Thanks for the link to tomorrow's report - registered! Once upon a time, roughly 10 years ago, tasting rooms almost across the board had a "buy a bottle, we'll waive the tasting fee" policy, and that was instrumental in my being able to get my feet wet with wine country. It made the value proposition make more sense, rather than an expenditure that was purely extravagant. (And the tasting fees were closer to $25-$35 then, now they're double that and no waiving for bottle purchases! That's a crazy shift!)
Even though I'm in my forties, I am brand new to wine. I still have a lot to learn. I can't tell you what I like or don't like yet because I'm not sure if I've learned to like it.
But I want to.
I looked into a few wine tasting rooms near me (in PA), and this is my exact problem. They are expensive. ($100 - so $200 if both my husband and I want to go!), and I don't even know if I really like wine enough to invest that much yet. So I just keep reading, learning on Substack, and going to the State Wine and Liquor store...
I agree with Dave's comment. The tasting doesn't even need to be free. If the tasting was closer to $25-$35, I would have already gone.
I hosted a free pop-up wine bar in Paris for 30 days and we learned a lot about the wine industry - summary here - https://kapitelzweiwine.substack.com/p/what-we-learned-after-hosting-a-pop -- And I am doing it for 3 days in Vienna next week. Normally in Austria, tasting are free if you buy a bottle. If not, 10 EUR is typical, but as a vigneron, and in speaking with other producers, the free wine tastings I organize is viewed as another form of marketing, no different than an Instagram ad. People learn and enjoy your wine, post content on social and suddenly you have new followers and subscribers to your newsletter and you are selling bottles.
I’m not sure free is a great idea. Tastings here (central TX) were commonly free 10 years ago, but it just attracts the wrong crowd. Most places went to $10, just to ensure a certain minimal level of genuine interest - plus credit towards a bottle or two. But it’s been creeping up - hardly anyone is under $25 and i’ve seen reserve tastings $65. The temptation to max it out seems irresistible.
There are still plenty of people willing to pay those prices, but I agree with the gist of the article - maxing this fee to what the market will bear is missing the point of what tasting and visits should be about. Marketing, not key revenue center. It takes really good staff to pull it off - to keep things oriented towards the wine rather than “party room” atmosphere. I think it’s possible. Expensive tastings keep out the “riff raff”, but that is the wine problem - too much leveraging of the image of “exclusivity”. That’s old-school marketing - erect a barrier and the barrier itself will make people want to climb over. Doesn’t work like that anymore.
Does Community Benchmark report on how many tastings are waived (thanks, whineboy) with purchase of wine? This has been a pretty consistent albeit unwritten rule in Napa for years. Maybe we will see the answer in the SVB report.
Tom - Thanks for covering the DTC report. One thing we didn't answer during the telecast was the sensibility of offering free tastings. I have my view which I'll skip. Instead in an era where change is needed, I'm encouraging the industry to just try new things. Then look at the data and adapt/adjust. Will everyone go to free tastings? Of course not. Will free tastings improve visitation? Probably. Will the right visitors come? That's what remains to be seen, but I appreciate the recognition of the problem, and the attempt at finding solutions.
Well done on the report, Rob. I've talked to a couple wineries who have instituted free tastings and they report that sales increase. That's positive. And with this said, I think the dip in visitation will push others to go Free or offer much reduced tasting fees and we should get good data.
Thanks Tom. I acknowledge that when tasting fees were initatited, they were done so to limit the undesirables. It worked. We had fewer people but more of the right ones. Tasting fee's and experiences kept climbing to the point where we have to question the status quo. Is it now limiting the desirable? My guess is yes. Will free tastings bring in some undesireable guests? Maybe. It might also bring in new customers. We'll have to look at the data, and see what happens. And it's not just the tasting fee that could be changed. During the videocast I believe Andrea Meyers mentioned that Round Pond is offering a shorter tasting at a reduced rate. That makes sense to me as well, particularly if the opportunity is marketed to the target client. There are a lot of moving parts that can be adjusted to get the desired outcome. What would happen if 4 wineries collaborated on a tasting pass for a shorter tasting? I think we're only scratching the surface.
Why are American wineries so upfront profit focused? Here in Australia we might pay $25 and it's usually refundable on purchase of even a single bottle for say $50. Often when I step up to the counter with $20 bill in hand they know I'm serious (I do wear a lot of wine related merch) and just shake their head. Events usually cost say $50-$60 plus booking fee, of course, about the cost of a decent bottle of wine.
Thanks for the link to tomorrow's report - registered! Once upon a time, roughly 10 years ago, tasting rooms almost across the board had a "buy a bottle, we'll waive the tasting fee" policy, and that was instrumental in my being able to get my feet wet with wine country. It made the value proposition make more sense, rather than an expenditure that was purely extravagant. (And the tasting fees were closer to $25-$35 then, now they're double that and no waiving for bottle purchases! That's a crazy shift!)
Even though I'm in my forties, I am brand new to wine. I still have a lot to learn. I can't tell you what I like or don't like yet because I'm not sure if I've learned to like it.
But I want to.
I looked into a few wine tasting rooms near me (in PA), and this is my exact problem. They are expensive. ($100 - so $200 if both my husband and I want to go!), and I don't even know if I really like wine enough to invest that much yet. So I just keep reading, learning on Substack, and going to the State Wine and Liquor store...
I agree with Dave's comment. The tasting doesn't even need to be free. If the tasting was closer to $25-$35, I would have already gone.
I hosted a free pop-up wine bar in Paris for 30 days and we learned a lot about the wine industry - summary here - https://kapitelzweiwine.substack.com/p/what-we-learned-after-hosting-a-pop -- And I am doing it for 3 days in Vienna next week. Normally in Austria, tasting are free if you buy a bottle. If not, 10 EUR is typical, but as a vigneron, and in speaking with other producers, the free wine tastings I organize is viewed as another form of marketing, no different than an Instagram ad. People learn and enjoy your wine, post content on social and suddenly you have new followers and subscribers to your newsletter and you are selling bottles.
I’m not sure free is a great idea. Tastings here (central TX) were commonly free 10 years ago, but it just attracts the wrong crowd. Most places went to $10, just to ensure a certain minimal level of genuine interest - plus credit towards a bottle or two. But it’s been creeping up - hardly anyone is under $25 and i’ve seen reserve tastings $65. The temptation to max it out seems irresistible.
There are still plenty of people willing to pay those prices, but I agree with the gist of the article - maxing this fee to what the market will bear is missing the point of what tasting and visits should be about. Marketing, not key revenue center. It takes really good staff to pull it off - to keep things oriented towards the wine rather than “party room” atmosphere. I think it’s possible. Expensive tastings keep out the “riff raff”, but that is the wine problem - too much leveraging of the image of “exclusivity”. That’s old-school marketing - erect a barrier and the barrier itself will make people want to climb over. Doesn’t work like that anymore.
Does Community Benchmark report on how many tastings are waived (thanks, whineboy) with purchase of wine? This has been a pretty consistent albeit unwritten rule in Napa for years. Maybe we will see the answer in the SVB report.
Waived.
Tom - Thanks for covering the DTC report. One thing we didn't answer during the telecast was the sensibility of offering free tastings. I have my view which I'll skip. Instead in an era where change is needed, I'm encouraging the industry to just try new things. Then look at the data and adapt/adjust. Will everyone go to free tastings? Of course not. Will free tastings improve visitation? Probably. Will the right visitors come? That's what remains to be seen, but I appreciate the recognition of the problem, and the attempt at finding solutions.
Well done on the report, Rob. I've talked to a couple wineries who have instituted free tastings and they report that sales increase. That's positive. And with this said, I think the dip in visitation will push others to go Free or offer much reduced tasting fees and we should get good data.
Thanks Tom. I acknowledge that when tasting fees were initatited, they were done so to limit the undesirables. It worked. We had fewer people but more of the right ones. Tasting fee's and experiences kept climbing to the point where we have to question the status quo. Is it now limiting the desirable? My guess is yes. Will free tastings bring in some undesireable guests? Maybe. It might also bring in new customers. We'll have to look at the data, and see what happens. And it's not just the tasting fee that could be changed. During the videocast I believe Andrea Meyers mentioned that Round Pond is offering a shorter tasting at a reduced rate. That makes sense to me as well, particularly if the opportunity is marketed to the target client. There are a lot of moving parts that can be adjusted to get the desired outcome. What would happen if 4 wineries collaborated on a tasting pass for a shorter tasting? I think we're only scratching the surface.
Why are American wineries so upfront profit focused? Here in Australia we might pay $25 and it's usually refundable on purchase of even a single bottle for say $50. Often when I step up to the counter with $20 bill in hand they know I'm serious (I do wear a lot of wine related merch) and just shake their head. Events usually cost say $50-$60 plus booking fee, of course, about the cost of a decent bottle of wine.