Pandering the PLCB

Posted by M.L. Wolfsohn on Feb 21, 2012 in News | 1 comment

This week,  the Patriot-News has an article about buying wine  in Pennsylvania.  It’s written by Sue Gleiter, who has written a string of  similar articles over the years.  Her articles often seem like barely veiled PLCB propaganda, but I was willing to give her another chance.

Halfway through the article, Gleiter offers the seemingly crazy suggestion that consumers should ask PLCB employees for advice.  Really? Really? Really?  I would like to share this delicious tidbit from a former PLCB employee:

I always liked Boone’s Farm and Mad dog 20/20. I worked at a state store, and was just getting ready to go to wine school. Then I took a transfer into another state job. Wish I would have had the time to go to wine school. When people asked me about wines I pretty much just lied. I told them if your eating chicken or pork go for a white wine. If beef go for a red wine. Or something like that. I had a cheat sheet.

The next time I am dying for a bottle of  grain or hootch, I will  head over to the PLCB for some advice. However, if I want some real help in buying wine, I am a firm believer in the Wine School’s  monthly newsletter. It’s free and –unlike the Patriot-News– free of  pandering.

Daddy Cork: Eric Orange

Posted by Keith Wallace on Feb 10, 2012 in News | 0 comments

One dude changed how America thinks about wine, and changed it for good. Eric V. Orange didn’t mean to, but that’s how history often works.

In 2000, Eric started an online bulletin board to post local wine events. Not surprisingly, he named it www.localwineevents.com. As it caught on with the public, it also caught the attention of the wine trade. A handful of sommeliers (and at least one winemaker) who had the passion for teaching suddenly had a way to reach wine enthusiasts.  Within a few years, there was a wine school in almost every major city. Of course, there was a great range, from informal operations to full-fledged academic institutions. As the schools established themselves and grew, so did their influence on wine consumers.

Eric was featured at a recent Sommelier Smackdown in Philadelphia, and we got a chance to ask him a few questions.  Sadly, he lost the Smackdown to Zach Morris by a single lousy point. There will be a re-match, we are told.

When did you start LWE, and why?

I used to organize wine dinners on behalf of Paterno Imports (now Terlato Wines). One night in Denver I did a dinner where 6 people showed up and three of those were my wholesale reps. Conversely, I would be at big tastings where folks would say to me, “How can I find out about events like this? I only knew of this today because someone told me”.

 

It occurred to me that if we all (suppliers and wholesalers) had ONE place to post them where consumers could find them all in ONE place, we would all benefit. Along came the internet.

What was the oddest (or most controversial) posting on the site?

We recently had several postings in NJ where Ron Jeremy, a 70’s or 80’s pudgy porn star was signing bottles of his “Ron de Jeremy” spiced rum in some NJ wine shops. I heard from a couple of people appalled that we would allow such postings, but I left them. Frankly, the association of drinking something from a porn star would seem a tough marketing hurdle to (ahem) overcome, but what do I know?

What was the funniest/weirdest moment in running the site?

Waking up one April’s Fools day and having an email from Marvin Shanken complimenting me on my site and asking me to drop by his office in NYC someday (which I did, but that is a whole ‘nother story). Considering that it was April first, it was a while before I believed that it was legit and not just someone jacking with me.

What was a cool experience you’d like to share about running LWE?

I got an email one day telling me about an event in China, asking me to post it and inviting me to attend. I wrote back and told them how/where to post the event and (half-jokingly) said that I would come if they would pay my way. A couple of weeks later, they replied that they would pay for me and two others to come over. An expense paid trip to Hong Kong and China was way cool.

How has the wine event scene changed from when you started?

I think some of the major events have gotten too big and crowded. It’s a quandary for wineries because they want to be where they get the biggest bang for their buck, so if they are to contribute wine and resources to attend an event, they lean towards the bigger ones. But BIG events are not really conducive to wine discovery as much as just drinking and eating.

 

Over the years, I have seen many wine schools grow to success. Almost every major city has at least one thriving wine school. I saw in the earliest days of LocalWineEvents.com that consumers really wanted to learn more about wine. If my website idea hadn’t of worked, I would have began a course somewhere.

 

Also, in the past year also, more than one event has been “Groupwnd”, meaning they used Groupon to sell tickets and way oversold the event to disastrous effect. I was at one event where half the crowd had paid full price of $50 and the other half got in for $25. They ran out of wine glasses and went to paper cups. The participating restaurants ran out of food. It wasn’t pretty. You can bet that many of those folks won’t be returning.

Anything else should we know about LWE?

We just partnered with Google Offers that has some big potential.

Krunch went Yelp

Posted by Keith Wallace on Jan 14, 2012 in News | 6 comments

A small little wine school in Chicago is getting a whole lot of attention. Master Sommelier (and runner up in the International Silly Name Contest)  Krunch Kretschmar has unwittingly discovered how to build a virtual nuclear warhead with nothing but social media.

Krunch owns Bottled Grapes, a tiny wine school in Chicago. He recently opted to do a Groupon promotion.  That alone was a bit crazy, since there is a growing amount of proof that a poorly conceived Groupon promotion can bankrupt a small businesses. For his Groupon, he sold  $35 tickets for $17.50 each. Since Groupon takes 50% of the revenue of each sale, that means Krunch earned $8.75  per ticket.  At that price, he was loosing money for every groupon sold, and there was over three thousand of these deals sold. Since he only offers an average of  four classes a month, he was looking at loosing money for a few years.  That sucks, big time.

Add to the mix a Yelper. Yelp is a powerful thing. Yelp and it’s aggregated reviews are widely trusted as a barometer of quality. Large businesses will have hundreds of reviews, so a single review won’t affect them. However, a single bad review can cause major damage to business with less than ten reviews, thousands of dollars of lost sales to a small company. That is the type of power that should be handled carefully and gently. Unfortunately, the power of Yelp  is largely wielded by the most callous groups in America: affluent white twenty-somethings.

So, the Yelper in question, Cecelia Groark, bought a Groupon. She didn’t like the customer support she received, so she left a scathing Yelp review.  If facing bankruptcy via  Groupon wasn’t enough, now Krunch’s reputation was tarnished, too. Yelp plus Groupon is a volatile mix, that’s for sure: it can implode a business in a few short months.

What turned this from a sad tale to a nuclear chain reaction was Krunch himself. He figured out the identity of the Yelper, and engaged in the type of  payback every small business owner dreams of, but never does: he struck back. He created a blog under her name, and according to the Chicago Sun-Times he “accused her of ‘embezzling’ from her employer, of having a drug addiction and of “turning to the oldest profession to gain funds need[ed] to support her habits.”

Unfortunately for Krunch, he seems to be something of a dumbass. After creating the blog (which included her cell phone number), he emailed a link to Ms. Groark. Now he is facing a half million dollar lawsuit.  Oh, and dozens of other Yelpers are trashing his reputation. While Krunch “I hope to God your middle name isn’t Kris” Kretschmar is not much of a protagonist, this is one of those stories that every small business owner should take notice of.

This week in wine? The dogs have it

Posted by Keith Wallace on Mar 14, 2011 in News, Philly | 0 comments

photo by Eliott Erwitt

Dogs have always played a role in the winemaker’s home and vineyard.  There is the popular Wine Dogs book series (and, consequently, the Wine Dog Blog); where one can find one, two, three and more, dogs cavorting about, smiling up at their mistresses and/or masters, and prancing among the vines.  But I wasn’t expecting to find dogs showing up in an AAWE paper, let alone learn that wine dogs can be much more than mere companions to their folks.  Read on.

The American Association of Wine Economist published a paper on a study conducted to see if folks could distinguish dog food from pate.  Out of 100 people studied?  Only 17% correctly identified the dog food.  (Well, at least it was Newman’s Own).

And over at Food and Wine, Ray Isle reports on Ziggy, a 5-year old lab trained to snuffle out cork taint.  Read all about it here.

Phoodie.com Editor Joins Wine School Team

Posted by Keith Wallace on Mar 6, 2011 in News, Philly | 0 comments

One of the better known food and beverage bloggers in Philadelphia is now the newest member of the Wine School team. “Collin Flatt is going to be a great asset to the school,” says owner and founder Keith Wallace. “I hire only the best wine instructors available, and Collin has proven to me he has what it takes to play in the big leagues.”

Like many Fine Arts majors before him, Collin’s food and wine career was originally nothing more than a few gigs as a bartender. However, he pulled off the impossible. After several years in Rome and New York, he returned to Philadelphia as an industry insider. “This is my calling. I suck at everything else,” quips Collin.

Along with teaching at the Wine School, Collin will remain a notorious figure in Philly’s culinary scene. Along with his well-known work as the editor of Phoodie.com, he will continue in some less boisterous ventures. These include his work as a trusted broker in the fine wine auction market, and as a consulting sommelier. Most recently, he has teamed up with legendary chef David Ansill to redevelop the menus at Ladder 15.

Collin is the third well-known food and wine writer to join the staff of the Wine School. He follows in the footsteps of Brian Freedman and David Snyder. At one point, all three were students of the Wine School. “I am not sure if its a chicken-or-egg thing, but our Foundation program is a breeding ground for creative foodies. Go figure,” says Keith. “It sure helps that I don’t have to look far to find top-notch staffers.”

Come join us at the Wine School of Philadelphia this spring and give a warm welcome to our newest authority on fine food and wine, Collin Flatt!

To set up a time to speak to Collin Flatt, please contact the Wine School at 1-800-817-7351, ext. 33, or email press@vinology.com.