We attend a lot of trade shows every year, but this year we were wowed like never before! Taste Washington is THE event for trade and consumers alike. All things being equal, there are a lot of great wines at winery events – it’s the presentation that varies. Easily approachable and extremely cordial, Katie Sadler made all of us in the trade feel welcomed – kudos to her! There were two distinct things that clearly separate the Taste Washington event from most of the events we attend and in a good way.
After a brief half-mile walk in the typical Seattle drizzle from the Marriott Courtyard which was relaxing and let you take in the city ambience, we arrived at the beautiful Century Link complex where the event was being held. The first item of distinction was the food – and we’re not talking the typical bread and cheese plates in the aisles, folks. With two hundred wineries represented, about every fifth booth or so it seemed, was food. Not something picked up and placed on a plate – food cooked fresh by chefs with hats! The smells filled the air and I found myself as excited about the food as I was the wine.
Crab cakes, Kobe Beef, Sushi, Meatballs that melt in your mouth, Caramel and Sea Salt Ice Cream, Cupcakes, and so much more. We were simply blown away. We came for the wine, but stayed longer than planned for the food. The restaurants cooked the food and served it hot! This is hard enough to get at home, nonetheless a huge outing.
The second thing was the incredible well thought out ample walking space and perfect weather proof environment. With so many folks attending, things can become really tight. Not once did we feel crowded. Another really classy touch was the Coat Check so we could walk around freely and have more things in our hands, like wine glasses and food! We did also locate the most original and fun winery outfits, the winner being the Purple Star Winery and from the left it’s Amy, Kyle and Brittni! To say that this was a fun event would be a gross understatement. Though three of us were there from WineMatch to share what was new with us and how we can help wineries sell directly to consumers, more than once we wanted to just go into party mode as the whole event was just fun!
NEW WINEMATCH WEB SITE
To honor Taste Washington and its fine wineries, we also chose this time to also re- launch our web site to do them justice. We took all that great functionality and made it cleaner, faster and friendlier. Have a look – we’re certain you will be pleased! It’s easier to use, more socially integrated, and the amount of information we now give back to wineries regarding their performance is included in our WineMatch Statistics, which gives wineries a first ever dashboard as to not only how they are doing, but what they need to do to maximize their exposure and selling opportunities WineMatch, accomplished by simply combining WineMatch and Google Analytics data.
A great big THANK YOU to all the Washington wineries and eateries. A real class act – we’ll be back!
