Grapefest turned 24 years old this 2010 and has grown into a renowned festival in North America, attracting ever larger crowds.  Grapefest People’s Choice Tasting was created with the intent of showing off Texas wines and making Grapevine the “Wine Capital of Texas.”  It has succeeded, attracting over 250,000 visitors from all over the world, and this year was no exception.

The first thing that hits you upon arrival is the sheer volume of people just waiting to get in.  There are more people in line than many wine festivals have in an entire day.  With thousands of people waiting to buy tickets, you might think you’ll be out here all day, but the efficiency and organization keeps the lines moving fast.

Once you get your ticket, you immediately see Main Street stretched out in front of you.  There are double rows of vendor booths for as far as the eye can see selling everything from food and wine to furniture and roofing materials.  Off of Main Street there are 5 stages with bands playing all day; several event pavilions with cooking demonstrations, wine tastings and more; a Midway Carnival; not to mention all the established Grapevine shops that selling their wares.  Although your senses are bombarded, you are always reminded that the focus of the festival is wine, food and music.  Everything else is a side attraction.

With this kind of exposure and marketing opportunity, small wineries really want, and often times  need, to have their wines at Grapefest.  As a winery, this is an amazing opportunity to have your wine reach a mass of consumers, who are actually there to taste wine.  Grapefest is unlike most wine festivals, in that you do not get your own booth to present your wine.  The booths are set up by categories such as “Texas”, “International”, and “Specialty.”  This year the Specialty category was wines from cities and states of those who are home to Super Bowl champion teams.  The Champagne Terrace, my favorite, even had a bubble machine.  It was a great place to sit down, listen to some jazz and get away from the masses.

Another thing interesting thing about the festival is that all the food and wine is purchased with coupons. There are standard prices (i.e. # of coupons) for a glass of wine.   This forces wineries to choose the wine they will present by price point.  If the standard price for a glass of wine is 12 coupons, which is equivalent to $6, then you wouldn’t want to sell your top of the line $100 bottle of wine at that price.  But that also means you didn’t get to show off your best either.   Also, the taster has to specifically choose the kinds of wines he wants to taste because the pavilions are staffed by people who don’t know anything about the wines themselves.  The pavilions are great for your table wines or “everyday” wines.

If you want to show off some of your great wine, then you will want to participate in the People’s Choice Wine Tasting.  The winery can enter a limited number of wines in the tasting and can choose the categories they would like to present in.  This is done specifically to encourage the winery to enter their best wines and to prevent one winery from flooding the event in all categories.  The taster purchases a separate ticket to attend this event.  The winery has their own representative pouring at the tasting, so they can talk about the winery, their wine, answer questions and reach the consumer, unlike at the wine pavilions where the wine is poured by a volunteer who just collects the coupons.  The People’s Choice Tasting is about showing off your wine to those who really want to find interesting Texas wines.  If you are at Grapefest to make life-long customers, then this is your best bet.

Basically, you need to answer one questions: why are you going to Grapefest?  Are you going to sell wine by the glass?  If so, you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting someone that will drink your wine.  If your goal is to bring in money and sell lots of wine, then presenting in a pavilion is your best bet.  Just know that they probably won’t be come life-long customers, as they may be drinking you wine just to drink a glass of wine.  However, if you are interested in really marketing your wine, creating life-long customers and showing off what you do well, then the People’s Choice Tasting is the way to go.

Let’s say you’ve decided present in the People’s Choice Tasting.  Who are you marketing to?  Who are the people that are paying the extra money to attend this event?  Remember, the demographics of the consumer are significantly different from the winery owner and winemaker.  So don’t think the wine you like best is the one they will enjoy the most.  The wine taster for this event has changed significantly over the years.  Long gone are the days where the average attendee was white, male and over 40!  There is a large percentage of men and women from their 20’s and 30’s of all races.  The trend is changing and there is opportunity if you pay attention to this emerging new market.

What does this younger wine enthusiast want? They are typically there looking to find Texas wines they enjoy and want to purchase.  The ratio of younger people is larger than it’s ever been in the past and is younger than the typical winery tourist.  What we are seeing is that they are expressing more interest in different varietals.  They are drinking a lot of different wines from different grapes with different styles, as evidenced by this year’s winners, with syrahs, tempranillos, and viogniers making a great showing.  They are young, open-minded and more apt to share their findings with friends through social media.

So bring your best game to the People’s Choice Tasting next year.  These young wine lovers could be your next life-long customer.