The year 2011 is swiftly coming to a close.  What started as a dream for both me and Jonjie, where everything seemed to be going our way at every turn like we had an everful purse of rabbit’s feet with a +10 against evil, the latter half of the year has us dealing with a few curveballs and yearning for the mental renewal of New Year’s in a couple of weeks.  So, it was nice to take some time for ourselves, get a break from the heartache and stress and remember why we are here in the first place.  If the simple beauty of the wine country complete with early-blooming mustard, a sip of some of Napa’s finest in Cabernet Sauvignon (by Corison Winery) and dinner with great friends doesn’t provide the prescription for what ails you, then you’re possibly a Borg.  See for yourself.  In the meantime, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year!

As originally posted on the Wine Bloggers Conference blog:

The inaugural Wine Tourism Conference was held November 16-17 at the newly revived Napa Marriott hot on the heels of yet another inaugural Napa event, the Napa Valley Film Festival.  This is the first conference focused on increasing and enhancing tourism to wine regions around the globe by discussing industry trends and issues as well as sharing best practices.  It was interesting to hear that 35% of attendees were from states other than California.

Zephyr Adventures, creators of the well established Wine Bloggers Conference and industry-leading adventure travel tour operator, partnered with MartinCalder Productions to organize the conference bringing a mix of speakers from the California Wine & Tourism Commission, San Francisco Travel, Sonoma State University, Google, as well as wine experts and personalities that included Michael Mondavi, Allen Shoup, Ray Isle, Leslie Sbrocco, Paul Wagner and Sara Schneider just to name a few.  Every session was informative, full of valuable information and often entertaining.  And let’s not forget the wine provided by the event sponsors.  Here are a few highlights that grabbed my attention…

Leveraging the Nearby Metro

Catherine Beteta, President of the California Travel and Tourism Commission, talked about their “Visit California” program.  She shared that tourism (by hotel revenue per room) to the San Francisco bay area increased by 11.3% in August (latest data) and is California’s top export by more than 3x the next category.  To execute their strategic plan they focus heavily on branding and engagement including the use of videos, traditional print publications and premier sponsorships.  Social media is very important to the marketing mix in that it provides critical peer-to-peer conversation.  Catherine states that video is a key tool for them and that the California Wine Month campaign held in September by the Wine Institute was an example of a successful social media effort.  She states that the level of success you achieve depends on “how you package your brand to trigger that interest or emotion you want.”

Michael Mondavi notes that wine eventually led to the arrival of tourists to the Napa Valley, while Allen Shoup described how that was the opposite for the state of Washington.  The Walla Walla region was discussed often throughout the conference of an example of a remote wine region that has a challenge of attracting visitors from the Seattle metro area due to its remote location.  Both agreed, though, regardless of situation, “it’s about the story… the appeal, the history, and how we got here” that helps attract visitors to wine country.  People are also planning vacation destinations based on the complete culinary experiences they can have, according to Catherine.

Tasting Rooms

When it comes to attracting visitors to winery tasting rooms there is a dichotomy of increase selling pressure in these trying times vs. the loss of longer term customer, a hypothesis put forth to Steve Cueller of Sonoma State University by John Jordan of Jordan Winery.  What Steve found, among a lot of other cool statistical data in studies he performed in both Sonoma and Napa, was an inverse relationship of attendance and sales revenue/person.  This makes sense, and is practically obvious, when considering what Michael and Allen spoke of earlier.  When you have more visitors, there is a smaller amount of time spent with each, depending on tasting room resources, to tell the story and sell the product.  Keep in mind that each tasting room is also competing with another 5.2 wineries that wine country tourists will visit per trip.

There is an opportunity for wineries to stand out before visitors even arrive through the use of online review sites and, of course, social media.  Up to 70% of all tourists use the Internet to gather information and develop itineraries for their trips and 40% of travel researchers use user-generated content online.  This means blogs, search engines, micro blogs, social media sites, review sites and more.  The key here is to “make yourself relevant at the point someone is looking for information, or what we call ‘the moment of truth’,” according to Joe Rosenberg of Google.  TripAdvisor’s Todd Skelton further explained the “importance of monitoring review sites for your tasting room, maintaining the information and responding to comments as appropriate.”

Note to wineries:  take a moment, or better yet make it an ongoing exercise, and search for yourself on Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Twitter, Foursquare (tips), SocialMention.com, wine forums, or use a free tool like Vintank’s Social Connect (just to name a few) to get an understanding of what tourists can read about you.  Do you like what you see?  If not, you better start working on your online image because Google searches about wine are up 33% since 2006.

Direct to Consumer

Barbara Insel of Stonebridge Research provided some interesting, although somewhat dated (Nielsen, 2007), statistics about Direct to Consumer (DTC) purchasing habits:

• Only 3% of all wine sales in the U.S. are DTC
• Roughly half of DTC sales are from the tasting room
• 88.5% of U.S. adults have never bought wine direct!
• 8.23% purchase at tasting room
• 1.94% purchases from wine club

It would be interesting to see how these figures have changed over the past 4 years as new media adoption (including mobile) continues to increase as a rapid pace.

A Case for Social Media

A compelling case was made for social media use in the wine industry by a fellow blogger, Marcy Gordon of Come for the Wine.  She described how her Wines of Croatia (#WoCroatia) effort not only increased awareness for the wines but also for the region.  Her journey is well documented on her blog (start HERE), so no need to repeat it here.  Ultimately, she was able to build awareness in this country for Croatian wines and the buzz reach was wide enough to gain followers and engagement from Croatians themselves.  Eventually, it lead to Marcy being invited to the country to continue the story she had started.

It clear that social media must be part of the marketing mix and that this topic is much bigger than just Facebook and Twitter.  It’s about a winery’s overall online presence, availability to and engagement with consumers, as well as significant value proposition in the face of competition.  There was “argument” on Twitter (#winetourismconf) during this part of the conference regarding whether or not Twitter is a direct sales tool.  What’s your take?  Does the altruistic view of being solely a community of conversation and sharing of valuable information by early adopters prevail or has that ideal become diluted as more and more everyday users register?  A recent study showed that 43% of Twitter users follow brands specifically looking for deals and offers.

Summary

In summary, the wine industry needs to continue to think outside the box and perhaps the box is our own wine country region.  As a winery, are you leveraging your local metropolis and do you understand your online presence?  Are you talking about the amenities in the area to attract visitors and are you providing the right information at the “moment of truth?”  How can wineries target tourists to surrounding areas that provide products and services that round out a complete experience for them?  90% of visitors to San Francisco do not bring their children with them.  Recall the statement by Catherine about travel planners looking for a complete culinary experience.  Joe Rosenberg shares these top reasons people come to wine country based on Google search trends (see anything missing from your value proposition?):

• Taste wine
• Wine knowledge
• Experience
• Scenic beauty
• Culinary
• Fun/Relax
• Wine Culture/Romance
• Architecture/Art
• Eco-tourism
• Health

Wine Bloggers can help in this regard in that they can expand their focus and reach to write about some of these amenities in your favorite wine region.

For a complete transcript of the #winetourismconf twitter stream, click this link to the PDF.

Stepping into a piece of history is always a pretty cool feeling.  The Napa Valley Opera House was built in 1880 and has served as the epicenter of the community for much of those 130 years, not to mention playing host to many talented artists.  You can learn more about this awesome venue just off Main St. here.  Having lived in Napa only since February, there are still many places we have yet to visit and an Opera House would’ve probably been fairly low on the list as the wife and I don’t often take in many shows of that style.  However, this week, I had the opportunity to visit twice and learned how versatile this old building really is.

3rd Annual Mutineer Magazine Red Carpet Party

After two years in Hollywood, the team at Mutineer Magazine invaded Napa in style on Sunday, November 6th, complete with movie premier spotlights not seen by this guy in decades.  Presented by Luxardo and Chinaco Tequila, once inside the party was already in full swing at the official start time as Ian Andreae was popping flashbulbs on the red carpet & requisite backdrop and young miss was passing around flutes of bubbly.  A square bar was set up near the entrance for attendees to witness some of the mix-mastery of the area’s top bartenders, drink makers and taste masters along with a single bar at the back of the room.  First up for me was a “Just in Thyme,” a fine blend of No.3 London Dry Gin, MARASCHINO ORGINALE LUXARDO, Cointreau, sugar on the rim and a sprig of time (and perhaps some other stuff, but I don’t recall – it was that delicious).  It was a real treat to try some creative and inspiring cocktails especially after a long weekend at the 13th Wine & Food Affair in northern Sonoma.

The winner of the cocktail contest was Michael Jack Pazdon of Solbar and his drink The King’s Waes Hail.  This guy was not only cool and clever in the mix, but all the while told a very interesting and hilarious story about the creation of the drink with historic tidbits along the way.  You can try the recipe for yourself found here at the Mutineer Magazine blog. Mutineer is following through on their promise of becoming the premier beverage journal for the next generation.  All beverages are revered (including wine) and the resurgence of the old-timey feel of mixology and the use of local, fresh ingredients and often home-made mixers is very slick (and tasty!) and took center stage at the red carpet party.

On this night Mutineer was also celebrating its inaugural “Inspired Voices of the Beverage Revolution” which included good friend Christophe Smith, of Titus Vineyards, for his Harvest Live show streaming live video of vineyard and winery activities for various wineries throughout Napa.  I was lucky enough to host one hour of his show last year at Chappallet and wholeheartedly agree and support this recognition for Christophe.

Parlatones and Johnny Hi-Fi Play Tankapalooza

Our good friends and business partners at VinTank as well as WineTasting.com hosted a thank you party of sorts for partners, thought leaders and clients as well as put on a show with Johnny Hi-Fi and a South African band named the Parlotones who also happen to produce their own wine.

They have both a red and white blend, and while you could tell the red really needed some time to settle after just being shipped, the white blend was quite good.  The “Push me to the Floor,” a blend of Chenin Blanc, or Steen as it is often called in South Africa, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer and Viognier, was well-balanced, crisp with great texture in the mouth.  At R59.95, or about $7.65, it’s a decent value.  The wines are not available yet, but will be launching in the US in a few months on Winetasting.com first.

Ultimately, the event was to also unveil a plethora of enhancements to their VinTank Social Connect social media monitoring systems which are focused on the wine industry.  I continue to look forward to things from this organization to help wineries engage with their customers directly and better serve them.

While the wine country in 2011 has started with a cool spring / early summer as well as some late rains, leading to concerns of mildew and shattering, fear not, there is never a doubt that this will be the Best. Vintage. Ever. Is there ever any doubt?  Really.  Unfortunately, I may have just put harvest in jeopardy for me personally due to a freakish injury I sustained at last week’s softball game.  Plans to make a couple barrels of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay may never come to fruition for 2011 due to such heavy reliance on a right foot.

Yes, the foot that presses the gas and the brake of a vehicle that is to transport me from the boonies south of Napa to the far reaches of wine country.  The foot that accompanies the other one on the left to aid in walking, standing, bearing weight necessary to walk vineyards, check fruit, move equipment, climb sorting tables, punchdown caps and other general winery duties as necessary.

Fear not, the dream continues.  With all the great things that have happened in our lives over the past year due to hard work and a little luck, it’s always humbling to deal with some bad with all the good.  I just wish it wasn’t THIS bad.  Injuries to this area of the foot are rare evidently and generally seen most in car and motorcycle wrecks.  All I was doing was rounding first base for cripes sake.  As a result, surgery is imminent, recovery is long and the foot will never be the same for the rest of life.  Good news is that cycling is still possible in my future.

So, if harvest is delayed, that may just work in my favor, but there are so many things that have to be lined up well in advance to make it all work.  Let’s see how recovery goes and then we’ll see if I can get my first harvest (for our personal label) underway.

When we lived in Atlanta we visited “wine country” many times.  No visit was ever void of special moments.  Those special times when everything is relaxed and in order and it just feels good.  And there would usually be a glass of wine in hand.  But, living here all the time has made me wonder if we would still get to enjoy those special moments. Or, if tasting wine and relaxing at wineries would just become routine.

Luckily, that hasn’t happened.  A visit to Ma(i)sonry last Saturday made this even more true.  Ma(i)isonry is a tasting room/art gallery in downtown Yountville that pours 13 different artisan wine labels.  The service is top notch, which made the many wine choices you have easy to manage.  Taj (spelling? – pronounced “Ty”) and the rest of the team make the menu very easy to navigate.  We recommend setting the tasting menu aside and just go with their great recommendations. The outdoor seating area is very relaxing and inviting.

As we mentioned there are 13 different artisan producers they host and there were two that really stood out for us during this visit:

2009 Chester’s Anvil Sonoma Coast Chardonnay – this is a well-made, balanced Chardonnay that is unfined and unfiltered.  Only a hint of toast on the nose, mostly due to the aging on the lees, with pronounced citrus notes and minerality on the palate.

2007 Renteria Knittle Vineyard Pinot Noir – very aromatic, delicate, elegant, lots of red fruit from Carneros.  The palate is smooth and silky.

Many people ask us for recommendations on places to visit when they’re in the area. Ma(i)sonry has become a “must stop” on our list of places we will suggest.