Oregon Wine Trail New York City Event Recap | May 6, 2019

Oregon Wine Trail

On May 6, the Oregon Wine Trail New York City took over The Altman Building in the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea for a day of Oregon wine tasting and learning. Read more about the Oregon Wine Trail events.

The schedule for the day was:

12 – 1:30pm | Trade Master Class
1 – 4:30pm | Trade/Media walk-around tasting
6:30 – 9pm | Consumer walk-around tasting

Trade Master Class: Mastering Willamette Valley Wines

At a glance:

Sponsored by the Willamette Valley Wineries Association
62 attendees
80% of attendees were restaurant or retail buyers/managers/sommeliers
12 wines, 8 varieties, all 7 Willamette Valley AVAs represented

For the first time, the Willamette Valley Wineries Association sponsored the Oregon Wine Trail master class to prominently feature their region and member wines.

Bree Stock MW, from the Oregon Wine Board, and Chris Tanghe MS lead a multi-faceted presentation and discussion on the AVAs, varieties and business of wine in the Willamette Valley. Bree and Chris shared personal stories of discovery around the region and lead a tasting through a diverse collection of wines, including library wines.

Mastering the Willamette Valley was attended by 62 members of the trade, 80% of the audience were restaurant or retailer buyers from prominent accounts such as Union Square Hospitality Group, Corkbuzz, Tribeca Wine Merchant, Del Friscos, Tavern on the Green and Delmonico’s.

In a follow-up survey, 69.2% of attendees indicated they would recommend the Oregon Wine Master Class to a colleague (31.8% were neutral, there were no detractors) and 100% indicated overall satisfaction with the course. Select survey verbatims include:

“I felt that I gained a level of understanding that I didn’t have before. The printed material was very helpful and great to have.”

“The event was very organized, laid out, excellent wine selections, video presentation, and Google earth and 3-D was exactly what I needed to see. The presenters were eloquent, highly intelligent and informed of the products. I also tasted my first Cabernet Franc from Oregon. I also liked the materials that you handed out. It was an excellent presentation and event. My next wine list will definitely have more selections from Oregon.”

If your AVA group is interested in sponsoring a future Oregon Wine Trail master class, please email Christina DeArment for more information.

View the recording of the class below.

VIP Distributor Reception

At a glance:

13 attendees representing 11 distributors
100% of attendees were decision makers for their business

For the first time, the OWB hosted a small reception before the Oregon Wine Trail trade tasting to meet and greet New York area distributor executives and to showcase Oregon wineries currently seeking distribution in the New York market. Wines were featured in a self-pour format, no producers were present. OWB President, Tom Danowski, presented a 15 minute presentation on the Oregon wine industry.

The OWB offered 20 Oregon winery spots in a first-come-first-served format promoted through the Grapevine newsletter. Wineries without distribution who signed up to participate in the Oregon Wine Trail event were also welcome to participate in the reception. There were a total of 26 wineries featured at the reception.

13 decision makers from 11 distributors attended the reception:

Job Title	Distributor
Partner	Indie Wineries
Chairman of the Board	Verity
Brand Manager	Verity
NY Sales Manager	Regal Wine Imports
Owner	A6 Wine Co.
Manager	Barterhouse
Owner	Barterhouse
Sales Manager – American Portfolio	Skurnik
General Manager	Taub Family
Brand Manager	MS Walker
Vice President of Sales	Aidil Wines
Partner/Buyer	Artisanal Cellars
Manager	Cognac One

Individual follow-ups are being made with the attendees to get their feedback and recommendations for improving this initiative in the future. Overall, the feedback has been very good. While small, it was encouraging to see the high caliber of attendees this reception attracted.

Trade Walk-Around Tasting

At a glance:

280 trade
Breakdown by job category: 30% on-premise, 28% distributor, 16% off-premise, 13% press, 13% other
72.7% of attendees said they are more likely to add Oregon wine to their business’ wine selection after attending Oregon Wine Trail

For the trade and consumer walk-around tastings, the OWB hit the trail with 59 Oregon wineries and our friends at Olympia Provisions, Jacobsen Salt Co., Stumptown Coffee Roasters, the Oregon Cheese Guild and more for a grand happening of Oregonian wine, food and personality. No white table cloths. No orange cheese cubes. Instead, a generous pour of Oregon’s fine wine and pioneering spirit.

To ensure a diverse representation of varieties and regions, the OWB allocated winery registration slots equal to the tonnage production of the following regions: Willamette Valley (including Portland), Southern Oregon and Columbia Gorge. When regional allocations are not met, as in NYC, any unfilled spaces are released on a first-come first-served basis. In NYC, Oregon was represented by 51 Willamette Valley producers, 7 Southern Oregon producers and 1 Columbia Gorge producer.

The tasting received a strong turn-out of 280 members of the trade, with the majority being employees of restaurants, retailers and distributors.

Of the attendees that took the follow-up survey, 79.5% said they would recommend the Oregon Wine Trail walk-around tasting to a colleague (20.5% were neutral, there were no detractors). What’s more, 72.7% of attendees said they are more likely to add Oregon wine to their business’ wine selection after attending Oregon Wine Trail. Select survey verbatims include:

“The venue was great. I loved how the food from Oregon was integrated in the event, salt company, passed hors d’oeuvre selections. All of the winemakers and vineyard owners were so welcoming and informative. Lovely time!”

“It was truly spectacular.”

Attendees really appreciated that many winemakers were present. Sentiments, such as the one below, were echoed in several responses:

“The stands were predominantly staffed by the winemakers themselves or the vineyard owners. [This] Lead to meaningful engagement.”

Consumer Walk-Around Tasting

304 consumers from the New York City area joined us to close out the Oregon Wine Trail program. Of those, 52 completed a post-event survey.

At a glance:

On the Net Promoter Scale of -100 to 100, Oregon Wine Trail received a stunning 72.6. 70 and above is considered “world class” and the highest ranking NPS denotes.
96% of survey respondents indicated their “knowledge of Oregon wine” had increased as a result of attendance
92% indicated they are “more likely” to purchase Oregon wine as a result of attendance
49% have visited an Oregon wine region (and 80% have traveled for wine in the past)

All ticket purchasers were added to the OWB’s consumer database and will continue to receive messaging about Oregon’s industry, tourism opportunities and OWB programming.

Some survey verbatims include:

“Absolutely outstanding!!! I’ve participated in many wine events and this by far is one of the top ones. The location was perfect, it felt classy, plenty of wine options, and most importantly AMAZING wine!! The fact that you can speak to the wine makers/owners just adds that extra touch. Simply AMAZING! A perfect 10 of 10. Would definitely participate again every time they’re back in NYC.”

“It was a fun event, and I learned a lot about Oregon wines from all over the state. The wine producers were friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgable.”

Thank you to all our Oregonian partners

The following producers and artisans helped us bring Oregon’s culinary bounty to life in New York City.

What’s next for Oregon Wine Trail?

Oregon Wine Trail will be visiting two additional markets in the Spring of 2020. As always, news of the dates and markets will break in the Grapevine so stay tuned for more information. If you are not receiving the Grapevine newsletter and want to be notified about events like Oregon Wine Trail as well as all other OWB opportunities, please sign up here.

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