Straight from the source – Sweet Valley Wines

Here is a video as part of the “Straight from the Source” series produced by American Winery. Make sure you check out some of their other videos.

Wine for the Confused with John Cleese

Here’s a great video we found on Hulu.com featuring John Cleese as he tries to demystify the wine industry and wine tasting. It’s informative but since John Cleese is in it also humorous. Hope it comes in handy if you are planning on doing any wine tasting this weekend. It’s about 43 minutes long but worth watching.

Wine, Web may mean ‘Really Goode Job’ for Walla Walla native

Walla Walla native Thomas Thompson has a scant 60 seconds to make an impression that could land him the job of a lifetime.

But that’s not even the biggest challenge in securing a temporary position as California-based Murphy-Goode Winery’s new “Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent.”

Thompson is up against more than 1,300 other candidates, and he’s as much at the mercy of the voting public as his potential employer. At least when it comes to landing an interview.

In a move The Los Angeles Times has dubbed “a sign of the cybercrazed times,” the Sonoma County winery is on a nationwide search for a Web 2.0 whiz. Someone with such a knack for online tools such as blogs, video, social networks and the like — on both computer and mobile devices — that they will generate buzz for the winery.

A passion for the juice is important, as well. But back to that first part, which is generating so much online scuttlebutt it will certainly be worth the $60,000 salary the business intends to pay the “winner” of its “Really Goode Job.”

Candidates like Thompson must demonstrate their aptitude for the position by drumming up online votes for their minute-long video applications. The most popular 50 will get a pass to the next round: a bona fide interview.

The chosen employee will report on the lifestyle of Sonoma County Wine Country, in addition to everything he or she learns in the process.
A $10,000-a-month salary and accommodations in a picturesque Healdsburg, Calif., home are part of the prize of the six-month stint. The job, which does not come with health benefits, begins Aug. 15, according to the Murphy-Goode Web site.

As of Thursday afternoon, Thompson, 39, was in the running for one of those interviews. After today’s video application deadline, he has one more week to generate as many votes as possible before the top 50 candidates are announced.

Having tapped his own social networks — family, friends, friends in the industry, friends with blogs of their own — Thompson said he’s taken lately to passing out flyers promoting his video in the Portland neighborhood where he moved after graduating in 2008 from Walla Walla Community College’s Enology & Viticulture program.

Known on the Murphy-Goode Web site as candidate No. 836, Thompson sees the position as an entrèe to his ultimate goal of marketing wine brands for organizations such as the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance or the Willamette Valley Wineries Association.

That is, after all, why he enrolled in the Enology & Viticulture program, he said Thursday during a telephone interview from Portland.
“Ultimately I didn’t want to be a winemaker, but I wanted to learn the process,” Thompson said. “To market it, you need to know how the process is done.”

That, he hopes, will set him apart from the scores of other candidates who’ve submitted videos. It was also one of the main points he wanted to communicate in his submission.

“Anybody can be on Facebook and Twitter. It’s really easy. But there’s a whole world of wine that you need to know, especially now because today’s wine consumer asks a lot of questions,” said Thompson, who currently works as a cheese steward for Fred Meyer.

Born and raised in Walla Walla until he was 14, Thompson returned to his roots — his dad and stepmom, Don and Cindy Thompson, still reside here — to enroll in the community college’s wine education program. During that period he gleaned hands-on experience at Forgeron Cellars. He helped with production, special events and shipping but primarily worked in the winery’s Birch Street tasting room, where questions from consumers ran the gamut from biodynamics to yeast.

“People coming into the tasting room at Forgeron would ask, ‘Where do you get your grapes? What kind of yeast are you using? Is it genetically modified or is it natural?’ I knew the answers,” Thompson said.

Having a tie to an emerging wine community can’t hurt his chances at the job, Thompson figures. But for someone combining passions in wine and marketing, the unusual opportunity from Sonoma County was too to pass up.

“Whoever thought of this marketing is a genius,” Thompson said.

A taste of Vintage Walla Walla

We spent the afternoon at the Vintage Walla Walla Grand Pavilion Tasting which was held on the Whitman College campus. We talked to representatives from various Walla Walla wineries including Leonetti Cellar, Zerba Cellars, Va Piano Vineyards, Trust Cellars and a few others. We asked them to tell us a little about the wines they were pouring.

Ashley Trout is Walla Walla

Here is a quick video featuring local winemaker Ashley Trout of Flying Trout Wines. The video is part of an ongoing video series by web producer Jeremy Gonzalez.

Video – Tasting the Isenhower Cellars 2005 Wild Alfalfa Syrah

Amy Rootvik tries the 2005 Wild Alfalfa Syrah and finds out why it is Brett Isenhower’s favorite Syrah.

K Vitners featured in Bon Appetit

May issue of the magazine features “The Best Eats In all 50 States.” A bottle of Syrah from K Vintners was named under what to drink in Washington.

Video courtesy of KEPR 19
The video doesn’t seem to be embedding correctly. Here is the link to the KEPR story:
http://www.keprtv.com/news/43604192.html

Va Piano Vineyards video feature

Va Piano Vineyards is featured in this 2007 PDXposed video.

Video wrap-up of Feast Walla Walla

Web producer Jeremy Gonzalez got a quick tour of the festivities and talked to some local winemakers, chefs, and artists to find out what makes Feast Walla Walla successful.

Feast Walla Walla Live

Streaming live video from Feast Walla Walla taking place in beautiful downtown Walla Walla. We’ll be talking to talented local winemakers and chefs. And we’ll also be grabbing random visitors to find out what they think about the wine and food on display. Tune in starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 11. And don’t forget to join in the chat below.

Live video by Ustream

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2008 Feast Walla Walla

This year’s Feast Walla Walla will be taking place t his coming Saturday, April 11. If you’ve never been, here is a video we shot last year that will give you a taste of what to expect.