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

Barrels, what's the big deal ....

Next to the grapes & vineyards we source its the 2nd most important decision we have to make in our winemaking plan.

Coopers are the other artisans I've grown to respect in the foodchain of making great wines. Coopers are the artists, manufacturers who turn oak trees into barrels for our wine.

Its like a cigar I suppose (I don't partake, but Fish C of our team certainly does). The wood tastes vary based on how toasted the wood is, are the heads toasted as well, how new is the wood, which forests did it come from, what country, who was the Cooper. Tastes it imparts to the wine is significant - from sweet tones of vanilla and allspice to woodsy & earthy notes.

For us, we like to blend 1 year old French oak barrels with neutral or > then 3 year old barrels for our Sonoma Valley Syrah's like our Las Madres from Carneros and the Trio from vineyard selections in Sonoma. We feel gives enough vanilla, spice overtones without an overly tobacco or woodsy feel therefore letting the cherry & blackfruits of the Syrah come through.

The permutations are endless in winemaking, picking the barrel is just one of the many decisions we make to make wines we can't wait to share with you.

Please email if you have questions or comments, bettina@sansakana.com

Thanks - Bettina

What's in a Blend?

We just released our first Rhone Blend to the market this past month, our 2004 TRIO Syrah. A barrel select, vineyard selected Syrah from 3 of the best Syrah vineyards we sourced in 2004 from Sonoma Valley.

Sounds simple doesn't it... blend a little of this, a little of that and voila, you have your TRIO.

All I can share, is it was the most exhausting, thrilling, winemaking experiment we've embarked on so far. First, we had to pick the vineyards. We picked Clary Ranch from Petaluma for its fruit forwardness of cherries & blackberry jam & spice notes, blended with a bit of Teldeschi from Healdsburg to provide the structure & depth and then gave it a splash of WhiteHawk Syrah to give it acidity and perfume.

AND THEN we had to decide what barrels to age each of the Vineyard designate syrah's. We planned for our TRIO Syrah to be the best of the best of our releases, and knew that we would age it for alot longer then our previous 2004 Las Madres Syrah. So blending barrels with newer oak, more pronounced toasts like a brand new Demptos oak barrel from France which had strong tobacco & allspice notes, added the spice in Trio that I think elevates this wine's Syrah characteristics. 22 months later, we have our 2004 Trio Syrah which is now quickly becoming a restaurant and customer favorite.

We hope you enjoy it. We certainly enjoyed our multiple long blending evenings ...

Oh yeah, our other learning, must learn to spit more!

Thanks for reading. Q's, comments - please email me at bettina@sansakana.com

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Harvest Update, its been HOT!!!!

With the scorching string of 100+ degree weather we've had lately, we've been checking out the vineyards alot these days. Picture to the left shows signs of sunburn on some clusters. (thanks to our friends @ Crushpad for sending us some of these pics ).

From the Las Madres Vineyard in Carneros in Sonoma to Broken Leg in Anderson Valley and south to Alta Mesa in Cuyama Valley and clear west to White Hawk Vineyard in Santa Barbara - conditions appear on track for a healthy albeit late harvest this year. In cooler climate vineyards like Broken Leg up in Mendocino County, we open up the canopy & aggressively leaf pull & remove lateral shoots from the vines. This ensures air flow through the grapes. In warmer sites like Alta Mesa in Cuyama Valley, we manage with more leaves around the fruit to protect from too much sun & sunburn. Though we will lose some clusters due to sunburn (like above), remaining clusters will ripen nicely with soft tannins.

Its a gamble we make - how much canopy coverage to provide. More coverage, more leaf protects the grapes from sunburn; but capturing sunlight promotes photosynthesis which sustains the vines, ahhh.... all that high school biology comes into play. But across the board, berries are ripening. And the thick skins on our fruit should be perfect for delicious tasting Syrah, Viognier & Mourvedre juice!

We'll be heading north to Sonoma in a week to check out Catie's Corner vineyard in Russian River Valley & the Las Madres Vineyard in Carneros to check out our Syrah rows. Can't wait to share more pics & stories with you after our trip. Its a treat for us to visit with the artisan farmers who toil the soil, in my book they're the true artists in winemaking.

Q's, comments - please email me at bettina@sansakana.com

Thanks for reading, Bettina

Technorati Tags : wine food & drink