Can Remote Wine Tasting Kits Save the USA Wine Industry?
According to the Silicon Valley Bank’s Wine Division 2021 State of the Industry report, restaurants and tasting room sales made up about 43 percent of the average USA winery’s sales prior to April 2020.
      Â
Government issued shelter-in-place orders, closing both channels. Â Wineries scrambled to replicate the in-house winery experience online to stay financially solvent.
The New Remote Wine Tasting Room Experience
Wineries were quick to turn their in-person tasting room into a virtual experience in order to survive.  Â
Every winery creates their own unique model for a remote wine tasting experience. Initially, wineries offered a wide variety of experiences and price points. Many wineries offered free online “happy hour” style events. These appeared on social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook.
Choose a live host or pre-recorded sessions.
Others created lower-priced tasting packs that included access to a virtual a host. This host in a pre-recorded session, imparted information about the winery and the wines.
Today most wineries have invested in new technology and packaging for the wine. This allows them to create remote wine tasting experiences that more closely replicate an in-person tasting experience.
From Full-Sized Bottles to Tasting-Size Samples
Historically, most wineries have packaged wine shipments to include full-sized 750 ml bottles. So when they focused on virtual tastings during the pandemic, the shipment included full-sized bottles.
      Â
A full-sized bottle might contain too much wine for a remote wine tasting experience. So Clos Du Val Winery in the Napa Valley included a Coravin (wine preservation system) in the package so that the consumer could conserve the wine for a later use.
But now, nearly a year into the pandemic and the new focus on virtual tasting events, wineries like the Paso Robles’ Onx Winery is sending 2-ounce samples of their wine in their tasting kits in response to consumer demand.
Â
Wine and Food Pairing Kits
St. Supery, an exclusive award-winning winery in the Napa Valley, offers an entire remote wine tasting  experience with their virtual seminars. The St. Supery team creates regularly scheduled online sessions designed to replicate an actual wine tasting experience.
The vineyard manager makes an appearance via video to explain harvest conditions, while the winery’s “Chef Tod” creates main courses and salads specially designed to pair with the wine showcased during the event.
What’s unique about these virtual tastings is that consumers may show themselves on video if they wish, drinking the wine in their tasting kit and eating the food made from one of Chef Tod’s suggested recipes.
Large Online retailers, such as Wine.com, are also launching remote wine tasting events featuring celebrities. The subject ranges from producers such as Francis Ford Coppola speaking about their own wine, to wine experts like Kevin Zraly (best-selling author of several wine books) talking about a specific wine region.
Â
Ingredients for Successful Remote Wine Tasting Â
Nearly a year into the pandemic, wineries have launched remote wine tasting events. These use a combination of virtual wine tasting kits and Internet-based meeting technology such as zoom.
Remote wine tasting kits are similar. Each pack contains wine, collateral material about the winery, and sometimes branded wine glasses or wine openers. Recipe cards so that guests can match the wine with food can be a bonus.
Kassidy Clark, Director of Marketing for Onx Wines in Paso Robles, says that her team wants the remote wine tasting kit to excite the consumer when they receive it in the mail. “The “unboxing” of the kit should be a joyful, and satisfying, event,” she says.
Tips for success include a simulcast on Youtube.
Kat Stark, Director of Experience at Wine.com, has compiled five tips that she believes are the basis for a successful remote wine tasting event. They include wine tasting notes, food and wine pairing suggestions, technical notes from the winemaker or vineyard manager, and tasting mats the consumer can print out.
In terms of the tasting itself, Ms. Stark suggests limiting the remote wine tasting to an hour. She also encourages consumers to purchase wine in advance. Ms. Stark also encourages consumers to ask questions in advance. Finally, she encourages wineries to simulcast the remote wine tasting on YouTube.
Remote Wine Tasting: Final Thoughts
Robert McMillan, Executive Vice President and Founder of the Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division, notes that the pandemic serves as a much-needed wake-up call for USA wineries.
For years now, he has been warning wineries that relying on consumers to stumble into any tasting room, even in the prestigious Napa Valley, is an inappropriate business model. Â Â
Mr. McMillan notes the pandemic has forced wineries to invest in technology that will allow them to market and sell wine online.
Even when the pandemic ends, he predicts it could be some time before tourists will travel comfortably again so that the investments in remote tasting events and online marketing are a positive outcome.
