Wine.msn.com
by By Kathleen Donnelly- Special To Msn
It's as predictable as daylight-saving time. Come spring in most good-sized towns, someone will order up the commemorative wineglasses, erect a small village of white tents and recruit local chefs to pair their offerings with wines, local and otherwise. Grab your wallet and get your designated driver, it's wine and food festival season in America. On any weekend from spring through fall you're likely to have your pick of festivals, many of them donating their proceeds to a good cause. They range from simple, buy-a-ticket-get-a-taste affairs to extravaganzas featuring prestigious wine auctions and black-tie dinners. Often they feature educational seminars, cooking demonstrations, art fairs and local wines and culinary specialties. Tickets to the events range in price from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. But in one respect the festivals tend to follow a basic pattern, says Eric V. Orange, founder and developer of localwineevents.com, a Web site that regularly lists hundreds of wine-related happenings in the United States and abroad. Recruit distributors and winemakers to provide their products and chefs to prepare their signature dishes. Then set up the tables and get out of the way. Wine country and beyond Putting together a weekend of sips and nibbles sounds easy enough in places like the Napa and Sonoma valleys, the Pinot Noir belt in Oregon, even the Finger Lakes district of New York. But the Texas Hill Country Wine and Food Festival? The Sioux Falls Big Grape Wine Tasting Event? The Midwest WineFest, nestled among the wheat fields of Kansas? "You don't associate Kansas and wine," admits Michelle Mason, director of the Midwest WineFest, which celebrates its 10th anniversary April 21-23 in Wichita. "Dorothy and Oz maybe, but not Kansas and wine." Nevertheless, Mason insists, Kansas is home to many sophisticated wine connoisseurs, and to many more aficionados who appreciate the chance to try some of the hundreds of wines poured at the festival. Mason, who is director of corporate marketing for one of the festival's major sponsors, Standard Beverage Corporation, also directs three other annual wine festivals in Kansas. At the Midwest fest, pourers serve wines from around the world, including a few from their home state. "They actually do grow grapes and produce wines in Kansas, and honestly, in my opinion, they're like Texas wines," says Orange, whose long wine resume includes time spent in both Wichita and Houston. "You get locals who adamantly defend them and maybe develop a taste for them. But to the outsider, well ..." his voice trails off. In the wine business as in life, some things are better left unsaid. And yet, in some towns there's something to be said for keeping the festivities distinctively local. Local flavors At the Vintage Harvest Festival in Canon City, Colo., for example, vendors roast peppers, chefs prepare a Mexican feast, mariachi bands stroll the festival grounds and locals show up with grapes grown in their own gardens for a "community crush." They deliver their grapes to Matt Cookson, the winemaker who helped start Holy Cross Abbey Winery in 2002 on the grounds of a landmark Benedictine abbey in Canon City. The wine that results from the crush, called Wild Canon Harvest, sells out quickly, says Sally Cookson, the winery's general manager and Matt's wife. A possible reason? Everyone who brings grapes to the community crush gets his or her name on the Wild Cañon Harvest label. Last year, says Sally Cookson, the list reached about 45 names. "It's definitely a real community effort," she says. But not only locals show up for the Vintage Harvest Festival. Sally Cookson estimates some 10,000 people will drop by Canon City during festival weekend, which this year is Sept. 24-25. Luckily, she points out, the abbey grounds include lots of parking. But not every event can always handle this kind of community crush. "I do think there's an upward trend in events," says Orange. "But the question is, when do folks get burned out on standing in line for a splash of wine and a nibble of food?" Orange's advice? "One of the things I've learned is if you have a two- or three-day event somewhere the wineries have to travel to, it's not a good idea to go on Sunday afternoon." Winery representatives, he says, sometimes are eager to get home and you may miss some pours. And if you're going to a festival that you expect will be crowded, he says, "Go early. And I wouldn't go hungry. If you are hungry, go for the food as fast as you can." Festival sampler Here is a taste of festivals across the United States. For more listings, see www.localwineevents.com. Aspen, Colo.: The Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, June 10-12. Austin, Texas: Saveur Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival, April 7-10. Chicago: Chicago Wine and Food Festival, Oct. 21-23. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: Bank of America Wine and Culinary Celebration, April 15. Telluride, Colo.: Telluride Wine Festival, June 23-26. Kirtland, Ohio: Vintage Ohio, Aug. 5-6. Los Olivos, Calif.: Santa Barbara County Vintners' Festival, April 7-10. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Wine Festival, May 2-4. Portland, Ore.: Portland Wine & Arts Festival, July 22-24. Seattle: Taste Washington, April 8-10. St. Helena, Calif.: Auction Napa Valley, June 2-5. Watkins Glen, N.Y.: Finger Lakes Wine Festival, July 15-17. Kathleen Donnelly is a writer based in Seattle.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
by Deborah Scoblionkov
Increasingly, savvy wine fans are turning to the Internet to learn where the cognoscenti congregate. The one-of-a-kind Web site www.localwineevents.com offers comprehensive listings of wine tastings and classes throughout the world, with events from South Africa to Singapore. Click on "Philadelphia," and a slew of winemaker dinners, tastings and classes pop up - including a nature hike and wine luncheon scheduled for Oct. 2 at the Valley Green Inn in the Wissahickon and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts' sixth annual wine auction on Nov. 7.
The San Francisco Chronicle
by Natalie Maclean, Special To The Chronicle
www.LocalWineEvents.com The largest online calendar in the world for wine and spirits events has posted more than 30,000 listings. You can find out what's happening by city or by date, and request free e-mail updates on events in your area..
The New York Times
by Sam Perkins
New York Times>Dining and Wine “…..the hundreds of thousands of others who seek out wine fairs across the country every year. Indeed, hardly a day goes by when there is not a wine tasting or event to attend. "We listed 9,335 events in 2003," said Eric V. Orange, of www.LocalWineEvents.com, "and we're up by 40 percent so far this year."”
Houston's Daily Court Review
by John Tompkins
If there’s one thing Eric Orange knows it’s wine. The Wichita, Kan., native has worked at all the different stages in the process of making wine including work in the vineyards. “I was looking for something to do when I got out of the Navy,” Orange said. “I ended up in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., at a winery and I liked it.” He started out farming the grapes that would eventually be used to make wine. “I was essentially being a farmer,” he said. “I spent a lot of time on a tractor.” Orange said he soon grew tired of farming and then opted to go into wine sales. He said his knowledge of the vineyards gave him an advantage. “It gave me such an edge in sales,” he said. When he and his wife moved to the Houston area in 1999, Orange said he wanted to create a Web site that would become a community for wine lovers. “I was trying to figure out how to combine wine and the Internet,” he said. Orange wanted to build the site himself so he took a few courses on computer and Web programming. He also studied the Internet and how sites gain more hits. “There’s a whole cottage industry called search engine optimization,” he said. “I have done really well with that. Because of that, I get a huge amount of traffic.” In July 2000, Orange launched his site, http://www.localwineevents.com/, in an effort to create a worldwide community for wine lovers. “Within the first month I got 10,000 hits,” he said. “I will surpass three million hits this month.” With the large number of visitors to his site, Orange has been able to sell advertising. Despite the site’s success, Orange said he does not want to overdo the advertising or the flair of his site because he doesn’t want to discourage users. “I set it low because I want it to be consumer-driven,” he said. “I really try to keep it clean. My main goal is to keep building this thing up until it becomes the wine calendar of the world.” One of the best reasons to own a Web site, Orange said, is because it’s cheap and efficient to start and operate. “The initial investment in a site is development,” he said. “I set it up to be self-sufficient. It is more than paying for itself. One of the things I really try to stick with is automation.” The biggest cost for the site, Orange said, is the effort required to keep it updated. “As it grows exponentially, it increases my workload quite a bit,” he said. “More than anything it costs you time.” One aspect of his site which has become very popular is education about wine. “People want to be comfortable looking at a wine list,” he said. “For so many people, it’s a huge intimidation. Wine education is a huge interest.” On the Web site, Orange lists many different wine educators that his visitors can contact to learn more. It is these affiliations that Orange finds to be important for his site. “I am certainly interested in collaborations,” he said. “I truly believe I have built a tool for this industry.” John Tompkins can be reached at john.tompkins@dcrhouston.com
The Houston Chronicle
by Michael Lonsford
On the Web: Want to know about wine events in the area – or all across the country? Houstonian Eric V. Orange has the Web site for you. It's www.localwineevents .com . You can "advertise" your wine events, access nearly 1,000 links, sell tickets (at no cost to you) and get e-mail notification of events. Popular? The site is getting 3 million hits - a month.
The Miami Herald
by Victoria Pesce Elliott
WINE SITES South Florida oenophiles who haven't discovered localwineevents.com will want to take a look at what is dubbed ''the largest wine and spirits calendar in the world.'' Listings are free, and you can search for events locally or in a city you intend to visit. It was created by Eric Orange, who is certified by the Court of Master Sommeliers and the International Wine Guild. Also worth a look is winesearcher.com, whether you're comparison-shopping fine bottles or generic plonk. A 1985 Lafite Rothschild Paulliac, for example, is priced from $189 to $546 at retail outlets around the world.
Santa Cruz Sentinel
by Sentinel Staff Report
SANTA CRUZ — Wine lovers in Santa Cruz County can find local wine and food event listings through a Web site that includes events occurring in the Santa Cruz Mountains and other nearby areas, including Monterey and Santa Clara Valley. Texas-based entrepreneur and wine aficionado Eric V. Orange created LocalWineEvents.com in 2000 as a free service for retailers, restaurants, vineyards, wholesalers and others to post information about international wine, spirits, beer and food events with a link back to their own Web site for more information. LocalWineEvents.com aims to collect the information in one place so that consumers can find it more easily. Orange says the site receives more than 2.5 million hits per month, has 15,000 interested consumers receiving e-mail notification of new events and has received coverage in U.S. News & World Report and the Wall Street Journal. Event posters can sell tickets to their event free and display a calendar of all events for their area, among other features. Orange says the site lets event-hosting businesses and charities show the world their area is a "fine wine" destination, and it saves consumers from having to be on multiple e-mail or newsletter lists. "Also, people who are traveling to the area from out of town or out of state without direct knowledge of local businesses are able to see what’s coming up during their visit," he said. A recent check of LocalWineEvents.com showed that it listed seven upcoming events in the Santa Cruz Mountains, including Bargetto Winery’s Father’s Day BBQ on June 20 and Spain Comes to Byington at Byington Winery in Los Gatos on July 10.
Akron Beacon Journal
by Beacon Journal Staff Report
Interested in attending other organized tastings? Dozens are listed on the Web site www.localwineevents.com. Scroll down to the Ohio section (or any other state) and click on the city closest to you. Many Akron-area events are listed under the generic Ohio link. You'll find times, costs, locations and descriptions for the events, which range in price and scope from wine store samplings with nominal fees to elaborate multicourse wine dinners.
Hollister Free Lance
by Valerie Brockbank
I can remember the first time I used the Internet. It was more than ten years ago at Stanford University when the commercial side of surfing was just starting to gain some acceptance. The first site I visited was a bed and breakfast next to a vineyard in wine country. Now most of us can’t imagine a world without the Internet. I use it for research, mostly, and for planning, traveling and my tourist activities. Unlike the library, the information is often not well organized and the source is usually a little vague. I have found searching for wineries and wine events hit and miss, and it can often feel like you’re looking for a needle in a haystack. I’ve spent hours trying to track down an event I heard about on the radio like a bloodhound on a fading scent. Why not have a one-stop events listing for wine events? That’s what Eric V. Orange thought when he started www.LocalWineEvents.com in 1999. His banner says it’s the largest wine and spirits calendar in the world, and you can find events from all over the world listed here by country and city. Best of all, it’s is easy to use. “I designed it so that the surfer can get anywhere in two clicks,” he said. Eric is more than an average vinophile, he got his start in the wine industry helping a New York City entrepreneur start a vineyard in the Hudson Valley. From there, he moved into sales with a large distributor of Italian wine and most recently held a marketing position with Wineshopper.com before it disappeared in the dot com bust. He knows the wholesalers, the retailers and the restaurants all over the nation; he’s an insider with a finger on the pulse of great wine events. “I’ve been to wonderful winemaker dinners where only six people show up,” he explained. “Anyone in the wine industry has had this happen, advertising is very difficult. I wanted to find a forum where events could be found easily. Many of the people who visit the site tell me they plan their business trips and vacations around the event listings.” LocalWineEvents.com works by allowing anyone with a wine or spirits event to post for free after it has been reviewed by Eric. Once an organization posts an accepted event they get to update their postings themselves. It is a very grassroots and friendly way to get a comprehensive amount of reliable information. Today, on his site, I visited my home town of Ottawa to find out I will be missing a Groovy Grapes Tour of Australian and New Zealand wine. In the Bay Area, I have more than 41 events to choose from over the next few weeks. You can sign up for weekly regional e-mail updates at Eric’s site and he won’t share your information with anyone else. Other features include a list of articles on wine, and coming soon Eric is introducing a ticketing system so you can buy tickets to the events listed within a few clicks. His statistics are impressive: Nearly 28,000 events have been posted, with more than 2.5 million hits a month; 15,000 interested consumers receiving e-mail notification of new events; and he offers 1,000 reciprocal links with food, wine and spirits-related Web sites worldwide. LocalWineEvents.com is a great resource if you are looking to do something wine-related this long weekend, and for wineries, wine bars and wine shops this is a great way to advertise your events for free to a worldwide audience. “I wanted to design a site that has educational benefits, and where my visitors don’t feel put on the spot,” he said. “Friends have been telling friends about the site, and interest has been building for years. It’s a great tool that benefits everyone.”
