On My High Horse – Analysing the Conversations

I suppose that when I penned my somewhat tongue and cheek “An Open Letter to Those Who Write Open Letters to Millennials,” I wrote out of some frustration. Increasingly, it seems we are called upon to choose a side and then defend it. There are the obvious topics like politics, but the trivial ones too: Mac vs. PC, Cannon vs. Nikon, Country Music vs. Real Taste, etc.

We live in a divisive culture.

{Read the Original Articles:}

An Open Letter to Those Who Write Open Letter to Millennials

Millennials – Things They Actually Say: Illka Siren & Kara Jones

Millennials – Things They Actually Say II: Jennifer Thomson

Millennials – Things They Actually Say III: Brandi Stansbury & Matt Six

Millennials – Things They Actually Say IV: Elliot Karpman … Continue Reading

Millennials – Things They Actually Say IV: Elliot Karpman

Being a wine blog, A Long Pour is of course mostly here to serve my ego. In fact, the only reason I didn’t start a blog called: “The Reasons Wayne is So Much Better than You” was that my initial post outlining just the main reasons I am better than you (and I am), was over 13,000 words long! Too much writing for me. So wine it was.

Aside from cementing my own legacy in the history of internet blogdom fame, I have actually had the honor to champion a good thing or two on here, namely small family-run wineries and sustainable practices. While sustainable can mean many things and increasingly it seems most wineries are doing something sustainable (many Napa wineries for instance are continuing to sustain an aura of superiority), real sustainability…the hard-core geeked out scientific kind, is a real passion of mine. Stand in a vineyard or two that are crawling with life and vibrancy and you will be converted.

Elliot Karpman shares my passion, actually, he excels at it.

Elliot and I met in a small beer and wine bar in Solvang over a few glasses last summer. He runs a company called True Terroir, advocating small wineries that are making big impacts in the pursuit of terroir and environmentally friendly practices. He his a devotee to the notion of terroir and believes that real terroir, true terroir, comes from a respect for the land. … Continue Reading

Millennials – Things They Actually Say III: Brandi Stansbury & Matt Six

This is the third installment of our mini-series talking to fellow young wine consumers, see also here and here. Today, we have a West Coast and East Coast perspective.

I met Brandi a few months ago at a winery in Paso Robles and we hit it off right away. In addition to her obvious love of wine, Brandi shares a love of hilariousness that is only processed by a small group of people.  I call these people Hilarians.

Although not exactly a Millennial, she is right in-between Gen-X and Millennials, so I thought it would be interesting to get the perspective of someone who has enjoyed wine for more than a few years.  Brandi also brings hands on experience working on the hospitality side of wine. What isn’t mentioned in her response though, is our mutual plot to take over the internets by means of a series of well timed Tweets, several viral videos, a troop of well trained talking cats, and the aid of Tony Danza, who although offered very few skills or ideas to our world-wide plot, really needed a job. Hang in there Tony, we’ll show them who the real boss is.

Also, Brandi can write real nice, whereinto, this is be a plu$. … Continue Reading

Millennials – Things They Actually Say II: Jennifer Thomson

Today, we continue with our mini-series of conversations with Millennials. With so much chatter surrounding what young wine drinkers do and do not want, it is important to take a moment and actually listen to what they are saying.

Part I is here and the kick off article is here.

I came across Jennifer Thomson by way of Peter Hunken at Black Sheep Finds. Peter produces a wonderful Pinot Noir from the Thomson’s Carneros vineyard and he spoke highly of them. He told me in part… “the people we work with, the Thomsons, they’re super nice and even though they are 350 miles away I probably have more communication with them, because they are owners and growers. So it’s just a really nice fit, a nice feel.”

So when I found their Twitter account (@ThomsonVyrds) I was happy to follow. A few weeks later my friends and I were at Hollywood Forever, a cemetery in L.A. watching Explosions in the Sky while drinking Black Sheep Finds Pinot. After mentioning this on Twitter, I received a wonderfully nice email from Jennifer Thomson aka “The Millennial Daughter of The Farmer” thanking me for the comments.

We stayed in touch over the following weeks which led me to the following conclusions: … Continue Reading

Millennials – Things They Actually Say: Ilkka Sirén & Kara Jones

MILLENNIALS!!!!

So you know what I think and say (too much of both), but what are actual young wine consumers thinking and saying? I thought, ‘hey Wayne, why don’t you go to the source? You know other young people in wine, why don’t you ask them what they are influenced by?” Then I thought, “you know Self, you are right, I will do that, and I will gather what they say and immortalize it for all eternity (or until I stop paying my Godaddy.com bill) on ALP for all to enjoy!

So, in their own words, I present real conversations with real wine consumers. … Continue Reading

An Open Letter to Those Who Write Open Letters to Millennials

(the following is a binary code joke, in case you didn’t know)

Hi Internet. How have you been?

011001 1100111110 00111 1000101.

That’s good, glad to hear about the traffic. You have been so busy; I just don’t know how you keep up with it all! You look great by the way! I wish I had your bandwidth!

001 1010 0111001

No seriously, I do! … Continue Reading