What is a Blog and Why Should a Winery Have One?

Castellroig will be  in the Wine Pleasures International Wine Tourism Conference, Tuesday 2nd of February at 15.15

Panel discussion in which 3 wineries will talk about their blogs and show us how having a blog has helped their wine tourism business.

Panel Moderator Albert Moreno, Marketing & Social Media Consultant from FeedbackMP will give a brief definition of what a Blog is and how it can help wineries in their marketing strategy to enhance wine tourism activities.  He’ll introduce 3 wineries that are already using this Social Media tool to engage their costumers and will go deeper to know more about their personal experiences and recommendations.

Panel members are Ana Belén Hernández (Vintae Luxury Wine Specialists, La Rioja), Barbara Siemianiuk (Caves Montau de Sadurní ,Penedès and Marcel Sabaté i Coca from Castellroig

The purpose of this Panel Discussion is to demonstrate to wineries and other wine tourism providers such as hotels, museums, restaurants, travel agaents, Rutas del Vino, Tourist offices and so on the clear advantages of creating and maintaing a blog. If you don’t know what a blog is and/or do not actively maintain one then you should not miss this Panel Discussion and indeed the whole Conference should not be missed, as the topic of blogs and social media is reoccurring throughout.

During the Panel Discussion Albert will be putting any or all of the following questions to the panel and for audience to comment:

Is your Blog part of your overall marketing strategy?
Who is your potential audience (segments)?
How long have you created your blog?
Why did you decided create it?
How much did it cost you?
What kind content are you publishing? (news, events, photos, videos, etc.).
In which languages do you write your posts?
What is your updating schedule?
Who updates the content?
Has it helped you to generate a better positioning of your brand on the Internet?
Is it integrated into your corporate site?
How have you comunicate that you have a bog?
Social Media Tools

Do yo allow free readers interaction?
How long does it take you to answer?
What kind of questions / comments are you receiving?
What other Social Media applications have you integrated into your blog? (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, LinkedIn ,…)
Do you use RSS content syndication?
Besides the blog, are you making some kind of regular communication (newsletter or similar)?
Analysis

Do you have updated statistics? If yes, with which tool?
What kind of monitoring are you carrying out? (indicators)
If known, how many visits you get per month? How many pages they visit?
What’s the average time spend on your blog? How many interactions do readers in your blog?
And most important … where do your visitors come from (site referrals, Google, direct, etc.)?
Overall rating

What has brought your Blog on a general level?
And in a particular level, has your blog helped you out to boost wine tourism business?
How do you value this new experience in the 2.0 world?
But has your blog…
…generated a direct increase in sales?
…given you some new business contacts?
…created a larger brand awareness?
…provided you with better understanding of your customers?

Xarel·lo tasting by Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV)

Castellroig terroir wines, another harvest of successes

Our wines and cavas continue to achieve recognition. The Cava Reserva Familiar Sabate i Coca is regarded as one of the best cavas on the market and coincides with the release of our new image.

After being recognised as one of the best cavas in the word at the beginning of the year by the renowned critic Robert Parker (the only cava to obtain maximum points: 91 for two consecutive years), it has been giuven 91 points in the Peñín Guide 2009 and in this same week, it was prized  by the “Grupo Gourmets” as the best sparking wine in Spain 2009. Such achievements, together with the rest of our products are the result of consistency and superior production of terroir wines and cavas on our own estate.

Castellroig will be attending Alimentaria exhibition

We are pleased to inform you that from the 10th to the 14th March, we will present
our products at ALIMENTARIA 08 in the booth D-500 (pavilion 3 in Gran Via in
the booth of Catalonian Wines – INCAVI)Castellroig – Sabaté&Coca Estate is a small family owned cellar with many
generations of winemaking tradition. We stand out by producing high-quality terroir
wines and cavas from our own centuries-old vineyards entirely following the “terroir”
philosophy, searching for maximum expression from the soil as its differentiating
element. Castellroig wines are the first DO Penedes products to be marketed
as “terroir wine”.

Castellroig Xarel•lo 2006 was awarded the platinum medal in
the annual Competition of Quality wines from the DO Penedes as the best
Xarel•lo of the World. Furthermore, Castellroig has received 90 points and more
from American Wine Specialist Robert Parker in 6 of its wines and cavas.
All these acknowledges are a further proof of the excellent quality and consistency
of the wines produced by Castellroig, a pioneer cellar in producing wines of Penedès
indigenous varieties such as Xarel•lo.

Will be please to meet you in Alimentaria.

Castellroig, the first DO Penedès wine to obtain a “Terroir” title

Castellroig wines from the Sabaté y Coca cellars are the first DO Penedes products to be marketed as “terroir wine”. These wines are fruit of selected vineyards on the Sabaté y Coca family estate .
Due to this initiative, Castellroig has made it possible to see, for the first time, the inscription “Vins de Terrer” – “Terroir wine” on wine labels from the denomination of origin Pendes . The French were the first to apply this concept to viticulture. A “terruño” in Spanish and , “terroir” in French , is an area with homogenous geological and geographical characteristics such as climate (temperature and rainfall), sunlight, topography (altitude, slope and aspect) and geology.
In order to produce these Terroir wines Marcel Sabate has painstakingly analyzed the land of the Castellroig estate and the different types of terroirs in his vineyards. His approach was to personalize the attention given to each vineyard depending on its peculiarities. His goal was to find the very essence of each grape, enhanced by the the soil it was planted on which he achieved by following the Terroir philosophy.
So as to elaborate these unique wines, Castellroig carefully considered which terroir was best suited for each wine. Castellroig terroir wines come from parcels of land on the estate that are vinified individually. This is one of the costliest tasks in the whole winemaking process due to the fact that the vineyards within each terroir are worked separately.
The estate Sabaté y Coca includes a total of 15 terroirs and each one of them gives a distinct quality to the fruit. The wines produced on this estate are the result of one or more terroirs. For instance, the Castellroig “Blanco Selección” originates from only one terroir, el Mosset – which has got a deep soil, evolved, with an average texture. On the other hand, the Castellroig Xarel.lo – which was awarded the Platinum Medal of this year – comes from different terroirs, Rigolet, Boja and Marges. These soils are moderately deep except for Marges which is deep and brings the youth and freshness which characterizes this wine.
What differentiates terroir wines is based on enhancing the qualities and individual characteristics of both the soil and the grape therefore cleverly improving the end result. Such being Castellroig philosophy, the main focus is to maintain the natural qualities of the fruit and the uniqueness of the ground. For this reason, Castellroig carries out a meticulous selection process of its grapes and nurtures the fruit until it reaches optimum maturity and is ready to be hand-picked. They are gently pressed and only the first must is used. To maintain the uniqueness of the grape from different terroirs, they go through a slow fermentation in small stainless steel tanks.
Since 2002, the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Catalan Government) allows the Consejos Reguladores (the Regulating Councils) of the D.O.s to grant the name of “estate wine” or “terroir wine”. After 5 years, the Penedès D.O. achieves its first terroir wine and that’s Castellroig’s.

CASTELLROIG, BEST XAREL•LO OF THE YEAR IN THE PENEDÈS

Castellroig Xarel•lo 2006 was awarded the platinum medal in the annual Competition of Quality wines from the DO Penedes region -Tastavins Sant Humbert

These awards are organized every year by the Tastavins del Penedès Academy in collaboration with the Regulating Council of the DO Penedes . This year, over 100 samples were entered from different cellars in the Peneds. The Special Category (platinum medal) is awarded for the effort to recover the tradition of producing wines with the most emblematic of the indigenous varieties of the Penedes region : Xarel•lo.

The award winning wine and the whole range of Castellroig wines and cavas come exclusively from the vineyards of the Sabaté i Coca estate and are produced entirely following the “terroir” philosophy, searching for maximum expression from the soil as its differenciating element.

This medal is further proof of the excellent quality and consistency of the wines produced by Sabaté i Coca, a cellar pioneer in producing wines of indigenous varieties.