For some reason it feels like we slipped somewhere. There is so much great technology out there, so many new and interesting things, and somehow I saw none of them at Wine 2.0. In fact, I felt like it was very 1.0.First of all the tasting happened at Webster Hall. This is the place where I go to rock out to upcoming bands, check out some awesome face-melting DJ's. I even think I saw my friend David, the drummer of Sweatheart play there. By the way, in case you wanted to know one of my songs of Sweatheart is "Finger Bangin'." It just has such a catchy chorus, you cannot help but get hooked.
But Webster Hall is a dark music venue. Fun for a night out on the town to do something more interesting than going to another cocktail bar. Not a place where I really felt the technology of and around wine tasting really shined.
And then there was the technology. Not a whole lot of technology was present. You had Snooth, Bottlenotes, Wine Twits, and one or two more. Nothing I found exciting or new or different. Maybe my expectations were set too high, but I thought this was going to be a melding of technology and wine. I found lots of wine, but not a whole lot of technology.
Thank goodness for the wine. There were some great wines there, and I have no idea why. Seriously, at two tables there were wines which had a total production of less than 500 cases. In the grand scheme of wine that is TINY. I asked David Rossi, the owner/winemaker of Fulcrum Wines, a winery that only sells wine through its mailing list, why he decided to come to this event. His response was that he wanted to find out more about the technology of wine consumers. He made a great point about how we now have a good idea of where we are right now. We have twitter, bloggers, rating aggregates, and cellar recording software. Everyone wants to know the answer to a big question, "where is this going?" What is the next evolution of technology? Does it matter? Are wines selling through these channels?
Man, if I knew those answers I could retire to a life of wine tasting and cool ocean breezes.
Another great wine I tasted was 2006 Smith & Hook Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a big wine, ready for a year or two on the shelf, but also great with a steak. And a fatty steak at that. Avoid the Fillet with this one. That said, there is some great balance and fruit in this wine.
Another great Cabernet that I tried was from Arkenstone. The first photo that appears on this website could easily be from the bluff of Echo Hill Camp (ah, so many good summers). This is the other winery that I thought had no reason to be at this tasting. These were excellent wines, for appropraitely high prices ($120 for the Cab), and extremely limited productions which were only available through their mailing list.I did taste a few other wines, but these were my highlights.
Note: Hahn Family Wines paid my entrance fee for this event.
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Smoke Wallin · 799 weeks ago
first of all, thanks for coming to Wine 2.0 NY! I'm glad you enjoyed the wines. I found your comments on the lack of wow factor to be perfectly reasonable given the state of "tech" in wine right now. To wit, Wine 2.0 is NOT a technology company, but we are about connecting the industry and consumers using the latest tools. We have always tried to help the "wine 2.0 community" of companies by giving start-ups in the space aceess and exposure. In 2007 and 2008 we had considerable success at getting a ton of young tech companies to get engaged in our live events. The past year has seen a significant drop off of companies who have any significant funding. We actually compted all the techies this year just so they could attend and still only had the small number you saw at the event.
I do think there are a number of entrepreneurs who are right now working on the next generation of tech in wine. We will likley see a lot of those at next summer's event: The Wine Industry Technology Symposium WITS which I also chair. WITS is totally trade and tech focused with no consumers like the Wine 2.0 events.
Finally, the Webster Hall venue/look feel of wine 2.0 is our chosen approach to consumer events. It is certainly not like "your father's wine tasting" in a stuffy meeting room with florescent lighting. We think it adds a nice vibe and makes for a more informal tasting. Some of those special wines that only make 500 cases are there because they are our friends we want to always add some very special wines that you can't get in a store at our events. This is also Wine 2.0... it is not just about the TECH 2.0 bits, it is about the the experience. In any case, glad you attended and hope you choose to come to future events!
Kind Regards,
Smoke
Chairman Wine 2.0
RobBralow 61p · 799 weeks ago
I also understand that when it comes down to it, I do not think I am really your audience. I am very integrated with all of the technology that is readily available. I think the Wine 2.0 event is really focused towards a fun-loving, social, easy-going wine crowd.
I am still not convinced that the Webster Hall experience is the best for a wine tasting, but it sure does well for a wine drinking. And I was very pleased to find some excellent wines.