FAQ
What is Vinobite?
Vinobite engages the digital set with daily notes about wine, food, culture, travel, and free giveaways. We cater to busy multitaskers like us who love wine and want to learn more about it (without feeling like they’re studying for a geography final). We plug into what’s hot and hip in the world of wine, and we never recommend stuff unless we love it ourselves.
Vinobite is delivered in a short daily email or weekly digest. Sign up for your free Vinobite today! Look to the right for our sign-up form. You can choose the daily (weekday) option or the Friday digest.
What are the daily themes?
Each week we feature a type of wine (e.g. Rose, Riesling, or Cabernet Sauvignon). Every day is a different theme:
Monday: Wine Find (a featured wine, and sometimes a bonus post with additional recommendations)
Tuesday: Hot Dish (a simple recipe to match the featured wine)
Wednesday: Vinoculture (fun facts, trivia, music, movies....)
Thursday: Go Vino (a travel tidbit or photo)
Friday: Freebie Friday (a giveaway!)
How do you decide which wines and products to recommend?
The short answer: we choose wines that are a) amazing and b) a good value for the price. Beyond that, we try hard to feature wines that are at least somewhat widely available (see the next question if you want to know why that's not always possible).
Friday giveaways don't necessarily fit the criteria above, but they're FREE! How can you argue with free?
Why can't I find the wine you recommended in my city?
We'll try to make this brief. Ahem. After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, the government in all its wisdom set up a state-controlled three-tier distribution system, which basically means that wineries sell to distributors, who sell to wine stores, who sell to you. Because every state has its own (generally convoluted) wine laws and distributors work in different areas and take on different wineries, the result is a patchwork quilt of wines all over the U.S. Walk into one store and you'll find, beyond the big-name brands, an entirely different selection than you'd find a couple of states over.
Many states allow direct shipping, which is why we offer "find this wine" links to online stores. If yours doesn't, write to your legislators and let them know that a free marketplace is important to you.
We know it's totally annoying to read about a wine and then not be able to find it, so we try really hard to review and recommend wines that are both widely-available and fabulous. That's not always an easy combination to find, and sometimes we find an amazing wine that's not available everywhere and we want to tell you about it anyway. It's like reading Vogue and using the styles for inspiration at your Gap shopping spree. We also think you can learn a bit about a type of wine and then find something comparable at your store. You do have an imagination, right?
I just [had an amazing wine/cooked a delicious recipe/took a Pulitzer-prize-worthy photo of wine country/found the coolest wine gadget] and want to share. How do I submit a tip for Vinobite?
Bite back! We want to hear what you're drinking too. Just know that because of the crazy distribution system (see "Why can't I find the wine you recommended in my city?" above) we may not be able to get our thirsty little paws on your favorite wine. If we can and we love it too, we'll definitely feature it. Just note that we have a loose editorial calendar with a different type of wine featured every week, so it might be awhile before we get yours in.
How do I syndicate Vinobite on my blog/website?
We're working on a Vinobite widget that you can post on your blog or website and will announce details soon. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed or our Facebook feed, become a Facebook fan, and read our Twitter updates.
What happened to my Vinobite?
Oops! Did you miss a delivery? Check your spam folder and approve us if we accidentally landed in there. If your Vinobite disappeared into the ether, we don't know what to say, except "sorry about that!" Your server might have belched and forgotten to say excuse me. If you're not getting Vinobites, period, try resubscribing, and if you still can't solve the problem, contact us and we'll help you figure it out
How do I find past wine recommendations?
Just do a search at the top of the page. We tag all of our wines by vintage, producer, varietal or blend, country, region, sub-appellation, and price.
How do I unsubscribe?
Just click on the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the email. But, seriously, we hate to lose you! You can sign up for the weekly Bite if the daily is too much. If you just need a break, we get it. Take care.
Got another Q not on the list? Contact us.
