Social Media Is Changing The Way We Drink Wine

Last night I went to a great wine tasting event. I met a lot of new people and had a great time laughing and comparing notes with the 100 or so other people in the room. I wore my workout shorts and t-shirt, and when it was all over I went upstairs and went to bed.

So, now you’re probably wondering what wine bar I live above? I don’t, unless you want to call my dusty basement closet a wine bar. No. Last night I went to a wine “tweet up”.

After dragging my feet on Twitter ,Facebook, blogging and every other type of social media out there, I have slowly been coming around to the whole concept. I started tweeting officially sometime around Christmas and now have just under 400 wine drinking friends.

The amazing thing with Facebook and Twitter is that I can read articles, opinions, and reviews not only once a week, but all day and night every day of the week. The discussion is open ended. I can read someone else’s opinion, and then turn right around and give my own. Input is usually relegated to short sentences, so I’m not forced to listen to someone’s long, boring diatribe.

With Facebook and Twitter, both have extensive lists of vintners and their employees. You’re not always getting the public PR scoop from the marketing department. You are able to talk directly to the cellar rat or the tasting room employee who has their feet on the ground every day.

In several cases here locally you can reach out and have a personal conversation with the actual winemakers regularly. I have daily conversations with Charlie Hoppes, Neil Cooper, Rich Funk, Marie Eve Gilla, and Cameron Kontos. I know when Robert Smasne is in town, or at his tasting room in Woodinville. I know when the new release of Bookwalter Cabernet Sauvignon comes out immediately, and where the release party is going to be.

Over the next few weeks there are going to be several wine tweeting events. Some are being held at wineries such as Desert Wind Winery in Prosser. Taste Washington in Seattle the last weekend of this month will be a huge “tweet up”. I’ll be there, and would love to see you at the event.

These events are options for people to physically get together, meet, and establish friendships over a glass of wine. Afterwards, you can keep that relationship going by tweeting with those friends on an ongoing basis.

Another option is to attend a tweet discussion. I will be the guest “specialist” in a tweet discussion happening between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on March 10th. The way to join the discussion is go to go to www.twitter.com and signing up for an account. You can follow me by searching @onerichwineguy. Once you’ve found me click in the “follow” box. I’ll then follow you in return!

On the 10th at about 6 p.m., once you’ve got your account, type in #socialwine in the search window on the right side of the screen. Grab a glass of wine and join the conversation. If you want to add in your own thoughts just type #socialwine in the body of the status sentence and it will be listed for the group to see. Cool huh?

This event is in an interview format. I encourage you to send me questions through my blog at www.onerichwineguy.blogspot.com or you can direct message me on Twitter before the event.

See you there!!