Wine Road Board Meeting – July 13, 2022

Wine Road – Board Meeting
Wednesday July 13, 2022
9:00am-10:15am
Francis Ford Coppola Winery
Minutes
(pending approval at Aug meeting)

Board Present: Lillian, Lucas, Katie, Devin, Danny, Harry, Helen
Missing: Teri, John, Oded, Jack, Brooke, Aaron

Called to order 9:33– waited for quorum to arrive

Review/Approve Retreat Notes
Devin made motion to approve Retreat Notes, Lucas 2nd motion, all in favor

Treasurer’s Report
Checking $19,390.46 (June 30)
Savings $150,117.00 (June 30)
Deposited approx.. $18,000 this week, from assessments
Assessments were mailed July 2nd and our first payment came in on the 5th! As usual we have received about 25 payments this first week. Assessments are due Aug. 1st.

Wine & Food Affair
– Review reimbursement sliding scale
Devin made motion to;
 reimburse 1000-1500 ticket sales at, up to $400 with receipts
 reimburse 1501+ ticket sales at up to $800 with receipts
 if 2000 or more Board to consider additional payment
Lucas 2nd the motion – all in favor

– Recipe requirements
 Board elected to not require recipes in advance, either online or printed.
 Wineries WILL need to let Wine Road know what they are serving, so it can be included in the online program. Just the title of the recipe.
 Wineries may opt to print out recipe cards for their guests, but it will not be required.
 Receipts will be required to receive the reimbursement.

Winter Wineland
Lillian made a motion that the reimbursement for Winter Wineland be a max of $250 and it was for the “event photo area” or event décor. Receipts are required.
Devin 2nd the motion, all in favor.

Membership – review slides for new member outreach
 Beth has edited slides but did not have the updated version to share today.
 She can email to Board for review and editing. Goal to have them ready in the next week or so.

Membership Drive – divide and connect
 Lillian to email winery contact list to Board members, for them to make first contact.
 Plan – Board members make contact and ask if they can introduce the winery member to Debbie via email, then Debbie can follow up with an in-person meeting.
 We agreed Board members were not in the best position to sell all of the benefits of membership. Debbie is best suited to answer any questions.
 Debbie is now being offered a 10% commission on any NEW wineries she brings on board. This focused Membership Driver runs out Sept. 30 at which point we will be focused on events.

Old / New Business
 Beth explained the new Wine Stopper program that Martin has started.
 He sent an email to wineries last week and has already had 20 respond.
 He is setting up in-person visits and while there reviewing ALL of the Wine Road benefits with the winery and collecting important information from them, while he’s there.
 Lillian suggested he become our Wine Road Member Concierge.
 Beth will discuss with him.

Beth reported that she added the Corporate Gifting and VIP Experiences form back to our website (last week).
 We have already had 2 groups reach out – 30 executives from New York and 20 executives from the bay area.
 Both groups wanted a tasting experience and a dinner at a winery.
 Debbie is overseeing those.
 Beth has brought Nancy Woods back to start making calls to bay area businesses, trying to see holiday gift sets.
 We will continue this for July and Aug and see if there is any traction – then reevaluate.

Lucas suggested working with our members who travel for sales meeting and creating a cost effective way for them to host a press dinner to talk about Wine Road.
 Wine Road would cover wine shipping costs, dinner for the group, supply collateral as needed, invite the press and Mysty would then follow up.
 We may even find times when multiple wineries are in the same market at the same time, so it could be a dinner with 2-3 winemakers or winery owners, 6-7 different wines featured, and 4-6 journalists.
 Food for thought…discuss more at the next meeting.

10:45 am Meeting adjourn