Avenue Vine

Traditionally, wine has been marketed the same way for decades by creating a brand, designing a label, boiling the winery story down for the back label, advertising in wine publications and then selling the wine into restaurant and retail outlets for consumer exposure and to drive sales. Wimbledon Wine Company still sells wine traditionally, but also reaches out to consumers in places where wine isn’t usually found.

“This year Wimbledon Wine’s brands have reached hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom never before may have thought about wine,” said Leigon, “and they learned about our wines either online with our new video media push or while enjoying a major sporting or entertainment event, all avenues where we never even poured a drop of wine.” According to Leigon, because of the Internet the wine market of today is very different. “The Internet is the new ‘word of mouth,’ literally a worldwide network. To harness that potential and build the buzz, we decided to capitalize on the massive number of people we can reach by marketing at events and on the web.”

Wimbledon’s portfolio of wine brands includes Cycles Gladiator Wines, Godwin, Hahn Estates, Huntington, Jessie’s Grove, Kathy Lynskey Wines, Mendelson, Mettler, Red Flyer and Smith & Hook.

Some examples of Wimbledon’s creative, outside-the-box wine marketing include:

Cycling Event Sponsorships – Cycles Gladiator Wines has a natural affinity with cycling enthusiasts because of the antique cycling poster that graces the wine label. This year the winery sponsored three major national cycling events (AMGEN Tour of California, Monterey Sea Otter Classic and the Tour de Georgia) connecting with the cycling world across the country at these highly-attended events.

Video Push Media – For Cycles Gladiator, to introduce the winery’s hip and extreme winemaking team, and to launch a new collaborative wine brand partnership with famed, wine-friendly Chicago restaurant Bin36 the company has created videos that were pushed to wine clubs, the trade and media before posting on YouTube.com at:

The Bin 36 Movie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WALnO-7MnVI

A New Breed of Winemaker
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9aiSvqyazY

Live Earth Sponsorship – Because the winery story of using majestic falcons as natural pest control to protect wine grape crops ties naturally in to the environmentally-conscious message of Live Earth 07-07-07, Huntington Wine Cellars was a featured wine gift for VIPs at the New York concert venue, reaching celebrities and participants.
Cycles Gladiator Cycle Chic Invitational, A Revolution in Style – The New York fashion scene was spinning this spring as this wine brand proved that there is more to cycling attire than skin-tight travel togs. Top stylists were invited to create stylish, quirky and wearable bike-to-work outfits, inspired by a wide range of jobs and professions. The best of the best were included in a free, downloadable e-brochure, the Cycles Gladiator Cycle Chic Guide to Bike-to-Work Wear available at www.cyclesgladiator.com.

About Wimbledon Wine Company:
Wimbledon Wine Company is a full service sales and marketing company exclusively representing several estate winery brands from California and New Zealand with the goal of taking wine to established and new markets. For more information on Wimbledon Wine Company and the complete portfolio of wine brands go to www.wimbledonwine.com.

NAPA, Calif.–July 12, 2007