Olde Tradition Spice Helps Wineries Create New Flavors and New Sales
many individuals.
Wine pairing usually means matching a wine to a particular food to enhance the enjoyment of both. Wineries are now discovering another kind of pairing. With the addition of traditional mulling spices sold in packages or given away free as samples hung on the wine bottle’s neck, inventive tasting rooms are introducing clients to mulled wine, increasing sales and engendering customer loyalty.
Mulled wine is an old practice. Spices were found in a recently unearthed Egyptian wine jar dating from 5100 B.C. and even the Bible mentions ‘spiced wine.” And perhaps confirming what ancient people knew, recent scientific studies have shown that the spices used in mulling, which include cinnamon and cloves, may have significant health benefits for many individuals.
Michigan’s longest operating winery, 101-year-old, St. Julian Winery is continuing the mulled wine practice by adding Olde Tradition Spice mulling spices to their already spiced Head Games grape and apple wines, their red wines, and their hard ciders for tasting room visitors to try.
Szakaly says St. Julian has about 100 different beverage products and the mulling spices work with most of the red wines, whether sweet or dry. Because the winery also operates as a distillery, the product goes well with bourbon, rum, vodka, and, in particular, a cherry brandy they offer.
“You can serve mulled wine chilled in summer and warm in winter,” says Joel Szakaly, St. Julian’s Vice President – DTC. “Employees in our six locations take it upon themselves to come up a creative new concoction of the day where they highlight a different mulled wine.”
“We have a loyal wine club and they come in regularly. During the fall or winter months, they are asking what new mulled wine we have in the crock pot,” he adds.
St. Julian’s has also sold boxes as part of a kit which included a sweet red wine and a six-pack of hard cider. The kit was sold across the county as well in the tasting rooms.
Olde Tradition Spice gives wineries the option of branding the mulling spices under their own names, something Szakaly is exploring for next year. In the meantime, St. Julian has taken advantage of using neck hangers of a single-serve bag of mulled spices from Olde Tradition Spice on bottles of wine to introduce the product to the customers.
“Olde Tradition Spice sends us recipe cards. The customers love getting those and seeing the endless possibilities of cocktails they can make using those spices. They buy a bunch of boxes [of the mulling spices] from us and use them all winter long.”
Unlike other alternatives on the market today, Olde Tradition Spice uses only high-quality spices, with no sugar or preservatives added. The spices are carefully formulated to deliver flavorful consistent results and are available as single serve individually wrapped tea bags as well as industrial sized packages.
“A lot of people aren’t too sure what it is, or what it tastes like, but once they try it, Szakaly says, “they love it, and they keep coming back for more. All we hear about is how great mulling spices are and how much it enhances a wine.”
For more information or to order mulled spices, visit www.buymullingspices.com or call 1-800-977-1117.
