One evening during the Web 2.0 Summit, I had the opportunity to swing by an evening party that was a bit different from the usual conference fare. The guys from RadCru put together the Wine 2.0 reception which exposed "top wine and technology media" (how on earth did Consuming Ambitions slip in?) to emerging companies that are using technology to change the way that wine is marketed, sold, or made. Surrounded by contemporary fine artwork in the Varnish gallery, I enjoyed meeting friendly, happy people (heck, they get to work with wine all day!) such as Zach Coelius from wine online ad network Triggit.
One highlight of the evening was meeting Cameron Hughes, who is a very savvy businessman. He purchases premium blending component wines that are in oversupply and blends them into high-quality wines at very reasonable prices. A wine arbitrageur. He refuses to sell via distributors, which he says would take a 30% bite out of his hide; instead, he sells only via his own web site, and at Costco. See this excellent post on Corkdork for more info (including an interview with Cameron) from somebody who knows a hell of a lot more about wine than I.
Brief plug for RadCru (with which I have no affiliation; I'm just trying to help out a couple of nice guys): it's a service which promotes a single wine each day starting at 12:01am (Central time, don't ask why). So it's like Wine.Woot.com, a comparison which RadCru resists a bit because they view themselves not as a liquidator at discount prices, but rather a purveyor of hard to find, limited quantity, or new release product from boutique wineries (hence the motto: "Small vines...rad wines"). Check it out!
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