Winter Wineland had a record number of tickets sold (5,000-plus) but there weren’t any skirmishes reported with the overly exuberant. Apparently no one was spotted roaming through Wine Country with a beer in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.
Chief organizer Beth Costa of the Wine Road says the prevention of rambunctious behavior could be the result of the organizations’ frank talk on Facebook . “With our exposure on Facebook we have been sending clear messages that the events are for your enjoyment, but no one wants to see a loud group of partiers falling out of a limo with a beer in their hands. That crowd is not welcome. Wineries want to talk about their wines, meet new people, have folks join their wine clubs, and generate some sales during January, which can be a rather slow dismal time of year. This year Winter Wineland seemed to hit that mark.”
The event drew about a thousand more people than it did last year and they streamed in from 49 states, as well as the United Kingdom, Singapore and Brazil. And this year’s event had 124 wineries pouring, up from last year’s 113.
Last year at the Wine Road Barrel Tasting there were an increasing number of complaints from baby boomers about overly zealous Millennials (age 21 to 31) who were allegedly less interested in wine and more interested in the buzz effect of alcohol of all stripes. Costa said every age group was represented at Winter Wineland and “they all seemed to be here for the right reasons … It’s funny that everyone seems to think exposure on Facebook is the younger crowd. We have nearly 3000 fans and the demographic is 65 percent female and overall, 33 percent are 35-44 years old, 27 percent are 45-54 … so by no means, beginning wine drinkers. They are wine savvy. They share their tasting notes online. They want to talk about the wineries they visited, which wines they bought and they are happy to share ‘new discoveries’ with their friends via twitter and Facebook.
Is your take on Winter Wineland the same as Costa’s? Or did you notice any unorthidox behavior at Winter Wineland?
