It was hard to miss Thirsty Girl at the New York Wine Expo last weekend: With banners, stickers, attention-getting T-shirts (“I don’t spit…”), the booth manned by high-energy women dispensing champagne was the buzziest corner of the room.

Thirsty Girl is the latest brainchild of Leslie Sbrocco, a multi-hyphened wine personality (author, writer, TV host, wine consultant, speaker, etc.) who is now adding community building to her list of credits. BeAThirstyGirl aspires to be a web community where women receive information on Thirsty Girl trips and events, share wine tips, order the afore-mentioned T-shirts, bond through social networking and order Leslie’s new book, Adventures of a Thirsty Girl.

While Leslie was mobbed by fans – many of whom had attended her Wine 101 seminar – I did manage a few minutes with her:

Favorite wine: Pinor noir – and champagne. “Anything pink and with bubbles, I’m in.”

Favorite wine region to visit: Her last trip was to New Zealand, which she has visited three times. But it’s hard to turn down Tuscany. “In my heart of hearts, Italy.”

What’s the philosophy behind Thirsty Girl? The slogan is “Life: Drink it Up!” but Leslie says that even non-drinkers can be Thirsty Girls. ”It’s about living life to the fullest. More and more people are doing what they love.”  She hopes to create Thirsty Girl chapters that support that zest for life. 

Watching Leslie in action, I couldn’t help think that Thirsty Girl is a stroke of marketing genius. Lord knows the web doesn’t need more communities, but judging by the would-be Thirsty Girls surrounding her booth, Leslie has the momentum to pull it off. One strength is that she’s not just targeting the young and fab. Her demographic is women between 35 to 50, both single and married (there were Thirsty Girl onesies for sale at the booth), a group that generally has more disposable dollars to spend.

As her marketing director put it, “It’s like a Red Hat society, only younger.” People are responding: I saw one woman literally strip down to her bra so she could put on her Thirsty Girl T-shirt.

Would you join the Thirsty Girls? Tell me in the comments below.