Ever hear a salesperson say "It's not my style, but people love it!". My questions is, how do you know? Does the salesperson get their information from indifferent servers in restaurants? Did they follow the consumers home and ask for candid responses on their doorsteps after Desperate Housewives? Is this the type of wine your mom likes? How do you know?
I'll tell you what you think you know:
- You think consumers want simple wines that aren't too complex-You are WRONG. Consumers don't make this assessment, ever.
- You think Consumers want wines that are conceptually easy to understand and pronounce. You are WRONG. Consumers want to understand the wines, yes, but they are more excited when they have learned something solid and can show off their new found understanding. Don't dumb it down, you're lowering the bar.
- Consumers want oaky sweet wines. WRONG- You have tricked them into thinking this is the way to go. Oaky and sweet mask a multitude of flaws, so marketers and sales tools such as yourself have repeated this mantra and created a self fulfilling prophesy. There is a segment that always have and always will stick with a very specific type of wine, don't let that cloud your perception.
- Average Consumers don't "get" the world class European wines-WRONG! Just last week, I hosted a Piemonte consumer tasting with a great Barbararesco and a Moscato d'Asti. Conventional wisdom would dictate that the Moscato would be popular, and the Barbaresco would fall on deaf ears. The reality is the Barbaresco was declared The best wine I've ever had! by at least a dozen people. A high acid, earthy, tannic red from Northern Italy is not exactly lowest common denominator wine, yet, it blew the average consumer away.