Wine Brats Face Growing Pains

[Craig Camp]

Wine Brats, a wine appreciation group that launched 10 years ago, revolutionized wine education by reaching out to the previously-ignored 20- something population -- a demographic that has become one of the most avid segments of wine drinkers in the country.

[Brad Ballinger]

I'm not surprised. I was a chapter leader for four years in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Our leadership team often felt frustration with the national organization because they wanted to control what we did but didn't do much to offer support. Even with the nationally-sponsored mega events, we still had to work with local distributors because neither the national organization nor the national sponsors were all that responsive or organized. That the national Brats are taking more control with such a small staff would be disconcerting to me if I was still involved as a chapter leader.

We found that our most successful events were ones that had no national involvement whatsoever. We would either sponsor a BYO theme or work with local distributors and venues to have creative events featuring more unique wines. Which leads to the following...

The Brats' major sponsors, conglomerates Robert Mondavi Corp., Diageo, Southcorp, Korbel & Heck Estates and Pernod Ricard, have historically donated wine for 60 to 70 percent of the events, creating a sameness that doesn't necessarily inspire members to keep coming back, says Richardson. The biggest sponsors commit $100,000 each, paid over three years, to support the Brats.

The new model will allow wineries to donate product without paying a sponsorship fee. Richardson believes this system will increase revenues because the group will be able to stage more events. As Brats members have honed their palates over the years, they need more sophisticated programs to stay interested, he says.

I hope the effort to feature more and different wines will pay off. The organization serves a good purpose -- to demystify wine and make it more accessible. To make it more top of mind when friends get together at a watering hole. Instead of reflexively ordering beer or a martini, getting them to order a glass of wine. The chapters would host events (either nationally-sponsored or locally-grown) that would make wine fun and take the pressure off. But it eventually fell to local chapters to continue keeping events fresh to keep people coming back. Time will tell if a nationally-centralized group can do the same thing.

[KatieLoeb]

Indeed, it was that "sameness" that made me stop bothering with the Wine Brats events here in Philly. I didn't need to pay admission to try the refinery style bulk wines they were often pouring. I could have bought a bottle of each and done it at home if I'd wanted to at those prices.

It's a shame, because Mondavi at least has some really good higher end wines that are made in collaboration with other wineries, or that are made in places other the Central Coast of California. Their Australian "exchange" program that has California wine makers producing the line of Kirralaa wines in Australia is just one example of their better product lines. That stuff was never at those tastings though.