What’s your take on wine festivals? I think it’s a great opportunity for consumers to get out and meet a lot of people and get a chance to taste the wares of area winemakers all in one place. Unfortunately, you can sometimes feel like just a number in the crowd which can taint the experience a little, depending on what you are looking for.
We went to the Georgia Fine Wine Festival today at Blackstock winery and it was a beautiful day. The food and music was fabulous (big props to The Kip Dockery Jazz Quartet), but my experience at the tasting tents of the various area wineries was mixed I must say. I’ve been to most of the wineries that were present save for just a few (Yonah Mountain, Persimmon Creek and Sharp Mountain) and the wines were all very nice with a few really good standouts. Unfortunately, there were just so many people there, I couldn’t help but feel like cattle being moved along as fast as possible like an assembly line through the tasting and this messed up my expectations of the “experience” I was to have this day. Additionally, most of the folks working these tasting tents were hired help and not the winemakers themselves, except for a few. Oh, and by the way, if you’re going have hired help pouring your wines, please instruct them never to use water to “rinse” your glass between tastings – I saw this on more than one occasion – and PLEASE make sure they engage with your potential customers! As those of us who are vying for the Murphy Goode opportunity are continually preaching to the high heavens, it’s all about interactivity and engagement to build long-lasting relationships and ultimately evangelists, not about selling that bottle today.
For a positive example, I actually got to chat for a short while with Brannon, the assistant winemaker and son of the owner of Wolf Mountain Vineyards, Karl Boegner. He was a very cool dude, a future’s so bright he had to wear shades stud, and explained his wines well as he poured for patrons. He made a connection and was opened to my inquiries about various winemaking components of his wines and he easily obliged. If it wasn’t for this one experience on the day, I may have been completely disappointed. Thanks, Brannon!
So, festivals are nice and can be fun on a nice summer day, but if you don’t leave those patrons thinking about you, your wine or that one experience they’ll remember when they get home, you may have lost them forever.
In keeping with the “southern” flavor, here’s the 2009 Texas Wine Festival as surveyed by Ashley Bellview of A Really Goode Girl fame:
Wine festivals are tricky. My family’s winery pours at about 2 festivals each year, and it is an interesting experience to be on the other side of the table. It’s easy to get disheartened and irritated at the drunken mobs of people shoving wine glasses in your face, particularly when they don’t seem to know or care what you are pouring into it. On the other hand, I know that a lot of wine lovers and current and future customers do go to festivals, so it is important not to get dragged into the “festival fuss” and not to make assumptions about the people you are pouring for. In fact, at our last festival I actually had someone compliment me by saying that I was the most pleasant person they had talked to that day (strongly implying that many of the other wineries were not very pleasant). It seems that a lot of wineries that frequently pour at festivals begin to get abrupt with folks and assume that they don’t know or care about the wines they are pouring. Like you, when attending festivals for fun I have been turned off by several wineries based on the poor attitude and the lack of knowledge of the people pouring wines.
Thanks for the post, Wine Conscience and it’s good to get the perspective from the other side for this discussion. I have definitely seen the mob just looking for that buzz from the free pours and I’m sure you get your share of crazies out there.
It’s tough to filter through the “noise” to know who’s a real potential customer, someone who really cares about what they are drinking and may consider coming back. My philosophy is that you always have to be “on stage” and sometimes grin and bare it when it comes to those glass-shovers.
Thanks again!
Very good read as it’s most enlightening to understand both perspectives. In support of Ed’s astute observations, my wife and I head out to Napa every couple of years and do so purposefully after the rush (harvest and crush…….sorry to rhyme). The method to our madnes is that we get so much personal interaction with the presenters and sometimes winemakers that most people will certainly miss during the earlier weeks. It gives us the opportunity to discuss our likes / dislikes and be guided by “local” knowledge to those little-known wineries that produce outstanding offerings. Our stories are endless in this regard but the most recent entails meeting Matt at August Briggs…we were the only patrons there and wound up in the barrel room with Matt literally climbing up the barrels with a siphon and allowing us to taste a multitude of wines at various stages. For you NASCAR fans, August “Joe” Briggs is the winemaker for Jeff Gordon’s Merlot and yes, we tasted that as well !!!
Ed
come up and review our wines! would love to have your thoughts on your blog.
rob
Hey Ed,
I completely relate to your experience. I was at Disnyland of all places about 3-4 weeks ago and they were having a big wine festival featuring both domestic and imported brands. Of these domestic wines was none other than Murphy-Goode.
I was visiting the ‘Napa Valley’ section and I was shocked to discover MG was not being served in this area and that the ‘sales associates’ serving the wine were all employees of Disneyland and had absolutely NO knowledge of the wines, how to pour them or how to rinse them.
If you asked them a questions, they would first read the back of the bottle in hopes it would have the answer. If I had my own wine label I would surely fight to make sure the person serving it had the knowledge and experience. Perhaps you have to pick your battles differently in the wine business. Although I was at Disnyland so what do you expect. He He.
Rob, I am on my way! I am in AZ and NC this week, but I’ll get up there shortly and try your first release. I can’t wait!
Frank, did your pourer have 2 big, black ears and fat, white hands? That could be the problem ; )