The ninth annual Rich Smith Award of Excellence for outstanding contributions to the American grape and wine industry was presented today to Emily Hodson, the winemaker at Veritas Vineyards and Winery, a co-owner of Flying Fox Vineyards and Winery, and an active leader in the Virginia wine industry. Members of the Smith family and sponsoring organizations present the Rich Smith award to Emily Hodson (third from left). The prestigious award annually reflects the spirit and accomplishments of the late Richard (Rich) Smith, founder of Valley Farm Management and Smith Family Wines in California’s Santa Lucia Highlands wine region in Monterey County. Rich was first and foremost a family man, but also a successful grape grower and winery owner, and a highly respected colleague known for the combination of passion, commitment and collaboration which helped advance the American grape and wine industry. Ever since Rich passed away in December 2015, three organizations—WineAmerica, N

Afternoon Brief, May 16th

Successful Launch for the Inaugural Enoforum USA: Enoforum, Europe’s most popular technical conference for winemakers, had its U.S. debut on Wednesday, May 11, at the Sonoma County Event Center. The inaugural Enoforum USA welcomed over 200 wine industry professionals...

Wineshipping today announced the arrival of Steve Klehr, who has accepted the position of Vice President of Operations Technology & Engineering. Klehr brings over two decades of experience developing and deploying automated manufacturing, distribution, and fulfillment solutions that accelerate growth, increase site productivity, and maximize throughput capability. His background includes time spent at Dematic, Intelligrated, Amazon, Tesla, and Walmart. While at Amazon he engineered and deployed the first group of Kiva System centers (now Amazon Robotics). In his most recent role as Director of Fulfillment Engineering at Walmart, he led the design of their next generation ecommerce fulfillment centers. This included ramping up output by 3x and reducing overall touchpoints by over 66%. “The addition of Steve to our already talented team will further accelerate our expansion of world-class service and efficiency through the latest technologies,” said Rob Sell, Chief Operat

NAPA, CA - WINEGLASS MARKETING, LLC announced today that Kristyn Dunlap had joined the firm to direct and lead the account services group. Dunlap is a seasoned marketing and advertising leader with over 20 years of U.S. and global experience. She has spent the last three years consulting for brands and agencies large and small, both in client service and as a brand and content strategist. "Last year forced everyone to up their game," explains WGM President Susan DeMatei. "We are responding by strengthening our account discipline by bringing in big city talent to help drive our client's businesses." "Our clients are now competing in the online retail space at a national and international scale," DeMatei continued. "The game has changed, and the pressure is on. Why order wine from the winery when Instacart will deliver wine in an hour? It is important to recognize the new set of rules and strategize how to keep competitive in the digital landscape.&