Annette Boyd Interview #3

January 4, 2024.  Hello Gentle Readers and Welcome to 2024!  We are beginning the year with our third annual interview with Annette Boyd, Director of the Virginia Wine Marketing Office in Richmond.  Our discussion took place on January 4, 2024.  As with last year, this post paraphrases our discussion and does not directly quote Annette.  I hope that I have captured the discussion accurately.

Question #1.  In July 2022, Wine Enthusiast Magazine announced that it would limit its reviews of U.S. wines to wines from California, Washington State, Oregon, New York, and Virginia.*  In November of 2023, Wine Enthusiast named the Charlottesville area as “the 2023 Wine Region of the Year Wine Star Award.”**  I imagine that the Virginia Wine Marketing Office played a role in the magazine’s decision in favor of Virginia over other states that it could have included (like Texas), and more recently in favor of the Charlottesville region.  How did you accomplish this? 

Let me start with Wine Region of the Year award.  Most of the credit for the award goes to the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB).  They were the ones who made the commitments to pursue that award.  As a part of the Virginia government, the Marketing Office is restricted in promoting one region over another.  But now that the award has been made, we intend to promote it to the hilt as that exposure will benefit the whole state. 

On covering only the wines from five U.S. states, I think that was a business decision of the magazine.  Print publications are under a great deal of pressure these days from digital outlets like Wine Folley and they have to manage their resources. 

Question #2.  In our last interview, you mentioned some initiatives for 2023 like getting trade partners, like restaurants and wine shops, enthusiastic about Virginia wines.  As part of that push, you intended to bring back Virginia Wine Summits for media and industry.  Are you still thinking in that direction?  What other things are happening to broaden enthusiasm about Virginia wine?

The Wine Summit idea is still in play for 2024.  It is taking longer to ramp up than we expected.  I will be presenting my budget to the May meeting of the Virginia Wine Board and then march-out based on what they approve.  My budget will recommend events and projects that are in keeping with a post-COVID world and acknowledging that many of our industry partners are working under different cost structures than in the pre-COVID world.

Question #3.  I’m excited about the new Cornus Virginicus collaboration between the First Lady of Virginia, Suzanne Youngkin, and a rotating Virginia winemaker with sales proceeds benefiting an agricultural charity chosen by the First Lady.  It’s also a great way to give recognition to our Governor’s Cup-winning winemakers.  Where did the idea come from?  What about distribution?

Here’s the backstory on Cornus Virginicus.  When Bob McDonald was governor of Virginia, his staff thought it fitting to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the Virginia Executive Mansion in 2013.  They worked with us at the Marketing Office on the idea to have a special wine for that anniversary.  We brought in Luca Pashina of Barboursville Vineyards to develop a Barboursville bend, and we worked up a number of promotions for the anniversary.  During 2013, however, there was a pending federal corruption investigation of the governor and his wife such that ultimately we had to soft-sell the wine. 

When Governor Youngkin came into office, I think they talked to the McDonald’s about the special wine project from 2013.  Then Governor Youngkin’s staff approached us about a special wine project for the First Lady.  We came up with Cornus Virginicus, where the winemaker gets the right of first refusal on developing a special wine.  We chose Barboursville to develop Cornus Virginicus I because Barboursville has won the most Governor’s Cup awards. [Actually, Barboursville won the 2021 Governor’s Cup and established giving the winner of each Governor’s Cup the right of first refusal to make the next year’s Cornus Virginicus.]  Winner of the 2023 Governor’s Cup, Del Fosse (now Mountain and Vine), will make Cornus Virginicus III.  The Marketing Office works on the blend choices aiming for an October roll-out during Wine Month.  The First Lady makes the final blend selection. 

Cornus Virginicus is available to order from Virginia ABC stores and from the blending winery. 

Question #4.  Harvests in 2022 and 2023 have brought a surplus of grapes to many Virginia growers.  I see that Virginia Wine.org has an exchange page that advertises availability of excess bulk wine.  There is also an exchange by the Virginia Vintners Association.  What role does the Marketing Office play in helping growers dispose of surplus?  

Our For Sale board is a service we provide to wineries.  Each week we send an email to wineries asking what they have for sale – farm equipment, winery equipment, surplus and bulk wine.  This is a very popular email as we have a 70% email open rate.  On the subject of recent harvests, the last three harvests in Virginia have been exceptionally high.  We have to keep in mind that we remain one frost or severe rain storm away from significant crop loss. But lately, no frost and little rain.  Further, you have to remember that vine planting decisions are made around 5 years in advance of a harvest based on projections and predictions at the time.  There was a lot of planting to recover from frosts and sever weather.  Those vines are coming to harvest now.  There was also a national drop in wine sales of around 4% in 2023 [Indeed, this was part of a global trend.]  The surplus of grapes came from a perfect storm of a larger harvest and lower demand.  

I do note that Joy Ting [Research Enologist with the Winemakers Research Exchange] believes the yield is not as high as reported because Virginia’s drought in 2023 reduced the amount of juice those grapes produced by around 40%.

Question #5.  What initiatives do you have in store for 2024? 

We do intend to get back to tasting events and media/industry partnership events in 2024.  Before COVID around 50% of the Marketing Office budget was for in-person events, up and down the East Coast and elsewhere, e.g., Wine Summits, Epicurience in Loudoun County, hosting international wine experts like Jancis Robinson.  When COVID hit, all of those national events dried up.  With no events going on, we decided in 2020 to take our event marketing funds and put them into digital marketing.  This was to help push people to Virginia wineries because we could reach-out directly to consumers.  We appealed to the Governor to allow wineries to remain open, considering that they had space out-of-doors where people could keep safely six feet apart.  [For more on those events, see our interview with Kirk Wiles, October 14, 2023].  A number of people whose international vacations had been cancelled opted instead to visit and/or stay at a Virginia winery.  As a result of our digital ads direct to consumers, sales of Virginia wine took a much smaller hit (down 2%) compared to much of the national food sector. 

We began the “Gold Medal Wine Trail” specifically in reaction to COVID.  Since we couldn’t hold the flagship Governor’s Cup event in Richmond, this was a way that Gold Medal wineries could receive recognition, and we "gamified" the trail with incentives to encourage tourism.  2023 was the Wine Trail’s third year and participation was up 37%.  Every winery had 70 to 80 check-ins from Wine Trail visitors.

Beginning in 2022, we began considering ways to keep our digital outreach while incorporating some of our physical events for trade and industry as we used to do.  One thing we continue to do is to use the Governor’s Cup to reach media and industry.  Every winery has to sell me eight cases of each wine they enter.  From those, we distribute a taste kit to top media.  We plan to do trade tastings in the Washington, DC area in May or June.  We’ll keep bloggers in mind for an invite.  We are planning on media events in New York City. 

One area that needs more work is promoting Virginia wines to Virginia restaurants.  Many restaurants are still recovering from tough COVID times.  They cut their wine lists in favor of wines that could deliver higher profit margins.  I firmly believe that Virginia restaurants need to offer more local options.  If you visit Europe – France, Italy, for instance – the local restaurants proudly offer local wines.  We should do the same.

Question #6.  We are considering an article on minority ownership in Virginia wineries.  Does your office see marketing proposals that would promote minority ownership.  Can you give us some insight on what’s being considered?

This is an area where a lot of work needs to happen.  Only 1% of Virginia wineries are minority-owned.  We have focused some media attention on this but I don’t want to oversell any progress.  Some notable people in this area are:  Lee Campbell, co-founder of Common Wealth Crush, Reggie Leonard, a Virginia wine ambassador and co-founder of Oenoverse, and Lance Lemon, actor and co-founder of RichWine.  More work to be done.

Question #7.  I heard a podcast where you mentioned a “Virginia-style” of wine.  I’m interested in whether there is a Virginia terroir and have asked a number of owners and winemakers about it.  What is your take on this?

That was probably an off-the-cuff remark from me.  Virginia is a large state with multiple microclimates.  For every broad pronouncement, there are exceptions.  For example, one might say Virginia is not the place for Pinot Noir, but look at the extraordinary Pinots from Ankida Ridge Vineyards [Amherst]. 

Even though the Court of Master Sommeliers has decided no longer to use the “Old World/New World” designation++, I find there are still some useful descriptors.  In general, European soils and types have a higher acid and go well with food.  They get rain.  A lot of “New World” wine regions are almost desert (e.g., California, Australia).  When we attend conferences in California, the topic of access to water always comes up.  We twiddle our thumbs at that part because Virginia generally has no problem with getting rain.  I think it was Fred Reno who noted that California’s dry climate produces jammier, higher alcohol-level wines.  From a phenolic perspective, California grapes with a BRIX of 23 or 24 may taste green and unripe.  In Virginia, however, BRIX of 23 to 24 will most likely be ripe grape. [For more on BRIX, see our Hard Work page.]  In this, Virginia wines are closer to classic European wines.  Our wines are good with food and our climate has more similarities to European climates than to the West Coast.  Of course, there are exceptions: Tannat and Petit Verdot are big wines that do well in Virginia.

Question #8.  Finally, what can I do for your?

The best thing you can do for me is to continue visiting Virginia wineries and writing about them.  Let's keep in touch as 2024 rolls out.

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*From a Wine Enthusiast Tasting and Review Note (July 2022), accessed December 30, 2023.  https://e.winemag.com/28KR-1VW5P-1EF2C991F25C69EE6BLIAUCC7667D782A299E2/cr.aspx

“Removed Beats
The following regions will no longer be tasted by Wine Enthusiast: Other U.S. (States outside of CA, WA, OR, NY, VA) and Other Europe/Asia (Bulgaria, Croatia, China, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Switzerland).”

**https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/industry-news/wine-star-awards/wine-region-2023/, accessed December 30, 2023.  See also, Virginia Wine Board Marketing Office Press Release, November 8, 2023 at https://www.virginiawine.org/press  accessed January 4, 2023

+ Cornus Virginicus translates as “Flowering tree of Virginia” and pays tribute to the Commonwealth’s official state flower and tree— the Dogwood.  See, https://www.virginiawine.org/pages/cv, accessed December 30, 2023.

++ In December 2023, the Court of Master Sommeliers-Americas decided that it would no longer use the Old World/New World wine distinction beginning in 2024.  This comes after the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) made a similar decision in the summer of 2022.  The Court was driven by its “commitment to uphold historical accuracy, eliminate cultural bias, and acknowledge the growing challenge of distinguishing between ‘Old World’ and ‘New World’ wines.”  See, https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2023/12/court-of-master-sommeliers-ditches-outdated-wine-terms/  accessed January 5, 2024.