Hello all. Recently the spam accounts have been getting out of hand. I tried to add some extra protection to our signup form, but that was quickly worked around by the spammers. For the time being, I have disabled all new signups on the site. If someone really wants to signup for a new account, [...]
Last Fall, Google retired their “Googlebase” product which we used to get results for our wine shop search engine Super Wine Search.
We had plenty of heads up, but due to lack of time and some uncertainty about which API was the true successor to the Googlebase one, we had to take the site down for a while.
Well, it turns out that Google’s “Search API for Products” is a good successor and I had a bit of spare time… so Super Wine Search is back! I’m excited to try a bunch of searches to see how well the database has expanded. (Be sure to flag search results that come back funny so we can tweak our processing to improve our algorithm.)
Hello, Wine Bloggers Conference. I hope you are going to enjoy the Rioja wines and look forward to a chance to win some Rioja wine or a trip to the region… with Pia!
This is a little hacked together, but I hope it helps you log the wines and keep track of where you are. Logging the wines here and marking of the paper Pia gave you should get you entered into the drawing twice. Here are the steps:
So I’m going to do the full Wine Bloggers Conference experience here with a live blogging of some White and Rose Wines.
We’re getting an update on the weekend’s schedule. I should be getting started in a moment…
First up is Andy Hicks from CalNaturale with an interesting wine in a tetrapack.
So I’ve actually decided to log the wines instead of writing in the blog. I’ll paste a wine list short code here, which should update with the wines as I taste them. Refresh every 5-10 minutes if you’re reading this in real time.
Kim and I are catching up on back episodes of Master Chef. One of the judges, Joe Bastianich, remarks in the opening about his 24 restaurants and 3 Italian wineries. I decided to try to figure out what and where those wineries were and if any of the wine is available online.
The first was pretty easy to find. A quick Google search brings up Bastianich Winery,a 70 acre winery in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. (Joe’s mug is on the “People” page.) They make a 100% Friulano white wine and 7 other wines. The Friulano varietal, named for the region, is one I had never heard of. The Bastianich site says:
Friulano is the most typical white wine in Friuli, the northeastern region of Italy. it is an indigenous grape variety grown in Friuli for hundreds of years. Our Friulano is produced in the Colli Orientali area of Friuli, an area known for its unique terroir and where world-class white wines of Italy are produced.
So to find the other “two” wineries, I checked Wikipedia, which says “Bastianich has established three wineries: Azienda Agricola Bastianich in Friuli; La Mozza s.r.l. in Maremma, Tuscany; and in Tritono Mendoza, Argentina.”
I wanted to give an update on Bacchus Selections, which is offering some great wines right now… at crazy low prices. First up is the 2003 Chateau Moulinet Lasserre Cabernet Franc, which is selling for $29.99/bottle. DrXeNo gives it 4 stars and says… Color: Medium to dark garnet with brick tones in the core, more brick garnet, medium [...]
How do you like the sexy badges awarded on the site when you log wines? Did you know that they aren’t just eye candy? Many of the badges come with rewards.
Many badges will reward you with free shipping at the winery website or 10-30% off your order. Others will link to downloadable ringtones or tickets to wine events.
Log and wishlist some Rutherford Hill wines to earn the Friends of Rutherford Hills badge.
If you use this site at all, you’ve noticed the VinPass badges that are awarded to you when you rate or log certain wines. This feature has been in beta for a few months now, but is finally officially “launched”.
To view all the VinPass badges in play at WineLog, visit the badges page.
VinPass is a cross-site platform, working with the Drync and Hello Vino apps/sites. The launch has gotten some good press on ReadWriteWeb, 1WineDude, and other blogs.
We’re proud to be in such good company, and we look forward to what the future holds for this platform.
Let me know what you think of the feature. If you have suggestions. Which badges are you most excited about? (Some offer prizes)
Paul Maybray of VinTank gives a nice overview of HR5034. That’s a bill in Congress that would add even more restrictions on shipping wine, which we’ve covered before. Safe to say, it’s a bad bill for wine lovers (but a good bill for distributors with lots of lobbying money, so we’ll see how it turns out).
Paul chats with a puppet version of Craig Wolf, who is CEO of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America (WSWA). Just watch. It will make sense, and you’ll have more insight into this mess.
More info, including sources for the Craig Wolf quotes, on the VinTank blog.
I’m happy to bring you this deal. Remember to use the coupon code WINELOG to get the promotion.
MyWinesDirect.com features the best wines for the value from undiscovered vineyards around the world. With fall and holiday celebrations around the corner, it’s the perfect online wine store to find impressive wine gifts and wine gift baskets to celebrate any occasion. For a limited time, they are offering 10% off all wine gifts plus FREE shipping to WineLog members. Use coupon code WineLog at checkout to take advantage of this great offer.
