In 1939, seven-year-old Traute Moore fled to St. Louis from her hometown of Vienna, Austria, with her mother following the Anschluss. Before her father was able to join them, Hitler banned travel by boat. Five years later, they were reunited, and Traute’s life was to become marked by a series of happy coincidences that would lead to her and her husband, retired physician Don Moore, embarking on a viticultural adventure at Quail Run Vineyards.
When you hear “historical destination winery in Medford,” RoxyAnn Winery probably comes to mind immediately. With 11 spots on the National Register of Historic Places and a farming heritage dating back four generations, RoxyAnn Winery’s stunning grounds carry a fascinating history that makes an unbeatable backdrop for wine-tasting, weddings, and their Wine + Music Series.
Last October, I wrote a blog post called “Hire Nice, and Teach Wine,” and last week, I saw this principle work beautifully in action. In a time when every single guest to your tasting room will either help make or break you, it’s even more important to hire nice, teach wine—AND teach hospitality!
Are you suffering from bad news fatigue like I am? It’s one thing after another—COVID-19 hitting us in March. Now, the fires. And the constantly changing rules and regulations for restaurants, bars and tasting rooms.… With so many moving parts, how do we plan for OND—October, November, December—the biggest annual boon to all retailers?
In just a matter of weeks, the nature of the wine business in the US—and the world in general—has drastically changed. Restaurants and bars have been shut down, wineries have closed their tasting rooms, and wine retailers have had to rethink the way they do business. Some have closed altogether, at least for now.
Do you ever wonder why we spend so much money on getting new customers when retaining customers provides more value to our business? Think about the investment your winery is making in customer acquisition (advertising, PR, social media, email, and direct mail campaigns) vs. customer retention (providing an outstanding customer experience for guests in your tasting room, wine club members, and customers ordering wine online). Which direction are your scales tipping?
Most tasting rooms experience downtime during which there are no guests. That leaves you with three options: 1) let the staff sit and wait, 2) send staff home, or 3) have them perform other strategic tasks. I’ll bet you can imagine what Capiche recommends!
Most tasting rooms experience downtime during which there are no guests. That leaves you with three options: let the staff sit and wait, send staff home, or have them perform other strategic tasks. I’ll bet you can imagine what Capiche recommends!
Seriously. That’s how it felt. Maybe it’s because it was our first stop on what we hoped would be a fairly quick series of tasting room visits. We had five wineries on our list and limited time. This would have to be well-orchestrated. Best-laid plans …
Last month we were in Portland for the Third Annual Oregon Tempranillo Celebration. We drove up a day early and managed to visit six tasting rooms along the way. Oh, the things we were told (by the tasting room staff)! Oh, the things we observed!
Cyril Penn has followed the U.S. wine industry as editor of Wine Business Monthly for nearly two decades. In that time, Wine Business Monthly has emerged as the leading provider of information to the wine industry in North America.
