Why should restaurants buy my wine?

Wines & Vines, August, 2004 by Lynn Alley

Never underestimate the personal touch. One restaurateur placed a local wine on his list simply because the young winemaker and his wife took the time to come into the restaurant for dinner, bring wine with them and chat.

Paul Wagner, president and owner of Napa-based Balzac Communications, who teaches a class in wine marketing at Napa Valley College, says "Target restaurants in places you are going to visit anyway. That way you can write a visit off and further reduce your costs."

* "Does it complement the style of my cuisine?"

What works with Chinese cuisine? Or fusion? Or Italian? Is your wine versatile, or is it a perfect match for sushi? A sensitive salesperson will take care to learn a bit about a restaurant's menu before attempting to offer a wine that doesn't work. It might, for instance, be a waste of time and effort to try to sell a big, tannic Cabernet to a restaurant specializing in regional Mexican cuisine, because tannins are notorious for blowing up the heat in the chiles.

* "Does it complement the style of my wine list?"

The easiest thing for any restaurateur to do is to let one distributor make all of his choices for him, or to buy from one or two large, well-known brands. To do so may mean incredible savings on wine prices, in addition to the fact that it's a nobrainer. But it may also make for a fairly boring wine list. You might invest a little time looking over a restaurant's wine list. Do you see your wine fitting in? Does it enhance the restaurant's wine list? What unique qualities does your wine have to offer in terms of style, region, grape variety or cache?

* "Can I easily order or reorder?"

Most restaurant owners will go with the path of least resistance; that is, if it's easy to reorder, they'll reorder. And the simplest way to reorder is to get everything from one large distributor and let it manage the wine list. It means no one in the restaurant has to devote a significant amount of time to the job. So if you aren't high on the list of a big distributor, you need to find ways to make it easy for a restaurant to reorder your wine. If you're doing the selling yourself, you might call the restaurant at a respectful interval to inquire if they want to reorder. Make ordering direct from the winery easy: choose one person to handle and follow through on restaurant orders. Dropping the ball on this one can cost you sales and accounts. Become known for giving good, responsible, personalized service.

"The bottom line," Paul Wagner says, "is if you are a small winery owner, one way or the other, you are going to have to go out and help sell your own wine."

Wagner's course, Wine Marketing and Sales, Ag241, is offered every spring at Napa Valley College by the viticulture and winery technology department.

Debbie Zachareas' course, Creating Innovative Professional Wine Programs for Restaurants, will be offered again in August. Consult the CIA's online listing of wine classes for professionals for more marketing options (ciaprochef.com).

For other options, visit the Web site extension.uc.davis.edu/winemaking or consult the monthly Wines & Vines calendar.