My name is Jim Morris, Director of Hospitality at Balletto Vineyards in the beautiful Russian River Valley in Sonoma County. I have been in the front of the house, wine game for over 20 years at such wineries as Michel-Schlumberger, Truett Hurst, MacPhail, St. Anne’s Crossing, Charles Krug, and Raymond Vineyards. I have seen the evolution of tasting room experiences go from free tastings to $500/pp intimate tastings at the owners bungalow.
As the newest member of the team, I know that the days of business as usual need to adapt to the consumer trend and need to appeal to more discerning wants/needs/desires of wine consumers and winery visitors. We need to listen to those who purchase our wines and join our club. I come to the community today to ask for compelling, interesting, different, off-beat, fascinating, and otherwise compelling experiences that you have enjoyed, would like to see, No idea too wacky. I am simply trying to find something new that will help us stand out among the 1100 wineries within 90 minutes of our winery that will help increase our traffic.
I hope this is a proper use of this page. Let me know if I should do something differently. I look forward to hearing from you. JimMorris
I think the big thing is offering special wines, nothing more disappointing than going to a winery just to taste through all the wines already in distribution. Obviously not a novel idea but so many wineries still just offer the staples of the portfolio.
Hi Jim,
Seems like a reasonable question and use of the forum. Prepare for a lot of varied and likely contradictory input.
Personally, when wine tasting, I am interested in tasting wine and that’s basically it. That’s the experience I want. I don’t want a picnic or some sort of food pairing or a jeep tour or anything—no doubt some do. But I’m a nerd and there for the wine. Modest tasting fees waived with some minimum purchase also a big plus.
That said, and just to contradict myself, I have done an e-bike tour of a vineyard + tasting in Spain, and thought that was really cool and would do again.
Dave
Cool, and thanks for the feedback. Many wineries try to do too much as well and begin to forget who they are because we are all trying to reach people in new and different ways. It really is still all about the wine/place/people.
As I’m ITB, I’m not much of a visitor to tasting rooms. I would be interested in tasting library wines, particularly if there was an opportunity to buy some that were not available anywhere else.
Excited about the wine and want to meet the people making it and see where it grows
Memorable experiences are hiking The Bruce Trail and going to multiple wineries along it. Cimarossa gave an ATV tour through their vineyard which ended with a tasting on top of a mountain overlooking it all. Having lunch with the matriarch of Castello di Verrazzano in the turret of her castle.
Even if it is #1, I’m going to consult here and look at scores on Cellartracker to narrow things down. I’ve yet to have a RRV Pinot or Chard that really excited me. I’d make something other than that. Even Kosta Browne and Williams Selyem don’t really excite me. Think I’d focus on old vine field blends, Zin, and Syrah. Make a cheap Pét-nat and rose.
I’d be interested in events with Kyle Connaughton or other chefs from Single Thread. Looks like you border a wildlife area. Birding people are nuts and will spend for unique experiences. Not sure if you can attract unique fauna to the area? Looks like it would be possible to connect the Joe Rodota Trail to the Laguna de Santa Rosa Trail to get people on bicycle to your tasting room? I don’t like to drive to tasting rooms if I can avoid it and looks like you are close enough to town to take advantage of that.
Meeting the people that make the wine and being able to understand them, their approach (via a walk-through of the production facility), and what they are trying to achieve. If it is a grower/winemaker, then a walk in the vineyard to discuss the farming practices, challenges, and how the challenges are being met is always a plus. Recently, I was able to spend time with Caterina Burzi in Barolo walking the Barbera vines and reviewing their move from the single guyot method to just letting 5 shoots grow each year and how that approach saved A BUNCH of time that was saved in vineyard management each year. We also talked about canopy management with the Barolo vines and how letting the vine continue to grow and just train them along the top wire increased hang time for the fruit. They think that by NOT cutting back the canopy, the vine is not sending energy to the vine (and invariably the fruit) to regrow the lost growth.
Library/Limited Release Wines that cannot be purchased somewhere else. Like a painting purchased on our travels, those special bottles recall the day, the place and time with the people from the estate.
I’m curious about your experience with Zoom tastings. They were so great during the pandemic, but many people have simply drifted away from them. Are there many wineries you are aware of doing them still?
Agree on the tour of vineyards/production areas as most people have not experienced that side of the biz. People want to feel a connection to where their wines come from or are made. Vineyard tours are critical as well, especially as the vineyards begin to bear fruit up through harvest.
I agree wholeheartedly about library tastings. It is great to show the provenance of these vineyards, even with Pinot and Chardonnay.
Hi Josh, thank you for your well thought out response. Showcasing what makes us special and unique is paramount. I am a big Sonoma County supporter and will only use local purveyors, chefs, producers in our tastings. I am considering a local chef harvest lunch series in the fall that would feature top local talent–I can’t afford what Kyle/Katina would charge, but I have some pretty decent connections to the food world here. Watch this space.
I want to get more people in the vineyard and will endeavor to do so. I like your bike tour idea and will look into local bike groups to partner with. Thank you.
The biggest complaints I hear about the Northern California tasting rooms is the prices. Make sure you have your bread and butter wines on an affordable flight. Really affordable. And think about waving the cost of a flight if they purchase a case of wine (mix and match). That will take care of 95% of your traffic.
For the other 5% (and the people on this thread), offer a flight of the upper tier reserves. and do the same with the case purchase by waving the flight cost.
Working with local biking groups etc is fine and dandy, but a very large percentage of your traffic is going to be from out of state - and aren’t going to know about these events anyways.
I own a small vineyard in France (Roussillon). I keep back up to a pallet in better vintages. I do it not so much to release for sale but to use for tastings. I know that fewer people maintain cellars and buy wines to age, but I like to show how my wine develops. With 29 acres, I normally make just two wines, which means that to offer something interesting, I have to offer something with bottle age.
I wish more wineries did small bites with their pairings (not charcuterie or a $200/pp sit down experience). If you dont have a kitchen, thatll be difficult and maybe not worth the cost/risk.
To echo others, either library or can only get at the Vineyard wines. Wine geek tours of the Vineyards focusing on interesting blocks, why things are broken up the way they are, soil profiles and variations, etc…
A good example of a unique experience and wine… years back i was in Napa and we hit Stag’s Leap. I was looking over a detailed map of their Vineyard, blocks, planting age, soil profiles, etc… Noticed that many were planted 80s, 90s, or more current; yet there was one block listed as 70s, like just after the Judgement of 76 time frame. Asked about it, got the whole history from one of their wine geeks. Offered to take me out to it even, I declined as a matter of time constraints. Further Learn they produce a single block bottling every so often as it offers fruit that warrants it, Block 4 in SLV specifically. What was more coincidence and unique, I just happened to be there in a year it was available and only could be acquired on-site (or club perhaps) , 2013 vintage and that was only the 4th time it was bottled ever. Was offered the opportunity to buy that wine among other things. Tasting comp’d. Made it special, fun, and unique for a wine geek; that bottle sits on a display rack reminding me of a great experience every time I see it.
For me, the ultimate experience is to talk directly with the winemakers and tasting out of the barrel.
I realize not all tasting rooms can do this but it is always a special experience for me.
In addition to the tasting of wines not widely available, my favorite part of visiting a winery is getting to know the people who make the wine, work in the winery, grow the grapes….etc.
I prefer a nice conversation to hearing what is obviously a scripted tasting. Work in the elements the winery wants to tell us about the wines, but I really enjoy getting to know the people making the wines. My wife and I visited Sonoma in June. Our favorite tastings hands down were the ones where it felt like a conversation with a new friend over some glasses of wine. It makes the visit so much more enjoyable when it’s a fun conversation than when it feels like I’m just being sold a commodity.
what I don’t like and hear too often is what the wine tastes like. I’ll taste it for myself. Tell me about the vineyard, the winemaking, but don’t tell me what it tastes like or what to eat with it.
