Last Thursday I participated in the Twitter #SauvBlanc tasting event. The event was a lot of fun, with hundreds of people tweeting thousands of times about the Sauvignon Blanc wines that they were drinking that night. This event had followed up the #CaliCabs event that Rick Bakas from St. Supery Winery had put together a month beforehand, and leads into follow-up events #ttmi (Tweet and Taste Michigan) and #WAMerlot, as well as a Twitter blends event coming up next month. I think these events are a great way for people to get to talking about different types of wines, and I especially love the regionally focused events, but I've started wondering if people are going to start getting burned out on having a major Twitter campaign going at all times for the next tasting event. I think this is especially a question when you have multiple events going at the same time. It appears that Rick Bakas is planning to set up one event per month, at least for the immediate future, and I expect to see an increase in regionally themed events coming up as well, which all makes me wonder whether the kind of traffic that we have seen in the most recent events will be sustainable, or if we will start to see Twitter Taste Fatigue set in.
I think that there will always be room for Twitter tasting events, but I also think that we are likely to see a decrease in participation in these major events, at least if they continue to be held at the frequency that they are now. That's not to say that the events wouldn't be a success if there was a decrease, just that I think one might be coming. Did you participate in the #CaliCabs or #SauvBlanc tastings, and do you plan on participating in #ttmi or #WAMerlot? Do you think that I'm totally wrong about the possibility of burnout with these types of events? Really interested to know what everyone thinks.
Note: I know that the image above is extremely loose in it's relation to the topic of the post, but I found it funny, so I ran with it.
I like the post and it brings up a good point …but the more regional ones bring up the issue about WHO can participate versus too much participation
I definitly intend to participate in Tweet & Taste Michigan tonight at 8pm
I think your question is a valid one, and I think you touched on the solution. If wine consumers are going to open up a bottle or two and share thier comments online via Twitter, there has to be something in it for them. I am not sure that tasting a Sauvignon Blanc from anywhere in the world and then tweeting about it, is engagement on any level. Nor is there much value to the consumer.
Only if the winemaker is available to answer questions and “teach” about the wines that are tasted, is there value to the average consumer.
In order to do this, I believe the events need to be more narrowly focused (either by winery or wine region.) This, of course, leads to less participants, but hopefully more value to those that choose to participate.
I am definitely the wrong person to weigh in on this. But, here is a look from the other corner. I stay clear of Twitter tastings. For me, it is like night skiing or ice fishing. I prefer tasting under certain social, environmental, and aesthetic conditions that can’t be replicated online with lots of anonymous tasters whose palates I don’t know sharing tasting impressions. I might be missing out, and know loads of folks enjoy this engagement and tasting experience, but its just one activity I left on the wine cutting room floor.
I think it all depends on how the approach is done. Each event will reach a different audience. I know with #TTMI (@MichbytheBottle) is really focused on getting exposure to the Michigan wine scene. His efforts are going WAY beyond Twitter and getting local media coverage. THIS is success beyond tweet count or participant count.
Personally for #WAMerlot, I would love a larger tweet count than #SauvBlanc, but realistically, the success lies beyond the numbers into an increased buzz about Washington Wine and Merlot in general. Right now we have 50 wineries hosting tasting room events (we hope to reach 70). These numbers account for 10% of all state wineries joining in an event that was birthed on Twitter and 100% promoted through collaborative social media efforts. While the core wine group on Twitter may glass over some of these events, I think there is still a lot more broad appeal to be gained.
Great insightful post, Ben!
Josh
Fieryonetoo, thanks a lot for the comment. I think that there is definitely a limit to the participation that you can get nationally for some of the regional events, but I think that some organization can still provide a lot of benefit for these events.
Shannon, I think that you are exactly right, and I think that #ttmi is a perfect example of how cool the regionally themed events can be. They give a lot of exposure for regions who might not normally get the publicity. Your point about engagement is spot on too. That’s what we all talk about with Twitter, and if that piece is missing it just ends up being chaos. I’ll be watching #ttmi, even though I can’t participate.
Adam, I can definitely appreciate your perspective on this, and can understand where you are coming from. All of your concerns make sense to me. I definitely would prefer to do tasting in a real world environment as well. I had fun at the SauvBlanc event, but I would have preferred to be somewhere with some real folks.
Josh, you also make good points. I only briefly alluded to the fact that I think that the sheer numbers involved are not the only metric for success in these events. My opinion is that there is more potential for real success in events like ttmi and WAMerlot than a broader event, like the SauvBlanc event. These events are about increasing knowledge of a specific market, and I think that you can make a lot of headway without having the volume that we saw in the SauvBlanc tasting. BTW, I am looking forward to #WAMerlot. I’ll wait to get burned out until after that one.
A burnout is as inevitable as a resurgence. With that being said, I think we’re quite far from an initial burnout. I’ve spoken to many people in the industry, from winery owners to winemakers to wine shop employees to tasting room staff to customers. While some still aren’t on Twitter, these tastings are what are making them consider it. As long as it remains new to a large audience, a burnout won’t be possible.
Hi Allison, thanks for the comment. I think that there will always be new people who are interested in these events, but I do think that Shannon’s point from earlier might hit on what I’m thinking. I think that people are going to get burned out on the super general variety ‘x’ Twitter tastings.
Where the real value seems to be is in more targeted tastings that can provide the value of learning about a specific region or winery. Shannon’s point about having the winemaker available to engage with the tasters is a great one.
I’ve participated in two Taste Live events and I had fun. However, I think the reason why I had so much fun was because I was with some cool people while tweeting. I’ll always pick live tastings and events over virtual ones, but that’s not to say virtual ones aren’t fun. They are. It’s just that sometimes they just aren’t quite as fun as being with friends.
Nice post. To answer its title: Yes.
For me it’s all about The Mix.
What I enjoy about Twitter is the diversity of the Tweets. And not just in terms of the different voices, but also the content. When the tasting events are happening, I log off. Although the voices are still unique, it’s too much of the same type of information for my taste.
Interesting take Sacha. I was thinking mostly of whether people who participate in the events would get burned out, but you raise a good point. There’s no doubt that the events create a ton of white noise for those not participating. It does end up just being a bunch of people shouting about the same thing for two or three hours.
I can feel you on the homogeneous nature of the tweets. You can only stand to read so many people saying that they smell grass, grapefruit and cat pee in their wine.
Oh, and Amanda, I think I may have to try to put together a tweet-up for the next one of these that I do. You are right about it being more fun to drink with people who are actually with you physically. It would really increase the enjoyability factor of the event.
I really appreciated this post and also @nectarwine round up. The #SauvBlanc twitter tasting was the first one that I had participated in and really enjoyed it. Naturally being such an important varietal to NZ and http://www.lovewine.co.nz being focused on loving NZ wine, I was in. I did try and encourage as many NZ wineries as possible to engage for the reasons mentioned above.
I believe they can share something special or unique regarding the wine that transcends what is going on in the glass. I agree that more interaction from wineries/winemakers would add something special to the proceedings. Unfortunately many of the winery tweeters are the marketers rather than the winemakers but that is across the globe would imagine? The NZ wineries that did take part were passionate about their wine and engaged as best they could in 140 characters, so that was fab to see.
What I really did love was the celebration of wine that is part of a live tasting format. I think anything that puts the fun and experience of sharing and getting engaged with learning about wine is a great thing and passion is infectious and I think that the vibes that came across during the tasting were a positive thing as part of remembering that wine when all else is stripped away is about the experience. Maybe I’m a bit stupid like that, but that to me is and always has been its secret sauce.
I agree and I am wary of regional organisations or wineries etc that will hop on this bandwagon more as a marketing campaign and we will have twitter tastings all over the place in numerous quantities across various varietals and will turn people off, that can happen for sure, but hope that whatever happens we all keep sharing the love of wine. It’s what it’s all about!
That’s my two cents for what it’s worth and thanks for the interesting and thought provoking discussion.
The Sauvignon Blanc Tasting was a chaos. I have participated in different, much more useful twitter wine tastings.
http://www.schiller-wine.blogspot.com/2010/03/twitter-wine-tastings-different-models.html
LovewineNZ, thanks a lot for your comment. I did have some interaction with some great people from NZ during the #SauvBlanc event, including some wineries. I just wonder if the even would have been more productive if it had been JUST NZ Sauv Blanc, and had been more focused.
Christian, I felt the same way about the #SauvBlanc event. It felt chaotic. It mostly seemed like a bunch of people talking AT each other, instead of TO each other. Not as interactive as I would have liked. Your post has a great summary of some different styles of Twitter tastings, and I think that you are right that there are more productive ways to do them. Thanks for the comments.
I still see a huge potential in these Twitter tastings. But what I loved most about the #SauvBlanc event is that the whole world was invited. For me it was a great chance to actually see how many people would join in and be part of such an event. Yes, a lot of noise, chaos etc… But if it would be a global event covering 24 hrs it would be even more fun. For me personally I love it, when a wine related subject turns out to be a trending topic.
And now back to the initial Question… Yes eventually.
I got a similar impression from the #SauvBlanc tasting. I didn’t have much time to jump in, and there was so much flying by (up to 30 tweets per minute) that I just posted my wine and jumped right back out. I couldn’t get a handle on any conversations, and it was basically impossible to tell which wines people were talking about and if they were interacting at all.
I agree. Smaller events, maybe organized off of Twitter or addressing specific regions or wineries would be much more beneficial to participants than the 500 participant free-for-alls. The winners in those seem to be just whoever sold the wine.
Patrick, I agree that the coolest feature of the event was the global participation. I thought that it was awesome that there were people from NZ and Germany that I got to talk with during the event. That was easily my favorite part of the whole evening.