Last weekend before opening our doors I was updating our welcome signs while Eric swept the patio at the Anderson Valley tasting room ... we overheard 2 couples talking about what wines they liked and didn't. They had just visited one of the biggest names in the valley and after an early lunch at Stone and Embers had a packed afternoon scheduled over in the Napa Valley.
I usually keep to myself, but used my inside/outside voice to invite them to taste with us after lunch while pointing to our sign. They were just steps away from our front door so figured what the heck. Instead of a friendly reaction, I sorta got a halfass smile and a look like they had just been asked to get into a Honda instead of driving away in their new Tesla of sorts. One of the men in the group began bragging about all the places in California he often boondoggled on business... mentioning Carmel, Big Sur, Malibu, Santa Barbara and Napa of course after San Francisco business. I couldn't quite figure out why in the heck they drove to the Anderson Valley to taste one winery and bolt. They didn't care to explore this magical wine region. Breaks my heart a little.
Oh I wanted to taste our wines with them so badly! I joke about creating a banner to hang over our patio entrance "Don't leave the Anderson Valley without Smith Story Wines". Maybe I will... kills me to have a mass reach via the internet, but can't always reach people right in front of our tasting room door. We have worked so so hard to be here.
We often say "curious wine drinkers" when asked who our best Smith Story customer is. What does this mean exactly? Well, the folks who walk into one of our tasting rooms and say "I don't like such and such or I never drink this or that" are probably going to either have the shock of their wine lives and like a wine they never thought possible or be really bored while we pontificate upon what old world regions inspire each and every bottle we make. To each its own is the old saying, it's hard though when all we want to do is scream from the mountain tops to everyone about our new winery.
Our top group of buyers in terms of why they come visit us and/or buy our wines...are in the wine trade! Yep, it's been a wonderful data-point to discover over the last 12 months of running our tasting rooms. Sandwich friends run a close second of course, but the most curious of both of these groups are our very best wine buyers. We set out to make wine that should over deliver on quality and be enjoyable any day of the week, and thousands of wine drinkers get this about us.
Please continue to share our story, open our wines with others and stay curious my friends!
This is Our Story.
Ali (and Eric proofreading this time!).