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JANUARY NEWS Sonoma State Forum Covers Wine Trends Winery pros hear sales and marketing news from writers and market researchers R ohnert Park, Calif.—A group of top staff from several North Coast wineries grilled a panel of wine writers and data miners about marketing issues during Sonoma State Unviersity's Wine Trends seminar. Wine Business Monthly editor Cyril Penn covered how to get the media's attention with Lisa Zimmerman, an editor with Cheers magazine and the forum's moderator. Like most wine journalists, both said they are bombarded with dozens of email article pitches daily from wineries and PR agencies: Many seem to be randomly generated. Public relations people will benefit from accurate targeting and an individual approach to journalists. "If you've read the publication and thought about it," a thoughtful pitch will set you apart," Zimmerman said. Penn suggested, "Look at the editorial calendar on the web, see how you could fit in. Focus on the type of coverage the publication provides." winesandvines.com Zimmerman pointed Learn more: Search keywords out that most wine "Sonoma State trends." business publications rarely feature profiles of individual wineries. Penn agreed, "We do trends." Mike Colicchio is a client business partner with Nielsen's Beverage Alcohol Team. Nielsen collects retail data and sells it back to suppliers who can examine varietals, key price-points and more. In general, the current sweet spots are $3-$6 per 750ml and $9-$11 bottles. Higher price points are also "very healthy," Colicchio said. Sales of 1.5-liter bottles and 3-liter boxed wines continue to grow. "The largest sales increases are at the extremes of the market," Colicchio reported. At the high end, demand allows producers to maintain prices. At the low end, case volume is declining, but from a huge base. Price is playing a bigger role this year, SKU by SKU, segment by segment, Colicchio said. "Price is becoming a big 'watch out.' How far can you go (raising prices) before turning consumers back" to lower tiers? 22 W in e s & V i ne s January 20 14 "On-premise, (craft beer) is a big threat to wine by the glass. It offers the intensity and novelty that used to be wine's prerogative." —Christian Miller, Full Glass Research and WineOpinions.com The $10-$20 price-point is where everyone wants to be, Penn said. Still, "Medium-sized producers—up to 500,000 cases per year— don't want to play because the big guys can discount. People raised prices because of two short vintages. The largest producers can raise prices, then discount them at retail." Spirits and craft beers are encroaching into valuable shelf space previously held by wine, said Deborah Parker Wong, Northern California editor at The Tasting Panel magazine. Christian Miller, owner of Full Glass Research and co-founder of WineOpinions. com, noted that 45% of alcohol drinkers drink craft beer. "On-premise, it's a big threat to wine by the glass. It offers the intensity and novelty that used to be wine's prerogative. On-premise, gourmet cocktails function the same way." Luke Sykora, senior editor at Wine & Spirits magazine, said that in a market like San Francisco the demand for fine wine in restaurants has changed. "Five years ago, sophisticated restaurants used to have a bulky wine book. That's turned over: Now it's wines by the glass, craft beer, cocktails, maybe even no wines by the bottle," he said. "People are afraid to make the massive investment to load up their cellar to get the kind of buzz they used to need to be considered fine dining establishments." —Jane Firstenfeld DtC expert: cater outreach to customer Club members need personal interaction N apa, Calif.—The wine industry is abuzz with talk of direct-to-consum- er (DtC) sales. Shipments increased 8% in value for the 12 months ending in November, but a DtC expert says many wineries have their priorities misplaced. At recent conference sponsored by the Seminar Group, Tammy Boatright, president of VingDirect, which helps boutique wineries implement and improve DtC operations, brought some reality to the market. "It's a fallacy that e-commerce will give big returns," she stated. "And if you focus on the Internet, you may overlook the biggest sources of revenue and profits like tasting rooms, wine clubs and outbound sales." Prior to founding VingDirect in 2009, Boatright served as head of Foster's Wine Estates' U.S. direct-to-consumer division, including serving as acting president of Windsor Vineyards in Santa Rosa, Calif., from 2005 to 2007 and president of International Wine Accessories from 2004 to 2007. She said that for wineries that sell fewer than 5,000 cases per year, DtC is the right channel to create sustained profitability. She also said, "The best indicator for success in DtC is annual tasting counts," not Facebook likes or website page views. A channel that some wineries exploit extremely well (but is overlooked or even considered suspect by some) is outbound sales or telemarketing. "This is a huge channel," Boatright said, noting that Windsor Vineyards closes 95% of its sales this way. —Paul Franson See us at Unified booth #534