It’s a great song, but it is true, at least for one small family winery in Montalcino. They came to London as part of the launch of the Slow Wine Guide, a new extension of the Slow Food movement that is gaining popularity all over the world, to show their wines. I’m sure they hoped for some good connections, but let’s face it, things move at a slow enough pace in wine already, so could hardly expect to do a deal there & then!! Right?

I went to the tasting to meet a friend making excellent wines in and around Brescia and Franciacorta in Italy, and tasted his lovely Vidur Barbera 2007. Other than that, and a meeting with the Slow Wine people, I was supposed to head home again, but I saw lots of friends enjoying themselves so I stayed a little while longer to taste and learn (I need to learn a lot more about Italian wine!).

I came across some young guys pouring wine from Montalcino – a town justly famous for its wines, particularly the Brunello di Montalcino. Having tasted what is really considered the ‘second wine’ of the town, the “Rosso di Montalcino”, I was moved to take a picture and post it to twitter:

Rosso di Montalcino 2009, Baricci, Montalcino

Well, I was hoping to raise their profile a bit, but what I didn’t expect were two direct messages from different wine importers and retailers interested in listing the wines. Wow!

I simply took a photo of the guys’ business card and emailed it to them. Next thing I knew, their mobile was ringing and they’d sold 50 cases of 6 bottles 15 minutes later to Naked Wines.

How’s that for “the business power of social media”?

Well done Naked Wines for listening and acting so quickly. I may be accused of talking about them too much (and let me be clear, I got NOTHING from the deal, I even refused a free bottle of thanks from the producer) but when they do something SO AMAZING, SO DIFFERENT from anyone else in the wine business in the UK and yet are a growing, profitable business, I can’t believe more people are not sitting up and taking notice.

I’ve already bought a case of 6, and if you do too, let me know if you agree that they’re lovely wines.