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Few things bring people together like food and drink.  From the Roman empire on up through the ages to now, wine has served as the common thread that weaves together society though social gatherings.  Birthday parties, annual holidays, business functions, family dinners or just hanging with friends are settings where wine and conversation are likely to be found.

That bodes well for wineries and wine shops wanting to build their brand in social media.  The wine industry has a bit of an unfair advantage over other industries.  If we were using social media to talk about tires it wouldn’t be nearly as sexy as talking about Chardonnay.

I’ve seen dozens of wineries who are trying to make sense out of social media and utilize what limited time they have to do something, anything just to avoid being left behind.  Well open up your mouths baby birds, because I’ve got a big fat night crawler for you.  Well, five actually.  Here’s some answers to the test:

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1. Be Patient - It can work.  But it’s not going to happen overnight.  The best analogy I can give is the example of planting vines.  You don’t plant vines, then turn around and say, “where’s my grapes?”.  You have to wait 3-5 years before your vines produce fruit you can use.

Luckily, you don’t have to wait 3-5 years for your social media vines to produce fruit, but you do have to nurture it and let your social presence grow organically.  If you do that, your social media presence will produce fruit consistently.  It’s hard for winery owners to commit 100% to this concept, which is why some of them are failing at it, and ultimately writing off social media as a fad.

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2. Build Trust First, Then Sell Wine (maybe) - This is the secret.  It’s the answer to the million dollar question.  It might blow your mind when I tell you in the past 12 months St. Supéry winery has offered to sell wine through social media a total of three times.  Yet, people are buying our wine and sales are up.  They’re buying for a number of reasons, including the hard work of our CEO, VP of Sales, National Accounts guy, price adjustments, new winemaker and our stellar visitor center.  Social Media and Marketing is one cog in the engine.

The worst thing you can do is get online, then start pushing your product.  Nothing will dissuade trust faster.  In fact, that’s literally the opposite of what this is all about.  As soon as someone opts in either by following on Twtiter or becoming a fan on Facebook, that is the beginning of a personal relationship.  That’s the beginning of trust building.  You have to put faith in knowing your trust will create a tighter bond with consumers, which in turn will lead to sales.

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3. Establish a Personality - Wine drinkers would prefer to see a face or hear a voice.  If it’s the winemaker, even better.  If it’s the chef or owner, that’s a great start.  Just putting the winery label out there is okay, but it’s not very personal.  The consumer wants to get to know the people behind the brand.

Videos and photos are going to happen.  Attending wine and social media events is going to happen.  Before a consumer opens up their wallet, they want to know who they’re buying from.  Adding the human element to interactions with customers through the face(s) of the winery allows the winery to show they care and are transparent.

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4. The Right Person isn’t a Millennial - One of the biggest misconceptions is you need someone in their 20’s.  It might seem like a good idea because twenty-somethings are cheaper to hire and are the main users of social media, right?  Wrong.  The largest demographic of wine drinkers online are women 35-55.  I’m a 40-year old male, and having some successes in this arena.  Gary Vaynerchuk is a 30-year old male and definitely having successes.  The right person is someone with emotional intelligence to responsibly represent a brand publicly.

I’m not saying someone right out of college won’t work, just get someone for the right reasons.  This person is going to be holding your brand in their hands, which is why I tend to lean towards hiring someone internally rather than a so-called social media marketing firm or social media “guru”.  Anyone who refers to themselves as such should give you reason to run in the other direction.

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5. Promote Everyone but Yourself - I’m really fortunate to work for the Skalli family at St. Supéry.  They understand we can’t just talk about ourselves all day because that would be boring and one dimensional.  We often talk about everyone and everything but ourselves.  It blows people’s minds when we promote our competitors online.  We do it because we’re stewards of a legacy of collaborators.  Before any of us were born, grape growers used to work together and help each other out.  Luckily, in the realm of social media, you’re rewarded for doing that.

If I had to guestimate, I’d say a winery’s brand has little better than a 1:1 return on effort when self promoting.  But you get better than 2:1 when promoting members of the community.  Imagine that, you get rewarded for being positive and supportive.  Pretty cool concept.

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Oregon’s Willamette Valley is a beautiful place to visit with lush, rolling hillsides and surrounding farm communities.  This time of year is especially nice in the valley because harvest is happening, and it’s the time of year when the sun is out for more than one day in a row.  I lived in Portland for 17 years and I can say without a doubt, when the sun is shining, Oregon is the most picturesque place in the U.S. A drive through the Willamette Valley is filled with hidden roads around the bend or over a gentle slope, passing country markets and pumpkin patches along the way.

During my time living in Oregon, I fell in love with the Pinot Noirs.  Not hard to do…if you’ve ever had a good Pinot Noir, it’s magic in a bottle.  But if you get it wrong, Pinot Noir can be disappointing and uninspiring.  I find it to be one of the most dramatic grapes in terms of end result.  With grapes like Cabernet or Merlot you can get more consistency year in and year out whereas Pinot Noir is much more temperamental.  You can’t handle it the same you handle Cabernet—it requires a more delicate hand.  In fact, wineries often use gravity flow instead of pumps when transferring Pinot from one place to another because it’s that sensitive. You’ll notice the average price point of a decent Pinot is higher than other grapes, in part because of the extra handling required.

Pinot Noir is a wonderful grape, and it grows exceptionally well in Oregon’s Willamette Valley in part because Oregon is situated along the 45th parallel. The climate and terroir in Oregon’s fertile Willamette Valley provides ideal growing conditions for the finicky grape.
When I met my wife, she was an Australian Shiraz drinker, but then I took her to Oregon and introduced her to good Pinot Noir—now she’s hooked! Pinot is a very food friendly wine that goes with so many different kinds of foods it’s not even funny. Well, maybe a little bit funny.

After driving up I-5 I arrived in McMinnville, Oregon and checked into McMenamins Hotel Oregon. I headed up to the Rooftop bar to get on my laptop and get some work done. As I sat at my table enjoying a pint of Oktoberfest, I plotted out the next day’s itinerary.  At the table next to me were two guys who had been working harvest that day.  They were nice enough to provide some pointers.

McMenamins Hotel Oregon

I awoke the next morning to find a silver tint to the clouded sky overhead. Looking out my hotel window over downtown McMinnville was like a trip back in time to 1950. The old fashioned downtown has a tree lined Main street with old fashioned appliance stores and warm cafes. After getting a fresh baked item from Red Fox Bakery, I headed out to Oregon wine country.

In the south part of the Willamette Valley you’ll find long time producers Cristom and Bethel Heights. Both are family owned, and both have been making stellar Pinot Noir since the 1970’s. I walked into Bethel Heights to be greeted by a warm aroma of homemade cooking. Right there in their tasting room, one of the founders was making Salmon Chowder (with BACON) for the crew. Another day of harvest was complete and the troops were hungry.
I tasted through the Bethel Heights lineup, finding myself going back in time to when I first discovered Pinot nearly 15 years ago. Their whites were good, but their reds were better. I was especially interested in the Southest Block Pinot Noir. That, and the Justice Vineyard Pinot Noirs were every bit as good as what I remember. I took all sorts of great footage of their winemakers picking through grapes that had just come in, but that was lost in the transfer. The view from Bethel Heights tasting room was unreal. You step out onto the balcony and about 10 feet below is the downward sloping vineyard that seems to go on forever. The owner/winemaker mentioned 2009’s vintage as not only very good quality, but there were large crops. That’s means there’s going to be plenty of good Pinot Noir to go around for everyone when the wines are released.

Next stop was Cristom, one of my top 3 favorite producers in Oregon.  Cristom has vineyards that were planted back in the 1970’s which is cool because older vines means more complex wines.  The first wine I tasted was the 2006 Pinot Gris, which is made entirely from the 5-acre estate vineyard Emilia. You drink their Gris and it reminds you Oregon makes exceptional wines besides Pinot Noir. This Gris was floral and fun to take for a spin. But I was there for the reds. The Louise, Marjorie and Eileen Pinot Noirs didn’t disappoint. All three remind me of three sisters I used to party with back in college who were always the fun girls invited to every social function. Each one has its own personality, but together they all share a common bond. Each year those sisters continually find the balance and walk the line between good girls and frisky while making their parents proud. I left with more bottles than I had intended

Last stop was Sokol Blosser, located smack dab in the middle of Oregon’s wine country.

@sokolblosser wines

@sokolblosser vineyards

I spent the afternoon with Kitri and Jeff from Sokol Blosser. They took me to the Dundee Bistro, a place that used to have an after meal bacon dish. Sadly, the bistro no longer served that. After lunch (photos are lost) we went next door to the Ponzi tasting bar. There we were able to taste through all sorts of different Oregon wines. Again, I left with more bottles than I had planned but my wife and I are going to drink well for a while

Kitri and Jeff were great hosts, and gave me a tour of the winery, barrel room and vineyards. Sokol Blosser is not only one of Oregon’s oldest wineries, with some of the oldest vineyards, but they also have the first LEEDS certified winery in the U.S. and practice sustainable farming habits. You might know Sokol Blosser best from their Evolution white wine sold in just about every liquor store across the U.S. The most recent version of Evolution is like the old style—not too dry. We tasted through different vintages of Pinot Noir from different vineyards but the one that really gave me the OMG! reaction was their 2004 Willamette Valley Cuvee. WOW! Everything a Pinot Noir should be. Silky, sexy a great dancer but looks great in an evening gown. A real classy version of a high society wine.

Portland Farmer's Market

Before heading back to Napa, I visited some friends in Portland and spent the day Saturday frequenting farmer’s markets.  Besides having incredible Pinot Noirs, Oregon has just about everything else you could want if you enjoy food and wine.  There’s local seafood, cattle ranches and local organic produce farms within an hour’s drive from Portland.  This was a fun little weekend and when I come back it won’t be soon enough.  Cheers!

I’m going out on the road and I need some dedicated wine drinkers to come help me drink some delicious wines.

Hard to believe how things unfolded over this summer.  On August 3rd, the Bakas family moved to Napa Valley so I could start my new role as Director of Social Media Marketing at St. Supéry winery.  The first 60 days have been a blast not only from talking wine and food all day, but also because #harvest09 was just beginning.
In October, I’ll be taking the winery tasting room experience on the road for the wine industry’s first ever Tweetup Tour. I’ll be stopping in each city listed below visiting restaurants and wine shops sharing the delicious nectar known as St. Supéry.   All are welcome as there is no charge to attend. St. Supéry wine club members will enjoy club member benefits at these events.  We’ll have special guests, including our wine maker and chef, who will be appearing via U-Stream.

If you aren’t able to be there physically, you can follow along on St.Supery’s custom TasteLive page or Twitter using the #stsupery hash tag.  In an effort to get wine drinkers to taste along online, the winery has created “taste packs,” 4-packs of wine sold at a discounted price.

St. Supéry East Coast Tweetup Tour (click on the city below to RSVP to that event)-

October 13th BOSTON Twitter Taste Live with Bin Ends Wine
October 14th NEW JERSEY at Gary’s Wine & Marketplace
October 15th NEW YORK CITY Roger Smith Hotel
October 16th NEW YORK CITY Harry’s Cafe & Steakhouse in the Financial District
October 20th ATLANTA at Murhpy’s
October 20th ATLANTA WINE SCHOOL hosted by Ed Thralls aka @winetonite
October 22nd WASHINGTON DC at Pearson’s (speaking at TWTRCON that day)
October 23rd *to be announced
October 24th ORLANDO at Gran Cru

Hope to see you there!  This is going to be fun so grab your tickets now…

Cheers,

Rick

Anyone remotely interested in Social Media should watch this!

Apps, tweets and websites for wine drinkers | Lifestyle | Reuters.

Whether we like it or not, Social Media is changing our Wine World | Enobytes Wine Blog.

Branding:Mona Lisa Your Branding.

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Sometimes you have a really good bottle of wine that you don’t want to share with anyone.  Kind of like a snot nosed kid in the sandbox who doesn’t want to share the newest toy.

There.  I said it.  I love my wife, but sometimes I just don’t want to share.  Like the 20 year Tawny port I’m drinking right now.  Here’s a few ways to hide wine from your spouse:

10. In your stomach.
9. You know those little wood barrels St. Bernard dogs wear around their necks?  Those can hold a full bottle of Pinot Noir.
8. Old desktop computer towers can hold two bottles, but don’t turn ‘em on because they’ll cook the wine
7. “Why is this pillow so hard?”
6. I asked our cat if I could bury a bottle or two in her litter box.  I took her blank stare as a yes.
5. Remember on Scooby Doo how you could tilt a book on the book shelf and a secret lab behind the bookcase would appear?  Picture that, but a wine cellar.
4. A lawn mower bag can hold an entire case.
3. Baggy MC Hammer pants with carefully placed holsters can hold up to 5 lbs. a leg. The down side is you walk like John Wayne.
2. Hollow out a log in the fireplace.  Just don’t forget it’s there.
1. Some humidifiers can hold an entire bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.

This Murphy-Goode journey has had an unexpected benefit–it’s helped me connect with other wine drinking social media types who otherwise wouldn’t have met (most likely).  Take Ashley for example, she’s in the running for #areallygoodejob and what she did well as a candidate is worth learning from.  The first, and best thing she did is keep her personal brand in tact.  She didn’t change her name to “goode” anything.  Before, during and after this process, the Ashley Bellview brand is solid.

The next thing she did well is what we should all do in social media, be authentic.  In her video, Ashley is filmed cropped in close so you can hear her talking.  She doesn’t say or do anything fancy or over the top.  She just put it out there like, “this is who I am, and I’d like this job”.  It’s one of the more transparent presentations, and that just makes her brand stronger.

When Murphy-Goode selects their final 10 candidates, Ashley is someone who would be goode to pick.  Take a moment and view her video, and vote.

For the past month I’ve been on a quest to land the Lifestyle Correspondent position at Murphy-Goode winery.  It’s an actual hiring process that seems like a contest.  The voting part of the process will be coming to a close in the next week or two, then the winery will select 50 people out of about 1,000.  Those 50 will be narrowed down to a final 10 who will go to the winery for a final interview process.

The ability to make a compelling video and tell a story is the first part of this process.  Over the past month I’ve made some new friends, including Frank Gutierrez from Southern California.  Most of the video submissions for A Really Goode Job are low budget productions made in the candidate’s home or back yard.  Frank took the time to actually go out to Santa Barbara with a high quality camera to tell his story.  He even “took one for the team” and injured his ankle in the filming of his video.  Apples to apples, Frank’s video is in a different league.  It tells his story about how family and the wine country he calls home shape his view of wine.

The only problem is Frank’s video is beautiful, but he doesn’t have the recognition or votes he should.  Take a moment and watch Frank’s 60-second video submission, then watch a few others.  You’ll see what I mean.  Show Frank some love and vote for him.

At this point I’d like to at least make the final ten, and would like to share support for others to help them get there as well.

Cheers