Why? Because not only is he a guru on how to build your brand in the new web landscape, but he also loves wine. This is my kind of guy.

Vaynerchuk took his family’s New Jersey liquor store and turned it into a multi-million dollar business called Wine Library. When he was tired of just doing that, he started Wine Library TV. Here he does daily pod casts about wine. In doing so, he has built quite a brand. The brand is not Wine Library or Wine Library TV (although those are going strong). The brand he built is Gary Vaynerchuk.

Joel Stein explains it best in his Time magazine article “Totally Uncorked”. But to truly understand how to build your brand today, all you need to do is watch Vaynerchuk’s presentation at the 2008 Web 2.0 Expo. I find him captivating.

And he makes me want to pour myself a glass of wine.

*Be aware that he uses some profanity.