The current crisis has brought out a lot of good things along with the bad, prompting people to step up and find ways to help others. People have been giving generously, especially to frontline medical health care workers. Food banks are being supported, animals are being fostered, and locals are trying to support their nearby small businesses (restaurants in particular).
After writing about the local Woodinville wine scene for three years, I can guarantee you that nearly all of our wineries are already VERY active in donating and supporting causes that are near and dear to their hearts. Before this crisis came about, most wineries we’ve ever visited have all chosen charities to support, and many do benefit events such as Efeste’s Rockin’ Sips.
Unfortunately, several wineries are reporting to us that requests for free wine bottles for various charity functions (especially “gift baskets”) are majorly up. Most of our wineries are small businesses that already have a thin profit margin – if they even turn a profit (Many wineries are a labor of love or a hobby, not a profit generating enterprise). Many tasting rooms are struggling to stay open, and might not survive these months of lost business.
What I noticed from several summers working at my family’s gift shop in Eastern Washington, was that despite our constant support for the local animal shelter, benefits and gift baskets and donations made, we got near constant walk-in requests for free merchandise. Every single day someone came into the store asking for something free for their charity (usually a charity we’d never even heard of). Hardly ever, we noticed, was the person asking for charity even a customer of ours. How do you ask a small business for free stuff for your charity when you’ve never even shopped there and supported that local small business?!?!
Before you ask a winery for a free bottle or two of wine for your charity, please ask yourself:
- Have you personally purchased wine from this winery in the last six months?
- Have you been into the tasting room in the last year for reasons other than charitable solicitation?
- Are you a wine club member at this winery?
- Have you written the tasting room a positive review on Yelp yet?
- Have you Liked the winery’s Facebook page?
- Has your business Page (if any) Liked the winery’s Facebook page?
- Have you Liked or Commented on the winery’s Facebook page posts in the last 3 months?
- Have you followed the winery’s Instagram, Loved and commented on their photos there?
- Do you read the winery’s blog, and have you signed up for their email newsletter?
- Have you shared the winery’s posts to your own profile in the last 6 months, and recommended them to a friend?
If the answer to most of these questions is “No,” then you don’t support that winery, so why should they support your charity?
Best practices for soliciting wine from a winery you’ve financially supported recently:
Kim, the social media manager for Lord Lion Winery, suggests:
- Offer something of “hard” collateral in trade for the wine bottle, like a prominent listing in the charity’s program booklet
- Offer “shout-outs” on the event’s social media pages
- Take the time to take a selfie while picking up donated wine and tag the winery.
- Remember that wineries get asked for dozens or hundreds of free bottles a week from the community
- Remember that although they LOVE to be supportive of the community there is a high cost to the wineries to donate wine.
- Consider buying 2 bottles and ask for two to be donated, when you provide documentation of your charity
- Try asking 4 wineries for 2 bottles each rather than asking one winery for 8 bottles.
Kim also suggested you ask the winery to include an experience with the donated bottles (a 2 for 1 tasting). This way the people who win the bottles have an opportunity to go visit the tasting room, “not just CHUG down the bottle at home and then forget what they tasted.”
The owner of Vivi Pizzeria, Tanya Fraioli, told us “It’s tough on small business to donate and say yes to everyone.” She shared that they mostly get gift card requests, but the requests are for people who live far away and aren’t likely to frequent the business in the future. When in doubt, she says, “Ask local.”
For bloggers, Jen and I wanted to share our personal philosophy on asking for free wine: We normally don’t. (We’ll occasionally suggest that if a winery wants their wine bottle in a particular photo shoot, like our yearly Woodinville Rose wine industry party, they should think about sending over a bottle). We set out from day one of our blogging adventures to try not to be annoying bloggers. It’s not the wine industry’s job to keep us in wine or keep our blog afloat. It’s our job to buy the wine, pay for the hosting, buy the food, invest in photography equipment, purchase photo props, and to throw the parties we photograph.
Check out this article on why the writer doesn’t give “influencers” freebies. We’re lucky that the local wine industry offers industry and media discounts – it does make it easier for us to help them promote their wines to our audience.
It’s really embarrassing to read this article about influencers asking struggling restaurants for free food for “collaborations” during this difficult time. Let’s not do that.
We’d love to hear more comments from local winemakers on how bottle donation requests should and shouldn’t be handled! Let us know in the comments below.
-Carrie
