Maggie Tillman hesitates to consider herself a marketing professional. So, how has she become one of Paso Robles’ highly regarded wine marketers??
Nestled in the Adelaida hills of Paso Robles, Alta Colina offers more than just breathtaking views and superb Rhône-style wines. You can also expect to find vintage trailer camping, innovative wines (think Pét-Nats and Carbonics), and an affectionate German Shepherd rescue dog named Honey.
Co-Owner and Winemaker, Bob Tillman, bought the 130-acre property and established the family-run brand in 2003. His daughter, the spirited and lighthearted Maggie Tillman, now works beside him as Alta Colina’s Co-Owner and Director of Sales and Marketing.
Maggie’s introduction to this industry was unplanned and unexpected. Despite growing up around wine, and her father being a home winemaker, she never anticipated a career in this industry. “Wine was not the plan,” as she says. After graduating from NYU with a degree in Linguistics, Maggie was stuck trying to decide her next steps. “The logic was, I could have a dumb job and pay Bay Area rent, or I could have a dumb job, pay no rent, and live in my sister’s house in Templeton.”
Maggie made the decision to move to Paso Robles, pick up a tasting room job, and help her dad along the way. While working part-time at Alta Colina, Maggie simultaneously worked in the tasting rooms for L’Aventure and Villicana Winery. She reflected on her time at L’Aventure, stating, “I don’t know if they would consider themselves mentors to many in the industry, but they totally are. They were very important for me.” It wasn’t until 2011 that she made the shift into her full-time role at Alta Colina.
While her title includes Director of Sales and Marketing, Maggie hesitates to consider herself a marketer. For her, it’s deeper than a title or an objective. She elaborated, “I don’t show up to the office and say, ‘How do I creatively market this product?’” She continued, “I’m trying to be a little more thoughtful and a little more holistic in my approach.” She views her marketing efforts more as organic storytelling. “I think what drives me is I believe that we are doing good work, we are making a good product, and we are doing it with integrity. Caring for the land is important. Stewardship is important. Taking care of our team is important, so conveying that is my job.” She shares her passion for Alta Colina with the world, and takes the initiative to make her customers and club members feel valued. Whether it is educating through an Instagram post, sending a postcard to remind them of the upcoming club release, or taking careful consideration for the presentation of their shipments, Alta Colina’s members and customers are always at the forefront of Maggie’s mind.
In her time at Alta Colina, Maggie has designed a lot of one-of-a-kind adventures and taken numerous steps to elevate the customer experience. Incorporating her dog, Honey, has been an example of this. Upon arrival, the delightful canine is waiting at the tasting room to greet and welcome guests. You’ll catch her frolicking in the bushes, hunting bees, or joining you for photos in front of the ‘selfie wall.’ Honey has become more than just a member of the Alta Colina team; she has become a vital part of the customer experience.
The “Trailer Pond,” nestled around Alta Colina’s irrigation pond. Photo credit: Alta Colina Vineyard & Winery.
Maggie’s marketing efforts don’t stop there. Among her most successful initiatives is the unique and nostalgic camping experience: The Trailer Pond. This is a collection of five charming, vintage travel trailers that are nestled around the irrigation pond that sits in the middle of their vineyard.
The trailer pond came to fruition after a conversation with the owners of Tinker Tin, a vintage trailer rental company. Maggie soon realized the potential of partnering with them, and faced few (if any) obstacles. She described, “Everything was there, and then no one said no. The county didn’t say no. Insurance didn’t say no.” 4 years in, not only does it make up nearly 10% of their revenue, but it also has “paid off in terms of marketing, like crazy.” She continued, “The press coverage we’ve gotten as a result, we could never pay for.” The trailer pond has been recognized in Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest Online, Travel + Leisure, Business Insider, Forbes, and the list goes on.
Regarding the trailer pond’s 1950’s aesthetic, Maggie elaborated, “It is very cute, incredibly Instagram-able…I learned a lot of lessons from [Tinker Tin] in terms of how powerful that can be from a marketing perspective.” This media exposure has brought people from far and wide who may not have visited Alta Colina otherwise. Because of this, the demographics of those staying at the trailer pond are different from those visiting their tasting room or joining their wine club.
High-quality canned Alta Colina Rosé.
Surprisingly, the trailer pond guests are often not wine drinkers. When guests had checked out and it was time to clean the trailers, Alta Colina staff would frequently find leftover hard seltzer beverages. Maggie explained that she would prefer see the trailer pond guests drinking their wine instead of hard seltzers. She elaborated, “Seltzer is a hot button issue in wine. The idea that seltzer was concocted in a lab, filled with artificial flavoring, and is ‘healthier’ for you than a bottle of handmade, organically-farmed wine is insane.” Thinking to herself that there was something wrong with this picture, Maggie saw this as the perfect opportunity to “dip a toe in the water” and test out the canned wine market. Alta Colina’s winemaker, Molly Lonborg, crafted their delicious canned rosé using saignée as a way of quickly testing the water. Starting with very limited production, they sold out in a matter of weeks.
Because canned wine often gets a bad rap, using their premium rosé posed a risk. Maggie elaborated, “It’s a different rosé than what goes into our bottles. Our bottled rosé is direct-to-press, it’s harvested early, and it’s a really high-quality rosé. Historically, we’ve sold off our saignée, but we just shaved off a little bit of that to set aside for this project. Molly, the winemaker, was like, ‘We can put together a really nice rosé from this. Let’s throw it in a can!’”
On the design of the can, Maggie elaborated, “We wanted the packaging to be very pond-y.” Maggie delivered on this by creating an exceptionally detailed watercolor image of the trailer pond to use on the label. She saw the value in creating a label that is just as aesthetically appealing as the trailer pond itself, and the payoff was there.
Photo credit: Alta Colina Vineyard and Winery.
Going against the stigma of premium wine in a can, Alta Colina saw great success with this initiative. Maggie understood that there is often an image problem associated with a premium brand selling canned wine. Despite this, she would love to see more high-end brands incorporating canned wine from a consumer-convenience and sustainability standpoint. She believes the potential is growing for canned wine (and even boxed wine) to become an integral part of this industry. She noted, “I just love seeing creativity and people trying stuff. Wine is a very unique product, that comes from very beautiful places, that’s made by very interesting people, that is enjoyed in lots of ways.” She paused, then asked rhetorically, “We can’t do better? We can’t try a little harder?” Maggie is pushing others to innovate and find ways to bring the wine industry back to life.
Just like the best things in life, Maggie claims that “wine is a long game.” Alta Colina may not see immediate returns on their marketing efforts, but the payoff always comes back around. “If we have guests who come and they pay a tasting fee and leave—we didn’t make a [wine] sale, but we made a friend.” She continues, “Maybe that person isn’t going to join our wine club, but they refer someone who does, or maybe… they’ll send a bottle to their dad for Christmas.” Alta Colina’s goodwill among its visitors and customers has been an unmatched marketing tool. She reflects, “What has worked the best is the most basic of things. It is personal connection and any opportunity to make that, and sustain that.” She continues, “There is a crazy amount of value in conveying the story, in the right place, and to the right people.”
Maggie’s forward-thinking and innovative moves have not only led her to success, but they have also kept her ahead of the game. She understands the importance of staying on top of industry trends, and she believes the wine world has some catching up to do. She stated that marketing within the wine industry has been “behind the times, at all times.” Trying to innovate within the world of wine has proven to be a challenge for Maggie and other wine marketers. In a mature industry that is resistant to change, finding ways to convince ownership that marketing is relevant and important is half the battle—let alone executing it. It is paradigm-challenging marketers like Maggie that are bucking that trend, keeping up with the times, and inspiring others to send the message that
marketing works.