In tough times, wineries turn to creative marketing, discounts

TOUGH TIMES often make the best businesses more resilient and creative. Though the news in the wine world has been focused for the past year on prices tumbling, distribution channels being clogged, restaurants closing and selling off their cellars, all is not grim. More and more businesses are trying out creative and consumer-friendly programs that not only help them survive the rough times but build customer loyalty for the future. Some recent examples:

Wild Ginger/Triple Door wine director Jake Kosseff has examined the huge wine list, which includes thousands of wines, and concluded that by sharply reducing prices on many wines, the restaurants will actually earn more money through a modest percentage gain in total wine sales. The new approach is a win for both customers and the business. "People get excited about something that also helps the restaurant," says Kosseff. "It's hard not to be a hero."

At Walla Walla's Isenhower Cellars, owners Brett and Denise Isenhower have cut loose from their distribution network. In an unusually revealing e-mail to their customers, Brett Isenhower explained the harsh realities of wine sales and marketing for boutique operations, and concluded that "with three young girls that I want to help raise and without the bank backing us up . . . I decided to keep Isenhower Cellars a Mom and Pop winery." Among the benefits are far less travel, more one-on-one contact with customers, and higher profit margins.

Trio Vintners, another Walla Walla boutique, is adding new options to its wine club, offering discounts ranging from 10 to 25 percent, depending upon the amount of wine a member orders. Many wineries are putting more effort into their everyday wines — popular and widely available blends such as Dunham's Three Legged Red, Dusted Valley's Boomtown series, Rulo's Syrca, Saviah's The Jack, Tamarack's Firehouse and Thurston Wolfe's PGV. Others are rolling out entire lines of value wines, such as the Eliseo Silva wines from Tagaris, the impressive new lineup from Hyatt vineyards and the Cask series from Silver Lake.

A recent visit to a couple of wineries in South Seattle turned up some additional strategies. At O• S winery, Bill Owen and Rob Sullivan are selling a marvelous 2006 Red (my pick of the week). Most of their wines are full-throttle, single-vineyard bottlings from prestige vineyards such as Champoux, Sheridan, Klipsun and Dineen. Though prices have dropped — a riesling from 30-year-old Champoux vineyard vines is especially compelling at $15 — some of the more expensive O• S wines were not moving. The partners noticed that their inexpensive press wine, simply named Red, couldn't keep up with the demand. They made a lot more of it. Better yet, they made it with free-run juice (what comes out naturally during fermentation without being pressed) that was originally intended for their R3 and Ulysses.

At Cadence, owners Ben Smith and Gaye McNutt were just back from a six-day sales trip to Texas. "You have to get out there and have an eye on the future, continuing to tell your story," McNutt explains. Did the trip pay off? "We'll see what kind of sales we generate," says Smith. "These trips are as much about relationships with your sales force as with the buyers. We've been around since 1998 — winery No. 150." That track record and wines from a new estate vineyard give them something exciting to talk about.

Clearly, no single strategy is guaranteed to work. But for all these wineries, and many others, these challenging times are leading to innovative marketing strategies that keep the cash flowing and the customers smiling.

Paul Gregutt is the author of "Washington Wines & Wineries." Find him at www.paulgregutt.com or write to paulgwine@me.com.