Vine to Wine

I think all of us are more than familiar with the "farm to table" concept in restaurants ... chefs use mostly local ingredients from local farmers to whip up amazing dishes that are presumably the freshest you can possibly get.  The concept then moved to food brands as well, hoping to capture the perception of high quality and freshness with "local" and "organic" ingredients.  It's been very well played, and very successful in the broad food industry.

I noticed something new the other day that seems like a natural evolution of "farm to table":  "vine to wine."

Using local vineyards to produce local wines ... keeping it local and "fresh" with not only food but also the wine.  Now I'm not so sure that "fresh" translates as well in wine (I'm a wine consumer but not a wine sommelier), but the local notion is quite intriguing.  Especially if you pair "farm to table" with "vine to wine" ... it's local going loco.

I have a home near-ish to the Brandywine Valley in Pennsylvania and I've seen the region, the local restaurants, and the local vineyards embrace the concept.  Same with the Finger Lakes Region in New York State, as another example.  Which is also cool because it shows how small business can indeed capture the energy of what the big brands are doing and apply it to their own marketing initiatives.

FYI - I've long embraced "farm to table" and in fact one of my favorite restaurants in NYC is Blue Hill which is one of the originals.  And I've recently tried the "vine to wine" thing and it was just amazing.

What's your experience?  Jim.

Jim Joseph
- President, Cohn & Wolfe NA
- Author, The Experience Effect series
- Professor, NYU
- Contributor, Entrepreneur and Huffington Post

PS - My new book is out!  All about personal branding.  Check it out here!