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The Chicken, The Egg, and the Winery – Trade Relationship (and what’s missing?) — Or — Why Don’t More Winery Websites Show Some Love to the Trade
Last month, Stephen Ballard, co-founder of Annefield Vineyards, authored an excellent piece entitled ‘Where Are the Trade?‘ about the lack of trade attendance at the Virginia Wine Expo. Given the wine consuming masses that crowd the isles of the Expo, I’m not surprised the trade didn’t show — trade being defined as wine shop owners, restaurant folks, Sommeliers, distributors, sales reps and the like. Stephen does a great job of highlighting the need for a serious Virginia wine-trade-only event similar to massive trade-only ProWein event in Germany.
Stephen’s blog post also touches on the interesting relationship between Virginia wineries and the trade. From my perspective — that of an avid Virginia wine consumer and author of a few blog and print musings on Virginia over the last three and one-half years — Virginia wineries and the trade appear to get on quite well.
Winemakers seem to be in a constant state of hosting tastings at local wine shops (though not too many here in the Tidewater area), many wine shops throughout the Commonwealth carry a reasonable local selection, and the trade is regularly invited on media trips to Virginia wineries with Virginia’s First Lady, Maureen McDonnell. In fact, I’m not sure there is another Governor, First Lady and Secretary of Agriculture so engaged in promoting and brining wineries and trade together than Virginia’s state leaders (much credit goes to the Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office for their tireless work in making all this happen).
Though a healthy winery-trade relationship exists here, there is clearly some room for improvement based on recent conversations with winery owners, vintners, local wine shop owners, Somms and a few other random industry folk — restaurants and retails shops need to promote and sell more Virginia wine according to a couple of winemakers I spoke to… and, conversely, a wine shop owner and Sommelier told me that wineries need to produce more wine and work on competitive pricing structures in order to create demand. Sounds like the ol chicken and the egg circular argument.
I’m not sure of the best approach to bridge the small divide between Virginia wineries and members of the trade — will leave that to the experts — but I do have a general observation about how wineries present/showcase their products to the trade.
Yesterday I visited over 50 Virginia winery and cidery websites and was absolutely shocked to find that only a very few — Breaux Vineyards, Barboursville Vineyards, Prince Michel Vineyard & Winery, Delfosse Vineyards — have a Trade section on their website (no doubt I missed a few winery websites with trade info). In the spirit of Drink Local inclusion, I also visited about 15 Maryland winery websites, a dozen Colorado winery websites and a few from Texas as well. Only one winery from these states included a ‘trade’ link — Canyon Wind Cellars in Colorado.
Wha-whaaaat? You gotta be kidding me! Of all the Virginia winery and other state’s websites I visited (about 90 in total) only five included a link (or section) for the trade to access information like shelf-talkers, sell sheets, bottle photos, detailed technical information on each wine (including past vintages), sales/trade contact information, formats available (375ml, 750ml, Mag, etc.), UPC, and any other tidbit that a retailer, Sommelier, distributor or sales person might need to make an informed buying decision.
I should note that nearly all of the winery websites I visited did include the standard, obligatory links to their Facebook page, online ordering info, exhaustive listings of wine competition medals won, tasting notes, directions, a listing of events and festivals, and some even included an itemized accounting of restaurants and retailers that carry their wine along with a lot of other consumer-centric information (which is also great info too).
Contrast this with the first dozen California and Oregon winery websites I visited, all of which included a link from their winery main web page to a specific trade section. If I were doling out awards, Duckhorn Wine Company in California would win the Awesome Trade Section of a Winery Website Award for their informative and comprehensive, yet simple to navigate site for trade professionals (hat tip Meg Houston Maker for the lead on Duckhorn’s trade site):
Why don’t more Virginia, Maryland, Colorado, and Texas wineries/cideries have a comparable trade section on their websites? Maybe these wine industries are smaller and distribution is more limited than larger regions like California and Oregon so informing the trade is not as necessary? Or maybe and all the sales folks already know all the winery folks and their wines so wineries do not yet need to make such information available to the trade?
Obviously, having a link for members of the trade is not a prerequisite to sell wine — many small wineries (fewer and fewer as competition increases?) sell much of their production directly from their tasting room and do not need to leverage traditional restaurant or retail sales channels. Since tasting room sales are generally the most profitable for a winery, I’m sure there are some that have no plans to leverage the trade for wine sales, and thus one would not expect to see a trade link.
For those wineries that do leverage retail and/or restaurant sales (or would like to), having a trade site seems to make a lot of common business sense. I could be wrong about this so I’m really interested in hearing from wineries that have made a conscious decision not to have such a valuable resource for the trade. By the way, this is no way intended as a dig at any winery or their website, but a sincere desire to learn about the reasons for wineries not specifically focusing on the trade.
Though I may not be a member of the group commonly referred to as the trade, if I were, I would expect wineries to have a ‘trade‘ section on their website that contained information like sell sheets, shelf-talkers (not that I would personally need them 
, technical fact sheets, bottle images, sales point of contact, UPC, etc.
I submit this question to those Virginia, Colorado, Texas and Maryland wineries interested in moving their wine via traditional trade channels — Why don’t you have a specific area of your winery web site dedicated to providing much valuable information to the trade.
Members of the trade: Would a trade section of every winery website — complete with shelf-talkers, wine technical factoids, bottle/winery photos, winery stats, clear contact information, etc. — be helpful to you?
Editorial Note: If you haven’t already, take a moment now to read Stephen Ballard’s ‘Where Are the Trade?‘ I encourage readers to visit the Annefield Winery blog regularly as it’s one of the best winery blogs in the blogosphere and no doubt will be a nominee for the Best Winery Blog category in the 2012Wine Blog Awards.
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One reason that 126 Virginia wineries might not need to have a dedicated trade link on their web sites to detail product information, etc. is that they are using the Virginia Winery Distributing Company, the state entity setup to assist with small winery distribution. The vwdc.org web site, accessible to any licensee in Virginia, provides 24×7 access to the very information you list (shelf-talkers, sell sheets, bottle photos, detailed technical information on each wine and any other tidbit that a retailer, Sommelier, distributor or sales person might need). The wineries you list as having a trade link are not part of the VWDC program. The trade can also click the contact us button/link and send an email.
Hi Nic — thanks for stopping by to comment and providing a reminder about VWDC. I posted a short piece last year about this distro system/company – sounds like the system is working great. And this is probably the reason why most wineries do not have a trade link Although I do wonder if wineries in other states rely on their distributor to be the source of trade education?
Even with the VWDC, shouldn’t a winery make this same information available directly from their site just in case there are members of the trade (say, for instance a restaurant server trying to learn more about Virginia wines as part of ‘Va Wine and Dine’ month) that are looking for specific information about a wine?
I’ve spoke to a couple members of the trade (from out-of-state) and they told me it would be very helpful for Virginia wineries to have such a ‘trade’ link on their website in order for them (the out-of-state trade) to get smarter on Virginia wine. This is of course a very isolated example, but my point is that having such information would likely prove valuable out side of the vwdc system. It’s my understanding that vwdc is only for distribution in Virginia. I may be getting way ahead of myself here as most Virginia wineries do not distribute out of state, but my point is simply that ‘trade’ information is needed to educate and inform the trade, in- and outside of Virginia.
Thanks again for stopping by to share this information – cheers!
Frank, you hit the nail on the head. Virgina wineries are just now getting national attention. Most Virginia wineries sell the majority of their wine in the tasting room and that is partly due to the fact that Virginia wineries have become a destination for visitors and tourists. The wholesale/distribution business is a totally different business model and those who have tried to the numbers game have failed miserably without mentioning names. That being said, now that there is some interest and demand in Virginia wines, the time is right to venture in a measured way into the mass distribution business model. Your article is a result of the timing being close at hand. It is a fine line that wineries have to walk and the correct timing is an important factor just as the time the wine spends in the barrel, when it’s released, etc. Get the timing wrong and you are out for another season. You know the old saying,,if you want to make a small fortune in the wine business, start with a large one. We are on the verge of a new era when Virginia wineries will have to expand their distribution business and hats off to you for being on the leading edge, but let’s avoid the bleeding edge.
Hi Al — You had me at “Frank, you hit the nail on the head.”
Kidding. Though I have no direct experience making or selling wine, it’s clear even to an observer like me that the real money to keep a winery financial viable is tasting room sale… but…if a winery wants to grown and expand beyond this local market, the winery needs to leverage the wholesale/distribution sales channels. A delicate balancing act to be sure?
And, I totally agree Virginia wine is on the verge of a new era and wineries will have to expand their distribution business. And, this is yet another reason for Virginia wineries to take this larger region approach on their websites and how information is provided to the trade (not just here in Virginia).
All the best for the 2012 vintage!
I guess the real reason it is not on our website right now is that it slipped!!! That said, the main goal of our website is simply to have information available to the general public. We have people on the road with tools hitting up the trade and try to give a more personal connection. I know that doesn’t mean we can’t have a simple page on our website and will by the end of the week now.
I also think for the great majority all the information you are looking for is on most websites, but it is just not all in one place for the trade to have lumped together. Our website does have very in-depth notes on each of our wines (when I get them done and I have been awful lately, will do that this week too) and massive amounts of information about everything we do. No awards listed though and it will stay that way on our site, but that’s a different topic.
As for the over-arching issue of trade and winery relations, there is no web-page in the world that will fix that. The pricing conversation is now completely irrational. There are plenty of good Virginia wines at great price points (sub $12.00 per bottle). In my opinion the there are two major reasons that Virginia has struggled to gain the attention of the trade.
1) We tell everyone that they should take our wine because it is local and if you want to promote be local oriented shops / restaurants then it must include Virginia wine. That is not true! Shops and Restaurants need to take the wine that is the best QPR and if we don’t take our product to them and prove it, they shouldn’t have to take it. It is on us to sell to them, it is our job.
2) The Virginia wine section of most stores remains with crickets because a huge portion of the section still remains Strawberry this, blackberry that and is loaded with niche sweet wines that are not good QPR. In most major stores the chocolate drinks, fruit wines, and niche products are in their own section not based on where they are produced. There is a lot of fruit wines and niche beverages being made in California, NY, etc, but they are not in those sections so are not associated with the State. Virginia’s are in our sectioon which further increases those perceptions of Virginia making it harder for the consumer to take Virginia wine seriously. That then leads to lower sales of traditional wines in the market place since they become hand sells which are time consuming and therefore expensive. With slower sales comes the responsible thing of not re-buying those products.
The best way to get the trade to notice us is to have their customers request our wines because they are great. I ignore suppliers all the time, why would shops and restaurants not do the same? I will not however ignore my customers and if there is a re-occuring request, I will look into it.
I appreciate your thoughts on this subject, Jordan, and I suspect many wineries are in the same boat… most of the pertinent information is already on your site in various places, but time being finite and all, the webmaster (who tends to double as winemaker/general manager/advisor/etc.) hasn’t gotten round to creating a ‘trade’ page. I’m glad to hear that you’ll be consolidating the info in tidy spot for the trade.
Above you write, “As for the over-arching issue of trade and winery relations, there is no web-page in the world that will fix that.” Agreed on that item, but perhaps a few of you on the wine side, along with a few members of the trade, can get together with Stephen from Annefield and explore the possibility of a trade-only Virginia wine event in the future. Seems like a great idea to bring the sides together (although will not bridge the entire divide… but I think would go along way to educating the trade, many of whom may be in need of Virginia wine educating). Just my 2 cents on that. Thanks again for your thoughts on this.
Frank
Frank – I see the benefit to the wineries in a trade only event, but on the trade side it is expected that you take your product to them. We do our own portfolio tastings for the trade to come out here and taste through everything and offer them lunch and a more well rounded event to get to know us and it has had some success. That said it is never as successful as simply pounding the pavement.
As for at the Expo, they would have to find out where there best dollars can be made. It is going to come from booth sales to wineries or ticket sales. I would guess not having the volume of ticket sales would out weight the wineries that would come based on a trade tasting and therefore not be financially appealing to the promoter.
What could be good is if there is simply a good group of say 10-12 Virginia wineries that just work together in different areas around the State to hold our own tastings, split costs and offer our locations up. That way we could do portfolio tastings all over the State and get better coverage.
Great post – thanks!
Yes, winery websites should have a trade section with all the nitty-gritty details about their wines – and the ability to download shelf talkers!
It’s good that they don’t password protect this part of their website (as some European winery websites do) as keen amateurs can learn more.
Every little helps the discovery and the enjoyment!
Hi Brett – Thanks for sharing your thoughts from the trade perspective. Didn’t realize some EU wineries protect their trade sections with passwords, seems to defeat the purpose IMHO. As recognition of Virginia wine grows, no doubt we’ll see more of our wineries create trade sections to help increase brand awareness. Cheers!
Man…your site nuked my comment when I tried to login thru Twitter. Had to use Facebook, but comment was lost. So much for my three paragraph comment.
So in summary, what you report in VA wineries v the trade is the same for here in Texas and every state wine industry, I suppose.
If you include media with trade on a winery website, the same info would get more eyeballs on it.
While a local winery might not have distribution and need a trade page, all wineries need a media page. So, if you combine trade and media and, I don’t know…maybe call is trade&media, local wineries might do it. Every local winery needs more media relations and PR.
Do it one time (same info) and get twice the bang for the website development buck.
Russ
Hey Russ — Sorry to hear about the comment being nuked – not sure why that happened (other than wordpress just not liking folks from TX
). Seriously, I appreciate your thoughts on this subject.
I am probably making too much of the lack of trade info on winery websites, but just seems like an important way to deliver much needed information to trade partners. Agreed on all wineries needing a ‘media’ page, and can be developed jointly with a ‘trade’ page. Cheers!
Frank, the point you raise regarding the trade having access to a web page filled with pertinent information is extremely timely. The reason we don’t have that type of page is because I, we didn’t think of it. We didn’t realize it might be useful to the trade. We didn’t even know that this type of page existed on many winery websites. We used to hand deliver shelf talkers back when we self distributed, but now we have a distributor placing our wines across the state.
With our wines all over the state I can see the need for a trade section on our website. The trade page, to me really, is more of a product of a paradigm shift in how we think our Virginia wineries should be perceived by the trade and the public. Whether or not the page gets used much isn’t as important as the way in which we think and position ourselves to the trade and direct customers. Recently we’ve been receiving very good media coverage, sales and production are on the rise and the reputation, respect and accolades are coming forth. As an industry, it’s time to mature a little and act accordingly.
I also agree with Jordan regarding retail sales. I have the battle scars from pounding the pavement with wine bottles in hand to present to the trade who was largely reticent or taciturn toward Virginia wine at best, a decade ago. The trade is now more than ever in support of Virginia wine because most of us wineries are striving to produce high quality wines that represent our terroir year in and year out at competitive pricing.
I wanted to say that both the wineries and the trade are proving that Virginia wine deserve a spot on the wine list or on the shelf, but then I thought it’s really the consumer demand that’s driving the sales. Demand could also be attributed to marketing and media attention as well. Perhaps, this is the chicken and egg discussion. ; )
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this subject, Derek. Absolutely agree with you that,”the trade page… is more of a product of a paradigm shift in how we think our Virginia wineries should be perceived by the trade.” I think some are missing this exact point! And second your point about ‘time to mature a little [to the next level] and act accordingly.’ As I’ve noted before here on the blog, these are exciting times for the entire Virginia wine industry. Cheers to everyone at Gadino!
Frank,
I looked back over some information I have been compiling for a new post on local wine and I can confirm a similar trend in my region.
I would say that two things are working in the background (you nailed one) that support this. Most of the sales are from the tasiing room and self-distributed to small restaurants & bars within 30 minutes of the production facility. Most don’t have the wholesale demand. The second consideration is that sales is person to person in large measure still, so those producers in my region that have distribution and wholesale accounts are on the road working the machine to make it happen. They have the materials in hand and don’t have that many (or any) accounts out of region that would come looking via the web for trade info.
None of that justifies the lack of a trade facing web site into the future. As I keep saying in all of these social media/engagement/digital migration conversations, we should be expecting evolution, not revolution. Small, local and regionally focused producers are just going to grow slowly into all of this. They don’t have the cash or the demand to grab on to it before its time.
Jason
We noticed the same thing when we were redoing our website and were looking to see who used one of these pages. I just figured it was a result of many Virginia wineries already selling their full annual production and not being able to satisfy more demand, or not wanting to grow beyond what they already are, or just wanting to stay focused on tasting room sales instead of wholesale sales. I know several wineries in Northern VA who have little to no interest in selling outside their front door. We have found the trade page to be a big help in growing our wholesale division, and I get regular phone/email traffic each week originated by it.
Frank,
I feel like I’m late to the party! Thanks for the kind words on the blog.
As you know, Annefield Vineyards commenced sales in July 2010. With getting set up with the website, having some sort of online ordering, getting the tasting room going, figuring out a point of sale system while still taking care of the vineyard, accounting and everything else, having a page dedicated to the trade did not seem critical. Especially knowing that getting the attention of distributors is very difficult. We were not part of Virginia Winery Distribution Company (VWDC) until later that year, and did not fulfill our first order through them until December 2010.
VWDC has been great for us. Of course getting the attention of restaurants and wine shops is problematic, but usually once we’re in the door and they try it, they’ll buy. But our experience the buyers are those committed to Virginia wine or, in the case of restaurants, those with a broad and diverse wine list and a commitment to showcasing local products. I’d like to remind people that there is a statutory limit on the number of cases a winery can sell and be a part of VWDC — only those wineries that produce fewer than 3,000 cases per year can be part of it, which eliminates the likes of Barboursville, Prince Michel, Breaux — the big guys who, coincidentally, have trade pages! And distributors. Williamsburg’s production is up there, too, but they must have a healthy business from tourism in the Tidewater. I don’t know Delfosse’s production, but they aren’t in VWDC and they have a couple of distributors so they don’t need it.
I think as the Virginia industry is recognized nationally and internationally, there will definitely be a need for more wineries to make that information available. Probably more important is the professional quality graphics — photographs, technical specifications, etc. I’ve asked some wine shop owners whether they use shelf talkers; some don’t, some make their own. Nevertheless of our wines reviewed and rated by Wine Enthusiast magazine, I make sure they know they can access shelf talkers from their website — but you have me thinking we really need to make our own. to getter control our messaging and branding. Whether they will be used is a different question.
I haven’t surveyed wineries out of state (specifically California) on their trade sites. Many, many have them, as you know. But to put it in perspective I suggest looking at their production, which might give an idea of what kind of budgets they have for marketing. The Napa County Zoning website includes a list of wineries and their approved production (in gallons). I just checked it for Duckhorn’s brands; two of the five are in Napa (one in Mendocino, another in Sonoma; it wasn’t clear where the third is based, but it did not appear on the Napa list). Two of the brands are in Napa: Duckhorn, authorized to produce 110,000 gallons/year, and Paraduxx at 156,000 gallons/year. That translates into 112,000 cases/year for those two brands alone. The handful of larger Virginia wineries produce in the range of what — 10,000 cases/year? I can only imagine the marketing budgets of companies like that. Many are far larger. For those interested, here’s a link, and click on Winery Database Listing under Useful Information and Links.
http://www.countyofnapa.org/Pages/Department.aspx?id=4294967490
About tasting rooms — our friends at Swirl, Sip, Snark had a recent post where they quote an observation by the owner of Delaplane Cellars — that when you take into account the cost of staffing, furnishing and running the tasting room, there isn’t much difference in the profit realized on a bottle vs. selling it wholesale. I haven’t looked at the numbers that way, but my gut tells me that it’s true. I may crunch the numbers as an intellectual exercise, but it won’t change our approach to the business, which, for now, is to put equal emphasis on both wholesale and retail. Although we do look enviously at the business model of wineries like Kistler Vineyards in California, which manages to get Robert Parker to score their wines each year, then sells exclusively to restaurants and select buyers through their mailing list. No tasting necessary.
So for us now entering our second full year in business, we are working on a website update that will include a page dedicated to resources for the trade. What it will contain is yet to be determined.
Hi Stephen – this is an ongoing party (wine blog crawl…?) so you’re not late at all. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this subject.
The discussion of whether (most) Virginia wineries need a ‘trade’ page — given their size relative wineries in California, Oregon, etc. — reminds me of a leadership conference I attended (required attendance for new managers at my co.) about 10 years ago. The keynote speaker — his name escapes me, but he’s quite well known in those circles — noted several times during his presentation the importance of mindset and projecting up, which meant ‘dressing the part’ of the job we aspire to. He showered us with lots of other cutesie stories, but his point was that we should adopt the posture, demeanor, etc. of our company’s sr. leadership ‘now’ if that’s what we aspire to.
I wonder if this same message is applicable to Virginia wine. I’m of the opinion that Virginia wineries, as well as other smaller regional wineries, that aspire to much larger production and distribution at some point in the future need to posture like those larger wineries (defined in the context of this example as projecting an imagine to those in the trade that make such growth and distro possible). This is of course very easy for me to say, sitting in Starbucks while most vintners are out in the vineyard right now and have been there for a couple hours already, or are prepping their tasting rooms for a busy day.
As you note above, “as the Virginia industry is recognized nationally and internationally, there will definitely be a need for more wineries to make that information available.” Since the Virginia wine industry as a whole has been the recipient of so much favorable national/international recognition over the last year, perhaps ‘now’ is that time. Having a trade page certainly isn’t going to make or break any winery, but may (most likely) prove to be an important component.
With or without a trade page, Virginia wineries are mastering the ‘big things’ like producing stellar wine that is finally receiving the national/international recognition deserved. Cheers!
Hi Frank,
A little late here (been too busy in the vineyard trying to beat budbreak!)
My thoughts.. Given the geographical disposition of Virginia, the expansive wineries with large production as seen in CA, OR, etc are limited in number. Production per winery is minute in comparison, thus the need to wholesale limited supplies is reduced. For us at Ankida Ridge, our production is so small we will probably never sell to distributors in state, only to a few select restaurants, utilizing the VWDC. Our focus is on our Wine Club sales. But a thought to consider for those that want to sell through a wholesale distribution network… Perhaps virginiawine.org can establish a link on their site directed to the trade, offering one stop “beginning” shopping for wholesalers. Each winery interested in selling wholesale can submit their basic trade info here, including a link back to a trade section on their own website for those wholesalers who want to learn more. At least the trade would have one place to begin “shopping” those wineries that will sell to them, saving them valuable time. (What do you think, Annette and Amy?)
My feeling is a comprehensive trade event is warranted at this point in time for Virginia to woo the trade. It would have to offer freebies, (maybe with help from VA Marketing office:)) hotel, meals, etc to entice the industry here, and would need to be a fun, visually and gastronomically exciting event that is by invite only to select trade folks, somms, writers, distributors, chefs, etc who will go home excited by their experience.
As always, great job, Frank!
You’re not late either, Christine. This discussion will definitely continue. Agreed that wineries with no plans to leverage wholesale/restaurant sales channels do not need a trade page. However, those wineries that leverage VWDC should (just my opinion) have a trade page so that particular winery ‘controls’ the message directly. Realize that they can probably update VWDC as needed, but there is benefit to having control of that message from their own winery site. (how much of a benefit is debatable
.
Looks like support is building behind the trade-only event… will be great to see this event happen at some point in the future!
All the best.
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