When you think of the Garden State Wine Growers Association (GSWGA) you probably think of the picture above of the Passport books. Known to most visitors of NJ wineries, it is one of the more popular programs and involves getting a stamp in the book at every winery you visit. If you get all of the stamps you enter your book in the annual drawing and have a chance to win a wine destination trip. Past destinations have included Bordeaux, France and Pinot Noir Country in Oregon.
The Garden State Wine Growers Association (GSWGA) is an organization that helps promote the wines, wine growers and wineries in the state. It should be noted that not all wineries in the state are represented by this organization. There are several very good wineries that for their own reasons have chosen not to become members. Tom Cosentino is the Executive Director of the Garden State Wine Growers Association. The GSWGA is given a budget to promote the wine and wineries around the state. The Passport Program is one of the many programs the organization utilizes to promote the state’s industry. Another important promotion is their support for wine trail events, which are a popular way to explore the state’s wineries.
Some of the most recent promotional innovations have included Tom’s weekly radio show on 1450 AM WCTC entitled, “NJ Winedown Show,” in which Tom interviewed two individuals involved in the wine business (winery owners, winemakers and wine writers). I was fortunate to have participated in two of these interviews. Though this show is not airing any new interviews, the past shows were made into podcasts that can be downloaded from the GSWGA website.
More recent promotions have included Facebook Live: a series of live broadcasts from various member wineries, interviewing the owners and winemakers. This has given those who have not visited a particular winery a better idea of what to expect and giving them some good reasons to visit soon. Another recent shout out to New Jersey wines was a collaborative offer with the Wine Studio (located in Virginia, but promoting wines from all over). New Jersey wines and wineries were featured every Tuesday during the month of November from 9-10 PM on their popular twitter show. Like a few similar twitter broadcasts you just needed to include their hashtag (#winestudio) to participate. Many wine professionals, writers and bloggers participated in this endeavor (including myself). That was an interesting experience for a Twitter neophyte like me!
On a personal note, Tom has been very helpful to me over the past two years, while I visited our wineries, blogged about them, and put the finishing touches on my book about NJ wineries. Tom is always good about answering questions and the GSWGA website is a very helpful resource. They have a very useful map showing the location of all of the member wineries and I frequently refer to their site for information. Tom and GSWGA, thanks for all you do.
Cheers!
Coming Soon:
- Rutgers University: Resource for NJ Wine
- The Winemaker’s Co-op
- Other NJ Wine Organizations
- Some Lesser Known Wine Varietals (worth getting to know)
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