Expert Editorial
Crush in Compliance with California’s Wage Laws
Crush season is an exciting and important time of year for any winery, but for modern agricultural enterprises doing business in California, the state’s complex web of wage and hour employment laws presents a trap for the unwary at this already hectic time.
Your Website Visitors Are Telling You Everything You Need to Know – Are You Listening?
Making sense of the data you get from your website. Consumer website behavior provides much of the information you need to make better marketing investments. Website analysis can help you improve content engagement, boost sales, and drive traffic into your tasting room. And most importantly, it can help you build a better experience for your […]
Selling Wine Through Facebook Requires the Tenacity for Testing of a Sadistic High School Geometry Teacher Giving Surprise Quizzes
Remember that teacher in high school who relentlessly surprised the class with random, mid-week quizzes? The secret to success of selling wine through Facebook comes down to channeling that bit of her personality that loved testing. But unlike finally acing that class, Facebook advertising is a constantly moving target with a bunch of ‘gotchas’. Although […]
Tasting Room Trends: 2016 Review & 2017 Forecasts
At VingDirect, we exist to help family wineries grow their direct to consumer sales. Our winery clients receive education and training, customized consulting, and our Performance Tracker (PT) software, which provides actionable tasting room data. Ours is the only benchmarking tool in the wine industry and we’re happy to share 2016 learnings and insight to what we think […]
Data Is Driving the Wine Industry
There’s no shortage of mobile apps these days to find wines, remember what you drank, or even have wine delivered to your door in under an hour. But with so many apps and new technologies, it can be difficult for producers and suppliers to determine how the changing landscape of technology in the wine industry […]
Managing Managers – It’s a Whole New Ballgame!
By Joel A. Miller, ChateauHR Consulting Roles change dramatically when you get promoted to middle management. Many newly-promoted managers fall flat on their face because no one told them this simple truth – you need a different leadership style to succeed at higher levels. The skills that got you promoted ARE NOT the skills you’ll […]
Five Video Tips for Wine Marketing
I live and work producing films and videos in the San Francisco Bay area, where tech and startups abound, but creativity doesn’t necessarily follow suit. A great deal of time is spent looking just like the competition on company websites and social media portals, so the new guy can appear to be on equal footing with the slightly older gal, and mind blowing company videos consist of a bunch of words jumping onto a white screen and/or hand drawn animation that isn’t.
10 Factors to Consider when Selecting a Bulk Wine Supply Partner
IBWSS (International Bulk Wine and Spirits Show) talks to Steve Dorfman, partner at the Ciatti Company about the 10 Factors That One Should Consider when Selecting a Bulk Wine Supply Partner. Steve joined the Ciatti Company in 2007 after working with the Brown-Forman Corporation, Fetzer Vineyards, Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards and Bolla Wine brands for 24 years. […]
Ready for Your Exit? Start Your Succession Planning with a Few Simple Questions
by Jay Silverstein, Partner, Moss Adams LLP Succession planning continues to be a buzzword as baby boomers transition their businesses and wealth to the next generation. These questions can help you determine your exit readiness and jump-start your planning. I’m undecided about selling my winery or vineyard versus transitioning it to family members. How much […]
Wines Millennials Want: Five Stand-Out Qualities Millennials Are Looking For
If you want a sense of the enormous influence of millennials, just take a look at the stats. Millennials, the largest generation in America, are expected to spend 200 billion dollars in 2017. They account for 11.6 million households with kids, and they are the most ethnically and racially diverse American generation. Add some context to those numbers — more wine, beer, and spirits options exist now than ever before — and you come up with a positive yet daunting outlook. Millennials are eager to spend their money on wine brands they believe in, but they’re also our most spontaneous and engaged generation.
“What Kind of Tree would You Be?” and Other Stupid Interview Questions
By Joel A. Miller, ChateauHR Consulting I’m amazed by the number of mediocre interviews in our industry. Many use silly questions to gauge the candidate’s intellect or creativity. Some classics: “If you could be any superhero, who would you be?” “If you were stuck on a deserted island, what would you bring with you?” Hiring […]
Slam the Brakes on That Spinning Hamster Wheel!
Too often people mistakenly assume high activity equals actual progress. Jennie was wiped out after a second 70+ hour week at the Tasting Room…but she was so proud of the work done as the TR manager to improve sales. She had rearranged the merchandise…added new signage – that customers could now read…scrubbed the back room floor one night to demonstrate to her team how important cleanliness is to the business. The list went on and on…
Effective Performance Management: Should They Stay or Should They Go?
By Casi Jewett, MAOD, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, The Personnel Perspective One of the most challenging aspects of running any business is managing employee performance issues. Due to the busy nature of the wine industry, especially now during the harvest and tourist season, it is easy for this task to be the last item on a supervisor’s […]
Wine Intolerance
You may know it as wine allergy, wine intolerance, wine sensitivity, red wine headache, white wine headache, asian flush – what is the origin of this problem? There are a lot of opinions, and there is some controversy about the issue. Sulfite comes up frequently, but very few people are sulfite sensitive enough for this to be an issue. Tannins and histamine have been blamed. Biogenic amines, too. Who is right? What are the triggers for this problem of wine intolerance?
Economic and Sustainable Winery Events Management with a View toward Changing Rules
First let’s make sure if you are planning on hosting an event at your site, it is in your economic best interest to do so.
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