So on the 26th May, 2011, we have Chardonnay Day. This follows the great success of both #CabernetDay and the Rosé Revolution. Organised in part by @RickBakas and @MastermindTB’s Trish Barry, they have become a dynamic Social Media duo.

No matter what you think about Chardonnay it still remains very popular. Long gone are the days where all that was on offer were oak forests and cream in a glass. Now the new world has woken up to other ways to make this prestigious wine. Think Chablis, the Montrachet, think Hawke’s bay and Gisborne, but don’t forget the other regions as well. Most NZ wine making regions are making some great wines, and now is the time to celebrate them.

Get involved now and visit Chardonnay Day website

So raise a glass, join an event, or even start one of your own.

So who should do what?

Detailed below is a way for you to get involved.

What exactly is Chardonnay Day?

This is a global day to talk about Chardonnay via social media platforms. There’s no concurrent tasting, conversations will take place in the time zone of country participating. Anyone can get involved. Simply post up comments on twitter, facebook, youtube, gowalla, foursquare or other social media platforms.

Use the #chardonnay in your posts/ tweets and follow the conversations taking place on the day.

Retailers/ Restaurants/ Sommeliers- This is also a great opportunity for you to generate some incremental sales and generate some further understanding of different styles of chardonnay being produced. Why not consider:

• Tastings on the day – in store tastings on chardonnays. Talk to consumers about the different styles and regions and get your producers involved.
• Chardonnay by the glass specials for the week of Chardonnay Day or specific food matches with Chardonnay on the menu
• Mixed cases of regional Chardonnays sold in advance in tasting packs so people can get involved
• Wine Dinners – Great opportunity to have a tasting menu with different regional chardonnays.

Here’s a few tips to get involved:

• Engage with consumers – sell trial packs of your chardonnay in advance – whether this is a special Chardonnay trial pack on your website, special offers on your Chardonnay through cellar door, features in your eNewsletters or deals to the trade it’s an opportunity to get trial of your products and get consumers tasting.
• Make it easy to join in the conversation – many consumers are intimidated to talk about the wines, particularly on twitter. Help them get involved in the conversations – print out a sheet of your tasting notes to put in with packs sold and create a letter to include on what is chardonnay day and how they can get involved.
• Create content in advance – Don’t leave it to the last minute to start planning. Those who have had success with similar days in the past have thought about their participation in advance and created relevant content. Videos, blog posts, having tasting notes accessible will allow you to tell your messages.
• Organise a meet up – Creating an opportunity for people to get involved and meet up is a great way of sharing the wines. This can be as simple as a tasting in your cellar door on the day, approaching local venues about hosting a tasting or just getting together with friends. Whilst not mandatory it makes it easy to follow along with the conversations by having a big screen and watching the flow of conversations on a program like www.twitterfall.com or tweetdeck.com makes it easy to see the conversations taking place all over the world. If you’re holding a meet up, register on  so that others can come along.
• Collaborate with others – In many cases there’s a regional/ stylistic story to be told as well as a brand message. Talk to your regional wine association about how you can create some regional content and work together to get the message out. A great way to create some videos in advance. If your own cellar door is not participating, why not see if you can get some other producers from your region together and sample your wines up against other international examples?

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Written by Jayson Bryant

Jayson’s roots in wine began when his father literally dragged him round France and injected his passion into him. From the age of 8 his family took month long holidays in France travelling through all regions and sampling their wine.
UnScrewed has reinvented the concept of wine tasting in New Zealand and along the way found a new and willing audience. In addition to encouraging straightforward wine tasting, Jayson educates viewers about the effects of regional factors (soil, sun, wind) on wine flavours, and how to buy wine.

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