History
PfW GROUP
HISTORY: During the 1990s, wine coverage by our local
Northern California newspaper was limited to syndicated
reviews (frequently truncated versions, at that), mostly
written by Mid West- or East Coast-based writers,
supplemented by an occasional feature story on wine. The
reviews rarely had relevance to wines available in the
local marketplace and the features were few and far
between.
In early 1998,
Alan
Cannon
approached several friends and associates with the idea
of forming a tasting group to evaluate wines that are
both current and locally-available. Alan contacted the
newspaper's feature editor with an offer to produce a
wine column with local appeal. The editor agreed and
insisted on having one of his staff attend, participate
and write-up our results.
We gathered in May 1998
for our first blind tasting. Although the *newspaper
never did seem interested in publishing our tastings, we
continued to meet and taste monthly. Participation waned
somewhat in Spring 1999 as our voluntary coordinator
Ron
Radoicich
became seasonally inundated by his vineyard and nursery
responsibilities. I offered (like an idiot!) to take
over.
At that June, 1999,
session, we discussed the possibility of putting our
notes on a website, formalized a name, "Professional
Friends of Wine", and agreed to a few simple membership
parameters and tasting ground rules. We relaxed the
original "current and locally-available" requirements
and, ever since, have shared and enjoyed
some delicious wines,
compared in some really fascinating contexts of origin,
price, and age.
(*PfW member
Mark
Arvanigian is now
wine columnist for their on-line edition. In March, 2001,
the "ink" edition began printing a weekly column from a
California sister paper.)
PfW SITE HISTORY: A coworker
of mine, Bob LaFond, had some experience building
websites and first suggested the idea of a website for
the tasting group. He offered to get us up and running
and train me to take over, although my very first
experience on-line was in April, 1999.
PfW members pooled
startup costs on a voluntary basis. Bob registered our
domain name and uploaded our first-generation pages in
July, 1999. This was comprised of group tasting notes
from two sessions, supplemented with monographs I had
been utilizing to teach wine appreciation classes over
the years.
From Dummy to
WebDrone
After a couple of training sessions with Bob, I began
reading web-design books, surfing, and asking questions
of anyone who seemed web-savvy. At the end of August,
1999, I undertook to redesign the PfW logo and the site.
I uploaded the new look at the end of October, 1999. In
April, 2000, I added a search engine, reorganized the
entire site file structure, and added a lot of content
that had been accumulating since January.
In March, 2001, with
the goal in mind of making the site faster-loading and
more easily navigable, I implemented a new design. The
file structure was again reworked to allow for future
expansion without the necessity of continually rebuilding
the site. Two invaluable tools that enabled me to
successfully make all these changes are the OptiView
image compression utility (formerly known as GifWizard)
and the AtomZ site search utility.
|
OptiView
speeds up site viewing by optimizing images in
GIF, JPEG, and most other formats and is fast,
nearly automatic, and point-and-click simple to
work. As a bonus, it also verifies all links. I
started by trying their FREE service, but have
become so convinced of OptiView's worth that PfW
is now an annual subscriber.
|
|
Enter
any Web address below:
|
|
|
|
AtomZ's
site search parameters are easy to configure and
the Search Results page easily customized. On
command, it crawls the site and provides a
detailed list of all broken links -- in under
two minutes. I have also found AtomZ to be one
of the most well-documented and easy-to-use of
many web-based utilities I have tried.
Everything promised has been easy to accomplish
without requiring support services (although I
imagine these would be tops, if
needed).
|
From
Reverie to Catastrophe and Back
July, 2001, was a month of site schizophrenia. Late in
June, PfW was nominated as a TOP
100 Wine Site,
voted upon by readers at Chef2Chef. In the first week or
so, we hovered in the "TOP 10". On July 2, our
host-server mistakenly deleted the entire PfW site. Can
you imagine my mood when I found they had no back up,
contrary to their advertising pitch? As visitors could no
longer find us, low-score votes began dragging PfW down
the rankings.
Trying to find a new host-server extended
the nightmare. Of five candidates which I e-mailed with simple questions
about issues that were either not addressed or not clearly explained
on their respective web sites, only one bothered to answer. I took
a chance and wound up with a bare-bones provider that had no documentation
of the features they advertised and no customer service (five unanswered
e-mails over an eight-day span).
Finally, to my relief, my friend and
long-suffering fellow webmaster Sonny Martin of Urban
Gourmet recommended his host, CybrMall.
What a breath of fresh air these guys were! The entire company was
three partners, each one of them 100% accessible by e-mail or phone!
Backbone connections to the net, easily configured e-mail, helpful
and available customer service - I must have crashed my hard drive
and gone to cyberheaven! (I hope I'm as delighted 10 years from now
and, so far, I think there's a good possibility.)
With PfW back up and
running smoothly in mid-August, we began our long ascent
back on Chef2Chef and again reached the "TOP 10" in
December, 2001.
Final
Remarks
I hope I never again have to deal with either the hosting
company that made me "mADDR" than hell or the
registration company that should change their name to
"Network Confusions" (links purposefully NOT
provided).
Hardware and software
problems starting in May, 2002, eventually led to
purchasing a new Mac, a new system and new software. With
business and travel commitments, it took a few months to
get up to speed. In October, 2002, I uploaded the present
design with a new logo and navigation buttons.
My plan for PfW is to
continue to improve the functionality and to gradually
expand the content. I welcome all comments, pointers to
typos, requests, and suggestions.
CREDITS: People whose assistance, ideas,
inspiration, patience, praise, and tolerance have
significantly contributed are Bob LaFond, Steven Grigory,
Roland Marandino, Alan Cannon, Ray Krause, Sonny Martin
and Jane Ann LaMar. And last, but not least, all the PfW
visitors who have e-mailed suggestions, pointers and kind
words. Thanks & Cheers.
TOOLS:
Through June, 2002, this website was built and maintained
using a Macintosh Performa 6400/180 with 112 Mb RAM,
operating under OS 8.6, primarily using FileMaker
HomePage for WYSIWYG and browser previewing. In July,
2002, an eMac, operating under OSX, replaced the
Performa.
Content
and appearance is now composed using Macromedia Dreamweaver.
I also use one invaluable utility, especially helpful when entering
repetitive and tricky HTML code: TypeIt4Me.
This great Mac-only shareware has been around since System 6 and a
Beta version is now available for OSX; NO Mac worth its processor
should be without it. Current photos are snapped with a Nikon CoolPix
950 digital camera. Graphics and archived photos are scanned on a
CanoScan N670U. Adobe Photoshop
Elements is used for manipulation. On-line programs and aids used
to monitor and enhance our search engine ranking, site stability,
and appearance include OptiView,
Extreme
Tracking, AtomZ,
and InternetSeer.
Reading materials that guide me include
Mac OSX - The Missing Manual by David Pogue and HTML
4 by Elizabeth Castro
(Peachpit Press), as well as articles online and in Macworld
monthly and any other computer magazines lying around my dentist's
waiting room!
-
Jim
LaMar
Awards &
Recognition:
|
|
Chef2Chef
TOP 100 Wine Sites Hall of Fame
(October, 2004)
Thanks to all who voted!
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 
Favorite Wine Links > Education & Information
The Best of the Web
Professional Friends of
Wine
"Professional Friends of Wine is a gem of a
site, with lots of very fine and well-written material. Despite
the name, this is not just for advanced wine pros; rather,
it features experienced and knowledgeable wine lovers sharing
their knowledge with the rest of us. Strongly recommended."
|
June 2001 "Site of the Week"
on... |
April 2001 "Site of the Week"
on ...
 |
"The editorial
staff was highly impressed with PfW's depth of courses, content,
navigation, and sense of humor..."
|
(Although there have been several
updates to PfW since this award, I can't seem to get these folks
to give us another look ...) |
|
What Readers Say About
PfW... |
|
"I just wanted to drop you a
quick message thanking you PROFUSELY for the magnificent resource
you have provided ... after about two hours of murking around
your site I'm feeling my knowledge (and curiosity) grow."
--- Rob
Zazueta (Fremont,
CA)
"Your website is exactly what I've
been looking for. I've been reading your Wine 101 and Consumerism
from beginning to end since this morning and I'm delighted!"
--- Jessica Arthars,
Short Hills, NJ
"Just a note to tell you how much
I appreciate your web site. Your articles are relevant, informative
and playfully written; the perfect antidote to personal agendas
and self-aggrandizing bombast, both of which seem to have infected
the on-line wine industry."
--- Casca Longinus,
Jacksonville, FL
"Nice site. Great contents."
--- James Wilson, Vinoté,
Palmerston North, New Zealand
"One of the best and most informative
web pages I've seen (and I have bookmarked over 500 wine
related sites !)"
--- Renato Cantoni,
Arca Wine Club, Quebec
"Winepros.org has amazed me
with the wealth of wine information so neatly put together,
and best-of-all free."
--- Marty Morales,
wineguy.org,
Dallas |
"Thanks for an excellent, and
excellently done, page and links on these fascinating subjects,
which you have made a lot more accessible!." (RE: Taste,
A User's Manual)
--- Stephen Phipps,
Dept.
of Earth & Environmental Science,
University of Pennsylvania
"A delightful site -- very informative
and approachable."
--- Leigh Ann Smyth,
Home
& Hearth,
Pasadena, CA
"What
a wonderful resource your website provides! I will tell
all who ask the inevitable question 'how do I learn about wine?'
to go to winepros.org."
---
Craig Morphis, Domaine Select Wine Estates, New York City
"I
really enjoyed your article on the three wine myths. Not only
was it edifying, it was also darn funny."
--- Linda Humphris, (location unknown)
"Your 'understanding wine labels'
information on proprietary wines is terrific."
--- Michaela Rodeno,
Chairman, Meritage
Association
"I think your web site is great
and has a ton of very good information for people who choose
to educate themselves. It's great that you provide info that
helps consumers learn about what they are purchasing, and the
truth behind the hype."
--- Nik Mar, (location
unknown)
|
Please
drop Professional Friends of Wine e-mail
with your comments, criticisms, or suggestions.
|
|
