Have you seen this man?

Gary Vaynerchuck, the media-loving face of Wine Library TV, is my current obsession (click on the link for the bio). You may have seen him on Ellen Degeneres or Conan O'Brien. He's smart and media-savvy and less of an idiot than those appearances would indicate; in addition to knowing wine, he's figured out how to make a media splash.

I never thought it would be fascinating to watch someone drink. But beyond the Boo-Ya aesthetic, Gary knows his stuff. There's a hilarious mashup of his tasting notes which fairly accurately captures his aesthetic. One thing that's fascinating for me is when the yelling dies down and his love comes through. Not just for wine--there's a lovely episode#395">#395, when his brother turns 21 and has wine for the first time. Also there's a hilarious episode, #403, where Gary's dad, Sacha, basically crashes a taping and takes over. (For some reason he reminds me of my Uncle Dale).

Gary's committed to building his base, to the point of having t-shirts printed up with some of his more outrageous tasting notes. The one about the deer and the cherries was a particular favorite of mine.

The loud can get too much at times--in these more recent episodes you really need to have your volume turned down when they start because of his yelled introduction--but I'm amazed by how much I'm learning from watching these. Vaynerchuck's focus has been on building his community--the Vayniacs, or the Vayner Nation--and for me the more recent posts can feel a bit like network marketing. But every episode--over 400, as he's been doing this every weekday for the past 2 years--is archived. It's a bit fascinating to see the evolution of a media figure. Watch the first two episode--the development is enormous, and you can see where he's headed, even if there are no wristbands or wrestling action figures yet. Gary's getting great press and will probably only get more. Here's hoping that his drive to build his base and get famous doesn't obscure the love.