Thursday, April 30, 2009

Don't call us...

Have you ever wondered why wine producers are so keen to avoid contact with their customers - the people who actually drink the stuff they make? Look at almost any European wine and you'll be very lucky to find any means of getting in touch with them beyond an impenetrable postcode number. The New World is a little better. Nowadays, if you look very closely, you'll find a website address - usually printed in a font the size favoured by insurance companies when listing the exclusions to the cover for which you are about to sign up. And even when you do get onto the site, there is rarely much in the way of an invitation to enter into any kind of dialogue. Compare and contrast with what McDonalds is now doing. http://tinyurl.com/3y2xzt Wine is one of the most complex and to many people, downright frightening, products anyone buys on a regular basis. Sometimes it seems to me as though its producers want to keep it that way. And, before anybody points a finger in my direction, I'll freely admit to having been guilty of these crimes in the way we've labeled and websited our Hugh, Kevin & Robert wines. But we're now working to get it right...

1 comment:

  1. I remember Nyetimber's former owner, Stuart Moss telling me how he received a phone call from a customer enjoying a bottle of the fruits of his labour at Fortnum & Mason. The telephone number was printed on the back label...

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