BoozeMonkey Update (31st March 2009)

Can you believe March is over? I blinked and it was gone!

And what a week we had last week. Busy? My feet didn't touch the ground. We had an amazing run of new winery signups, bringing our total to just shy of 200 for the month!

Our request for stories about vintage hasn't gone unheeded by the wineries: some are stories of success whereas others are stories of disappointment and great sadness in those areas hit by smoke-damage from the Victoria bushfires, but all of them bring us a little closer to understanding what goes into the making of our favourite wines : http://www.boozemonkey.com/forum.php?c=topic&op=index&cid=5&tid=30

And we have a winner for our Friday Monkey wine competition! I have been asked not to give out her name (she's worried her friends will turn up and drink it all), but I spoke to her earlier today and she is delighted with her prize. Aas well she might be: it's not every day you win a $240 case of wine. So congratulations and we look forward to reading the reviews. Next week I will give you the details of our NEW competition.

Here are a few more interesting links for you:

* Richard Randall (aka The Wine Connoisseur) is based in France and he will be blogging about his experiences there for us from time to time. He has an idyllic lifestyle in Corbieres and has a very novel way of uncorking bottles. Check out his blog and the link to his website : http://www.boozemonkey.com/profile.php?user=aude11360

* And if you want to read a some fantastic reviews from a man who lives and breathes wine (and who catches some ENORMOUS fish), then do yourself a favour and take a look at Roscoe Halligan's blog -- he usually has me in stitches and always has me reaching for the corkscrew : http://www.boozemonkey.com/profile.php?user=Roscoe1

As always, we are very grateful to you all for your support and for introducing your friends, helping us to make BoozeMonkey THE social network for Aussie & New Zealand wine-lovers: as you know, our aim is to create the most comprehensive wine information resource on the internet, and to bring you closer to your favourite wineries. And with your help, we're doing it.

That's all from me -- have a great week.

Cheers!

Matt
http://www.boozemonkey.com/

BoozeMonkey Update (24th March 2009)

Man, this wine business is thirsty work! Last week over 50 new wineries signed up to BoozeMonkey and added details to their profiles. That's a lot of Austrlian wine. And a lot of New Zealand wine. And this week we're aiming for three figures. So please lend us your support and tell your friends about us so we can continue to make BoozeMonkey THE social network for Aussie & New Zealand wine-lovers: our aim is to create the biggest, most comprehensive wine information resource on the internet, and to bring you closer to your favourite wineries. And we need YOUR help to do it.

We're currently in the middle of Vintage 2009. There are still a few weeks to go for some wineries, but sadly for others it was all over before it began: the smoke from the bushfires in Victoria destroyed some harvests entirely. We have asked our wineries to tell us how vintage is going, if they have any stories or photographs, and if they can give us any pre-release teasers... keep your eyes on the forum posts for updates: http://www.boozemonkey.com/forum.php?c=topic&op=index&cid=5&tid=30

We are pleased to announce that our much anticipated REVIEWS feature will be released very soon -- we're aiming for the end of the week, but knowing the way these things work, it could be the weekend. Please bear with us. We have been hard at work on it for the past few weeks (yes it does take that long, Sharon) and we know you're going to love it -- you will be able to post reviews of all your favourite (and least favourite) wines, tell us what you REALLY think, and rate them as YOU think they SHOULD be rated: I don't know about you, but personally I would always try a new bottle of wine on a friend's recommendation rather than on a pro's review.

We have lots more new features in the pipeline of course, and we will be releasing those over the coming weeks (Chat, Events, Products & Tasting Notes...), but if you have any ideas about ways we can improve BoozeMonkey, please drop us a line in The Suggestion Box on the forum: http://www.boozemonkey.com/forum.php?c=forum&op=index

And while I'm pointing out links, here are a couple more for you:

* Randy Watson is one of our resident wine bloggers -- always entertaining, & informative, Randy has found a neat way to get around the problem of not having enough money to pay for his expensive taste in wine: http://www.boozemonkey.com/profile.php?user=RandyWatson

* This is your VERY LAST CHANCE to win our $240 Friday Monkey wine case: the closing date is midnight on Sunday 29th March. Don't say you weren't warned... At the time of writing we have a three-way tie for the prize, so it's going to be a very close call. And whilst I can't tell you who the front-runners are or what the current score is, I CAN tell you that we're still in single figures: no-one has succeeded in inviting ten mates yet! Here's the link to invite your friends and win the prize: http://www.boozemonkey.com/invite.php

* And if you are interested in wine-tasting, our friends at The Corkscrew Diary have been hard at work as usual. You will find some of their excellent videos in Deborah Gee's blog section: http://www.boozemonkey.com/blog.php?user=TheToastedHostess

That's all from me for now -- have a great week.

Cheers!

Matt
http://www.boozemonkey.com/