The personal, subjective taste and opinion of the end consumer is ultimate truth when it comes to wine. It is they who vote at the store, with their wallets.

Here are the top three wines tasted and rated on Quini by regular, frequent wine buyers during 2022. Ratings were done as part of Quini enterprise and winery client sensory data requirements, on the Quini wine tasting and rating platform, at guided tastings.

The list includes wines that were tasted blind and some non blind, in Dallas and New York, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and Boston and Vancouver.

For every wine included in this year’s top three, a minimum of 25-50 ratings were required, with many of the wines with 100-200 or more ratings.

We hope you find some surprises, new wines to try, and perhaps, if you are a winery, celebrate if your wine is among the top three. With consumers, it is quite the feat to hit such high marks on Quini.

WHITE WINES

WHITES OVERALL

1. Chronos Brut VQA. View
2. O’Neill Harken Chardonnay 2020. View
3. Rodney Strong Chardonnay 2019. View

CHARDONNAY

1. O’Neill Harken Chardonnay 2020. View
2. Rodney Strong Chardonnay 2019. View
3. Bread and Butter Chardonnay 2019. View

PINOT GRIS

1. Gray Monk Pinot Gris 2021 VQA. View
2. Haywire Organic Pinot Gris 2021 VQA. View
3. Dirty Laundry Pinot Gris 2021 VQA. View

SAUVIGNON BLANC

1. Brancott Sauvignon Blanc 2021. View
2. Brancott Flight Song Sauvignon Blanc 2021. View
3. Stoneleigh Canada Sauvignon Blanc 2021. View

WHITE BLEND

1. Grow Wild Enchanting White 2020 VQA. View
2. Diabolica Devilishly Delicious White 2020 VQA. View
3. Dirty Laundry Hush White 2021 VQA. View

RED WINES

REDS OVERALL

1. Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. View
2. J Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. View
3. Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon 2019. View

CABERNET SAUVIGNON

1. Cakebread Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. View
2. J Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2018. View
3. Joel Gott 815 Cabernet Sauvignon 2019. View

PINOT NOIR

1. Meiomi Pinot Noir 2020. View
2. Juggernaut Pinot Noir 2019. View
3. Gunpowder Pinot Noir Alderbanks Vineyard 2018. View

RED BLENDS

1. Bogle Essential Red 2019. View
2. Rabble Red Blend 2018. View
3. Apothic Red 2020. View

ROSE WINES

ROSE OVERALL

1. Dirty Laundry Hush Rose 2021. View
2. Evolve Pink Effervescence NV VQA. View
3. Evolve Rose 2020 VQA. View

ROSE

1. Dirty Laundry Hush Rose 2021. View
2. Evolve Rose 2020 VQA. View
3. Gray Monk Rose 2021 VQA. View

SPARKLING WINES

1. Chronos Brut VQA. View
2. Evolve Pink Effervescence NV VQA. View
3. Dirty Laundry Hush Sparkling Rose 2021 VQA. View

To include your wines in upcoming consumer sensory wine tastings in your key markets, please contact us at sales@quiniwine.com.

Consumer Feedback Reveals Direct Correlation Between Wine Tourism, Perception and Growth Potential

As a company that specializes in wine consumer sensory data and analytics for wine producers, we regularly get together with wine consumers to taste and rate wines. Our tastings include a sensory wine review experience using the Quini digital wine tasting experience, and depending on client requirements, we also capture consumer opinion about important product concerns or industry issues.

We hosted a tasting in Vancouver just this past December, to the equivalent of about three focus groups. 25 regular Vancouver based wine drinkers who purchase and consumer wine at least twice each month and who are overall interested in wine.

While the primary goal was to evaluate consumer taster opinion of a variety of British Columbia wines, our clients were also wanted to gauge consumer interest in visiting the Okanagan Valley in 2022, drinker general opinion of Okanagan wines, and BC wine brand awareness and recall.

Here are the findings:

The top six Okanagan wine brands recalled, in order, were as follows. If you wish to get the full list and ranking, drop us an email at info@quiniwine.com.

1-The View

2- Mission Hill

3- Dirty Laundry

4- Burrowing Owl

5- Monte Creek

6- Quails’ Gate

When asked how they felt about the quality of Okanagan, BC wines, 64 percent of participants said ‘positive’, 32 percent said ‘neutral’ and 4 percent had a ‘negative’ sentiment. In all, the feedback indicated a positive feeling but unveiled a significant opportunity for growth, by improving consumer perception of BC Okanagan wine products.

When compared to some of the most competitive wine regions in the world, the Okanagan Valley, BC ranked second to Burgunday, France and marginally ahead of California. Wahington State, Rioja, Spain, and Niagara, Ontario followed, in order.

Of the 25 respondents to the questionnaire, 16 (64%) consumers had been on a wine tasting in the Okanagan before, versus 36 percent who had never been.

When asked if they plan to visit Okanagan wineries in 2022, 48 percent of all participants said yes. 36 percent said maybe and 16 percent said no.

Importantly, of those who said they plan to visit this year, 60 percent will be returning visitors and 24 percent will be net new visitors.

An interesting correlation stands out when we consider past visits (64%), positive perception of Okanagan wines (64%), a highly positive perception of the Okanagan region compared to Burgundy and other popular wine areas, and consumer intent to return to the Okanagan (60%).

It seems like the majority of consumers who go wine tasting in the Okanagan leave with a positive impression. Most will also plan to return at some point.

Is there an opportunity to magnify promotion efforts by industry bodies to drive visitation, perception and growth?

What are your thoughts, and what is your experience with your wine club and tasting room?

Integrated solution designed to improve customer engagement and shopping experience, and drive cost savings  

VANCOUVER, BC – September 24, 2020 – Alberta based Wainwright Liquor & Cold Beer Store (https://wainwrightliquor.ca) has selected Quini’s (www.quiniwine.com) enterprise solution to support more interactive virtual wine tastings and a more efficient shopping experience for customers online and in store, Quini® today announced.

The integrated solution will save Wainwright Liquor significant time and money, by automating the manual process of writing and publishing wine reviews and tasting notes on its website.

The system comprises two seamlessly integrated tools, QUINI SOMM™ and QUINI API™, which ranks as one of the Top 8 Wine APIs (Application Programmer’s Interface) on Programmable Web.

“We wanted to differentiate our virtual wine tasting experiences and found QUINI SOMM to be the ultimate software,” said Patrick Robinson, owner of Wainwright Liquor. “QUINI SOMM makes our tastings bi-directional. It involves customers in every step of the wine tasting process in a new, refreshing and educational way, using their smartphones.”

Added Robinson: “Wine consumers today expect more than a talking head during a virtual wine tasting. They want to be more engaged in the tasting. Our customers will get to discover their palate and personal preferences, learn about how to properly taste wine, and share their reviews on social media, all with the Quini wine tasting application. It’s a more compelling and engaging experience for everyone.”

Wainwright customers will also be able to save their visual wine reviews on their phones, to refer to later, and compare tastes with others in the virtual room in real-time.

In addition, QUINI SOMM will allow participants to share their taste profiles and preferences with the company, during the virtual wine tastings. The sensory data will help Wainwright to increase wine sales, and improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, by making product promotions more targeted and personalized.

“I am excited to welcome Patrick Robinson and the Wainwright team to the future of wine retail, and to support their success in the online direct to consumer (DTC) market,” said Roger Noujeim, Quini’s chief executive officer.

Concluded Noujeim: “The digital, virtual marketing environment is here to stay. Deploying Quini enterprise tools is now more pivotal than ever for liquor retailers, wine clubs and wineries who want to capitalize on the online DTC opportunity and cement their brands with their target consumers for the long haul.”

Detailed visual wine reviews and ratings will be used instead of star ratings to provide more meaningful information for shoppers on WainwrightLiquor.ca.

Peer consumer reviews will add a new level of transparency, and customers will be able to rate wines directly on the website, using the Quini wine review system.

An advanced wine search function will allow customers and staff to generate more accurate, personalized wine recommendations and food pairings, within seconds, using any connected device.

Wainwright expects to roll out the new system in the fall.

It was not long ago that the race to provide superior tasting room experiences reigned supreme within wineries large and small.
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