What if you had all the right ingredients for success and yet you failed? And you did in front of a well-respected group of wine bloggers, two wine makers and the winery who gave you every element that you needed to succeed? Especially when the first launch event was on the site of the very well-regarded vineyard where the grapes came from at Mohr-Fry Ranch…
The entire time I kept thinking about Fred Astaire and the obnoxious screen test director at MGM who noted, “Can’t act. Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Was our first wine experience going to be our last?
And would we be required, like the movie Groundhog Day, to experience that failure over and over again as we were required to publicly talk about our experience in a series of launch events? Thank God that didn’t happen, but it was a feasible outcome when four bloggers were given the opportunity to make their own wine label.
I wrote already about the process of making Masthead, so today I’m going to focus on the experience of truly bringing it to market under the shining public backstop of the Wine Bloggers Conference.
Cindy Rynning, One of the Co-Creator’s, First Taste of Masthead
We started pouring at the Wine Blogger’s Conference Opening Reception where we saw for the first time the labeled bottles, the ink in newspapers and finally got to taste the wine. I took a deep breath and prepared for my first sip. It was really good Sangiovese – lots of black cherry, berry, dark earth and herbal notes. With a little step in my swagger, we continued down the path of the remainder of the launch events including the first event in Scotto’s brand new tasting room.
Me and Bradley Gray, Scotto’s PR Maven
The next day we joined some really great friends (you know who you are and I so appreciate all of your support) on the Friday winery excursion. The Scotto folks told me that they had rented a “statement vehicle” but I didn’t quite expect the disco limo that awaited us. We had the opportunity to try the Scotto Ciders before we arrived at Mohr-Frye Ranch where we had the chance to show folks where the magic first happened with the Frye family.
We later arrived at the Scotto Tasting Room that had been transformed into a 5-star dining room experience with well-known Chef Warren Ito. The theme was Mexital: Mexican and Italian fusion that incorporated the Italian heritage of Anthony Scotto and the Mexican heritage of Gracie Scotto.
And what a dinner it was … lots of laughter, family stories and what you would expect given the Scotto hospitality. The wines were paired with each delicious course … and then the moment of reckoning … what would the reaction be from the table?
Chef Ito
Perhaps we had stacked the deck by including our friends, but from all accounts, the reaction was the wine was pretty impressive … especially from bloggers who had never done this before. It was not an Astaire moment … and while I can’t act … and I can’t sing … and I can dance a little…, when I am given incredible winemakers, an award winning vineyard, a specific block of grapes, great blogger co-conspirators and all the right tools, I got it right.
Masthead
