If it surprises you to learn that Kendall-Jackson remains family-owned, it’s understandable. As the American wine industry has grown, its pioneering families and successful brands have often sold – some would say sold out – to large corporate interests.

Not K-J. It’s a brand misconception they’re about to correct – that even as they’ve become a household name, they’ve kept it personal, and all in the family.

The effort to re-personalize K-J’s brand kicks off with the FINE-conceived Words of Wisdom campaign, and an appearance on CBS’s hit show “Undercover Boss” on Sunday, January 29th at 8 (7 Central).

On the show, CEO Rick Tigner connects with staff incognito to learn their true stories and weave them into the company’s family legacy. It’ll have you celebrating K-J’s personal side. And maybe taking a closer look at that new guy who started in accounting at your own office.

Meanwhile, the Words of Wisdom (or, WOW) campaign begins with a comprehensive communications effort across digital (web, mobile, tablet, Facebook) and analog channels.

The Words of Wisdom website, headlined by a silhouetted image that evokes both the TV show premise and the ever-presence of the late company founder Jess Jackson, tells the K-J family story. With video and words, it forms the connective tissue between the Jackson family and the people who make K-J go. That thread extends to K-J fans with a collaborative tool that allows people to share their family’s legacy through advice, stories, and pictures.

The website is responsive, adapting for view on desktop, tablet, and mobile. It’s not just a simple sniff – even re-sizing the browser on your desktop will take you into small screen mobile mode. A back-end tool helps manage the flow of wisdom, approving submissions as they come in.

Through user submission and additional K-J video and other content in coming months, the digital experience will continue to grow. Along with it, grows the sense that K-J has retained its family roots, while inviting you to Join The Family.

The offline campaign extends to neckers, case glorifiers, mass displays, billboards, online advertising, and beyond. All are unified by the idea of continuing to build on this winery’s family legacy.

The Words of Wisdom campaign will persist long after the Undercover Boss television event. It will evolve and grow, a legacy shared and created by those with a lasting appreciation for Kendall-Jackson. And just good old-fashioned family wisdom.

Paul Hobbs is one of the first California winemakers to focus on single-vineyard wines. As one of the rare winegrower/winemakers, his integrated vision of unfiltered, unfined wines creates exciting, structured wines rooted in classic old world techniques yet distinctly Californian in expression. That attention is on display on the new Paul Hobbs website and mobile site experiences.

The site design reflects the natural, organic approach that has enabled Paul Hobbs himself to emerge as a celebrity wine authority worldwide. The rich nature imagery of the javascript-driven homepage emphasizes the texture and authenticity of the process and approach. Carefully selected images and display are able to convey the biology and science of winemaking while losing nothing of the romance and aesthetic. And the experience expands dynamically to fit your browser size. It also provides a place for philosophical quotes that drive Hobbs, like “The key to good winemaking is paying attention.”

The mobile site retains the site look and feel and focused image approach, while narrowing the content to those things most accessed on the go, with a focus on releases, purchase, and visit/contact info.

A FINE content management system – with wine industry tools developed over years of creating world-class wine brand sites – drives the web and mobile sites, managing complex information areas that are specific to Hobbs, though general to many wine brands. Thoughtful attention to the management and display of acclaim, vineyards, accolades, and even FAQs helps make that content easily accessible and updated, without overwhelming the site’s aesthetic.

The overall effect is an experience that connects the people (extending beyond Paul Hobbs to those who help to make the wine great), the place (with a reverence for the land and the process of farming it), and the product (the acclaimed wines).

HTML5 Please
The good folks at HTML5 Boilerplate and Modernizr offer their recommendations on what HTML5 features are ready to use.

Apple Reports Best Quarter Ever
I think this company might have a future

Give Me Spark
Good decisions come from good debates

A Brief, Incomplete and Mostly Wrong History of Programming Languages
Emphasis on ‘mostly wrong’

High Performance HTML5
Steve Sounders talks HTML5 and speed

Command & Conquer HTML5
This HTML5/JS version goes open source

HTML5 Cross Browser Polyfills
A nice list of available polyfills for just about everything

Friday the 13th Superstitions Explained
Cross your fingers and knock on wood

The Internet Goes on Strike
Reddit and Wikipedia confirm Jan. 18th blackout to protest SOPA

A Prototype is Worth a Thousand Words
How documentation can only go so far

The Bug Fix that Could Make the Internet 5% Faster
Google Analytics developer has a problem with their cookies

Nokia Maps 3D
100% WebGL 0% plugin

Asynchronous UIs – The Future of Web User Interfaces
We don’t need no stinking page refresh

IE6 Countdown
IE6 usage drops below 1% in the US

Chrome 15 is Now World’s Most Popular Browser (Version)
Chrome’s #1! Chrome’s #1!

Bill DeRouchey’s Talks at CreativeMornings/Portland
Watch the Creative Director of Simple talk about creating with an opinion.

Finding Waldo with Code
It’s officially time for him to change his shirt.

VideoSWS: HTML5 Video Player Comparison
Who know there were so many?

User Retention as a Service?
With so much attention on gaining users, what can we do to keep them?

20 Sites that Pushed Javascript to the Limit
Which sites unlocked the hidden gems of the modern browser in 2011?

GoDaddy Faces Boycott Threat from SOPA Opponents
GoDaddy supports SOPA, loses customers

WebGL Nyan Cat
It was only a matter of time…

2011 was a year of austerity, occupation, Congressional bickering, dictator(ship) deaths. Good or bad, for many it just wasn’t all that fun. That’s why we’re heading into 2012 with something more than the usual resolution. We’ve got a cause, and the cause is play. It’s “play with purpose”, and the purpose is play.

We’re going to enlist you in that cause. You’ll find our new Play With Fine site regularly stocked with playstarters, perhaps some opportunities for philanthroplay. And you’ll be invited to show your contributions, and share with others. It’s a playgroundswell! But it’s not simply fun and games. Play is important. We’ll let our Play Manifesto explain:

We’re serious. Play’s not just kid stuff. It doesn’t require toys, courts, boards, computer screens, or even a customized “Play With Purpose” playground ball. That’s because play is not merely a category of frivolous activities; play is an essential perspective.

Play’s that zone of enhanced learning, discovery, creativity, and productivity that’s the exact opposite of “goofing off”. What it takes is an active, alert, focused, stress-free frame of mind. Certified playologists call it “flow”. You’ll know you’re there when you’re doing exactly what you want to be doing right now. Or maybe forever.

This is the realm of open minds and happy accidents that gave us each, as children, most of what we know about how the world works. It also yielded penicillin, The Theory of Relativity, ice cream cones, gravity, Shakespeare’s plays, the computer mouse. You know, kid stuff.

As technology gives us new ways to play and “gamify” our lives, remember that it’s all an extension of the innate sense of adventure, imagination, freedom, and curiosity that’s always inspired our species. It can cost nothing but pays off big time. It has a purpose, and yet it’s an end in itself.

Perhaps the greatest thing about play is that it makes hard things seem easy. Unstructured, spontaneous play will challenge you to work through tricky situations and rules, toward new ways, ideas, and possibilities.

But you won’t even notice; you’ll be too busy playing.

As living testament to the fact that every touch point is a chance to enhance brand relationships, we offer the humble “out of office” auto reply. Why not have fun with it, embue it with supernatural powers, use it to relay a poem or a sentiment? As long as you keep it relatively brief, in deference to the repetition some of your recipients may experience, the auto reply can be fun. When the FINE offices close next week, you can expect to see some effort on this front. A few early examples are below – we’ll add more. Another bonus: now you don’t need to email us over the holidays just to see the clever auto replies.

—————
Hello!

This is an automated response, from a machine.  It can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until it wishes you and yours a safe and happy holiday season.

FINE will be closed from Dec. 26th through Jan. 2.   I look forward to re-engaging with you and hitting the ground running in 2012.

Cheers!
- Sam
—————
If you’re reading this, Doc Brown was unable to make lightning strike the clock tower, and I’m stuck in 1985. I won’t be able to respond to emails or voicemail until 9ish on Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012, or until email is invented – whatever comes first.

Happy Holidays,
Abe
—————
Thank you for your Email. This is an auto-reply. My elves are standing in while I figure out how to program my newest iComeLately gadget to twitter-book my social-tablet.

I’ll bet no matter how many Emails you send, my little elves can easily keep up. Go ahead. Give it a shot. Email again. In fact, I’m trying to figure out exactly how many Emails my Inbox can store. When I get back, I’m going to randomly pick Emails out of a hat (well, digital hat… combined with a few random deletes). I will perhaps respond to those Emails selected.

So… send away, and increase your chances of being one of the lucky reply recipients. The big drawing occurs on January 3, when I descend back down upon this fine landscape we call the work environment.

In other words, I’m gone until the new year. Happy Holidaze to all y’alls.
—————

Hello and thank you for your message!

The FINE offices are closed Monday (12/26) through the following Monday (1/2) for the holidays. During this time I’ll be doing crazy things like: head to the grocery store *during the day* (gasp!), skip the weekend brunch rush and go during the week, an early morning hike somewhere in the beautiful Pacific NW… but most importantly: kicking back and sleeping in!

I hope this message finds you enjoying all the little things that bring you joy this holiday season.

Have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to connecting with you again in the new year!

All the best,
Kate

—————

Hello. This is one of those auto-reply messages. I would never talk to YOU personally in this smart-alecky way.

In accordance with the wishes of my personal retinue of hypnotists, shamans, and low-carb chefs, I will be pursuing a vigorous course of corrective therapies at an undisclosed location between 12/23/11 and 1/3/12. I hope to re-engage with you as soon as my regimen is complete.

Happy holidays!

—————

Here’s hoping you’ll be available only via auto reply next week as well! Happy holidays.

TextMate 2.0 Alpha
The TextMate we know and love is finally growing up!

The Quicksort Algorithm Explained
…using Hungarian folk dance.

15 Web Conference Talks You Need to Watch
According to .net Magazine

Microsoft Turns on Auto Update Internet Explorer for Everyone
The internet applauds.

An Intro to OOCSS
Let’s all do our part to fight CSS bloat.

Polyfilling The HTML5 Gaps
An excellent slideshow on bringing HTML5 features to non-supported browsers.

Respond.js
Speaking of polyfills, here’s a good one for CSS3 Media Queries

Hidden Industry Dupes Social Media Users
Your captchas aren’t enough anymore.

Why Apps Are Not The Future
The web is dead, or is it? A simple case against apps.

From Chateau Montelena to Chateau Ste. Michelle, FINE has designed and developed winery websites for archetypes throughout the industry. When FINE acquired Big Daylight in 2011 and established a search engine marketing division, the immediate opportunity was to move beyond building glamorous online destinations and focus on directing traffic to them. We’ve learned much about how to best approach SEO and online marketing for wineries.

One of the first revelations – many wineries simply do not own results around their OWN BRAND online. This goes above and beyond the name of your winery, and extends to every type of wine and release date featured on your website. It’s not that you don’t want wine.com or snooth.com to mention your product, it’s that ranking more highly allows you to tell your story first, especially if you also sell your wines online. With that in mind, here’s a taste of some frequently asked wine and search questions:

What should I do about age verification?

When it comes to SEO, the home page is all-important. So what happens when you are required to slap an age-verification on your homepage? We certainly don’t want Google to think your site is about “You must be 21 years of age or older to enter. Please select your date of birth below.” Your homepage also must resolve at http://www.yourdomain.com, and not redirect to http://www.yourdomain.com/ageverification.

FINE has handled this by creating a clever pop-up screen that allows the user to enter their age, while still providing plenty of search-engine friendly content directly on the homepage. You can see this in action on several FINE websites, including this Napa Valley winery.

Do I need to create a unique page for every type of wine?

YES. Don’t make the mistake of listing various types of wine on one page, instead of creating a page for each type. It may be hard for your 2007 Chardonnay to position if you haven’t really devoted a page to it. Other online retailers selling your own wine (along with tons of others) could beat you!

But I put all my tasting notes in PDFs! It’s so much easier to link to all of these from one page!

You’re right. That is easier. But sometimes building a SEO-friendly site takes some time and elbow grease. We guarantee it will be worth your while to take that fabulous PDF content, put it in a real HTML page instead, and then also continue to offer PDFs for download and printing. Some SEOs might advise you to use robots.txt or other methods to block the PDFs from being indexed since they would be duplicate content to the main pages, but honestly, Google is smart enough to figure this out on their own.

I want to position on Napa Valley Winery. And also Napa Valley Wines. How do I do that? Give me the secret…
Honestly, that is going to be very hard. This is what we call a “Vanity Term”. It’s an instance where you are not only competing against other wineries, but information sites, tour sites, and even hotels.  It looks so attractive and shiny, but remember that every rose has its thorn. If you want to position on that term and currently are nowhere even in the top 30, be prepared envision someone working on this 8 hours a day for an indefinite amount of time, building content and links. Probably 2 people.

Instead of focusing on on vanity terms, we suggest you focus on keywords specific to YOU. You will find these terms in the long tail, and the long tail can bring you more traffic than any vanity term ever would. This superb chart and SEO article from SEOMoz (we encourage you to subscribe to this site) illustrates this in more depth:

I want more people to come for wine tastings, and perform better in local search.
Local search is one of the best places a winery can work to optimize your brand and website. See this separate article we wrote, all about Local SEO. Also, don’t forget the huge power of Online Reviews. Also consider linking to your Google Places page from the footer of your website.

Any other tips I should know about?
Be sure to give every page on your website a unique Title Tag and Meta Description Tag that contains important keywords while also sounding great for users. Ideally you will write these by hand yourself, but if not, then create intelligent rules that auto-populate tags to make them as descriptive as possible. Back to that 2007 Chardonnay – if you created a page for it, but didn’t optimize the title tag or description (which instead only say the name of your winery), you’ve really reduced overall relevance for that page.

Also, if you sell your wine online, be sure you have registered and submitted a Google Merchant Feed.

Of course, from URL structure to website navigation, there are a variety of other factors that encompass creating a search-friendly website. But for those who run winery websites, these considerations may help guide you toward the traffic you so richly deserve.

Fullscreen HTML5 Video
Yeah you heard me!

Top 6 HTML5 Trends in 2011
Mobile first, responsive design and offline caching, oh my!

Embedded Tweets
Copy/paste-able HTML for Twitter.

Facebook to Launch a Subscribe Button for Websites
“Publishers will be able to add the button to their websites, much like they do with the Twitter “follow” button today, allowing users one-click access to a person’s public updates.”

The Challenges of Working Remotely
Sam Brown discusses his person experience with working remotely.

A 404 Page with Class
Kudos to mint.com for helping Justin out.

Chrome Take Their Dev Tools to the Next Level (Again)
Paul Irish gives a tour of some of the new features.