About two years ago, I discovered the small universe of online wine boards. These are forums where wine denizens gather to share tasting notes, arrange offline parties, and discuss all manner of wine topics. For wine professionals, it's a good way to stay informed on customer trends, such as what consumers want in terms of pricing, customer service, shipping, and other issues. I try to check in on several boards at least once a week, and I generally choose one board on which I participate more frequently.
My favorite wine forum is Wine Berserkers. It's a friendly, well-moderated board, with a wine subforum, a food subforum, an offline planner section, and a silly section called 'The Asylum' . What makes Wine Berserkers unique is that there is also a subforum called 'Cellar Rats' created specifically for winemakers, cellar rats, and wine marketing mavens. Here you can watch and participate in discussions about wine with wine professionals. There are also unfolding vintage threads in which winemakers from around California's central coast and north coast report in on weather conditions and what's currently happening in the vineyards. We hope to add some vintage threads from other international and US wine regions as well.
Some other popular wine boards include:
Some boards have a 'real names' policy requesting that you register using your legal name, or a spelling variation of your name. Other boards allow inventive monikers like 'winemom'. If you have a favorite wine board haunt and moniker name, please let us know. I'll be sure to stop by and say hello.
Thanks, Mary! We're happy to have you, that's for sure!
I know I'm not the only one digging the 'cellar rats' forum - nowhere else have us non-makers been able to tap into the knowledge and discussions that occur between you talented folks, so it's a great benefit to us!
Posted by: Todd French | July 20, 2009 at 03:22 PM