Gary Vaynerchuk and Wine Library

The whole day was about one thing: See what all the fuss is about!

Gary Vaynerchuk is the son of an owner of what used to be a small liquor store in New Jersey. Growing up, Gary was not allowed to drink wine but he read about different flavors and tastes in the Wine Spectator and similar Wine Journals and tasted the flavors mentioned in these magazines. For example if Wine Spectator characterized a wine to have a black currant or rose taste, he went to the stores and tried them and learned about these tastes. By the time he turned 21, his palate was already developed and he was able to differentiate the various flavors and tastes that wine has to offer.

In 2006, Gary started a videoblag, called Wine Library TV where he tasted wine in a very down-to-earth and fun way. The show attracted over 90,000 viewers in 2011. With the success of Wine Library TV the liquor store grew from a $4 million dollar business to a $45 million dollar business. The success can be traced to the use of Social Media which he wrote two books on. Due to his books I became very interested in how companies can use Social Media to improve their business. I am looking forward to an internship with Reto Stuber, who has his own Social Media company in Brooklyn.

You can see past episodes of WLTV at this link: http://tv.winelibrary.com/

The Father of Will DosSantos (my couchsurfing host) drove me to the store in Springfield, NJ where I obtained an impression of what had happened to the once small liquor store.

2nd Floor of the Wine Library in Springfield, NJ.

The Wine Library is a beautiful, well organized wine store with a huge selection of wine organized by country and grape. In addition, there is a Slow Food section with delicious cheeses and meats. Slow Food is a movement from Europe to balance out the widely known, unhealthy Fast Food habits. When I return home, I will try to send samples of our great Tuscan salami to Gary because I believe it would fit perfectly in his store.

Unfortunately, I just missed him so I shopped for "schwag" as he calls shirts and other merchandise of his show. I bought two bottles of wine as gifts for Will and Zapo as a thank you for staying at their homes.