What do you do with your leftover wine bottles? Do they make their way to the uninspired recycle bin awaiting their fate in a fiery furnace?  Maybe you’re like me and save a few of your memorable bottles and they adorn the tops of your kitchen cabinet. I still have the bottle of wine that we were drinking when I proposed to my wife. Sometimes I save bottles just so my wine rack doesn’t look so defeated. Many bottles are beautiful works of art and that glass has to be useful for something other than being reincarnated as…gasp…a beer bottle.

Here are 7 creative uses for your wine bottles. I would love to hear of anything fun that you do. Please share in the comments if you’ve done any of these or if you have other inspiring ideas to share with the readers here. Not only is it hip to go ‘green,’ the wine bottle makes for an elegant decoration.

From the Vine to the Flower

Creative angled cuts with a glass cutter and you have yourself a decorative vase.

Stemware without the Stem

A simple cut with a glass cutter and some edge finishing gives new life to wine bottles.

Shine A Light Outside

A few simple items from the hardware store, some premade ceramic wine glass torch toppers, and some fuel and you have yourself a creative outdoor torch.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Wine

Cut a hole in the bottom, fill with a short strand of Christmas lights and you have yourself a fun lighting solution.

Grand Lighting Solution

This industrious crafter could build a unique lighting solution that is sure to be a show stopper and conversation starter.

For the Builder

Take an old glass table top and add wine bottle punts for some new artsy loft flare.

A Work of Living Art

An alternate take on the outdoor lamp, use some ordinary hardware items to create a work of wine wall art .

BONUS: For the Over Indulging Wino

This Christmas tree is made entirely of wine bottles. I bet there was a severe hangover after that party!

While a small contingent is crying sour grapes over the 2010 Wine Blogger’s Conference I see more of a collection of curious choices rather than barrel of bad bloggers. Like most things in life, you can’t please all the people all the time nor would you want to try. The conference is in the books and hundreds of posts are streaming in about the adventures of wine writers. Here is what I do know:

• The 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference was extremely well organized. I was very impressed with the attention to detail and seamless operation of the logistics.
• Walla Walla is a fantastic host city. The Marcus Whitman hotel, the downtown tasting rooms and the participating wineries were all gracious, accommodating and generous.
• Washington is making kick ass wine that is just now starting to come into its own. The world better watch out because some of the best value and quality wines are being made in this state.
• The conference is misnamed – It needs to be called the wine writers conference (thanks Tom Wark).

Because we live in a world of “sound-bites” and “tweets” – I’ve decided to compose this post into 34 short, hopefully quote worthy bits that sum up my opinions, thoughts and experiences. These are the observations of a first time attendee to the Wine Bloggers Conference AND someone who has only been in this “industry” for less than a year. I’ve also included a few of my favorite pictures from the event (some that I took, others that I borrowed).

Overall Impressions

1. Who knew there were enough of us to hold a conference? While some make lazy veiled attempts to satirize our existence, we heard over and over from winery PR and trade that blogger mentions and wine write ups make a difference.

2. Individually, we’re all entitled to our opinion, style, format and approach. In this young medium of media the lines are still being formed. The best approach to success is to find and stay true to your voice, be consistent, pursue quality, and be patient.

3. Wine writers (formerly known as bloggers) are forcing the traditional media to be more transparent (via Steve Heimoff of Wine Enthusiast)

4. Networking with other bloggers was the single biggest take away from the conference. Connecting with peers, sharing our struggles, hearing success stories, and being inspired by goals will stay with me forever.

5. There are no experts at this, only those who have been doing it longer and have refined their voice and quality to garner a following of similar minded people.

6. Those that think bloggers only talk to bloggers are full of sh^t. Bloggers may be more apt to comment on other posts but the consensus is that each of us has developed varying sizes of local followers.

Conference Activities

I mentioned some curious conference choices in the first paragraph. Here are some directed at the attendees as well as the organizers.

7. I find it pretty curious that one of the state’s key influencers was not more involved. In speaking with Paul Gregutt, he mentioned that he offered several times to be more involved. Paul literally wrote the book on Washington Wine and I would loved to have seen him part of the activities.

8. I find it pretty curious that some bloggers chose to skip the three winery bus tours on Saturday. Granted we are all adults, but paying hundreds of dollars (or more) to sleep off a hangover or just chat with friends at the hotel seems like a big waste. Your loss.

9. I find it pretty curious that more focus wasn’t put on Washington wine. I realize that this is not a Washington wine conference, but there are 650 wineries in the state. Why would I need a whole food and wine pairing session with wines from everywhere except Washington?

10. I find it very curious that only one Spokane winery make the trip to Walla Walla to pour their wine. If Spokane wants to gain momentum as a wine destination, more energy and effort needs to be put into exposing the wine to passionate people like wine writers.

11. It’s also very curious that some wineries participating in sessions like speed blogging or ’meet the wineries’ wouldn’t have information about their wine. At the very least have your printed spec sheet about the wine. Go the extra mile and provide a social media contact card that has your wine info ALONG WITH your Twitter, Facebook and Web info.

12. While not curious, I was somewhat disappointed with the overall outcome of the conference seminars that I attended. The most engaging and informative was the Food and Wine Pairing with Chef Jeffrey Saad. Also, I’m sad that I made the poor choice to skip the Geology of Walla Walla to sleep in. I hear it was very useful.

13. “Moving your Readership Beyond Bloggers to Consumers” provided 1 or 2 nifty web sites and essentially told me 1) Establish your voice, 2) Focus on quality, 3) Be everywhere – i.e. multi-platform engagement.

14. In “Advanced Wine Blogging” Jeff Lefevere provided a huge list of tools. While the list is pretty amazing, I could have been equally served with a hand out or link. The panelists are all very well respected and established, but I felt the session was underutilized to provide ACTUAL advanced techniques and insights from these guys who make it look easy.

15. I also attended a session by Craig Sutton about “Creating Conversions” – Craig is very well spoken and obviously a professional. I learned some stuff from his presentation but was hoping for more info on search engine optimization.

16. My favorite session was the Video Blogging session with Andrea Robinson, Chris Oggenfuss, and Lisa Mattson. I learned a ton of great information and more importantly it inspired me to make some changes to my own blog / vlog. This session and the two mentioned above can be viewed here http://cavemanwines.com/blog/

Speed Wine Blogging

Think speed dating but with wineries trying to ‘hook you up’ with their wine.  I learned that I am not a speed blogger. I also learned that first impressions can lead you astray. It’s like getting that hot girl to go out on a date with you and then realizing you made a mistake when you have an actual conversation with her. Also important to point out…if you’re not spitting you may go home at 2 with a 10 and wake up at 10 with a 2.

Wines of note:

17. WHITE: Desert Wind Winery Viognier, Maryhill Viognier , Ortman Family Wines Edna Chardonnay, and Long Shadow Poets Leap Riesling

RED: Solena Estate Pinot Noir, Louis M Martini Lot 1 Cabernet, Trio Vintners RIOT, Long Shadows Sequel Syrah and the Molly Dooker Velvet Glove.

Great description from my friend Randy Watson of @thewinewhore – “The Velvet Glove comes up to you screams in your face to get your attention, pulls down your pants to get you all excited and then runs away leaving you empty (and pantless).  

A Day with Winemakers

18. I can’t say enough about the day we spent with wine makers on the lottery buses. The conference organizers did a great job keeping the locations of the bus trips a secret.  In keeping with my brief synopsis of everything…here goes.

19. Rick Small of Woodward Canyon is an amazing winemaker and storyteller. Listening to Rick’s passion for the wine while walking through his 30 year old vineyards was a life changing experience.

20. The panel of winemakers session at Beresan introduced me to the BEST Viognier I have ever had. Wine maker Quentin Mylet of Turtulia Cellars was proud of his first release and his passion poured from his body.

21. Lunch at Whitman Cellars was a mess of an allergy attack. Sadly I did not get to enjoy the wine as I was distracted with itchy eyes, runny nose and sneezing every 15 seconds. I do remember a delightful Cab Franc and dining in the barrel room was a treat!

22. Dinner with Otis Kenyon was a special occasion. Sitting next to Steve Kenyon sipping a 2005 Reserve Merlot while enjoying the evening speaker, Lettie Teague was a dinner to remember. FYI, Merlot goes great with beef cheeks.  

Extra Curricular

23. Make sure you know where you’re going if you’re going to walk to an after hours party. Walla Walla may be a small town, but walking east doesn’t mean you’re going to find the house you’re looking for.

24. Same party…when you turn on dance music, Constance Chamberlain bounces like Tigger for hours and Joe “Suburban Wino” Herrig does a wicked robot.

25. Same party…it’s always best to leave before the cops show up…

26. When offered wine from a snickering Christophe and Chris Oggenfuss, politely refuse or you may find yourself drinking wine made from fermented worms…no lie.

27. I felt like a proud parent when I gave Hardy Wallace some juice made from Spokane (Nodland Cellars 2006 Blend), He said, “This is the most balanced wine I’ve had since I’ve been here,” granted it was only Friday.

28. When Charles Smith throws a party it quickly deteriorates into drunken debauchery that includes stripper poles, flaming pasties, and kegs of free wine!

29. Sitting in a lobby drinking wine with a bunch of relaxed winos is a great way to experience the luxurious Marcus Whitman hotel.

30. Paul Gregutt is a cool cat. Thanks for opening your home to us for a few hours to taste how historic Washington Wine is aging. Tasting through 1994-1999 vintages from Chateau St Michelle, Columbia Crest, Kestrel, Seven Hills and more shows the awesome age ability of the state’s wine.

31. Spokane loves Ben Simons (Vinotology), Joe Roberts (1WineDude), and Eric Hwang (BricksofWine). We had an amazing time enjoying the wine and view from Arbor Crest. It was obvious that Barrister Cellars was a hit across the board for everyone as well.

Stomping on Sour Grapes

Posts by Wild Walla Walla Wine Woman and Paul Gregutt seem to indicate that there are some sour grapes over certain activities from the conference. Without being verbose, here are my comments.

32. Where are the blogs? – Bloggers do this for FREE. They have lives to attend to and being gone for 4 days or more usually means catching up on what they missed. The initial round of posts may have been easier “Top Ten” “I Learned” kind of posts, but NOW we’re starting to see more in depth evaluations of the wine and the region. See over 100 of them here.

33. Bloggers wasted my time by skipping sessions? – Sad for them if they spent hard earned money to sleep off a hangover. As far as I can tell the 20+ busses were off on their journeys with 10-15 people on each bus. Not everyone is going to be engaging and dynamic. Chances are the no-shows are about as committed to writing as they are to learning…so the result would have been the same either way.

34. Pay to Play Not Paying Off? – I don’t get this one. Yes the event is pay to play but it’s not about any one winery. It really isn’t about even promoting the region of Walla Walla. This is a Wine Bloggers Conference that happened to be held in Walla Walla. The association and town did a pretty phenomenal job of making sure that these passionate writers actually had reason to write about Walla Walla. People from Paso Robles to Paris and Atlanta to Boston are writing about the amazing wines of Washington State. I think that’s a phenomenal payoff!

As I said earlier…sour grapes? No, mostly a result of misunderstood expectations and missed information. Walla Walla rocked the wine world and the wine world fell in love with Walla Walla and Washington wine.

On June 25, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced that it will use a testing ground store dubbed “Olive Way” to experiment with several new concepts. With rampant growth halted, Starbucks is looking for ways to draw customers back to the store. One of the new concepts is to introduce wine and beer as part of its product offering. Is this a good idea? Will doing so completely change the culture of the store, or is it a brilliant move to capitalize on the distribution network to extend sales into the evening hours?

I think it’s a great idea! In fact, I have a 30 page business plan dated June 8, 2007 that speaks to the very brilliance of the idea. Howard Schultz, you’ll be hearing from my attorneys. :) The reason for the birth of DrinkNectar.com and @nectarwine on Twitter was to brand the name for the eventual opening of Nectar Coffee and Wine or Drink Nectar Coffee and Wine Bar (still up in the air with the name). I’m a planner. I have a master plan for life. Most of it is in my head, but some things are written down as goals or milestones along the journey. The master plan for the business is to have the wife finish her 20 years at “The Bank,” go to college to get her Masters in Elementary Education and then get settled in her teaching career. While that is happening, I would lay the foundation for the future wine and coffee bar with eventual plans to open in late 2011 or early 2012. Well, the wife is in school and the blog and branding has taken on a life of its own. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the potential opportunities but we’re still moving forward with the master plan.

I realize it’s not a new concept or new idea. I’ve actually seen several similar business models. The majority of people attempting to do this either go mostly coffee with a small wine selection, they have a full stock bar with a handful of “house” wines and something resembling an espresso maker, or they are actually a full service restaurant with a pretty good wine selection. My business will combine retail wine, glass pours of over 100 wines, full service espresso and tea, and light fair food selections (probably pre-made from local vendor to avoid the need for a full kitchen). When I heard Starbucks press release I was at the 2010 Wine Bloggers Conference and I have to admit the news took a little wind out of my sails. First to market matched with scale is a powerful combination. Will there be any room in the market in 2012 when I’m finally ready/able to go with my dream?

Do you think it will work? Is Starbucks on to the “next big thing?” Will a company like Starbucks be hindered or helped by its size and scope? Can Starbucks deal with the challenges of distribution, liquor licensing, branding, selection, knowledge, service, and underage access? I think the concept will work for Starbucks, but only in select stores. To go big in scale, they’ll have to work with a large distributor, and centralize the shipment of wine to their stores. Working with local wineries across their business footprint could be a logistical nightmare. A company like Starbucks will want to leverage any large scale efficiencies to streamline costs and maximize profits (which is what they are really after). The pilot store may include a handful of local Northwest wine and micro-brew, but if the concept expands, you’ll begin to see more mainline brands like Chateau St Michelle, Hogue, Mondavi, and other Constellation and Precept wines. Unlike coffee, where Starbucks can get away with 3-4 different roasts and 8-12 different bulk coffees, wine lovers will not flock to a store with a selection of 4 reds and 4 whites. However, the Starbucks wine concept will most likely be a success. It will eventually do for wine what Starbucks did for coffee. Starbucks involvement in the wine business could be a catalyst to break down interstate shipping barriers too.

Is your barista going to become a sommelier too? One other issue will hinder Starbucks on the road to wine domination. Knowledge…wine lovers are turned off by inferior service and expertise. Inexperienced wine drinkers desire to be educated. Will your local barista have the knowledge needed to service the wine business? Will Starbucks start to hire wine stewards for the later hours in the day? It is one thing to be able to explain the difference between light, medium and dark roast and only a handful of coffee drinkers geek out over the difference between Sumatra and Ethiopian. Imagine the training obstacles with learning the differences between varietal characteristics in even the most basic selection of wine.

While I may have been deflated by the original news, I’m now even more motivated to pursue the business I’ve been thinking about for four years. Starbucks will open some doors and break down barriers of consumer perception of a wine AND coffee bar. BUT…Starbucks will also leave the door wide open for someone to do it RIGHT with attention to local product, large selection, and knowledgeable service.  Thanks, Starbucks, for validating my idea. I wish you much success with “Olive Way” and look forward to the competition. With that said, if you’re a Starbucks executive reading this…feel free to reach out, I’d love to talk about business opportunities.

Over the weekend I caught a glimpse of the future; something that could truly revolutionize action TV sports. It could be bigger than fishing or hunting TV. It will be more exciting than TV poker tournaments. I’m a little hesitant in sharing for fear that the idea could actually be picked up by a national show.

Speed Wine Blogging!

The rules

• 8 wine bloggers / 8 wines / 4 minutes with each wine
• Bloggers listen to the marketing PR blurb then quickly swirl, smell, sip, spit and score the wines.
• Prior to the cowbell ringing the blogger must document their tasting notes with either a tweet or a mini-post consisting of no more than 300 characters (140 character reviews are given an extra 2 points)
• At the end of each round the posts and scores are evaluated and compared to the baseline “Parker Score” to determine those that continue to the next round.
• One blogger is eliminated each round.
• The last blogger remaining wins.

The scene is intense. The room reeks with anticipation…and hints of brett, funk and cherries. The assembled bloggers are cleansing their palates, stretching their tongues and limbering up their nostrils for the event.

Here we are today assembled around the greatest talent in wine writing and reviewing hoping to determine the world champion of Speed Wine Tasting (Red Edition). Our contestants hail from across the US in the hopes to win the coveted @bparkerchuk trophy of a giant nose sniffing a bung hole. “Much love and success to each of you. 100 points *” inscribed on the base.

Our contestants are the formidable Joe Roberts (1WineDude.com), Steve Heimoff (SteveHeimoff.com), Fredric Koeppel (BiggerThanYourHead.net), C. Jason Mancebo (20dollarwineblog.com), Kori Voorhees(WinePeeps.com), Pamela (Enobytes.com), Gary Vaynerchuk (TV.winelibrary.com), and newcomer Steve Paulo (StevePaulo.com).

Round One

Round one begins with a fast pace as the winemaker rushes from contestant to contestant pouring and explaining the wine. The camera cuts across each of the blogger/writers serious faces as they begin to examine the wine with vigorous swirls. Thoughts of berries, cherries, cassis, leather, plums, prunes and pencil led come to mind. The camera cuts to Gary V. who spits gloriously in his trademark Jets spittoon. Newcomer Steve Paulo looks perplexed by the mouth feel of the wine and newly crowned blog king Joe Roberts has already submitted his perfectly crafted 140 character tweet and score. The horn sounds signaling the end of round one. What’s this! Gary Vaynerchuk has grabbed the mic and begins talking about the wine’s availability on Cinderella.com and how he met the winemaker back when he sold him a baseball card in the Jersey mall. The side judges quickly regain control and deliberate the outcome of the first round. In a huge surprise, Gary is cited with a black Vinum and ejected from the competition. Gary offers a string of expletives and then reminds folks of the “Thank You Economy” coming out later this year.

Round Two

The crowd quickly regains composure as round two sounds with the clicking of the 85oz Riedel glass. Everyone gasps at the odd blend of Mourvedre, Syrah, Counoise, and Cinsault. This may prove to be a difficult round. In a bold move with only one sip and spit, both Fredric Koeppel and Steve Heimoff confidently submit their post.  Let’s watch that again in slow motion…will their haste prove to be a good strategy or will one of them be eliminated? The bell rings and Pamela from Enobytes is having trouble submitting her post. Twitter API is frozen! The judges huddle and extend the time by 30 seconds. Everyone has their entries in and the judges quickly review the submissions to determine the winner. The scoring is close with Heimoff pegging the wine almost to a tee. Missing the flavor profile and the score by just one point, Pamela is eliminated. Damn that fail whale.

The energy in the room continues to rise as the rounds progress.

Round Three

Kori Voorhees is eliminated after round three. Strangely enough the wine was a Woodinville winery from her backyard. Dejected Kori and Colby rush from the packed auditorium trying to escape the media interview. As Randy and Kaz from WineBizRadio.com try to stop them, Colby takes the camera and smashed it to the ground.

Round Four

Round four ends with the elimination of Steve Heimoff. He is disqualified for going over the 300 character limit as his post includes a rant against the Republican leadership in California and a dissertation on how no money will ever be made in wine blogging. He’s escorted out of the room by security.

Round Five

With only four contestants remaining the fifth round begins. The purple tooth stains and barrage of tannin and acid are beginning to take their toll on the contestant’s palates. A strange purple stain had developed on Mancebo’s chin…and oddly enough on his bald head…Joe Roberts has a commanding lead with each review coming in at exactly 140 characters. The contestants battle through the round when out of the corner of his eye, Joe catches a glimpse of Geddy Lee from Rush in the stands. Immediately he faints from excitement and is disqualified. After calming the crowd and reviving Joe, the play continues.

Round Six

Three contestants remain; Mancebo, Koeppel, and newcomer Steve Paulo. Mancebo’s eyes seem a little bloodshot and he’s struggling to find the keys on his iPad. A bead of sweat drips from his chin into the glass. The wine is the Molly Dooker Velvet Glove. As he stares into his glass his face turns flush and he quickly rises. “No wine should be 16.8%ABV this is a travesty against wi….” In mid-sentence he falls forward onto the table sending purple spit juice everywhere. For several minutes the scene is chaos. The head referee calls for a 30 minute break so the contestants and compose themselves and clean the spit out of their hair. In a post interview, Mancebo says, “I guess the lesson here is to spit. I let the excitement of the day get to me. I’m a professional, I should know better than that. I’ll be back next year.”

Final Round

The lights dim and the music comes up as the final round begins with perennial award winner Fredric Koeppel and the new kid Steve Paulo surviving to the finish. Intense stares of determination are fired across the table. The wine poured is a 1949 Chateau Ausone. The stage is set and the audience is eerily quiet for the first time all evening. The sound of swishing and spitting can be heard across the room. Both writers deliberate, sketch a few notes and deliberate some more. A commotion arises from the back of the room. Bursting into the room is Joe Powers from AnotherWineBlog.com. “This is a scam, this is a set up! Who are the judges? How the hell did these people get picked to be in the finals! I demand to know!” He overturns the table crushing Koeppel. Paulo attempts to restrain him, but Joe (more crafty than he looks) eludes his grip and rushes off. Screaming toward the exit, “I bet Tom Wark is behind this madness,” Lenn Thompson from NewYorkCorkReport.com dives from the mezzanine level and tackles Joe. Lenn quickly restrains him and stuffs his head in the only remaining spit bucket.

What a night. What a sport. Dazed, the officials and referees head to the replay booth to review the tape. After several minutes of deliberation, they return to declare Steve Paulo the winner by default as he is the last man standing. This new sport is sure to take hold across the country as wine bloggers turn in to rock stars and thousands clamor to the scene.

No doubt hundreds of posts will be written about WBC10. Some will be critical of the timing and lack of Washington industry leader involvement but most stories will be glowing praises of the coordinators efforts (well done). There will be various opinions on the quality of the wine that was tasted but everyone will agree on the amazing hospitality of the city and wineries of Walla Walla (thank you). Posts will debate the effectiveness of the panel presentations but none will decry the power of networking and meeting people face to face. In the midst of all the drinking, tweeting, talking, learning, napping, eating and…did I say drinking…what are you going to DO as a result of the conference? What action are you going to take? This new media is hitting a tipping point. I, for one, want to be a part of the wave that pushes wine blogging to be wine media, wine professional, wine writer, and wine influencer.

Regardless of if anyone reads them, I want to chronicle my experiences from WBC10 (Wine Bloggers Conference) so that I have a record of events, opinions and actions steps to make this blog better.  Like a vine I want to prune the shoots, thin the canopy, and provide the proper nutrients to produce the best yield of fruit. What about you? What actions are you inspired to take? Let’s go there together. Let’s succeed as a team! Let’s leverage each other’s strengths to be better together. If you want to share, please leave your thoughts in the comments!

5 Actions Items from WBC10

• SEO – Search Engine Optimization: I know it’s important but it’s an area that I need further help with. If you know of good tools, classes, sites, please share.
• Improve the quality of my video: Starting with video 100 I’ll be moving to HD, investing in better editing software, paying attention to audio quality and planning shots / scripts in a more thoughtful way.
• Improve the quality of my writing: I like to write. I feel I write good engaging pieces. I understand my voice, but I don’t pay enough attention to the mechanics of the writing. I need to start waiting to post and reading out loud. Just because this post is done now, I’m not going to post it until later.
• Reorganize content: I’ve written 200 pieces that include sexual wine 101 courses, social media tips, wine business opinions and wine reviews. Now that I have established a more clear direction I need to better organize the content so it makes sense to the reader and is easy to find.
• Improve wine reviews: Some say wine reviews are dry and boring and don’t get read. Many disagree with the practice of scoring wines. I disagree. Scores help educate consumers and make better informed decisions. It’s my blog, so I’ll do what I want. I’m going to modify my scoring format a hair and create a more reproducible graphic / summary that more succinctly wraps up the review.

I would love your thoughts. Let’s work toward our goals together. Share and we’ll help each other see them through for WBC11 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

COMING TOMORROW: 10 Things Overheard in Walla Walla

What the heck are you up to? Why do you spend so much time blogging? Where is this thing going? These are questions I often hear about my DrinkNectar.com adventure. To be honest with you, I’m going wherever it takes me. I do it because I’m branding a future brick and mortar business (originally intended to be a wine and coffee bar, but now who knows). Today marks the first of three major steps that I’ll take in 2010. Look for other announcements during the summer. I spend so much time at it for three reasons: 

1. I love it – the connections are cool and the people I’ve met are truly amazing
2. It’s addicting – I’m a self confessed addict to stats. The desire to one up, improve, see more traffic, analyze and refine is fun
3. Passion – It doesn’t feel like work because I’m passionate about my future, the wine, the Washington wine industry and succeeding!

Today, I’m excited to announce the next step in the mission. I’m a firm believer in niche marketing. It is soooo much harder to be a little voice in a big crowd, but being a big voice in a little crowd can draw attention (as long as people care about your message). I live in Spokane, WA, population 350,000 (give or take). Spokane is the underdog city in the state. Even with the second largest population base in the state we are often overlooked as all the attention focuses on West side. When it comes to wine, Spokane has quietly grown into a community of boutique wineries and medium production reputable companies. I love this town. I think that it’s about time Spokane Washington becomes a destination for wine.

Spokane is known as a host city. We’ve successfully hosted the 2010 Figure Skating Championships and several NCAA basketball tournament games. Spokane is home to one of the largest timed road races in the country (Bloomsday, 50,000 strong) and the largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the U.S. (Hoopfest). We know how to throw a party. It’s now time to show the world Spokane Wine.

DrinkNectar is PROUD to launch the first ever dedicated Spokane wine magazine. I hope you’ll join us on our journey to bring attention to Spokane wine.

ON THE WEB: www.spokanewinemagazine.com

ON TWITTER: @spowinemag

ON FACEBOOK: Spokane Wine Magazine

For more information about the magazine email info@spokanewinemagazine.com or visit the web page and click the Media Kit link on the left.

Press Release: DrinkNectar.com launches Spokane Wine Magazine

Spokane Wine Magazine is a new project from the creators of DrinkNectar wine blog. The magazine tells the story of each of Spokane’s 17 wineries with interviews and high quality photography. The Spokane wine scene is receiving statewide attention with consistent quality wines. As the number of wineries grow, more and more eyes turn to Spokane for serious wine.

 The magazine is distributed at each of the 17 wineries, local restaurants, wine bars, hotels, and more. Wine lovers are passionate about wine and love learning about winery history and the newest vintage. This magazine will help bring cohesive awareness to the entire wine scene in Spokane.

 Spokane Wine Magazine seeks to be a resource to share the amazing quality of the growing wine region that Spokane is becoming. The magazine will get in the hands of local tourists and business people and will solidify Spokane as a destination for wine. DrinkNectar.com brings national awareness and advertising strength to the distribution.

 A single focused magazine with wide distribution provides great awareness and revenue for advertisers. The magazine has an expected 9-12 month shelf life and is written in such a way to not be date sensitive, but to be held as a resource and reference for wine lovers in the Inland Northwest. Accompanying the magazine launch is a web site featuring regular updates on Spokane wineries, events, tasting room activities and wine releases.