Bear with me for awhile on this one. At the Wine Tourism Conference in Napa, Paul Wagner, founder of Balzac Communications and Marketing, discussed how to increase wine tourism even when there are no wineries in an area. Not all regions have the numbers of wineries one can find in Napa County and Sonoma County in California or the Finger Lakes region in New York. Not all regions have wineries steeped in American history like Virginia. Not all regions have wineries with beautiful landscapes such as Palisade, Colorado or Old Mission Peninsula in Michigan. Some regions don’t even haver wineries. How would you increase wine tourism there?

Paul mentioned how three wineries joined together and promoted a cruise to Alaska. Many people signed up and went on the cruise that had many daily events with evening wine tastings and winemakers dinners. Near the end of the cruise, Paul asked those on the ship what they liked best. Their overwhelming answer was the wine tastings. Tasting wines with a winemaker or owner where people could ask questions was a wonderful experience that they will remember for a lifetime. The people who went on the cruise with the wineries will be more than customers in the future. They will be ambassadors for the wineries.

So this concept of wine tourism is more like taking wine to the people or a region where there aren’t wineries. This led me to think about the county where I live in Maryland. We have no wineries in Howard County, Maryland, although we do have a teaching winery where I made wine. There is no tasting room, just a garagiste winery where other wine enthusiasts gather to make wines from grapes sourced from vineyards in America. This is where I was first introduced to Stagecoach Vineyard in Napa. This Atlas Peak AVA vineyard produces ultra premium grapes we used to make a barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon. Although we were a few thousand mile away, we had the flavors of Napa Valley in our wine. Tin Lizzie Wineworks has had clients making wine for four years now. They have sourced fruit from Stagecoach each of those years and have a growing following of people wanting to use the Stagecoach fruit. Take the wine, or in this case the grapes to an area where there are no wineries.

When thinking about wine tourism, you may want to occasionally think out of the box. What types of experience can you provide for customers that will turn them into ambassadors?

Cheers,
Terry