The Good
There were a couple of good posts that came out about social media for wineries since my last installment of TGB&U -
Josh over at Drink Nectar has posted on the topic of social media in the past, and makes some really great points on the topic. His post on Facebook status tweeting points out a mistake that a lot of us who use both Twitter and Facebook have been guilty of in the past. It’s really annoying.
Shannon at Michigan by the Bottle has a great post called Eight Things Wine Lovers Want from Wineries on Twitter. He’s going to be involved in a panel at the Michigan Grape & Wine Conference , and will be sharing some social media knowledge with folks there. I hope that the wineries in Michigan take advantage of the opportunity, and listen closely.
The Bad
If I make it through this section without a single profanity emanating from my fingers, I will consider it a personal triumph. This week, the bad is hitting close to home. A Texas Appellate Court overturned an earlier ruling by a judge, allowing the purchase of wine from out of state retailers. As I wrote in my post on this topic yesterday, this reversal means that Texas wine drinkers will not be able to purchase wine from online retailers, such as Wine Library or Wine.com. So much for Texas being a “free market” state.
The Ugly
One of my favorite blogs right now is VINEgeek, which is produced by fellow Texan, Jim Wilkerson. He gives awesome wine reviews, and always has a really interesting “free association” for each wine he reviews. There’s a lot of variation in how literal his associations are, but they tend toward the arcane. One such free association (for a great review by the way) can be found in this post. This image made me feel extremely weird about one of my childhood infatuations.
Thanks for including me in this list (now one of my favorite weekly posts). I hope I NEVER make the ugly LOL. Shannon’s post at MichByTheBottle is very helpful and I’ve shared the information with some winery friends around town.
Jim at VineGeek has been one of my favorites since I started back in November.
Keep up the good work, Ben.
Josh @nectarwine
Thanks Josh. The ugly is usually the hardest one to decide on. I’m trying to keep things wine themed, and sometimes it’s hard to find something that fits.
Yep, Jim is the man. I’m hoping to make it out to Austin to share a drink with him one of these days.
Thanks, Ben (and Josh). It took me a second to figure out why I was in The Ugly, but I get it now. Sorry to ruin your Lois Lane memories, but I thought this image was a great fit for a wine I found to be “almost sexy” (I always felt Lois was one of the weaker damsels-in-distress) with a horsey/barnyard aromas!
Looking forward to a meetup in Austin sometime.
Yep, I thought it was a good, if somewhat unsettling, association.
I’ll admit that my biggest Lois Lane crush was really Teri Hatcher on Lois & Clark. The comic book Lois never appealed to me as much as sweet Teri did. 
Even though I didn’t make this week’s list, I still really enjoy this weekly post!
Any good weekend wine plans?
Cheers!
Ah yes, the Teri Hatcher incarnation is an exception. I was thinking mostly of Margot Kidder.
Randy, I had to share the love with someone else, after having mentioned you three times in TGB&U posts.
I ended up not opening any Stronghold last night, so this weekend I will definitely be doing that. Hopefully you are recovered enough to open some wine this weekend.
Jim, Margot=shudder in my book.
How can they even begin to think about banning alcohol shipments? What’s next, prohibition returns?