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Drinking For Charity

Written By: Randy Torban on Friday, April 11, 2008

Randy Torban explores the 13th Annual Miami Wine and Food Festival, and also reveals some intriguing new trends in winery behavior.

This past weekend, the Miami Wine and Food Festival brought together 60 wineries and some great restaurants in beautiful Merrick Park -- an outside, upscale shopping center. The weather was a gorgeous 75 degrees, and the setting sun painted stunning colors across the sky. What could be better than an outdoor wine event? How about the United Way receiving all the proceeds.

There were some great labels present at the festival -- Rodney Strong, Ridge, and Fess Parker just to name a few. And to my enjoyment, there were also producers who I have not seen out and about as much. Peachy Canyon had all of their Zinfandels available, and in my opinion, their bottles give you the most bang for your buck. In addition, 585 Wine Partners had their Red Truck wines available to add some refreshment to the warm evening. One stand-out was Bouchaine and their late harvest style dessert wine -- made from chardonnay. After tasting it, I would have sworn it was a Dolce. The flavor of honeyed apricots was so delicate and smooth, I was happy to visit their table more than once.


A beautiful night to taste at The Village of Merrick Park
I must say however, that there is one thing that has become a disappointing trend. Instead of speaking to people from the winery, most of the pourers were from the distributor. Now, don't get me wrong; I know that sending reps from wineries to every event is a huge expense. It's just my feeling that a person from the winery is much more passionate about their wines than a distributer with a fact sheet.

While I'm sharing some opinions, I'd like to point out something else that's troubling -- the lack of virtual tastings on the Internet. Wineries clamor to have their bottles poured at events such as the Miami Wine and Food Festival where they can brand their wines in front of target wine buyers, but there doesn't seem to be any push to do the same thing online.

As part of the online wine industry, I get to see first-hand how wineries utilize (or fail to utilize) their online potential. Some wineries are ahead of the curve and have heavy Internet visibility. They set up virtual display tables, talk about their wines, and engage in Q&A sessions with costumers from all over the world. These wineries enjoy an impressive boost in branding and sales. Unfortunately, the majority of wineries see no value in building their brand on the web.

A wine distributor pours one of her many bottles
This doesn't make any sense to me. I would think that wineries would want as much exposure as possible (which is why they do public tastings) to get their wines out there.

So my question is this: why are public tastings so much more popular than virtual tastings? Is it because that has been the industry standard, and the internet is still so new? Certainly there is no substitute for human interaction and experiencing the wine first hand, but that hardly explains neglecting the most widely used informational medium in existence. Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, representatives from wineries are often absent from tastings.

What do you think? Am I online biased, or is there a real lacking here? Please input your opinion in the comments section below!

Randy Torban is the Director of Business Development and contributing editor at ClassicWines.com

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bmorse
Mays Landing, NJ
Posted on 4/14/08

I completely agree with you Randy about the lack of personal feeling you get when a rep from the distributor is at the booth pouring your wine rather than someone from the winery. Last fall when I attended the Atlantic City Food and Wine festival, although the ambiance of the AC Convention Center wasn't as great as that of the Miami Wine and Food Festival, we at least had the people who actually dealt with making the wine. It was enjoyable to listen to the stories about each bottle they were pouring.


csoma
Raleigh, NC
Posted on 4/14/08

Hmm...well there is no doubt to the value of actually tasting a wine, rather than hearing about it. But the fact of the matter is, people go on the internet to research almost everything they buy. wine is no exception. I can't remember the last time I purchased a bottle without looking it up first. It's hard to argue against the fact that wineries without a good website and online connections are at a disadvantage.


JS12
Philadelphia, PA
Posted on 4/11/08

You raise a good question Randy. I recently worked at a winery for a summer internship a few years ago. Online tastings was something that was NEVER even discussed. I really think its an industry that is so slow to change, but with high end consumers having broadband connections and wanting everything in a click - I think we will see this change!

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