Question of the year - How do small business' create a market share that will allow them to stay in business? Its by building a brand that people can trust. That can be tough for any company in any market, damn near impossible for a winery whose production does not exceed the amount of gallons that most large wineries lose in waste annually.
Step one for "Brand X" - our start up company for the sake of this post - is to understand the product they are producing and who their target market is. Then you cater a very structured and efficient marketing plan to reach that audience - but be careful! If you spend a million dollars a year in marketing efforts to sell a half a million dollars of inventory then you might as well just send me a check for a half a million bucks and I will produce all the wine you can personally drink! (If your sending Checks, my name is spelled with two 'L's'...)
So Brand X hits the ground running with a perfectly orchestrated marketing plan. All of a sudden people know who you are, awareness is rising and a reputation begins to unfold about your business. Should be a great thing, right? Not for Brand X, turns out the product is terrible!
That is why every harvest, every bottling, every racking and S02 addition is so important, especially for a small winery who is trying to survive on quality, not quantity. This is why I am out looking for the best fruit sources, using the best barrels and spending countless hours doing my due diligence to create wines that you will enjoy. If I didn't I would just end up being another Brand X winemaker who is looking for a job next year. The fact that these wines have been so well received and scored well by judges and critics alike is simply a by-product for the countless hours in the cellar and vineyards.
I take pride in knowing that I control my own destiny. It is absolutely the most rewarding thing to know that people really love these wines, and that is why I am continuing to strive to outdo myself every vintage. Because with all of the things I can control to build this brand that you can trust, there is one component to the winning formula that I can't control; time.
It takes time (and in my case, several awards/accolades) for a brand to really be trustworthy. I can assure you that the list of accolades this young winery took this year is just the beginning. It takes a couple solid vintages to give the impression of consistency. If I completely tank next years Cabernet Sauvignon (don't worry, I didn't... yet!) it could be a tremendous blow to our reputation that we are building. Consistency vintage after vintage is the most important thing, whether you are a small producer like myself or Steven Kent, McGrail Vineyards, etc, or a large producer like Wente or someone in between like Ruby Hill. (BTW - all of those brands do a fantastic job of producing consistently good wines every vintage and that's why they are succeeding.)
I am doing all I can to build a brand that you will all trust. I mentioned accolades earlier. In three major competitions this year (SF Chronicle Wine Comp, Finger Lakes Intl. Wine Comp, and San Francisco Intl. Wine Comp) Nottingham Cellars wines have taken home medals on 100% of the wines entered for a total of 18 awards - 6 for 6 at the Chronicle, 8 for 8 at Finger Lakes, and 4 for 4 and SF Intl. These awards include 2 double gold medals, 5 gold medals and 6 silver medals. The best part is the range of price points. $18 - $46 and everything in between, so with out a doubt there will be a wine that you like that you can afford. Whats not to trust about that?
So, to recap - How do you build a brand the people will trust? A sound marketing plan, excellent customer service and a solid sales team are all a good start. But at the end of the day it comes down to the quality of the product your selling. Cheers to those Wineries that put quality first, and to everyone else taking shortcuts, its 2011 and its almost over. Step your game up!
