Wine Business Monthly’s 2012 Tasting Room Survey, now available in the May issue, found tasting rooms continue to be a healthy channel for direct to consumer sales. The survey, conducted this year in partnership with Silicon Valley Bank, found that visitorship to winery tasting rooms has increased an average of 6.4 percent across North America and that sales in the channel are growing by an average of 7 percent.

Yet gas prices continue to affect tasting room traffic.

In response to higher than average prices and summer prices expected to hit consumer wallets at nearly $5 per gallon the folks in the Charles Krug-Peter Mondavi Family Winery tasting room have devised a way to help. Beginning immediately, they will offset the cost of the gas spent to visit the winery in St. Helena with a rebate against tasting fees.

In the Peter Mondavi Sr. family, excellence is a family tradition and their Charles Krug wines have represented honest value for nearly 70 years. Co-proprietor Peter Mondavi Jr. related,

"My brother Marc and I know our customers sometimes travel quite a ways to visit Charles Krug, and we were lamenting about how the price of gas has gone up so much. So we came up with this idea to give visitors to our winery a break."

During the “Gas Up” rebate promotion the farther visitors travel to visit Charles Krug, the larger the rebate to offset what was spent to get there. A vehicle that comes from 10-24 miles away, for example, would receive a $5 rebate, from 25-49 miles, $10, and a vehicle traveling more than 50 miles would receive a $15 rebate. The promotion runs now through September 30, or until the average price of gas falls below $4/gallon in the San Francisco Bay Area, whichever comes first. There is one rebate per vehicle, and AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report for California will be used to confirm average gas prices.

“We think Charles Krug would support this kind of incentive,” continued Peter Mondavi Jr., whose family has owned Charles Krug Winery since 1943. “He was an extremely hard worker and not immune to financial difficulties himself.”

To join in the fun, first visit www.charleskrug.com and print the “Gas Up” rebate, then present the rebate at the Charles Krug Winery tasting room. The rebate will be applied to a tasting fee.

Program Recap:

-Rebate must be printed at www.charleskrug.com and redeemed at tasting room.
-Rebate is by zone (10-24 miles, 25-49 miles, over 50 miles), $5, $10 and $15 respectively.
-One rebate per vehicle, and applicable to a tasting fee.
-Promotion runs through September 30 or until the price of gas falls below $4/gallon--whichever comes first.
-Cannot be combined with any other offer.