Wine 2.0 Expo in NYC Recap

Last Thursday I attended the Wine 2.0 Expo at Webster Hall in New York City. The group is billed as “blending the line between wine and technology” and the Expo had some tech companies from the East Coast demonstrating their products. In addition to being an Expo it was also a large tasting event with basic tickets starting at $45 in advance and the “Reserve Room” going for $125.

The tech companies that showed up included Snooth, the newly launched Cruvee and others. Of course there was the obligatory Wine Library TV filming with Gary Vaynerchuk.

The event was less of a wine industry event and more of wine pouring free for all. For people who work in the wine industry, it was a steep price tag since the wines being poured were nothing special and since it’s our job, we have access to endless tastings. For regular attendees, it was a pretty good deal for $45. Tons of all you can drink wines pouring pretty tall glasses.

The highlight for me was the Bin Ends table with their Twitter Tasting of Michel-Schlumberger wines. Having visited the vineyard last November and tasting through their portfolio, I’m a huge fan. Plus, the pure havoc of 20+ bloggers and wine industry folk hammering tasting notes on Twitter was very amusing. 1 Wine Dude, a wine blogger from Philadelphia, PA, was there to add witty remarks. Mike Brunson, winemaker at Michel-Schlumberger, even got into the action.

All in all the Wine 2.0 Expo was worth the trip to New York if only to socialize with a few people who were getting wine technology companies off the ground. My only regret was spending the extra 80 bones on the “Reserve Room.” The wines weren’t that much better than the ones on the regular floor and this should have been more about technology than drinking expensive wine. As this was the first event, I’m sure the bugs will get worked out.