Is Cork'd Playing Fair with Wineries, with their Community? I Think Not.

I like Social Tasting note sites. I’ve been a Cellartracker user since before you could freely sign up for an account. We also help consult with Adegga.com a direct competitor to Cork’d, so please consider that when you read this article. None the less this article is meant to not attack Cork’d but rather raise some possible ethical conflicts that not only should be looked at by Cork’d but considered by all who are trying to help wineries out in todays online wine world.

I enjoy is Cork’d, as well as Gary Vee, but unfortunately, I had a very creepy feeling yesterday after talking to one of my clients. Cork’d, after wallowing in neglect since Gary Vaynerchuck‘s aquistion in 2007, has recently hired on CEO Lindsay Ronga to turn things around and get Cork’d back on the map. This decision, from what we can tell, was to leverage Gary’s voice to build Cork’d into a dynamic space for wine lovers to play and a profitable property for the Vaynernation. So far, so good and I was all for it until I saw something yesterday that made me do a double take.

A client of ours was recently sent a document on how they could become a “Verified Winery” on Cork’d. For a fee of $999, you can become verified, gaining access to as a winery, a list of extra features. I found this at first to be a great way to both generate income, while allowing wineries to control their brands more effectively, that is until I saw what you get if don’t pay. Turns out, there’s no free option, or even a way for a winery to participate, unless they pay. You see if your a winery who doesn’t pay you are given a default winery page that looks like this:

No image of the logo, no link to the winery, no information at all. Basically a “deadbeat winery” look, suggesting that you don’t care enough to take the time to curate your image. It may not seem unreasonable until you contrast it with the content on a “Verified Winery Page”:

Notice on the “verified winery page” you receive a nice badge highlighting that you’re “verified”; which is at the very least, ambiguous, and at the most, misleading. As a “verified winery” you are allowed to add an image, links, a map of your winery, a list of your wines, etc. What bothers me is that “Verified Winery” seems to suggest that, “We’ve checked this winery out, and these people are who they say they are”. This level of credibility is something you would imagine they would do without charging, but no mention of money exchanging hands ever shows up on the site. In fact, if you click on the “Verified Winery” banner, this is what you are told:

About Verified Wineries

So what does verifying your winery mean? We want to make certain that Cork’d community members are engaging with an actual representative from the wineries that are included on our site. In order to do this we need to be in contact with you, the winery, to verify that our users are communicating with a genuine winery representative. An e-mail will be sent to us alerting us that you’ve attempted to claim your winery profile page. Once we’ve confirmed that you are an actual winery representative, your profile page will feature a Verified Winery badge. This enables you to engage, discuss, and promote your wine to a concentrated bunch of passionate winelovers!

Maybe I’m blind, but do you see anything about having to pay to be a “verified winery”? A user who is simply adding my notes one by one to Cork’d and participating in the community I might take from this that all the wineries not being verified are just lazy or irresponsible, or not paying attention. I’m mean, if it’s as simple as “claiming your profile” why wouldn’t all wineries do it? At the very least, they should mention this is a paid service that costs real money. We at Catavino Marketing work with many small wineries, and a check for $999 is not often written unless there is a tangible return on that money. Cork’d may at some point be a great place to send that check, but for some wineries, it’s just not a reality. The issue being that these small guys are completely left out of the game. No cash means no image or profile. On the “non-verified winery pages, you are offered a link “Claim this winery” and though I doubt many people click this, there is a small note on the page you’re taken too explaining that there is a fee involved:

Step 1 – So, what does verifying your winery mean? We want to make certain that Cork’d community members are engaging with an actual representative from your winery. After we verify you, and after your payment is received, your profile page will feature a Verified Winery badge — This enables you to beef up your profile page with your logo, enter in detailed winery information, engage, interact, and promote your wine to a massive number of Cork’d members.

Yet no mention of how much money is being requested.

What Cork’d offers beyond the profile page is a wealth of possible benefits from the perspective of a winery: things that I believe are worth the $999 investment, or soon will be when their user base grows. Access to mailing lists, front page exposure, and an ability to interact with user; all of which are extras that I would think as you go forward would be of great value for wineries.

Apart from all this there is one other problem. Cork’d is left with a small issue of value for their users. What good is a social tasting note site without good content about the wineries people are drinking wines from? Cork’d seems to be cutting their nose off to spite their face in this case. By letting wineries simply upload an image and a link, not to mention list their wines, they would be creating content for their users that would enrich the community. By charging for this basic information, you set up a barrier for wine lovers to research a winery, or learn more. Consequently, wine drinkers need to head over to Google or AbleGrape to find more info when they are researching their latest purchase. I guess maybe Cork’d doesn’t care.

If Cork’d wants to become a defacto Facebook for wine lovers, it needs better content and wine data. By excluding wineries from adding their info, or rather blackmailing them into it submitting it, they are not setting a standard in the wine world that I think many will look to favorably on.

Cheers,

Ryan Opaz