Still keeping my critic’s spurs on, and National Drink Wine Day!

 

Although I ceased formally to be a wine critic nearly two years ago, when I quit Wine Enthusiast to begin working at Jackson Family Wines, there are still some wineries that want me to review their stuff on my blog.

At first, I found this surprising. My blog has never been a wine-reviewing site. I had an unspoken agreement with Wine Enthusiast, while I was there, that I wouldn’t “compete” with them in that arena, and so I didn’t. And once I went over the Jackson Family Wines, I thought it would be a little weird to review the competition.

But JFW let me know that it was alright if I continued reviewing, and so, when the odd box does float in, I’m happy to review it. But it does make me wonder why a winery would care what a little old blog like mine cares about their product.

I figure that it’s getting harder and harder to get publicity for your wines these days. There are so many magazines, newspapers, newsletters and websites that review wine—for a fee, or for free, depending on what the owner thinks he can get (what the market will bear). There are endless blogs that review wine. Many stores review wines nowadays, putting up little shelf talkers. And of course there’s word of mouth, both the old-fashioned kind in which a human actually physically interacts with another human, or through “social media,” a term that seems increasingly bizarre, but unfortunately we have nothing with which to replace it.

So I put myself in the vintner’s shoes and try to imagine how I would go about getting publicity for my wines if I were a winery. And I suppose one answer is, “We might as well send it to Heimoff. He still has some credibility.”

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I did not know—did you?—that today is National Drink Wine Day!

Even Perez Hilton has taken notice on twitter, and I see on my own twitter feed that #nationaldrinkwineday is the top-trender in San Francisco.

But of course. We’re civilized here. Does anyone know who started this thing? Can I just declare “Tomorrow is National Long Haired Chihuahua Day”? Would anyone care? Anyhow, happy National Drink Wine Day! Drink some wine. Drink some beer and booze while you’re at it, but don’t forget to stay hydrated. And if you’re feeling a bit bummy check out this video of Anderson, Kathie Lee and Hoda. It’s how the 1% drink.