William Pollard Jr | aka: Wild 4 Washington Wine

Eternal Bliss seemed appropriate. It's easier with a little help from some friends. Greetings from Washington state. We've been told by our Governor, Jay Inslee, to shelter in place. You may be doing the same. I sincerely hope you and your loved ones are safe and secure during these unusually challenging times. Me? I'm well ensconced at home in SE Washington wine country - with a good supply of wine and food. And the dog. #shelterinplace #washyourhands For someone who sells (used to sell?) wine, enjoys sharing stories of wine, hosts wine tastings, and generally likes the social aspects of the wine industry, it's brutal, truly, remaining isolated at home. My only social contact is my dog - she's a good girl. As my dear friend Anne says, "Oof dah." #wineandmovies #exit96  Pairing Wine with Movies If you've been following along with my Instagram account @wild4wawine, you may have seen me using #wineandmovies and posting pictures of the win...

There Was a Time... There was a time when I thought I would stop writing about wine. A time, between 2009 and 2010, when I thought my fascination with wine was at an end. Obviously, something happened to cause that thinking, and something happened to put me back on track. I'll address that further on. This post has become rather long. It is in my nature to want to share. Ten years on and there's a lot I want to mention and get out of my thoughts. My thoughts pester me. I hope you find something interesting in these self obsessed musings. There's a lot I left out. So the temptation to add and tweak is strong. Not sure I can resist. When I began this blog ten years ago, I was working for Barnard Griffin Winery . After Fourteen months of hand selling wine, many industry events and daily customer interactions, my head was full of new to me wine related information. I was not sleeping well with a jumble of wine experiences and knowledge swirling around my head at nigh...

When F2F Supersedes Social Media. Social media tools can help you communicate your message, connect you to your customers, expand your network and improve your image. Using social media tools I interact daily with wineries, winemakers, those involved with the selling and distribution of wine, as well as my fellow wine aficionados. We are using twitter, blogs, Facebook, video and a multitude of web 2.0 tools to share our wine experiences and to network with each other. iPad and twitter social media in action. But what good is all that effort and energy, in particular for a business, if they or their staff lacks F2F (face-to-face) skills? First impressions are lasting impressions. Of course I only share with you my positive wine experiences. But I feel it is time to remind wineries, winemakers and their staff that a rude or indifferent manner is not endearing. If you don't engage your customer you lose them. Certainly, some of you have lost me. How in today’s economy of inc...