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
- 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
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
- Changes to be made – take out “neighbor” and to highlight the number of followers the Wine Road has in the beginning of the letter.
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