This past week has been quite eventful. I took my wife to the airport, so she could catch the plane to the U.K. and hang with her friends (I’m quite sure she would put that differently). I had a private tasting event at someone’s home on Saturday which was very fun. I offer myself up for these events when certain groups are trying to raise money for a good cause. Folks at the auctions bid on a night of wine tasting and learning with Stan The Wine Man. I’ve conducted several of these tastings over the years and people have a blast.
A lot of times I do a blind tasting challenge. However, at the behest of the couple who won the bid for the private tasting (I think this is their third) that I did this past Saturday, It was a more instructional tasting where I showed them what to look for as they tasted that would indicate a well-made wine. I helped them to identify certain characteristics in each varietal. They asked me questions as we went along and I did my best to answer them. After that, I bagged two sets of wine. The challenge was for them to identify the most expensive of the two and as a bonus to guess the alcohol content. I had prize bottles of wine for the top two tasters. I have to say, that it was a very good time and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and I think they learned a lot. It inspired me to come up with some different angles for these types of tastings. I know I have two on the auction blocks coming up. I really like it when the folks who win the bid, follow through by setting up a time for me to entertain and instruct them. Believe it or not, many of the winning bidders never contact me to set things up.
Speaking of entertaining and educating, I am up to nine hundred and seventy YouTube subscribers. This means, I am only thirty away from a goal I’ve had for a long time. One Thousand! One thing I need to learn, is how to do thumbnails that will attract more viewers to my episodes. I haven’t a clue how to do them and that is simply because I haven’t taken the time to learn how to make them. Most people are attracted to visual content. An interesting thumbnail (the picture introducing my episodes) will inspire people to click on it and watch my content. I’ve known this for a while, but haven’t had the time to learn the skill of making thumbnails. If any of my homies out there who are reading this can help me, there may be a bottle or two in it for you.
As I think I’ve mentioned, I am going to be spending some time shooting episodes featuring obscure wine grape varietals. The first will feature some interesting white grapes. The fact that seventy-five percent of the wines consumed in the U.S. are spread over only four varietals, blows my mind. From a wine geeks standpoint, that’s outlandish. Something needs to been done and I’m on a mission to get people to expand their palate experiences. A sneak peek into what I’m going to be reviewing. Have you heard of the grape Inzolia? I was recently introduced to this varietal and it is out of this world good. That is just one of the wines I will be featuring in the next episode. I hope you get a chance to watch and I hope you are inspired to try new things.
Cheers!
Stan The Wine Man
