The Dark Side does exist.  Our IT/Creative Team refers to the backside of our website as the Content (DisContent?) Section, but I know it to truly be the Dark Side.  Wineroad.com- the sunny side that our guests see, is truly the portal to all things Wine Road: all our member wineries, lodgings, new wine releases, lodging specials & lodging availability calendar, Ticket to the Wine Road, Event Tickets, Winter Wineland, Barrel Tasting, A Wine & Food Affair,  member and community events and the pertinent and related More Fun Stuff- with our favorite restaurants, wine tours and transportation, shopping, wedding sites, wine shipping companies, recreation (biking, canoeing, ballooning, massaging, gambling), art venues – well you get the idea.  We even have a section here called EVEN MORE- get it, More Fun Stuff, Even More?  All visitor related information of note- like local chambers of commerce, redwood groves, Charlie Shulz Museum (everyone loves Peanuts!), the Sonoma County Airport (fly direct on Horizon/Alaska- ask about  taking cases of wine home on the planes!), the Wine Museum, non-wine museums, the Wine Institute, healdsburgmenus.com- a plethora of insider information and tips.

All this valuable stuff is disseminated without the pesky need to actually speak to a human-  I am kidding here, as I love to speak to guests who call us and answer all my emails with, some say,  awfully eager (alarming) alacrity, but I have a dear friend who always tells me that the LAST thing she wants to do when planning a trip is to actually speak to a person on the telephone- I nicknamed her Rasputin- but maybe that is just part of the phenomenon of web and e-communications- no more voices. (No, not referring to the ones in my head.)

We have tried to make our wineroad.com site very user friendly- every time we think of something cool to add, we do so and that is when I enter the Dark Side- always reminds me of Alice Through the Looking Glass.  For instance, if you want to know what winery has picnicking, you can check  by doing an amenity search- ditto wine varietals- categories cascade down when you click on them- go to Wineries and then work with the box in the middle of the page.

And on the Light Side, you see the changes and improvements- we hope.  We want to get you started on all you might need- and then you can just click over to Contact and request a free Wine Road map and sign up for our email blasts and newsletters- and click onto Beth or Tracy if you want to drop us an email.  Our number is also there- 800.723.6336- we are eager to chat (not quite like Quest- but a different sort of chatting) and help you plan out your visit.  We love to hear from you- we can help you plan the perfect getaway along the Wine Road- and then you can avoid the Dark Side.   It is always sunny in wineroad.com.

Event planning is like throwing a dinner party for ten, getting only four RSVP’s, having everyone show up late, bringing a friend  who has food allergies- and toting in some babies, young children and a couple of dogs.  Along the Wine Road, with our three annual events- A Wine & Food Affair (5000 attendees), Winter Wineland (7000 attendees) and Barrel Tasting (20,000-30,000 attendees) – it sometimes seems like we are staging a battle, but with 40,000 Wine Road glasses and wristbands instead of WMD’s.

Our online ticketing allows guests to choose their starting winery and that totally helps us and the wineries know who to expect (we keep careful RSVP lists) so that we have the correct event supplies at each winery and food and staff are covered.   We have honed our event management and planning very carefully over the years- there is a reason for everything we do and we try to provide the best possible experience for our guests.   And yet, why oh why, with lots of happy guests and great times, do I often best remember the one or two negative comments that come my way?  I dread the emails that start like this:

I’m not sure if you’re the right person to receive this feedback so if you’re not, perhaps you could pass it on….

And here it comes:

I have been attending the annual barrel tastings for years now and I have to say I did not like the changes that were made this year such as having to buy tickets online by a certain date to get them at the lower price and choosing which winery you were going to visit as a starting point. By doing it this way takes away the flexibility and spontaneity this event used to offer. Weather has also been a factor in making a decision which day to go, for me anyway.

Yikes!  We already worked through this with all the wineries deciding how we would be running the event.   Barrel Tasting has become so popular; we needed to provide responsible controls.   And then here it comes again, but this next guest has a different set of thoughts and actually kinda sees why we do it the way we do it- he does not think we are imperialistic martinets just trying to arbitrarily torture guests:

The Saturday (Barrel Tasting) madhouse with big limos and too many people seemingly more interested in getting wasted and making the scene rather than doing some serious wine exploring (not to mention the exasperated looks on the faces of the winery staff) got us thinking about what could be done to tone things down a bit.    Perhaps the new policy for 2009, $20 in advance but $30 at the door is a step in this direction?

I’m assuming the wineries and WINE ROAD are of the same mind as we – wanting this to be a relaxed event for those serious about wines and appreciative of the unique opportunity to taste barrel samples.

Exactly so!  True.