If you have a website that you intend to market on the Internet via search engines (such as Google) and directories (such as Yahoo!), I have a little advice for you.

If you prefer to submit your site the hard way, you can try to find the hundreds of site-submittal pages yourself, or you can hire someone to “hand submit” for you. If you choose the former, you’ll spend needless hours researching, then keying in different data into countless gateway scripts. If you choose the latter, like I originally did with ineedhits.com, you may be repeatedly charged for a subscription that is not mentioned anywhere on their “Buy Now” page.

In the case of ineedhits.com, after I saw the subsequent charge and complained, they refused to reverse the charges, claiming (of course) that I agreed to a monthly subscription. I returned to the site I bought their service from and found no mention whatsover about any subscription, nor any mention about repeated monthly charges. I feel that sort of business tactic is inherently, if not incredibly, dishonest. Unfortunately it is all too common on the World Wide Web.

So, I suggest you make it easy on your time and your pocketbook. But most of all (emphasis strongly implied), do not do business with ineedhits.com, ever. Period.

Now for the good news. I’ve come to learn about a very cost-effective site that helped me. With selfpromotion.com, I was able to submit my website, California Wine Hikes, to a number of search engines and directories without a lot of work, and with very little cost. For a one-time fee of $10, I not only could submit to all the major engines and directories, but I can also track the status of my submittals, optimize for the search engines’ spiders, and much more. There is also a lot of great content on the site to learn from. Using this nearly-free and valuable service, I’ve been able to elevate my page ranking in Google from 1 to 5 almost instantly.

If selfpromotion.com interests you, I suggest you check it out.

~winehiker

The tourism and travel industry is taking note of a trend toward a type of travel experience that augments people’s lives in meaningful ways. While people are always going to enjoy vacations at the beach, there is a recent momentum toward seeking deeper, more profound experiences such as whitewater rafting, mountain biking, hiking, and kayaking. At the heart of the trend, it’s anything that gets you outdoors, even if it’s birdwatching or canoeing on a local lake. Many people are working overtime and putting in long hours, and therefore the prospect of getting away for a quick vacation can often be easier than going abroad for an extended stay. As a result, many travelers are opting for day trips or week-long trips closer to home. But when they do, travelers want balance in their lives, and they want their vacations to be valuable experiences.

If an adventure tour stimulates their personal growth, such as a week-long series of day hikes into a wild area or an appreciation of a spectacular natural environment, travelers are booking such tours, and are mostly booking them online on a myriad of tour and travel websites. Adventure experiences are the new travel trend, because they are enriching in ways that destination resorts are not. While resorts are fabulous places to relax, it’s often more uplifting, even educational, to visit places in which you are a participant, and not just lounging about.

Russ Beebe is an experienced wine taster and trail guide who leads naturalist tours at californiawinehikes.com.

Just heard from my buddy Denali Dave (a.k.a. Dave Medlicott), who’s working for an NBC affiliate at the Olympic Games in Torino. Dave sent along a couple of photos today, one of which, a night-time shot of the Olympic Flame, is just down the street from where Dave is staying. The other photo is of Dave wearing the Gold Medal for pairs ice dancing.

Gosh, I thought I knew Dave: wine lover, mountain climber, globetrotting video troubleshooting guru. But ice dancing?

Heck, it’s always good to discover something incredibly wonderful and new about your friends.

Actually, Dave is telling the truth, having met this week’s Olympic Gold Medal winners in pairs ice dancing, Russian Tatyana Totmiyanina and her partner, Maxim Marinin. That’s Dave mugging with their medal in what appears to be my old cubicle where I used to work here in Silicon Valley.

Yes, I’m sure there’s more to this story. But on a personal level, I sure am happy for Dave, who has journeyed so incredibly far beyond most of us to realize his extraorbital Olympic dreams.

~winehiker

Since I posted Record Northern California 2005 Grape Harvest last Sunday evening, I’ve received some great feedback and commentary. People from all over, whether they know and enjoy wine or don’t consume wine whatsoever, have written this week to share their thoughts. I thought I’d share them with you.

“Russ, interesting article. Although we are not a wine consuming family, other members of the extended family are. I knew the weather is one of the factors (or many) in winemaking and prices. I never realized how many tons of grapes went into making the wine for people to enjoy. I used to drink Manischewitz wine when I married my ex; [it] was extremely sweet. Thanks for enlightening me.”
- Sheryl R., Norwich, CT

“I’ll be keeping my eyes out for ‘05 from Napa and Sonoma!”
- David C., Boston, MA

“Russ - am printing this off for my husband. We have friends that live in Tracy….I think I know where we will be going to recover from our daughter’s wedding!”
- Gisela S., Phoenix, AZ

“We watched Sideways the other night and loved it. We’ve always enjoyed wine but didn’t know much about it. I plan to read this in greater depth while on the road in New York.”
- B. Bissell, Schroeder, MN

“Now that I’m actually interested in wine, I regret not being in California anymore.”
- Michelle Y., Minneapolis, MN

“This is awesome news for a budding wine enthusiast on a budget!”
- Marjy L.

“I will still continue to drink French wine, but I may change!!!”
- Francois Arlabosse, Louveciennes, Paris, France

“A dream trip of mine is to visit Napa Valley and be able to experience first hand what winemaking is all about. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. I had a wonderful Merlot last evening that was organically grown in Napa Valley. Wonderful….”
- Colleen N., Clinton, IA

“Great news! When will we start seeing the better prices?”
- Diana R., Minneapolis, MN

“Hey, where do you stand on Trader Joe’s Two Buck Chuck? Worse than Boone’s Farm?”
- Carol V., Wellston, MI

~winehiker

Though I often find myself embracing quality over quantity in my life, I suspect that the 2005 Napa and Sonoma grape harvest will find wine collectors, futures buyers, and consumers embracing both, and snapping up as much 2005 Napa Valley and Sonoma County Cabernets and Merlots as possible.

Imagine the best wines you could ever drink at a price you’d never expect to afford. Now imagine having so much of it available to you that you could die happy, a heartily-satiated wine lover. I think life for an admirer of wine just doesn’t get any better than that. As long as you’re still embracing life, of course.

Hey, you can’t drink wine when you’re dead, right?

Even as far back as a year ago, on a wildflower jaunt to Death Valley, I thought 2005 was going to be a banner year. Multiple storms had pounded Southern California, delivering record-breaking rainfall and spawning prolific 100-year wildflower shows in Death Valley and the Carrizo Plains. But these constant heavy rains had also soaked deep into the terroir of California’s myriad expanse of grape-growing regions. I had thought at the time that winegrowers around the state would benefit from a record quantity of grapes, therefore keeping prices low for consumers. But with the consummate knowledge that California grape growers and winemakers have applied in recent years, I felt that those of us who are ardent wine fans might just enjoy a great synergy of quality, as well as quantity, from the 2005 grape harvest.

Indeed, what I suspected has become wonderful news, as you’ll see in the following story reprinted from the Napa Register.

Napa grapes brought in more than $500 million; harvest up, prices steady, and cabernet is still the king
By L. PIERCE CARSON, Register Staff Writer Saturday, February 11, 2006 1:10 AM PST

Weighing in at a record 180,813 tons, Napa Valley’s 2005 grape crop is the largest ever harvested.

As a result, the value of last fall’s grape crush — a cool $541 million — is the largest amount ever paid local growers for prized Napa Valley grapes. Tonnage registered half again as much as the previous year’s harvest, while the average price paid for a ton of Napa Valley grapes — $2,989, the highest price per ton in the entire state — crept up a modest 2 percent last year. Pricing and tonnage information about the most recent harvest is contained in the preliminary 2005 grape crush report released Friday by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

The value of Napa’s 2005 crop is estimated at more than half a billion dollars, noted Sue Brewster, an associate with industry analyst George Schofield, of St. Helena. A 54 percent increase in income for growers when compared to 2004, it also eclipses the prior record of $390 million set in 2003, Brewster added.

In a year where prices remained relatively stable, the huge increase in crop value is tied directly to “a huge avalanche of grapes,” declared Schofield, attributed to newly planted vines coming into production. “The relative short production in the four years from 2001 through 2004 — a fairly narrow range of 120,000 tons to 130,000 tons — concealed the effect of the maturing of the significant planting of vines from 1997 to 2001,” he added. “Clearly, the 181,000 tons of Napa grapes for the year 2005 brought this impact into sharp focus.”

“With this volume (of grapes), prices remaining strongly stable and a lot of people looking at quality with high regard, we may have seen the triple crown of winegrape growing,” said Napa Valley Grapegrowers executive director Jennifer Kopp after poring over the 2005 grape crush report. Kopp noted the previous crop tonnage record was set in 1997, with this year’s total coming in 21 percent higher than that.

If one looks at the revenue derived from grapes in the North Coast counties of Napa, Sonoma, Lake and Mendocino, “it comes to well over $1 billion. I think that sends a message about the value of agriculture in the North Coast,” she said. One of the largest independent growers in the North Coast, Andy Beckstoffer said he was surprised at tonnage figures. “But more exciting is that prices held,” Beckstoffer noted. “With that kind of tonnage you’d expect prices to fall. So that’s a great credit to Napa County. “When you combine record tonnage with stable prices and outstanding quality, you get what they call in hockey a hat trick.

Facts and figures

Cabernet sauvignon remains king of the grapes in the Napa Valley, with a record 69,178 tons harvested last year. That’s an increase of 19,478 tons, or 39 percent, above the 2004 crush. The second largest planting in Napa County is chardonnay, with 33,935 tons harvested last year. That’s an increase of 10,700 tons, or a hike of 46 percent. Merlot tonnage in 2005 totaled 31,676 — up by 9,415 tons, or 42 percent. Pinot noir weighed in at 10,181 tons, an increase of 1,906 tons, or 23 percent. America’s grape, zinfandel, saw a 22 percent increase in tonnage last harvest — 5,357 tons, up from 4,222 in 2004.

“Indeed, the results for pinot noir point out that the large increase in grape production in 2005 reflects that the year 2004 was about as far below normal as 2005 was above normal — roughly 25 percent each way,” noted Schofield. As for prices of 2005 fruit, cabernet sauvignon remains at the top of the largest planted varietals — an average of $3,970 a ton, an increase of only $17 over 2004. Also registering very modest price increases (between $20 and $26 per ton) were merlot at $2,661 and pinot noir at $2,196.

The average price paid for a ton of chardonnay continued to decline slightly. The average price last year was $2,112 per ton, a drop of $17. The price paid per ton of sauvignon blanc was $1,711, an increase of 5 percent. Other reds gaining popularity here include syrah (4,218 tons, $2,712 per ton), cabernet franc (3,706 tons, $4,125 per ton) and petite sirah (2,229 tons, $3,149 per ton).

“Due to the offsetting effect of the large 2005 crop and the short 2004 — as well as the inherent pricing economics of premium wine grapes — inordinate concern ought not to be raised about a radical price reaction for Napa grapes in 2006,” advises Schofield. “Nevertheless, prudent growers should put some of the 54 percent gain in 2005 revenue in the bank in anticipation of the next down cycle in the industry, which is certain to occur.”

Around the state

The news was also good in neighboring Sonoma County, where total grape crop revenue registered $429 million, an increase of 38 percent over the previous harvest. Grape tonnage in Sonoma is higher than in Napa by nearly 50 tons — an increase of 39 percent from 2004 to 230,000 tons. The chardonnay crop in Sonoma County is more than double Napa’s, weighing 73,241 tons in 2005. But the average price paid for chardonnay in Sonoma is well below Napa’s — at $1,581 per ton. Cabernet sauvignon tonnage in Sonoma County registers 45,399, with the average per ton price of $2,322.

Sonoma County growers received the second-highest return statewide, of $1,868 per ton, virtually unchanged from 2004. Statewide, the 2005 crush totaled a record 4,318,083 tons, up 19 percent from the 2004 crush of 3,615,278 tons. Red wine varieties accounted for the largest share of all grapes crushed, at 2,220,096 tons, up 35 percent from 2004. The 2005 white wine variety crush totaled 1,524,404 tons, up 34 percent over the previous harvest. The 2005 average price paid for all grape varieties was $531.65, up 10 percent from 2004. The average price paid for red grapes throughout the state last year was $634.40, an increase of 1 percent; for white grapes, $503.15, up 3 percent from 2004.

~winehiker

Related articles by Zemanta

• Observations on the 2008 Final Grape Crush Report (steveheimoff.com)

Folks, in case you’re wondering why you haven’t seen a blog post from me lately, it’s not for lack of trying. I’ve had a problem logging in to my WordPress account, and hadn’t been able to resolve it until tonight. Apparently it came down to a cookie in my temporary Internet cache that had crumbled! So, having now deleted all cookies, I find I’m able to once again log in.

I’ll be posting more winehiker witiculture soon, so stay tuned, and thanks for hanging in there!

~winehiker