This video is a compilation of my harvests in the agroturismos of Italy, the desert of Argentina, and the sunshine of northern California. The music is one of my favorite songs of all time, it’s called Voyageur by Enigma. I moved out to California a year ago with a bottle of GrapeThinking, a bottle of ideas I guess you could say, that started filling up 5 years ago with conversation between myself, Jacob Bohall, Ruarri Rogan, Meghan O’Malley, and many others. Over the past year, those ideas have delightfully fermented, and the time has finally come for us to have a taste…

~circuit to cell, web to water, mind to vine~

For those of you who’ve been reading our blog for awhile, you know we’ve focused on wine as a unifier in the sustainable development of our lives. We’ve woven it into the core values of economic, social, and environmental health in an effort to exemplify its unifying power. The GrapeThinking passion has always been to create a sustainable world, and we feel the time is now to grow from our wine roots.

Wine, water, organic food, holistic medicine, and other natural supplements that create healthy bodies and minds. Renewable energy, green building, and recyclables that grow a vibrant environment. Information technology to ensure the establishment of a smart energy grid and a deep social connectedness among community. And most importantly, a rich understanding of the intense economic times we face ahead and the pragmatic ways by which we will turn our ideals into profit and pay it forward.

Book cover via Amazon

I remember conversations between Ruarri, Jake, and myself back in the summer of ’06 about starting our company. We talked in depth about the sustainability movement and how it’s going to change the world in our lifetime… usher in a new golden age if you will. This got us thinking heavily about the ancient philosophers of our past… Plato, Socrates, Aristotle. The greats that helped us gain a better understanding of life. In Plato’s well known work, Symposium, he attributes the rise of the golden age of Greece to the symposia, better known to them as drinking parties. Where society’s elite would gather and drink wine together. The magic started when everyone became equally inebriated on their elixir and the eros or arete as they called it would start to flow. Everyone would share ideas clearly and with intellectual humility and grace. They started feeling the connectedness of everything and each other beyond the realm of space and time, realizing it’s all energy. We share one life together and everything we do as individuals affects the whole. This collective awareness spread throughout society and created their golden age.

We found this fascinating and started believing in a mystical significance to wine. Something that inspires us and brings us together. That can help cultivate the tranquility and enlightenment that we need to build a sustainable world. We still haven’t quite figured out what it is and may never find the answer, but we do feel it has something to do with how wine is alive. How it ages and matures and becomes better with time.

These types of ideals and feelings are what drive the grapethinkers to their core, and we feel that as an organization, it is time to grow. We must address the sustainability movement and become a better way of living… a better way of thinking.

I just spent a week in Chicago in the wake of Obama’s historic Presidential acceptance speech and had a chance to attend the Midwest Alternative Energy Venture Forum. It felt great to represent Grape Thinking and promote it not just as a liquid but as a way of thinking. A better way to live and a better way to think.

To Ruarri and Jake, we’ve come a long way over the past few years since talking about how wine can save the world, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am to have such amazing partners and friends. What we’ve built is something that binds our deepest passions for life and I look forward to the road ahead.

Cheers guys

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Wow, what an excellent conference! A game changer. I have to thank my friends over at Village Green Energy for hooking me up with a free pass. I’ve been so passionate about this movement as long as I can remember… ever since 6th grade when I messed around with electromagenetic fields and plants. Early education for me was all about ecology and environment, and that followed with rigorous economics in college, which I didn’t quite understand about myself until now. Having not gone into banking with my degree and now seeing the state of the economy I was like shit… but David Suzuki put it so clearly… it’s (eco)nomics. I can’t believe I never recognized that. I automatically associated economics with the greedy, short-sighted mentality of Wall Street that focuses solely on the bottom line and exploiting the market for cash and egoic status. Yet you realize the bottom line is not the statement of cash flows or the balance sheet… it’s the fuckin planet. Ecology + Economics = Sustainability. This conference was absolutely buzzing! People were feeling alive and connecting and touching each other like I’ve never seen in my life. We all knew the green revolution is ready and about to change the world in a big way.

The keynotes were superb with Al Gore, Jerrry Brown, and David Suzuki really leaving a moving impact on me. Nobody was afraid to go deep. Sure there was plenty of talk about clean tech innovations or green building or policy changes.. but more so people were incredibly open about spiritual and conciousness based changes that are going to take place around the world to solve this crisis. Sarah Susanka even brought the crowd to tears with her moving presentation. It’s so much bigger than green or solar or oil… it’s about enlightening the human race that we are one and we share the same spirit with each other and with the world as a whole. I found it to be quite the religious experience to be at this conference. A few others being recently when I went into the wild of Alaska for a few weeks and when I saw the Dalai Lama speak in Bethlehem, Pa.

Aside from the heavy stuff, there were tons of innovative companies doing everything from cutting edge solar installs, to green acrhitecture consulting, to new age battery storage, smart grid stuff, efficiency software, New Resource Bank (which is exploding with business during this banking crisis… lol gotta love it!) and sooo much more. You had builders, utility reps, entrepreneurs, mad scientists, engineers, and everyone was so open and loving and connecting. I was blown away… it took me 3 full days to digest it all.

There were also brilliant seminars and panels, the best one for me being the State of Investing in Clean Tech, where partners from KPCB, Foundation, Sigma, and DFJ (all the big Menlo Park firms) talked about what companies they’re investing in and what technology is working… and yet something was different. These are VCs and of course money is there first concern, but with this clean green movement we are finally going to enter into a phase of social… or better yet eco-capitalism… where we benefit the environment and the social welfare of all while making a shitload of money and creating a shitload of jobs. This is an unprecendented opportunity in economic human history. Create a concentrically cyclical supply chain and pass the prosperity around the world. I was inspired by the VCs stories of how they’re going green in their own lives and their deep personal commitment.

A few themes from the conference to leave you with:

1) Nature to the grid baby – energy, health, architecture

2) Ecology + Economics = Sustainability (Eco-Capitalism)

3) Sky power will fuel the earth

4) The only thing special about humans is our foresight… our ability to see and shape the future. So lets use it.

5) A new connected conciousness is emerging that will limit the individual ego that has evolved and scorched our earth with fragmented, disjointed, greedy agendas. The only chance at eternal life is if we live together as one.

6) Be the change you want to see in the world!

In my humble opinion, these are unprecedented and magical times in the history of our race and our planet. There’s no better place to be then right here, and right now.

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Supplier’s take their inventory, and place it in a fulfillment/distribution warehouse, where it is kept on consignment basis. (technically, this could be the distributor’s warehouse) The supplier is responsible for shipping it to the warehouse, and is responsible for all the costs of warehousing the wine. When a trade order is placed for the wine, it ships directly from this fullfillment center to the restaurant/specialty shop/retailer. Once the wine is delivered, the monies to cover the taxes are then transferred to you, the distributor, along with a ‘virtual portfolio handling fee of $3-$5 / case.

Now… $3-$5 / case may not compare to the $15-$20+ / case that you are currently receiving, however, you no longer have capital tied up in inventory, nor do you have these overhead expenses. Furthermore, your supplier isn’t being put out in the cold, and the brands are still generating some revenue. If the brand were to flop completely, it costs you nothing. If the brand suddenly takes off, you then add that brand or supplier to your traditional portfolio.

This model benefits both suppliers and distributors.

It makes it simple and easy for new/young/small suppliers to become affiliated with a distributor, and its almost guaranteed that if the brand is successful, it will be included in the distributor’s traditional portfolio.

As more distributors realize the potential of embracing direct sales, they will realize these virtual portfolios are a risk mitigating means of adding wines to their portfolio. Even to the point that a distributor can take on thousands of suppliers, and place them in the virtual portfolio, at no cost (beyond a clerk or accountant processing the tax payment, and the commission check), and monitor their performance, waiting to find that hidden gem. As distributors align themselves with companies that set-up and handle direct sales, they will find that not only can they add their own brands to their virtual portfolio, but they will also be able to add other brands in the direct sales channels to their portfolio. This is because all suppliers need a distributor to sell direct to trade in a particular state. So if you are a distributor representing 10 states, and you agree to utilize this virtual portfolio model, you just opened 10 states for direct to trade sales, and you can be getting a piece of every case sold direct-to-trade in those states.

We feel that those distributors who are the first to embrace these methods, will be the ones that are most successful in the future of this industry.

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This is no new idea, in fact it was a great American who said it best:

• Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.
  • Martin Luther King (1958)

What brings people closer together than wine, food and music? Most men would rather share a meal with their neighbour than spend all night wishing him dead. I’ve done a bit of travelling in the Israel, Lebanon and Egypt – and I’ll tell you this: all that crap you see on Fox about people wishing American’s dead is claptrap. Representing the middle-east as Al Qaeda is like representing the USA as the Klu Klux Klan. I think a shared appreciation of culture, poetry, music, literature and food could do a lot for US foreign policy. Who would have thought 30 years ago that some of the most successful contemporary Asian cuisine in the USA would be Vietnamese or Japanese? Mind you, Korean food is pretty good nowadays too. George Bush wants America to believe that terrorists target the USA because they hate their freedom… but if terrorists hate freedom: then why have there been no bombs in Sweden?

And also, lets not forget that terrorism is in no way peculiar to the middle-east. Americans have committed acts of terrorism in America: the Unabomber, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Timothy McVeigh, Gacey, Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Darma etc. Also, terrorism is not peculiar to Islam, as we’ve seen in Northern Ireland (thus it is ironic to see how Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity promote Guantanamo on Fox, hell, I would love to have seen O’Reilly’s reaction if the British had started throwing innocent Irish people into their own Guantanamo during the IRA bombings.)

In the words of Dr. King again:

• The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it… In fact, violence merely increases hate. So it goes. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction…. The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.
  • Martin Luther King (1963)

American soldiers are simply making the world a more dangerous place. Of course, they have the best intentions, but what they’re doing is fruitless. We’d be better off investing in poets and filmmakers in Iraq. Giving people guns will just give other people reason to pick up guns. Training Sunni militias is a mistake, rather educate Sunni children. Training Americans to be killers is another grave error, rather make our soldiers teachers and engineers. What can a Marine do when they return to normal life besides obsess over atrocities committed in the State’s name? On the contrary, if you train a young American to be constructive rather than destructive, that is state-resources well spent. Rather set up feeding tents in Shi’ite neighbourhoods, giving local people Iowa corn on the cob, corn-bread, coca-cola and organizing soft-ball games. Yes, there will be bombings: but people will be more willing to harbour terrorists in their homes if there are uniformed men with guns in the streets. If Americans are to die on foreign soil rather let them die trying to feed other people than die whilst exchanging gun fire with them.

What can we do at home on American soil to contribute to the world situation? I think being open to other cultures and participating in world events in a positive and engaged way will do lot for world security. I think America makes awesome wines; some my favourite novelists are American; American cuisine is awesome, some of the world’s greatest luminaries are American and of course, half my family is American. Having spent a fair bit of time in the South and the middle-East I can honestly say that I see more cultural similarity than anyone would think. Southerners are middle-Easterners all love richy, hearty meals: Brunswick stew in the South and Lamb Kofta in Morcocco; iced tea in the South and Bedouin tea in the middle-East. We’re more similar than Cheney wants us to know.

• Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
  • Martin Luther King

Let us not continue to destroy the world, but rather lets enjoy it and enjoy the cultural differences and the fruits thereof.

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Peace Oil is certainly a product that takes this notion of creating peace through consumerism on. The project is a collaborative effort at the foot of the Carmel Moutains, and sees Arabs, Jews, Druze and Bedouin all working together to create the product. The profits are then used toward peace and reconciliation efforts within the region.

This is cultural capital realized in full, and for those unfamiliar with Marxist thought, cultural capital is a term that denotes the value held within a group of people; their values, work ethic, ethos, cultural habits and the strength within the community.

Vineyards are yet another entity where cultural capital can be promoted as they speak so much for the land, geography, people, lifestyle and culture of a region. If we are going to reform the world and promote peace, the only alternative to ineffectual militarism is to do it through promoting trade, and if we promote cultural capital in the same breath then there can be no fears of a backlash against globalizing at the risk of losing one’s culture. Instead one will be entering a global market to preserve their culture.

Let’s face it – an army is ineffective when you’re not fighting another army. The US are chasing ghosts in Iraq – the enemy is not one particular faction; the enemy is a mindset. And the mindset is one of hopelessness and fear. If you send soldiers into a country gripped by fear, you’re just going to fan the flames of destruction and put yourself in harms way. The Iraqi people are already dealing with their own militias; and for the US to come into it all is just to add guns to a situation where there are too many guns in the first place. Guns will not create a disincentive to resorting to violence – and instead they’ll cause more violence.

An incentive is money. An incentive is a better life. An incentive is the chance to raise children in a world where you can be sure they’ll live a long and happy life. War accomplished nothing. Trade uplifts societies.

We’re beginning to see the process of peace-talks and in Israel/ Palestine the prospect of forming a Palestinian state is back on the global agenda. If this goes through we’ll see something positive come out of 2007 in the region, which has thus far been pretty bleak.

Two weeks ago I declared that the Greek wine market is alive and well; and rather upliftingly, Apartment Therapy announced the come back of the Israeli wine industry. So perhaps there’s hope for similar initiatives to Peace Oil and we can start seeing a wine to toast to world peace with.

Cheerz!

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It’s the same with a lot of things I guess – which is why the Internet can be such a breath of fresh air. It’s awesome to be able to take the old traditional top down one way mode of communication and give it a good shake by adding a range of opinions, some dissenting and many concurring.

The Internet has spawned a rise of pundits dissatisfied with unquestioning partisanship. We will no doubt see the effect of this on wine in the years to come – and I’m positive that the results can only be positive. It’d be awesome to see a John Stewart of the wine world arise and take the old monoliths to task on their scores and unwavering opinions – much like was done with Senator McCain on the Daily Show.

That the Internet has been able to invigorate politics in the shape of blogs, political cartoons and most impressively – the recent announcement that YouTube and CNN will be partnering up so as to allow members of the public to post videos that pose questions to political figures (all to be convened by Anderson Cooper) gives me hope that the tides of change can just as easily extend to the wine industry and wash away all the old bureaucracy.

Moreover, as the soap box is reinvented into personal candidate websites, much like Barack TV, so too is the space growing for more a few more people like Gary V. to come onto the platform, fostering the emerging epicurean trend in young graduates who seek to know more about food and wine.

I know one of the Golden Rules of conversation is to avoid talk of politics, money and religion – but I hope that you’ll all allow for politics to slip through into these blogs in these particularly exciting times…

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The award that I found most interesting was “Not Your Grandmother’s Food of the Month Club.” The nominees were cool food club delivery services that ship a variety of tasty treats direct to their members’ doorsteps. The Z-club from Zingerman’s won because it delivers a wide variety of foods and creates a sense of adventure for its members. Self-described as a premier food club that a hungry, adventurous food-eating nation has fallen in love with, the Z-club provides a random assortment of exciting new foods from fine olive oils, cheeses, and meats to exotic sweets such as Calabrian candied orange peels covered in chocolate and Australian sweet dried figs. Looks like they’re only missing one thing.

As logistics become well-oiled (I like that phrase), consumers are going to tap into the opportunity to have food and wine shipped direct to their doorstep, especially if it is exciting new stuff from different places. Even more, what if we could pair this service with recommended packs personalized to each member and based on their unique tastes? And what if we could send them recommended recipes, ingredients, and wine for that night? Could be fun.

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Some of these shippers work to make it easy to deliver wines. For example, UPS offers a free service where they call the intended recipient before they deliver to make sure that someone over 21 is available to pick up the wine. Unfortunately, I don’t think all the wineries are aware of this, as we recently received some wine, and it was somewhat of a hassle… apparently the only way that UPS will do this is if the winery gives them the phone number and requests the service when they place the order into shipping.

So… if you are purchasing wines, don’t forget to mention it. This will help eliminate the need for the driver to make multiple trips, and make it easier to get the wine into your hands.

If you are a winery, and are interested in the Wine Institute, you better be from California, because they apparently only represent California wineries. Maybe they have plans for expansion, or maybe Wine America’s helping hands are working on, something similar.

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For many of those who are just beginning to adventure into the world of wine, one of the more overwhelming responsibilities is pairing wine with food. Even more burdensome is the thought that you may pair something so terribly wrong that the independently great meal or wine is inevitably ruined. This rarely happens of course, but that doesn’t mean the thought isn’t a source of stress for the uneducated. It’s such a great feeling to cook up a “gourmet” meal for your wife, friends, or family, using your Uncle’s famous recipe for lamb chops, or better yet one of Giada De Laurentiis’, Alton Brown’s, or Mario Batali’s recipes. Giada oftentimes recommends a bottle of wine with her recipes, as does Alton Brown, and to no surprise Mario Batali is a partner in Italian Wine Merchants.

Where does one go today to find a wine that matches a recipe your looking to prepare?. Some of the gourmet food sites such as Cuisine Solutions, recommends 4-6 different wines for each of their recipes.. (except the asian bbq ribs, as they feel beer is a better combination – anyone have a good wine recommendation here?) Epicurean.com touts themselves as the place for food and wine lovers, but yet wine is not suggested in the recipes. Food and Wine magazine has its gallery, but this is 2007… consumers don’t want pay for information especially with the plethora of free information out there. There are also others that try… MSN – The Wine Life, Wines and Recipes, Food Network…etc.

Wine and food, like Romeo and Juliet, belong together, and we are marrying these two lovers into one site. We just want finding a place to eat, a recipe to cook, and a wine to drink to be a simple, enjoyable experience.

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