John Tyler Wines in Food and Wine Magazine

When you think of food and wine and the combination of the two, for me only one publication comes to mind: Food and Wine Magazine. With a circulation of over 375,000 readers it is one of the most popular magazines for food and wine. Covering everything from restaurants, hotels, travel, wine, and recipes on an international level F&W has a little something for everyone.

Recently the Russian River Valley Winegrowers and Food and Wine teamed up to showcase some of the beautiful scenery and fantastic wines that the Russian River has to offer. The most recent promotion is in May’s issue and captures the breathtaking vistas of Westside Rd.

One of the wineries featured is us! John Tyler Wines is in good company with the names of Davis Bynum and La Crema along with other notable Pinot Noir producers.  RRVG is an important partner in promoting the valley and its growers and helps to bring consumers and wineries together. Like they say “You can’t imagine a more beautiful place to grow great wine.”

Estate secrets

Poppy Rock

Spring has a way of reminding us how important it is to stop and smell the flowers. Here on the ranch there are several places where you can do just that. The other day I took a little break from a busy day of working in the office and went for a walk, taking along my camera. There is an area hidden from site that is one of my favorite places during the spring time. My Grandpa named it Poppy Rock and it is very appropriately named.  It’s a large rock formation that poppies literally seem to be attracted to. As the poppies bloom they cascade all along the rocks, creating some very beauty scenery. Poppies are most well known for being the California state flower. They are protected by the legislature and therefore it is illegal to pick or destroy them.

While I was back at Poppy Hill taking photos and admiring the flowers all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I see a coyote dash through the trees. We hear them quite frequently at night but this is actually the first time that I ever saw one in person. He was quick and agile and didn’t really give me much of a second thought besides that I probably interrupted his afternoon nap. Wild animals are usually far from my mind while I’m out walking around but this is definitly the time of year to start watching out for rattlesnakes! 

Here on the estate we also have two lakes that my grandparents made when they purchased the property in the early 1950’s. Both lakes are used for irrigation purposes so we do not use water from any municipal source. In the lake are fish; bass mostly and occasionally some other feathered friends. There are several groups of geese that have settled here for the time being, sunning themselves and enjoying a little swim. Wow, it’s rough living in wine country.

Fermenting at Crushpad with Wine 2.0

Last night Nicci and I attended the Wine 2.0 event at Crushpad in SF that was all about “blending wine and technology. It seems like in every business and industry, technology is often the driving forces behind advancement and expansion.

This theory can also very easily be applied to the wine world.  New sites like TwitterTasteLive, Open Wine Consortium, and DrinkthisTV take wine and the wine tasting experiences to a whole new level. How would you like to swirl and smell an Australian Shiraz while the winemaker, who is in Australia talks you through his favorite characteristics?

This is now possible with more and more wineries using sites like Skype and Tokbox to give consumers the ultimate wine tasting experience.….. one which brings dull tasting notes to life in an international way.

While walking around the tasting before the big rush I was lucky enough to try out this virtual tasting experience with Lisa Mattson from Wilson Daniels.  Hooked up through Tokbox with headphones I spoke with Grant Burge the winemaker and owner forGrant Burge in Barossa Valley and together we tasted his 2006 Shiraz . My reaction? Everyone has got to try this!!! Tasting notes have now taken a 3 dimensional form. Not only was it an awesome experience to taste wine with a winemaker half way around the world, this platform opens up so many doors for wineries that can’t afford to fly their winemaker out for such an event, but customers still get the opportunity to interact with the producer, virtually. So I guess the question is how “new” is all this technology really? Well for wineries wanting to take advantage of these trends I would advise to start now because as we know technology advances quickly so what’s hot now might be considered passe in no time.

Tokbox Virtual Tasting

Having never been to Crushpad before but hearing and reading information about it I was impressed at it’s size for being located in SF. Approx 1,000 people attended the event, definitely a large amount of them were “millennials” , people in the trade and those in online social network channels. Recently the thought came to me that you can sort of compare meeting someone that you are friends with from a site like Facebook or Wine 2.0 for the first time in person to a blind date. You’ve seen their photo, maybe sent them a message or two with casual conversation but the in person meeting and face to face contact can be a little unpredictable. For me there is often that moment of confusion. Why do I recognize you? How do I know you? All of these questions pass through my brain and within a few seconds I must try my best to make the connection. Nonetheless it’s always nice to put a name to a face, and a profile.

Overalll the event was really fun, people showed a genuine interest in the wine and we even poured our inaugural vintage; the 2002 Pinot Noir which for a 7 year old wine is showing fabulously! So if you love wine, technology and social networking, think about joining Wine 2.0; fun events, nice people and good vino….what’s not to like?