Micro-BoutiqueVineyards & Wineries

Marketing Strategies for a growing trend in Virginia’s

Wine Country Experience

Ankida Ridge Vineyard & Winery

Amherst, Virginia

Micro-Boutique Description

• Small, family-run vineyards and small wineries found in increasing numbers around the Commonwealth.

• Wine production is limited, typically well under 1000 cases per year

•Vineyard site often has its own unique micro-climate

• Many are found in the more remote geographic locations

• Usually the owners are hands–on in the vineyard, working by themselves or alongside a small crew

• Typically the family/owners staff the winery and serve their guests and share their winemaking experiences

Defining the Market

Consumer Target• The more discerning, curious wine drinking consumer• Desiring a unique and more personalized Wine

Country experience• Looking for an educational opportunity to learn more

about the grape-growing and wine-making process• Willing to pay nominally higher Tasting Room fees• Often wanting to include overnight stay at nearby

B&B’s

Marketing Considerations for

Micro-Boutique Wineries• Micro-Boutique wineries join together to create their own

marketing tools: eg, A Micro-Boutique website, flyers with maps, Facebook and Twitter sites, thus uniting and sharing costs to create a shared marketing tool, similar to a Wine Trail.

• Connect with area B&B’s for mutual promotion

• Work with their areas’ tourism offices to create regional events

• Exploring the creation of a “Micro-Boutique Wine Club”, consisting of several wineries, offering a variety of hand-crafted wines which will boost exposure of more M-B wineries and offer a greater variety to the consumer.

• Create co-operative Tasting Rooms in more populated locations, near urban settings

Ankida RidgeA Micro-Boutique

Wine Country Experience

• A more intimate, customized Wine Country experience.

• Visits are scheduled by appointment online or by phone.

• Guests’ visits are more than just a tasting, they are a leisurely educational experience, incorporating the farm, the sheep, fruit orchards, etc. while enjoying tasting the wine.

• Visits by small groups last at least two to three hours, includes tour of vineyard (weather permitting) and opportunity to learn about our winemaking techniques, enjoy a wine tasting and relaxing in our tranquil, rural setting away from it all. (cont’d)

• We, as owners, winemaker and vineyardist are interacting with our guests, sharing our knowledge, experience and passion for what we are doing.

• We promote the Buy Local movement, offering locally grown produce in season, artisan crafts, cheeses, breads, etc. in our Tasting Room, along with special events, catered dinners prepared with locally grown and raised food.

• We will begin offering structured, educational series/sessions such as:– “A Season In the Vineyard” where a class, comprised of our guests, will

visit the vineyard at specific times of the year to follow a vine’s progress from bud-break through harvest.

– “Crush Camps” where a limited number of guests can participate in grape processing at harvest and enjoy a post-harvest “La Paulée, the traditional Burdundian harvest dinner and celebration.

Ankida Ridge A Micro-Boutique Vineyard & Winery

Amherst, VA

• Set at 1800 ft on a panoramic, rocky site on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Amherst County, Virginia.

• Producing small lots of hand-crafted wines

• Our winery, under construction, will open this fall

• Our first harvest was in 2010  We grow solely Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, thus are referred to as Virginia’s Little Burgundy.

• We implement environmentally sensitive viticulture practices, encouraging biodiveristy by utilizing our sheep in the vineyard for grazing weeds and have implemented a “nearly organic” program.