Bricks of Wine

Although this was the 8th Pinot Summit, this was my first (yes, I was a Summit virgin) both as a participant and a judge. There are few wine varietals with such a passionate and serious following and the process for selecting the top wine is a long and arduous journey that Barbara Drady does with love and commitment. I really appreciate her allowing me to sit and judge with some of the most extraordinary palates in the area. And for allowing to get in touch with my feminine side of wine.

I tried to capture the flavor of the event and record who were the workshop panelists and moderators along with some of the wines I personally liked and some of the delicious food. Of course, you’ll have to wait for Barbara to post the official results on her web site before you can find out all the winners. Read about making the video below to find out why.

A Lesson in Video

I learned some valuable lessons from shooting this video, both technical and planning. First, a good mix of high-res photos and video footage gave me more options for editing. Second, shooting in mixed lighting is tricky. The combination of tungsten, fluorescent and bright sunlight made for some challenging white balancing. Third, moving through a crowd with a waistpack of gear was difficult. Taking off that waistpack, however, meant that anything I might have needed was no longer within easy reach. Fourth, don’t count on your subject to remember to get mic’d up before they start talking. They won’t. And lastly, check your camera’s battery status often, especially if changing it is an ordeal because of audio brackets and stabilizers. Noticing that I only have 5 minutes of battery power when Barbara launched into a long speech was one of those oh, shit moments that I’ll remember. Of course, I’m sure I’ll do it again.

Because of these lessons, I wasn’t as pleased with the outcome as I hoped. The footage of the final winner somehow was lost (not recorded, glitched, etc.) in the transfer to my PC for editing, hence the video FAIL at the end. What did get recorded was split by a battery change and I think the white balance was altered. Trying to fix it in post-production only seemed to make it worse. Two of the workshops were backlit and difficult to get the exposure correct, even with backlighting compensation. Finally, I was going to edit this in Final Cut Pro 7, but after watching some of the footage, I decided I would just do it quickly in iMovie. Not worth the extra trouble I thought. Maybe next time.

Techinical Details

The video was shot using a Canon Vixia HF20 at 30 fps, progressive, 17Mbps. Auto exposure, auto white balance and backlighting compensation were used. Still images were taken with a Nikon D300 and primarily a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens. Sound was recorded using a Canon DM-100 mic for most shots and a Sony UWP-V6 wireless mic for Barbara’s voice. I was pleasantly surprised that despite the Sony wireless lav mic being omnidirectional, how little background noise was actually recorded. Editing was done in full HD and output as an H.264 Quicktime movie at 1280×720 resolution with audio at 44100 Hz for upload to YouTube. Average data rate after reducing the resolution but before uploading was 9.86 Mbps, losing just less than half the initial data if my calculations are right.

Thanks to everyone who appeared in the video. I can’t give all of you credit, but you know who you are. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

Developing Your Winery’s Social Media Strategy: Resources

Do you have something to say?

Of course you do, right now. But what about next month and the month after that? Making compelling content requires some creativity and coming up with ideas can sometimes be challenging. If you need some help, check out Tom Wark’s 50 Updates for Facebook. Although geared towards Facebook, these are great topics for both blogs and video. Also look at my random list of 17 Interesting Blog & Video Topics for Your Winery for some more topics.

It really is all about the content. It’s what brings people to your website, blog and fan page. But when it comes to creating content, I’m in a constant struggle to balance quantity versus quality. Some people think that it’s important to constantly create content—sometimes every day—but I think quality is more important than quantity. After all, how many days in a row do you think people will want to read about you punching down the cap on your latest vintage? Strive for higher quality with less frequency. So instead of just talking about punchdowns, make a video demonstrating how you do it and explain why your methods are crucial to the quality of your wine. Higher quality posts will be shared in the community. They’re more “sticky” and will continue to get visits and search engine hits long after the initial interest wains.

There’s nothing that says you can’t post to your blog every other week or even less often. If you’re posting content that people want to read or watch, that’s entertaining, informative or offering free stuff, you can do it at your own pace. Just be consistent. Which brings me to the next question…
read more…

Outside the venue was dark,
the food inside was delicious and,
oh yeah, the wine was good too.

Last Friday, P.S. I Love You held their 4th annual Dark & Delicious event in Alameda. Now, I have nothing against Alameda, but it’s not exactly the easiest place to get around. In fairness, this comedy of errors is mostly my own fault, but the fact that this was the first time I’ve been to this event and the first time I’ve driven in this area of the bay, didn’t help matters. I left my map on my desk, went the wrong way and ended up driving 15 miles out of my way to get back. Add to that a very scattered evening where I found out at the last minute that I was attending alone, was stuck in Friday traffic running on empty in both the gas tank and my stomach, and I quickly became grumpy.

After arriving nearly an hour late, hungry and not too happy, I almost ended up wandering around in the dark. And damn, was it ever dark—no street lights anywhere. Could they have found a more secluded place for 500 people to locate in the dark? Just sayin’. A single lone placard flashed in front of my headlights for a second to say that I had arrived at the right place. That and the two hundred other cars in area. I parked, but only after a bit of wandering, did I discover that the entrance was three-quarters of the way from where I parked around this warehouse that the Rock Wall Wine Company calls home. More wandering in the dark. I could have walked one-quarter of the way in the opposite direction, except that it was blocked. Of course. At least the seclusion allowed them to crank up the music. And hey, if you didn’t mind 80’s and 90’s R&B, it was great!

read more…