Kind of a weird way to start the written part of this blog but I have to start somewhere. I have a few subjects I want to talk about but I’ll start with this.

So I got the email from Gary Vaynerchuk the other day talking about the end of Daily Grape after only 89 episodes. It was a shock of sorts. I understood him ending Wine Library TV on show 1000. It seemed like a good time to move on to something else.

At the same time I was skeptical of Daily Grape being a mobile only product (though I did see that you could watch them on the website). I felt it a genius move to embrace mobility, but I felt it was also too limiting to not also have it as a podcast (I never saw one if there was).

Watching the last episode of Daily Grape I understand where Gary is coming from. Being that I’ve had my own podcast for 3 years with having to take a year off, I personally know how difficult it can be to produce a show daily.

Back in the day I also had 5 shows a week. I was also unemployed and had plenty of time. A few months into it I had to scale back to 3 per week due to time and finances. Even that schedule doesn’t always happen for me as many of you have seen the past couple of weeks with my lack of shows. Life gets in the way especially when you’re not the boss at a wine shop. But even someone like Gary can’t always keep up with a daily schedule.

But there’s more to all of this than Gary retiring from daily wine reviews. There are a lot of us out there that took inspiration from him. This site is directly influenced by Gary. From my introduction to the format and some of my mannerisms and phrasing, it’s obvious I’m a watcher and fan of Vaynerchuk. I’ve seen other video wine bloggers and they definitely don’t copy Gary. But many of them wouldn’t have done it if he hadn’t. Was he the first? No. But he’s the one that took talking about wine in video form to a new level. Not even a nude woman talking about wine on camera got the kind of following that Gary got. BTW, her show is done too, but it’s probably the only other video wine review show that had 1000 episodes.

I take pride in the fact that I’m compared to Gary. I hope it shows that I also have a passion for wine. But also remember that this site isn’t just a copycat of Wine Library TV. Sommelier School is unique as far as I know. Having a detailed write up on how I produce the show is also unique in the wine blogging world – though I really need to update that. And video Skype interviews, when Skype doesn’t crash, is also unique. Plus my attempts of using Ustream, though Gary also used to occasionally Ustream his reviews.

So while Gary is retiring from video, people like me are continuing. I’d like to think that I’m going to be taking up the torch of video wine reviews. Again, while I know there are others out there, I haven’t seen the vast distribution of videos like I do. Most only restrict themselves to their website. And while they may have more website visits, their brand isn’t as far-reaching. I look at this as an opportunity to be one of many vloggers to help fill the great void that Gary is leaving.

Please join me in wishing Gary all the best in his next entrepreneurial adventures and his eventual purchase of the New York Jets 🙂 And while he always ended his shows with “you, with a little bit of me, we are changing the wine world”, Gary, without you, the wine world wouldn’t have changed as much as it has.

Good luck my friend and we’ll share a glass in the future.

Mark