Host benefits:

• Acquire, retain and engage with top customers.

• Offer a high-quality, turnkey promotion with no cost, outlay or risk.

• Generate income through revenue sharing and related wine sales.

• Receive free, no hassle, once in a lifetime travel experiences to the most important wine destinations in the world for winery owners, staff, and aligned sommeliers and chefs.

What makes a successful host?

Perfect Pairings has produced hundreds of educational travel programs for America’s most successful wineries and wine enthusiast groups. We have learned that success is tied to companies that know how to market, and/or those with a strong following and/or wine club.

What makes Perfect Pairings the leader in food & wine travel?

Perfect Pairings has over 30 years of experience in designing winery hosted educational tours and cruises to help brands strengthen their DTC strategy. We are at the forefront of this specialty and currently handle thousands of wine lovers a year in collaboration with some of the most recognized brands in the country. For three consecutive years, the company has been named by Conde Nast Traveler as the “World’s Top Wine Travel Specialist”.

Our sales volume and tenure allows us to offer program elements not available through any other company. This includes a long reputation for quality and service, preferred supplier pricing and benefits, elevated private wine tours hosted by local wine sommeliers who will show your customers what’s “cool” in their region, and the ability to market your brand and trip to our 10,000+ past wine travelers and to the 1.6 million people that annually visit our website.

Who is the customer?

The luxury traveler / wine drinker. This market is growing due to a confluence of factors including demographic trends and a shift toward premium wine and direct wine sales. This growth is correspondingly feeding demand for culinary travel. Some stats:

• 62% of premium-wine buyers are Baby Boomers and 84% are over 40.

• Baby Boomers also comprise the primary market for experiential and luxury travel and 80 million have or soon will reach retirement age, 10,000 a day. They have the time to travel. They have traveled their whole lives and now want experiences – with the most popular trip including food and wine travel.

• The overall market for culinary travel is growing. ¾’s of all US leisure travelers (representing 131 million Americans) are classified as Culinary Travelers. Almost one in five of these (18%) have participated in a wine-related trip activity in the past three years and 41% of these said it was a key reason they chose to take the trip.

When and where would this trip be offered?

Deciding where to travel depends on whether we build a program to satisfy the interest of the company owner, or to attract as many customers as possible. We have learned that most wine lovers want to travel to wine centric destinations and for those who live in the US, this means traveling to Europe between April and November. Although winemakers typically need to be home by August for the harvest, wineries that have the ability host trips during the fall will find more demand with less competition.

What does the itinerary look like?

Itineraries vary by destination, but you can expect features such as welcome dinner, 7-10 night luxury accommodations, daily on board music performances, food and wine pairings/ dinners using fresh, local ingredients, wine tastings/ seminars, and guided tours. Plus, Perfect Pairings offers exclusive shore excursions utilizing its unparalleled network of food and wine experts. Each tour is custom‐designed to take you off the beaten path and to focus specifically on the food, wine, and culture of each region, and provide unique and authentic experiences that you simply cannot do on your own. Our small group tours to wine estates like Ornellaia, Domaine Tempier, Ott, and Costers del Siurana regularly receive the program’s highest customer ratings and have been covered by FOOD & WINE, COOKING LIGHT and GOURMET magazines. For sample itineraries, visit https://foodandwinetrails.com/.

What are the winery’s costs?

All travel, marketing and wine costs are covered through the generation of travelers including:

• One complimentary trip for every 9 guests booked (including airfare)

• $1,500 in marketing support

• $4,000 in wine purchases + hassle free logistics (Perfect Pairings handles shipping, customs docs, etc.)

Additionally, hosts have the potential to generate revenue by selling their complimentary trips earned after satisfying winery staff needs.

What will the trip cost the consumer?

Pricing is dependent upon the itinerary ranging from $4-10k per person. Unique programming and value is important to attract the high-end wine lover and our trips typically include airfare, group discounts, pre-paid gratuities and cabin-credits. Plus, guests will enjoy private events including wine seminars, tastings and winemaker dinners. In addition to onboard programs, Perfect Pairings offers exclusive wine-themed shore excursions and optional pre/post trip extension packages.

What are the winery’s risks?

There is no risk, or outlay to the winery. Perfect Pairings assumes all risk by underwriting program costs including supplier deposits, prints and advertisements on your behalf.

What are the winery’s responsibilities?

• Commit to sending at least one representative from the winery. Deciding who will travel should be carefully considered. Do they have fans?

• Choose where and when you would like to travel keeping in mind Perfect Pairings history of success.

• Employ marketing campaign which is coordinated between the host and Perfect Pairings to provide maximum exposure.

• Promote the trip in good faith through its completion including introductory email, posting on website/ social media, insertion of trip literature in wine club shipments and maintain display in tasting room (ie: brochures, poster, etc.).

• Host onboard educational program (i.e.: tastings, seminars, food and wine pairings/ dinners).

What is the impact on winery staff?

The hosting winery should ensure that all winery staff is aware of the event and prepared talk about it and answer general questions. We are also happy to provide informational meetings to your staff and you will be assigned a dedicated team of professionals to support you and answer questions from your staff/ travelers, etc. Our team will also handle all administrative tasks related to bookings and provide you with timely updates/ sales reports.

How much promotion time is needed?

Having enough time to market the program is extremely important and because of that, we typically work 12-18 months out.

For more information call us at (800) 614-8613