Tara Meineke of M Cellars wins national tasting room manager of the year award

GENEVA, Ohio – Bottles will no longer be the only glass items in the M Cellars tasting room.

Soon, a shelf in the Geneva tasting room will display a glass award, touting Meineke as the national tasting room manager of the year. The award comes from Tasting Tap Room Expo, which promotes industry networking and conferences. Managers of tasting rooms at breweries, wineries, meaderies, distilleries and other venues were eligible.

Meineke’s role in the tasting room is essential: approximately 90% of M Cellars’ wine sales come through the tasting room. If you are a national brand – say Budweiser – you simply drop your product into bars, restaurants and stores. But if you’re a beverage business, like a winery in Northeast Ohio, the lifeline of your business lies in getting people to the tasting room, greeting them and to make them buy your product – and come back.

“We really connect directly with the consumer through the experience in the tasting room – which is great because all of that experience comes from being able to tell our story; that’s what makes us unique,” ​​Meineke said of the winery, located at 6193 S. River Road W in Geneva. “There are 30 wineries in the region, and how do you stand out to have guests who return year after year?

Since she and her winemaker husband Matt Meineke purchased the land for growing grapes in 2007, Meineke has been spreading the word about the winery through social media and tasting room events. Developing that “person-to-person interaction” has been key to building a network of loyal customers, she said.

This award simply validates the work Meineke has done.

“I just said to myself, ‘Hey, I’m going to go for it, I’ve got nothing to lose, everything to gain. I probably won’t get it because it’s national and I’m up against all these people who have 30 years of experience in the industry. »

Having received no response when the deadline expired, she responded with thanks and figured nothing gained, nothing lost. But organizers told him they were still reviewing applications. A committee of 30 people participated in examining the applications.

Then she received an email: You won.

To qualify, she had to meet criteria and write essays covering specific facets of M Cellars’ portfolio, such as how the winery stands out in a competitive industry. Meineke said he wrote about the importance of understanding the terroir of the region, among other aspects.

She traveled to Reno, Nevada, to receive the award this month.

“It’s a lesson to learn, I shouldn’t think that I don’t deserve as much as everyone else,” said Meineke, who received an International Legacy Award from the Dames d’Escoffier International a year ago.

“It motivates me to continue doing what I do. …It pushes you to continue to strive for excellence.

Related coverage: M Cellars’ Tara Meineke wins international award: ‘She hasn’t quite got it yet’

I cover restaurant, beer, wine and sports topics as part of our Life & Culture team. For my recent stories, here is a cleveland.com phone book. WTAM-1100’s Bill Wills and I talk about food and drinks around 8:20 a.m. on Thursdays. Twitter and IG: @mbona30. My latest book, co-written with Dan Murphy: “Joe Thomas: Not Your Average Joe” by Gray & Co.

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