Gary Vaynerchuk was in Boston last night for a book signing. Lots of books were sold and signed.
I think Gary's great. I've gotten to know him as a fellow videoblogger. If you went to the event, you met Gary. He wants to meet everyone in the world. When I arrived, I saw him on the stairs and said hello. I initially thought it was a random encounter, but no. Gary was waiting to greet every single person as they arrived. That's cool.
Gary also taped an episode of his video blog web TV show, Wine Library TV. It was very much like a TV show taping with a live studio audience.
I was surprised that he still just sets up a camera on a tripod and has someone hit record. This time is was his assistant Matt who isn't a video producer... No lights, no microphones, nothing. Just a videocamera, wine and Gary.
He was extremely amusing... Gary is a very funny guy.
Last year I dropped him an email asking where to go in Napa and he sent me a list of his Top Three wineries to visit...
Carol and I made videos on the trip. Here's one, St Clement Vineyards:
Here's Part 1 - Elyse Winery and Part 2 - Whitehall Lane Winery.
After the Wine Library TV taping, as Gary signed his book, we went into the next room to sample the wine. The wines were set up on four tables, where each table had the same four wines. There were the wines that Gary had just talked about on the show.
All the wines were bad. Yes, they did taste like rubber gloves. The question was, "What wine didn't you hate?" It was a hard question to answer.
I don't know how the wines were chosen for this tasting, but in the future it would be nice if Gary could choose a selection of wines that he enjoys and wanted us to sample. A larger selection would be nice too... I understand the main purpose of this event was to sell books, but the wine tasting could have been better.
The after party was downstairs at the Foundation Lounge. There was talk of free food, I had one small veggie Sushi. I did see a plate go by with tons of appetizers on it and asked the waitress, "where are you off to in such a rush?" but it turned out that someone had ordered those appetizers... Good thing I didn't grab one of the plate as it sped by.
I did get to try some of Maria Thurrell's Dirty Martini. Very interesting. I do like olives...
The final score: Gary 10, Martini 7, Friends 10, Wine 0
It's all about people so I think it was a success!
Oh, yeah, we also got to meet James Fritland as he introduced an episode of the original Wine Library Theatre in this recently discovered film.
Update:
Watch the episode - Live Thunder in Boston - Episode #493
