This blog post summarizes the process by which licensed wineries can obtain local government approval for events in Napa County held pursuant to their California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (“ABC”) Type 93 Estate Tasting Permit. As discussed in our prior post, last year Governor Newsom signed into law AB720, granting California wineries that hold an ABC Type 02 winery license the ability to host events, up to 36 times per year, where they exercise tasting room privileges for wine manufactured by or for the winery on either: (1) property adjacent to the licensed premises or (2) a nonadjacent vineyard provided that such property or vineyard is owned by or under the control of the winery. (Cal. Bus. Prof. Code 23399.03.) Neither ABC nor Napa County have provided guidance as to what degree or proof of “control” is required. Under AB 720, these new Type 93 estate tasting events are also subject to local land use controls that can “restrict, but no

Afternoon Brief: Legislation Signed to Extend Pierce’s Disease Control Program

This week, Governor Newsom signed AB 1861 to extend a vital program within the California Department of Food and Agriculture that protects Californias vineyards and iconic wine industry from pests and disease

Afternoon Brief, December 27th

PacifiCorp’s Wildfire Settlements Highlight Winery Lawsuits for 2020 Smoke Losses: Three Willamette Valley courts have just ruled that several Valley wineries may move forward with their suits against PacifiCorp for igniting wildfires that they claim ruined their 2020 harvests and vintages with smoke taint...

Afternoon Brief, July 13th

Wine Country Waste Workers for Pelosi, Newsom Napa Vineyards Seek $300 Million over Alleged Toxic Contamination: Workers say they were exposed to toxic materials after the Glass Fire scorched parts of Napa Valley in 2020...

FIVE SURPRISING MARKETING STRATEGIES TO INCREASE SALES BY DAN PENDERGAST It is a natural reaction – when you need cash, the gut reaction is to turn to marketing and demand more. More emails, more social media posts, more ads, and more offers. But the volume of marketing does not have an equal or parallel relationship to results. If you send twice as many emails, you may get less than twice as many sales, and a 20% discount will likely deliver less than double the sales of a 10% discount. Furthermore, marketing isn’t turnkey and often takes months (or years) of consistency to witness results. So why execute marketing if you can’t count on it to provide sales? Marketing provides your product (wine) with a brand. A brand is a reason to buy your wine and charge a specific price for your wine above other wines. Without marketing, there’d be no brands; without brands, all wines are the same. Marketing can even create value beyond the product. Take Barefoot, for examp

3 wineries share their Virtual Winery Experience Sandra Hess, founder of DTC Wine Workshops and Consumer Engagement Specialist will moderate a discussion and showcase three Virtual Winery Program Case Studies. Hear from a small and mid-size wine producer perspectives to a large, multi-brand winery's experience that will provide return on investment insights.   Audience members will understand the Challenges, Approaches, Solutions and Results these three winery executives took in shaping the future of their consumer offerings. Sandra will also provide key findings from helping a little over 400 winery teams get set up with Virtual Winery Offerings over a three month period.   Meet The Speakers: Sandra Hess Founder / DTC Wine Workshops & Consumer Engagement Specialist Brendan Finley Executive VP of Hospitality & DTC / Wente Vineyards Scott Klann Winemaker & Owner / Newsome Harlow Winery Andrea Myers Director of Hospitality / Round Pond Winery  Sandr