Articles - Features

Gary Vaynerchuk is not your average wine snob. 

He operated a lemonade stand franchise at age 8 and has been in the beverage biz ever since.  He learned about wine entirely on his own, and found a niche market combining wine with social media.  Today, you can find his wine tasting videos on Wine Library TV, see him speaking at seminars, or on the Conan O'Brien show.  Gary is a youthful and energetic educator and his goals are synonomous with The South Florida Punch's: To teach people that wine is not that scary!

Here are 10 questions we were wondering about Gary V.:

1. You are rather young for a wine guru.  Where did pick up most of your wine knowledge?
I learned in the trenches.  My Dad owned a liquor store when I was growing up, and he dragged me kicking and screaming into the family business.  I really was more interested in selling baseball cards on the weekends, but then I came to the realization that people collected wine just like the cards, and I was off to the races.  I soaked up as much wine information as I could.

2. How did you get started as a wine educator?
In late 2005 I saw the Internet changing and becoming more social.  I saw people like Ze Frank doing video blogging, and knew that was an opportunity for me to give something back.  I'm really not a writer so the whole blogging game was something I missed out on, but talking into a camera is just natural for me.  I started Wine Library TV in February of 2006 and have been doing it ever since.

3. In what media can readers learn more about wine from you?
The best place is the 800+ wine videos I've posted on winelibrarytv.com, which you can also access via iTunes, Hulu, or your Tivo.  I also wrote a wine book called 101 Wines Guaranteed to Inspire, Delight, and Bring Thunder to Your World.

4. Tell us more about Wine Library TV – what is it, and what does it offer the average wine drinker?
Each day I taste 3 or 4 wines that I am trying for the first time and talk about what I'm smelling and tasting. But it's very informal.  If I think a wine tastes like watermelon jolly ranchers or a melted He-man action figure, that's what I'm going to say.  I think a lot of people are intimidated by wine and think they don't know anything, and I'm trying to build wine self-esteem.

5. What advice would you give to people who want to learn more about wine, but are intimidated by its “stuffy” reputation?
The best advice I can give people is to try new things and trust your own palate.  Don't worry about what the traditional critics say, or me, or anyone else.  At the end of the day, either you like it or you don't, right?  And I always say, you'd never know that fried chicken or lo mein or foie gras was your favorite food if you had never tasted it.  A lot of people have their one Pinot Grigio or Chardonnay that they drink like it has the cure inside.  My best advice is to go out and try new wines and varietals from different parts of the world to truly take advantage of everything wine has to offer.

6. You are holding two seminars at South Beach Wine & Food Fest.  Tell us more about what you will be speaking about.
One seminar is about wine and food pairing, but in a non-traditional way.  I believe people get way carried away and too preachy about food and wine pairing.  In this seminar, instead of matching up a bunch of small plates with the "perfect" pairing, we're going to try 8 very different wines with the same exact meal.  Some of the wines will work, some of them won't, and not everyone will agree.  And to me that's what food and wine is all about.

For the second seminar, I'm offering my take on the pulse of the wine world today by sharing wines from emerging regions.  Hopefully I'll be able to expand some palates as the audience will taste grapes and regions they have never had before.

7. Tell us more about the Gary V Thunder Cruise that departs from Ft. Lauderdale.  What can passengers expect, and how is this different from an average cruise?
Unfortunately we had to postpone the cruise this year but last year's wine cruise was simply epic!  I'm hoping to set this program up again in the future.

8. How do your theories from your book Why Now is the Time to Crush It!: Cash in on your Passion apply to small wine businesses, or those who dream of working with wine?
The book is all about how the Internet and social media are democratizing content.  If you're passionate about something, whether it is wine or the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Smurfs, you have the opportunity to create content around that passion and turn it into a business.  

9. What do you see for the future of the U.S. wine industry?
With the availability of tools like corkd.com and Cellar Tracker and increasing conversation via social media channels, I think we'll see less and less reliance on the traditional wine press and more people learning from their friends and the general community of wine drinkers.

10. What are your hopes for the younger generation of wine drinkers in the U.S.?
I'd love to see confident consumers eager to try new things who trust their own palates.

Awesome answers, Gary – thanks for the interview!  You have two chances to attend Gary's seminars at this month's South Beach Wine & Food Festival.  Be sure to take advantage of the Valentine's week promotion: Buy one ticket, get one free for your sweetheart!