A little bird told me

(L-R) Durvillea Marlborough, Torea Marlborough, Curio D'Auverne. Photos / Babiche Martens

I'm being followed by a porn star; a sommelier from Oamaru is raving about Ata Rangi's latest releases; a Marlborough winemaker bemoans the bad weather and an Auckland wine retailer sends out an invitation to his Christmas Tweetup. Welcome to the world of wine twitter.

I must admit I'm something of a late tweeter, having had misgivings about the quality of communication limited to just 140 characters and the name's suggestion of ill-considered and inconsequential chatter. However, a little bird told me that there was a virtual revolution going on in the way wine was being talked about, so I spread my wings and got myself a twitter account.

Swooping on to the scene for the first time, I followed the haiku-like musings on the current harvest from Bordeaux's Haut Brion to humorous debate over the cellar door spittoon from Marlborough's Spy Valley.

I chuckled over the swearing sommelier, pursued the interesting debates instigated by noted critics and passionate amateurs and tuned my cyber back on any twits using the medium as a crude sales tool.

For wine drinkers, there are some juicy tidbits to feed on. My mate Hugh, who's far more twitterate than me, says Twitter's tipped him off about some top wine tastings and advised me to "tweet about wine and life in general to a level that feels comfortable, but respond to the tweets of those you follow, and be opinionated, as that's where it all happens!"

"Wine is a social product, which makes it well suited to social media," says Lisa Byrnes Whiting, another twitterer and one of the forces behind New Zealand's first wine specific social networking site www.lovewine.co.nz . "Traditional communication about wine has been through the wine expert down, but Twitter allows wine drinkers to put their opinions out there and become part of an online community."

Some of our more virtually advanced wine retailers have also caught on to the craze, with Grey Lynn's Wine Vault leading the way. According to Wine Vault's Jayson Bryant, since signing up to Twitter over a year ago it's helped grow the business significantly. For him it's akin to having "2000 extra sales people out there as ambassadors for the Wine Vault", attracting thousands more to engage with them via their blog. He's run a number of twitter tastings and is currently teeing up the Christmas Tweetup that will link up wine lovers across the country.

Torea Wines - the most followed New Zealand winery on Twitter - even instigated a twaka, a virtual haka to cheer on the All Blacks during a particularly difficult test. However, the main reason for embracing the medium, according to Torea's Stuart Smith, was to communicate directly with the people drinking his wines. "This is difficult through the traditional distributor-retailer channel," he says, "but with social media the customer can tweet their thoughts immediately right back to the producer."

Another winery with a phenomenal following is new Marlborough label, Fiasco, which I came across for the first time on Twitter. They may be little guys with no funds for advertising, but Twitter has amassed them a following that could only previously be achieved with big marketing bucks. "You can build amazing relationships with people," says Fiasco's Aaron Thompson, "and spread the word, gain knowledge and news. It's great fun and it's free!"

Like other social networking forums, there's plenty of pap, porn and promotional pollution, but it definitely has its good points. I may not want to know what Chuck in California is drinking with his dinner, but its ability to promote healthy debate and even ruffle a few feathers, means that I think I'll keep twittering.




WORKS A TWEET
All these wines have an active presence on Twitter. To track these and other wineries down, check out WineryMashUp on twitter.com.

LITTLE STAR

Durvillea Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2009 $13.99
Little sister to Astrolabe and label for whom twittering is so important it links to it on its back label. It has a punchy palate of passionfruit, lip-smacking lime and Mediterranean herbs. (From Caros Wine Merchants.)

TOP BIRD

Torea Marlborough Pinot Noir 2008 $19
Virtually successful, Torea's actually a really smart range of wines from the Fairhall Downs stable. Its amazing value pinot is bursting with ripe cherries and berries with a subtle sprinkling of spice. (From Glengarry.)

CURIOUSLY GOOD GEWURZ

Curio D'Auvergne Vineyard Wairau Valley Marlborough Gewurztraminer 2008 $27.90
Curio is the impressive new small parcel, single vineyard collection of wines released by Mud House. It's gewurz is gorgeously textured wine, with layers of mineral and hints of rose petals, seasoned with savoury spice and finishing with a fresh twist of citrus peel. (From The Wine Vault, Village Winery, Point Wines, Bacchus Cellars, Wine and More, Kumeu Cellars.)