Wine Road Board Meeting – June 8, 2017

Wine Road Board of Directors

Meeting June 8, 2017

9:00-10:30

Dry Creek Inn

DRAFT Pending Board Approval

9:05 – Call to Order

• Present: Carla, Ross, John, Aaron, Thomas, Cari, Kevin, Devin, Julia, Mike. Joe (via skype), Beth, Stacy

9:06 – Welcome New Board Members

• Thomas Debiase – Foley Wines
• Ross Clendenan – J Rickards

9:08 – Review of Retreat Notes

• Motion to Approve:  Julia
• Seconded:  Kevin

9:10 – Treasurer’s Report

• Checking: $151,493.52
• Savings: $200,000.49
• Executive Board has requested a profit & Loss breakdown for each event
  • Review handout – Results show lower numbers, but higher profits for the events

9:12 – Mysty Stewart – PR update

• Social Media recap from February 2017 – May 2017
  • FB in general is slow growing – WR is no exception, # in growth has slowed but also due to lack of events this time of year
    • Top posts include Easter, President’s Day, & Tasting Room Etiquette
    • Money is put in each month for “Boosts”
  • Twitter – Sonoma Chat increases popularity – Mysty is going to try to participate more to get more tweets going
    • Top posts include Earth day & Mother’s Day
  • Instagram – growing at about 15%.  WR goal is to create quality engagement – Instagram is best social media at this point
    • Top posts include, Barrel Tasting, Puppy Day, Rose pic from Kokomo

9:40 – Outline for Wine Road Club

• Review handout
  • Tickets will be for $100 per person / $175 per couple
  • Name?
    • Board voted for name to be “Access Wine Road”
    • Goal is to launch in early November – excellent time to roll due to people looking for xmas gifts
    • Beth to start work on artwork/etc
    • Looking to raise about $60k

9:50 – Outline for Partnerships

• Review handout – letter to potential “partners”
  • Changes to be made – take out “neighbor” and to highlight the number of followers the Wine Road has in the beginning of the letter.
    • Motion to approve with changes:  Aaron
    • Seconded – Ross
    • Unanimously passed

10:00 – Events

• Magical Mystery Tours
  • More tours added – estimated to raise about $10k by the end of the year
  • Wine Road office is to reach out and personally contact participating wineries with expectations on food/tasting – food is to be appropriate for time of day
  • Each winery must provide more than a tasting (include a cellar or vineyard tour)
• Winemaker Breakfasts
  • May breakfast was cancelled
  • July breakfast as of this afternoon will be cancelled (unless a miracle happens)

• Wine & food Affair
  • Rolling right along….
  • June 30th is deadline

• Rhone Event
  • No news to report at this time

10:10 – Marketing / PR

• Remnant ads
  • Bart – new artwork for Tasting Pass in BART
  • Websites – ads for Mystery Tours / Tasting Pass to be placed in Foodie websites
  • Food & Wine Magazine – Wine Road got a very good deal for a full size ad
• Bloggers Conference / Wine Tourism
  • Tasting for Bloggers conference / promote Mystery tours
  • Beth to be moderator for panel at the Wine Tourism Conference
• Sunset Celebration
  • Next year at Cornerstone Winery
  • “Destination Wine road” with big tent & lounge style
• Podcast Convention – Anaheim
  • “Podcast Movement” – approximately 2k attendants
  • Goal of podcast is to get sponsorship
• Omaha – Avenue Scholars Fundraisers
  • Wine Road to commit to November event

10:20 – Membership

• Lodging meeting update – letter, video, weekly reminder and intro
  • Assessments due August 1st
  • Review draft of Membership Letter
    • Motion to approve:  Julia
    • Seconded – Kevin
    • Unanimously passed

10:25 – New Business

• Beth is urging wineries to suggest lodgings that are Wine Road members

*Next Meetings

• Executive Board;  July 6th
• Full Board:  August 10th

Present: Carla, Ross, John, Aaron, Thomas, Cari, Kevin, Devin, Julia, Mike. Joe (via skype), Beth, Stacy

Posted by Beth Costa

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