So a lot of people have asked what I’ve been doing in California for three months.  It’s been tough to be away from the vines for so long (even if the weather here is really beautiful, I miss my vent Cers).

Well I can finally announce that Naked Wines is coming to the USA, and we’re beta tasting.  You might have heard of beta testing, when software companies do a partial early release to gauge public reactions before the real launch.  Well if Silicon Valley has beta testers, Napa Valley deserves beta tasters!  We’ve spent months and months and months recruiting winemakers and crowd-funding new wines.  I can’t say everything yet because we’re just in the beta tasting phase.  But soon we’ll reveal everything (again totally naked!)

Anyway, if you’re an American reader and fortunate enough to live in one of our participating states, you can apply to be a Beta Taster at nakedwines.com.  On your application, you’ll probably want to mention that you know me and look forward to having my wines available in the US.

On the 4th of July, I returned from the UK (a daring reenactment of American Independence Day ;D). I had just completed a massive UK wine tour with my UK importer Naked Wines. Looking back, I can’t believe how much fun it was.

Fun, laid back tastings

One important element of the fun is that Naked Wines doesn’t take itself too seriously. Customers could pour their own glasses of wine. This might seem like a small thing, but it’s really important. All too often, tastings get this artificial feeling where winemakers or professionals stand on one side of the table and tasters stand on the other side. This artificial divide really dampens the mood. Plus I always feel like I’m in a zoo, being stared at. And tasters often feel that they are asking permission for the wine.
I much prefer the free and open tasting where everybody’s equal. Anybody can pour a bottle. And winemakers can switch to the other side of the table if we so desire!

Innovative Formats & Weird locations

We also had fun doing weird tastings. I’ve talked about our guerilla pop up wine tastings before.  The general idea is to play with the wine tasting format and spice it up.  We try to make wine less scary and more fun while bringing the delicious fruits of our labor to as many new markets as possible.

And we also had some wacky locations like the Royal Arms Museum. I still think it’s a miracle nobody tried to get on a horse or swing a halberd at a winemaker.

Meeting Angels & Vineshare Owners

Another crucial part of the tour was meeting Angels.  O’Vineyards couldn’t exist if it weren’t for all the support of the Naked Wines Angels.  And we only know a few of them (the more talkative ones).  This tour was an opportunity to meet several hundred angels whose contributions allow me to continue making wine!

Some of the angel encounters were especially exciting since we just launched our new vineyard share program.  100 Angels have rented vines near mine and are paying me to take care of the parcel and make their wines.  I got to meet about a dozen of these angels in person for the first time. 🙂

There was always this terrifying moment when the investor first tasted my wine.  Thankfully, they all loved it!  And here’s a video commentary from one of the angels/investors who had just met me for the first time.

Meeting other winemakers

I got to meet a lot of other winemakers during the tour too.  I honestly expected more violence and argument between the winemakers.  But they’re all really great people to hang out with.  It’s clear that Naked Wines hires based on personality as well as quality of wine.  And that makes sense because ultimately, we all have to be able to interface with their clients on the website’s social network as well as in tastings like these!

It’s also cool to taste so many of the most popular wines on the site.  It gives me real perspective into what angels love.  And that helps inform my winemaking decisions at the vineyard.

Being Part of a Movement

Whenever I see something like this photo of some of the dadaists and constructivists in the early twentieth century all meeting together to take goofy photos… I think it must have been crazy to live at that time. To be surrounded by all that talent and energy.

Toward the end of tour, as all the winemakers and naked staff sat around the dinner table, I felt like I was living in one of those special moments. Like I’m part of a really important movement. All I’m doing is making wine, but I belong to this big group of people who might be changing the way the wine and food world work. I don’t know how important it really is, but it sure feels important.

It feels great.

Well, the people who find this post through Google are going to be exceptionally disappointed, but I promise it isn’t false advertising.

I recently noticed that the youtube video of me drinking dirt had been featured on a tumblr account called Women & Wine.  Innocently enough, I went to the site to see exactly how the video had been presented.  I would not remain so innocent.

My dirt-drinking video has somewhat hilariously earned a place on this tumblr account devoted to naked girls and wine. I’ve heard google and other search engines can be pretty harsh if you start linking to naughty neighborhoods, so I’m going to abstain from linking.  But you can find it by typing in “womenandwine . tumblr . com” without the spaces and my specific video can be accessed at “bit.ly / wineporn” sans spaces.  Before checking it out, allow me to remind you that the abuse of pornography can be dangerous for your health.  And don’t even try to operate heavy machinery while under the influence of pornography.

I’m sure my parents will be proud to discover that I’ve finally made the big time and broken into wine-themed Internet pornography.  It’s been a long time coming given my embarassing knowledge of all things naked and vinous.

It is with great pleasure that I announce Domaine O’Vineyards is officially on board with a very cool group in the UK known as Naked Wines.  Thanks to Naked, you’ll be able to get delicious O’Vineyards wines without any unnecessary expenses and wasteful middlemen.  I don’t know if it’s the traditional definition of direct shipping, but it’s pretty close (and possibly better?).

I strongly encourage you to visit our winemaker profile at Naked and follow us (button in the top right coner).  THANKS.

And no worries, we’re still wearing all our clothes. If you found this blog post with a google search, you’re probably looking for something more along the lines of this lady:

Or maybe this music video for “Naked as We Came” by Iron and Wine?

Is it weird that the Naked Lady and the little girl in the music video have the same hair and are framed the same way in the youtube still?  Let’s not dwell on that.

Anyway, what you found is the O’Connell family making wine at O’Vineyards. And you’ll thank your lucky stars we’re fully clothed. It’s the wines that are Naked.

And if you read all the way to the bottom of this post, you might still be looking for pictures of girls’ bottoms so here is a gratuitous link to I Love 2 Cook Naked which is totally NOT safe for work or for people with any sort of  hygenic cooking standards.