“US consumers are far more sophisticated than most Australians realise,” says Peter. “If you want to market wine in the USA, ditch your stereotypes, stop being patronising, and give them the best you have to offer – regardless of the product type.” 

Rich but Not Dumb

In early export adventures, many Australian wineries were eager to tap into a wealthy market, but, says Peter, many of them underestimated savvy US consumers. 

“There’s already a perception in the USA that Aussies are going to try and fob them off with cheap and cheerful wines. They don’t want that. Send inferior wines to the US and you will lose out. This is a market that appreciates quality, and if you offer them a half-hearted excuse for a wine, you’re not only going to lose money, you’re also going to make it more difficult for Australian wineries that offer a really good product.”

“To put this even more bluntly,” says Peter, “The USA is rich, but not dumb. You don’t get rich without having smarts, and the USA has them.”

Don’t Think Economy Class

Exporting wine and being ready to comply with the plethora of regulatory requirements for packaging and selling wine in the USA is not a low-cost exercise, warns Peter. “People often think that the US is the US, but then they encounter the fact that each state has its own rules and regulations regarding wine packaging and wine sales. The USA has 50 states, and in reality, that’s like getting ready to sell to 50 different countries.”

“With the cost markup this entails, some Australian wineries seem to have decided that sending cheap wine – and marketing massive volumes of it – would make up for the fact that ‘cheap’ Australian wine is no longer cheap when it arrives in the USA. They were mistaken. If you fly to the US and want to travel economy class, that’s your business. But if you want to take your business to the US, economy class products aren’t going to make the cut,” says Peter.

Tired and Tested: Because What They Want is Something Special 

Peter believes that Manor Estate has proved the point. What Americans want from imported wines is something out of the ordinary. “They love Manor Estate’s boutique wines. They love that we naturally age each vintage in our cellars. They especially like the fact that this is no mass-produced product that’s to be found at every street corner liquor store. Beyond that, they love the fact that Manor Estate offers the US its finest wines. It’s not cheap wine, but it is great wine. They’re willing to pay for that.”

For Manor Estate, the perception that Australia doesn’t have prestige as a winemaking country was among the barriers that Peter encountered. “It made it harder for us to break into the market. People were saying ‘We have French wine. We have Italian wine. We have our own wine. We’ve tried Australian wine and we weren’t impressed. It took a lot of effort just to get them to do a taste test that would debunk the notion that Aussie wines can’t be world-class. They want something special. We surprised and delighted them with truly superior wines. If you can’t deliver on that, don’t even try.”

Manor estate offers wine events, a romantic wedding venue and luxury accommodation in McLaren Vale. For more information, or join their wine club, visit the Manor Estate Wines website or call their team of experts on (08) 8383 7300.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Building a Network from the Bottom Up

Sharleen notes that talking to people can be the start of great things. In her case, it began with “talking to waiters.” After all, with New York as a starting point, Manor Estate hoped to capture a share in the fine dining niche market. They were up against wineries supplying already-famous-brand wines to New York restaurants and wine bars. If Manor estate was to “take Manhattan,” it needed to know what Manhattan wanted – then deliver the goods.

As newcomers to the New York scene, Peter and Sharleen didn’t have any contacts to speak of, but through personal connections with frontline staff, they soon gained access to managers – and from there, industry influencers were just a hop and a skip away.

Don’t Count on Marketing Messages: Be There

This raises the second point of the Manor Estate export marketing adventure: few people are interested in emails, brochures, and other marketing materials unless they have in-person contact first. It’s a sceptical market. They’ve seen it all before. Someone can get on the highest rooftop and shout that their product is the best ever, but even if it is, nobody is going to listen. But, when there is a face to face meeting, it suddenly becomes real. They’re ready to give the product a chance, and if they like it, they will share it with their network.

“Once they see and experience what you have to offer and believe in it, they will tell you who to talk to next,” says Sharleen.

Get Third-Party Recognition

Apart from business networks opening up through in-person contact, recognition from authorities in the field will add to the audience of “believers.” Manor Estate Wines was able to achieve Wine Australia’s endorsement as one of the few wineries supported by its export development initiative. With that, came a flood of additional interest in the boutique winery’s products. “Wine Australia has mentorship programs that facilitate introductions to decision-makers and influencers,” says Peter Cap, founder of the brand, winemaker extraordinaire, and father of the family.

In addition, Manor Estates submitted to rating by one of the most influential wine appreciation organisations in the world: “Wine Enthusiast.”  The results of this evaluation surpassed expectations – Manor Estate Wines received highly favourable reviews in a blind tasting process, and with this achievement as a feather in their caps, Peter and Sharleen were able to take their marketing to the next level.

Be Ready to Offer Instant Gratification

In today’s world, nobody wants to wait for satisfaction. In the USA, this adage is even truer. Manor Estate was prepared for export orders. The winery had complied with local regulatory requirements, including those specified for product packaging, and warehousing in the US had already been taken care of. When the orders began to flow in, the company was ready to offer speedy fulfilment, thereby keeping its new client base excited about the “new find.”

The take-home message is – don’t keep US clients waiting. Once their attention is gained, it must be kept. If they have to wait for weeks or months for fulfilment of an order, they’ll be in cool-off mode by the time it arrives.

It Takes Guts to Get Glory

Businesses hoping to enter the US market will need guts to get their glory. It’s easy to advertise – harder to confront possible clients face-to-face. It’s easy to say the product is “the best in its class,” – harder to prove it through third-party ratings. And if someone is ready for the baptism of fire, then New York is the place to start. “If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.” says Sharleen.