Thank you WineQ…

I know I’m involved in WineQ and therefore a little biased but I just wanted to post quickly about the service.

For those that don’t know, WineQ is a site creating the NetFlix of Wine Clubs through the use of Web 2.0 technology.  I tool around alot with so-called Web 2.0 products and sites (just look at the sidebars of this blog!) and some of the service I find are completely useless but cool, and some are really useful.

I setup my WineQ club service to ship me about 3 bottles every three weeks so that I have a good variety of wines on hand at any time and some new things to try.

This morning I am literally involved in about 10 different things (which will affect the length of this post) for a product launch I’m leading at Cisco.  At the bottom of my “to-do” list?  Buy some new wines to try.  I’m thinking I’m literally never going to get to this.  Jump on my e-mail and I find this comforting reminder:

From:  WineQ support@wineq.com

Subject: Your Q order is ready to ship!

Like I said, I’m involved with the site so I wanted to have that transparency, but I have to say that was pretty nice to know that WineQ had me covered with wines that I had been meaning to try but didn’t have time to get around to purchasing them.  Don’t have to think about it.  Don’t have to pay shipping.  Three wines that I had been meaning to get around to buying are on their way (because I had them in my Q)! 

If you know me, I value free time over anything else (other than family).  If something is going to cost me free time it BETTER be damn good.  Folks, I am spending free time working with WineQ….

For Those Who Think The Web Isn’t The Future for Wine

I thought this was interesting.  Technology is a wonderful thing, changing so quickly that anyone who predicts what will and won’t happen almost always looks like a fool. 

The caption reads:

Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a “home computer” could look like in the year 2004.  However the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home.  Also the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now scientific progress is expected to solve these problems.  With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use.

Can the web and social networking change the Wine industry?  It can and it will.  What this picture illustrates (and is somewhat comical at first) is that you’ve got to set the goal clearly for what happens next.  Obviously, we far exceeded expectations on this one!

For wine, the Internet will provide the personal, peer-to-peer experience that will enhance your wine life experiences, introducing you to new people, places, and wines in ways we can’t even imagine right now.  In fact, you’ll be able to sample the wine with all the senses without even being at the winery (just wanted to write something that may or may not pan out in 50 years

)

Enjoy the Wine Life!

What is ACTUALLY the best source of wine recommendations

There is an interesting fact that everyone seems to know – wine is very much a social and lifestyle thing, not just a drink.  “The Wine Life” is what I’ve always called it and in fact I close all my posts with “Enjoy the Wine Life” and even have a wine news site called “Wine Life Today”.  MSN has copied me and called their wine section “Wine Life” (make no mistake, I’ve been using that for minimally 2 years before they put up that site).  But the point is that wine has a distinct social element.

When exploring wines there is a distinct value chain, what I call a “wine life value chain”, that leads us to trying a new wine.  Its worth examining.  When making choices of which wine to try it typically goes like this:

Find trusted source –-> get recommendation from source –-> search for the wine –> purchase

If any point in this chain breaks down you likely won’t find a wine to your liking except by total dumb luck.  Interestingly, this chain is inherently social in nature.  Starting with the “trusted source”.  You need to find one if you’re going to purchase a wine simply because wine not only has thousands and thousands of options but also because each of those option changes every single year!  So even if you find a trusted source one year, you are forced to have some sort of interaction with that source over and over again because “good” wines will change every year.

Not Wine Related but Really Funny

So this totally isn’t wine related and I know I haven’t posted in a while but this is just hilarious.  I typically read Google News to find something to write about because it aggregates content based on subject in an automated fashion.  So you can see many stories and images on related subjects from different topics in one place.  Its actually a thing of beauty.

This almost made me bust a gut.  Under the “Health” section I found this:

Articles around the rapid spread of drug-resistant gonorrhea and the image related to this topic?  Why none other than PARIS HILTON! 

That is hilarious that an automated, XML, computer to computer interaction linked the two subjects…Am I just a huge tool for seeing the humor in that? 

Anyway, I’m on my way home to have one of my new favorites:

Escafeld Petit Verdot available at WineQ for a measly $20, which means 2 bottles from WineQ and shipping is free…

There, now I don’t feel guilty for not posting anything wine related…

Smile and Enjoy the Wine Life!

Tags: escafeld, Paris+Hilton, Paris, wine, recommendation, under+$20