Sometimes, you even lose it while they are tasting. You lose people’s interest droning on about wines that they’re not tasting. Think of why digital-savvy wineries tend to keep their “About this Wine” video clips reasonably short. At best, it’s a wine review of something that you might be interested in buying in the future.īut consumers don’t want to devote much time and attention listening to wine reviews. It doesn’t feel like a chat or a connection. And you certainly can’t bank on everyone having a Coravin at home.įew things increase the “suckitude” of a virtual wine tasting more than listening to folks go on and on about a wine that you’re not tasting. Even tastings that are tied to wine club shipments or special VT kits are hampered by limitations as most people don’t want to open up multiple bottles at once. They want to “bond” and connect with consumers over bottles of wine that the person on the other side of the screen probably doesn’t have. This is the Achilles’ heel of winery virtual wine tastings. It’s hard to make a connection when you’re missing the critical connecting link. But I want to focus on how these virtual tastings are likely failing with their two main objectives (building connections & generating revenue)–and how we can reframe them to make them more effective. Other writers, such as Antonio from Wine and Other Stories, have offered feedback and suggestions from a consumer’s POV. However, rather than scrap the idea altogether, we should take a critical look at where these events may be falling short. But for the ones that have conducted multiple events, I’m willing to bet that they’re already seeing a participation drop as we move from novelty to reality. I’ve not seen a winery publicize data from their virtual tastings. But after sitting in on numerous virtual tastings (or watching the post-broadcast YouTube recording) from wineries big and small, US, Australia, UK, France–one consistent theme emerged. While sommeliers, retailers and bloggers have also been hosting virtual wine tastings of their own, I focused on winery VTs to see how they were adapting to this platform. Virtual tastings seemed like an excellent way for wineries to stay connected while generating revenue with the sale of VT wines for the events. But while several events, such as Master of Wine Rebecca Gibb’s Lockdown Wine Quiz, have been terrific distractions, most of the virtual wine tastings held by wineries have been absolute duds. They’re fairly easy to find via social media and handy calendar pages. This has included indulging in the smorgasbord of virtual wine events that have sprung up everywhere. The last few weeks, I’ve been wrapping my head around the new abnormal. Actual breezes were coming through-a thing I have experienced zero times in other professional kitchens.Note: This piece was mentioned in Meiningers Wine Business International’s April 15th, 2020 article “ Can virtual wine tastings be saved?” by Robert Joseph In the kitchen there were stacks of Heath ceramics, shelves of cookbooks, and a massive walnut wood-topped island piled high with produce. I looked out onto Scribe’s working garden, where frisky quail hopped among edible flowers (that’s a real thing that I saw with my eyes). What I didn’t realize was that we’d be doing it in the hacienda’s light-filled kitchen, which opens onto a giant patio filled with rustic picnic tables and functions as the winery’s dining room, complete with a custom wood-fired grill. I was there to follow Kelly Mariani, who runs the culinary program at her family’s winery, for a couple of days while she showed me how to make a bunch of her pared-down recipes, each of which seemed designed to highlight some spectacular piece of produce she happened to have lying around. But the first time I drove up the half-mile long, palm tree-lined driveway at Scribe Winery in Sonoma, I realized my corny fantasies didn’t even come close. It gets better: If you sign up for our newsletter, you'll get this letter before everyone else.įor this jaded New Yorker, the idea of cooking in California kicks off an amber-hued fantasy of palm trees, big sunny kitchens, postcard sunsets, and envy-inducing produce (they have it all-even in winter!). Every Wednesday night, Bon Appétit food director Carla Lalli Music takes over our newsletter with a sleeper-hit recipe from the Test Kitchen vault.
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