It’s not all about the wine – jerks

I get this…A LOT from people..and some make wine too! “Hey Fiasco, how’s the Tweetering, Twottering or whatever you call it going you big Twit”  and  ”how much piss are you selling on there” or ” I guess people must sucker into buying it because they haven’t got much else to do being on the computer all day”…..I usually don’t say much to these little wind-ups because these people really don’t understand.  Their loss, our gain…

Right. I think the wine industry at large (this is especially so for the bigger brands) have treated their customers like ‘widget grabbers’ or ’stock unit snatchers’ and little attention has been paid to the actual person drinking their wine.  PERSON is the optimal word here too!  Actually, I tell a lie.  The attention towards people is usually centred around focus groups where they brainstorm new ideas, deals, or concepts that will help speed up or increase the ’snatching process’.  We all know that a well run campaign, whether it be a neck tag offering a prize, or a new critter label – or whatever – can do incredibly well for the producer.  But I guarantee this,  at the end of the day that wine producer (through market intelligence etc) may know who buys their wine, but I guarantee they don’t know them!   Well get this…the world is changing, and if you produce anything and you are not actively attempting to know your customer personally, through the tools that are now available, then you could be in trouble.

The Social Media revolution is just starting and it has been a total revelation to us.  We’ve not only met some incredible people but they have become our friends.  I also know this. Take away the wine – they will still be there!

Sure we make wine.  SO WHAT!

Cheers,

Aaron

Wild Weather!

Last night was stormy and living in a house surrounded by trees, it sounded like they were all about to crash in on us…and one did!  The view from our backdoor this morning…firewood delivered to the doorstep

Wind delivered firewood!

No Aaron nagging needed for jobs that involve loud machines

It has been a case of ‘four seasons in one week’ around here.  I took the photo below on Monday morning when we started the day with minus three.  And yet at week’s end we have strong northerlies and a predicted high of 23 oC. 

Monday morning view from the doorstep

Anyway the strong winds have accelerated the loss of leaves from the vines.  Once the leaves are all off, we will begin pruning.

   

Second set pinot vines with autumn leaf loss

With fruit gone, sheep can be let in to 'mow' vineyard grass

THANK YOU TWEETS!

INDEVIN

Indevin is arguably the best contract winemaking facility in the world.  Thats why Fiasco is made there

Turkey Time

 

 Well it’s official – Fiasco Wines has now secured it’s first sponsorship deal.  We are the proud sponsers of Mortisha the Turkey.  Mortisha was found wild in Blenheim just prior to Christmas.  It is still a mystery as to how she came to be checking out the shops.  There was a complete fiasco as a capture was attempted and for a time she escaped, ironically to the roof of a pet shop.  Eventually she was caught and taken in by the local radio station, More FM – who decided to keep her as a mascot, saving her from anyone who had ideas of a tasty Christmas dinner.   Now this was a fiasco we couldn’t resist, and we like to do things a bit differently…and so it is that this turkey is the first ever to be sponsored by a wine company. 

On Saturday the turkey was blessed at the Pets Day Out and there are plenty more excursions planned for the bird.  We hope to see Mortisha do a few laps at the Relay for Life in the near future. 

So what does the sponsorship involve for us?  Well we want to see Moretisha well looked after so we contribute to her upkeep but have and will also supply wine prizes at the various events/causes Moretisha appears at with More FM.  The Pets Day Out helped the SPCA and the Relay for Life is an awesome event to help the Cancer Society.  In return we are getting some great exposure from Jamie, Nige & the team at More FM… and of course Moretisha herself is said (gobbled?)  to prefer Fiasco over all other wines!

Celebrate with Free Shipping!

Since conjuring up a great deal with a local courier company, we can now offer free shipping (CASE LOTS) anywhere ANYTIME in NZ.  The Winewankers Vlog has whipped us up into a frenzy around here.  So  for a limited time and we mean a limited time our Sauvignon Blanc is available by the case for $12.50 / bottle and the Gewurz $13.50 / bottle.

WHAT A FIASCO!!!

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Discovering Auckland

With only a few days left on our Auckland adventure, I’d have to conclude that it has been a really worthwhile trip.   Went up the Skytower the other night – there was 3.8 cm glass flooring in patches of the observatory level.  A little sign said you could walk on it in safety and that it was in fact stronger than the concrete on the rest of the floor.  I approached it with great trepidation and had to look away as Finn and Aaron put it to the ‘jump five times as heavily as possible’ test.  It’s funny how our pre-conceived ideas about things can affect our thinking.  I just think of glass as something that I can break and that was a hard idea to put aside.  We have found a few of our pre-conceived ideas about Auckland to be totally wrong too, here’s a bit of what we have discovered…

The people are really friendly.  A lady in a shop asked us to stay and tell her what we thought various outfits looked like that she was trying on, a couple of bloggers who have never met us in person invited us around, anyone we’ve asked a question to has been very obliging, and everyone’s had a laugh at Azza’s jandals!  The wine marketing has been very positive with no outright ‘get lost’ type reactions.  The folk are honest too – I left a shopping bag at MacDonalds only to realise and return hours later to find that some kind shopper had handed it in.

The place is not impossible to navigate (especially with the help of Navman) and the drivers haven’t been crazy nor have we been stuck in a single traffic jam.

We drove around a lot of South Auckland and didn’t feel afraid.

It has hardly rained at all.

It is not just a concrete factory – there are sheep at the base of One Tree Hill and beaches everywhere that aren’t very crowded and there are loads of boats and lots of parks.

Other oddities we have found: 

there are ants (maybe this is just our campground) the minute you leave a crumb of food out;

they have schools named with a location then the word ‘Normal’ – eg Takupuna Normal.  I have no idea what this means or where the abnormal kids go;

They have car parks that display numbers like 1024 minutes or however many minutes 24 hours is, instead of just saying ‘Free Parking’;

People hire Sedges ? (those stand up things on wheels for the elderly or injured) as a recreation thing;

Boats leave on RIGHT on time, ie our boat from Waiheke Island left at 4 pm so when we arrived at 4.03 pm we had missed it.

 

I’m sure I could list a lot more but alas my internet time is rapidly expiring.  I’d better log off and leave you.

We made it!

Arghhh I have only 3 minutes left on the $3 per 20 min internet kiosk…everything costs in Auckland.  I’ve heard a glass of wine goes for $12…surely that is just rumour.  Had a good trip here with a night in Taupo on the way.  Really rated Lake Taupo and might have to stay another night or two on the trip home.   Aaron has been doing the salesman act at every cafe or restaurant we go… some look at his giant red jandals sideways, but he hopes it will make him memorable.  Mmmm, for those who know the jandals, I’ll leave you to make up your own mind on that one.  Everyone else – beware the ‘big reds’ have been let loose on the streets of Auckland!

Gotta dash, hope to catch up with some of you Auckland bloggers over the weekend!

Fiasco sponsors rogue Turkey!

Turkey Gobbler

Last Thursday a rogue Turkey was found gobbling around central Blenheim.  The bird, evidentially,  put on a real show and had local councillors, lawyers, animal control, and police in hot pursuit.  Eventually, the bald headed fowl was bought down in a blaze of glory by all listed above, and is now serving time out of town.   We here at Fiasco feel sorry for this plucky character.  We can sorta see ourselves within this bird.  Out in the big bad world by itself, not particularily good looking, beady eyed (Aaron anyway), shitting, pecking here and there, and making a general nuisance of itself.  So, we’ve volunteered to help the turkey out,  take the thing under our wing….and officially sponsor the feathery beast.  You see, we feel sorry for it.   They’re  endangered species this time of the year…………mmmm…….first Turkey……..maybe some ham could put in a special appearance in town…….

Tune in to More F.M next week for more on the Turkey

Cheers.