Let’s all agree, for starters, that it takes a brass set of balls to allow consumers to post reviews of your wine
on your website. Imagine Amazon-style commentary, but on your own wines. It’s a dangerous proposition because, after all, they could rant, and you’re leaving yourself open to that sort of griping. So not only must you have unshaken faith in your juice, but you must also have a pretty heavy dose of faith in your audience not to pounce on you. It’s a gamble that doesn’t come without risks, but Dry Creek Vineyard is now allowing customers to submit reviews on the winery’s website, and for that alone they get my Brass Set Award.
Here is a winery that is taking advantage of cyberspace (or at least beginning to) the way it should. Do you leave yourself open to the uninformed dolt? Yes. Do you leave yourself vulnerable to the scheming competition? Definitely. Should you do it anyway? Absolutely. Moves like this are crucial if we’re going to get people talking about wine in a way that involves something other than a magazine review and a shelf talker. It’s about getting people to communicate with a boatload of their peers about their buying decisions. It’s about DIALOGUE. Other wineries need to be putting their cards on the table, too, but for the most part, the industry is still busy paying thousands upon thousands of dollars for full-page ads in the glossies and clutching to their pair of jacks for dear life because they don’t have the cojones to raise the stakes. Then they pray and pray and pray that they get the glossy reviews they need to keep them in the black. Know what? Pray into one hand and shit into the other, and see which one fills up faster.
