Enobytes Wine Blog

Many of you in the wine biz have been anxiously waiting for a discussion on how to grow your business using twitter so let’s cut to the chase and get down to business.

Back in the 90′s one of my first restaurant Sommelier gigs was working for the Kimpton Group in San Francisco. I was a feisty little manager filled with hopes and dreams and a dash of arrogance. My team led this restaurant to exceed yearly annual sales goals by 15%, maintaining a 24% liquor cost, and we did a good job kicking butt with the GOP budgets. Numbers aside, this story isn’t about the figures, per se, but rather a journey of lessons learned on what it takes to grow and build a successful business. Numbers are great, but what makes a successful business is,.. well, read on. Read the rest of this entry »

If you managed to survive our last post on how to find and follow wine twitters,  your’re ready to dive into our next topic, #hashtags, so lets get down to business.

Today we’ll dig into using #hashtags efficiently so that you get the most out of what they have to offer.

THE BASICS

In simple terms, think of a hashtag as a means to create “groupings” on Twitter to organize your comments so that others can find them later. In other words, let’s say you have a file cabinet at your office and you want to name a folder “Zinfandel” and file it under “Z”. Simple enough, right? Read the rest of this entry »

So I hear you’ve recently set up a new Twitter account but you’re lost at what to do with it now, eh? Well let me tell you dear reader friend, you are not alone.

As I’ve written in a previous post, social media is transforming our media landscape and for some, it’s not so easy to grasp this newfound concept. If you’re like most of my readers, you’re probably asking questions like,  “How do I…” or “What does “RT” mean“, and “How do I find winos?“, or what the heck is a “#wine“? …and for my wine biz friends, you want to know “What’s the value“, and “What’s the ROI“?

Unfamiliar territory would bring anyone to the brink of bonkers and believe me I understand your pain — but in all honesty, it’s not so bad after you understand some of the basics.

Some of you in the wine industry biz probably want to Read the rest of this entry »

The social media paradigm is transforming our media landscape to an unrecognizable form many are not willing to accept. Are you one of them? Then listen up because this paradigm shift is happening whether you like it or not and I have a few tips to help you transition to the new media world.

It’s a direction that will affect everyone in the wine industry, from wine writers to wineries, magazines, newspapers and marketing folks. If you don’t jump on the social media bandwagon you might just be left in the dark. If you don’t believe me, then listen to Clay Shirky, a prescient voice on the effects of the Internet. One of his latest TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) talks, appropriately titled, “How Twitter Can Make History”, Shirky argues that emerging technologies enable loose collaboration, which is essentially changing the way our society works.

I strongly urge any individual in the wine industry to watch this video to understand the technical transfer that is happening in today’s world and how it affects today’s businesses (please watch it from start to finish, you won’t regret it).

There are a number of  interesting points in this video you should not miss. For one, Shirky states, “…our generation is living the largest increase in expressive capability in human history”. There have only been four periods over the last five hundred years where Read the rest of this entry »

We all know how ridiculous U.S. wine laws can be across the board. I could probably spend the better part of my day listing all of the absurdities, but in conjunction we have contacted our legal department at Dewey, Drink-Man and Howe (DDMH) and they have made the following comments on these laws… Read the rest of this entry »

Somehow, it takes a pretty serious jolt like a death or a tragedy to make you take worth of the things around you. Sometimes that tragedy is the landmark event that solidifies a movement, a thing, and sometimes even a varietal.

Today on Wine Bytes, my wine blog on OregonLive, I discuss how Oregon Pinot noir now has a landmark event in its history. This event overshadows all the achievements (and there are many) that have come to pass in this young industries’ long road of recognition. We all enjoy Willamette Valley Pinot noir but do we realize the vision and commitment it took to convince distributors and consumers we have something special here? This post is in commemoration of David Lett, a man who started the groundwork that would insure his vision of Oregon wine would continue long into the future. Check out my latest post here.

Normally, I don’t buy wine online except for those rare occasions when I can’t find something in my local area. That’s when I head over to a reputable online wine store like K&L. On a recent visit to the site, I found a new service, “Personal Sommelier” which may change my buying habits. Although I don’t normally write about wine merchants, I thought this service deserved special attention and recognition. Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve come a long way since Jack Keller and Alder Yarrow introduced the beginning of wine blogging back in ’03 & ’04. Since then, the wine blogosphere has exploded and I’ve lost track of the number of blogs out there. Amazingly enough, using a key term "wine blog" on a search engine can return millions of hits! So how do you decide which ones you should visit? Read the rest of this entry »

When I was a young man, I used to preach the atrociousness of the varietal of Merlot being produced as a stand-alone wine circa 1985-1989. I will actually admit that back then, I would hold up Bordeaux wines as an example where Cabernet ruled and Merlot took a back seat. How uneducated my claims were back then especially with the facts being St. Emilion and many St. Julien’s consist primarily of Merlot and these regions have continued to make standout wines vintage after vintage. That would make my limited education obviously challenged and all the rants ludicrous and unsubstantiated. To all the new-world produced Merlot and all the Bordeaux regions I may have slighted, I officially apologize.

Now on to new business, I recently weighed in on some wholesale grape price disparities in Napa, primarily the gap between Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, $2300-4500 per ton on Cab and only $1400-2500 for Merlot. Some Cabernet even went for a whopping $39,000 a ton. In my opinion, the Merlot retailing in the $25 –$35 price range far outshines comparable Cabernet at the same price point. Who is getting rich here? Is the real joke on Read the rest of this entry »

After reading comments left regarding a recent post about restaurant wine lists and corkage fees I felt compelled to make a comment of my own.

First, I would like to say I appreciate the fact someone actually reads my blog. I was even more elated to find out I am not the only one that feels on-premise wine sales are pushing the limits lately with profit margins and ridiculous corkage fees. Now I would like to chime in on retail prices and mark ups. I have previously mentioned the industry norm was Read the rest of this entry »