Monday, January 24, 2011

Report from the Road: Michael Honig & Taste Napa Valley NY

I arrived in New York yesterday after a few very cold days in Toronto. As I started to relax in the cab from the airport to the hotel, the video screen started and there was an ad promoting the fact the Napa Vintners Vintners were in the Big Apple. Talk about a captive audience! In every city cab with a TV screen, thousands of New Yorkers were hearing about Napa and the fact that we are in town and ready to rumble.

When I arrived at the trade tasting at an hour early, there were already buyers clamoring to get in. Stacey and Linda of the NVV were trying to hold them off until all the vintners arrived, but there were a few tense moments :-) Once the doors swung open, the room filled up and everyone was happy. I saw many top buyers from New York, but New Jersey and Connecticut were also well represented. There were also many press people and the Wine Spectator was filming segments for their website. The three hours were a blur and the time flew by so fast that I was never able to try any other wines or even get a bathroom break!

Last night about twenty vintners did a tasting with our partner Lexus. It was a well attended event that Lexus had marketed to their car buyers. This is a great demographic and I noticed that many of the guests were in their late twenties to early thirties, which is the perfect target audience for our wines. Today I am off to do a focus tasting on Premiere Napa Valley wines at Per Se and then a late night tasting at Landmarc.

Should be another great day showing New Yorkers why Napa rocks!!

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