Tag: Dawn Dolan

“There is an inherent David and Goliath dynamic in three-tier distribution,” says Brian Rosen, owner of BevStrat. “It is skewed toward the top 300 brands globally, and the top five distributors focus on these brands, through which 98.4% of all wine, beer, and alcohol is sold.”

Could the French Tribaie be the next big thing for ensuring quality of wine with its unique grape-sorting process?

Now in its sixth year of existence, this year’s WIN North Coast Expo is rising to meet the demands for increased educational components. Hearing back from decision-makers of wineries and vineyards, Wine Industry Network is rising to meet the challenge. Last year’s attendance exceeded all expectations, with popular sessions exploding out the doors of the Sonoma County Fairgrounds halls.

Harvest is over, juice is settling into secondary fermentation and vines are waiting to be pruned, so it’s time to plan out the next year’s budget.  With the North Coast Wine Industry Expo (WIN Expo) right around the corner, the timing for making budgetary choices couldn’t be any easier.

VinterActive has just released their newest data report, VinQuest 2017, which focuses on the East Coast wine industry’s direct-to-consumer practices. Bryan St. Amant, Founder & CEO of VinterActive, has a stated commitment to deliver the tools, knowledge and service needed for wineries to take full advantage of the direct-to-consumer market, the wine industry's fastest growing sales channel.

Stepping up to fill a much-needed niche in the beverage industry, the 2017 US Wine & Beverage Expo (USBevX), held in Washington, D.C. offered something unique; the first-ever Winery Association Leadership Conference (WALC). Built for association directors (at state, regional, and AVA levels), their board members, and key staff, this fledgling conference achieved high marks from all parties, attendees to panelists.

On April 4th a local wine industry professional group from Napa and Sonoma, Wine Women, held their first Equal Pay Day mini-expo at Napa Valley Community College.

Garnering attention from such disparate online news sources such as Forbes, The Emerald Report and Homeschooling Guys, Wine Industry Network’s newest conference, the Wine and Weed Symposium, announced for August, 2017 in Sonoma County, CA, will be the first such pairing of these two industries. One, a tried and true luxury item for millennia, with 170-year old historical roots in California. The other an underground, cash industry coming to the light. How will this match-up work out?

By Dawn Dolan With US BevX 2017 just around the corner, potentially one of the most important sessions will be, Leading the Commitment: Owners Investing...

By Dawn Dolan What if your wine grapes had the brix levels of ready-to-harvest grapes, but didn’t taste or smell ripe? With warming trends across...

The changing role of bloggers in the world of wine marketing has infiltrated into the wine industry at last. USBevX 2017’s directed session, The New Press Machine: Bloggers and their Increasing Influence in the Industry will explore the role of this newest mechanism in getting your brand known.

The state of the DTC address by Ken Nowlin of SOVOS, owners of Ship Compliant, was a happy one for the wine industry, with some areas shifting spots, but all doing quite well. Cracking the 5 million case mark in 2016, sales also set a new high at over $2 billion. Sonoma County was the focus of his praise, with their price per bottle moving up even as supply increased, something not normally found.

Bringing winemaking trends directly to the winemakers themselves, Michael Attanasi, Coordinator at the Virginia Winemakers’ Research Exchange, will be presenting a two-part discussion at the wine industry’s newest technical conference and exposition, US Wine & Beverage Expo 2017 (USBevX). Shooting for the highest quality of panel topics, speakers, and vendors that are currently trending for East Coast and Mid-western wineries and winemakers, organizers of the Expo have asked Attanasi to moderate two practical-application sessions: Whole Cluster Inclusion: Exploring Quality Trends in Eastern Winemaking and The Effect of Granular Oak Additions: Exploring Quality Trends in Eastern Winemaking.

With the posh, power location of Washington D.C., the US Wine & Beverage Expo (USBevX) starts the conference theme “Quality Revolution” off with an air of authority. Honing the focus this year toward the burgeoning East Coast wine industry, the 2017 Expo should appeal to a broad range of wine & beverage industry principals.

“We have good sellers and good buyers in the North Bay,” Brian Clements states firmly. “The North Bay region provides premium grapes, and the luxury category of $10 per bottle and higher is selling very well, across all varietal categories.”