Your Virtual Tasting Experience, Revamped
2020 taught all of us A LOT. We learned to pivot, adapt and then pivot (again!) in order to keep wine enthusiasts buying and drinking wine.
The experience we missed the most by far were in-person tastings – and the opportunity to interact with all you wonderful people! How we could get new consumers to buy wine if they couldn’t drop by and taste it? How do you create a memorable experience that will leaving people wanting more?
These were just a few questions we had to tackle over the last year. Our solution, however, lead us to a beautiful new opportunity that allowed us to meet and make new connections with people all over the country – virtual tastings!
An introduction to me, your virtual host, Caiti
Welcome everyone! I’m so glad you joined me for a virtual experience today! For those who haven’t seen me around the tasting room or on our social media, my name is Caiti and I’ll be your host today! Let me give you some background info on myself. I’ve been working at Balletto for a little over a year now, and I can honestly say I’ve enjoyed every minute here! I am a recent graduate of Sonoma State University where I played on the volleyball team AND have a Bachelor’s Degree in Wine Business. I fell in love with wine and all parts of it from living in Sonoma County my entire life, so I decided to pursue this passion in college.
My last semester of college, I was required to find an internship at a winery to be able to graduate with a Wine Business degree. I got lucky with the first place I contacted, Balletto Vineyards! Coincidentally, I went on a field trip to Balletto for one of my classes for us to taste the day after I emailed my internship inquiry. I got to learn the family story first hand and taste through the amazing wines. I immediately knew this is where I wanted to be. Long story short I was hired on as an intern and the rest is history! I graduated in May of 2020, right at what we thought was going to be the height of the pandemic. As heartbreaking as it was to not have a celebratory end to my 5 wonderful years in college, I realized everyone else is and have been making huge sacrifices in their lives as well, after all, that cliché line saying ‘it’s not the destination, but the journey that makes it all worth it’ is very true.
I’ve continued my wine education by taking WSET Certification courses. I’m currently WSET Level 1 Certified and now working on my Level 2 Certification! Learning during the pandemic is definitely a different experience, but it has helped to keep me occupied especially in the stay at home orders. And most importantly, I get to learn more about what I love!
Over the course of this last year, I’ve learned to adapt to the new normal. While we can only hope everything will start to get better soon, we will continue to make the most of what we are able to do. Re-inventing the virtual tasting experience we created back in Summer of 2020 became a top priority. So we started it back up and offered a brand new tasting pack and included the option to customize! I’d say we must be doing something right since you decided to join me today!
Anyways, enough about me, let’s get to tasting!
