Cool Idea to Bring in People

It's no secret that winery traffic is down. The wineries with tasting rooms usually depend heavily on these direct-to-consumer sales.

Something you don't
see much anymore

There are multiple inventive ways wineries have tried to bring in visitors this year. 

Several Sonoma County wineries are open in the evening at least one day a week. This usually involves something like wines by the glass, happy hour-type nibbles or maybe a food truck, and occasionally live music, a vineyard tour, or similar enticement to come in.

It's not always evenings as sometimes they will do something special during the day. Maybe it's free tastings on a particular day of the week. 

Donelan Wines has a tasting room in a light industrial park in Santa Rosa. They have come up with something unique and it seems brilliant. I hope it works out for them. 

Screenshot from donelanwines.com
Click on image to enlarge

They have an "intro to wine" tasting geared towards younger folks who might be new to wine. The kicker is the tasting fee and bottle prices are heavily discounted. What a concept! 

One issue premium wineries have is convincing those without a lot of disposable income to spend significant amounts of money for a tasting and wine purchases. Lots of people have to shop for cheaper tastings and wines when planning a wine tasting trip. Donelan has regular tastings at $65 and $105; their wines run $55-up for whites, $65-up for reds. These prices will keep out some people; notably younger ones who may not know the difference between a $15 and a $60 bottle of wine. This is the generation who is already less likely to drink. Donelan has come up with a way they hope will change this. They want to get them in and try to convert them to fans.

 

I am not affiliated with Donelan Wines or received any sort of kickback.