Wine industry convention draws hundreds to Rochester(1)
In a soft economy, wine remains popular but consumers are looking for better value.
They like buying local to support local industry, and they are sharing their opinions about different wines more than ever through online social networking sites.
Those were some of the national trends shared by Danny Brager of the Nielsen Co. at Wednesday's kickoff of Viticulture 2010 & 39th Annual New York Wine Industry Workshop at the Riverside Convention Center.
About 500 growers, winery operators, juice producers and researchers, most from New York, are registered for the three-day conference, which covers an array of topics including climate change, disease management, artisan distilling, regional branding and wine sales in grocery stores. The viticulture conference takes place every three years.
Though French wines dominate the buzz on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, New York state wines rank comfortably in the middle, and most of that buzz is neutral or positive, said Brager.
While this kind of national survey data may apply to larger operations, it really doesn't mean much to Mark Karasz, owner of Rock Stream Vineyards on Seneca Lake, which produces between 2,000 and 3,000 cases a year.
"I did away with our Facebook page. We only got friends requests from other wineries," said Karasz, who added that the bulk of his customers are in the baby boomer demographic and respond best to e-mail, and, more importantly, face-to-face communication at the winery.
Riesling was the second session topic at the conference.
A survey by the International Riesling Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the country's fastest growing varietal, found that consumers too often associated Riesling as a sweet wine.
Yet the grape yields a much more versatile flavor profile, depending on where it is grown and how it is made into wine, said Dan Berger, a California wine writer and Riesling foundation vice president.
To remedy the situation, the foundation has created a taste profile for Riesling.
The bottle labeling scale, which will appear on 1 million cases sold in the United States this year, helps consumers identify how dry or sweet a particular Riesling is.
