San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Wineries search for fun ways to court new customers
Ever since California’s first public wine tasting room opened at Charles Krug in St. Helena in 1882, direct-to-consumer sales have been a valuable source of revenue for many wineries. It’s been a simple strategy — customers sample wines, find their favorites and purchase on the spot without the need for winery owners to deal with the cost and logistics of distributors.
“A tasting room is a place for people to qualify wine for purchase, that’s its purpose,” said Janae Franicevic, who owns Sunce Winery in Santa Rosa with her husband, Frane. The couple has exclusively sold direct-to-consumer since opening in 2000, drawing from a portfolio of four dozen-plus varietals. “We don’t have set flights we impose on people. Instead, we find out what styles they like and make it all their own experience.”
Over the past decade, the tasting concept has become more complicated with plenty of wineries turning into entertainment destinations, too. More and more places brim with attractions like complex food pairings, live music and full-out parties requiring tickets to be purchased. It’s made sense, bringing in greater profit opportunities.
But during the pandemic, both business models disappeared overnight.
When public venues shut down, for most wineries, online sales became vital. Companies like the Geyserville-based Wilson Artisan Wineries immediately geared up its internet efforts to promote its 11 locations across Northern California. And wine clubs — always a reliable sales source — became even more important.
“We immediately created a ‘Shelter in Taste’ sale that was very successful,” said Wilson Director of
Marketing Katie Ambrosi. “So our online sales grew while our tasting room sales evaporated, but the ability to sign up new club members became a challenge as the natural path through a visit disappeared.” Entering wine competitions, like the annual San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, took on more significance, as well, to remind customers that their favorite wines were still top quality and available for purchase. Sunce, for example, entered 103 of its wines this year, taking home four Best of Class, and six Double Gold medals, among 41 Gold medals overall, and posted the results on its website and social media.
Now, in-person tastings and on-site events have flooded back, and many wineries are coming up with ever more inventive activities designed to capture and keep that coveted wine club crowd.
“Losing on-site sales was painful but allowed us to start thinking outside the box,” said Matthew Scott, head winemaker and general manager of winemaking, wholesale and viticulture at 7 Vines Vineyard in Dellwood, Minn. “The wine club and online sales were critical to help fill some of the sales gap. But we survey our club members annually and find that besides exclusive wines and discounts, early access to special events are a
large reason they stay in our club.”
Popular 7 Vines activities include wine club shipment pick up parties, fashion shows, holiday boutique events and guest chef wine dinners.
“These events help to connect guests with our brand and give them the opportunity to take home bottles or if they’re new, join our wine club,” Scott said.
For some wineries, the shutdown encouraged new thinking on how to promote both in-person and online sales, often in tandem.
“We offered free shipping for most of the duration of the lock downs,” said Dalton Humphreys, managing partner of Perissos Vineyard and Winery in Austin, Texas. “Now our events have increased substantially, and our wine club parties have exploded. We host four major release parties each year, and we’ve been able to keep it completely free for our members while still providing wine, a full meal and great bands.”
Parties are fun, but the quality of the wine is still the most important component, noted Franicevic, who operates what she calls an allocation program with a waiting list that’s only open to returning, renewing or people referred by members.
Sunce allocation members do get access to an annual crush party and complimentary San Francisco Bay sunset cruises, but “it’s really about the wine,” she said. “We are not entertainment directors. We sell wine, not experiences — and we have a darn good time doing it.”
Sunce members get wine discounts, but visitors — any and all visitors — may be surprised with fun freebie things like tastings in the barrel room.
In some of the modern directto-consumer world, however, the more playtime, the better.
“The great thing about wineries is that they are places to bring people together,” Scott said. “We host many fun events such as our charcuterie board building classes, wine pairing classes with themes like bubbles and fries, Girl Scouts cookie pairings or Halloween candy pairings and focus on having various genres of music, so that we can cater to multiple generations of guests.”
Perks help, too, beyond the typical 10 to 25% club savings for wine purchases.
“It’s access, member-pricing and events,” Ambrosi said of Wilson’s wine club program.
The winery group owns three bed and breakfasts in Healdsburg (Grape Leaf Inn, Camellia Inn, Calderwood Inn) and one in Cloverdale (the Pinschower Inn), and wine club members get 20% off their stays.
They also get preferred pricing for public events like Wilson’s annual Wine & Grilling Competition and Wine & Chili Pairing Competition, plus a summer live music series. Different wineries in the company’s diverse portfolio tend to attract different clientele, so some events are customized to their location.
“Our Coyote Sonoma winery in downtown Healdsburg is also a live music venue and taproom, where we feature a lot of different types of music,” Ambrosi said. “Some bands are naturally very appealing to millennials, and that is an alternate way we connect with guests in that demographic.”
At Perissos, special events have taken on their own life, becoming gatherings for like-minded attendees of all ages who often become friends, Humphreys said.
“The main factor we find for people joining our wine club is the highly award winning, 100% Texas grown wine we produce,” he said. “But equally as important is the community we create. We are far into the Texas Hill Country, blessed with many acres of land and vineyards away from the heart of the populated city.”
Entering Perissos wines into competitions is important for drawing in customers, Humphreys noted.
“As a business, we obviously want to increase our customer base and promote the Texas wine movement. People (see the awards) and know they have something special in their own backyard. Producing world class wine — that’s attractive to every age, gender and ethnicity.”
The winery won two Double Gold medals in the recent San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, plus a Gold and six Silver medals. The winery actively promotes the achievements, too, with its website sharing that “We are honored to have received nine Best of Class Awards from the prestigious San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition over the years. Winning Best of Class in the competitive group of wines is not only humbling but is truly an outstanding accomplishment.”
Such awards ultimately lead to increased attention and increased sales directly to consumers.
“Yes, the events are grand, and yes, it’s nice to get a bit of a discount, but we don’t put on parties for the sake of parties, nor do we put on events for the sake of reaching millennials or any specific demographic,” Humphreys said. “We make the greatest possible wine that is grown from Texas soil and then invest ourselves into the people that love our wine. And then, we all celebrate together.”