If You Build it…

Many people’s favorite moment in the movie, Sideways (mine included), is the scene in which Miles gets word that his book has been rejected by the publisher he was hoping would champion it, thus relegating him to further anonymous status, something that goes along with all his other disappointments.

And while most people remember this scene for his chug of the spit bucket – hilarious and memorable  –  my take away was more cerebral.  That he receives this soul crushing news at a pompous, over the top Disneyland-esque winery, truly illustrates everything that is bad about the wine business in his eyes (read: that it’s successful as he fails).

His book, dense, quasi-meaningful and no doubt esoteric, mirrors the way he likes his wines.  So while the world thinks they are enjoying themselves drinking candy-like vino and reading Dan Brown, he is the true artiste among them.

I thought about this on Saturday, when I was in Napa attending the wedding of Linda’s first cousin, held at Viansa Winery in Sonoma.  That the property is beautiful goes without saying for those that have been there.  That it’s a charming place to  vow everlasting love is irrefutable.  But it was also an example of winery as sales destination.

And the place was PACKED.

We drove up for the rehearsal on Friday to a full parking lot of cars, two big buses and several limos.  Though the fact that the winery is one of the first properties you come upon as you drive from the 101 certainly plays a role, there must be some talented people working in the PR and marketing departments to gather such a crowd on a late afternoon weekday – even a Friday.

The amazing courtyard leads towards the doors to the winery building itself, a sort of antechamber that was pouring some wine.  But the real heart of Viansa is the upstairs tasting room, a bright, high-ceilinged, Wonka-like market selling everything from well, it just sold everything.  Jellies, salad dressings, meat marinades, pie fillings, cold sandwiches, hot sandwiches, sodas, juices, cheese, etc. times infinity.

In short just the kind of place that Miles would hate.  And normally I might too.

But in looking around, all I could see were happy customers.  Happy paying customers.  They bought the jelly, they sampled the wine and from the looks of the boxes they carried out, they loved it too.

The wedding the next day was wonderful, without a hitch from the attentive Viansa staff.   Great food, good wine (I liked the whites better than the reds) but if it was me looking back on my nuptials at the winery, I’d have deemed it an unqualified success.

And it furthered the simple notion that people want to be entertained, which is why theatre goers tend to give every musical they see a standing ovation, why the average LA sports fan will even feel good after watching the Clippers play. It’s all about the experience.

Yes, many people visit Napa to luxuriate in the famed labels that are produced there, love to be wowed by big scores and fancy language that describes the latest vintages, but in this economy, the fact that a “Big Box” like Viansa keeps packing them in, is, in my mind, good news for smaller wineries like us.  For some (not all) of these wine drinkers will take their positive experience and turn that into a love of wine that will eventually lead them to us.

So go ahead, focus group loving, flow chart reading, mass wine producing shops.

If you build it, they will come.