Afternoon Brief, July 8th

Allied Grape Growers, CAWG Release Legal Analysis on 2020 Winegrape Rejections: A report released today by Allied Grape Growers (AGG) and the California Association of Winegrape Growers (CAWG) analyzes various grape transactions in 2020 that resulted in rejections or severe price discounts due to alleged quality problems associated with wildfire smoke...

DP&F’s Richard Mendelson will be the moderator for a star-studded panel of Napa business executives in a free Zoom webinar on Doing Business in the Time of COVID.  Giving the perspective of the wine industry will be Jean-Charles Boisset, owner of Raymond Cellars and JCB Collection, and Emma Swain, CEO of St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery.  They will be joined by Lindsey Gallagher, President and CEO of Visit Napa, who will address the tourism challenges of COVID on the Napa Valley.  The webinar is being presented as part of the North Bay Business Journal’s Impact Napa conference and will take place on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 from 10:00-11:30 a.m.  It is FREE for all to attend, just register at the following link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CpTOcRUOQA2HIberRQEbSA

DP&F’s Richard Mendelson will be the moderator for a star-studded panel of Napa business executives in a free Zoom webinar on Doing Business in the Time of COVID.  Giving the perspective of the wine industry will be Jean-Charles Boisset, owner of Raymond Cellars and JCB Collection, and Emma Swain, CEO of St. Supery Estate Vineyards & Winery.  They will be joined by Lindsey Gallagher, President and CEO of Visit Napa, who will address the tourism challenges of COVID on the Napa Valley.   The webinar is being presented as part of the North Bay Business Journal’s Impact Napa conference and will take place on Wednesday, September 30, 2020 from 10:00-11:30 a.m.  It is FREE for all to attend, just register at the following link: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_CpTOcRUOQA2HIberRQEbSA

Brian Baker is well known in the wine industry as a Sales and Profitability specialist and has given many talks and workshops on the subject. He is also a managing partner of Cultivar Marketing, which provides wine sales and marketing consulting. We recently reached out to Brian to discuss the future of the tasting room, especially in the face of COVID-19 quarantine.   Milton Cornwell: Thank you for agreeing to the interview, Brian! There is a lot I want to discuss with you, especially with all the changes we’re seeing with coronavirus [COVID-19] and how wineries are embracing technology. I can’t help but compare this to Y2K—that event fundamentally changed how companies embraced technology. Are we in a similar kind of moment now?   Brian Baker: It is a pivotal moment, if that’s what you mean. Disruptive events like these have disruptive consequences. They also create opportunities. Coming out of this crisis, winery-owned tasting rooms have a c