Interview with Annette Boyd

Hello Gentle Readers and Welcome to 2023!  We are beginning the year with our second annual interview with Annette Boyd, head of the Virginia Wine Marketing Office in Richmond.  Our discussion took place on December 12, 2022.  As with last year, this post paraphrases our discussion and does not directly quote Annette.  I hope that I have captured the discussion accurately. 

Q. 1.  When we last spoke in January, you were anticipating publication of a new Vision Statement for the Virginia Wine Industry.  The Statement was released in March.  What’s been going on as far as implementing the plan?  What big initiatives are on tap for 2023?

A. 1.  So far so good on plan implementation.  Different groups and associations are leading implementation of different parts of the Vision.  The Virginia Wine Board will begin seeing updates from the plan implementers starting with the March 2023 meeting.

For the Marketing Office, we feel that consumers are doing their part in visiting and buying Virginia wine.  But we recognize that outreach to restaurants and wine shops is our Achilles heel.  This year, we intend to do a full court press to get trade partners, like restaurants and wine shops, enthusiastic about Virginia wines.  To that end, we intend to revive Virginia Wine Summits that bring together members of the media and industry for tasting and other events to promote Virginia wines.  We used to do these before COVID.  Even though many restaurants are still not fully recovered from COVID, it may be time to start the summits again.

As far as other initiatives, we are planning to add a wine auction to this year’s Governor’s Cup Competition.  We would auction of one or two Governor’s Cup case winners along with other wines, trip packages, and other items.  Watch for details on Governor’s Cup sites.

Q. 2.  We were very excited to see a level of experimentation among vintners in the state this year – trying a number of less common varietals to see what works best for Virginia’s climate and the size of its industry.  What role do you see for yourself and your office in the viticulture/enology area?  When would the Virginia Wine Marking Office get behind a new or experimental varietal?  How does that work?

A. 2.  The Virginia Vineyards Association and the Virginia Wine Board are actively researching what grape varietals work best in the various Virginia microclimates and which are expected to grow well ten years from now with climate change.  The Virginia Winemakers Research Exchange, funded by the Virginia Wine Board, is conducting hundreds of practical experiments as well as research into genetic alterations to accommodate climate changes.  I applaud the efforts of Benji Jordan and Emily Hodson in this regard.  As all of this research develops and matures, marketing efforts will come into focus – around 20 years from now. 

I was at a conference with Tony Wolf [recently retired Professor of Viticulture at Virginia Tech], who described doing research into the Petit Manseng varietal in the 1980’s, saw initial commercial planting by Dennis Horton in the 1990’s, and successful applications by Jenny McCloud for recognition of the varietal for TTB labeling in the 2000’s so that now Petit Manseng is being hailed as the “new” grape in Virginia.  Actually, Petit Manseng followed a 30-year arc of development.  We need to take the long view or at least anticipate the long view on finding suitable varietals.

Q. 3.  Some wine makers have said that Virginia is moving from an experimental stage to focusing on what grape varietals they know work.  Like in Oregon, which experimented but eventually settled on Pinot Noir as their primary grape.  In Virginia, Cabernet Sauvignon may not be the best fit for our climate compared to Cabernet Franc.  Do you see a shift to focusing on a limited number of varietals especially in light of climate change?

A. 3.  I don’t k now if I agree with that assessment.  What you find with Oregon (Pinot Noir), New York (Riesling), or even New Zealand (Sauvignon Blanc), is that as soon as a state gets so closely associated with a varietal, their wineries become anxious to push other wines.  They have to fight to get themselves out of the box.  From a marketing perspective, you don’t want to get into that box.  Especially with all of the microclimates in this big state of ours. 

No two Virginia vintages are the same and that variety, whether by experimentation or the result of weather events, keeps things interesting.  There are some wineries like Gallo that prize consistency year to year.  Virginia is not the market for consistency.  Virginia wine drinkers value interesting and surprising wines.

Q. 4.  Some winery owners have voiced concern about stretching the concept of a Virginia farm winery.  This an issue for legislative consideration, as referenced in the Vision Statement.  What is your perspective on this?

A. 4.  I believe that the Virginia Wineries Association (VWA) is drafting legislation for this year’s General Assembly that will tighten up the definition of “farm winery.”  This is in response to what they perceive as a Virginia Alcohol and Beverage Control Board granting farm winery licenses to wineries that don’t grow grapes or produce wine in Virginia.  Apparently, this a widespread problem as the Virginia Wine Board has seen heated conversations about this at meetings.  Wholesalers have also expressed concern that steps be taken to put the house in order, especially before the General Assembly invokes even more stringent measures.  Recognizing that some wineries might object to having their licenses revoked, I believe that the draft legislation proposes a five-year window for those wineries to get into compliance with the tighter rules.

Q. 5.  One of the Wine Vision’s initiatives is to leverage third-party influencers to increase awareness of a positive reputation for Virginia.  As one of the “third-party influencers,” although admittedly a small fish in a big pond, what role do you see me playing here?  Any particular outreach planned to the third-party community?

A. 5.  The Judgment of Paris could not happen today [The Judgment of Paris was the wine tasting in 1976 in which California wines won over French wines in blind tastings by noted French wine experts.]   It was covered by one member of the press.  Today, the media is so segmented it would not have been covered.  Outreach has to include bloggers, social media sites, TikTok, and all the rest because that is where younger consumer get most of their information.  Best advice is to keep visiting, keep writing, and keep informed.

Annette and I agreed to be in communication during 2023 and touch base again for sure at the end of 2023. 

[Photo from article by Ricard Siddle, Virginia Wine Project: Bringing Producers and Buyers Together (2016) accessed December 28, 2022 at https://www.the-buyer.net/insight/virginia-wine-project-helping-virginian-producers-better-understand-uk-on-trade/]

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