Virtual Vineyards is a tasting trip to the California wine country minus the palate-numbing swirl and swallow. Since its launch earlier this year, the website has been slaking thirsty consumers with scores of wines from more than two dozen California wineries. But Vineyards is more than just another online order form; it's a destination - one that synthesizes the technical expertise of software engineer Robert Olson and the opinionated insights of master sommelier Peter Granoff. "One of the big misconceptions businesses have is that all you need is to get on the Net, and everything happens," says Granoff. "But it's not a passive medium. It's a wonderful means for communicating information in depth, and wine is an area where in-depth information is part of a person's decision-making process."
To give more than you might get in a typical third-class mail catalog, Virtual Vineyards is structured in multiple layers - you can go in as deep as you want or need to go. If you already know what Granoff means when he declares a wine has a heavy oak flavor,
look no further. If you need more, click for a fuller explanation. And do so with ease; the site is deliberately light on graphics, so you won't spend a half-hour waiting for some gif of grapes.
None of the wineries pay to be in Virtual Vineyards. Instead, if Granoff decides a wine is up to snuff, it goes up on the site and the business takes a cut of what's sold. "I take a strong editorial position," says Granoff. "My voice is front and center. Theirs is further down."
The site isn't simply a place to spend money. It contains a full glossary of wine lingo, articles from Wine & Spirits magazine, Q&A with "Ask the Cork Dork," and a Pairing Food & Wine section with suggested menus and recipes from San Francisco restaurateur Joyce Goldstein and a few of the winemakers.
In wine lover's terms, Virtual Vineyards is direct yet complex; for getting acquainted with California wine, it's as good as you can get without fingering a cork. Virtual Vineyards: www.virtualvin.com, (800) 289 1275, corkdork@virtualvin.com.
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The Online Vine
