Comments on: Nominations now open for Wine Person of the Decade! [the Naughties]

By: Elizabeth Sequeira

Elizabeth Sequeira — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:50:03 +0000

I do love Gary V – but he get so much glory as it is (sorry V.)

It’s people like Eric Orange founder of LocalWineEvents.com and WineLabelWorld.com – sites that offer info, trivia, even publish a weekly newsletter (The Juice) and offers wine & food postings — all for FREE!

With all the free promotion and information for (the masses) I think every bar, restaurant, vineyard, tasting room, festival, event giver who ever posted – plus fans & subscribers should also nominate Eric.

CHEERS!

By: Erin Ennis

Erin Ennis — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 05:09:34 +0000

Wished I saw this before the final list was tallied. David Studdert & Matt Rutledge masterminded wine.woot.com and have brought quality West Coast US wine to US consumers with an innovative twist of having the winemaker involved in the community forums for each offering.

By: Adon

Adon — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:46:03 +0000

I was pleasantly surprised to see Wine-Searcher.com mentioned as a potential candidate. The actual founder who does not like the limelight had the vision and fortitude to come up with a wine price comparison search engine in 1999. Wine-Searcher was the first online wine site to bring price transparency to the world of wine. Wine-Searcher continues to be the world’s biggest and most used search engine for wines. It offers FREE access and FREE listing and has a database of over 3.6 million wine offers and over 15,000 wine merchants. The site attracts over 1 million visitors per month and over 32 million searches are made by users around the globe every year.

While I must declare that I work for Wine-Searcher, the founder deserves a consideration.

By: Carole Wurster

Carole Wurster — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:39:38 +0000

Truly, to taste and become familiar with many wines remains the wine lovers’ personal passion and responsibility and nobody else’s response can be a substitute. But knowledge comes to us from outside ourselves. It comes from reading,listening, tasting and sharing.
We learn to love the subject/product.Perhaps love and knowledge go hand and hand? If so, we must acknowledge those who first started us on this track.And as we move forward into a new decade, it may be Gary who allows us to experience wine at an accessible and affordable price and Eric who understands that with love, we always want to know more and to be fearlessly able to express our feelings.

By: Mike Veseth

Mike Veseth — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:52:39 +0000

Has anyone nominated Fred Franzia?
I am sympathetic to the idea that “the consumer” is the wine person of the decade and I think you can argue that the Two Buck Chuck phenomenon was an important part of that story.

By: Phil Ward

Phil Ward — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:18:55 +0000

RP/WA is clearly the most impactful in this time frame. I do predict this will not be so by 2020. It will probably be a blogger or the entire category as RP and his team age out.
All of this IMHO, of course
Phil

By: Vote now! Wine Person of the Decade [the Naughties] | Dr Vino's wine blog

Vote now! Wine Person of the Decade [the Naughties] | Dr Vino's wine blog — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:02:41 +0000

[...] wines class, click here. Thanks for visiting!Thanks to everyone for the fascinating discussion suggesting nominees for the Wine Person of the Decade. Now it’s voting time! To make the voting somewhat more manageable, a select committee (that [...]

By: The Nominees Are… – Louisville Juice

The Nominees Are… – Louisville Juice — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:42:51 +0000

[...] Vino is accepting nominees for Wine Person of the Decade. Read down the comments for some interesting takes on who shaped wine over the last ten years. Gary [...]

By: Dennis

Dennis — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:38:23 +0000

The two people who have most influenced my wine-related actions and behavior have been the Erics, via CellarTracker and LocalWineEvents. These are almost daily parts of my existence.

However, from the biggest picture vantage point, I believe of greatest impact for the decade were Franzia, and even more importantly Robert Parker. Parker (who, it should be kept in mind, isn’t just RMP in the Wine Advocate) has shaped destinies and changed business plans of innumerable people in the wine world, and influences millions of buying decisions daily. Eric Levine would be appalled at being thought of as an Emperor of Wine – but somehow – like it or not – nobody really thinks that’s a completely absurd notion for RP, because he HAS been that impactful the past decade.

By: Weiguokong

Weiguokong — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:29:37 +0000

I vote for Gary Vaynerchuk！

By: tom merle

tom merle — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:52:00 +0000

If we are allowed to nominate several leaders I would second the nomination of EVO–the other Eric. LocalWineEvents.com has performed a real service in getting more consumers to turn out for wine events and receive an introduction to our beverage of moderation and pleasure. And like CellarTracker it’s a natural application of the Net. I’ve used it to good effect (I think), though I have to admit that http://Goldstar.com can be counted on to turn out the bodies.

By: Jim B. Morris

Jim B. Morris — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:43:48 +0000

Admittedly, my nomination of Eric Orange, founder of LocalWineEvents.com, is self-serving. He’s my boss. Nevertheless, Eric’s role as creator of a unique worldwide wine marketing service deserves your consideration.

First, some facts:

> LocalWineEvents.com, a post-it-yourself website launched in 2000, is now the world’s largest calendar of food, wine, beer and spirits events.

> Over 250,000 events posted, with listings from all 50 states and throughout the world.

> Millions of page views annually.

But, let’s be honest, the numbers that really count come with dollar signs. Where can wineries, restaurants and retailers, regardless of their size and marketing power, reach their target audience — free.

LocalWineEvents.com accomplishes that with localized listings aimed at people seeking food/wine event information in their area. It’s a win-win scenario that connects consumers and the wine world for mutual benefit.

If that sounds ho-hum, it would be wrong to dismiss LocalWineEvents.com as just another online bulletin board for event information. The website’s expanding array of resources (including videos, blogs, a wine label library, an event notification newsletter, wine-themed articles, wine educator listings, RSS feeds and Web apps) demonstrate Eric’s commitment to keeping pace with changing technology.

LocalWineEvents.com has long been recognized by food/beverage industry pros as a wine marketing leader. See: http://www.localwineevents.com/about/kudos/. Praise also comes from site users — consumers who welcome an easy way to expand their wine experience close to home, wherever home happens to be.

The theme here is “person of the decade,” so I’d argue that 10 years ago Eric Orange saw a need — put wine buyers and wine sellers in touch with one another. Then, using the still-evolving Internet, he created a website to fill that need. In the process, he carved out a prominent place in a relatively new field (online marketing) we take for granted today.

By: The Wine Mule

The Wine Mule — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:38:42 +0000

Okay, seriously: It is one thing to praise organic/biodynamic producers. It is quite another thing to put your money where your mouth is. Joe Dressner is bringing wines to the U.S. that are remarkable expressions of terroir. You can read his principles here.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 00:10:41 +0000

I really like the idea of Eric LeVine and CT. The very fact that Eric says it is not about him is reflective of how important it is. It is the same as that elusive consumer nominated earlier, and it is more indicative of a switch away from WA, RMP, etc. I, and many of the younger wine savvy generation, will look first to peer reviews on CT and only later to professional reviews. I buy wine that way every day (or all too nearly!)
RJP has had and continues to have, great impact, but I think that it was greater in the lead up to and early part of the decade that his impact was greatest, and I think that for the last couple of years the influence wanes.

I understand the idea of Fred Franzia because this has also been a year of increased wine consumption in america, but I think that the person of the decade in wine should be one who looms large in the “world of wine” as opposed to one who touches many albeit in a much smaller way. Maybe I am just biased by the lack of glamour there (not that I find cellar management and tasting note programs all that sexy either, but vital yes).

BTW, Lassiter? Please!

First runner up – RMP

Miss congeniality – Gary V, great work Gary!

“Scary scenario” candidate – climate change

By: Brandon S

Brandon S — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 22:29:17 +0000

Increased public awareness, and proliferation of affordable wine has allowed a remarkable number of people access to wine. Along with this came a market vacuum for loud, stupid commentary which completely ignores the function (and true aesthetic nature) of wine. No person in the decade did a better job of exploiting this feedback loop than Gary VAY-NER-CHUCK.