Speaking of wineries way ahead of the curve, the folks at Stormhoek have a very interesting campaign going on in the UK for Valentine’s Day. To promote their new labels featuring gapingvoid.com cartoonist Hugh MacLeod’s creations, they have taken him on the road to sign drawings, bottles, etc. This is nothing new, but the new marketing spin they are putting on the campaign are daily video podcasts featuring Hugh and Stormhoek customers in UK Tesco wine stores.

This campaign is simple, inexpensive and very effective to build their brand and make a human connection even on this side of the Atlantic. Stormhoek continues to set the bar for online wine marketing by not only using, but embracing, social media.

Check it out:

I’ve written about why wineries should use the internet in their direct marketing efforts for some time now and I have first hand experience with the subject in my consulting work. So it was with interest, and a bit of frustration, that I read Mike Duffy’s post that his Winery Website Report is on hiatus due to lack of interest from wineries. Paul at the REthink blog also posted his disappointment early this morning.

So why do wineries not value their websites or see them as strategic to their direct to consumer marketing? I think it’s due to a few factors. First, many wineries do not have a marketing person with much online experience. Other than hiring an agency or consultant to put up a brochure site, a lot of wineries don’t see the value of their websites. Another reason is that most small wineries don’t have any marketing people. There also seems to be a view that marketing is something “nice to do” after getting a sales plan in place. This makes sense since generating cash is a winery’s first priority and there are a number of other activities more important than marketing, let alone an optimized website.

So does this mean winery websites are not important? Hardly, as there are compelling examples of wine brands using their websites (or blogs) to dramatically increase sales in a short period of time. It’s just that those wineries are very far ahead of the curve right now. As more wineries seriously map out their consumer direct strategies, they will spend more time crafting their web presence to meet the needs of customers. Until then, their websites are, frankly, not that important to them. Which is most disappointing to those of us marketing wine online.

I’ll bet Mike has plenty of business later this year and into 2008 as more wineries understand the importance of their websites… as they say, the pioneers are the ones with the arrows in their backs.

Editor’s Note: This is the first of at least 52 posts for the Good Grape blog over the next year.

While tasting at yesterday’s Zinfandel Advocates & Producers (ZAP) Festival, I came across an interesting new brand that is targeting their wine squarely at the Millennial Generation. Muse Winery has launched this wine as “Mingle” and not the more expected “Zinfandel” because the Millennial buyer is looking for different wine taste experiences and is more tolerant of unconventional blends than their Baby Boom parents. Mingle delivers on the different blend front with Zinfandel being joined by Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon instead of the more common Petite Sirah and Carignan. The result is quite nice with forward black cherry fruit, a touch of black pepper and smooth tannins. I rated it a very good 86 on the 100-point scale. It’s not just the wine, but also the packaging, that will appeal with this demographic as Muse has created a colorful label, unconventional bottle shape and “Peel, Pop and Pour” cork closure last seen on inexpensive sherry and port.

For readers not familiar with the Millennial Generation, I’ll back up and give you some background. Born between 1979 and 2002, Millennials follow GenX and The Baby Boom in the generations since WWII. Now coming of drinking age in large numbers — they are 100 million strong in total — this generation is the first to get into wine in a big way since their parents Baby Boom cohort. Unlike their parents, they are not looking for status wines or cellaring, preferring instant gratification. Wine should be unpretentious and just good to drink with Millennials who also look for food friendly wines. They are also squarely in the value category from a price perspective with the sweet spot being between $10 and $15 USD a bottle.

From a marketing perspective, Millennials present several opportunities for wineries. Since they are really just looking for a pleasant beverage for enjoying with food, scores and awards are not important. This means no brand building in the pages of Wine Spectator, Decanter or Wine Enthusiast magazines. Millennials are also the most wired generation, never knowing a time without the internet. This presents the wine marketer with the opportunity to market online and add social media to the mix. I’m currently working with a consulting client on launching a brand to this generation and a My Space presence and podcast are key elements of our marketing plan. We are also spending time on simple, colorful and attractive labels, unique bottles and Stelvin twist-off closures.

So it’s not business as usual selling wine to Millennials but it is pushing the state of the art for wine marketing forward. Anything that compels wineries to embrace blogs, podcasts and online communities is alright with me.

I’ve written in the past about how Stormhoek pioneered the open source, hacker ethic in the wine trade via blogging and smart marketing. Another winery has been doing much the same thing, but in a slightly different way for the past 14 months: the Capozzi Family Winery.

Proprietor Josh Hermsmeyer has open sourced nearly everything since he started Pinotblogger in late 2005. Along the way he’s involved the community in naming the winery, label design and, most recently, his tasting room. I think this is the future of wine marketing and look forward to visiting the winery sometime next year after it is built.

This is historic stuff folks and I recommend you not only check it out but to subscribe and read each post. Great work, Josh.

Some months ago, Josh from Pinotblogger offered free t-shirts. I was among the first to sign up for one but didn’t receive it until about 6 weeks ago. Since then I’ve been trying to set-up a worthy shot of me with it on in public to qualify for Josh’s samples list once his winery gets going. It’s not really t-shirt weather here in Minnesota right now so I haven’t had the chance to get just the right shot.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I read that he was cutting off the list today and would post only one more photo. So I hastily set-up this shot in my typical blogging environment. Hope it makes it just under the wire

I promise to post a more interesting location with the T a bit later on; perhaps while tasting at ZAP (bet I’d get some looks

Starting tomorrow and running through Saturday, January 13th, HBO will be providing free bottles of ‘Rome‘ Cabernet Sauvignon at select Italian restaurants in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago to promote the second season of their series of the same name. The promotion is being run by Lime Public Relations & Promotions who’s President was quoted remarking, “The show is all about indulgence, and we just felt this was a great way to bring to life one of the key aspects of the story line.”

The wine is a California bottling with a private label due to a logistical problem of not being able to find an Italian producer (what’s with that?). I’ll give the benefit of the doubt to the agency but it’s clear that a wine lover was not involved thinking this promotion through. For example, if I was consulted on this, I would have immediately contacted some California wineries that produce Italian varieties such as Sangiovese that would have tied into the show closer. The whole “indulgence” angle also bothers me for a couple reasons. First, in the context of a TV series centered on ancient Rome, it implies over indulgence. I also think this is a bit of a dated view of wine as a luxury item and not a part of a lifestyle that ancient, and current, Romans enjoy.

I do think this will create some additional exposure for the show but I don’t think it will create the kind of buzz that other wine promotions have in the recent past. It will certainly be a nice surprise for some diners and, if the wine is good, help the brand but the sample size will be too small for any meaningful impact.

Since I don’t live in any of the cities where this campaign will run, I will not be able to report on the wine. If you happen to be in one of the restaurants and take advantage of the promo, post your notes here. It will be interesting to see if any big city wine bloggers or writers cover this story…

Update 1/10: Dr. Vino has posted about this story; since you live in NYC, why not try the wine, Tyler? On second thought, you are probably right that it’s not worth the effort

In my holiday shopping this year, I’ve noticed a huge range of gift cards in drug, discount and grocery stores. Along with the ubiquitous iTunes cards are offerings from The Gap, Chili’s, Pizza Hut and several other well known brands and chain restaurants.

So why shouldn’t wine be on this list, as well? With sites like WineQ, Bottlenotes and Openmarket Wine now on the scene and more launching early next year, I expect to see something like this next holiday season. It would make a great stocking stuffer for the wine geek on your list.

When I first got into wine, there were television commercials like these creating awareness and demand:

Today, I can’t imagine an actor like Anthony Hopkins plugging Mondavi or Gallo wines on TV. How far we have come in the marketing of wine…

Looking at these spots takes me back to my wine roots, drinking a bit of Paul Masson Burgundy and Emerald Dry. Most days, however, I drank Gallo Hearty Burgundy or Chablis Blanc from huge 3 liter jugs. Haven’t had those wines in years; I wonder if they are still as tasty as I remember them? Perhaps a trip down the jug aisle is in order.

What were your “roots wines”?

While I was grabbing a quick lunch today, I noticed a post over at Hugh MacLeod’s blog about a BBC radio appearance by Stormhoek’ s Andrew Porton. I realized with the time difference that it was only a few minutes out so I tuned into BBC 5’s stream for the interview.

I have to say that the BBC presenter seemed more intent on exposing the offer in question as not what it seemed to be rather than focusing on the key story. In a nutshell, Stormhoek blogged about a “friends and family” coupon at one of their UK retailers and the uptake via word of mouth was quite a bit higher than anyone would have expected. It’s actually enough of a story that it has crossed over into the mainstream media now. This not only shows the power of blogging but also the a key tenant of Wine 2.0 marketing strategy: viral, word of mouth marketing can be quite powerful if done right. In this case, it was a compelling offer (40% discount) that was an exclusive (blurring the lines of who “friends” really are) and disseminated via an A-list blogger in the form of a PDF voucher. The network effect took over from there and now there’s tens of thousands of customers ready to use these coupons.

It’s not surprising the mainstream media missed the point here. They seem more interested in chasing controversy than reporting an interesting business story, but I digress.

I’m hoping this kind of offer spreads the wine retailers in the US. Anyone listening from Surdyk’s, Haskell’s or Solo Vino?

Right after Visa and Verizon Wireless on AdAge’s ‘Marketing 50‘ is the Stormhoek winery. I’ve been following their campaigns since the beginning in the summer of 2005 and interviewed marketer/blogger/cartoonist Hugh Macleod and Jason Korman from Stormhoek on Winecast 67. How did they build a brand from almost nothing to 100,000 cases sold across four continents in 16 months? Hire an A-list blogger/marketing guru, give samples outside of the wine press and convert their website to a blog. All of this cost only a few thousand dollars and has created an international conversation about Stormhoek the brand (and the wine, too).

My favorite part of the piece in AdAge is Hugh’s quote:

“There’s more to blog marketing than sales, he says. Blogs help marketers see consumers as people, not just abstract, dehumanized targets…”

All this proves that social media is a powerful force in marketing and it can be applied successfully in the wine industry. I’ll be tracking a few other wineries using similar tactics in future posts here.

Congrats Hugh and Jason!