At Dirty & Rowdy, California Wines Made Simple
This story was co-published in partnership with Bon Appetit.
One late, breezy Southern evening in 2009, Hardy Wallace — a Massachusetts-born oenophile, working in marketing at Kodak — was sitting at his desk when the phone rang. It was his boss, who was deeply sorry to inform Hardy that times were tough and — like most of his marketing pals at an already troubled Georgia company — he was going to be let go. Hardy vividly remembers the call — his manager’s sympathetic tone, his own ‘thank you’ back to a company he’d been a part of for years. “And then I told him, this was the best day of my life.”
Rocca Family Vineyards
Rocca decision on Seesaw; what do you think?
@steve: I like Red Blends, my wife prefers Pinot Noir. The Rocca Red Blend has a special offer (linked), the Domaine Pinot Noir does not. Which should I order? #WineWednesday
Winery Marketing via Locally
Those of you that follow along here on The Sonoma Vine know that I have had quite a year in 2012. I quit my job and started a consumer internet/mobile application company called Locally. After many months of long nights, hard work and time away from home, we have finally released our location based discovery application.
Let me tell you the basics.
Have you used Foursquare? Google Maps? How about Yelp? These are cool, valuable tools for many reasons. However, one thing they don’t do for us is tell us what is happening, right now wherever we are. We can find places, tips and reviews, who checked in and see some photos but we can’t open these apps, view a map and see which wineries are open and hosting an event within 5 miles of where we are standing.
Instead, we need to use Google Maps to find a winery, go to the winery Google Places (Plus Local) page or the winery website, find the hours of business, read their events tab and then decide if it is close enough or within the area of our intended travel. Then we need to research the next winery on the list. With Foursquare and Yelp, you really don’t get anymore benefit as a consumer other than maybe a deal for checking in with Foursquare and consumer reviews. As a business owner, especially a winery owner, it is hard to keep these sites up to date with your hours, events and featured offerings.
Locally solves all of these issues by allowing wineries to build a profile with all your best web copy, info and logo, then “broadcast” live when you are open. Consumers open the Locally app and instantly see who is “broadcasting” within a few miles of their location. They can quickly determine what’s open and which events are happening, right now. If you are a winery owner or visitor reading this you know what I am talking about.
Our app, Locally, let’s business, event planners, vendors, food trucks, venues and just about anyone to share where they are and what they are offering in real-time.
Those of you that have read my wine blog know that I go to Sonoma, the Finger Lakes and so on. This tool is something I wanted when I was visiting. Now we have it available. If you are a winery owner or wine-related venue manager, we would love to have you on board for our beta. It is free to use and will truly become the best way to discover amazing local wine experiences. Find us at www.locally.fm and request access to our beta. We’d love to have you join us.
Find us on Twitter: @locallyfm
Find us on Facebook: /locallyfm
