I was just reading Wine Talk when the phone rang. It was a winery that Steve and I used to get shipments from, but we dropped out of their “club” around 2006 when we started to shift our purchases toward old world wines. The guy was very nice. He asked us what wines of theirs we’d enjoyed in the past, and mentioned some special deals they had right now. There was nothing unpleasant about it-- it wasn’t like a pushy telemarketing call at all-- but it was a first for me. Is this something you’ve encountered before?
Melissa,
I’ve gotten 3 calls like that in the past 2 weeks.
The only call I’ve ever received was from Pax, but I think a lot of people got that one last year.
Wow! Had you ever gotten calls before? Or is this a new thing because of the economy? I don’t expect to get many either way, because I’m not on any lists.
I’ve been called by Joe Donelan, but that was more of a discussion/dissertation on what wines I should be buying.
This is the first time that I’ve been solicited out of the blue. 2 of the wineries were ones where I had purchased in the past (3+ years ago) but was never a member of the wine club. One was from a winery that I only recently left the wine club and they offered me discounted pricing similar to the wine club pricing if I wanted to buy. I politely declined all 3.
I hope you told Cargasacchi to stop bugging you. I had to finally report John Holdredge for repeatedly violating my “do not call” list.
Peter only calls when he has an abundance of critters for sale…
I am doing some PT work for a winery here in the Valley. Production is only a few hundred cases and being a one-man show, there hasn’t been any kind of organization over the years (his mailing list, order form, etc. is a yellow legal pad & the website went live about 3 weeks ago with 8 vintages under his belt). I put together an email offer for those that left an email address and have begun calling some of the better clients to let them know that the new release is available. I try to be very respectful of their time and the intrusion and fortunately, most people are happy to hear from me as the wine is pretty good and fairly priced.
Even if the callers are very nice, I hope this doesn’t become a trend. It will get old… and fast.
Agreed. I always ask for an email address, as that is the preferred method of communication for the winery.