Powerhouse specialty food and wine retailers such as Di Bruno Brothers, Greene Grape Grocery, Antonelli’s Cheese Shop and Zingerman’s discover increases in sales growth and consumer engagement through innovative “Ribera y Rueda” campaign.
New York, November 8, 2022: Ribera del Duero and Rueda are iconic wine regions in the Castilla y León province in Northwest Spain where Ribera’s Tempranillo (red) and Rueda’s Verdejo (white) wines have established benchmarks for these varieties. After years as “insider wines,” worldwide interest is growing as consumers seek new wine experiences.
Taste Network, a specialized food and beverage marketing agency, has created a multi-channel marketing initiative to make sure that these wine explorers know about these regions. The campaign emphasizes a grassroots strategy with independent specialty food retailers to augment the two region’s efforts to gain awareness on the shelves.
“The wines from both regions are on fire” says Taste Network president Pablo Olay. “Rueda Verdejo is the number one selling white wine in Spain, and Ribera del Duero’s Tempranillo wines are already considered among the country’s greatest reds. Who tells that story best? Not a big box store or supermarket, but specialty retailers are the perfect venue to generate the word-of-mouth and personal recommendations that build customer loyalty and a desire to share this discovery with their friends.”
Taste Network founder Brady Lowe adds “The focus of our promotion is on smaller retailers where funding goes to support the unique, higher-touch aspects of marketing to their customers. This channel-specific strategy exists alongside our efforts targeting larger, mass-market accounts. We’re influencing the public at the grassroots level, just as the artisan cheese movement did. The specialty retailers are using TLC to shape consumer preferences: Tasting, Learning, and Converting.”
Well-known South Philadelphia retailer Di Bruno Brothers was involved in the RyR program from the beginning. “The Ribera y Rueda campaign provided useful resources on Ribera del Duero and Rueda wines” said Sande Friedman, Category Manager at Di Bruno. “We’ve been in business for over eight decades but have only been able to sell wine for five years. Not only are our sales of Ribera del Duero and Rueda wines up about 300%, but they’ve helped us become one of the highest volume wine retailers in PA, excluding the state-run liquor stores.”
Industry veteran Greg O’Neill leads this effort. “We’re partnering with the retail tastemakers who plant the seeds of knowledge and long-term appreciation.” 36 top independent specialty food and wine retailers across the country are partners in the program, including Di Bruno Bros. (PA), Greene Grape (NY), Antonelli’s Cheese (TX), Zingerman’s (MI), along with Spanish Table, Milk Bar, Cheese Plus, (all CA) and other top specialty retailers
Kendall Antonelli of Antonelli’s Cheese Shop in Austin, Texas found great value in the program and held classes and tastings for consumers and the trade. “We’ve loved partnering with Rueda y Ribera to spread the word about these sometimes overlooked, yet always crowd-pleasing wines and regions. These are cheese-friendly wines and we know the wines will be a hit while letting the cheese shine too.”
Concurrent with the independent retailers’ efforts, the Ribera y Rueda campaign leverages its own social media resources to reinforce awareness of the online content. The RyR online presence numbers some 72K Facebook followers, 10K on Instagram, and 100,000+ on the email newsletter list. “We bring eyeballs to the table” states O’Neill.
This omni-channel approach incorporates education, digital marketing, social and print media, events, and in-store tasting merchandising and tastings. Taste Network supports this multi-faceted campaign with a new website and high-quality content for promo kits and education.
The Ribera y Rueda website < https://riberaruedawine.com/
Brooklyn’s Greene Grape Wine & Spirits goes above and beyond to source products that match the environmental and social values of its customers. Manager Michele Thompson says she loves “getting caught in the minutia and getting nerdy with the wines, and at the end of our day, our customers appreciate the creative ways we think about the business. Ribera y Rueda are on our monthly “Pouroscope” so clients can consult the stars and find out which wine matches their horoscope. Our monthly Spotify playlist features specific tracks to accompany these wines, along with food recommendations to enhance the complete experience.
According to Olay, the popularity of the Ribera y Rueda program among retailers has followed an upward trajectory. “They’re incentivized to train their staff. Once their team gets excited about the wine, we’ve empowered them to tell our story to their thought-leading clientele. Everybody wins in this program — the wineries, the specialty food and wine retailers, and above all, the consumers.”
Ribera del Duero and Rueda are Spain’s most prestigious wine regions for red and white wines. Both are located in Spain’s Castilla y León province, with Rueda being best known for its brilliant white wines made from Verdejo, while Ribera del Duero’ reputation has been built on rich red wine made from Tempranillo. This results in extraordinary wines to accompany the regional cuisine thatl[1] easily pair with food from around the world. https://riberaruedawine.com/
Taste Network is on a mission to re-think typical food and wine marketing strategies, forge new standards, partner with the best in the industry and help promote sustainable and ethical brands from around the world. The company was founded in 2002 and is based in NYC and Atlanta. https://www.
