CAA basketball may be one of the last things that comes to mind
when you’re tasting the latest vintage in a tasting room while
surrounded by the aroma of fermenting barrels, but Fortino Winery
in Gilroy sees it as an opportunity.
CAA basketball may be one of the last things that comes to mind when you’re tasting the latest vintage in a tasting room while surrounded by the aroma of fermenting barrels, but Fortino Winery in Gilroy sees it as an opportunity.
Bringing a little of the excitement of March Madness to the vineyards is just one of many ways people such as Fortino’s Events Coordinator Janine Kaloczy are finding to bring new people through the doors of local wineries.
“I love sports,” Kaloczy said. “It’s just a thing to try and drum up some interest in the men.”
For just a $5 entry fee this weekend, visitors to Fortino are invited to come shoot hoops, eat barbecue and, of course, drink local wines.
“We have a rather large wine club, but it’s also to bring in new business,” she said.
Holding events at wineries isn’t necessarily a new thing. Some local wineries have hosted weddings and wine club events for years. However, never has the business been as important as it is now, as wineries search to get new customers in the door and try to develop them into tomorrow’s connoisseurs. Wineries that haven’t been in the business are also getting in as soon as they can.
“We realize the large amount of people that have needs for weddings and special gatherings, plus our need to throw special events at the winery,” said Deanna Gimelli, co-owner of Pietra Santa, located in Hollister. “We’re getting very close to getting there.”
Pietra Santa has been working for months to get the proper permits to hold winery events, and the local planning commission will be voting on permits for the winery in April.
“We have a lot of plans,” Gimelli said. “Once we get it up and running … look out.”
Among the plans Gimelli hopes to put together for the vineyard is a capacity of 350 to 400 people for special events, including four or five private locations on the property and a wood-fire brick oven.
“It will complete everything we can have at this place,” she said, adding that events at the winery will give more people the opportunity to experience the vineyard’s wines, olive oil and picturesque setting. “To have a special occasion really enhances the experience, and I think that’s our goal.”
That, and of course selling wine, adding new members and wine drinkers.
To get people in the door, the wineries are getting creative. Some wineries, like Clos LaChance in San Martin, bring in chefs for wine-pairing dinners. Others hold theme parties, barrel-tasting or hold boutiques, including Guglielmo Winery in Morgan Hill.
Fortino held its first-ever holiday boutique in November, and it was so popular the winery added a second one in December.
“It brought more than 200 people in,” Kaloczy said.
Besides holding a holiday boutique of its own each fall, Guglielmo winery holds myriad events during the course of the year. One of its most recent additions is the Bottle Your Own Wine events.
The winery held doing bottling events for small groups who would purchase a barrel of wine and bottle it, but Gene Guglielmo said the popularity of the events led them to decide that doing it for larger groups made sense. Guglielmo recently held its third quarterly bottling event, which continue to gather more interest.
“It’s a unique, fun deal when we make our vintage that they can bring their own bottles to fill, or we can sell them bottles,” said Guglielmo, whose family has owned the land across the street from Live Oak High School for three generations.
During the bottling event, food and accordion music help to complete the experience. The winery also holds wine pairing and cheese classes.
“They’re education classes,” he said. “We’re teaching them how to enjoy wine.”
“We said, ‘Why not do this for the public?’ ” Guglielmo said. “You don’t have to buy a barrel, you can buy a single bottle.”
So far, their gamble has paid off.
“The ones who attended the first ones help spread the word,” he said. “They don’t just come back themselves, but they bring a friend or an acquaintance.”
By promoting their local vintages through the wine-tasting and bottling events, Guglielmo said people can see the quality of the wines of the South Valley.
“Having to go to Napa to taste good wine is a falsehood,” he said. “You can spend an entire weekend here and taste some great wines. What we’re trying to do is educate the customers and have fun along the way. The biggest thing is hoping to get people to try your product. From there, they can appreciate it and support it.”
But not all events are sure to be hits; while events coordinators at local wineries have worked to find interesting ways to get people in the door, the events have to be interesting and exciting for customers or they won’t come. Besides the March Madness event at Fortino this weekend, Kaloczy is planning a baseball theme for April to coincide with opening day. But she can only hope the idea resonates with possible visitors.
“They say when you try an event, you have to do it for three years,” she said. “If it doesn’t work, keep trying it.”
While some events are successes and others are not, almost none of them are sure-fire money makers on their own. Instead, the corporate events, quinceañeras, birthday parties, barrel tasting and monthly events that take place at the winery are used to get people to bring return business.
“It’s all about brand recognition,” said Sue Marsh, director of sales at Hollister’s Leal Vineyards, which, like Pietra Santa, is in the final stages of getting permits to public events. “If they see our name on a wine list, they may get it.”
The events also give people a more personal connection with the winery, Marsh added.
“They almost feel like they’re a part of it,” she said. “They can see the faces behind the wines.”
One type of event that is a sure-fire money-maker each year for the wineries is weddings. From May to October, nearly every winery in the Valley will have a wedding on Saturday and Sunday – and even Friday as vineyard weddings continue to grow in popularity.
“We mostly make money on wedding events,” said Fortino’s Kaloczy, who added that the winery can handle up to 250 visitors for a wedding and up to 350 for its outdoor receptions. “That’s really big for us on a yearly basis.”
Guglielmo said the beauty of being surrounded by the summer’s lush vineyards makes booking weddings at a winery a huge business.
“Just go out there, and you will see why,” he said. “Being in a natural surrounding, being so close to Silicon Valley, you’d never expect to see something like this here.”
Guglielmo’s outdoor events area, the winery’s latest addition, holds up to 500 people and includes a stage.
And with wineries like Pietra Santa hoping to get in on the business, there is no shortage of potential customers.
“I feel there is going to be a lot more places offering this kind of service,” Gimelli said. “For us, it will complete what we can offer.”
