Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/467731
1 0 0 V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T | M a r - A p r 2 015 w w w. v w m m e d i a . c o m wine. But when it's very busy, (the agent) may skip that extra step. So it's hard to determine how many wine boxes have been checked for free versus other baggage-fee waivers that occur as customer ser- vice gestures." GETTING UPGRADED With or without firm figures, the "Wine Flies Free" promotion has attracted the interest of many other western wine regions. The first to approach Alaska about expanding the program was the Walla Walla Valley appellation in Washington and Oregon. D u a n e Wo l l m u t h , e x e c u t i v e director of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance, actually envisioned a program to market all of eastern Washington state. Dubbed "Taste and Tote," it echoes the Sonoma County initiative by offering each outbound passenger the oppor- tunity to check a case of wine for free. Additionally, it includes tasting room fee waivers at participating wineries for inbound passengers who show their boarding pass with- in 10 days of arrival. Finally, Hertz Rent-a-Car joined the promotion by waiving the vehi- cle drop-off fee ($75) for one-way rentals among eastern Washing- ton's three wine country airports (Walla Walla, Pasco/Tri-Cities and Yakima). "We launched in December 2011," said Wollmuth, "and it's been wildly successful. Alaska doesn't track specific numbers, but the most recent estimate from Walla Walla airport staff is that 100 to 150 cases are being checked each month. It represents some- thing like $300,000 to $500,000 worth of wine over a year. So the benefit is clear." Marty Clubb, owner and man- aging winemaker at L'Ecole No 41 winery in Walla Walla, agreed that the program is working. "We ref- erence this promotion with visi- tors to encourage sales," he said. "We have a brochure on display, but sometimes you can just tell when people are thinking about doing a box. That's when we can promotion in all of our press con- tacts, we devote part of our web- site to the program, and more." He added, "We feel fortunate to have this benefit, and we work hard to keep it going." H o n o r e C o m f o r t , r e c e n t l y departed executive director at the Sonoma County Vintners associa- tion, shared Zahner's enthusiasm. "We love the program," she said. "It's a fantastic way to reinforce the perception of Sonoma County as friendly and generous. We want visitors to enjoy our wine commu- nity and take a taste of their experi- ence home with them." With this said, the number of visitors doing so is difficult to pin down. As strange as it may seem in the era of Big Data, Alaska Airlines doesn't track the number of boxes checked through the "Wine Flies Free" promotion. Ostler explained that it's a reflection of the check-in process. "Our self-serve kiosks at Wine Country airports ask passengers whether they are checking a case of wine," he said. "When they hit that prompt, the agent tagging the luggage is supposed to note in the system that the piece was a box of ask whether they know about the Alaska program, and you can see it when they register the value of get- ting wine home for free." He added, "We track the num- ber of shippers we give away, and the wines we sell with them. So we know this promotion is support- ing 40 or 50 case sales for us each year. It's significant." Among the regional extensions to this program, the most recent and arguably most ambitious is the one deployed in Oregon. "Wine Flies Free" began with a county- based approach in Sonoma, and t h e n g r e w t h r o u g h a r e g i o n a l approach in eastern Washington (from Walla Walla to Yakima). "Mov- ing forward from those precedents, we believed it would be great to launch something with our entire state wine industry," said Michelle Kaufmann, communications manag- er for the Oregon Wine Board. Alaska Airlines agreed, and a trial program ran from early September 2013 to late November of the same year – including airports in Port- land, Eugene, Redmond/Bend and Medford. "It went very well," said Kaufmann. "We had a lot of media hits and tremendous consumer engagement." Marty Clubb of L'Ecole No 41 in Walla Walla estimates that the program accounts for the sale of 40-50 cases of his wine each year. Tim Zahner, marketing chief at Sonoma County Tourism, promotes the Wine Flies Free program through multiple channels.