BerserkerDay Wine Dinner - Would you be interested if there was one? (polls inside)

WINE TALK
1

Hi All, back at the Difara’s pizza dinner, I brought up to @ToddFrench that I think it might be an interesting idea to have a Berserker Day Dinner. He and I have discussed a few ideas, but ultimately I think the only way it will work is with the input of everyone here on WB to see if there even is interest in putting together such a dinner (or several).

To explore this idea and see if a berserker day dinner is viable requires several polls for input as there are numerous logistics to work out. So I really appreciate you participating in as many polls below.

Poll 1: Do you like the idea of a berserker day wine dinner?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Doesn’t matter to me because I wouldn’t attend
  • Maybe - I’ll leave a comment below
0 voters

Poll 2: If yes, where would you like to see this take place? (multiple choice if you think there should be several dinners at the same time so more people can go, or if you’d fly out to the location that is chosen)

  • New York
  • LA
  • San Fran
  • Miami
  • Atlanta
  • Chicago
  • Other - my comment is below
0 voters

Poll 3: If you were interested in going, at what price point would you be comfortable paying? Select the highest price you would be willing to pay (price includes: food, wine, gratuity, tax, logistics etc…)

  • $100
  • $200
  • $300
  • $400
  • $500 to $1000
0 voters

Poll 4: What kind of wine would you like to see served?

  • Wines from wineries that participate in berserker day
  • Wines curated by Todd or the dinners host that fit the price point accordingly
0 voters

Poll 5: Would you travel to participate in this dinner if you purchased a ticket?

  • Yes
  • No
  • Maybe - my response is posted below
0 voters

One of the important details that are critical to iron out is regarding when the dinner will take place. If the goal is to have the dinner on berserker day, or within the same week, then tickets would need to be sold prior to berserker day. Some people may want it hosted on berserker day so it feels special, but that could interfere with your ability to purchase products during BD, so maybe the dinner is hosted the same week as BD? The alternative is for tickets to be sold on berserker day, but then the dinner would take place a few weeks later.

Poll 6: When should the BD dinner be hosted?

  • Hosted on BD - tickets sold prior to BD
  • Hosted same week as BD - tickets sold prior to BD
  • Hosted a few weeks after BD - tickets sold on BD
  • I am happy with any of the above 3 options
0 voters

The number of guests is also important to consider. A curated dinner for 10-12 people may be an intimate way to meet and enjoy wine with your fellow WB’s, but it also means there are very few tickets. The dinner could also be handled more casually, similarly to the DiFara’s dinner. We would have 20-30 people who rent out a small restaurant or bar for a few hours and enjoy wine and food more casually, just mingling with everyone else.

Poll 7: Which type of dinner is more appealing to you?

  • Group no larger than 10-12
  • Large 20-30 person casual wine dinner
  • I am happy with either option
0 voters

What about a value added proposition? Should we include a winemaker, master of wine, or master somm? I hosted a dinner last year focused on the Domaine de la Cote wine because I was inspired by the Somm 3 documentary. I had gotten in contact with Dustin Wilson, one of the stars of the 3 somm documentaries and he attended the dinner. His attendance was a HUGE draw for the event. It was fun to have him speak about his participation in the Somm documentaries, and blind tasting.

Poll 8: Would you like to have a guest speaker at the dinner i.e. a winemaker or master somm?

  • No guest speakers
  • Doesn’t matter
  • Yes, a guest speaker would be a fun value add
0 voters

Thanks for reading my long post, and frankly there are still some logistics that would need to be ironed out that I have not included here because I do not have the answer so I am very open to hearing input and everyone’s thoughts. One of the biggest questions I have is how to handle ticket allocation. If the concept of BD is extremely popular, only having 12 tickets or 30 max could be frustrating. Are the tickets first come first serve? Which means they can be sold out in seconds. Is it a lottery system for those that are interested? Or is the ticket included if you donate money to some charity? I don’t know the answer to this question. Plus, if there is a lot of interest in several major cities, like the ones listed in poll #2, maybe we host several dinners on the same day all with the same theme. This way many more people can participate across the country and then share their tasting notes. (potentially 50-100 people in theory could participate if we did several locations)

We have a lot of time between now and the next BD, so I am hoping the WB hivemind can help us answer these questions and see if there is a real desire for a BD themed wine dinner.

2 Likes
2

I put no for guest speakers, but not because I am against them in general. I just imagine that would be a factor in the cost, and there are only a handful of people I would really be interested in paying extra to hear talk. Otherwise, I would prefer the money go to the wineries.

1 Like
3

I think a big casual dinner would be fun. I think having it be more like a potluck would be my preference but if people wanted to curate an event that would be ok too.

6 Likes
4

I am open to either. Wines could be curated, which increases the cost, or it is entirely BYO and everyone is expected to bring something cool to share. I enjoy both.

Plus, if this becomes a reality, even if the wines were curated, either by Todd or it is from the wines from wineries participating in BD, that doesn’t bar anyone from bringing something extra if they want to share or have part of an after party.

5

Just to clarify, this wouldn’t held ON Berserker Day, correct?

Even though I’m sure Todd could squeeze it in….

6

We did discuss it and I do agree it being held ON berserkerday might be too complicated. That said, I felt it was an important option to list. As of now, the most popular option is the same week as BD.

7

I think it would be a cool idea and contribute to WB culture to have Berserker Day dinners very close to the day.

I agree with Michael that they could be informal, BYO, very low cost, and TBH, not require any sort of ticket purchase. Each city/region would need an organizer(s) and a thread to know how many guests to expect. We kind of did this with a Rhone theme this past year with Berserkers convening in LA, ATL (if memory serves) and Houston and it was awesome.

If WB wanted to organize it and use it to raise funds (for itself or for a BD cause) that would be great, but I’m less likely to travel for that.

4 Likes
8

See #6 above.

9

@J.Vizuete , I also like your idea. If we had pop-up BD dinners during the same week all over the country. The only one downside would be different wines drank across the country. I think there is a certain allure to if multiple dinners all had the same wine then we could have a master BD tasting notes thread. Would be very interesting to see the notes from people all across the country.

Although, this isn’t “really” a problem i suppose. The more dinners the better.

1 Like
10

You expected me to read everything? :eyes:

I am a Berserker!

Personally, I think doing during BD week is a bad idea, on BD even worse.

What if, for example Marcus and Megan want to attend? No way that they could.

4 Likes
11

Yeah, there’s so much prep work ahead of time, then a crazy couple of days and much follow-up work for participating wineries it would be a nightmare for them to try to attend. I like the idea of dinners in the lead up to BD, so people can share previous offerings, with maybe some preview bottles thrown in.

12

I could see Seattle or Portland as good options as well.

1 Like
13

It would be fun to hold several in a few different cities on the same day so many more can attend. Also, it would be fun to have dinners in regions or cities that have Berserker day sellers so they can attend. It would be great to be able to put faces with names

2 Likes
14

The more I read through the comments the more I realize that maybe the best way is for there to be numerous popup dinners all over the country. We still need to consider if everyone is drinking the same wine, or does everyone do their own thing.

3 Likes
15

Yeah, kind of like New Year’s Rocking Eve. We can kick it off in New York and move the festivities across the country in different venues. I would let the organizers in each location pick the format. There will be some large groups and some small groups.

Be good to pick a timeframe where we can have BD participants attend. Maybe a full week before BD will leave enough time to actually prep for BD itself?

16

Is the goal to share BD wines in advance of BD or just to get together? Focus, folks! :slight_smile:

1 Like
17

The issue I have noticed @larry_schaffer is most people want to get together the same week as BD. But if the goal was to have BD wines, well they wouldn’t have shipped yet. Otherwise people would need to buy the wines ahead of BD to drink during the BD dinner, but they then wouldn’t get to enjoy the discounts BD provides. What are your thoughts on this?

18

I think it’d be difficult to get everyone wine in January.

19

Or . . . BD wineries could either try to attend or donate wines that will be on offer?

Cheers

20

I am of course 100% for this, but if we end up having several dinners across the country, that’s a lot of wine to donate! I assume Todd would need to discuss these details with the wineries.