Portuguese Wines the next big thing?

Although most Portuguese wine makers are too busy making wine, to really care what’s happening online, latest news from at least one wine expert is, “it’s a great time to be a Portuguese wine maker”.

When the most influential voice in the wine industry says, “Portuguese wines are the next big thing”, maybe we should at least take notice. Maybe, just maybe, he hasn’t had to many glasses and he knows what he’s talking about.

Arguably, no one knows the “wine 2.0″ industry better than Gary Vaynerchuk – of “Wine Library”, with his gritty charm, and the power of social media, like twitter and video blogging, to successfully turn the families 4 million wine shop, into a 50 million a year business, in less than 3 years. Appearances on popular talk shows, plus invitations to speak at Google, Facebook and Internet Stardom, Gary Vaynerchuk seems to just be getting started.

Impressed by Portuguese wine quality and value, Gary has not been shy about touting our wines and loudly pronouncing “Portuguese wines are going to be big!” His reasoning – great quality and great value, or as he likes to call it “the thunder” – a bottle that costs $10, but really tastes like $50.

If he’s right, and he knows wines, the BIG question is “when”. So, when will Portuguese wines break into new markets? Well, at the moment one key challenge is lack of visibility and branding. Unfortunately, only a handful of Portuguese wine makers are currently using new marketing strategies, or the power of the web to build a competitive and effective web strategies and brands.

But things are changing – thanks to the likes of Ryan and Gaberiella Opaz from Catavino. This dynamic duo are certainly creating buzz in the Spanish and Portuguese wine scene, with their know-how of social media tools like blogging, twitter and social wine discovery sites, and slowly re-humanizing the world of “wine snob” into something more digestible.

Eddie and I finally got to meet the Opaz’s and excited to hear their efforts are starting to pay off with wine makers.

So this looks like a good opportunity to share a few ideas on how Portuguese Wine Producers can work towards bringing more attention to the country:

1 Producer Collaboration
The good news isn’t about ONE Portuguese wine but about the collective. And since all Portuguese wines are lacking visibility , collaboration and pulling of resources could help wine makers learn from each other, provide support and help bring exposure to Portuguese wine as a whole.

2 Moving beyond Flash
Flash websites certainly are interactive and nice to look at, but they do little for online visibility. They lack good usability and are hardly search engine friendly. Wine makers looking for an online presence would get more mileage from their investments with a site that is user & search engine friendly and supports the businesses objectives rather than focus just on esthetics.

3 Getting Social
Blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Adegga – Social tools like these are great communication channels that help connect wine makers, drinkers, bloggers, distributors, media, and the wine curious from around the globe.

This stuff really works – just head over to Craig Camp’s blog and listen to what he has to say about the success blogging is having on Capozzi Winery.

4 Go to non-wine conferences
Wine conferences are good but in a social world, you need to be where your customers are most likely going to be – such as tech, food, art, music and social media conferences. The curious and socially connected, attend conferences, network, create, share and consume info like never before. And in most cases, these are the folks that are most curious about wine and can help you build valuable connections.

5 Invest in your Brand
A good brand is remarkable, memorable, transparent and effortless for your customers, to talk about. Investing in developing a professional brand, logo, labeling and telling the story, are prime ingredients for establishing a name in the industry. More about branding and tips for selling wine.

What do you think could help the Portuguese wine industry get the exposure they deserve?

Comments

• {About}

  This is the blog of Chama Inc. - a strategic management & communications consultancy. Here we share our ideas, stories, inspirations, opinions, and on occasion some rants and raves.



{subscribe}

subscribe to our feed

• {Recently Written}

  • Changing the way we look at genius…
  • Two Things You Can do Today, To Improve Your Business
  • Change.gov: The Future Of Government?
  • SHiFT Conference in Lisbon
  • New Microsoft Commercials
  • A Business Who Uses Creativity to Make a Difference
  • Joint Eco-Venture: 3EcoBees
  • Your User’s Experience. Who’s Watching?
  • The Dynamics and Intelligence of Creativity
  • Why I’ll never read another business book …

• {Categories}

  • Branding
  • Chama HQ
  • Creativity
  • Enviornment
  • Green Marketing
  • Packaging
  • Portuguese Business
  • Reading
  • Small Businesses
  • Social Media
  • Social Responsibility
  • Usability
  • Website Design
  • Wine Marketing

• {Archives}

  • February 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007

• {Blogroll}

•