At Vinisud, I had the pleasure of introducing an alternative wine tasting for the Outsiders. The Alternative Tasting Basically, we just did a fun wine tasting where we encouraged people to describe our wines with images that Louise Hurren had picked out for our tasting booklet.  Forcing people to think about a wine with images [...]

The interviewer becomes the interviewee.  How the tables have turned!  Nina Izzo from Lost in Wine dropped by O’Vineyards and we sat in an enormous wine fermentation tank to talk about my appellation, the Cabardes.  This is part of a new series she’s doing called My Wine Rocks in L-R. Here’s the video: You can [...]

I’m astonished at how much has changed in the past two years.  One particularly conspicuous example is twitter use in and around Vinisud, a big wine fair that happens every two years. Twitter at Vinisud Two years ago, there were a handful of people tweeting at Vinisud.  I actually got multiple journalists to visit the [...]

This is part of my guide to ViniSud 2012 For lists of winemakers at Vinisud that I know very well, try 7 wines that tell a story or 8 Outsiders at Vinisud. There has been a big response to the Vinisud guide so far but I can imagine that people would like a list that isn’t [...]

This is part of my guide to ViniSud 2012 Like all the great music and art festivals, Vinisud draws a lot of talent to the area where it’s held (Montpellier).  So every day, after the fair ends, the party is just beginning for other people. The French refer to afterhours parties and tastings as “OFF’ events. [...]

This is part of my guide to ViniSud 2012 The 2012 edition of Vinisud includes a space devoted to the web called Pavilion 2.0 I’ll be spending a lot of time there.  Additionally, I’ll be doing a presentation with some of my buddies from the Outsiders on Monday afternoon at 16h and on Tuesday morning at [...]

Every two years, I meet lots and lots of people at ViniSud who are there for their first time.  If you’re not a part of the trade specialized in Mediterranean wines, it can be an overwhelming experience.  Even professionals who are native to this region organize their salon far ahead of time and have meetings [...]

This is part of my guide to ViniSud 2012. Vinisud is a massive wine trade fair in Montpellier.  It’s easy to get lost in the sea of mediterranean winemakers, so I’ve compiled a list of southern French wines that I think are genuinely interesting. If you ever feel overwhelmed, just take a deep breath, pick [...]

This post is part of my guide to ViniSud 2012.  It is specifically about my vineyard’s activities at Vinisud. If you’re looking for a list of all the winemakers at Vinisud, consult the official list on the vinisud website. If you’re in Montpellier on February 20-22, there are many ways to interact with O’Vineyards while [...]

This is a post about the price of participating in wine fairs (especially expensive trade fairs) and its effect on the cost of wine. I look specifically at participation in the London International Wine Fair. I think the costs of these fairs makes conventional participation too expensive for small independent producers, but the fair does [...]