It was impressive to see. An energetic group comprised of about twenty New York wineries and fifty New York liquor stores. The topic: How do we increase the demand for and sales of New York State wines?
The discussion brought out a lot of good ideas, but there were two that stuck out in my mind. The first was organizing some 'VIP' winery tours that could be marketed by retailers to bring groups of more serious wine consumers to the wineries for extra special treatment and experiences. I was attracted to that idea because I actually took part in something like that many years ago.
There was a travel/special interest group called Bacchant's Pilgrimages that set up a tour of South American wineries back in the 70's. We traveled to Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brazil to sample the food and experience first hand the indigenous wine making art. In each country we were welcomed as special guests of the wineries, often sharing lunch with the winery owner under a trellis in the vineyard, or on the veranda overlooking the estate. We sampled outstanding local foods and experienced them paired with the local wines.
Not only was it an enjoyable and educational experience, but more importantly we all came back as ambassadors for the yet unknown wineries in this emerging wine export area. This is exactly the kind of 'exchange' program that can not only bring tourist income in the short run, but can build knowledge and interest in the wonderful foods and wines of New York. I think this is a great idea to pursue.
Another idea revolved on continuing to build the NYS brand, and make it easier for stores and consumers to know more about what's in the bottle by using better and more consistent communication. Wineries can make better use of back labels and shelf talkers to help understand the experience a given label will offer.
The consensus was that although wine is a multi-dimensional product, the most important diminsion in stores is 'sweetness.' Although this is a simple concept, there is a lot of confusion because the definition of that trait has been more qualitative than quantitative. It was suggested that a numerical scale based on residual sugar be devised and strictly adhered to. This information could be put on the back label, and since it is based on empirical test it would give salespeople and consumers a more accurate impression of what to expect from the liquid in the bottle.
This is especially important for the many 'proprietary blends' that populate the wineries offerings. Most people have a good idea of what to expect from a bottle of Cabernet-Franc or Chardonnay, but what is a Verse3 Avail (Anyela's Vineyards) or Del-A-Cat (Belhurst) going to be like? Taking the guesswork out of that question would go a long way to making a sale.
There were lots of other great ideas too, and everyone went away with the impression that there is more that can be done to grow the NY wine business, and we can all benefit from it. Two stores told a simple success formula: Buy more NY wines and display them in prominent locations and sales of NY wines will explode. That's easy enough to do. Let's all try that!
