Web Connections Help Couple Launch Winery

James Laube at Wine Spectator has a nice article about how a couple leveraged connections they made in online wine forums to launch a new winery. According to the article:

It turned out that some of the "wine geeks" Bevan had met on the Internet weren't nerds at all. "Some of these 'geeks' are high-powered professionals," he said, and some of them counseled him on ways to get into the wine business.

Through wine forums, the couple got advice from: Carole Meredith and Steve Lagier, of Lagier Meredith Vineyard, a Syrah specialist on Mount Veeder, and Jim and Barbara Richards, proprietors of Paloma, the reigning king of California Merlot. Other acquaintances included winemaker Philip Togni, of Togni Vineyards, along with Greg LaFollette, a Sonoma winemaker.