It's hard to get Robert Parker or The Wall St. Journal to review your wine, but what about your customers?
Of course, that can be a little scary - someone might not like your wine! And, good heavens, it might be reviewed by people with little or no idea of how to review a wine (other than, "I like the way it tasted"). But wouldn't you also like to know what people actually say about their experience, and have a chance to engage them in conversation (and, if they're not satisfied customers, at least make an attempt to remedy the situation)?
Do you invite online/offline feedback from your customers? For example, including a little printed piece with every shipment of wine inviting them to taste the wine and add their comments to a page on your Web site (ideally the same page that describes the wine itself)? Now that would be truly out of the ordinary.
Yes, it demands an exceptional product and exceptional service, but isn't that what it's all about for smaller producers? You *want* the total experience of your wine to stand out from the crowd. Does it? Are you willing to hear that it might not?
(Where do I get wacky ideas like this? This article in 1-to-1 Marketing mentioned a new study which shows that customer reviews influence the online sale of books. Full disclosure: customers are more likely to be influenced by a negative review.)
PS - Make sure if you do accept customer reviews that (a) you get notified whenever someone adds a review, and (b) you acknowledge [even if only automatically] each contributor.
PPS - actually, this technique works for the Constellations and Diageos of the world, too, since the distribution chain removes them from direct contact with the customer.
PPPS - A handsome Winery Web Site Report coffee mug to the first person who points me to a winery that actually includes customer-submitted reviews on their product pages, a la Amazon.com book reviews.
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