The perceptions of Colorado wine are only partially accurate. While Colorado might not have the consistency in season or the shear quantity of physical growable land for grapes as California, Oregon, or Washington, there are amazing bottles to be found from fierce winemakers as long as you don’t fear a little exploration, and our niche varietals remain competitive at international levels (try our Gewürztraminer).
Godot engaged with two organizations simultaneously in advocacy of Colorado Wine. The Colorado Wine Industry Development Board (CWIDB) is the government group advocating for growers and winemakers under the Department of Agriculture. The Colorado Association of Viticulture and Enology (CAVE) is the state’s largest, wine-focused non-profit primarily focused on events and education.
The approach, beyond the traditional advertising and marketing campaigns, was intensely experience-focused. From festivals to tastings to intimate restaurant gatherings, we put good glasses in people’s hands, ultimately seeing an increase in consumption of 17% over three years.
Mountain Winefest was already established as a significant festival outside of Grand Junction. We needed to just make sure that it sold out.
Colorado wine’s presence on the Front Range, however, was not as strong. We developed Colorado Wine Week as an exploratory showcase, creating pairing menus across dozens of established restaurants in Denver, Boulder, and Colorado Springs.
The week ended with Urban Winefest in downtown Denver, fully produced and executed by Godot. With over 3000 ticketed attendees and about 50 winemakers, the festival was profitable, effective, provided visibility and sales for the winemakers, and gave a brilliant opportunity to a different drinking demographic to experience the wine our state has to offer.
Our Colorado Wine Hero campaign “paired” local legends (Governor Hickenlooper, Dale Katechis of Oscar Blue’s fame, and Food Network star/restaurateur Frank Bonanno.
In addition to the more informal, social media forward pieces, we produced a 30-minute documentary on the history of Colorado Wine and a 30-second spot for HGTV and The Food Network.
