Market Development: Vermont Wine

From 2017 - 2020, the Vermont Fresh Network, in collaboration with the  Vermont Grape & Wine Council as part of a Vermont Agency of Agriculture food and markets Specialty Crop Grant, worked to build the restaurant market for Vermont wines. We produced a report on primary perceived barriers to selling to this market, held webinars on marketing & sales topics, brought Cornell winery consultants to Vermont to demonstrate systems of peer-based wine evaluation and quality management, built tasting and evaluation panels with Vermont restaurant buyers to offer feedback and insight into how their buying decisions are made, and organized the first Vermont wine week to highlight VT wines at VFN restaurants during the last week of March 2018.

The first phase of the project had the following components: baseline research into the current perceived barriers and opportunities, webinars and written materials that begin to address information gaps, a training in how to organize successful peer-to-peer sensory evaluation systems, trade tastings with Vermont wine buyers and distributors, and restaurant staff field trips to local vineyards.

Vermont winegrowers are a pioneering group making expressive wines. VFN has been working with them to tell their stories and help get more Vermont wine on the table. To that end, our focus has been on educating and creating Vermont wine ambassadors, reaching both industry staff and consumers.

As part of the project, we published the following materials to help with marketing Vermont wine:

• Vermont Wine Grapes

A reference card of common Vermont grown grapes and their characteristics

• Vermont Wine Coasters

A fun experiment in encouraging restaurant bar patrons to order Vermont wines by the glass

• Tasting Vermont Wine

A more detailed article on the ways to describe the flavor of Vermont wine

The second grant for work in 2019-2020 funded training sessions for restaurant & bar staff on presenting Vermont wine, development of wine related tourism materials, and restaurant wine tastings that build off of lessons learned in the 2018 Vermont Wine Week.

• 7 tastings & a Autumn restaurant dinner series with the winemaker featuring VT wine
• 3 workshops/trainings for restaurant and bar staff (see description below)
• Winery tours for industry education
• 4 wineries incorporated into Lake Champlain Tasting Trail
• 4 digital articles featuring VT wineries to educate readers

Industry-only Wine & Food Pairing workshop at Hotel Vermont with executive chef, Doug Paine, and food and beverage manager, Matt Canning. They  lead a seminar on the basics of pairing food and wine in a Vermont context. Join fellow restaurant professionals to learn what to look for in a dish to match a wine, congruent vs contrasting pairings, flavor matches vs flavor clashes, and more - all with a VT twist. Featured wineries: Fable Farm, Iapetus, La Garagista. . Read the Seven Days' Bite Club article.

Based on participant feedback, our workshop topics included a general VT Wine 101, Food & Wine Pairings, and a storytelling VT Wine Panel Discussion with 4 winemakers. The following are comments by VFN members and workshop attendees:

"I would pay way more than what I paid for this workshop to do something like this every month; this was great!"

"This was so wonderful and informative. Everyone who sells VT wine should attend."

"My take-away: the story of VT wine is one of relationships and patience."

"More and more of our wedding clients are requesting Vermont wine and we would like to educate ourselves to best serve them."

"We would like to expand our Vermont wine selection."

For more information about Vermont Wine

• The Vermont Wine Scene: More and more, we are becoming known as a wine region producing interesting and unique products.
• Local Summer Wine Recommendations: Whether you are grilling, at a picnic, camping, relaxing on the porch, or canoeing, our local wineries have you covered.
• Tasting Vermont Wine: Vermont grows unfamiliar grape varieties, so when a diner in a restaurant says they'd like a Merlot or Chardonnay, they're asking for something that isn't grown in Vermont.
• Experience Vermont Wine on the Lake Champlain Tasting Trail: The locally produced wines made from grapes grown along the Lake Champlain Tasting Trail have their very own terroir.