Inglourious Blogger: Jeff Lefevere’s Good Grape Manifesto
No one sums up Jeff Lefevere’s soap box better than Lefevere himself. Of it he writes: Good Grape: A Wine Manifesto is a pithy and opinionated wine blog and perspective on current events, culture, marketing and new ideas with a dash of business analysis and the occasional cartoon, viewed through the prism of the wine glass. Pragmatically idealistic, Good Grape is a wine blog and web site for wine enthusiasts, poets, artists, romantics, lovers, liberals and rock stars. Connoisseurs, collectors and the wine elite might be more comfortable elsewhere.
Fair warning and all true. His 2009 accolades from the American Wine Blog Awards for Best Graphics or Presentation is evidence that his peers have a real appreciation for his skills as well. And while the site’s graphics are indeed very good, it is his actual writing that is most impressive. Lefevere is plugged into a permanent bottom line. Words aren’t minced nor are they measured too carefully. He’s poetic when waxing about wine but skillfully guttural. One could actually imagine him tasting out something that he doesn’t care for and dismissing it as “this shit just ain’t that good” and place into a context that would come off as verbally lush with a pleasant finish.
We were pleased when he agreed to talk with us abut everything from mentors to music.
Who first introduced you to wine?
I kind of introduced myself to wine – when I was coming out of college I took an interest in golf and wine because I figured I had to decode both of those adult pursuits to be successful in business.
I suck at golf and haven’t played a round in the last five or six years, but wine was something that played to my strengths of learning and drinking (I’m a Catholic after all) without requirement for athleticism.
I have been aided significantly by a guy who I consider my wine mentor – Ed Vodrazka. He’s a California State Life Guard in San Diego and somebody who has introduced me to a lot of great wineries like A. Rafanelli while also being utterly free of any pretense. He’ll drink an amazing wine out of a coffee mug without giving it a second thought – that kind of thing has really impacted how I view wine.
Did you ever imagine that wine would become such a passion both as subject matter material and taste?
Not in a million years! I’m about 12 or 13 years into hardcore wine fandom and it is perpetually fascinating to me. My wife is only slightly into wine (though she has an amazing palate) and the majority of my friends are beer drinkers, so it’s definitely a passion I exercise for the love of it and not based on any peer sharing. I think this sort of isolationism related to my wine interest is healthy because I view wine through my own filter without a lot of outside influence (or artifice).
Do you ever slum it with a certain wine, I mean anything you drink that you would rather not let the world know about, say like a white Zinfandel?
No White Zinfandel for me, but because I live in the Midwest, I can definitely get down with a fruit wine like a Cherry wine from Michigan or a Blackberry wine from Indiana or Ohio. Most (all?) regional wineries have something sweet and more often than not, those are some tasty wines just to have as a sipper. I definitely don’t turn my nose up just because it’s sweet.
I was recently on a panel at a conference with a wine snob, and it’s amazing what some people will slam just because they think they should. As a former boss told me (Mitch Schwartz), “if it tastes good to you, then it’s a good wine.”
So much gets made about Gen-Y and wine and social media. Aside from democratizing wine what do you see as its long term impact?
Argh. I’m so over “Social Media.” Actually, I never started with it, so I don’t have much to get over. Really, at the end of the day, “social” is the blending of what has traditionally been separate work activities – public relations and customer service with some enabling technologies ladled in. A lot of people have been sniffing their own exhaust for too long on this whole “social media” thing. I’d be real wary of hitching my wagon to that star. Back in the ’98 – ’01 time frame you had a whole slew of people that were ecommerce experts and they never made the transition to the next thing in the Internet – and there is always a “next” thing.
The long-term impact of this whole Internet thing is our media is changing. Newspapers and magazines aren’t going to go away, but we’re seeing the big ship make its long turn and instead of the Internet being one component of a marketing mix that is predominantly offline, we’re seeing the Internet turn into the main focus supported by offline activity. It’s a 180 degree change we’re going through now and the natural result is some new voices will emerge that are no longer hindered by legacy gatekeepers.
Does living, drinking and writing primarily in the mid-west give you a useful kind of detachment when you analyze the wine industry? It seems that you never worry about being politically correct in your posts.
I’m not sure if it’s the Midwest that has the impact. Very purposefully from my first post, I’ve taken a long-form columnist style approach to my writing.
I’m fortunate that Twitter came along and has absorbed some of the “fast food” nature of blogging and that good blogging is migrating to longer form analysis pieces that are researched and more journalistic in style than not, but it was more of a conscious decision on my part based on how I like to write – a beginning, a middle, and an end with a point.
I’ve definitely modeled my writing after mainstream columnists who have typically been the conversation starters in traditional media and not afraid to say something that might incite thought, debate or disagreement.
In my worldview, it’s much easier to personally say something interesting, than be a person of interest. Very few people are interesting enough for me to want to follow them based on their personality presented in blogging, but if you have an artfully presented first person blog post that is researched and defendable, on a topic that everybody may have an unspoken opinion on, then that becomes interesting.
In order to do this, you have to write in a longer form style to get your point across.
You recently savaged the idea of Tasting Notes and we know how you feel about the 100 point system. Those have been and still remain sacred cows to a number of wine practitioners. Any others on the chopping block that you might want to share with us?
I like to look at things with “pragmatic idealism.” What I mean by that is I always hope for the best, but I live in a flawed world where reality often doesn’t match the ideal. Given that, I think everything is fair game. As long as I can clearly articulate how I feel and reasonably defend it, everything in the world of wine is open season. Prevailing wisdom is usually wrong.
More than any other wine blogger you get the music/wine connection. Give us a couple of your all time favorite bands and what wines do you love most with them?
Oh man. I’m a huge music fan and I define my tastes in music by period in my life. Since I’ve been a kid I’ve gone through hair metal (Motley Crue), classic rock (Eagles), grunge (Pearl Jam) and now I’m definitely in the adult alternative / singer songwriter mode that got kicked off in ’93 with one of the greatest albums of all time – August and Everything After by Counting Crows.
A couple of under-acknowledged bands that I would consider current faves are: Cowboy Mouth, Will Hoge, Ani Difranco, Gaslight Anthem, Brett Dennen, Griffin House, pre-radio O.A.R. and a bunch of others. About as much as I enjoy wine, I enjoy getting on iTunes looking for a hidden gem of a band.
I never give up on a band even if I’ve moved on – it’s just a part of my life. Motley Crue put out an album last year, and I bought it. I’m loyal like that. I was in college from ’91 – ’95 and hit grunge at the perfect time so at the same time I was listening to Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, and Gin Blossoms, I was listening to Steve Miller Band and Meatloaf. Make of that what you will … in fact, I recommend drinking what you will with that …
How many other blogs do you have time to read and who are your favorites?
I have about 800 blogs in my feed reader. If it’s a wine blog, chances are I read it at least weekly just to see who is saying or doing something interesting. I use it as a form of research, as well, because I don’t like to write about things that are heavily covered elsewhere unless I can take a unique spin on it. So, in that regard, I have to keep up. And, on top of that, one of the best things about wine blogging is the amazing community. I really, really enjoy the connections and friendships I’ve made with other bloggers. That’s what makes it worthwhile!
Aside from wine, the niches that I keep an eye on are: digital/interactive (for work), cultural trendspotting, foodies, internet marketing thought leadership, the crème de la crème of blogging like The Pioneer Woman. And, of course, I heavily follow Notre Dame football year round. Did I mention how well ND is going to do this year?
