Gary Vaynerchuk Is Thirsty

The host of WineLibraryTV wants to use the Internet to make him bigger than Emeril Lagasse, Rachael Ray, and Oprah

by Catherine Holahan

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Gary Vaynerchuk is still thirsty. The 32-year-old Internet celebrity has changed the way millions see wine with WineLibraryTV.com's "Thunder Show," a popular video blog in which Vaynerchuk combines the palate of Robert Parker with the in-your-face passion of Mad Money's Jim Cramer. He has transformed his father's small Springfield (N.J.) wine shop, from which his show takes its name, from a $4 million-a-year business to a $50 million-a-year enterprise that makes half of its sales through online orders. This month, Vaynerchuk even released a book, 101 Wines. But Vaynerchuk still wants more. "I want to own the New York Jets, that's what I want," says Vaynerchuk. "And I absolutely believe I am going to own the Jets."

It's big talk. But that's Vaynerchuk's trademark. Sitting on the arm of a high-backed leather chair in a large office atop his 40,000-square-foot wine store, declarations flow from Vaynerchuk's mouth like, um, wine. Wine is "awesome." He drinks from a "big-ass glass." His goal is to be the Emeril Lagasse (bigger!) of wine. "My personal brand has exploded," says Vaynerchuk. "I feel like all this is going in a very big direction."

For Vaynerchuk, the Web was always about more than just selling wine. Vaynerchuk sees video blogs, social networks like Facebook, and microblogging services like Twitter and Pownce as tools for building a personal online brand. Once created, that brand can be used to sell anything from business advice to bottles of Bordeaux.

Embracing Web Video

Tech entrepreneurs have long used the Web as a word-of-mouth marketing tool to build personality cults and audiences for their online projects. Digg founder Kevin Rose and noted technology blogger Robert Scoble are just two examples of techies turned online celebrities through social media tools that draw crowds to new projects. Vaynerchuk, who is known for eschewing wine galas in favor of tech events such as March's South by Southwest digital conference, is the first to bring that business model to wine. "When the tech geeks talk, I pay close attention," says Vaynerchuk.

Vaynerchuk first reacted to the social Web after seeing a Saturday Night Live clip. It was 2005, and the SNL cast had released a music video online called "Lazy Sunday," featuring cast members rapping about eating cupcakes and going to see a movie. Millions watched the digital short: e-mailing it to friends, posting it on video-sharing site YouTube (GOOG), and uploading it to peer-to-peer services. For Vaynerchuk, it was a revelation. Soon after that, he saw what video-bloggers Amanda Congdon and Ze Frank were doing—building large online fan communities around their content—and thought he had to get in the game.

Initially he wasn't sure he wanted to do videos about wine. Vaynerchuk just wanted to get his name—his personal brand—out there on a subject he was passionate about. His first thought was a sports video blog. Eventually, however, he realized a wine show played more to his strengths, giving him an opportunity to share his more than 16 years of industry knowledge and unique palate. "Everyone thought: 'He's doing WineLibraryTV to sell more wine,'" says Vaynerchuk. "The day I started WineLibraryTV was the day I was out of the wine retail business."