Founder of Cherryflava; Jonathan Cherry (34) is an entrepreneurial trendspotter, speaker, presenter and editor of Cherryflava.com; with a flair for spotting and interpreting emerging global business trends.
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Taken from the file which also contains the recent Radiohead example [where the band released their latest album online at whatever price fans were willing to pay for it], local wine producers BLANKbottle have just released their first premium white blend without a price.
Huh – wine with no price…no way. Imagine walking into Wine Concepts and picking up a fine bottle of a wooded blend of Chardonnay, Chenin blanc and Viognier and when you go to pay the cashier stares at you blankly waiting for your offer of a price. Sounds special…..
….but that’s not exactly how it works just yet.
Instead of setting its price the winemaker, Pieter Walser, decided to let his loyal clients decide. "Initially, I sent out 20 cases of “Moment of Silence” without payment or price, leaving it up to them to pay me what they thought its worth!", says Pieter Pricing suggestions reached up to R70, and most were prepared to pay around R50/bottle. As BLANKbottle™ was created to over-deliver on quality; I set the final price at R40.
As with his previous wines, “Moment of Silence” comes fully labeled and packaged according to BLANKbottle’s high standards, but leaves you in the dark about the cultivar and year of vintage. To uncover the lineage of “Moment of Silence” or any of his other wines, you need to go to his website where you will find the full story behind your BLANKbottle.
Alas, it seems that the initial ‘pay what you like’ offer was for loyal repeat buyers only, but perhaps if you prove yourself to be a die hard fan now, you may get first dibs on the action the next time Mr Walser is looking for price point volunteers.
We personally however, still have to be convinced that any form of wine marketing works better than making your tongue walk a wine route in person. If you love it, and you gotta have it, you’ll pay whatever to get it.