For years, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) model for wineries was built in clear, separate silos: the Tasting Room team poured and sold wine, the Wine Club team managed membership and retention, and the Marketing team focused on email, text campaigns, and social media engagement. Each department had its own set of…
Is the Pendulum Swinging Back? Rethinking Wine Experiences in a Shifting Landscape Like any other industry, the wine industry is cyclical. What goes around tends to come back around. And what can we learn from those trends—besides the fact that leg warmers were never cool, even in the ’80s? Wine…
Reimagining the Water Cooler: Building Connection in Remote DTC Wine Teams The COVID-era shift to remote and hybrid work brought many benefits: flexibility, broader talent pools, and increased autonomy. But it also came with a major cost—especially for those in the DTC wine world: we lost the spontaneous learning and…
Uncertain times can feel like a game of survival for many in the wine industry. With tighter budgets, shifting consumer spending, and market challenges, it’s tempting to cut back on non-essential expenses like staff training and development. Yet, those who invest in their teams during tough times often emerge stronger,…
Overdependence on Tasting Room traffic as the sole driver to grow our DTC business has become problematic for all wine regions. Between fires, the pandemic, changing travel patterns many wineries have focused new efforts on building DTC customer bases from programs that they can actually control – DTC road show…
US’ Shamier Little passes on the baton to Bryce Deadmon in the mixed 4x400m relay heat at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo: Jewel Samad/AFP It began years ago, and every day, we have the chance to cross the finish line strong. How we got here is not by accident;…
I know the rent is in arrears The dog has not been fed in years It’s even worse than it appears But it’s alright… …We will survive While Jerry Garcia may have sung it nearly 40 years ago, it bears repeating. The news is full of doom and gloom for…
“Tasting Room Traffic is Down” or “Ecommerce Lowest Since 2019” or “Wine Club Attrition at All Time High” – these are not subject lines we’re unfamiliar with lately. There is a lot of doom and gloom being reported highlighting downward trends. However, as an industry, we’re prevailing and seeing a…
Many teams use the slow season to regroup on the last year and make plans for the new year. Some of this comes in the form of training, some in attending conferences for inspiration, and some recalibrate with an annual SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. We know we’re preaching…
There are many great lessons in watching Sunday football and leadership. Immediately following a big play – either a winning play or an error – once the player sits on the bench, their designated coach joins them with an iPad. They may exchange high fives or get a consolation pat…