Market Realities
The Sonoma County Grape Growers Association is lobbying to impose a half percent sales tax on wine grapes to fund an expansion of their marketing efforts. Currently the SCGGA spends $150K on marketing, but with the tax the SCGGA will up its marketing budget to around $750K. Our dollars would apparently go toward building brand equity for all Sonoma County growers.
Right now Sonoma County alone produces enough grapes to completely fulfill demand for all super premium wine sold in the USall by itself. In fact, Sonoma County currently produces three times the volume needed to completely satisfy the high-end $15 and over niche. This is because the market for high-end wine is vanishingly small. The luxury and super premium markets account for only 2.2% of US wine sales, and the SCGGA contends that the best way to insure that demand for Sonoma wines stays high is through an increased marketing budget.
I’m convinced that building brand equity is a good thing (though growers like us who plan on selling to ourselves in the near future would be exempt from the tax, so be aware that you are reading the thoughts of a rent-seeking free-rider) but I can’t help but wonder if a similar or better outcome couldn’t be achieved if more county growers would simply take the time to blog about their vineyards.
Vineyards are full of stories, and wineries continue to emphasize that great wine is “madeâ€? there, so why don’t more vineyard owners open a dialogue directly with customers? If markets really are conversations, then Sonoma growers will need more than just a steady stream of broad market glossy ads to convince wine drinkers to pick Sonoma over a French Chard or an Oregon Pinot. We need to market directly to consumers, each of us, by introducing ourselves and convincing them one by one why Sonoma is such a great place for growing wine. We should be having a conversation with consumers with our own voices, showing them our humanity, authenticity and knowledge while spreading our passion for wine.
We should all be blogging.
3 Comments → “Market Realities”
Of course, if *all* wineries are blogging, it will become harder to differentiate amonst them. Maybe we need AVAs for blogs (just joking!!!).
Seriously, blogs are just another vehicle for you to communicate the passion you have for your wine. as well the expertise and thought you bring to its creation.
All things being equal, people buy from people they know and like. Blogs help people know and like you. I’ve never even met Josh, but I’ll sure buy a Capozzi wine when it finally shows up on the wine list at Mirepoix, John Ash, or K&L Bistro.
I admit that I too an looking forward to tasting the Capozzi wines because of your obvious passion for wine that this blog has conveyed to me. I think most wineries are just not prepared to do the work required to make a blog meaningful. At Anne Amie, my original idea was to include most of the staff in making posts, but a combination of technical inadequacies, confidence and, frankly, a bit of laziness combined to leave me the only contributor. Keeping a steady stream of meaningful posts coming while dealing with your regular workload can be challenging. Combine this with trying to keep my own personal blog going and it can become quite a weight. However, I think it is more than worth it and I firmly believe a blog and website are among the best tools for a small winery to reach out to both consumers and distributors.
Mike,
I agree about differentiation, but I’m talking specifically about grape *growers*. As an area or even just as an AVA (Russian River), if each/most grower(s) (who could be selling to up to three or four wineries) blogged about why the land, climate and viticulture all combine to produce great wines in this area, I believe it would have a cumulative effect greater than a string of ads in WS or WE. There are very few growers that blog – wineries blogs are far more common in comparison.
Craig,
Time is certainly a cost that needs to be measured and weighed, and finding it, especially during crush, will be a continual challenge. Still, like you I think its more than worth it.
Thanks to both of you for your comments!