VinoCamp Languedoc was full of interesting conversations.  One of the round table discussions, led by ethiquettes.fr, was about sharing success stories and fail stories of winemakers going online.

This session might itself be seen as a success story (or a fail story).  On the success side, I think it’s remarkable how many winemakers were present and spoke up.  I’m super happy about that.  And I think they left with a few really good concrete numbers and ideas that they can enact in their own wine communications strategy.

On the fail side, we see how there’s always a need for more time and more channels of communication.  As the conversation gains momentum toward the end, there are more than a couple people talking. It’s the kind of round table discussion that fares very well in a chatroom where multiple conversations can be going on simultaneously.  But we do see some real world limits.

Also, this session revolved a little too much around me (especially in the first half), but you know how it goes.

Other interesting conversation points include Olivier B, La Gramiere, e-publishing options, Vin de Merde, Gerard Bertrand, Apero Bic (can’t find this), Hervé Bizeul, Matthew Jukes, Domaine Revelh, hotmail’s viral marketing, Naked Wines, and more.  At one point I mention In Roussette We Trust as an example of other regional promotion blogs.  I rather ineptly fail to mention Bourgogne Live, Oenos or Jim’s Loire. My bad.

Common themes:

• Bypassing normal means
  • Olivier B was promoted without the conventional media
  • Love That Languedoc doesn’t wait for the interprofession
• Repeatability?
  • Was Olivier B a one shot?
  • Can there be a Love That Loire (Oenos et Jim’s Loire suggest there already are), Love That Bourgogne (Bourgogne Live), etc.
• Talking about other people
  • Ryan – Don’t talk about yourself
  • Les domaines avec un nom de famille (Bertrands, Chapoutier, Duboeuf)
  • Amy Lillard – Transparent story telling as opposed to artificial sales pitches
• How much time does it take?

It feels like there are suddenly a ton of wine merchants that specialize in the Languedoc-Roussillon.  Obviously I’m pretty happy about that, so I’ve made a list of these wine vendors who are focused on the south of France.

I’ve previously mentioned a few of these Languedoc Roussillon wine merchants on Love That Languedoc.  But new ones seem to emerge all the time, and there are also a couple I overlooked in the first rundown.

• Midi Vin blog
• 1907.fr blog
• Vie d’Oc blog
• Cep d’Oc blog
• Terroir Languedoc
• Languedovino
• edit: I just discovered Vinoccita, a Toulouse grossiste specializing in occitan wines.

Interestingly, almost all of them blog.

Thoughts on specialization

I think the Languedoc Roussillon is ready for this sort of specialization.  At least the suppliers are.  We have sooo many high end, small production wines that need this sort of merchant with a strong regional focus to find the best wines at the greatest value.  And the wine-buying public is learning more and more about our region every day.  So eventually, these sites might have the same opportunities as sites that specialize in smaller regions like Bordeaux and Burgundy.

I do wonder if the businesses need to distinguish themselves a little bit more.  Being regional specialists might not be a unique selling proposition, as evidenced by the emergence of sooo many competitors in such a short time.  Maybe this is why so many of them blog.  To give them a personality that separates them from the competition.  Or to get better search engine referencing.  But at the point where they all blog, is that really setting them apart?  Or is it just keeping up with the Jones’s?  And is it effective at all with sorely out of date blogs like Terroir Languedoc’s (last updated in 2009!! Gemma!! Take that off your front page navigation ;D )

Perhaps Midi Vin is doing it right since they’re not JUST blogging.  They’re actively participating in the online and offline wine community.  I see Sylvain and his colleagues at wine fairs and conferences and producers all the time (not to mention they’re sponsoring VinoCamp Languedoc).

I guess a lot of these merchants expect their portfolio to set them apart too.  They can try to be the person who unearths the best quality and hardest to find wines at the lowest prices.  But this is tough.  The only way to judge who is best is for an extremely devoted customer to shop at all six places.  And the chances are that each of these merchants has a couple coups de coeur tucked into their portfolios.

And a last observation, why don’t any of them carry my wine?  I don’t want to pat myself too much on the back, but it seems like it might be a decent idea to contact all the active Languedoc Roussillon winemaker blogs.

But anyway, I’m pleased at their combined enthusiasm.  I hope it works wonderfully for all of them.  And I encourage these regional pioneers to keep on working the local angle.  And innovate new ways to bring our wines to light.

Influence on other businesses

I think it’s safe to say that these businesses are influencing other merchants to adopt more regional focus in their portfolios.  Even our own UK importer, Naked Wines, might be influenced by the practices of these more specialized merchants.  When the site launched, they had hardly any Languedoc.  Now, they now carry a whole range of Languedoc wines and their customer base is becoming more and more familiar with the area.  Which in turn generates interest in finding new wines from the area and drinking even more Languedoc.  Good stuff!

On the 28th of March, Parisians can taste the products of some of France’s most notorious winemaking bloggers.  Antonin from Vindicateur and Eva from Oenos are organizing this epic wine tasting at l’Hedonist which will include seven properties.

 

All the details about the seven winemakers (only six on the invitation, but they promise seven in all!) can be found at Oenos by clicking the invitation above.

Here’s the short list:

• Chateau des Bachelards (Lilian Bauchet)
• Clos Romain (Celine & Romain Beauquel)
• O’Vineyards (duh, Ryan O’Connell)
• Chateau Lestignac (Mathias Marquet)
• Cotes de la Moliere (Isabelle et Bruno Perraud)
• Domaine Lisson (Iris Rutz-Rudel)
• Olivier B

Most of these are in French (because we’re in France).  Also THREE of these are names you might recognize from my growing list of Languedoc Roussillon winemaker blogs.  Iris, Clos Romain and I are all proud Languedociens.  Two Beaujolais.  A Perigord.  And I have no idea where Olivier B makes his wine.

Anyway, a lot of people read our blogs and think “I’d like to taste that wine one day”… well if you’re in Paris, that day is March 28th.  Go out to l’Hedoniste.  Meet Antonin and Eva.  Drink our wine.  Be merry.

The video went up of my talk at O’Reilly’s London Ignite 4. I announced earlier that I would be presenting on Pretending to be an Expert. And while it went very well, I get the sense that some people were hoping for a how to. Which will surely come soon. I’ll do a tutorial on how to sound like a total wine snob. But for now, here is the video dramatization of my personal journey through wine expertise and wine ignorance.

For those who don’t know, this is a terrifying format in which you only have five minutes and your slides automatically advance every 15 seconds (so you gotta be fast, planned and effective).

Pretending to be an expert – by Ryan O’Connell from chichard41 on Vimeo.

I should mention here that there are lots of experts who actually are talented and knowledgable and so on. But most of them are confident enough in their own expertise not to be troubled by a silly ignite talk by little old Ryan anyway.

After talking to my parents, I realized I should also explain what the hell a lolcat is. Lulcatz are an Internet meme (trend) that involve photoshopping awful spelling and grammar onto adorable pictures of kittens. If that doesn’t make sense to you immediately, then don’t bother trying to understand. You never will. It’s just silly and the most base sense of Internet humor. In a way, the symbolic opposite of expertise.

I encourage you to check out other videos from London Ignite 4 on the dedicated vimeo channel.

PS – I’m sort of bummed that you can’t hear people laughing. Trust me, they were enjoying themselves. It’s the kind of crowd that really digs lolcats!

Another chapter unfolds in the Grands Crus du Languedoc story.

A recent article in the Revue du Vin de France about the terroirs they believe to be Grands Crus du Languedoc shows disagreement with the CIVL classification.  Notably, they include the Cabardes (my appellation and the subject of my book “Wines of Carcassonne“) as a grand cru.  It makes me happy that the Cabardes made it onto the VIP list.  And while the disagreement between the prestigious wine magazine and the interprofessional organization seems like it could damage the promotional efforts of the “grands crus” system, it will only be noticed by wine nerds like me.

In more detail

So the RVF decided to name their top 11 grands crus. I was excited to see my own appellation named as one of the grand crus of the Languedoc. GO CABARDES! There’s a nice little portrait of one of my neighbors, Clement Mengus and they talk briefly about how we are the westernmost appellation in the Languedoc and we’re doing interesting things.

Now where this gets weird is that the CIVL doesn’t actually consider us a grand cru. And we don’t have the legal right to use the trademarked phrase “grand cru du languedoc” on our labels even though my wines meet all the requirements for the grands crus status. And apparently, experts agree that the Cabardes is a grand cru.

Part of me is a little worried about the mixed messages of this initiative. On the other hand, I should repeat that this worry is silly because only the nerdiest wine geeks will even notice discrepancies like the RVF-CIVL disagreement. The important part of this article is that people will read about my beautiful appellation and may be inspired to try our wines or to read other books about the Cabardes. Just as the important part of the CIVL grands crus initiative is that people will see “grand cru du Languedoc” on a wine label and some people will be inspired to try a bottle of Languedoc thanks to that initiative. That is the important thing. It’s much more important than the nervous rambling I get into when people start asking me serious questions about it.

Differences between the RVF and CIVL Grands Crus du Languedoc

PS, since people will ask, the RVF’s Grands Crus du Languedoc are:

Aniane-Puechabon (part of the terrasses du larzac)

Terrasses du Larzac

Saint Chinian

Faugeres

Pic Saint Loup

Pezenas

Corbieres Boutenac

Minervois la Liviniere

Fitou

La Clape

Cabardes

Notable differences include the strange specificity of Aniane-Puechabon, a part of the terrasses du larzac. This is especially odd since the terrasses du larzac themselves are just a specific cru within the AOC Coteaux du Languedoc. And so their number 1 grand cru is actually a subset of their number 2 grand cru, neither of which is technically an AOC. It’s also notable that the RVF included ALL of Saint Chinian instead of specifying certain crus within it like the CIVL did (eg roquebrun). Inclusion of Cabardes, as mentioned before, defies the CIVL’s initiative and makes me gleeful because I know we deserve to be a grand cru. The omission of Gres de Montpellier from RVF’s list might shock a few winemakers in the Herault since the Gres have been on the list since the CIVL’s earliest drafts back in the summer of 2010. Limoux’s still wines are also omitted although I’ve seen them on and off the list lots of times.

If somebody has the official CIVL list that got released recently, please send it to me so I can repost. I’m having an absurdly hard time finding the official CIVL list.  Here’s an article from December that has a CIVL list that seems very accurate based on what I’ve heard in aoc meetings.

I love O’Reilly Media’s famous TED talks. These are 18 minute presentations where famous people around the world share interesting and engaging ideas and knowledge. I also love FRED talks. These are the exact same thing for people who aren’t insanely famous yet.
🙂

I got to talk about the history of Prohibition in America and some of its effects on culture today. Other talks included mindblowing presentations on how to crash parties more successfully and how to affix weaponized laser technology to sharks.

New York is very fun.

I love it when cool science labs stray into the world of wine just enough for me to write about them.  Finally an excuse to let my inner lab geek roam free on this blog.

Some superconductivity researchers in Japan were getting a little tipsy after successfully running a lab in which they measured the superconductivity of antiferromagnetic compounds soaked in water, ethanol and a mixture of the two.  They had a variety of commercial alcohols at their party and thought it would be cool to run the test with all the booze at hand.  Or so the story goes.  The official lab report on “Superconductivity in FeTe1-xSx induced by alcohol” is a little bit drier.

But both versions of the story end with an amazing conclusion:

“We found that hot commercial alcohol drinks are much effective to induce superconductivity in FeTe0.8S0.2 compared to water, ethanol and water-ethanol mixture.”

“We found that the superconducting volume fraction of the Red wine sample is the largest.”

Awesome.  They don’t know why.  They have some ideas.  I’ve got some too.

But this is really just a stepping stone.  Now other labs can try to recreate the results with different kinds of red wine to try to figure out what parts of red wine facilitate the induction of superconductivity.

What the hell is superconductivity?

Incidentally, some of you are probably wondering what the hell superconductivity is.  Well, oversimplified explanation: materials that conduct electricity have a certain level of resistance which might be raised or lowered by changing the temperature (colder environment means less resistance).  Superconductivity is achieved by lowering this resistance to zero.   This is crazy because conventional conductors like copper never reach zero resistance (even in absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible). But some materials like the iron compound used in this lab can reach zero resistance at relatively high temperatures.

What the hell does the wine have to do with it?

It’s going to get a little more complicated here, so you might just want to skip this section.  You’re all familiar with ferromagnetics.  That’s just when iron (or some other compounds) are attracted to a magnet.  It’s the most easily observed magnetic force in the world.  And on an atomic level, it happens because neighboring electrons spin in the same direction and their magnetic fields combine to form a strong magnetic field.  Well, there’s a thing referred to as antiferromagnetism that is (huge oversimplification bordering on misrepresentation!!) a different kind of magnetic order where electrons start spinning in different directions than their neighboring electrons.  The individual power of each electron’s magnetic field is as powerful as in ferromagnetism, but because they’re all going in opposite directions, they cancel eachother out and you can’t feel the force the same way as you can feel ferromagnets.

FeTe, at low temperatures will exhibit antiferromagnetism.  And here’s a tricky part. The scientists figured out that if you suppress that antiferromagnetism by substituting the Tellurium with something else (a dopant like Sulfur), then the compound freaks out and becomes a superconductor (I am butchering science here; sorry).

Anyway, the key is to substitute the Te with some S.  But this is hard to do in open air.  It’s more successful when the compound is immersed in water.  And it’s even more successful when the compound is immersed in wine.  Could it have to do with the free sulfur in wine?  Could it be related to the ease with which wine oxidizes?  Send them a pallet of wine and they will let you know the results.

;D

Why are they wasting red wine?

I promise it’s totally worth it.  Superconductors allow us to make really powerful magnets (the kind in MRI machines and particle accelerators) and there would be lots of other applications if we could induce superconductivity less expensively in the future.

So how much of China’s wine production will get imbibed and how much will go to powering crazy futuristic flying trains and building space elevators?  Only the future can tell.  All we know for now is that scientists are ridiculous (and awesome).  And that there’s some kind of a joke to make here about … hmm.. lemme see.. “Scientists finally prove that wine lowers resistance to zero, something I have known for a long long time.”

;D

I’ve just launched a new project at kickstarter to fund winemakers who want to write a book about their region.  Do you all know what kickstarter is?

Here’s how they describe themselves:

Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world. Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

It’s a fundraising platform that helps you hold a pledge drive for worthy projects in all sorts of fields.  They have whimsical pipedreams like the guy who made a flying delorean hovercraft and very savvy manufacturing presales like the dudes who raised a million bucks for a watchband designed to hold an ipod nano.   They also do lots of book deals.  And if I don’t hit my goal of $5000 (which is admittedly pretty high) then no money changes hands.  Your pledged donations only go through if the pledge drive is successful, so there’s a crowd buying element to the site.

Anyway, I want to publish a book about several small wine regions.  The book would be written by winemakers.  Who better to talk about their regions with the passion and romance that they deserve?  Each section of the full length book will follow the model of my booklet on the Wines of Carcassonne.

If you can donate, great. But just telling other people about my project is already a big help.  The more people tweet, facebook, blog, etc (even old-fashioned talking about it over dinner) the better the chances are that this project will get funded.  (Plus I think kickstarter brings attention to projects that are already “going viral”).  So please take the time to at least write a tweet. It’s just 140 characters. Include @kickstarter and the url of my project: http://bit.ly/vinobook in any tweets.  And just big it up!!

“Même si on est un peu Américain en cave, on est très Français dans la vigne.”

While I was in London for the Languedoc Outsiders Tasting, I got interviewed by Marie Lahetjuzan with French Radio London.  It was a very fun interview at the end of a long day of tasting and you all know how I can get chatty (especially in front of a charming girl).  So they did a marvelous job of editing me down to fit into the time slot of her chronique on gastronomie, “A Table”.

If you understand French, then you can enjoy this mp3 of me stumbling through the interview that aired a couple times last week.

[audio://ovineyards.com/wp-content/uploads/a-table.MP3]
A Table avec Ryan O’Connell – source file

It has recently come to my attention that a lot of Japanese people are talking about my wine without popping into my google alerts.  It’s probably related to the differences in language.  Even though they usually write the brand in roman characters, there are often kanji suffixes or other weird linguistic quirks (e.g. o’vineyardsは).

Anyway, I did some active searching and found a lot of people talking about the wines.  A few highlights:

A music and wine blog that pairs my Mediterranean Mojo with AC/DC ‘s smash hit LET THERE BE ROCK.  Needless to say, I am very pleased with this pairing.

A little tweeted tasting note. I’m ridiculously fascinated by reviews I cannot read. Google translate’s best effort approximates the review to “good easily”. Love it. Love that people are out there tasting the Mediterranean Mojo 2006.

And then there’s e-American. An online shopping site that offers deals on my Mojo.

But the big player online is Rakuten who are an enormous online retailer. They bought out PriceMinister earlier this year.  And they put together this amazing banner that shows the Japanese are as enchanted as we are with the medieval Cité de Carcassonne.