Participating Wineries Have To Offer Tastings
You must agree to offer complimentary tastings of five to six 1 oz tastings
The idea of a Passport is to experience your Wines to help you sell your Wine. Please read Why Offer Tastings to learn about the benefits of offering a complimentary tasting.
From a Business Perspective, we want to ensure the Passport meets or exceeds the expectation of both Passport holders and the participating Wineries. Therefore, the marketing plan is leveraging and advertising the "Complimentary Tasting." This business plan simplifies the Application, Marketing, and Management of the program.
Technically, if we allow a Winery to substitute a tasting for another item, the applications will become much more complex to track who is offering what as an incentive, requiring more expenses and resources to manage the Passport Program.
From a legal perspective, we need to follow the principal statutes regulating advertising such as;
- The FTC Act prohibits 'unfair or deceptive acts or practices.
- The Lanham Act, which is the federal false advertising statute, and.
- The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Please be advised that if a Participating Winery fails to provide the Passport Holder with a complimentary tasting as advertised, the Winery is at risk of legal action from the Passport Holder. Not to mention a negative perception of the Passport Program.