Welcome to Wine Terroir! My name is Robert Vernick and I am a wine blogger, wine writer, wine influencer, or whatever label people use for content creators that leverage social media to build a community.  Social Media communities form around a shared passion for a topic. After completing the WSET Diploma, I started Wine Terroir to discuss what makes one wine unique from another. 

Before this, I lived in China for 12 years, and gaining fluency in Mandarin Chinese was an important milestone. Beijing is where my wine education started, I completed the WSET Intermediate and Advanced under Fongyee Walker MW. In Shanghai, I established the Shanghai Blind Wine Club in order to prepare for the WSET Diploma.  As the wine scene in China was starting to flourish, I was often asked to review wines for local English and Bilingual Magazines. Several times, I was asked to judge small wine competitions of imported wines. In China,  I started two tech startups. One of the startups exited through an acquisition by a French company and I worked for a Fortune 500 company to run their China office as the COO. 

The wine industry needs to evolve how it markets to Gen Y and  Gen Z  as their attention is captivated by a handful of apps on smart devices.  Wineries want this to lead directly to an increase in sales, but the reality is that social media channels are the most effective branding and communication tools ever created. Wineries need to evolve their mindset to open up these channels of communication with their customers. My goal is to work with wineries to guide, teach, and implement social media strategies to grow the power of their brand and connect to their consumers on a new level.