Tasting notes: Very dry, dried apple with nutty, toasty flavours
Spotler Sherry-ometer:
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” – Henry Ford
We’ve spoken before in this series about the importance of giving your leads and prospects what they want, and we stand by that. But what about the people out there who don’t know what they want? If you’re anything like this author, when you’re choosing an alcoholic tipple, you wouldn’t reach for sherry of your own accord. Grandma probably keeps a bottle for special occasions, but you’re more likely to choose a wine since it’s what you know you like.
At any given moment, there will be potential buyers dealing with a problem that you could solve, but they aren’t aware that a solution exists, let alone that you offer it. In Breakthrough Advertising, Eugene Schwartz called these people “Problem-Aware”. Your mission is to get them through “Solution-Aware” (they know their problem is solvable, but not by you) and onto “Product-Aware” (they know you can solve their problem).
The most efficient way to reach these people is by purchasing data. While some marketers still shy away from this, if you do the proper due diligence it’s a completely GDPR-compliant and effective way to expand your reach.
Once you’re satisfied with the data you’ve purchased, there’s no reason to treat it differently to organic data. The same principles of building up the value on offer and growing an understanding of how you can solve their problems apply.
Over to Laithwaites’ Tim Collis for some thoughts on the average sherry drinker…..
Many people feel that Sherry can only be drunk by elderly relations before a meal – this is so not true – my WOW moment happened when I tasted 6, YES 6, styles of Sherry throughout the meal with people of all ages. Just awesome.
With so many styles there’s a whole range of interesting flavours and if you like lemons, apricots, cherries, almonds and caramel then you’re probably going to find some Sherry styles that you’ll enjoy.
It’s stronger than wine, takes a few years to produce using some unique biological and physical processes so there’s a wonderful depth of flavours.
The dry ones (finos) are made from the Palomino grape and the sweet ones (PX) are made from the Pedro Ximenez grape. Then there are some blends in the middle that make the amontillado, oloroso and Palo cortado styles. Then they make ‘creams’ too. Phew, what a range!
So where do you start? Maybe try some with a few plates of Tapas (those wonderful, flavour-packed Spanish sharing dishes) because what grows together goes together. Just ask the restaurant to recommend a couple of sherries with your food choices (maybe they’ll let you taste ‘em before you choose). On my last Tapas visit, we enjoyed a tasty amontillado with dates wrapped in bacon and a gorgeously rich oloroso with mushrooms floating in Roquefort cheese.
Or, you may prefer to enjoy these two bad boys, a Fino and an Amontillado from Barbadillo, a legendary Sherry Bodega, delivered to a UK address for £ 24.47, saving 4.50*. Simply send ‘TAPAS’ to Tim Collis at Laithwaites Surbiton to take up the offer.
* The standard price including UK delivery is £28.97. Standard terms & conditions apply and are available on request
Thanks to Tim for his opinions.