Red Wine is a perfect libation for festivals – primarily because it doesn’t need to be kept cold; it doesn’t lose its fizz and if you’re drinking wine locally produced its dirt cheap and super-good. Within minutes of popping the cork however I’d managed to spill the Rioja on my new pants and was questioning the merits of wine in a situation where a shower is hard to find… when suddenly, with a splash of from my water bottle – the wine was gone. Brilliant! Wine proof pants – what more could a young millennial wine-lover at a music festival wish for? I reckon marketing the pants specifically as wine-proof and selling it at Bonnaroo could be a good gig.

Festivals have become huge in the UK – and I guess the States is now picking up. Winemakers have a huge opportunity to sponsor music festivals – because the combination of music, nature, art and alcohol are what festivals are all about. Festivals have re-invented themselves since the days of Woodstock and are a perfect platform for not only entertaining people, but many organisations use them to spread awareness and raise money.

The Green Man Festival coming up next week is one of the most prominent indie festivals – where, much like the Big Chill – and both less commercially than Glastonbury, it promotes organic food, green living, sustainability etc. There’s a huge oppotunity in this concept and I’d really like to see some of the Oregon wineries putting on some music festivals and promoting their wines together with bands from Washington State and around. Many vineyards have acres of land and there’s plenty scope to host festivals on the vineyard grounds themselves. Once millennials cotton onto the benefits of wine and the contribution of viticulturalists to the environment and to local communities – it’ll certainly be the final push needed.

Now that I’ve found a pair of wine-proof pants; and have finally sprung for a decent festival tent whilst having fallen in love with festivals on the first night of Benicassim in a monent of sitting with my wife and two close friends, Will and Anin, drinking Rioja as a pre-game at the campsite with Sigur Ros about to play… I think it’ll be hard to go back to taking normal holidays.

Hopefully next year the Grapethinking team can bring some of the fabulous Tastevine collection to Bonnaroo and some of the other festivals in the US, and one day to the UK – we’ll provide a tent, picnic blankets and a selection of some of the best and most affordable wines from around the world… we’ll leave the music to the musicians though. Don’t forget to bring wine-proof pants…

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• Passion on the Vine – a review
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Being involved in lifestyle marketing really has its perks. When GrapeThinking was in its infancy, and the only client was Tastevine.com, it was really easy to mix business and pleasure. As a group of Millennials passionate about promoting things that bring people together, we didn’t find it too demanding to travel to major cities and throw parties promoting particular wines, and of course, the Tastevine wine community.

As the “tech” guy, my traveling is not quite as adventurous as say Ruarri’s travels to Morroco, or Meghan’s trip Paris, but I do get a chance here and there, and I always try to make the best of it. Apparently, I’m starting a tradition of going to a concert/music festival to complement my business trips.

Late last year, while traveling in Chicago for a meeting with the Dead Grapes Society (an awesome group of wine-lovers), I discovered Lalapalooza was the same night/weekend. After talking with a few of the locals, I found my way to Grant Park, and was just in time to see The Black Keyes, and the last show of the night, Ben Harper, where Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam made a guest appearance.

I’ve always wanted to see Radiohead. They are a band reveled as the modern-day Beatles, and they are currently making their way around the globe on their World Tour… Atlanta being the stop this past Thursday night. Being in town for several business meetings, I called on some friends to see what they were doing, and as would be expected, all of my friends were on their way to the show. After a quick call to Ticketmaster, I was relieved in knowing I could buy a ticket at the gate as there were plenty, and join my friends for what I was sure would be an awesome experience.

This is where it gets interesting. I make it to HiFi Buys (Lakewood) Amphitheater, and am informed the tickets are sold out… WHAT? After a moment shock, the guy behind the counter tells me he does have just one more. I quickly pay for the ticket and rush to the gate where I’m informed that my freshly purchased ticket has already been used… WHAT? Back to the counter I go, where the guy who sold me the ticket takes a highlighter and writes OK on it. Back to the gate, and without hesitation, they let me in.

Once inside, I navigate to where my friends are sitting, and they “sneak” me into the seats of the Amphitheater with them. After catching up, I proceed to tell them the story about my ticket being OK, at which point I pull out the ticket and show them. A few seconds later, we discover that the ticket I am holding is not the Lawn Ticket I assumed, but rather a front row ticket… WHAT?

Needless to say, I ended up not only getting to see Radiohead, but I was able to live the experience from the front row with a $66 ticket.

If you read this post, and you are wondering who Radiohead is, you can listen check out some of their music on the Amazon API widget to the left. Amazon just released the ability to embed a widget that plays mp3 clips, and what a great opp to try it out. (sorry, the tech geek has to come out somewhere)

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