DISQUS

RichardA · 11 months ago

1. I am with you Gabriella that the 25 hr definition is no good. Like your example, when I was in Spain, I did stay at the Fuster and took day trips to Priorat and Penedes. I certainly considered myself a wine tourist, despite not staying 24 hours in Priorat. I would say a wine tourist is simply a tourist who visits an area, at least partially, because of the wine. For example, that might include the French tourist who drives over the border for ten hours to visit some wineries. A too limiting definition will exclude many people who should not be excluded.

2. I agree with you as well. A properly translated site makes a big difference to a potential tourist. Travel can make some anxious and reading a site in broken English or poorly translated does not imbue confidence.

3. I certainly agree that wine tourists generally want to do more than just taste wine. I know I certainly do. Food is very important to many wine lovers so connecting with restaurants is great. The more activities you can offer, the greater chance you will appeal to the varied interests of wine lovers. And maybe the wine lovers are accompanied by some who are less keen on the wine, but would love to go to a spa. When I went to Spain, Cellar Tours helped to create an itinerary of many varied activities for us, as well as pointing out others we might enjoy.

4. Yes, I would support wineries running family friendly tours and activities.

5. Some great ideas there! Comparison tastings are very educational and fun. They help teach the differences of wine in a way that a book cannot. And it makes a winery stand out more when their tasting room is different from the norm, instead of just a line up for 5-6 wines to try,.

6. At recent Boston Wine Expo, I noticed far more distributors and wineries who want to connect with social media and bloggers. It is still very new to them but they are reaching out more and I am sure it will only continue to grow.

7. Definitely. I love to try wine from more unusual areas as well as learn more about their efforts to create wine. Reading a blog from them would be like getting a peek into a bright new wine endeavor.

Oscar Quevedo · 11 months ago

It was a very interesting week-end. I learnt a lot about wine but also about olive oil tourism. Now I feel better prepared to market our Organic olive oil.

But the funniest and silliest part of the conference was during Emilio's and my talk about winery blogging. People were so focused on our talk that for a moment I felt like Emilio and I were the leading voices of wine social media. Well, it was just for a second, then I looked at Ryan Opaz and Robert McIntosh in the middle of the audience and I came back to the earth!

Dylan · 11 months ago

Love that picture of the storm. Although it gave rise to some complications, you have to appreciate the spontaneity of that happening. I've read through all your points, and I find them all to be very valid from expanding the definition of a tourist to day-trippers and families to fitting language needs of these tourists. One point that stood out to me as the idea behind family-oriented packages. Regardless of a person's love of wine, if it's a family trip and they have children, parents may find themselves at odds doing this activity as an entire family. On the same vein of education, I'd suggest an interactive blind aroma area for children. Setting up a special game where they are challenged to match labels with all the different aromas that can be found in the wines, by using the actual things they are described by. This will leave a valuable learning experience, but also be fun to do. You would be engaging the children and their memories of your vineyard so that they might take interest to visit when they are old enough.

Winesleuth · 11 months ago

I follow a winery in Ramona, CA, on the outskirts of San Diego, that did a field trip to their winery with the local school, mostly 3rd and 4th graders. They blogged about it and it made me wish we had something like that when I was a kid. Check them out: http://eaglesnestwinery.ning.com/profiles/blogs...
I met Dennis and Julie at the WBC last Oct. and they are fantastic!

Justin Roberts · 11 months ago

I hate to be a pedant up front, but it's Kristall KellerEi as in German for Winery.
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellerei

It was really interesting following the conference and as for some of the points:

1. What's that 24hr business all about? Really! What your visitors do before/afterwards might be interesting is as far as helping you improve your offer but I think that's about it.

2. I think it's a no-brainer to have a well translated (and interpreted, not just literally translated) English website. Badly translated and at best you amuse the native speakers and confuse the rest - at worst you put people off.

3. It goes without saying. Why not make the pie bigger, rather than slugging it out for a larger slice of a diminishing pie.

7. I hope so/ Ek hoop so/ Ich hoffe so!