Selling & Marketing Our Wines - the other piece of the puzzle

I've been asked countless times from fellow newbie wineries - how do you do it, price & sell your wines and get known in the marketplace...

Well its been a great learning experience for us, hope some of the notes below, helps you.

First, Pricing -- how'd we set it. Really its an art and a science

Questions to answer -- Will it be good value for our customers, will they buy a bottle or a case and not even think about the price, will it be competitive in the niche we play in? all these questions come into play when we set the retail price. We drew on all our past experience in marketing & selling & growing hi tech businesses. Competitive analysis, understanding the market niche we play in, establishing our brand and identity is part of the discipline we went thru in setting our price. I believe we've achieved the sweet spot with our pricing. We've sold out of every vintage we've released so far and are deemed very good values by our customers.

Second, who do we sell to, what channels to use?

Because of our initial size, we geared up to sell 100% of our business direct. Meaning no sales reps or distributors involved. We set up our online store & wineclub and try to sell to as many targeted restaurants & winebars we know in the area. So far so great. We spend ALOT of time eating out, doing reconnaisance ... not so good for our diets but we'll do anything to get an order.

Its still a thrill to have restaurants pick San Sakana wines to be part of their wine list. List above is from THE GRAND CAFE, our 1st winespectator awarded restaurant in the City. Alex Morrisson, the sommelier, is a true fan of boutique California wineries and we feel privileged to have met him.

Third, how do we market & spread the word about San Sakana?

This has been the trickiest part. Between the 3 Fish owners we probably know 200 friends and family who have joined our newsletter and wineclub. But how do we expand to the 1000's... Fish B of our team who heads up our marketing effort has done a great job with our website, collateral, event planning. We pour at key tasting events, we send our wines to wine editors & reviewers, we submit wines to competitions. Slowly but surely, our ecosystem is expanding.

So my advise to newbie wineries out there, spend time establishing your brand, your identity in the niche you want to play in. Tell your story. Go out to restaurants, pour at events, meet with wine bloggers, get them to review your wines. Before you know it, others will tell your story as well.


Hope this helps. Questions, comments - please email me at bettina@sansakana.com