wine as the average consumer. Second, and more importantly, there are just too many wines being released each year for all wines to be rated by such a small group of wine tasters”, said Jeff Dracup in his press release (September 6, 2007, published on pr.com). With that statement, Dracup shares the opinion of Kevin Kells, development director of consumer packaged goods at Google to wine industry executives during the 16th Annual Wine Industry Financial Symposium held in Napa Valley on September 18, 2007, when the latter said: “We don’t believe that five guys sitting in a room should be able to know the right answers compared to the hundreds of people who are out there. We want to hear people’s comments”. He has even gone a little further: "Who is this "critic" to tell me what I should or shouldn’t like? On the other hand if a group of independent consumers say they liked a wine – it is more likely I’m also going to enjoy that wine. I feel more confident buying a wine recommended by many other wine consumers than just a few critics.”
Web 2.0 is about user-generated content, and a wiki such as wineApe.com might bring an other answer to the controversy over critics and consumers: the voice of the people. Isn't it called democracy?
Monday, March 17, 2008
eWineMatch.com: a new tool for wine and food pairing
An overwhelmed consumer, hesitating to choose the right wine to pair with his/her dish, has now a very efficient and free tool to get an answer. Technology (or wine 2.0) is now at our doorstep to answer our needs and help us to make the right decision. And what a pleasure for the consumer not to have to stand in a supermarket aisle looking in desperation at miles of shelves packed with unknown (or too well-known) wines just before dinner time!
An American company recently launched a real-time in-store mobile food and wine pairing, eWine Match. The mind behind eWine Match is chef and wine educator Jerry Comfort, who helped to develop a database grouping foods and wines according to intensity of flavors and reactivity. How does it work for the consumer? The shopper texts the meal’s key ingredient or type of cuisine to 411511 and within seconds receives three wine selections. The service is free, is totally portable and responds specifically to the food submitted. “And the beauty of a data-driven platform”, said chef Jerry Comfort, "is that it is constantly growing and as we get new and unusual text messages we will continue to expand the database.”
Today, eWinewatch.com's press release announced a "partnership" with Foster's Wine estates Americas, carrying Beringer Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean in the US, Penfolds, Rosemount and Wolf Blass in Australia, Castello di Gabbiano in Italy and Matua Valley in New Zealand. As a user of eWinewatch.com when in the US, I'm a little disturbed by this new partnership. Indeed, before the agreement with Foster's, I had a much wider range of brands suggested for my wine and food pairings. Today I searched for a pairing with roasted duck and, out of 11 answers, I had 4 Beringer and 2 Penfolds wines recommended. Of course I understand the development of such a platform is very costly. But independence is also a good way to attract the consumer.
Anyway I shouldn't complain about it since I'm very impressed by the technology behind this new tool and in awe of such a great service offered to the consumer. When will this service be available in Europe? Congratulations to chef Jerry Comfort and his technical partners.
An American company recently launched a real-time in-store mobile food and wine pairing, eWine Match. The mind behind eWine Match is chef and wine educator Jerry Comfort, who helped to develop a database grouping foods and wines according to intensity of flavors and reactivity. How does it work for the consumer? The shopper texts the meal’s key ingredient or type of cuisine to 411511 and within seconds receives three wine selections. The service is free, is totally portable and responds specifically to the food submitted. “And the beauty of a data-driven platform”, said chef Jerry Comfort, "is that it is constantly growing and as we get new and unusual text messages we will continue to expand the database.”
Today, eWinewatch.com's press release announced a "partnership" with Foster's Wine estates Americas, carrying Beringer Vineyards, Chateau St. Jean in the US, Penfolds, Rosemount and Wolf Blass in Australia, Castello di Gabbiano in Italy and Matua Valley in New Zealand. As a user of eWinewatch.com when in the US, I'm a little disturbed by this new partnership. Indeed, before the agreement with Foster's, I had a much wider range of brands suggested for my wine and food pairings. Today I searched for a pairing with roasted duck and, out of 11 answers, I had 4 Beringer and 2 Penfolds wines recommended. Of course I understand the development of such a platform is very costly. But independence is also a good way to attract the consumer.
Anyway I shouldn't complain about it since I'm very impressed by the technology behind this new tool and in awe of such a great service offered to the consumer. When will this service be available in Europe? Congratulations to chef Jerry Comfort and his technical partners.
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