DLW 2011: Missouri — Virtual tastings and the future of wine
by Wine Curmudgeon Posted On
The scene was surreal. There were 21 Missouri wineries in the hotel ballroom, 100 or so people tasting wine, and a large screen at the far side of the room. The screen, changing constantly, was displaying real-time comments made not only by everyone who was in the room tasting the wine, but by people throughout the world commenting on the comments that were being made about the wine. And there were pictures.
Or, as Eric V. Orange, the founder and CEO of LocalWineEvents.com said to me, as we watched what was going on in middle-aged disbelief: "Wow. I never imagined it would be like this."
Twitter tastings, like the one we did for the 2011 DrinkLocalWine.com conference in St. Louis on Saturday, are nothing new. They've been hip and au courant for a couple of years, and not just because of the technology. Virtual tastings allow wineries, wine regions and other groups that don't have big budgets to do tastings that offer big results. The reach is impressive: Those 100 people in a hotel ballroom can turn their tweets about Missouri wine into millions of impressions on Twitter, which can get picked up through other social media like Facebook and even end up in Google search results.
What's new, and what was so impressive this time, is that so many people who weren't there wanted to know about the wines that were being tasted. And that's something that will continue to push the wine world in a completely different direction — one that continues to squeeze wine criticism. More, after the jump:
We don't have the final numbers yet, but we almost certainly bettered the 4 million Twitter impressions we recorded at DLW 2010: Virginia. You can see what went on — go to Twitter and do a search for our hash tag, #DLWMO (and you don't even need a Twitter account). You'll be able to see every tweet for the conference, as well as the tweets from people who weren't there. You can also go to the DLW web site, where we have more traditional coverage of the conference, along with an announcement about DLW 2012: Colorado.
It's the tweets from people who weren't at the conference that are the most intriguing. Yes, it's amazing that we could send Missouri wine chat around the world in seconds, and that someone who didn't know that Missouri made wine could see reviews of the wines. But what's even more amazing is that it was a two-way conversation. These people just didn't want to read the tweets; they wanted to talk about Missouri wine. They asked questions. They made comments. They even wanted to be at the conference.
Which is something that isn't possible in the world of the Winestream Media. They tell us what to drink, and the conversation ends there. And if the wine magazines aren't interested in some wines, like regional wine, there isn't even that brief a conversation. But what we did over the weekend in St. Louis is another step in changing the definition of the wine conversation.
And I'm glad, cranky ex-newspaper man that I am, that I can help make that change.
Thanks for hitting the nail on the head, WC. The Missouri Wine & Grape Board has always been outstanding at promoting local wine, and I’m not surprised to see them on the forefront of this newest wine conversation. Thanks to DrinkLocalWine, DrinkMOWine, and all the attendees. Cheers!
Thanks for the kind words, Laura. The thing that always amazes me, when we do these conferences, is how many people who have never tasted regional wines like them. Once they get a chance to shed their Winestream Media inhibitions, they are almost always pleasantly surprised.