How wineries can rub a journalist up the wrong way in three easy steps:
1. On arrival, don’t tell them you are too busy to host them for the dinner as arranged, leaving them with no time to arrange anything else. “There’s a restaurant at the hotel,” I am informed. They have clearly never eaten there.
2. Do have the technical sheets ready in case your visitor wants to know the finer details. Don’t suggest they can go on the winery website after the visit.
3. Do take the ten minutes to drive your visitor back to their accommodation as pre-arranged. Don’t suggest they could walk (“although it might be a bit far†particularly with an overnight bag) then call them a taxi, leaving them to cover the fare.
That is not what I call good press relations. Yes, it is currently harvest time at Stonyridge, but just because you make a ultra-premium $220 wine and there are some Malbec grapes cold-soaking does not mean you should treat any visitor this way.
I am certainly not a prima donna but I have never felt so unwelcome on a winery visit. It really makes me wonder how the public get treated when they visit the cellar door.
Thank goodness the other producers on Waiheke island were more hospitable.
