Reading Room
AP Article - Merryvale Marketing to Gay Consumers is Sales Strategy & Social Statement
MICHELLE LOCKE Associated Press
Photo by Eric Risberg (AP): Felipe Barragan (left) and Jesse Garza sample wines in the tasting room at Merryvale Vineyards in St. Helena, Calif. Both men are gay and often visit the winery, which runs a number of ads in gay publications.
ST. HELENA, Calif. - They were a small Napa Valley winery with a well-regarded product but a slim advertising budget. So, Merryvale Vineyards decided to try something different - reach out to gay consumers.
Strategically, that makes sense. Going after the "pink dollars" of gay and lesbian consumers could help producers chase away the doldrums of a world wine glut, marketing experts say.
Still, there are some caveats: Rule No. 1, there's no such thing as "gay" wine. Rule No. 2, if you're going to market to a particular demographic, you'd better not be pushing plonk.
"First and foremost, you've got to make good wine," says Felipe A. Barragan, co-owner of the Chateau de Vie bed and breakfast in Calistoga and a Merryvale customer.
Historically, wine companies - unlike the beer and spirits industries - have aimed most of their advertising dollars at the mainstream, and that hasn't changed. Still, over the past five years or so there has been a small but persistent trend of marketing wine to gays, a development that is taking on new significance with the sales pressures of the glut, a slow economy and attractively priced imports.
"The challenge right now for wine companies is there are so many brands that it's not good enough that they simply be just another label on the shelf. They want to find a situation where they can have the almost undivided attention of the consumer," says Paul Wagner, owner of the Napa-based Balzac Communications & Marketing.
Marketing to the gay community can be successful; Wagner says research has shown gays and lesbians - estimated to have billions in buying power - are likely to buy from companies that support their community.
Still, a producer won't get far if they're perceived to be pandering. No one likes to be talked down to.
"People here are not into gimmicks. They know what quality wine is," says Ken McDonald co-owner of Friendly Spirits in San Francisco's predominantly gay Castro district.
Successful selling to a niche community means getting to know its members, supporting their causes and researching their tastes. Just slapping "gay friendly" on company literature won't do it.
"There's definitely those businesses that get that there's a lot of money out there to be had, but they're not doing the homework that Merryvale has," says Barragan.
Merryvale's decision to reach out to gay consumers, made at the instigation of proprietor Jack W. Schlatter and President Peter K. Huwiler, is part sales strategy, part social statement. "It's not just a marketing thing, it's also a community outreach," says marketing director Jean DeLuca.
Merryvale began about a year ago by contacting the gay community and supporting various causes with fund-raisers and other events, including some gay-themed celebrations in the winery's historic cask room.
For their advertising campaign, they took their mainstream ads and tweaked the copy a bit - an ad showing a tableful of candlelit diners was framed by the slogan, Celebrate. Come out to Merryvale.
"We want to get across that we get it," says DeLuca.
One outfit taking a no-holds-barred approach to marketing is the gay owned Rainbow Ridge Wines, a small winery launched in March 2003 with a wine made from Alicante Bouschet, a red wine grape.
Co-owner Dennis Costa says he and partner Tom Beatty picked the relatively obscure grape because "we wanted to go after something that's a little different, just like we are."
Rainbow Ridge's Alicante Bouschet, which got a 91 rating from Wine Enthusiast this summer is "fruit forward with a fabulous finish - and we mean it," Costa says with a chuckle.
Still, he adds, Rainbow Ridge, which recently brought out a chardonnay, is just as interested in selling to straight drinkers.
"People say, 'Oh, gay wine.' And we go, 'No. It's just a good wine made by a gay owned company,'" Costa says.
Judging the success of going after the gay market can be difficult, since money knows no orientation.
Still, wineries say they see results. At Clos De Bois, marketing director Ruth Souroujon says she's received hundreds of positive e-mails in response to a winery ad running in gay publications that shows a field of vines being irrigated, with the rising mist creating the effect of a rainbow, a symbol of gay pride. A low-key message at the bottom of the picture notes the company's support for the NAMES Project and AIDS Memorial Quilt.
The feedback also is positive at Merryvale, where same-sex couples have joined the wine club. Occasionally, DeLuca is asked if she worries about a backlash.
"I don't know what there is to worry about," she says. "We're not saying that we're gay, we're not saying that the owner's gay or the president's gay. We're saying that we're gay welcoming and anyone who's uncomfortable with that - OK, fine."
"Throughout history, the spirit of community has thrived on good food and wine and friendship," says DeLuca. "We want to include the gay community in the Napa Valley celebration."
This article appeared in December 2003 in dozens of major newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle, Miami Herald, San Jose Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, New York Post and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Updated: Monday, January 28, 2008
