Vaynerchuk became a personality—one that combined a streetwise insider’s view with the caustic banter of East Coast sports radio and the sugar-buzz energy of a Looney Tunes character. He wore New York Jets jerseys and wristbands, decorated his set with action hero figures and rattled off tasting notes that sounded like Bukowski poems (a classic example starts at 12:19). Smelling a wine became taking a “sniffy-sniff,” Wine Library TV became “The Thunder Show” and—most famously—the thousands of viewers tuning in each week became “Vayniacs.”
Guests included winemakers such as Nicolas Joly and Heidi Barrett, importers like Kermit Lynch and authorities such as sommelier Rajat Parr and British wine writer Jancis Robinson.
There are two reasons to drink wine, one that is simply imbibing, and the other is to “be somebody”.
The latter dominates the sport.
That’s why a decent bottle is over $20, and a really good wine costs at least $50.
Without the snootiness, no wine should exceed $20 a bottle. The costs of production, and taxes, storage/aging, bottling and transport are just not high enough to warrant a higher price.
While this mindset is now readily prevalent in CA, it’s DOMINANT in France.
Gary Vee came from a working class family where his dad worked in a wine store then bought a wine store. Gary sold baseball cards as a kid and was a straight-up hustler (in the good sense of the word). He went on YouTube before it was cool and just talked about wine. Now he’s the head of a multi-billion dollar business where wine is only a small part. He is THE force in how to build and market a brand. He deserves every single accolade he gets.
I wonder how many readers just stumbled over that word, not knowing its meaning? I wish it had caught on during the '00s.