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20 WINES&VINES June 2017 WINE INDUSTRY NEWS T h e R e v o l u t i o n a r i e s B e h i n d Wi n e's Vi s i o n a r i e s For over 90 years, Gusmer has oered a full range of innovative enological tools that enable your creative expression through unique and interesting wines. Equipment, analytical instruments and processing aids brought to you from leading suppliers in the wine industry, all backed by strong Gusmer technical support. The options for expression have never been greater and the tools have never been better – so go ahead, be unique, express yourself. For more information, contact Gusmer today. West Coast : 81 M Street Fresno, CA 93721 Tel: 559.485.2692 Midwest : 1401 Ware Street Waupaca, WI 54981 Tel: 715.258.5525 The Wine Lab TM : 640-D Airpark Road Napa, CA 94558 Tel: 707.224.7903 East Coast : 1165 Globe Avenue Mountainside, NJ 07092 Tel: 908.301.1811 Gusmer Sonoma Store : 9025 Old Redwood Hwy, Ste E Windor, CA 95492 Tel: 707.836.1056 NOW OPEN YEAR-ROUND www.gusmerwine.com sales@gusmerenterprises.com Divergan F – PVPP Malolactic Bacteria, Non-Saccharomyces Yeasts Fermentation Nutrients Membrane Cartridge Filters, Laboratory Consumables OenoFoss - FTIR Analytical Instrumentation Filter Sheets, Lenticular Cartridges, Cellulose Pre-Coat Fibers Cross Flow Filters, RO Systems Liquid and Granular Enological Enzymes Oak-Mor®/ Oak Avantage® Chips and Granular Oak CO 2 Analytical Instrumentation H2S Preventing Saccharomyces Yeasts Lysozyme French Oak At Gusmer, we know the wine you create is just as as you are. unique A shland, Ore.—Initial find- ings from a 2016 survey of Oregon tasting rooms are intriguing and touch on some of the hot-button issues facing tast- ing room managers: finding com- petent staff, providing appropriate compensation and converting tasting room visitors into loyal, ongoing purchasers. A total of 260 tasting rooms par- ticipated, representing 72% of the industry's primary tasting rooms. Undertaken by Capiche Wine Marketing & PR with the endorse- ment of the Willamette Valley Wineries Association, Southern Oregon Winery Association and Columbia Gorge Winegrowers As- sociation, the first large-scale sur- vey of Oregon tasting rooms yielded a massive amount of data from across the state. Wineries in the Columbia Gorge AVA have the most trouble finding staff, according to the data, with 7% considering it im- possible. Southern Oregon is more optimistic, with no one finding it impossible and 73% of the indus- try saying it's not difficult at all (equal to the Willamette Valley, although 3% of Willamette winer- ies consider it "impossible"). Another key topic is how win- eries make the most of tasting room visits, such as when to waive the tasting fee: for one or two bottles, or in exchange for wine club membership? "If a customer can have a fee waived with the purchase of one bottle of wine, the customer is most apt to purchase just one bottle of wine," states a report summarizing survey findings. Vicki Purslow, wine market analyst with Capiche, suggests many wineries could even secure additional wine club members in exchange for the tasting fee. "A tasting room really should consider there's no waiver of a fee unless you join (the) wine club," she said. "It's the wine club that really generates the revenue because you have the ongoing purchases." Michael Donovan, a board member and past president of the Southern Oregon Winery As- sociation who oversees Irvine Vineyards in Ashland, Ore., as managing director, said Capi- che's preliminary findings under- score where improvement is needed. Irvine is preparing to open its own tasting room in June, and the findings regarding tasting fees and when to waive them are something Donovan is keeping in mind. "Tasting rooms are dependent on converting those visits into sales, and that occurs either in direct sales going out the door that day, or can occur in signing (visitors) up as wine club mem- bers," he said. —Peter Mitham Report: Raise the Bar for Free Wine Tasting in Oregon Wineries should consider reserving free tastings for wine club signups, a new survey found.