Wine Road Board Meeting

November 11, 2020 | 9:00am

Remote

In Attendance

☒   Beth Costa (Wine Road)

☒   John Viszlay (Viszlay Vineyards)

☒   Devin Ruddick. (Hook & Ladder Winery)

☒   Lillian Fechter. (Francis Ford Coppola Winery)

☒   Danny Christensen. (Geyserville Inn)

☒   Joe Foppoli (Christopher Creek)

☒   Julia Lander. (Moshin Vineyards)

☒   Oded Shakked. (Longboard Vineyards)

☐   Jack Seifrick. (Cast Wines)

☐   Stephanie Wycoff. (Seghesio Family Vineyards)

☒   Katie Ambrosi. (Wilson Artisan Wines)

☒   Aaron Krug (Best Westen Dry Creek Inn)

☐   Open Board Position – Lodging

☐   Open Board Position – Winery

 

Julia approved previous meeting minutes. Dan seconded. Motion to approve. All approved.

Wine and Food Affair

64 wineries involved, 20 will donate wine.

Approximately 38 cases sold. 6 out of state, that had to be refunded.

Not worth the effort, digitally advertising spend.

Videos are evergreen enough that we can continue to promote. Might be able to repurpose for other uses.

Every winery is selling so much wine, so this isn’t compelling enough. 6 packs sold well, 12 packs were okay.

We may make about $5k after expenses. Not worth the effort.

Glasses are other expenses were charged against.

Treasurers

$14k in Checking. $150k in Savings.

Carlson: Waiving rent, as long as we can provide office back.

Stay and not have to pay rent.

(Lillian stepped away)

Winter WIneland

Would Wineries participate?

Some wineries agreed to participate.

Devin brought up management of cash flow. It will have a positive impact of membership, but will it be enough to cover expenses. We need to forecast cash flow and understand if this will cover it.

Previous prices were $40.00.

Require wineries to pour 3 wines.

Oded suggests increasing ticket to $50.00, then donate 10% back to local organization

John suggested no refunds. Disagreements, due to concern about last minute forced booking.

Benefit of reserving earlier will provide more availability of reservations.

Discussion of – is this an event? Is this a tasting pass for a specific weekend?

Pre-reserve a certain number of tables per weekend for this event. Seated tastings.

Concerns about operating expenses balance versus revenue.

John said –

• We cannot dip in savings.
• We may need to furlough Beth
• We may need a board run organization.
• See how Winter Wineland goes.
• 60 days, $10k a month.

Beth says –

• Blog stop
• If we have an event, we would need to increase payroll
• Looking at Martin Luther King Weekend for event

Oded –

• Brought up vaccine, rapid testing, political climate

Katie – offered to assist Beth with marketing and outreach. We are going to reenact lists of wineries for communication.

Devin –

• Suggested we approve 10k monthly expense through January 31st.
• Will need 3k to promote
• Devin motion to approve, John seconded

Joe suggested support from Sonoma State. PR Marketing firm. Beth said that by the time she meets with them, not worth the time

When Beth is OOO, we will need way to communicate to members – proposed Out of Office message, with specific hours that Beth will be available. Board members could also strengthen their relationship with their wineries, for first point of contact.

Beth is going to create survey.   When she gets back in town, we look at results for interest.

Oded suggested we delay to see what is going to happen. Rest of board is concerned about messaging postponement offer. Agreed to move forward with January date.

Wine Road is going to stay open with location. No charge of rent. Great image for other wineries.

Devin motion to adjourn. Aaron second, Oded third. Everyone agreed.