The big news was a new venue for this traditionally mobbed tasting, that most attendees seemed to love, myself included. While the arrangement of vintners left something to be desired (tables were supposed to be alphabetical, but it was more like alphabet soup than a line from A to Z), everything else about the Concourse Exhibition Center was better than the usual venue, Fort Mason. Carpeted floors meant for a much lower level of ambient noise, the lighting was better, and the wood structured building felt much more pleasant to be in than an old army assembly hall.

But we weren't there for the building, we were there for the wine. Zinfandel, the wine that refuses to take itself too serious. While there are certainly a few cult Zinfandels that are lauded by critics, somehow Zinfandel doesn't have the gravitas of Cabernet, or the mystique of Burgundy. Though some can age into very interesting concoctions, most Zinfandel is best drunk young, and therefore is almost never hoarded by collectors. Zinfandel is a wine of immediate pleasure, and easy passion, that, when great, brings a ready smile to the lips and a warmth to the heart. And it doesn't hurt that you can get great bottles for under $25.

This year's tasting featured many 2010 wines, which have a slightly leaner, cooler quality to them than the 2009s or 2008s. The vintage was generally accorded to be a challenging one (though nothing compared to 2011), but quite different between, say, Healdsburg, and Lodi. While I found much to like about the seemingly cooler 2010s I definitely favor the 2009 vintage in comparison.

That said, there were some fantastic wines on offer. I did my usual scattershot tasting for five hours or so, and offer the scores and some tasting notes for my favorites below. All wines are Zinfandel unless otherwise noted.

TASTING NOTES:

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9.5

2009 Bella Wines Lilly Hill Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $38
Dark garnet in color, this wine smells of blackberry and wet dirt. In the mouth a gorgeous melange of blackberry, blueberry, and black pepper mix amidst faint powdery tannins and bright acidity. Juicy and luscious without being overripe, the wine lingers for a long time in the finish. Outstanding. click to buy.

2010 Hartford Family Winery Highwire Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $55
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a deep dark nose of cassis and blackberry fruit that makes you want to dive into the glass. In the mouth juicy, cool blackberry and cassis fruit have an almost metallic quality as their juicy flavors are wrapped in fine powdery tannins. Great acidity, wonderful balance, deep richness. Outstanding. click to buy.

2010 Carlisle Monte Rosso Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $45 click to buy.
2010 Ravenswood Winery Dickerson Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Napa. $35
2010 Turley Vineyards Hayne Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Napa. $75

WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 9 AND 9.5

2008 Hendry Primitivo, Napa. $35
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a wonderful chocolatey nose of earth, cocoa, and blackberry aromas. In the mouth rich blackberry and chocolate flavors are underwritten by a leathery earthiness that is quite compelling. Thick grippy tannins surround the wine, but good acidity keeps things juicy and tasty through the finish. Delicious and quite possibly the best California Primitivo I've ever had. click to buy.

2006 Storrs Winery Rusty Ridge, Santa Clara County, Central Coast. $30
Medium ruby in the glass, this wine has a mysterious nose of orange pee, cedar and blackberry aromas. In the mouth, flavors of brown sugar, mixed berries, and exotic spices swirl in a lithe texture. Good acidity and wonderfully soft, faint tannins round out the package. Gorgeous, and proof positive that some Zinfandel does, indeed, improve with age. click to buy.

2009 Valdez Family Vineyards St. Peter's Church Vineyard, Alexander Valley, Sonoma. $45
Dark garnet in the glass, this wine has a wonderful mix of woody aromas and black fruit scents. In the mouth a burst of blackberry, wet earth, and a bit of blueberry are encased in a glove of suede-smooth tannins. Good acidity and nice length. Delicious. click to buy.

2009 Bella Wines Belle Canyon Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $35 click to buy.
2009 Bella Wines Maple Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $38 click to buy.
2010 Carlisle Martinelli Road Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $45 click to buy.
2010 Cedarville Vineyards Estate Vineyard, El Dorado, Sierra Foothills. $22 click to buy.
2009 Fritz Winery Reserve, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $50 click to buy.
2009 Gamba Family Winery Gamba Family Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $43 click to buy.
2009 Hartford Family Winery Dina's Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $55 click to buy.
2009 J.C. Cellars Iron Hill Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $38 click to buy.
2009 Kokomo Pauline's Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $32 click to buy.
2010 Outpost, California Howell Mountain, Napa. $44 click to buy.
2008 Ravenswood Winery Dickerson Vineyard, Napa. $35 click to buy.
2008 Ravenswood Winery Big River Vineyard, Alexander Valley, Sonoma. $35 click to buy.
2008 Ravenswood Winery Belloni Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $35 click to buy.
2008 Ravenswood Winery Teldeschi Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $35 click to buy.
2010 Ravenswood Winery Teldeschi Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $35 click to buy.
2010 Ravenswood Winery Old Hill Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $60 click to buy.
2006 Storrs Winery Lion Oaks, Santa Clara County, Central Coast. $30 click to buy.
2007 Valdez Family Vinyards Lancel Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $38 click to buy.
2007 Woodenhead Martinelli Road Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $45 click to buy.
2009 Woodenhead Braccialini Vineyard, Alexander Valley, Sonoma. $34 click to buy.

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 9

2010 Ridge Vineyards Geyserville - Barrel Sample, California, Sonoma. $37
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of wet earth and black fruits. In the mouth bright acidity makes slightly leathery flavors of blackberry and and wet stones juicy. The fruit is cool and surrounded by dusty tannins. Moderate finish.

2010 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Springs - Barrel Sample, California Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $37
Medium garnet in the glass, this wine smells of cassis and wet stones. In the mouth smooth tannins wrap around tart earthy flavors of cassis and blackberry. A long finish that is bright with acidity lingers in the mouth.

2009 Ballantine Old Vines, Napa. $21
2010 Bedrock Wine Company Heirloom Red Blend, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $36
2010 Bedrock Wine Company Old Vine, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $24
2008 Bucklin Old Hill Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $34
2009 Bucklin Bambino Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $24
2009 Cedarville Vineyards Estate Vineyard, El Dorado, Sierra Foothills. $22
2009 Charter Oak Monte Rosso Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $48
2008 D-Cubed Cellars Cotati Ranch, St. Helena, Napa. $32
2009 Easton Wines Rinaldi, Fiddletown, Sierra Foothills. $28
2010 Fontanella Family Winery Barrel Sample, Napa Valley, Napa. $36
2009 Frank Family Vineyard, , Napa. $??
2009 Gamba Family Winery Moratto Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $43
2009 Hendry Block 7 + 22, Napa. $35
2009 J.C. Cellars Dusi Ranch, Paso Robles, Central Coast. $35
2009 J.C. Cellars Sweetwater Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $38
2009 J.C. Cellars St. Peter's Church Vineyard, Alexander Valley, Sonoma. $45
2009 J.C. Cellars The Impostor Red Blend, Sonoma County. $35
2009 Joel Gott, Amador County, Sierra Foothills. $??
2009 Klinker Brick Old Ghost, Lodi, Central Valley. $37
2009 Kokomo Timber Crest Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $32
2009 Kokomo, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $26
2009 Milliare Clock Spring Vineyard, Amador County, Sierra Foothills. $??
2008 Ravenswood Winery Barricia Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $35
2008 Ravenswood Winery Old Hill Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $60
2009 Ravenswood Winery Icon Red Blend, Sonoma. $75
2010 Ravenswood Winery Belloni Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $35
2010 Ravenswood Winery Barricia Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $35
2009 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Estate, California Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $30
2009 Rock Wall Wine Company St. Peter's Church Vineyard, , Sonoma. $40
2009 Tin Barn Vineyards Chamisal Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $28
2009 Turley Vineyards Dogtown Vineyard, California Lodi, Central Valley. $38
2008 Valdez Family Vinyards Landy Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $38
2008 Valdez Family Vinyards Botticelli Vineyard, Rockpile, Sonoma. $42

WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 8.5 AND 9
2008 Acorn Winery Heritage Vines Field Blend, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $35
2010 Acorn Winery Heritage Vines Field Blend - Barrel Sample, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. ??
2009 Ballantine Block 9 Reserve, Napa. $28
2010 Brown Estate Chaos Theory Red Blend, Chiles Valley, Napa. $40
2010 Brown Estate Rosemary's Block, Chiles Valley, Napa. $55
2008 Bucklin Mixed Blacks, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $??
2009 Charter Oak Roberto Fanucci Vineyard, Napa. $42
2010 Cline Ancient Vines ,. $18
2007 D-Cubed Cellars, Howell Mountain, Napa.
2007 D-Cubed Cellars Brown Vineyard, Chiles Valley, Napa. $40
2008 D-Cubed Cellars, , Napa. $27
2009 Easton Wines Estate Vineyard, Shenandoah Valley, Sierra Foothills. $32
2009 Fontanella Family Winery, Napa Valley, Napa. $36
2010 Hartford Family Winery Old Vine Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $35
2009 Kokomo Mounts Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $28
2010 Kokomo Timber Crest Vineyard Primitivo, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $32
2010 Mauritson, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $29
2010 Mauritson Rockpile Ridge, Rockpile, Sonoma. $39
2010 Novy, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $20
2009 Ottomino Rancho Bello Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $28
2009 Ottomino Estate Vineyard, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $28
2010 Ottomino Biglieri Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $32
2009 Ridge Vineyards Carmichael Ranch, California, Sonoma. $28
2010 Ridge Vineyards Paso Robles - Dusi Ranch, California San Luis Obispo, Central Coast. $30
2010 Ridge Vineyards East Bench, California Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $28
2009 Rock Wall Wine Company Monte Rosso Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $40
2010 Rock Wall Wine Company Obsidian Red Blend, North Coast. $20
2009 Rosenblum Cellars Annete's, Redwood Valley. $40
2009 Rosenblum Cellars Maggie's Reserve, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $40
2008 Storrs Winery, , Central Coast. $23
2008 T-Vine Winery, , Napa. $32
2009 T-Vine Winery Frediani Vineyard, Calistoga, Napa. $42
2009 T-Vine Winery Mixed Blacks Red Blend, Napa. $42
2009 Tin Barn Vineyards, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $27
2007 Woodenhead Guido Venturi Vineyard, , Mendocino. $35

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8.5
2007 Ballantine Block 11, Napa. $25
2009 Beekeeper Wines Madrone Spring Vineyard, Rockpile, Sonoma. $60
2010 Brown Estate, Chiles Valley, Napa. $40
2009 Chateau Montelena, , Napa. $??
2010 Cline, , Sonoma. $28
2009 Cypher Dusi Ranch, Paso Robles, Central Coast. $32
2010 Deep Purple, Lodi, Central Valley. $12
2009 Dry Creek Vineyard Heritage, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $??
2009 Easton Wines, Fiddletown, Sierra Foothills. $22
2010 Easton Wines, Amador, Sierra Foothills. $17
2009 Federalist Dueling Pistols, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $??
2009 Four Vines Anarchy Red Blend, Paso Robles, Central Coast. $40
2009 Fritz Winery, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $18
2009 Gamba Family Winery Family Ranches, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $35
2009 Hendry Block 28, Napa. $35
2009 Hendry HRW, Napa. $35
2009 J Dusi Vineyards, Paso Robles, Central Coast. $??
2008 J. Rickards Ancestor, Sonoma. $22
2009 Klinker Brick Old Vine, Lodi, Central Valley. $18
2006 Mara Wines Luvisi Vineyard, Napa. $39
2007 Mara Wines M, Sonoma. $49
2010 Mauritson West Fall Ranch, Rockpile, Sonoma. $37
2010 Ridge Vineyards Lytton Estate - Barrel Sample, California Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $28
2010 Ridge Vineyards Carmichael Ranch, California, Sonoma. $30
2009 Rock Wall Wine Company West Fall Ranch, Rockpile, Sonoma. $40
2009 Rock Wall Wine Company, , Sonoma County. $25
2009 Rock Wall Wine Company Stagecoach vineyard, Napa. $40
2009 Rock Wall Wine Company Jessie's Vineyard, Contra Costa County. $28
2009 Rosenblum Cellars Harris Kratka Vineyard, Alexander Valley, Sonoma. $30
2009 Rosenblum Cellars Monte Rosso Vineyard, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $45
2009 T-Vine Winery, , Napa. $32
2008 Vino Noceto OGP Original Grandpere Vineyard, Shenendoah Valley, Sierra Foothills. $??
2009 Woodenhead Guido Venturi Vineyard, , Mendocino. $34

WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 8 AND 8.5
2009 Cline Heritage, Contra Costa County. $38
2010 Cline Live Oak Vineyard, Contra Costa County. $32
2009 Cypher Preston Vineyard, Paso Robles, Central Coast. $32
2008 J. Rickards Old Vine, Sonoma. $28
2009 Jerome Cellars Colored Soldier, Arizona. $27
2006 Mara Wines Dolinsek Ranch, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $39
2010 Miro Grist Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $??
2009 Rosenblum Cellars Carla's Reserve, Contra Costa County. $35
2010 Rosenblum Cellars Monte Rosso Vineyard - Barrel Sample, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $45
2010 Rosenblum Cellars Maggies Reserve - Barrel Sample, Sonoma Valley, Sonoma. $40

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 8
2007 Collier Falls, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $??
2009 Headbanger, , Sonoma County. $??
2009 Jerome Cellars Grandpa, Arizona. $27
2008 McCay Cellars Paisley Vineyard, Lodi, Central Valley. $28
2008 McCay Cellars, Russian River Valley, Sonoma. $28
2008 McCay Cellars Equity Vineyard, Lodi, Central Valley. $24
2009 Rosenblum Cellars Rockpile Road, Rockpile, Sonoma. $30

WINES WITH A SCORE BETWEEN 7.5 AND 8
2010 Cline, California. $12
2009 McCay Cellars Jupiter Vineyard, Lodi, Central Valley. $28

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7.5
2009 Rombauer, , Napa. $??
2009 Rued Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma. $25

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 7
2007 Chatom Vineyard, Calaveras County, Sierra Foothills. $??
2005 Jerome Cellars Black and White Soldier, Arizona. $28
2010 Predator Winery Old Vine, Lodi, Central Valley. $??

WINES WITH A SCORE AROUND 6
2007 Gann Family Cellars, Alexander Valley, Sonoma. $??

Bright Zinfandel
ALEXANDER VALLEY, CA: A brightly backlit zinfandel grape leaf turns vivid red in Autumn in Sonoma County. I've got Zinfandel on the brain this week thanks to the ZAP festival.

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On occasion I write purely for the wine industry, and today I'd like to address the role of social media in the wine industry. Whenever I write these kinds of things, I like to remind people that by day I run a company called HYDRANT that gets paid a lot of money to help big brands be extremely successful marketing, selling, and engaging with their customers online. In short, what follows below isn't just random opinion.

Let's be clear, first, what I mean by social media, a phrase that has become widely used but perhaps not fully understood by everyone who uses it. Social media are those channels of interaction on the internet where the public has a voice. Any outlet at which an ordinary person, free of charge, can say something, create a piece of content, react to something that someone else has created, or establish relationships with people and companies falls under the banner of social media. This, of course includes blogs and Twitter, and social networking sites like Facebook, but also bulletin boards and forums, location based services like Foursquare, image posting services like Instagram, and several other esoteric services.

Of late there have been a number of blog conversations about what wineries should be doing, if anything, about social media. Fellow blogger Joe Roberts, of 1 Wine Dude, wrote a piece entitled "Where Can Wineries Really Innovate? In Engaging the People Who Actually Drink the Stuff!" in which he accurately describes many wineries' approach to social media as some combination of fear, scorn, exhaustion, or 'can't-be-bothered.'

Joe is correct to suggest that most wineries suffer from a deficit of consumer engagement in social media and are missing a huge opportunity as a result. This is nothing new, of course. The wine industry has been one of the slowest industries to adopt internet-based technologies, barely edging ahead of pawn shops, bowling alleys, and dry cleaners in having web sites, e-mail addresses, and actually using them both.

Even though those folks making wine are often farmers first, with little interest, and sometimes less ability than they might desire to engage with technology, that no longer justifies the lack of adoption that still plagues the wine industry. In an increasingly globalized world, where consumers are living, learning, connecting, and buying online, anyone who wants to sell a product in a competitive marketplace must be engaging their customers online.

As little as five years ago this wasn't true. But the world changes very quickly these days. The problem is, reality doesn't send you a memo before it changes. Just like it didn't send the people who made Rolodexes a note about their impending obsolescence. But you better believe that one day, the folks whose entire livelihood depended upon people buying rolodexes saw the writing on the wall. Perhaps just before they smacked right into it. Wineries that fail to comprehend the way the world is moving will quickly find their customers hanging out with someone else's bottle in hand.

And before you say (ahem, Steve Heimoff) that a great score from a critic can solve this problem, I urge you to look at the hundreds of deep discounting and flash sale outlets for wine, whose primary selling tools (for the bottles that wineries are shoving their way as fast as they can sell them) happen to be critics scores. If those scores were worth something, then wineries would be selling all their wines through traditional (read: non-closeout) channels, not funneling them to outlets where they're lucky to recoup their costs. Sure, a 98 point score from the Wine Advocate will sell more wine than some outreach on Twitter, but this is the exception that proves the rule. If I had a dollar for every 94 point rated wine I've seen selling at 50% off its retail price in the last year, I could buy a case of Chateau Lafite.

For most wineries, points don't sell wines, relationships do. Relationships with people, and relationships with brands. In that way, nothing has changed, and nothing ever will. This is the way that marketing works. But the relationships that customers have with both people and brands are overwhelmingly shifting to social media, and this goes for wine as well. It may just not feel that way to most wineries yet, in the same way that the folks selling Rolodexes thought everything was perfectly fine in the few days before the Palm Pilot (or whatever electronic PDA-thing truly rang the death knell of a six pound barrel of business cards) hit the shelves.

Which brings me to something called Vintank Social Connect. I spent a little time this afternoon getting a tour of this free web application that is now in its second or third incarnation, and I have this simple thing to say about it.

Are you listening wine industry?

Any winery in the world that does not have a free account on this service, and does not spend at least an hour or two every week using it, is dumber than a bag of hammers.

Vintank's software offers wineries an incredibly sophisticated set of tools to monitor their brand presence in the sphere of social media, and to engage with their customers in this space.

The fact that this tool is available for free (and, says its provider, will always be free) is simply staggering. It may well be the single greatest gift that anyone has given the wine industry since the invention of the steel fermentation tank. I'm not kidding.

Outside the wine industry (i.e. many of my Fortune 1000 customers) pay thousands of dollars every month (gladly) for the kind of functionality that Vintank is offering every winery in the world for free. Forever.

So, what does it do?

Well, just imagine that there's this huge nightclub, that can fit hundreds of thousands, even millions, of people in it, and regularly does, night after night. And the only way anyone gets into this nightclub is if they can prove to the bouncer at the door that they enjoy and drink wine. Not so hard to do, right? OK. And then once they're in, they can buy, drink, and talk with their friends about any wine in the world. Man, I want to go already, don't you?. And then imagine every single one of those conversations they have, every comment they make, every joke they tell, every story they relate, is recorded and transcribed. And then magically, you get to read every single one of them that mentions you.

Wouldn't you want to do that? Wouldn't you want to know what people are saying about you and your brand(s)? Wouldn't you be at all curious about whether people actually recommended your wines, or tweeted to their friends how much they sucked? Or want to know when a blogger reviewed your wine, or when someone complained on a wine bulletin board about an unusually high percentage of cork tainted bottles in their annual allocation?

If you answered no to those questions, then I can promise you that you will one day reap the bitter harvest of your own ignorance. If you answered yes, then you're thirty seconds and a free online account away from having the answers to all of them.

Vintank's Social Connect software mines millions upon millions of conversations about wine that take place in the social media sphere, and reports to you what people are saying about you and your products. It tells you who is saying it, where they said it, and helps you understand how influential those people might be. Simple as that.

It does a lot more, for those who want to dive into the world of Customer Relationship Marketing, but for many wineries, that may be leaping into the deep end of the pool too quickly. For most, it's enough to be able to see what people are saying about you, and to respond. And that would be a huge leap forward for most wineries. A leap they desperately need to make.

I have no relationship to the company Vintank, nor anything to gain by making this recommendation, other than a desire to prod the wine industry to make use of technology trends that many other industries are embracing, and profiting from, much more rapidly.

Facebook will have its IPO in the coming months. As part of its filing, it had to disclose its financials for the first time, which included $1 billion of yearly profit, representing a net margin of around 30%. That is but a tiny slice of the value that social media is producing in today's economy. Hundreds of businesses, some of them worth billions of dollars, have sprung up solely because of the functionality that Facebook has provided to the world.

It's time for the wine industry to stop treating social media like a newfangled gizmo, and start doing business with it.

Sunrise image courtesy of BigStock.

I seldom name names on this blog; my readers know that. There’s very little point in antagonizing people who already have their knickers in a twist. So I won’t identify the name of the winery whose P.R. people complained about something I wrote that they claimed was incorrect. Fact is, I was right, they were wrong, end of story.

The particular issue was concerning what were the winery’s first releases, when they opened many decades ago. I had said one thing, basing my information on extensive published reporting as well as content on the winery’s own website. The P.R. people made a counter claim. Now, in the long scheme of things, it’s not the most vital thing in the world, but the P.R. people were pretty upset. They complained to my editor, who forwarded me their email for reply. So I hit the books, did my research and proved conclusively that what I had initially written was correct.

It’s not that I don’t get things wrong. Every reporter does. That’s why they invented the “corrections” section of major magazines and newspapers. There’s usually no shame in getting something wrong, although there obviously is a spectrum of mistakes. Misspelling somebody’s name is very minor. Getting somebody’s birth date wrong is minor. Misstating the name of a company that purchased the winery is a fairly major boo-boo [that’s not what I did, I’m just using it as an example]. Still, no reporter likes to get anything wrong, no matter how minor, which is why we research our facts until we’re pretty darned sure we’ve got them right. Then, and only then, do we hit the “send” button.

But the question in this case is, how could the P.R. people not have gotten it right? After all, they work at the winery. They should know what the facts are. Here’s my theory–and this most recent instance isn’t the only time this has happened. It is not infrequent.

It usually starts with a major figure in the winery [owner, GM, head of communications] who reads something he or she doesn’t like. That person then instructs the P.R. person to complain. The P.R. person, who more likely than not is young and inexperienced, dashes off a “correction” to the writer or the writer’s editor. The P.R. person doesn’t research the issue herself, or ask the owner if he or she is absolutely, positively true that the offending statement is untrue. Instead, the P.R. person does what most people do who want to protect their job and CYA: they complain to the writer or editor.

I once had a P.R. person complain to my editor that, in describing the wines of a particular region as “relatively expensive,” I had done that region a disservice–had, in fact, distorted the truth and insulted it. The letter was very angry. My editor demanded a reply. It took me hours of researching my database to determine that, on average, the region in question was expensive, just as I’d thought–not as dear as Napa Valley, but more on average than any other region in California. (The quality of the wines on average was also better.) So a whole lot of angst was raised, and time wasted, over something that never should have been an issue in the first place. (By the way, when that P.R. person eventually left his/her job, he/she confessed to me how guilty they felt [I know “they” is wrong in this case, but I’m getting tired of the “he/she” thing].)

The point is that sometimes P.R. people write and say dumb things. If it’s because they don’t know any better, then they’re in over their heads. If they do know better, but are afraid to stand up to their boss, then they’re bad hires. Part of P.R. is to speak truth to power, even when that power signs your paycheck.

Wineries, your P.R. people are your public face. It’s vital that you give them independence of thought and action. Your veracity is only as good as their public statements. And in this day and age, veracity–transparency–believability–call it what you will–counts more than ever.