It is a bittersweet couple of weeks for me. My beloved Sales and Marketing Assistant is leaving me for a new job. It is hard to see her go, but she is ready for a new challenge—and I understand that completely. It is always difficult to transition from one person to another—especially in this role. The job calls for assisting me, our National Sales Manager and running most of our direct sales business. In addition, Melanie  managed all the other marketing admin tasks (samples coordination, material development, social media, etc ). Big shoes to fill. Sigh.

It is hard, but I am trying to look at this as an opportunity to get someone in here with new ideas and ways of managing the craziness that is Clos LaChance. I posted a search on WineJobs.com and have received some great resumes. A lot of people have a ton of marketing experience in other fields, which what I am looking for. The “wine thing” is easier to teach then a marketing and sales mentality. Also, I think the wine industry is sheltered from traditional marketing because of various restrictions (the “sin” of alcohol, exorbitant costs and limited manpower resources), but there are always new and interesting ways to do things. So the search begins for the perfect person.

We all wish Melanie well. She started at Clos LaChance as a harvest intern 5 years ago. She moved to an admi/office position after her internship, then into sales and marketing a few years ago. She will be missed.

Also had the opportunity to connect with a Clos LaChance alum last night, my “other” beloved Sales and Marketing assistant. Made me think back to all those great people who have since moved on to new opportunities—Colleen, Kevin R, all the Matts (We have had 4 Matts here over the years, 3 of them in the vineyard!), Todd, Greg, Beth, Abby, Dominic, Paige, Steve…there have been quite a few wonderful faces here over the years. A few not-so-wonderful, but the majority of people who have worked here have been amazing.

So I plod on, reluctantly looking for a new face to help me organize and implement all my crazy ideas. Best of luck to Melanie!  You will be missed.

Wine tastings are an interesting phenomenon. As the winery rep behind the table at a trade tasting (where wineries and wine shops come to try and hopefully buy our wine), it is very serious work, talking about the wines and gathering lead information on each account to follow up on later. If the tasting is well attended, then time flies and I leave with a stack of business cards and a bunch of new contacts to follow up with. Trade tastings are also a really good chance to touch base with fellow wineries, taste their wines and sneak a peek at their current marketing materials.

Working behind the table at straight consumer tastings as a wine professional is interesting, to say the least. In all honesty, most consumers are there to drink—not to learn anything about the wines. About 10% of consumers that are there are truly interested in the wines for purchase later….but those folks are few and far between.

And there is nothing wrong with that—consumers pay a decent amount of money to get in, and they should get their wine and have a good time. However, as a sales and marketing person and partial proprietor of a winery, there is nothing that is more painful than a consumer tasting…especially towards the end of the night when people are a little sloppy. Although it can be total entertainment too.  I have seen people that fall flat on their faces and have to be carried out. No joke.

Here are the top 5 things I love/hate about pouring at consumer wine tastings:

5. HATE: Consumers who think they know it all. Last week, I was trying to tell someone not to rinse her glass with water going from a Pinot to a Merlot. It waters down the next wine. If you must rinse a glass, take a tiny bit of wine, swirl and dump. And that’s pretty much only if you are going from a red to a white, or if the previous wine was faulty. But she got all pissy at me for trying to give her some expert (I have been doing these things for 11 years so consider myself fairly knowledgeable) advice and (politely of course) explain how she could enjoy our wine better. She walked away in a huff, saying she didn’t like the wine. Well duh, it was watered down you moron.

4. HATE: Consumers that spit all over the table. At a large wine tasting, spit buckets are necessary. But regular non-trade people just do not know how to spit. I always wear black to tastings because these people back-spray on me. And why do wine tastings always have white table cloths? It’s down right gross at the end of the evening.

3. HATE: Consumers that hold their glass out for a pour, and then pull it back really fast saying “oh that’s enough” while I am pouring. People, hear this. I am pouring you wine. If you pull back your glass, I will spill it. And I will probably spill it on you. Just let me finish my pour. If it is too much, that’s cool!  Take a sip, and dump what you don’t want. I am used to that from trade tastings. We all sip, spit and dump.

2. LOVE: Wine Tasting Fashion. Consumer wine tastings are great for people watching. The women especially. Some people get really decked out. I did three consumer tastings this past week; two of them it was snowing out and we were at a convention center (not the fanciest place in the world, that’s for sure). Some women were very casual with jeans, a cute top, boots, jewelry. The younger set (21-29) were DECKED out. We are talking bridesmaids dress type gowns with 5 inch heels. There is no place sit at tastings, everyone eats and drinks standing up. I felt so bad for some of these women at the end of the night. Also, everyone has giant purses to carry around…along with their glass, booklet of wines and wineries and a little plate of food. Cute purses, but seriously, who needs to be weighed down with all that? My advice for a wine tasting: be cute, of course….but comfortable. Wear dark colors (see #4), shoes that are fairly comfortable—expect to be standing. And bring a small bag you can put over your shoulder.

1. LOVE: When I am pouring with someone else—usually a distributor or agent—we often play the wine “guessing game.” While one of us covers the table, the other will head out to another table with both glasses and get tastes of a wine from another winery. Bring it back to the table and we play “guess what this is.” Usually it’s simple like the varietal, but when I was in Vancouver last week, my agent was guessing varietal and growing region within California. He even had a few right guesses on vintage. I was impressed.

Clos LaChance in Edmonton, Alberta

 Clos LaChance in Vancouver, BC

One wouldn’t know it from my latest rants, but there are some things about my job that I really enjoy. We have been working on a massive “un-labeling” project for the last month.  Basically, 2,000 cases of wine are being unlabeled and uncapsuled so we can re-label them under a different brand.

Why would anyone un-label already labeled wine? Well, it’s not something that we do all the time; however, in these wonderful economic times, a sale is a sale. I need to move some wine out of our  warehouse to get ready for the next vintage. And if someone wants to buy a large quantity of our wine with a different label on it, then so be it!  I will happily un-label the wine and then re-label with whatever TTB approved label they want.

We are doing this project with Hope Services, a local non-profit organization. They provide jobs and training for developmentally disabled adults. Clos LaChance has worked with Hope before, but for much smaller projects. And I had never dealt with them personally.

The steps in this particular un-labeling project are as follows:

1. Unpack the wine from the Clos LaChance custom case box
2. Place the wine into large tubs to soak label overnight

3. Break down the Clos LaChance custom case box and place on a pallet for pick up*

4. Save 12 bottle case insert for repackaging
5. Build new unbranded case box
6. Place 12 bottle insert into new unbranded case box
7. Once labels have soaked overnight, remove bottles from soaking bin

8. Scrape labels off bottles with plastic scraper thingy (not an easy task)

9. Use a little Bartender’s Friend to get the remaining label glue off the bottles
10. Dry and polish clean bottles

11. Remove tin capsules

12. Repack bottles into new case boxes and stack on pallets

*I was really concerned with recycling 2,000 wine case boxes. Recycling is the obvious choice vs throwing them away, but I really wanted them to have a higher purpose. I tried to find a way to reuse the boxes or store them at the winery, but the wine we were relabeling was in a smaller bottle from our current bottles. And when we buy bottles, they come with a case box anyways. About a week before the commencement of the project, an old friend from high school called me. She works at Second Harvest Food Bank, and was looking for recycled wine boxes to use for food deliveries.  Perfect! Second Harvest coordinated with Hope Services—and now they have 2,000 wine case boxes, with the pretty Clos LaChance logo splashed all over them.

I went to visit the crew at Hope Services last Friday to see how the project was running. Wow, what an amazing group of people that take immense pride in their work. A few of them thanked me….and expressed how much they loved this kind of work. One of them told me how he was working to save money—in hopes of buying his dad a car for Father’s Day in 2016. I was really touched by these people and the experience over all.   

Let me start this off on a POSITIVE note, so that all my blogs don’t seem like insane industry rants. I love working in the wine business. It truly is so much fun…and the people are great. I am proud to be part of a family business and I love drinking the fruits of our labors.

With that said, there are a number of things in this business that just kill me. To name a few:

-People that come to our winery for a picnic and bring a bottle of wine—from another winery. And then get angry at us when we tell them that they have to drink our wine at our winery. Ummm, not a public park people.

-The fact that I am going to Boston for an event at Harvard and I can’t ship my wine directly to the hotel or where I am speaking. It is illegal to ship wine into Massachusetts (for now, it will soon be legal, thanks to www.freethegrapes.org).  So I have to ship it to myself in New Hampshire (fortunately my relatives live there) and then schlep it down to Boston.

-TCA and corked wine. I want to go to screw cap with our Hummingbird Series reds for that exact reason. But the market won’t really accept it yet (at least that’s what the distributors advise us…and if a distributor doesn’t like something about a product then it will not sell.)

-The 100 people that have emailed, me Facebooked me, Twittered me, texted me or told me in person that they saw one of our wines in Trader Joe’s for $4.99. More on this….

I freaking love Trader Joe’s. I go there almost once a week for a lot of staples in my house. They have these simmer sauces that I use in my crock pot with lamb and chicken. Their tri tips are awesome, cheese, yogurts and cereal. My kids love the Turkey meatballs and frozen brown rice—genius for a busy working mom that doesn’t have 45 minutes to make rice on the stove after work.

And I now love them even more because they bought over 3K cases of one of our wines. The wine they purchased was one of our most popular in restaurants around the country, especially by the glass. But the economy went to crap 18 months ago. And the restaurant business was hit hard. Off by about 40-50% I hear. Well, guess what, our sales in for the now a Trader Joe’s “deal of the century” wine were off by about 50% as well. Leaving me with….you guessed it….3,000 cases when it was time to move to the next vintage.

Let me tell you something about wine that doesn’t sell. It has to be stored. And it costs money to store it. And then it costs more money to store the next vintage that is being held up because sales of the previous vintage are sluggish. 

Despite making a huge sale and potentially getting a new customer in Trader Joe’s, the $4.99 price absolutely kills me to see. That wine is a deal at $18, which is what we retail it for here at the winery (although it’s gone now, since TJ’s took the rest of it).  As a consumer, it makes me feel really good about shopping at Trader Joe’s…because they find amazing deals for their customers. But it hurts me as a brand manager because people see that price, they get excited and stock up. And remember that price. But then they see our wines again for the regular, higher price—well, their perception has changed.

This is the way things are right now. Closeouts in retail locations are the nature of the wine industry these days. It’s tough out there people. It’s not something I would choose to do…sell our wine at a discount to move inventory. The wine is good and if the economy was normal, no problem, business as usual. But we have to keep the lights on here at the winery, pay the staff and prune the vines. All of that costs money. Money that I got from Trader Joes for buying 3,000 cases.

So, the moral to this story. If you are my friend and have seen our wine for $4.99 at Trader Joe’s (only in California), don’t mention it to me…but buy a TON of it. If you are not my friend  and you are in California, buy it anyways, cause it’s a screaming deal. And get some of the Marsala simmer sauces with those turkey meatballs to go with it.

I wrote about this before—that we have had a couple of big distributor changes in this past year. When you move distributors, one big negotiation point with your old distributor is the buying back of inventory they have in stock. In this situation, we took back most of our inventory from our old distributor—including splitting the cost of the onesie/twosie cases of very old stock (1997 Nebbiolo anyone?) that they had laying around in their samples warehouses (a whole other topic about having to manage our own inventory at our former distributor because they kept “finding” things from many years ago).  But one thing we refused to take back was 350+ cases of dry 2007 Rosé that they asked us to make specifically for them and one particular account.  Actually, they asked us to make 1,000 cases of that particular wine and only took 400. And then they wanted us to take back the 350 cases that they had been sitting on for a year and a half.

It’s really frustrating that they still had all this wine in inventory in the summer of 2009 when we made the change over.  One thing we know about Rosé is that it only sells well during the summer months.  So after they asked us to make it for them –and they bought it—in early 2008, they just sat on it until mid 2009, almost two Rosé selling seasons had gone by. They sold less than 40 cases of the 400 bought, never mind the remaining 600 cases of the total 1,000 they asked us to make for them. Why they didn’t sell it to the account that wanted it, I have no idea. Because again—they ASKED us to make it for them.  This is why I am still selling 2008 Rosé (which I only made a couple hundred cases of). I had to move over 600 cases of 2007 Rosé last summer.  Anyone remember the sale here at the Tasting Room??

So I see this week that our 2007 Rosé is stacked in a couple of Safeways for $2.99. I happen to know that is a huge loss for the distributor, they bought it from us for $5 a bottle. So when you put Safeways margin in there, the distributor probably lost at least $3.50 a bottle on the wine.

So why does that bother me? Well, it is not great for our brand to have wine under $3 in the stores. But since I am not making Rosé anymore it’s not that big of a deal.  But if they were doing that to an older vintage wine that my current distributor was trying to sell the current vintage of, there can be a big problem with consumer perception of the brand.

So what does that mean for you, Mr. or Ms. Wine buying consumer? Go to Safeway and stock up on Rosé for the summer.  It’s a deal. And you are the one that is winning big cause the regular price of that wine is $14 a bottle (usually around $8 or $9 in the high end grocery outlets). The wine is still really good and it will be great for summer BBQ’s and beach days.  And keep an eye on wineries that switch distributors. Because inevitably there will be some kind of inventory dispute and the distributor will “dump” some perfectly good wine in the marketplace at their loss.  Don’t let it reflect badly on the winery in your mind. Think of it as the deal of the century, stock up—and then continue supporting your favorite brands at the regular price.

Thank you—that is my rant for today. And that is all.

PS: For the record, the no Rosé thing makes me very sad because I personally love a dry, crisp Rosé in the summer. It’s the best thing ever. But I can’t sell it. And my 2010 New Year’s Resolution is to only make things that SELL.

So, to make a long story short, we were fortunate to find new wholesale partners in a couple of states. One in particular was where this “funny” story originated.

We left our wholesaler in Any State, USA the last day of November. We started with our new wholesaler the first day of December. Inventory was in place and ready to go with New Wholesaler. However, it was December. Anyone who works on the supplier side or the distributor side of the wholesale industry is very cognizant of the acronym that is OND (October-November-December). In the last quarter of the year, wholesalers buckle down and just sell. They don’t present new products (for the most part), they don’t do supplier ride-withs, and they very, very rarely launch new brands. So when we started in December, we knew that a kick off would be several months later. They were just taking orders if existing accounts needed wine.

One of the reasons that we informed our wholesaler that we were leaving only the day before we started with a new distributor is that we wanted to have a chance to protect our placements. When a winery leaves a distributor, it is pretty common practice for the reps at said wholesaler to go and replace all your shelf and list placements as soon as possible. It makes sense—the wholesaler wants to keep their share of the business at accounts. If a move to a new wholesaler is planned, it must be done with precision. Timing is everything—otherwise all your placements can vanish overnight and the new wholesaler is starting off at square 1.

However, if said account wants to continue carrying the brand—some distributors have been known to not provide the account with any information about the new distributor that is carrying the wine going forward. And this is where our story gets interesting.

So, one of Clos LaChance’s regional mangers went into a small, local chain restaurant in Any State, USA  (we will call it Jo’s Grill). Jo’s Grill had been a great customer of ours for a couple of years—having one of our wines on the regional corporate list. When we switched distributors, the wine buyer at Jo’s Grill asked our former distributor where he could buy the wine. It was on his list, his menus etc. To change the wine would be an expense to the restaurant. The distributor rep told the Jo’s grill buyer, his customer, that Clos LaChance had gone bankrupt and was no longer selling wine in Any State, USA .

Something I learned in my Public Relations career—always help a journalist out when they ask you a question—even if they are working on a story that is not about any of my clients. If you can point people in the right direction, it builds trust and a stronger long-term relationship.

I know sales can be a little more cut-throat then PR because there are commissions and actual dollars involved (i.e. I have to feed my kids now, vs. build this relationship and feed them later). But in my humble opinion, downright lying to a customer is not smart.

Well, karma is a bitch. Because I heard that the wine buyer at Jo’s Grill called our former distributor and tore them a new one when he found out they had lied. And, in that same phone call, the buyer returned a bunch of wine.  And bought a bunch of our wine. And put us back on the list. And the trust he has with his sales rep from our former distributor (and really the company as a whole) is   G-O-N-E. Is it really worth the small amount of dollars received by replacing our wine? Potentially losing all your business in an account if dishonesty is discovered? And it is pretty easy for someone to figure out if a winery has truly gone out of business or is no longer selling in a particular market. The Internet has provided everyone with information at their fingertips. In addition, most local ABC’s have online lists of brands and what wholesalers represent them.

I have only worked on the supplier side in this business, so I do not know the pressures of working in a distributor. I see it in the faces of the salespeople I know—it’s a tough job. But I believe honesty and a code of ethics are important in any business relationship.

Don’t think that I am bashing on distributors here—because we need them. They work hard and they are able to do things that we can’t.  And I find that most distributors are honest. I just thought this was an interesting story—and a lesson to accounts…especially if they have a good relationship with a particular winery. If, all of a sudden, the wine you love is not available, or the winery is not longer selling in your market….double check. Give the winery a call or drop an email (I would say that most wineries these days have a web site with contact info).

Last week, Blake Gray wrote a blog about exactly why Amazon.com pulled out completely of wine sales. It got me thinking about the long road that Amazon has gone through to come to this point. I first remember hearing about this well over a year ago….

I believe it was late last summer. I was contacted by the administrators at the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association regarding Amazon.com. Amazon had called them and was doing field work with local associations about what their plans were to sell wine on their site. I personally was intrigued about Amazon’s entry into online wine sales. I am a big fan of Amazon and buy a ton of stuff from them annually. I am  an Amazon Prime member as well, which means I get free two day shipping on things that come from them (vs. a third party retailer). This is a HUGE convenience for me. I do a ton of gift shopping on Amazon (last year, my husband and I sent a generator to his parents in new Hampshire who had been out of power for a week!) and even purchase a few things in bulk, like a certain kind of recycled paper towels I like. When my kids have a birthday party to go to on Saturday, I can buy something on Amazon on Wednesday and its at more door by Friday. A working mother’s dream, I tell you. Anyway, I digress. When I heard about the wine thing, I was excited. As a Prime Member, I would get free shipping on wine too!  And they were planning to have a huge selection of wine. Any winery that wanted to sell on Amazon could, was what I was lead to believe.

The initial meeting with the Association and Amazon.com was canceled because the main guy missed his flight. I was a little irritated by this because I left the office and drove to Aptos for the meeting. And they cancelled like half an hour before they were supposed to be there. But my love for Amazon is bigger than a missed afternoon in the office—but hey, I got to go to the beach that day instead. Maybe they did me a favor.

A few weeks later at the Annual Dinner for the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association, I met Thomas, a very nice gentleman from Amazon.com who had come to network with wineries and tell them about Amazon’s plans. We chatted, exchanged cards and that was that.

A few days later, Thomas was in touch with more details. At this point they were reaching out to all the Associations and everyone was buzzing about it.

After looking at the marketing proposal, we were excited about it too….however the logistics were kind of a pain in the ass. We would have to re-register all of our wines with the TTB so that we could use the fulfillment house. I also believe that we would have to re-register in certain states as well. I think the total cost per wine in licensing and set up was about $450. And the margins were a little slim. But having access to Amazon’s customer base, wow, the potential could be huge. Our plan was to proceed slowly, test it out and see how things would go with one or two wines on the site.  As it turned out, through another online retailer we worked with, we already had a wine registered with the fulfillment house (the now defunct New Vine Logistics). So we decided to start with that one and see how it goes.

And then the waiting game began. Every few weeks, we would get a nice email from Amazon, keeping us in the loop…but never giving us an exact launch date of the site.

And then New Vine Logistics went down.  I figured that had to be a huge set back to Amazon—fulfillment of wine is the most important component to their involvement in the wine sector—and it is such a giant pain. 50 different sets of laws, licenses to obtain, taxes etc. Every state has a different direct shipping law.

But as it turns out, the Amazon thing was delayed by something much bigger than the wine industries own regulatory nightmare.   Internet taxes, specifically in California. Since Amazon does not have a “bricks and mortar” shop in California, they do not have to charge taxes on products shipped to the state from Amazon.com. To sell alcohol in California, the regulations are such that a retailer needs to have a some kind of retail presence in the shape of a retail store in the state (even if it is just an office with a cash register).  However, if they opened a store here, then state taxes would have to be collected on EVERTHING Amazon sold in California. Yikes.

This is even more interesting to me because my husband—who worked at eBay for years and was a media consultant for NetChoice—is very passionate about this issue. I forwarded him Gray’s blog and he had a lot to say about it in terms of e-commerce in general. He was very articulate and intelligent, however I can’t recall anything he said about it specifically besides that it is very bad for consumers and e-commerce and free trade etc. etc. (sorry honey!).

I feel bad for the winery liaison Thomas. He was a pretty good communicator about what was going on—and obviously he got caught up in a much bigger issue. I hope he is still working there with a different department. There was obviously a ton of money and resources spent on Amazon’s entry into wine sales.…and I am sure Amazon had most of the site built before it all came crashing down.

I wonder how many wineries registered all their products and are out some $$?

What I think it all comes down to is that alcohol laws + Internet taxation laws =  a complete sh*tshow.  

For more information about Alcohol Direct Shipping regulations, please visit www.freethegrapes.org.

Ugh, i just have to post this because it is so unbelievably frustrating.

Don't get me wrong, I love distributors. Certain distributors. Basically any distributor that PAYS.

As you can imagine as the economy gets tough, the small distributors are really getting squeezed. I understand that and can be somewhat sympathetic. But we are also a small company. And when we don't get paid on time, it effects our business as well. 

Said distributor is in, lets say South Dakota, since I don't have one there (even though I am mad, I am not ready to call out the accused). We have a multi-state account...a chain of really great restaurants. And we worked HARD to get that account. They have several wines By The Glass and they have a couple of our higher end wines on the lists. Several of these restaurants are in South Dakota. In order to sell to them, I have to sell to my distributor who then sells to the restaurants. This distributor has owed me money since July. And has been a notoriusly slow pay for several years. The check is always "in the mail."

If I stop shipping to them, then the account doesn't get their wine and will most likely drop it off their list. Which could effect my business in the other states as well. Wine that WE sold to them....wine that the distributor in South Dakota is just collecting their mark-up on. The business was done in another state with someone our South Dakota distributor doesn't even know. It's FREE money if they just deliver the wine on time and to the right place. And pay us on time.

Normally, if a distributor doesn't pay me on time, i will not ship to them. But I need to to keep this account. And finding another distributor is very, very difficult at this time of year....well, really at all times of the year.  The number of suppliers continues to increase while distributors consolidate.  

And it is against the law to ship direct to an account outside of the state.

So basically, to keep my account, we have to continue going into the red with this distributor.

Oh, and WE got a bill from said distributor this week for samples. Are you kidding me??

The three tier system is great when winery-distributor-account all do their job. But when one of the parts is broken, the whole thing collapses.

My PR agency, the awesome Benson Marketing Group, suggested that I do a meet and greet with some local wine bloggers....to get the CLC name and wines out there (really an ongoing, never ending quest to build a brand). I have been working with my family winery for over 10 years now, but prior to this job (not really a job anymore as it is a LIFE), I used to work at a PR agency. Up until last night, I felt like I had a handle on how the media and PR works. Granted I was an Account Manager for software, networking and other high tech stuff that I really didn’t care at all about. And wine is much more fun. But it got me thinking about how different things are when working with journalists and writers then it was “back in the day.”

-Liza (from wwwbrixchicks.com) was tweeting and posting pictures throughout the evening. So basically, we were broadcast live via her twitter. Melanie (from CLC) and I also posted pics and tweeted. Sarah, our fearless PR rep from Benson tweeted too. Back in the day, the meeting would happen, I would follow up with said writer and then we would wait. And follow up. And wait. Weekly pubs were good, cause the client would see immediate (within a week or so) results from the meeting. But monthly long leads. Ugh….3-4 months later sometimes before we would see anything. Twitter has changed all that, making everything LIVE. And ANYONE can tweet, not just the journalist. And immediately after the meet and greet, Amy from www.cookingwithamy.com posted something about us on her Twitter.  

-A full story about the wines, me, the winery, with pictures was posted by midnight last night by Liza (http://www.brixchicks.com/2009/07/nectar-and-hummingbirds-review-of-clos.html). Back in the day, I would follow up, a photographer would come out (if the story was slated to run) and then we would once again WAIT. There is no waiting anymore!  It was kinda cool to wake this morning and see the Google Alert on my Blackberry about Liza’s story.

-This is comparing apples and oranges—but the wine industry is so much more fun than high tech was back then (although with social networking, Apple and other cool companies, I think high tech is a lot more fun now then in 1999).  We sat around at a fun wine bar, drank wine, ate truffled popcorn and cheese and just chatted. There was no powerpoint presentation, no demos, no stress. Having a glass of wine with other people that also like wine. That’s pretty much how the evening went.

-One thing will always remain the same…..never count on the media to show up until they walk in the door. As a young PR pup, I would schedule meetings for press tours with clients, invite them to various events and schedule phone interviews. Inevitably, people would be no shows. Last night, we had 6 people confirmed to come and 2 showed. I know how it is…things come up (I have two kids….things are ALWAYS coming up). But in PR, at least one thing will always remain the same. No matter how much I or my PR folks follow up, there will always be media no-shows.  Once, when I was on a press tour in New York with a networking client (back in the day), my client was so excited about a meeting with a big wig at Fortune Magazine. And I was psyched to even get the meeting! We schlepped all the way to midtown from an analyst’s office in Soho. Got up to the office and turns out he was on vacation. Ugh, that was not fun. And then we had two hours till our next meeting. So I got to go sit at coffee with my pissed off client trying to explain what happened (I still don’t know what happened). I think I fu**ed something up big time. Probably explains why I am no longer employed by such agency.

PR is a never ending process. Someone on the agency side once told me that Public Relations is like a garden….you plant the seeds and watch them grow. But it always needs careful tending. Sounds kinda cheesey, but it resonates a little. It’s a never ending process and one that has become a lot more work lately. If I can make every meeting like last night—fun, laid back, quick (positive) results—then I am happy to take care of the garden.

As the old song says, breaking up is hard to do. We recently broke up with a distributor. For the last 8 years, we have been distributed by Regal Wine Company in the state of California ( huge portion of our overall business). In July, we made a change to Southern Wine and Spirits—the American Wine and Spirits division.

There are a number of business reasons why we made the change at this time. But what I have been thinking about is how changing wholesalers is really like breaking up with someone. Over 8 years, we made some great relationships with the sales people and management at Regal. And when we made the decision to leave….well, there is a strange awkwardness now with our former pals.  Some won’t even talk to us—which is understandable, since some of the salespeople’s livelihoods comes from selling our wine.  But business is business….it’s never personal. And we had to do what we did in order to keep Clos LaChance’s brand sustainable and growing according to plan.

The wholesaler-winery relationship is a weird one and hard to understand unless you are in the business. When I first started with CLC 10 years ago, there was much more of a “kiss up” mentality from the wholesaler to the supplier (winery/me). I was wined and dined and told all these wonderful things about what said wholesaler (I’m talking about wholesalers in general, not Regal or Southern at this time) could do for our brand. Sometimes their promises were fulfilled, sometimes not. But the love was there. Always.

These days, the tables have totally turned. There has been so much consolidation of wholesalers across the country—and a huge boom in the number of wineries and brands—both in California and Internationally (competition…at lower price points!!) Before a wholesaler will even consider taking on our brand there needs to be proof in the pudding. Numbers, media reviews, sales incentives, winery sales people and sales dollars available. We are fortunate to have a top-tier private golf course right next to us…which has been a draw for wholesalers and accounts (they ALL play golf…. I need to get better at that game…..would love to spend the day outside golfing vs. at my desk, well blogging.)  But now we need to show the love. Which I am happy to do—it’s just an interesting dichotomy to ponder.  

I will miss a lot of the people we have worked with at Regal. They were a good company and helped us a lot. But the future looks bright. I look forward to all my new soon to be friends at Southern and American.  We have been there only for two weeks so far—and the sales people are genuinely excited to be working with the Clos LaChance brand.  

Yep, breaking up sucks. But new relationships are exciting, thrilling and something to look forward to.

First there are the regional associations. We are members of the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers Association and the Wineries of the Santa Clara Valley. These organizations are important to us for two main reasons.

1. They are primarily focused on getting attention and recognition for their particular region—and therefore attract visitors and buyers to the winery.  Sell, sell sell!

2. It is a great way to get to know your fellow local winemakers. One thing that I have found to be really cool in the wine industry is that people are very interested in talking about how they made something. People discuss the grapes they used, the barrels, the fermentation methods, the ageing techniques. They also share stories about accounts and distributors (good and bad) and even certain customers that are “memorable.”  There are very few secrets in this part of the world—and the a-hole to non-a-hole ratio is pretty good. I would say 2/100. Most people are in this industry because they love it and are passionate. They want to be here vs. HAVE to be here.

We used to be members ofMonterey County Vintners Association when we had a tasting room in Cannery Row, but have since dropped out since the tasting room closed.  But every winemaking region has a Regional Association. The Napa Valley Vintners Association, Livermore, Sonoma, Oregon, Long Island etc. I would venture to say that if there are wineries in an area, there is bound to be an association close by.

Then you have the California winery associations. The Wine Institute and Family Winemakers are the two we are really active with. Both of these are very important in terms of lobbying in Washington on behalf of wineries. They also offer marketing opportunities in the form of tastings, International support and compliance advice. There’s also Free the Grapes, which has been instrumental in opening up the direct shipping channel for wineries all over the country—therefore increasing sales and customers overall.

Then there are the consumer organizations. These are often broken down by varietal or category of wine: Zinfandel Advocates and Producers and Rhône Rangers are two that we are involved in. But there are so many more: PS I Love You (Petite Sirah), RAP (Rosé), Sweet and Fortified Wine Association, Cal Italia, Women for Wine Sense to name a few.

So how does one breakthrough all the noise and decide what to be involved with? Honestly, it’s hard. We want to reach as many customers as possible….and each group caters to a different audience. However, it costs money to join these organizations—and time to attend the meetings, pour at the tastings and maybe do some actually work if you get involved on a board or a committee.  

Sometimes it’s really overwhelming.  And we have discovered that it is not really worth being a member of an organization unless we can dedicate the time to be involved. So being the good delegator that I am, I dole these organizations up amongst everyone here. My dad is really involved in the Wine Institute, I do the Santa Cruz Mountains Winegrowers and Free the Grapes stuff, Dominic is part of the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley and Melanie is involved with ZAP. It’s good networking for all of us and keeps any one person from becoming overwhelmed. We still have a few more we need to get moving on. There are a few other groups that we are members of—but don’t actively participate in.

I wonder if at the big wineries there is an actual position of “Winery Associate Liaison” or something of the sort. Wouldn’t it make sense to have one person leveraging every possible opportunity?  And what a good job to have! Go to tastings and promote the winery, go to meetings and meet wineries (and drink wine…cause at every meeting, it is pretty much mandatory to bring a bottle to share). But not as good as the 10K per month to twitter about wine for Murphy-Goode.

There are so many types of wine related groups that I haven’t even mentioned here….grape growing, winemaking, wholesalers, retailers, restaurants etc. It’s incredible. But the power of 100 voices vs. 1 is much more impactful….it’s just a matter of figuring out which ones work for our business.

Product placements in movies have only become really popular in the last ten years—and now they are becoming blatantly obvious. The Sex and the City movie had about 10 different shots of Starbucks and Smart Water, to name a few. But with the rising costs of production, I am sure that these well-placed “ads” help defray some of the expenses (Sarah Jessica Parker’s fee, perhaps??) 

I always look hard when I see a movie at wine labels.  Most are hard to decipher…but there is one clear stand out that is immediately recognizable: Clos du Val’s light brown label with the white script swirls.  Over the past 5 years or so, Clos Du Val has been in tons of movies and television shows. However, I do wonder if the expense and effort to get into all these movies was worth it. Amongst wine people, the label is most certainly recognizable. But I think that is a small minority of the general movie-going population, especially considering some of the programming—“In Her Shoes” and “Joey” to name a few. Although they were also in “Fever Pitch,” which as a Red Sox and Jimmy Fallon fan, I LOVE that movie.

When I look deep down inside though, I am definitely jealous of Clos du Val and all their Hollywood connections. I would love for Clos LaChance to have some kind of celebrity encounter. There have been a couple brushes with fame over the years:

• We had a taping of a reality show here called “Married By America.” This is pretty D-list in terms of the show, it was really, really cheesy. And the segment never even aired. The premise of the show was that 14 pairs of two complete strangers got engaged. One ends up winning a wedding at the end plus 200K or something like that. The couple that came to the winery for their “date” were so NOT into each other at all. It was kind of comical. The production crew was awesome though. They had just come off of the Bachelor shoot….working with Andy Firestone (another big Winery promotional gig). 
• We once got word from a friend of a friend of Ron Howard’s that he was a big fan of our Merlot. That was thrilling for me because I am a HUGE fan of Arrested Development, his now defunct TV show. But I heard its coming back in a movie. Hey Ron, if you are out there, we would love to do a product placement in the movie. Maybe Gob can make a bottle disappear to the sounds of “The Final Countdown.” That show NEVER should have been cancelled.
• Our Southern California Account Specialist was in a restaurant selling one afternoon and sat right next to Hillary Swank. Since all of our sales people are very social people, she struck up a conversation and got her to taste our Pinot. We then sent her a few bottles.
• Bode Miller stopped by the winery after a round of golf last summer. He was super cute but not very talkative. We are all skiers in our family, so it was pretty cool to meet an Olympian.
• We sponsored the LA screening of “The Departed.” It was a little slow in terms of celeb being at the actual event…as most of them attended the New York screening the week before. I couldn’t go (it was my son’s birthday), but my sister Kristin went. She did have a Leo DiCaprio sighting. He was also supposedly drinking our Merlot.

Over the years, we have had rumors of other possible celeb drive-bys or connections to our winery/brand. I have learned to not get excited about them until I actually see it happen. But if anyone out there who is reading this is somewhat famous, please do contact us for, well, we’ll probably give you pretty much anything.

A picture of the Married By America Couple, Jennifer and Xavier.

Surviving  Growing in a down market.

In over a quarter of a century of sales/marketing for small to medium sized California wineries, I have experienced numerous market fluctuations/recessions. I have never had a down sales year, and actually have often seen bigger than expected increases in tough economic times. There are several reasons I attribute to attaining growth:

The wine industry is somewhat resistant to bad economic times. People seem to drink more, but often trade down. This presents you with the perfect time to establish greater margin products in your portfolio. People will be moving away from their “standard ,“ that they have been purchasing in “good times,” and looking for direction in trying something new at a lower price.  This opportunity to establish yourself and your company is seldom witness to so willing a customer for change.

Many competitors look to do business as usual. They often look for a quick fix. Dropping prices and margins moves boxes, but does nothing for the future of the brand and its image. Being progressive and looking to the opportunities this type of market condition offers the greatest growth potential.

Be positive, what brings us out of this often is led by those who aggressively seek to grow rather than contract. They emerge faster and stronger, with greater positioning for when the market expands.

Compete in the right place (categories, price points, trends), at the right time. Establish for your company a new market footprint. Pursuing the same old is not a recipe for success. Typically a good portion of your sales increase percentage over the previous year is achieved through new products and new focus. This is an ever changing/evolving process that requires constant evaluation and re-evaluation.

Here are some observations to reflect on and to use to your advantage:

• Mass production wineries will look to big deals to make numbers. This erodes the market price point for their brand on and off premise. Panic mode seems to set in. The big deal you buy into now, is often followed by an even bigger deal that your competitor down the street will buy into. You are then stuck with large inventory of a product that your competitors have a price advantage on you.

• Consumers will be looking for more/better. They will seek out value. True there is a comfort level associated with mass production wines; however consumer brand loyalty is now less important to your bottom line than customer loyalty. Promoting brands that are not available everywhere is a key to establishing better customer relationships.

• Value/perceived value:  A small production wine has an intriguing story to tell the consumer. This perceived value to the consumer involves getting more for the same $’s. Whether the alternative to the mass production wine is a limited production/single vineyard/estate bottled/ hand harvested/organic/sustainable, these all offer the consumer more than the usual.

• Explore, expand and promote hot new categories/trends that are experiencing growth. These include Organic/Sustainable wines, Unoaked Chardonnay, blends, appellations, and countries. Less “manipulated” wines  can also offer opportunity; hand-picked, unfined, unfiltered, estate bottled, single vineyard. A more natural approach to winemaking.

• Look to re-align your selection and inventory. As the consumer trades down, key price points become more important and greater diversity in that range is the way to achieve growth. The consumer will be looking to move away from what was their regular wine in good times, to something new @ a lower price. This is your opportunity to steer them towards wines that offer you higher margin.  Higher end sku’s need to be replaced by those that will see movement, turn and greater margin %.

• Brands that are limited in production offer better margin potential, and less of a chance to your being exposed to the customer as having a higher price on a specific item than your competitors.

• Interaction with your customers is now more important than ever. They will look to you for direction and guidance. Let them know that you are there to assist them in their search for their new standard. Being prepared to offer them alternatives, accompanied by thought out reasons and options is an integral part of building customer loyalty.

Flat doesn’t have to be the new up for everyone. Good Selling !

So Kristin and I were carpooling that day and went to pick up Amber, like the good, obedient daughters we are. On the drive down 101, we noticed Amber was getting a little gassy. We didn't think much of it...she's an older dog, and well, who doesn't get gassy every once in awhile?

Things started going awry when we were going down 101, right about at the airport. Amber wasn't just a little gassy. She was VERY gassy. Audibly gassy. Disturbingly smelly gassy. . We opened the windows, laughed a little and felt bad for Amber, whose tummy was obviously hurting. We figured once we got to the winery she would “do her business” and be done with it.

That was NOT the case. I won’t go into detail about her “business” but it wasn’t pretty. She came back in the winery, tail between her legs, looking very sad. It was awful. The entire office smelled really, really bad. Someone even went home sick. I was trying to do some tasting of new releases for some marketing materials and ugh, that couldn’t happen.

That night, after depositing Amber back at my parents’ house, a few CLC’ers went to a Happy Hour thing. I had a glass of cheap chardonnay (Mexican Restaurant) then a beer, then a nicer glass of wine when I got home. All of it was grossing me out. Nothing tasted or smelled good. Even my dinner that night was unappetizing. And I always inhale any type of Mexican food.

This got me thinking—about branding and consumer experiences. How something completely out of a marketers control ( a dog’s smelly ass) can have such a profound effect on how someone experiences a product. I consider myself pretty aware of these things—having been in the wine business for some time now. However the average, or even above average consumer, probably does not realize that if you take a big whiff of skunk before you drink a glass of Syrah, that it was the skunky smell that caused it to be so unappetizing, not necessarily the wine. Same thing with food and wine pairing. Mix the wrong wine with a certain dish and blech. It tastes terrible.

With the thousands and thousands of different wine brands out there, what exactly is brand loyalty in this business? And when is it engrained in the consumer? After the first sip/glass/bottle? After the first 5 good experiences? It differs for everyone, but I would imagine that for the majority of consumers out there is that the first impression of a wine is a key moment. And that moment is so defined by many things that are out of a marketer’s control. I feel very different about the wine I was drinking when I broke up with a boyfriend vs. the one I was drinking when I got engaged.

I guess that’s why we have such a beautiful place here at Clos LaChance—so we can trick everyone into having a great time and thinking our wine is the best ever!   (tongue in cheek here).

Anyways, this is a little rambling—I think my brain is still suffering from the effects of Amber. She is much better this week. Thanks for asking.

Unless you have been living in a cave for the last six months, then you are aware we are in the midst of tough economic times. The financial crisis has taken a toll on everyone and Clos LaChance is certainly not immune.

So what are we doing about it?  It’s hard to predict what is going to happen with sales for next year. So if we can’t guarantee additional revenue, then there is only one thing left to do: cut expenses

What are we cutting back on as we plan budgets for 2009? Christmas cards, for starters. Between our investors, wine club members, vendors, wholesalers, accounts  and growers…we were sending over 500 Christmas cards per year. With the cost of the card, postage, labor to address and stamp them all….we are talking over a grand to get our Christmas cards out.  There has got to be a better use of $1,000. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good Christmas card from friends and family, with pictures of the kids and updates of where the family traveled (as long as it’s not too braggy).  But business Christmas cards…eh, I can leave them.

So this year we did an electronic card. With a custom Christmas Carol. Didn’t get it? Click here. Yours truly wrote the song.

http://www.clos.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=category_detail&category_id_int=16082

What else are we cutting back on? On an annual basis, we have two departments that book the most expenses: Production and Sales and Marketing.

 On the production side, Mother Nature solved our expense cutting decisions for us. Yields in 2008 were very, very low. We did not pick as many grapes as we expected to, so we are bottling less next year.  By not bottling, we save on the costs of the packaging, the transport, the storage. Also on the production side, we purchased more barrels then we needed to in 2008 (again, low yields)—so we will be buying less in 2009.

In addition, we have consolidated a lot of our supplies for labels, bottles, capsules, corks….and are streamlining everything to be as simple and economical as possible. For example—our Vineyard Designate Pinots have traditionally been packaged in heavier, more expensive bottles. The fancy bottles cost A LOT more per case (we were buying very small quantities and they are pricey models), as was the transport because of the extra weight.  So we ditched the expensive bottle and are now using the same Burgundy bottle as our regular Pinot Noir.  

In addition, we have been re-evaluating all of our outside service contracts (thanks to Tom our Maintenance Supervisor) and made some major changes to our landscaping maintenance and regular deliveries of things like water, linens and doormats. We are saving a ton of money by hiring someone part-time for landscape maintenance and using our own crew vs. hiring an outside gardening service. Next up for review: phones, Internet, fax, cell phones for everyone that has one on the company. Telecommunications is expensive! But I bet we can get a better deal then we are getting right now.

On the Sales and Marketing side, our other major expense category, marketing expenses have been cut in half. Absolutely zero advertising (stop calling me if you are in ad sales), dropping out of a few trade organizations and tastings, and putting a hold on any press events or tours in 2009. However, on the sales side, this is not a good time to scale back. When times get tough, the big suppliers pull out their giant marketing budgets and start flying buyers around the world, giving huge incentives, and selling wine at a giant discount (can you say “2fer?”).  So to cut back on my miniscule sales budget—which pretty much includes only salaries, benefits and expenses for 6 people—is not an option. We would be completely ignored by distributors and accounts—who can be easily mesmerized by the flashy things offered by the “big boys.”

There are many more examples of the “little things” that are being done around here to cut expenses.  And we are doing them so we don’t have to raise prices or lay people off. Because two of my favorite things in life (outside of my family) are the people I work with and drinking good wine that is not crazy expensive.   I also like to combine the two. Bring on the Clos LaChance Christmas Party!

I thought I would address a question that we get all the time, in the tasting room, amongst our wine Club members and with potential new restaurant or independent retail accounts that we are pitching. “Your wine is at _______??” (insert Safeway/Vons,  Lucky's, Costco). The tone of the voice can often be one of disdain.  

My answer to that question is an enthusiastic “Yes!” and then an under my breath “Thank _____.” (insert whatever deity/higher power you believe in).

The signifigance of the grocery chain has grown significantly over the last few years, and is so very, very important, especially in these economic times. Restaurants are struggling as dining out has become a luxury. People are eating in more often and therefore buying more at the grocery store. Grocery stores are doing more to become “one stop shopping” for their customers, expanding their offerings in all categories to include higher end, “gourmet” or “luxury” types of items. For example—I use a shampoo called Pureology—something I could only get at the salon or a special store. Safeway and Target now carries it. Also, specialty and local breads from Watsonville and Santa Cruz is carried at my local Safeway and Costco.

This trend obviously expands into the wine department. About 2 years ago, Clos LaChance was lucky enough to get a meeting with the beverage managers at Safeway. The “Cluster 1 and Cluster 2” (newly remodeled or new stores) stores that have expanded wine sections (with approximately 1,000 different wine SKU’s, no joke) took on three of Clos LaChance’s Hummingbird Series Wines. Those are our best selling wines now—the Zinfandel, the unoaked Chardonnay, and the Cabernet Sauvignon. Not just via Safeway, but through other channels too…restaurants and other wine shops.

In my little control group of 1, I would venture to say that the awareness of those three wines has increased significantly over the last two years because of the exposure at 200+ California Safeways and Vons, among other things. So when I get a restaurant I am pitching that asks if our wines are in the chains, I say yes! And that’s a good thing because now people will recognize our name on a wine list. And those that recognize the name are more likely to order it.

However, the great thing about Clos LaChance is that we also have wines that are not in the chains (because of the small volume) and are only available at the winery or a couple of restaurants/specialty retailers (those that are buying right now, which are not many). So there is something for everyone. Our Estate Syrah, Grenache, Petite Sirah, Cabernet Sauvignon, our Vineyard Designates—the Biagini Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, Lila’s Cuvee, etc. I could go on and on. In total, Clos LaChance over 30 different products. Considering Clos LaChance’s total volume (approximately 60,000 cases annually), we are talking about 26 different, small lot (under 500 cases produced annually), artisan-type wines (we have 6 wines that are made inm qantities over 1500 cases).

Having the three wines that we do in the chains helps sell through the other, more expensive products on wine lists or in specialty retail shops. Customers recognize the name and the brand because of our broader distribution. And recognition is half the battle when it comes to marketing Clos LaChance—especially considering that we have 50,000 competitors (there is at least that many wineries in the world….probably a lot more. Couldn’t find an answer to this question online.)

Sometimes the chains offer some pretty amazing deals—especially at this time of year. At Safeway, they have a “Club Card” that gives incredible discounts across all departments—sometimes “2 for 1” offers (I got one of those this weekend on pickled jalapenos, go figure).  Wine is certainly no exception. Knowing what I know about wine pricing and the distribution channel, the store and/or the distributor is making little to no margin on these deals. It doesn’t matter who is losing money at this point (well, it would matter if it was me, but it’s not)—all the matters is that the customer is getting a good product at an unbelievable price.

So when people call me and say “Wow, your wine is only $7.99 at Safeway, that’s almost half off!” I tell them…BUY IT. The pricing comes down so much because of larger deals our distributor makes with the account that are often across other brands. It moves wine, and raises awareness of our brand. Most people that drink it are amazed at the price (“I would have paid more $ for that!”) and keep coming back for more. These prices tend to be 30 or 60 day programs, so they won’t last forever.

I also get the question “Aren’t you afraid that the low price will bastardize the Clos LaChance brand?” I personally think that the only thing that will ruin a brands reputation is bad wine in the bottle. Everything goes on sale every once in awhile. Does that make you less likely to buy it in the future at the regular price? Maybe, but not if you have some brand loyalty.  I tend to stock up on things when they are sale, but I don’t stop buying them all together when the price goes back to normal. If I get a wine for eight bucks, but it tastes like it is worth fifteen? Point me in that direction.

As for our wine club, we really try and focus on sending out wines that are not widely available. 90% of the time that is the case, no problem. Sometimes, when we are grasping at something to put in the club (usually a white wine, we only have 5 different white wines) it happens. No problem, give us a call if you have any concerns and we can take care of it. We are working next year to make sure this does not happen…as our Wine Club members are our most important customers and we want to make sure they are getting wines that no one else can get. Ironically, next year will be one of the first years that Wine Club members are the only ones to get our Biagini and Erwin Vineyard Pinots. Yields in the 2006 vintage were very, very low. We have just enough cases to send out to our Platinum Club members. These two wines won’t even be available in the Tasting Room. Fun!

Does any of this resonate with you? Am I in a vacuum here? I would love any feedback.

There is so much more to say on this issue, which I will get to in future blogs. Thanks for listening to my rant and go buy some wine!

Clos LaChance had the opportunity to pour at the first annual Wine Bloggers Conference in Santa Rosa on Friday. It was held at the very funky Flamingo Hotel and Resort, which I would totally go back to on vacation. Reminded me of a 1970’s hotel where our family would stay en route to another destination…but it ended up being the best part of the trip. The ground floor rooms opened up to the pool and the layout reminded me of those nights when my sister and I would run around, meet other random kids and play Hide and Seek or something like that. But I digress.

Our role in the conference was to pour one wine for the Live Blogging Tasting—i.e. 150 people (a mix of bloggers and sponsors, probably about half and half) sitting at 15 tables, getting 5 minutes with each winery plus 1 minute to write. It was very loud, a little chaotic, but fun in a way. I personally read about 5 or 6 wine blogs regularly, so it was interesting to meet some of those people face to face.

We had to pick only one wine to pour—so we brought out the 2005 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon. I walked and talked for 90 minutes while Sean from Benson Marketing Group (thanks!) handed out stuff and kept me flush with fresh bottles.

One of the things I have been reading about on various blogs and heard discussions about at this event was that old wine media is dead/dying and wine blogs are the way to capture eyeballs. I admit that I have been experimenting a bit with our media samples list—I added a few bloggers this past shipment, just to test the waters.

A few thoughts:

1.       We (and every other winery out there that has wine to sell) send our wines out to publications for scores. I keep my fingers crossed for a good score—and if I get one, I crow about it to anyone who will listen—we put it on the web site, we put it in the tasting room, we tell our distributors etc—in hopes of selling that particular wine and increasing the value of our brand. And a good score = Point of Sale marketing: a shelf talker (that little piece of paper that goes under the bottle in a retail store) or case card (usually a full sized document pasted behind a case stack). Retailers love nice looking POS—it helps sell the wine without much work on their part.  Anyways—to get to the point, I have yet to see a shelf talker with a bloggers score/quote on it. Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, Parker and Wine & Spirits still rule, along with Connoisseur’s Guide (puffs!) and some local pubs in various markets (the SF Chronicle, Chicago Trib etc).

 2.       James Laube of Spectator, Steve Heimoff at Wine Enthusiast, Robert Parker of The Wine Advocate…these guys also have their own blogs. So they are in a sense old media AND new media. Which just raises the volume of their voices louder then anyone else.

3.       The wine blogs that I read the most tend to focus more on issues in the wine industry—personal opinions on wine industry news and somewhat controversial subjects (drinking ages always seems to get people fired up). I also like the in depth discussions about wineries and people. Some blogs focus entirely on a tasting room experience, but digs down deep into it. I just don’t see blogs as the best place for wine ratings—yet. Hence my experimentation with the samples.

In any case, I think the conference was a good one. I was glad we got to participate and enjoyed meeting the bloggers. It will be very interesting to see how this new media translates in the future for this industry and ultimately the producers themselves.

A few of the reviews for our Cab from the bloggers I tasted:

1winedude
Wine Sleuth
Cheap Wine Rataings
Domaine547
Lenndevours
Good Grape, A Wine Manifesto
Vine Views
Wine Case

Critics have very different tastes. More often then not, we will get very high scores from one publication and mediocre scores from another.  For example, our Special Selection Meritage).  In Wine Enthusiast it got a 92. In Connoisseur’s Guide, only an 87.

Wine Enthusiast, March 2008):  Clos LaChance 2004 Meritage (Central Coast) - Juicy and ripe, this Bordeaux blend is an elegant young wine with earthy flavors of blackberries, cherries, and new smoky oak; Notable for its exceptional balance, it should hold well through 2012.  92 Points

The Connoisseur’s Guide to California Wine (December 2007):  There is a real kinship to be found between this blend and the winery’s Estate Cabernet in that both are built along smooth and supple lines, and both are easy-to-access offerings. While one finds plenty of ripe cherries, oak and brushy spice at work here, things get a touch of dry and drift off to chocolate at the finish, and the wine argues for but mid-term keeping.  Rating: 87 Points, One puff

But then you go to our Estate Syrah. Connoisseur’s Guide gives it 91, and Wine Spectator scored us at only an 86. An 86 is certainly not a bad score (and the write up is quite nice).  But in a lot of retail wine buyer minds (scores are most important when trying to sell wine into retail accounts), anything below a 90 is not saleable, unless you already have a well-established brand.

Connoisseur’s Guide to CA Wine (March 2008): 2005 Clos LaChance Syrah, Central Coast - Intense themes of plums and blackberries are given a big lift in sweetness by the creamy oak that appears through the length of this very deep and well-crafted opus, and, if never a Syrah of extravagant spice, it is still wonderfully juicy and rich.  Full on the palate and still impeccably balanced, it shows uncommon polish for the big wine that it is, and its fine-grained finishing tannins are overlain by layers of lingering fruit.  Although so mannerly as to tempt early drinking, it has the depth and reserve to grow for five or more years.  91 Points, Two Puffs.

Wine Spectator Review (March 31, 2008):  Clos LaChance Syrah Central Coast 2005 ($35): Rustic, yet appealing. Plum and forest floor aromas and firm black cherry, anise, and cracked pepper flavors finish with firm, cedary tannins. Best from 2009 through 2012. 510 cases.  86 Points.

How best to deal with these conflicting scores?

From a marketer’s point of view, I scream and holler about the high scores….but I don’t mention the lower scores (although I do post them on the Reviews section of our web site, as I like our customers to see all opinions in one place). The high scores, we will make shelf talkers (those annoying pieces of paper you will see under a bottle of wine at a retail store—and half the time the shelf talker doesn’t match with the vintage/and or varietal…but that’s another topic), sell sheets (just an 8 ½ X 11 sheet that has a bottle shot, logos and a GIANT quote from the respective high-scoring publication, hand them out to everyone in the field), email newsletters and tasting room displays.  

From a wine consumers point of view—find a reviewer that has similar likes and dislikes as you…(do you like pears? James Laube at the Spectator likes them, cause he scores wines that have pear characteristics higher then those that don’t) and then follow their recommendations. There are a ton of wine critics out there—and growing everyday with all the bloggers out there.