With all this talk of low employment rates, the housing market trough, corporate buyouts of failing producers and the loss of joy in the wine world, it’s refreshing to see more passionate winemakers continuing to put everything they have into their dreams of making great wines they love.  However, in most cases you have to go to where they are to experience their hand-crafted, artisanal juice and do it soon after release due to the small amounts made each vintage.  This is also an opportunity to taste something that’s more likely to be hand made, not manipulated and totally unique.

One such opportunity to check out 7 of these “micro-wineries” will be in Santa Rosa this Saturday, February 4th from 11a – 5p for the first open house featuring custom crush clients of Inspiration Vineyards.  This is a unique opportunity try and buy these wines when you normally can’t since none of these wineries have public tasting rooms or distribution.  Plus, the winemakers of each will be present to tell you their story and talk about the wines.

Sign up here:  http://inspirationvineyards.eventbrite.com/

Experience the small lot, artisanal wines from:

• Colagrossi Wines
• Inspiration Vineyards
• Little Red Vineyard
• Premonition Cellars
• Simple Math Cellars
• Two Shepherds
• Wesley Ashley Wines

On hand will be some small bites and the Ultra Crepe truck if you’d like to pair your wines with some wonderful crepes.

Advance Tickets Includes $15 Wine & Food Credit

Upon check-in at the door, you’ll receive $10 back in wine bucks, redeemable on the day of the event at ALL seven wineries.  Additionally, by registering in advance on Eventbrite, you’ll receive another $5 back in wine & food bucks that you can redeem for either wine or food from Ultra Crepes.

I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing wines from 3 of these wineries and look forward to experiencing something new each time I visit.

Richard Elia and wife Harley MacKenzie

I found this article in yesterday’s edition of the BostonHerald.com, about the closing of the Quarterly Review of Wines (QRW) after 35 years of circulation.  When I first read the headline I expected to see some tie in to how the world of news and information has gone more digital and QRW was to be just another casualty of how the landscape is changing.  But no, that is not what I found.  What I found were owners and writers of a wine publication actually losing their passion for wine and simply getting tired.

[Wine is] an industry that’s not much fun to cover any more.  Wine has become such a commodity now that the romance is over,” [the owner] said. “We’re losing the civilizing nature of wine drinking. It’s supposed to be a social event.”

Publisher/Owner, Richard Elia continues on in the article to blame the demise of his magazine on an aging staff, declining ads, and corporate takeover of many small growers and producers.  He goes on to say that they can no longer get connected with the real talent in wineries and subsequently the real stories about them, instead talking only to marketing directors who simply care about how many cases are rolling out the door.

I know wine bloggers who have relationships with and can get quality stories from winery insiders and I don’t understand his assertion that we’ve lost the nature of wine drinking as a social event nor how that correlates to his statement about wine becoming a commodity, do you?

The social aspect of wine has to do with people, not objects such as wine.  Wine is a great social “lubricant” that provides a subject, an experience, a talking point, an additional guest to the party that, when it all comes together provides something to remember between those people at that time and place.

Has wine become a commodity and are all the wineries being gobbled up by the corporate behemoths?  In certain aspects, I would say yes.  But, just as there are wineries being sucked up and the subsequent wines become blended with bulk juice and “standardized” vintage by vintage to appease the mainstream market, there is another round of new blood and breed of winemakers and wineries entering the system who are doing things far from being labeled as a commodity.  Just look at Two Shepherds, Cartograph, Stark, Premonition Cellars and a soon-to-be-announced label by yours truly.  You can check out two of these micro-wineries this Saturday at an open house and see for yourself.  This is where the romance continues to blossom.  There IS still joy in wine.

However, I can completely understand the challenge of an aging staff and just simply becoming tired of something after 35 years.  I was burned out on the Finance/Banking Technology industry in just 17 years.  This seems to be the true reason for the shut down, with a little bit of frustration about a changing world coming through in Richard’s answers.  As with anything we do in this life, we must be constantly changing and adapting to our environment, which continues to morph at an accelerated rate lest we become lost in the haze of growth and development.  We are, and must be, in control of our own destiny and remain open to change and new ideas, follow your passion and adjust when necessary along this path of life and work… else we will simply become tired and old.

As my most favorite of Pinot Noir loving friends who read this blog — all 3 of you — you can save $80 off a ticket to attend The 10th Pinot Noir Summit if you act now.  The 10th Pinot Noir Summit will once again be held at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District on February 25, 2012.  Last year was the first time I attended and this year I also participated as a judge.  The Pinot Noir Summit is unique in that this event is where the attendees become the judges and “pit their palates against the expert panel.” The Showdown consists of the 40 top wines from 50+ different appellations.  The rest of day consists of workshops conducted by winemakers, viticulturalists and wine educators.

If you use my Insider’s Discount Code below you can receive 50% off the published price. No one will have better priced tickets, ever.

There are 2 types of tickets available:

• All Day Ticket including The Showdown, Workshop, Sparkling Wine Reception, and Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony ($130 Full Price – $100 until February 1st)
• Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony Only ($85 Full Price)

If you buy tickets to the All Day Summit before February 1st, you can save $80 per ticket (YOUR cost is only $50!).

To purchase tickets to The 10th Annual Pinot Noir Summit click here, or enter http://affairsofthevine.com/shop/

Use my Insiders Discount Code: PNS50 to receive 50% discount.  The discount code is in effect now through February 18th.  You must click on Apply Discount Code and enter PNS50 to receive the discount.  At that time, if the event is not sold out, all tickets sold will be at full price.

You’re welcome.

AGENDA:

Full Day: 1:30-8:30 PM
Pinot Noir Showdown ~ A Blind Tasting
1:30-4:00 PM ~ A distinctly different format and atmosphere from other wine-tasting events, attendees blind taste and judge 40 of the top wines. Male and female votes are tallied separately and announced at the Grand Awards Ceremony.

Pinot Noir Workshops
4:15-5:15 PM 
Ellen Landis, Moderator ~ “Sleek, Silky and Seductive – Pinot Noir”
OR
Sid Sall, Moderator ~ “What Makes a Great Vintage”

Sparkling Wine Tasting
5:30-6:00 PM - Wines That Dance on Your Tongue ~ Sparkling Wine Reception includes an international selection of cheeses and other tasty tidbits.

Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony
6:00 -8:30 PM - The Bay Area’s favorite meteorologist and celebrated wine aficionado, Spencer Christian of KGO/ABC will emcee the Grand Awards Tasting & Ceremony. Top Pinot Noir winemakers will showcase their wines with a pinot-friendly selection of light hors d’oeuvre. The winners will be unveiled and final results will be announced by wine lover, Christian at 8:00 PM.

Growing up there was always Port in the house.  My father was in the Navy for 23 years where he learned about Port from centuries of naval history and tradition, which began with the 18th century British naval forces.  Thanks to the Methuen Treaty of 1703, merchants were immediately allowed to import wines from Portugal at low cost.  Britain just happened to be at war with France during this time and were denied French wine, so they quickly became Port fans.  At first, the wine would often spoil on its long journey by ship from Portugal to England, so they began to fortify these wines via the addition of grape spirits, initially Brandy, so that the wine would remain viable during the trip.  This also resulted in a sweeter wine that as also higher in alcohol reaching about 18-20%.  Celebrate this sweet treat with the rest of the globe on #PortDay on January 27, 2012.

Grapes

Traditional Port, also known as Porto, is made only from grapes from the Douro Valley in Portugal.  Over a hundred varieties are allowed, but only a handful are used the majority of the time including, but not limited to, Tinta Cão, Touriga Nacional and Touriga Francesa.  Today, many wineries around the world make their own type of Port-style wine using the traditional grapes as well as others, but real Port only comes from Portugal.  Pair it with your favorite rich desserts like bread pudding or chocolate.

Tradition

After a meal, it is British naval tradition to enjoy Port while still seated at the table.  The process is very formal in that each person is required to pour a glass of Port to one’s right and pass the decanter to the left, or port side, where the next person would do the same until it came all the way back around to the host.  If for some reason the decanter doesn’t make it back around, the host asks the offender if he knows the Bishop of Norwich.  This is a rhetorical question, however, and is meant only to coerce the passing of the decanter because it is considered poor form to ask for the decanter directly.  However, if the offender responds with a “No” or similarly stating he doesn’t know the clergyman, the host replies with, “he’s an awfully nice fellow, but he never remembers to pass the Port!”  It is also tradition to not leave the table until the entire decanter is consumed.  Really, that should just go without saying!

‘Tis the Season

When Fall and Winter come around along with cooler temperatures and festive holidays, I reach for the Port bottle more often.  Whether its the warming feeling due to the alcohol level, the sweetness that pairs with most goodies prepared this time of year or simply the fact it adds to the ambiance of a fire with family and friends, Port just gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling inside.  Whatever it is, don’t be the Bishop and always remember to pass the Port!

Question

If you know who the Bishop of Norwich is and why his name is used in the British Porto tradition mentioned above, share it below in the comments.

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.