Episode 167: My Wine Society
Just when you think the online wine community couldn’t get any cooler, the ultimate online wine community comes along – and it’s pretty darned cool. We’re talking with CEO of My Wine Society, Sean Evans, and the Director of Channel Content and Brand Ambassador, Christine Havens to get a behind-the-scenes sneak peek and preview of the brand new My Wine Society app launching in July 2018.
In Our Glasses (1:16)
Christine: 2016 Brooks Amycas, Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer & Muscat Willamette Valley, Oregon ($20)
Val: 2016 Longridge, The Emily, Chardonnay & Pinot Noir, Western Cape, South Africa ($14)
Sean: 2015 B. Wise, Nobles Vineyard, Pinot Noir, Fort Ross-Seaview, Sonoma County, California ($65)
Steph: 2016 Terre Rouge Vin Gris D’Amador, Grenache, Mourvedre Roussanne & Grenache Blanc, Sierra Foothills, Amador County, California ($20)
My Wine Society (6:00)
We are getting a little techie this week, but it’s some great insight into the inner workings of designing an app specifically to serve the wine community to engage everyone from the consumer to the wineries. This is more than just tasting notes – this is a portal to unique, customized, multi-dimensional, interactive wine experiences.
Right in the middle of the action is the CEO, Sean, who tells us why My Wine Society needs to exist.
CEO of My Wine Society, Sean Evans 
Sean is an entrepreneur by trade and has owned and operated businesses for 15 years as well as building a strong brand in the management consulting space for U.S. and foreign owned businesses.
He specializes in brand marketing and internal synergies with a focus on increasing business efficiency and optimization from the inside out.
Where does the wine industry fit in to all this?
He’s been associated with a family wine business of over 15 years as well as being well connected in the wine industry through relationships in Napa and the Temecula Valley.
Sean now has the distinction of launching the first social engagement platform for the global wine community, My Wine Society.
Yet, it was when his cousin approached him about their wine club situation that led Sean to realize there had to be more original ways to leverage technology and engage a new generation of customers.
Director of Content and Brand Ambassador, Christine Havens (10:04)
Christine Havens is a wine writer and former winemaker who has become a Vivino featured user with over 45,000 followers largely thanks to her wine ratings. An early adopter, Ms. Havens has been sharing her reviews with fellow users since the app hit the US market in late fall 2011.
A fine artist and bronze sculptor by trade, Ms. Havens’ wine journey began with a chance meeting in early 2002, when Stan Clarke, the founding Associate Director of the Enology and Viticulture Program at Walla Walla Community College invited her to attend one of his lectures. She turned up with no expectations and very little knowledge of wine—the semester had already been in session for a week. After the class, Mr. Clarke asked her what she thought of the lecture, “I’m pretty sure we can find a way to get you some vocational retraining money if you decide to enroll.”
Winemaker Beginnings
After completing the Viticulture and Enology program in 2004 with the help of a scholarship from Leonetti Cellar, she relocated to the small but picturesque town of Pullman, Washington, where she founded a small winery with her (now) ex and his family. Between 2004 and 2011, she honed her winemaking style, experimenting with Rhȏne and Bordeaux varieties, she specialized in blends that were well received in the local market. Ms. Havens maintained contracts with many of the same vineyards she interned in, and sourced fruit from some of the most distinctive AVAs in the state, including Walla Walla Valley, Snipes Mountain, and Yakima Valley. Of note, she was the first winemaker to have created a private label for Washington State University.
Later she moved into retail for two years, with a focus on the grand cru classé estates of Bordeaux. Her love of Old World wines has since fueled her writing career.
Wine Writing Full Time
In 2014 she left retail to write about wines full-time, her background in winegrowing and winemaking have endowed her with technical knowledge and a deep appreciation for the process. In addition to her reviews, she’s a contributing editor at SOMM Journal, Tasting Panel Magazine, and The Clever Root, and a member of The Circle of Wine Writers. She has been extensively quoted by various publications including Jancis Robinson, Wine Business International, Nomacorc’s wine industry blog, and Wine Press Northwest. She has been a guest on Portland’s NBC-affiliate station KGW, and on WineVine.tv, as well as Vin Village Radio. She’s also received an Editors Choice Fellowship to attend the 2017 Symposium for Professional Wine Writers, additionally, she’s twice been nominated as a Millésima Wine Blog Awards finalist, and is currently pursuing an Award in Wines & Spirits Educational Trust Level 3 Advanced Certificate.
Coupled with her writing, Ms. Havens is the Marketing Director at Cascadia Fine Wines, a US-Canadian marketing firm representing select premium Pacific Northwest brands across Asia, India, Australia, and New Zealand.
She lives in Portland, Oregon.
Putting Their Best Interface Forward (11:38)
Christine talks about what was missing from other apps, and how the problem could be solved. Sean actually approached her, and she’s now getting to see the possibilities of showcasing different types of media through the apps channel capability in unique and compelling ways. End users can immerse themselves in content now – and this is key – without ever leaving the app.
I Downloaded the App, Now What? (14:14)
First, there’s a default experience that feels very “Instagram-my” but with added benefit of a recognition wall, as well as a reward gamification system. Planning a weekend getaway? You can share that with other wine lovers in a simple way, but with a community of other wine lovers. Want to eat healthy and share a workout experience in wine country? You can do that too, and earn badges and interact with fellow wine lovers and industry folks in the process.
Rewards are done through activity cards, and there is plenty of motivation to return to the fun. There are even smart chat and broadcast functions. The channel function allows for unique content in the wine space to be curated specifically for the MWS users, including video and … PODCASTS!
*Insert gratuitous plug here* Wine Two Five will be the first podcast upon launch to have their own channel in My Wine Society!
There’s a whole other level of functionality, according to Christine, that enables wineries themselves to take advantage of the platform in ways that are unique and customized for each winery and their brands. This allows the user to feel like they are living in each winery’s app, log tasting journeys, “visit” the winery’s store, join wine clubs, and more.
Another recognition wall invokes the gamification strategy to take the wine club member experience to a new level. There’s even a whole new activity feed for the global users, which is really powerful – and as the name implies – global!
Gamification – a “Virtual High Five” (23:07)
Sean talks about the positive rewards of the app and the influence of behavioral scientists on the functioning of My Wine Society. The head of UC Irvine’s behavioral psychology, known as “Dr. Al” at the office, department actually heads one of Skylab’s (the developer) departments. This was important for being able to leverage not only inherent human behavioral tendencies, but psychology, in addition to technology, “to drive positive value-based actions” with respect to mobile apps and social platforms.
OK, we get into a little bit of media theory here, because Val couldn’t help herself. Deep thought for the day: is technology changing society (determinism)? Or is society influencing technology (constructivism)?
And this is why we drink. Moving on.
Get Ready for the Launch! (30:00)
It all starts in Napa on the 14th of July, at the Feast it Forward studio, followed by five other regions over the next seven months, including South Africa, Southern France, Australia, and Temecula, California. These will be beta test launch regions initially. (We’ve been in the pre-beta version for a few months now).
By downloading the app now, however, you can begin being part of the beta test group and start providing feedback to the developers. So you tech geeks? You know what to do!
Funny Wine Society Stories? Yes. They Got That. (36:00)
These stories come from both the production side and the consumption side of the wine world. First we have 400 gallons of Christine’s soul down the French drain, and then we blame the board games and the parents when Sean’s Aussie friends can’t go wine tasting the next day.
Download, Connect, Launch, Feast (41:39)
You can start following My Wine Society everywhere @MyWineSociety. Social, right? All the spaces.
Download the app!
Shoutouts (44:45)
First, thank you to Sean and Christine for hanging out with us on a warm June afternoon.
Also, shoutout to Sean’s fam at Holly’s Hill Vineyards in the Sierra Foothhills!
We should also give a shoutout to Katelin Townsend of My Wine Society, who connected all of us, and working hard in setting up the launch event. She’s been working with us from the beginning in helping set up the channel, so big love to Katelin!
Patreon Love (45:00)
Thank you to our Patrons who support us on our Patreon crowdfunding platform!
“Riserva Superiore Supporter”
- Robin from Girls Gone Grape
“Riserva Supporter”
- Antti in Georgia!
“TENacious Tasters”
- Jeff E from the award-winning We Like Drinking podcast
- Sebastian of Sassi Italy Tours
- Jen in Maryland (and the world, according to her Instagram feed)
- David and Lisa in Illinois
- Ann Marie in Virginia
“It’s not five o’clock and we don’t care” Listeners
- Meg in South Dakota
- Clay in Arizona
- In California – Jon, Andrew, Aswani
- Chantel in Ontario, Canada
- Mary Lou in Pennsylvania
- Cathie in Georgia
- In Colorado – Chris and Janet, Diane
- In Illinois – Steve, Renee
- Cathey in Tennessee
- Ashley in North Carolina
- Sean in Ohio
“Tastemaker Listeners”
- David in Scotland
- Carole in Kentucky
- Karen in California
- Chip & Karen in Pennsylvania
- Danielle
- Sirena in New York
Our Patreon page has details www.patreon.com/winetwofivepodcast on how to be entered into our monthly giveaway, exclusive content, and swag.
All Patrons at the $2/month or higher donation level are entered into the drawing. Speaking of …
This month’s winner (46:40)
This month we are shipping the winner a copy of Rose’ Wine – The Guide to Drinking Pink written by our guest from Episode 128 Jennifer Simonetti-Bryan, MW. She is also the author of The One Minute Wine Master. Please check out that episode if you didn’t catch it back in September of 2017.
And THANK YOU Jennifer for sending us a copy of this book for our lucky Patron… who is Sebastian!
Congratulations Sebastian of Sassi Italy Tours, a long-time supporter of the show!
Connect: (37:40)
Between each weekly chat you can find us on the social spaces @WineTwoFive, and we encourage you to join our private FaceBook group called Wine Two Five Community!
And Instagram!
Connect with Val on Twitter @WineGalUnboxed and everywhere else as @VinoWithVal.
Connect with Steph online @TheWineHeroine.
Reminder: A Killer of a Book Club
#W25BookClub – we will be recording this episode in about two weeks.
Tangled Vines : Greed, Murder, Obsession, and an Arsonist in the Vineyards of California, by Frances Dinkelspiel. This book was selected by our very first patron Meg in South Dakota, and she will be leading the book discussion in July. Stay tuned for that episode and go buy yourself (or borrow) the book. We all have plenty of time to indulge in the story and share some opinions.
It’s on Audible (www.audible.com), so you don’t even have to read it. You can walk, garden, drive, fold laundry, and listen!
