Notes from Annual Member Meeting – December 2021

I have given it my best shot to recap the topics we covered.

First off –  Thank you to Katie Ambrosi and her team at Coyote Sonoma for hosting our meeting.

Thank you to all of the wineries that brought wine to share at the meeting and wine for us to use for various promotions throughout the year.

Then I really have to say just how GREAT it was to finally see so many of you in person. There have been so many staffing changes, there were several people at the meeting I have been working with for the past 10-20 months, but had never met.  I loved seeing all of you!

These are the main points we covered:

• Stay Healdsburg – the Healdsburg Tourism Improvement District
• Visit Santa Rosa
• WIN Wine Industry Network
• Leap Solutions
• Pure Luxury Transportation
• Ron Rubin Winery

Current Wine Road Board of Directors – Link Here

• Wine Road currently has 121 winery members and 32 lodging members 
• We mailed 3700 online map requests in 2021
• We hosted 3 events in 2021 – all smaller, reservation only, but highly successful

– Exposure onWineRoad.com / inclusion in our new Weekly Featured Member, on our home page

– Opportunity to be a guest on our Wine Road Podcast

– My Wine Road Newsletter – submit info for our gift guides, virtual events, varietal of the month

– Seminars and Training – example our current Responsible Beverage Service

– Inclusion in our blog posts in Along the Wine Road

– Events – participate at a level you are comfortable with – limited seating, reservations only

– Social Media exposure – Wine Road is active on multiple platforms, promoting our members

– Being in the know…weekly Member Memo with updates from Wine Institute, Family Winemaker and more

– We have maintained $150,000 in savings

– ›We did receive a PPPLoan, a CA Grant of $15,000, 2 Sonoma County Grants of $2500 each, a $12,000 sponsorship from Stay Healdsburg and $12,000 from Ron Rubin Winery for our podcast.
– ›Debbie has been back in the office since July, working 10-15 hours a week. She is currently working 20-30 hours a week.

›Cellars are Closed/Libraries are Open – 23 wineries
›Winelove Weekend – 43 wineries / 420 tickets
›Easter Egg Barrels – 30 barrels
›8 Days in May – 43 wineries / 250 tickets
›Wine & Food Affair – 35 wineries / 1200+ tickets
›
Although we have had to scale back, the reception for our events has been great – all year!
Customers are understanding the reservation format and wineries appreciate the control they have over the traffic throughout the day.