Close Call: @GaryVee wages WineLibraryTV in a bet

For a second there, all of us thought Gary was going to have to quit WineLibraryTV.

Wine and the Web

Here’s what happens when I write these days: I put a few thoughts into text, then I delete it all. This goes on for about ten or fifteen minutes before I give up.

At the heart of this is an identity crisis. I won’t go into the details, but suffice to say my internet personas were beginning to overwhelm my ability to understand myself. I have a twitter account, two wordpress accounts, had thre Tumblr accounts; I have two Youtube acounts, etc. etc. I began to live out of my room and in the virtual space – spending ridiculous amounts of time building a virtual life, with virtual relationships.

And it really confused me. I got into wine through a book I found in a library. Then I met all these great winos who are using social media to promote their businesses. And aside from the mommy bloggers, I believe the most prolific body of work on the internet belongs to wine bloggers (ok, we’ll include food bloggers in there), so I started to write about wine too. I thought this gave me license to say certain things, and act in certain ways… And although I know that there are no preconceptions of “who Craig is” I began to rethink how I was portraying myself through these various social media platforms.

Lent came around, and I felt like I needed to streamline my life, get rid of my computer and start living in the world outside, as I had before I bought my lappy-top. I committed myself to pulling away from Daily Booth (another site I used heavily), and to limiting my twitter usage. I’ve been trying to pray and attend daily mass during this time. The result has been a purification of sorts, and I feel like my fractured selves are coming back together.

I cannot say where this will all go. I do not even know if I have much of a “journey” in the wine world to speak of. My friend and fellow wine-lover Terri even extended a more-than-generous connection of hers in the industry, and told them to expect to hear from me. I haven’t written to them because I feel like social media prowess is my strong point for engagement in wine culture and now that I’m a bit removed from that, I feel kinda inadequate.

Lent is almost over and I’m still uncertain of how I’m going to continue using social media.

I can’t make up my mind whether or not the youth culture’s new openness/transparency/life-sharing that is happening on YouTube, BlogTV, LiveStream, old fashioned written blogs, and on picture sharing sites is simply vanity and the participation in the cult of celebrity on a smaller scale.

Or it could genuinely be a shift in the mindset of the culture, and should not be thought of as vanity and naval gazing, so much as it is becoming a natural extension of our private lives. We share ourselves with those that we know, and we want them to share with us. Is it just idle curiosity that we are indulging? Were we better without all of these platforms for sharing pictues, videos and text? I haven’t figured that out yet.

In the mean time, I’ve been thinking about how the word “wine” appears in the Bible 220+ times. Some passages are warnings or prohibitions and some are out and out glorification of the beverage. There seems to be a mixed message that I’d like to root out and clarify. At least for the time being, I will try to write regularly again, but with a focus on Biblical aspects of wine and wine culture. The word winepress appears 10 times and I’m not even sure about the word vineyard, but I bet it appears a lot too. This should be a fun project.

Blessings,
-Craig

Willing to Care…Less

When I began this venture, one of the first things i did was I project myself into some future scenario where everything I wanted for my life was in my possession. That was a beautiful thought, and the whole point was just to ask myself, what do I want to get out of this? Yet as I step towards that future, one day at a time, I sometimes question myself:  

I have noticed that this occurs after I wonder what other people think about what I’m doing. I try not to think about that anymore. I can’t control it anyway, right?

Whatevs

The strange thing is that I am fine with letting all the new peeps that I am meeting through social media (over 700 followers, booyah) see my enthusiasm  in my videos, on my blog. However I get uncomfortable when I think about the people in my past seeing what I am doing. I want to hide this from them for some reason.

And I guess part of it is starting out small stuff, and working towards the big-time, before my game is finely polished; before I’m getting recognition. Oh yes, recognition. How do you project yourself into an industry, through this virtual space, without it? Is this vanity? I sure hope not. While creating content, you have to be somewhat certain that you have something legit to offer, something people will CARE to see. I choose to see this period of self-promotion and hustle as necessary evil; he who shouts loudest gets heard, ya know?

In the mix of all this, I’m certain people will see the incessant status updates on FB; and liken me to someone reverting to the maturity level of a toddler. “Look at me! Look at me!” I KNOW people will think this b/c I think it even now when I see someone that is clearly addicted to social media, and is simply showing off their social life, etc.

This is different I think. It’s widely accepted that to be successful in this space, you have to hustle, to be consistently creating new and useful (or at least entertaining/interesting) content. There will always be haters and naysayers. In my experience these peeps keep mostly to themselves. But just knowing it’s out there bothers me, and would have stopped me in the past. Any time up to now, you could’ve called me a slave to the opinion of others, and that would have been fairly accurate.

As I said social media are just tools for me. If folks out there happen to watch what I do, read what I write, then it just means that people enjoy watching each other grow and change. It is not grounds for arrogance. I’m not puffed up and I wll not become so. ** I’m not even supposed to say this b/c it goes against all the branding/promotional wisdom out there, but I know I don’t even deserve recognition. I just don’t. There’s countless others who are brighter, more attractive, more charismatic, more you-name-it, who are producing better, smarter content in the same vein that I am (wine). Even so. This is my dream, discovered after a long, long time bouncing from one interest or another. YOu could call me a serial enthusiast. It’s time to throw down, to go all in. You only get one life, and sitting on the fence is no way to live it. So I’ll fight for your eyeballs. I’ll fight for views and attention, if only because it’s necessary at this juncture. Later, like a dog’s winter coat, I hope to be able to shedthe necessity of this attention whoring, and return to what I’m more inclined to be (sometimes) – quiet, thoughtful, private. All things in due time.

There’s a lot of uncertainty right now. I’m proceeding with a degree of trepidation. So as I go forward, I’m going to let God take this endeavor where He wills. Ultimately I’m not in control, but I’ll responsibly certainly use the tools at my disposal, and employ whatever talents I’ve received along the way.

And I will not be handicapped by what anyone thinks.

Cheers,

CJW

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Howdy mates! I apologize for the lack of updates.

*crickets*

What’s that? You weren’t waiting with bated breath for my next post?

Well.

I’ll stifle my pride for your sake.

Just this once.

Some news: There’s a really cool guy I first came across on Twitter, name of Randy, aka @TheWineWhore,  with whom I’ve been having some great wine-related excchanges of late. He is definitely a passionate awine guy, and to my pleasure, is very open and accessible. Thus a few nights ago, on a charitable whim, I purchased some advertising real estate on his website.

Wha?!?!

Yes, yes, I am aware that I don’t have a business. But Randy is a powerhouse in the wineblogging community and for the very reasonable fee of $25 I’ve obtained a bumpersticker, a tshirt, and one month of having my blog featured prominently on the wine whore’s couch.  Check his site (No really, GO NOW!) and you’ll see what I mean.

I figure that if 15-25% of the peeps that check out his blog click over to mine, I will have some fantastic traffic momentum built up heading into the New Year. What do I get out of this? By virtue of this purchase (I could have had a nice bottle of wine for that amount) I’m giving myself added pressure to blog daily, and to really put some sweat into this wine enterprise. Additionally, if one believes the self-branding argument, I’m cultivating those precious eyeballs which,  in the business world = advertising dollars.

I’ve put three wine related videos up on my YouTube Channel in the last couple of days, and will be balancing video with my writing in the coming months.

Things to Do:

1. Figure out a Logo
2. Decide if CraigsWineJourney should be CJsWineJourney (in accord with my twitter account @CJsWine (which you should be following already).
3. Contact Tammy Hart, of Tammy Hart Designs, for help fine-tuning and optimizing this website.
4. Enroll in school to knock out the pre-requisite classes to apply to UC-Davis’ viticulture program
5. Buy a Mino Hd flip-cam
6. Blog Daily
7. Videos whenever I have an idea
8. Start hitting the Bham wine scene; HARD
9. Create accounts on popular Wine forums at Natalie McLean’s site, the WineAdvocate, Corkd, and CellarTracker
10. Read Wine and Food Blogs and COMMENT!!!!!
11. Keep up w/ my social media mentors Sean Malarkey, Lewis Howes, Harrison Painter, Tim Moore, Jamie Crager, Wade Kwon and many others. You should add these peeps on Twitter if you want to know anything about how to use social media.
12. ASK QUESTIONS

Today Gary Vaynerchuk will be in Atlanta. I am going. Tomorrow he will be in Montgomery. Also going.

Merry Christmastime to everyone out there. I hope this special time of year is full of precious memories with your respective loved ones. Be well.

-CJW

’3 Cabs…’ Followup: The Flavor Notes

2007 Louis M Martini Cabernet Sauvignon (Sonoma County)

• Color – deep Red, almost black, opaque
• Aroma – grassy, onion, black fruit
• Body – medium, nothing noteworthy
• Flavors - red raspberry, chocolate, medium tannins
• Personality - sweet up front, empty mid-palate, remains fruity on back end
• With Mushroom Pizza – mushroom and fats from the cheese mellow out the tannins, not a brilliant pairing
• Verdict – Pass. Drinkable (average), but not an exemplary offering by any stretch of the imagination. 5/10

2007 337 Cabernet Sauvignon (Lodi, CA)

• Color – very Dark, almost black, opaque
• Aroma – olives, Black Cherry (really strong)
• Body – great, full body. big upside here
• Flavors – dark chocolate, dirt, black fruits
• Personality - The 337 hybrid grape is supposed to evoke the French sensibilities of bold flavor, and earthy tannins, and this does an ok job of that. It is a full-bodied wine, and the tannins are fairly strong, but they are not very well balanced. Semi-sweet up front, the mid palate is overbearing, and the back end is lacking. Maybe it’ll fare better with a few more years of aging?
• Verdict – Enjoyable; better in 3-5 years (I’d guess). On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it a 6.5

2005 Stag’s Leap Cabernet Sauvignon (Napa, CA)

• Color – Dark Cranberry, semi-translucent
• Aroma – This wine, if left to decant, really opens up. After initial pouring, I got bright red fruit, strawberry jam, and fig. After about 5 minutes, I could smell a kind of spice, though I couldn’t put my finger on it, and after 15-20 minutes, the smell of brown sugar was overwhelming. I’d pay money to smell this again.
• Body – medium
• Flavor - oaky, very distinct vanilla, raspberry
• Personality - This just kept getting better with time. I would definitely decant if given another opportunity. Mildly sweet on the tip of the tongue, with balanced tannins on the mid palate, and a delightful tang on the back end, this wine was eminently smooth. The wine had me salivating a whole minute after a drink, which is a good thing I think.
• Verdict – I’m not sure how much a bottle of S.L. is these days, but it definitely lived up to its reputation. Very Enjoyable 8.5/10

 Cheers, peeps!

3 Cabs in Nashville

I made the trip up to Nashville to visit my sister (she’s getting married!), and my Mom and step-dad, Dowtin.

Mom, me, Cami

They live in a  neighborhood, Brookfield, right beside Nashville’s mansion alley, the Governor’s Club. For you Nashvillians, that’s off of Concord and Sunset. I love coming out here because my Mom’s house is perched up on this big bluff, and they’ve taken advantage of that by building a long waterfall in the backyard, and a lovely pergola at the crown of the hill. When you stand on the front porch, you can look out at the whole neighborhood, complete with immaculately trimmed hedges, pristinely green lawns, and attractive architecture. The suburbs aren’t all bad.

With that said, my mom is something of a vino nut. Not as much as my dad, but she sure loves her wine. It’s the only alcohol she drinks. Unfortunately, she’s stuck in a palate dead-zone, which consists of a strong (and boring) preference for Cabs and Merlot. She also loves Champagne (notice the mimosa in the pic). For this visit, I wanted to really take advantage of her selection, so I made sure to drink a few glasses on my first (and only) night here.

Ah! My sister just called, and so I’ve been recruited for mobile breakfast duty – which means I’m picking up breakfast and taking it to her. Soooo, I’m going to post this, with a promise for another post with the Flavor Notes for the 3 Cabs I drank last night.

I hope everyone is doing great. Tell someone you love, that love them today. You can’t say it enough, and you never know if you’ll get another chance to do so.

peace,

CJ

OK! In keeping with tradition, I post the setup for the wine tasting with pics, and follow up with the rundown. Because body(viscosity) is an important part of the experience of the wine in your mouth, I’m adding that as a category for my tasting rundowns. This also makes sense b/c wines that are too syrupy or too watery tend to lose points in professional tastings. I’m going to leave the alcohol off this time because I don’t have the bottles anymore, but I’ll bring that back next time. It’s more of a stat than a flavor note (though too much of  ‘heat’ or as my wine buddy Chris Broholm says, “spirit” on the back end is not good, and can detract a few points from a professional review).

2007 Mirassou Riesling (Monterey County, CA)

• Appearance – faded yellow-gold
• Aroma – grapefruit, candied peaches, bacon
• Body – great medium body
• Acidity – medium, nothing overwhelming
• Flavors – tangy, reminiscent of orange Pixie Stix, peachy (I wrote peach gummi worm, but is that a flavor?)

2007 Barton & Guestier Vouvray (Loire Valley, France)

• Appearance – light greenish-gold color. Very similar to white grape juice (go figure)
• Aroma – electric, metal workshop, swimming pool, gamey, sausage, pear (this nose was all over the place)
• Body – I wrote “loose, wet, watery”
• Acidity – Medium to high
• Flavors – Tangy, sweet, bacon, cheesy

2008 Francis Ford Coppola Presents: Bianco Pinot Grigio (CA)

• Appearance – honey water (when I make my chai tea, I first heat up the water and then add lots of honey. It is a distinct color)
• Aroma – really strong pear, Juicy Fruit gum, sausage, battery
• Body – H2Oery (yes, I really wrote that! )
• Acidity – low
• Flavors – not sweet. like 1/2 flat 7up + 1/2 flat seltzer water

2007 Sebastiani Chardonnay (Sonoma County, CA)

• Appearance – bright yellow-gold
• Aroma – goat cheese, tangerine, bacon, sausage (I wrote “smells like breakfast!”)
• Body – no body (this is all I wrote)
• Acidity – no notes
• Flavors – “cringy, bittery, creamy, peanutty” (hey, I just call em like I taste em)

2008 Morgan Creek Vineyards’ Carlos Muscadine Table Wine (Birmingham, AL)

• Appearance – nice light yellow
• Aroma – gamey, fatty, steak, musky, pear, “smells like a big, juicy dinner”
• Body – biggest body of the 5, quite viscous
• Acidity – no notes
• Flavors – very sweet, peppery, kiwi-watermelon, steak taste consistent with the aroma

It’s been a while since I did this tasting, so my usual awards aren’t going out. I’ll just post up overall assessment:

Least to Greatest

1. B&G Vouvray
2. Carlos Muscadine
3. Mirassou Riesling
4. Sebastiani Chardonnay
5. Bianco Pinot Grigio

Blind Tasting! 5 White Wines

Hello magnificent people! How are you?

Goodness, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Interestingly, despite my absence, traffic has been fairly steady. It must be all my awesome :facepalm pics. I’m probably fairly high on the google search results, so if my guess is correct, I’m getting a lot of visits from google searchers. If I had to guestimate the spread of my visitors,  I’d say that I probably have about 4 or 5 stalkers out there that periodically drop by to see what I’m up to; another 4 or 5 peeps that I know and care about who support me; maybe 2 or 3 tweeps that have recently added me on Twitter, checking out my stuff; and the rest (about 12-15 daily) are probably courtesy of google search results. Score for strategic use of tags and Blog titles!

Well, let’s get down to business. I’m going to break this up into two posts, so just bear with me.

In my journey to obtain greater wine knowledge, my primary focus at this point is developing my palatte. I’ve mentioned this before. In my last blind tasting, I attempted to taste 6 red wines, and then come back for a second, blind tasting to identify each one based on flavor, aroma, viscocity, acidity, and the myriad of intangibles that go into wine tasting.

This time I wanted to change things up. Instead of identifying the wines after tasting them once, I started with a full blind tasting, jotted down notes for each one, and then placed them in order of personal preference to see which one I ended up liking the most.

And without further ado, these are the contestants:

Francis Ford Coppola Presents

2008 Francis Ford Coppola  Presents: Bianco Pinot Grigio

This is a California effort.

Gary Vaynerchuk bashes B&G constantly

2007 B&G Vouvray.

My first Vouvray. Yay! Oh. This is a French wine. Also my first (that I know of)

Sebastiani, a family wine label.

2007 Sebastiani Chardonnay.

Straight out of Sonoma.

What’s a gathering of white wines w/o a Riesling?

2006 Mirassou Riesling.

Another California play. As a side note, I found this label the most aesthetically pleasing of the 5.

A local play. Muscadine is King in the South.

What I assume to be 2008 Carlos Muscadine (table wines don’t really have vintages…they’re meant for immediate consumption).

I wanted to go local with at least one of these wines. I’ve been hearing about the muscadine wines of the south for a while now, so I had to give this a try.

A product of Morgan Creek Vineyards, located just outside of Birmingham.

:Facepalm

This is a fitting title because I learned today that I have been spelling the word palate wrong. I’m mortified that no one said anything.

pal·ate (pal′it)

noun

1. the roof of the mouth, consisting of a hard, bony forward part (the hard palate) and a soft, fleshy back part (the soft palate, or velum)
2. sense of taste: the palate was incorrectly thought to be the organ of taste
3. intellectual taste; liking

whereas:

pal·ette (pal′it)

noun

1. a thin board or tablet of wood, plastic, etc., often with a hole for the thumb at one end, on which an artist arranges and mixes paints
2. the colors used by a particular artist or for a particular painting

Good thing I didn’t name this blog “Palette Building” or “Palette Notes”.

In summary:

:Facepalm