Gary Vaynerchuk is the Jeremy Clarkson of wine; 80,000 people watch his daily online video show. It’s a fast-talking, jargon-free monologue with lines like: “Hit a deer on the road. Throw a bunch of cherries on it. Take out your knife, cut the deer. Bite it. That’s the flavour.”

He was born in the USSR and moved to New Jersey when he was three. His parents opened an off-licence in 1983, which became a huge wine supermarket.

He launched his first video in February 2006, and the formula hasn’t changed much – part sales pitch and part wine-appreciation course. He eats earth and licks rocks to find out how they taste. He rails against wine snobs, from merlot haters to snooty waiters.

The shows are cheap and cheerful – nothing more than a camera, a desk, and a hand-written sign. But they’re turning Gary into a big star. He’s on the TV talk-show circuit, and his first book is the top-selling wine guide on Amazon. His ambition? To make wine the new beer.

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