Be a Featured Winery on WineryHunt Sonoma
Promote your winery and tasting room to our Members
View Program DetailsStep 1: Watch for Invitation
All WineryHunt Sonoma wineries are selected by invitation only. Invitations are sent in the summer/fall 2019.
Step 3: Provide Photos & Text Content
Send us a few high-resolution images and basic story content using our online form.
Fill Out The Form
WineryHunt is designed to boost tasting room traffic and sales
WineryHunt is a membership program that incentivizes wine-lovers to travel to tasting rooms in 12 diverse regions of Sonoma County.
12 Featured Wine Regions
From Alexander Valley to Carneros, Petaluma Gap to Russian River Valley, we are featuring 12 different Sonoma wine regions in 2020 (one per month)
3 to 4 Featured Wineries Per Region
Featured wineries agree to provide club members with waived tastings and a 10% discount on purchases during the month your region is featured. There is no other cost to participate as a featured winery.
350 Club Members
Membership is limited to 300 Sonoma wine super-fans. Members learn about WineryHunt through social media, word of mouth, and the existing WineryHunt Oregon and Washington programs. The 2020 cost to be a member is $75.
One Month To Visit Your Winery
Members can only enjoy waived wine tastings at featured wineries within that month's featured region. This short time span and fear of missing out leads to excellent turnout. Members display a WineryHunt Club card when they arrive at wineries to prove membership.
Three Things That Make WineryHunt Different
Yes, many wine regions already have a "passport" or similar program. WineryHunt is different for the following reasons:
Members receive a high-quality metal membership card to display at wineries. Pictured is the WineryHunt Oregon card currently in use.
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Programmed Wine Tasting
Members love WineryHunt because it provides regular programming of where to go wine tasting next. Consumers are overwhelmed by the vast number of wineries, and WineryHunt provides a guided, easy-to-follow tasting plan for 12 different Sonoma wine regions. Through print materials, social media, our website and a bimonthly email, consumers are introduced to the story of each region (usually an AVA) and Featured Winery. No other program offers this much promotion and storytelling for each participating winery.
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Limited Time To Visit
Members can only enjoy waived tastings at your winery during your region's featured month. This short time span and the fear of missing out is unique to WineryHunt and an excellent catalyst in promoting consumer turnout. The limited number of wineries featured per region further ensures members will give you a visit.
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Countywide Focus
The goal of WineryHunt is to incentivize consumers to travel to more distant, varied tasting regions. Rather than focusing on one specific AVA, we move between twelve different Sonoma regions throughout 2020. Each region includes a landing page on the website with details on that area's featured wineries and trip-planning resources. At the end of the year, consumers are much more knowledgable about Sonoma County's wide spectrum of winegrowing regions and varietals.
Regions That Will Be Featured in 2020
Each region has three or four featured wineries where members are encouraged to visit in the featured month.
Rethinking Tasting Fees & Discounts
We get it --- your winery doesn't usually offer discounts. With the way we are structured, you may want to reconsider this policy for WineryHunt:
Tasting Fees are a Tool
No winery should rely on tasting fees as a core source of revenue --- this comes from growing your wine club and selling wine. But you won't grow your wine club or sell wine unless customers come to your winery in the first place! WineryHunt uses waived tastings to incentivize members to travel to your winery, and the 10% discount provides the extra incentive to purchase. Then you can sell them on the wine club with an even better benefit structure!
Short-Term Discounts Don't Harm Reputation
Because your winery is only featured for one month and all promotion is directed to our member base, you don't need to be concerned about publicly tarnishing your brand image via the waived tasting fees. This isn't permanent, and it has no bearing on the success or quality of your winery.
WineryHunt Members are Serious Buyers
We require a high buy-in to be a member ($125) to ensure the members are serious wine buyers. Furthermore, WineryHunt is marketed as a high-end winery discovery platform, not as a discount program for budget consumers. We ultimately are only successful if our members purchase your wines and join your clubs, so we are intent on growing a group of high-quality Sonoma wine lovers and buyers.
The Data Backs It Up
In Oregon and Washington, featured wineries report an average 75% of visiting members purchased at least one bottle of wine and/or joined the wine club. 95% of wineries say they would gladly be a featured winery again!
What Featured Wineries Say
The program was a HUGE SUCCESS!! We saw 220 WineryHunt members in our featured month and had a conversion rate of over 75%. We love what you're doing and you're marketing this to the audience we want to drive to our space!
-Bookwalter Winery, Washington
We had a very positive experience being a featured winery for WineryHunt WA in January and would absolutely consider being a featured winery again in the future.
-JM Cellars, Washington
-Isenhower Winery, Washington
My numbers show around 80 members came, over half purchased at least 1 bottle and 8 joined our club which is super exciting to us! We would love to do it again next year.
-Patton Valley Vineyards, Oregon
It was a wonderful experience with Winery Hunt. We felt that the customers that came to us through the program were quality guests and many were visiting us for the first time.
-Kramer Vineyards, Oregon
What Consumers Say
We are VERY much enjoying WineryHunt. We have lived in the city for years and never really enjoyed wine country. This has pushed us to do it and we are thrilled!
-Jamie, WineryHunt Oregon Member
This is such a fun experience. I’m so glad my friends and I joined. This is the once-a-month event we all love.
-Dawn, WineryHunt Oregon Member
It's great in that I'm getting introduced to tasting rooms and vineyards I've never been. I really look forward to my monthly adventure!
-Cara, WineryHunt Washington Member
Love it! We have never wine tasted in most of these featured regions before, so it is fun trying new places.
-Jennifer, WineryHunt Washington Member
My friends and I joined the club not knowing what to expect. We are thrilled so far. Finding some places and wines we never even knew existed. Can't wait for next month!
-Cher, WineryHunt Oregon Member
Frequently Asked Questions
What do wineries pay to participate?
There is no cost to be a featured winery, as your "payment" is via the waived wine tastings (up to 350 in a one-month period) and 10% discount on bottle sales to WineryHunt members during your featured month. Think of WineryHunt as a marketing platform paid for by the consumers themselves. How much would you spend out-of-pocket on traditional advertising or PR to get a similar infusion of high-value buyers?
How do you select Featured Wineries?
We are currently sending invitations to wineries with solid reputations in the 12 featured Sonoma regions. We are intent on selecting wineries of high caliber who will introduce our members to excellent wines and experiences. Final decisions on each region's featured wineries will occur by early fall 2019.
How much is a membership for consumers?
The 2020 membership cost is $75 per member, available beginning November 15.
How will I know who is a WineryHunt member?
All members will be provided a black metal membership card that is impossible to forge. Members will display this card to your tasting room staff when they visit. Your winery will also be provided a list of all club members in case someone claims they forgot or lost their card.
How do you ensure high-quality members?
We want our members to purchase wine and join wine clubs when they visit you, but can't force that to happen. However, we do take measures to cultivate high-quality members over time. We ask wineries to keep track of which members didn't purchase wine or join a club. If certain members consistently don't purchase at our featured wineries, they will be prevented from joining in future years.
WineryHunt is run by Vinbound Marketing
Vinbound Marketing began in 2014 as a website development and digital marketing agency for wineries, and in the last five years we've worked with hundreds of wineries throughout North America. Our clients often ask for creative strategies to build tasting room traffic and wine clubs. While you can refine your social media campaigns, SEO, advertising and website design, it often takes more incentive to get consumers in the door the first time around. WineryHunt Oregon launched in 2018 as an answer to this problem--- a membership program that incentivizes visits to high-caliber wineries via limited-time incentives and programmed tasting plans. WineryHunt has been very well received, with wineries reporting excellent turnout and strong sales, and customers thrilled to be guided through Wine Country. The program expanded to Washington in 2019 and Sonoma in 2020.
Ultimately, WineryHunt incentivizes and inspires wine tasters to venture further in the hunt for their next favorite winery. We are intent on featuring only the best tasting rooms in each region to provide our members with a curated, trusted source to discover new wineries. We are also intent on ensuring our members are high-quality consumers who are passionate about exploring wine country and eager to buy wine and join wine clubs. I hope we can count your tasting room among our list of 2020 Featured Wineries!
Cheers,
Brian Richardson
Founder, Vinbound Marketing
Contact Me
Brian Richardson, WineryHunt Founder
Confirm your participation as a Featured Winery
Step 1: Send us an email at brian@vinboundmarketing.com or info@wineryhuntsonoma.com letting us know that you agree to be a featured winery during the proposed month.
Step 2: When you have 10 minutes, fill out this form to provide us with some basic story content and three high-resolution images
Step 3: We will confirm your featured month soon. We will then send over a list of all members and program reminders a couple weeks before your featured month. You can print out the member list and keep handy in the tasting room for your staff.