Wednesday at Unified: Wine and sales meet social media’s tricks of the trade

After Moderator Andrew Healy introduced the panelists presenting New Technologies and Social Media session today at Unified Wine & Grape Symposium (#UGWS), Ashley Teplin, the first panelist, jumped in head first with advice for winemakers.

Tell the world who you are, she said, or details about your brand: “Tell. The. Story.”

“There’s a lot of wines out there, and you need to make sure that your brand resonates with the people who will consume it.”

Teplin is the owner and co-founder of Teplin+Nuss.

Outline your brand via a six-month plan, and stick to it, she said.

And jump in.

“Everyone notices, and everyone notices everything you say” on Twitter, or Facebook. So be yourself, she said, but draw a line between your brand and who you are when you’re not making wine. Be careful not to cross that line too often, or do so with care.

Her tips:

— Befriend your local journalists. Be their plus-one and a wine event. (And, I might add: Ask your new journalist buddy to explain how journalism works so you’ll understand more about ethics, and what Off The Record really means).

— Less is more. Do not take on more social media than you can reasonably accomplish in a given time frame. Stay on it, or don’t take it on.

— Don’t be out of line, or in poor taste, in posts on your Facebook page.

— Ask for help from social media experts and continue to educate yourself.

The second panelist to speak was Kristy Sammis, funding partner of Clever Girls Collective.

Know your market; who will you target? “When the ‘how’ and ‘who’ come together, that’s when you’ll actually see traction,” in your social media efforts, she said.

Social media is just one channel of marketing, Sammis said, and not an end in itself. It’s just part of a larger plan.

That said, blogs are much more influential than ads in print media, Sammis said. Viewers may not purchase because of an ad on a blog, but they are “influenced” by the blog. In other words, social media resonates with viewers.

“Content is king.” Use your content — your story – in a unique fashion. And then make it easy for your target audience to find you.

Reach out beyond wine bloggers: Find crafters who blog about, say, knitting and drinking wine. Or beer. “Use your social media outreach skills for good and find who is willing to talk about your product,” Sammis said.

Mark Gordon, the third panelist, is direct social media manager at Jackson Family Wines, and opened with “the best places to be” on social media.

Number one choices: Facebook and Linked In. “Nice to have” is Twitter. But it takes time. Instagram would be his fourth choice, followed by YouTube, Google+ and a blog — if you’re ready and have the time. Pinterest, again, if you have the time. And vimeo, for its quality.

He echoed Teplin by reminding audience members not to open an account in any of the above if “You don’t have the time to maintain it.”

Time your posts around the holidays, and what might be seasonal in the vineyard — harvest, pruning, even planting, he said.

Gordon shared several ideas for winemakers’ best use of the various social media outlets:

For Facebook: In your posts, use 80 characters or less, for fewer words pack more clout than paragraph after paragraph. Be mindful that people don’t read as much as they once did.

Pose your questions so that viewers can respond to you with yes or no or very short answers: Facebook users favor “like,” “share,” and the ability to comment very quickly.

Best time to post: 3 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday are considered the “best days,” he said, citing research. Posts that include photos receive more attention than those that do not.

Twitter: Retweet regularly. Follow others, especially those in your industry. Tool up. Hook up, but don’t sell. Reply when you are mentioned. Use #hashtags. Use Instagram to tweet your photos. And finally, engage people directly.

Panelist and musician Alan Kropf, founder of “Mutineer” magazine, opened up with a bugle call that got everyone’s attention and laughs — and underscored his point: Winemakers have a battle for the mainstream consumer.

Viewers crave a personal connection to your brand; without that “hook,” your brand is just that: Yours.

This goes back to Teplin’s advice to tell your (own) story. Be yourself, because everyone else is taken.

Many distributors, he noted, tell small producers looking for help that “you’re too much like everyone else.” Find what sets you apart Kropf said, and run with it.

“We’re going through something of a Wild West period (as far as social media), and you don’t want everyone else to discover the results when you’re still waiting to get on the train,” he said.

Healy and all four panelists all live and work in Napa or Healdsburg.

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At Unified: Globalization of wine and how that affects U.S. production

In experts’ opinions, what in recent years was the biggest trend affecting the U.S. wine production market?

The rise of imported bulk wines, giving consumers decent to good wines for great values.

Bulk wines took center stage Tuesday during the first general session at Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, “How the Global Wine Market Affects U.S. Production.”

Panelists were Kym Anderson, Greg Livengood, Stephen Rannekleiv and Mike Veseth (details on each follow).

From margins, to production to wages, “globalization is a two-way street,” said Mike Veseth, writer for The Wine Economist and an instructor at the University of Puget Sound in Washington.

Down the line, it’s packaging and how the wine itself is shipped around the world.

What is another product like wine that is a little further along the route of globalization — one that those in the wine industry can learn from? Veseth: “Apples.”

Or: “Juice boxes.” Read the ingredient list, he urged the crowd. Apple juice comes from the “U.S.A, Argentina, Austria, Chile, Austria, German and Turkey.”

And: This means apple juice sources are “interchangeable and highly sensitive to exchange,” and can this be the future of “basic wine?”

Or, a step further, the future of branded wines?

The next speaker was Kym Anderson from the University of Adelaide in Australia. While the latest wave of wine globalization began in the mid-1980s, it was in the 1990s that the share of the global exportation rose in the Old World to 25 percent from 15 percent, he said.

In the New World, the rate rose from 3 to 20 percent within that same decade, he noted.

And that New World increase was a “big challenge to Old World wines.”

Moving along, the exports of bulk wines from today’s biggest players — Australia, Argentina, Chile and New Zealand — have obvious consequences for grape growers and winemakers in the United States.

Retail buyers, for one, have access to better wines at lower costs, and in turn offer those benefits to supermarket consumers, Anderson said.

Nations with the largest increase in consumption are Northern Europe, and Asia.

In the latter, especially in the “developing” regions, Anderson said, dollars (billions) spent on wine consumption are forecast to rise from 11 to 28 percent between 2007 and 2030.

Residents of China, in particular, are forecast to represent the world’s largest jump in consumption, which means countries such as Italy, Spain and Australia are spotlighting China for export, he noted.

Third to speak was Steve Rannekleiv of Rabobank in New York.

Fresno has seen the most explosive growth, followed by Lodi, and then Napa, he noted.

On the North Coast, sales of bottles priced $20 and above show the most increase, and that demand, he said, matches middle-class income — families making around $90,000 per year.

How will this improve in 2013? Consumers are making strides paying down debt, the banking system has recapitalized, and both the housing and labor markets have improved, he told the audience.

In Fresno, the supply of both grapes and prices of wine are increasing, which, by itself, doesn’t make a lot of sense, but when we factor in globalization of bulk wine, then, yes, it does, Rannekleiv said.

Global inventories have tightened, but Fresno continues to outpace, if you will, the world, as far as total inventory. This is quite the opportunity for Fresno, and for California, Rannekleiv noted.

“California is very price competitive,” he said.

That said, however, he expects that the weak U.S. dollar will remain weak — but stable — for the immediate future.

The session’s final speaker was Greg Livengood of California’ Ciatti Company, a global brokerage company.

Imports, he said: Who wins? Who loses? Who are the importers?

They are either foreign-based and foreign-owned companies, or U.S. companies with value brands or potential line extensions, such as with muscato, Livengood said.

Why go overseas? Price, for one. Consumers want deals. Second, in search of a pecific varietal, such as pinot grigio, which is enjoying an upswing. Third: Consumer-driven demand, such as that of New Zealand sauvignon blanc, for example.

Grape varietals most commonly imported: cabernet sauvignon, merlot, chardonnay, muscato, malbec and sauvignon blanc.

Livengood said that of the 347 million cases of wine sold in the United States in 2011, 61 percent was California-grown, and 34 percent was wine imported to the U.S.

Looking ahead, California had a big crop in 2012, which is good news all around.

On the other hand, grape and bulk prices could have reached greater heights (in certain varieties) without foreign competition, he said.

Since wine consumers will continue to drive global competition, Livengood urged winemakers and growers to “have a global strategy.”

A member of the audience questioned the panel about how and if future water needs will affect global grape production, and in particular, the conditions faced by China.

Anderson noted that the vineyard regions of China are quite similar in size of those of Australia, and while water is plentiful in sections, water rights are issues in others.

Another question: What country is poised to be the next “wine nation” as far as promoting an identity for itself?

While the name on everyone’s lips might be China, Livengood said, Spain has recently moved a lot of its wines to overseas’ consumers after Chile “opened the door” with its lower-priced wines.

This morning’s panel was moderated by Jeff O’Neill, O’Neill Vintners & Distillers of California.

Unified Symposium returns Jan. 29-31; registration available during conference

The Unified Symposium, one of North America’s largest trade and wine industry seminars, returns Jan. 29 through 31 at the Sacramento Convention Center.

Beginning in 1995, two wine industry organizations, the American Society for Enology and Viticulture (ASEV) and the California Association of Wine Grape Growers (CAWG), joined efforts to present Unified in order to highlight issues and trends in the wine industry.

Wine Business Monthly and its online version, winebusiness.com, are major sponsors.

All seminar details, costs — per day or per session — and information about lodging can be found at the main web site, unifiedsymposium.org

Registration opens at 1 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28, and the conference opens at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 29 with a general session entitled “How the Global Wine Market Affects U.S. Production.”

While online registration closes Jan. 22, attendees can still register onsite during the event itself, organizers emphasized.

The trade show portion of Unified opens at 9 a.m. Wednesday and continues until 6 p.m., and again from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.

Longoria Wines to relocate from Ghetto to former Celite site on East Chestnut Street

Rick Longoria, one of Santa Barbara County’s pioneering winemakers, announced late last year that he has purchased the former Celite property on East Chestnut in Lompoc. After it is remodeled and expanded, Longoria Wines will reopen the facility in time for harvest 2013.

The property, located at 415 E. Chestnut St., includes a single-family home that was used as a clubhouse but in recent years has fallen into disrepair.

In November, Lompoc’s planning commission granted Longoria a conditional use permit for his project, which will be completed in two phases, according to published reports.

Longoria was the first winemaker to open a winery facility in Lompoc’s Sobhani Industrial Park, a property better known as the Lompoc Wine Ghetto (lompocghetto.com). He and his wife, Diana, opened that production site, as well as their tasting room in Los Olivos, in 1998.

In 2011, the Longorias opened a second tasting room in a corner of their winery facility.

Since the Alcohol and Beverage Control (ABC) allows wineries to be open for tasting and sales at two locations — the bonded winery and a satellite site — Longoria Wines will keep both its Los Olivos and Lompoc Ghetto tasting rooms open until the Chestnut Street facility is finished and the bond transferred there, Diana Longoria said. At that point, the Lompoc tasting room will relocate from the Ghetto to the new winery facility.

“This means that there won’t be any changes in where we are open for tasting and sales for quite a few months,” she noted.

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Third public hearing on Winery Ordinance draws crowd concerned about special events

Mid-way through Thursday’s Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department’s third public hearing to gather input for revisions to the Winery Ordinance, one participant raised a point that momentarily silenced the crowd.

“Why don’t we consider pulling special events out of the (proposed) winery ordinance and include them in a county-wide ruling” that is not specific to wineries?” asked Michael Dobrotin.

Many in the standing-room-only audience murmured or nodded in agreement with Dobrotin, who is involved in a vineyard project outside of Buellton.

Facilitating the two-hour hearing was Susan Klein-Rothschild, and in attendance were Dr. Glenn Russell, Planning Department director, as well as Deputy Director Jeff Hunt, Assistant Director Dianne Black and Stephanie Stark, agricultural planner.

Thursday’s hearing, the third of five scheduled during which county planners hope to gather public feedback on the ordinance before it heads to the County Board of Supervisors for revision, was devoted to Special Events, and drew approximately 65 participants.

The planning staff encourages those interested in participating in the input process to attend a hearing and speak, fill out a comment card at a meeting, or comment via the department’s web site. Comments emailed must be received within two weeks following each meeting date — by Jan. 24 in the case of the Jan. 10 meeting.

Visit http://longrange.sbcountyplanning.org/programs/winery_ord/wineryordinance.php

The planners define special events, Stark explained, as those lasting less than one day, with 80 or more people in attendance on winery/vineyard property, having concerts with or without amplified sound, and include weddings, advertised events, fund raising events and winemaker dinners open to the general public.

Clearly defined in the existing Winery Ordinance, created in 2004, are three tiers of “maximums” that limit wineries’ events. A Tier 1 Winery is limited to four special events per year, and each event must not exceed 150 people. Tier 2 wineries can have eight events and 150 people at each, and Tier 3 wineries 12 events per year, and 200 people at each.

In order to host any kind of special event, a winery/vineyard site must be at least 20 acres in size, Black said.

Attendees Thursday spoke up either in support of rural wineries’ attempts to hold special events — especially fundraisers — or complained that the ensuing noise, lights, traffic, dust and parking make their neighborhoods unbearable.

Phil Bond, who said his Santa Ynez Valley home of 20-plus years is located five miles from Gainey Vineyard, described hearing “significant” noise whenever the winery hosts an event. “Sound travels, especially at night,” he said. He and other opponents present emphasized to the planners that it was the “cumulative” effect of several events throughout the years, not isolated concerts, weddings or benefit dinners, that have urging stricter rules.

In the hour-plus leading up to Dobrotin’s comment, representatives of local nonprofit groups that have benefitted from special events spoke in favor of allowing winemakers and wineries to extend community goodwill by, well, throwing a party or two.

Bruce Porter, board chairman of the Santa Barbara County chapter of the American Red Cross, told the planning staff that “it’s so important that we have access to wineries because they are our theaters” when it comes to events.

Many wineries throughout Santa Barbara County need special events to boost sales, said Kady Fleckenstein, executive director of the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association. Smaller wineries and winemakers often cannot afford to utilize brokers and wholesalers to sell wine, and so rely on “direct-to-consumer sales out of necessity,” she said.

“There’s so much competition in the industry, and wineries need that connection to consumers” that special events offer.

Lisa Bodrogi, newly appointed executive director of the Central Coast Wine Growers Association, threw her support behind wineries’ events because, in turn, those parties benefit florists, caterers, graphic artists, wedding staff, lighting companies and more. “As an industry, we bring business to Santa Barbara County,” she said.

As the hearing entered its second hour and Klein-Rothschild pushed to keep speakers to the agenda, some in attendance grew slightly impatient, but the overall tone remained congenial.

When former county supervisor and longtime cattle rancher Willy Chamberlin urged the planning staff to not regulate events “simply because they exist,” the pressure in the room eased slightly. “Negative impacts (of events) must be shown to exist,” Chamberlin emphasized, and several others agreed.

Representing the Santa Barbara County Cattlemen’s Association, Chamberlin stood to hand to the planners a copy of a “white paper” drafted by the association and its attorneys. A white paper is typically used to help better define rules, organization and authority.

Chamberlin suggested that “rules for (wineries’) special events can be included in this good-neighbor ordinance, and hopefully the two can be melded together.”

It was Chamberlin’s presentation that appeared to trigger Dobrotin’s suggestion to pull “special events” out of the revision to the Winery Ordinance and into documentation better suited to businesses at large.

The next public meeting about the ordinance is from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 11, in Stacy Hall at St. Mark’s-in-the-Valley Church in Los Olivos. The topic: Neighborhood Compatability.

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SYVVA’s Restaurant Week returns to entice diners with $20.13 prie fixe meals

Restaurant Week, the foodie’s version of heaven, returns to the Santa Ynez Valley Jan. 20. through 26.[/caption]In conjunction with California’s Restaurant Month this month, the Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association is offering another six days of unbeatable prices at several of the valley’s hottest eateries.

For complete details about participating restaurants, click on visitthesantaynezvalley.com/restaurantweek.

Chefs, managers and owners will offer special three-course meals for the price of $20.13 — which does not include tax, tip and beverages — but is still a simply unbeatable deal, and a way to round up friends and try new restaurants.

As of Jan. 11, those eateries participating include the Ballard Inn Restaurant, Avant Tapas & Wine, the Starting Gate Restaurant at the Santa Ynez Valley Marriott in Buellton, Bell Street Farm Eatery, the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe, Petros at Fess Parker’s Wine Country Inn, Dos Carlitos Restaurant & Tequila Bar, the Ranch and Reata Roadhouse, Trattoria Grappolo, the Willows at the Chumash Casino Resort, Fresco Valley Cafe in Solvang, Hadsten House Inn Restaurant, Mirabelle Inn & Restaurant, Root 246, Solvang Brewing Company and the Succulent Cafe & Trading Post.

To view individual menus, and days each restaurant is offering its prie fixe menu, visit each site’s own link via the SYYVA main page.

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