Wine Road Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

Thursday February 11, 2016

9:00 am

Kendall-Jackson Office

 

In Attendance:  Robin, Beth, Sue, Carri, Robert, Sharon, Julia, Jeff, Kevin, Derek, Ross, Joe, Renae, Stacy

Absent:  Carla

 

9:00    Meeting called to order

 

9:05    Approval of December minutes

• Motion to approve – Robert / Seconded – Carri / Unanimously passed

 

9:08    Treasurer’s Report

• Checking:  $53,503.93
• Savings:  $160,229.98
  • Approximately $50k was taken out to pay Winter WINEland expenses and $40K back in from Winter WineLand sales

 

9:10    401K

• Began on February 1st – started on first pay period

 

9:30    Events

• Winter WINEland – feedback
  • Sold more tickets in advance than last year – could end up ahead, but won’t know until after door mone comes in
  • Wineries feedback
    • Half of feedback reported wineries were great, great event and other half of feedback reported unpleasant experiences
  • Negative Response from attendee
    • One attendee reported that they would not come back to the event because all winery staffs talked about how they disliked the event and that no “buyers” attend these events
    • Beth contacted the wineries that were reported to her and informed them of the reviews.
    • Discussion on Wineries conducting a more professional/positive atmosphere- suggestions included:  Winery employee training in marketing and reminders at Wine Road meetings
• Barrel Tasting
  • New format for pre-event meetings
    • Will speedup the powerpoint and take advantage of the large attendance – will use this time to address more information other than barrel tastings, such as navigating through Wine Road website.
  • 116 wineries are participating
  • 12 wineries participating first weekend only
  • Ticket sales thus far:  approximately 6,000 sold
  • A few non-participating members have been “trashing” Barrel Tasting and using the barrel tasting weekends to do own promotional events to capitalize on the crowd
    • Beth has sent email to all members as a reminder that members should positively promote membership events even if not participating

 

9:35    40th Anniversary

• AVA Tasting – Alexander Valley Winegrowers @ Stryker
  • 9 Wineries focusing on history, elevations and location
  • $40 per ticket / 40 attending
• Breakfasts
  • 4 will be done on Barrel Tasting weekend
• Art of Oak
  • Will be on display at DeLoach Winery or reception tonight and all weekend then placed at 40 different locations in the next few weeks
  • Will use the DeLoach display as advertisement for Ruby Affair and Mystery Tours
• Ruby Affair
  • Link for tickets will be going on sale on Wine Road site possibly by this afternoon – waiting on EventBrite
  • Goal is to raise $50k for each charity
• REFB raffle – instant cellar
  • tried to sell tickets at Winter WINEland – only about $1,200 was brought in.
  • Need to rethink advertising – possibly banners
• Magical Mystery Tours
  • Preview for social media (6 people) went smooth – already sold tickets through the press that they gave us.
  • Tickets for tours are $100 per person / limited to 40 people.  Each tour has a host and each stop will provide wine & food

 

9:50    PRMD Update

• Met with Carillo and Gore – provide them with information
  • Gore voiced that no one wants to read pages and pages – want to have bullet points of facts (not “ideas”)
  • Events need to be defined

 

9:55    ABC Licensing update

• Wine Road still has to pay for licensing for event day – Reason given was because Wine Road provides the glass to attendees / trying to get this resolved before Barrel Tasting

 

10:00    Public Relations

• LA with SF Travel March 30
  • Looking at giving gifts – little grapevine with stake that has WR brand on it
• VinDIego
  • April 1-2 / 14 wineries
• Monetery
  • June 4-5 / Laura will be attending
  • Wineries are just now signing up
• Rancho Palos Verdes, Trump Golf Course
  • Beth will be looking into it – reported to her as a great event due to good demographic

 

10:05    New/Old Business

• AVA groups now meeting monthly at WR office
  • presidents/directors of all AVAs meet
• Problem Members
  • members not turning in supplies/money from ticket sales – the executive board will discuss solutions in next meeting
• Submitted Grant to Sonoma County
• Potential New Board Members
  • Robert & Sue interviewed Jim Conell from Medlock Ames for a winery seat
  • Still need 3 wineries seats and 1 lodging seat to be filled – board members are urged to pick up an application for anyone they think is a good fit and is interested in sitting on the board

 

10:25    Adjourned

• Motion to adjourn – Renea / Seconded – Ross