There are a myriad of reasons and guesses as to why California wineries are seeing a downturn in visitors. These usually revolve around economic uncertainty including tariffs, a whiplash effect from the Covid lockdowns when online purchases shot up, higher prices for wine tastings, and younger consumers turning to other alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
What are wineries doing, or could be doing, to counteract the loss of visitors?
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| image from sonomanews.com |
The Napa Anomaly
Napa Valley, the best known and most expensive region to taste wine, is doing okay. Visitation is down a bit, not nearly as much as many other regions, and spending per person is up, largely because of higher prices. Another good sign is NV is getting younger visitors. If you wish to visit, there is Anomaly Vineyards in Napa Valley. :) We will see how Napa does in the coming months, as they rely more on international travelers than other wine regions.
Wine Clubs
The wine club member income stream is important to wineries, especially the smaller ones that don't have much presence in the retail market. On average, club members account for half of a winery's direct sales -- as opposed to wholesale/retail, where the profit margin is smaller.
Keeping existing members and signing up new ones is always the goal. With a drop in visitors to the tasting room, signing up new members is more challenging. Finding ways to keep members interested in the wines and making them seem as part of the family is another goal. Some do this better than others. The ones that don't should be making changes.
One thing I've seen that I like is local winery collaboration for wine club members. That is, Winery A and Winery B in the same region will offer wine club member reciprocating club benefits for a month or two.
Getting New Visitors
A few tasting rooms are offering nonalcoholic drinks such as mocktails. This might seem counterintuitive for someone in the business of selling wine. I see a lot of potential visitors asking something along the lines of, "We are a group of four, but one doesn't drink" or "one will be the designated driver" and wondering if they will even all be allowed in some wineries. Any non-drinkers will get pretty bored watching their friends tasting through wines. Make everyone feel welcome!
Lots of wineries went reservation only after the Pandemic lockdown ended to control the number of people in their tasting rooms. This also makes staffing and customer service much better when you don't have to deal with people standing two or three deep at the bar during a late afternoon rush. Many wineries are now more reservations encouraged, and will take drop ins if there is room. That's great, but most potential visitors don't know where they can just drop in and when are good times to get in without a reservation. It doesn't occur to some travelers that Wednesday morning is probably great, but Saturday afternoon isn't. This message is poorly communicated.
Some are trying free events like live music during the day or in the evening, bringing in food trucks, and trivia contests.
Free tasting days or 2-for-1 tastings, for locals, or for anyone, are becoming more common, even in the busy summer months. It will go something like, these participating wineries will give free tasting for two people on Thursdays to anyone with an ID showing they are a county resident. Or it might be, for one week only, anyone mentioning this offer gets a free tasting and a discount on the wines tasted. Some Sonoma County wineries did this in the spring. My wife and I visited several, most poured three wines for free, I bought from everywhere we went, and joined a wine club. I've seen owners of multiple wineries do something similar for a month during the off season at all of their tasting rooms.
It's human nature; free stuff gets people's attention.
Prices
Increasing prices for tasting, bottles to take home, lodging, and eating have kept some people away. Everyone seems to know this is one of the reasons for the downturn in visitation, but no one knows how many are staying away strictly because of costs. Of course, no one wants to be the first to "admit defeat" and lower prices, especially with their own increasing costs. For me, high tasting fees stop me from going to many tasting rooms. I have a limit of what I'm willing to pay to try something new.
Besides, or instead of lowering prices, wineries can consider:
- Weekday vs. weekend prices for tasting fees, aka surge pricing.
- A shorter wine flight at a reasonable price with the option to add on. It can be no reservations, standing at the bar only (as opposed to table service).
- Making it a policy in big, bold letters to waive the fee with a certain reasonable level of purchase. Unreasonable is something like, one fee waived with every four bottle purchase, something I've seen. Post this on the website and in the tasting room. While you are posting this in your tasting room, mention that your tastings are free and all wine purchased are discounted if you join our club.
An Example Winery
A local wine club I belong to is a 20,000 case family owned operation with all estate vineyards. Their club has different levels, of course. The one I'm in is the Locals Only Club. There are two bottles every two months and it's customizable. Yes, it is a lot of work for the wine club employees, but it gets us in often. Every two months there is a Saturday & Sunday weekend pickup event with music, small bites, a couple wines on special, along with four pouring stations for wines that went out to the club. One station is always manned by the winery owner because he understands the importance of the club.
A few times a year, there is a reciprocal agreement with another winery allowing us to come in and receive their club benefits.
They belong to an organization of other area wineries that puts on a few weekend events every year. Club members at any of the participants get special prices on tickets and get club discounts at all the tasting rooms.
To Wineries With Declining Visitor Numbers
If you are not at least offering a free tastings plus discounts to your club members and aren't offering to waive tasting fees for others on a purchase, it's time for a reality check. The good ol' post-Pandemic days when everybody wanted to stock up is over.
Sources:
pressdemocrat.com
sonomamag.com
visitnapavalley.com
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