A few years ago at the DTC Wine Symposium, a panelist joked about the modern winery website formula: the guy, the dog, the truck, and the vineyard. Beautiful backdrop, strong lifestyle photography, a thoughtful founder story. Polished, absolutely. Strategically distinct, rarely. The critique wasn’t about branding. It was about structure. Most winery websites aren’t broken, but they aren’t built as decision environments either. Calls to action are unclear, revenue pathways are buried, shipping surprises appear late, and wine club often lives in isolation instead of throughout the buying journey. After auditing winery sites across regions and production sizes, the pattern is consistent: performance is constrained by friction, not effort. Most wineries don’t have a traffic problem. They have a conversion architecture problem. Before increasing ad spend or launching another promotion, run a winery website audit — on your phone. Start at the homepage and move t

Plata Wine Partners is a premium “vineyard-to-bottle” production house rooted in California’s top coastal AVAs. With more than 20,000 acres of sustainably managed vineyards, Plata provides bulk-wine, private-label, and custom-program solutions for brands of all sizes. Their team brings together expertise in viticulture, winemaking, production, and finance to deliver programs aligned with modern consumer preferences. As the business evolved, Plata recognized that their Winemaker’s Database (WMDB) system lacked the accuracy, speed, and real-time visibility required by a 12+ facility production model. Plata implemented InnoVint in 2024, and the difference after just one harvest was remarkable. The Challenge: A System That Slowed Down the Entire Business Before InnoVint, Plata’s production and finance teams were burdened by manual processes that made everyday work harder and introduced costly risk.  Excessive manual data entry. Every two weeks, the

We understand that times are hard in the wine industry. Costs are up. Demand is down. Debt is more expensive. And the pressure to stand out in a crowded market has never been greater. Wineries are being asked to do more with less, all while trying to maintain quality, uniqueness, and profitability. This is the reality for many right now. In these challenging moments, it's natural to consider cost-cutting measures. However, as you seek ways to conserve cash, it's crucial to distinguish between costs and investments. Not all expenses are created equal. Cutting the wrong cost can make things worse. Your accounting function, whether internal or outsourced, is not just a line item on the balance sheet. It's your financial command center. The insights you receive from this function guide decisions about staffing, inventory, marketing, capital improvements, pricing, and more. Done well, accounting pays for itself through better choices and fewer errors. If you're looking to lo

Your website is one of your most powerful tools for attracting and retaining wine club members, but here’s the hard truth: too many winery websites are falling short. In a world where mobile usage dominates and younger audiences demand seamless digital experiences, the days of treating your website as a static brochure are over. If your website isn’t driving wine club sign-ups or engaging visitors, it’s time to confront the mistakes that might be holding you back. Let’s poke a few holes in outdated assumptions and help you build a site that works as hard as you do. Mistake 1: Treating Your Website Like a Digital Brochure One of the most common misconceptions we encounter is the idea that your website’s main job is to showcase your wines. Sure, it should do that—but a great winery website is a sales and marketing machine, not just a pretty page with some pictures and tasting notes. If your website doesn’t have clear calls to action (CTAs),

Wine Sales Symposium 2025’s roundtable of writers and PR experts explores how storytelling and publicity can shift the narrative. By Laurie Wachter Carl GiavantiDoes media coverage really help sell wine?  That’s the question the roundtable of top wine journalists and PR experts will set out to answer in Mastering Modern Media: How to Secure & Leverage Media Coverage That Drives Sales, one of the first sessions at the May 14th Wine Sales Symposium in Santa Rosa, CA. Moderator Carl Giavanti, a winery publicist and author of Wine Industry Advisor’s interview series, Turning the Tables, will lead the panel discussion by asking six questions about the benefits and pitfalls of media coverage.   What role does media coverage play in helping drive awareness and, ultimately, sales? “It’s always been about storytelling,” says Giavanti, “and even more so today when there’s so much competition, variety and options for adult beverages. Y

EPDM vs. Butyl: which is best for your next hose? A few years ago the common thinking was that Butyl was the clear choice for a modern winery or brewery. EPDM hose is thought to be “old school”. But, as always, we've learned some interesting lessons from our customers on this one. After all, they have boots on the ground and hose in the hand. Some customers have given us some great reasons why EPDM shouldn't be counted out, and may be preferred in some instances. Let's go over the reasons.  EPDM vs. Butyl: The History First, a little history: Between EPDM and Butyl, EPDM hoses were the most commonly used hoses in wineries and breweries around the world for many years. In general, EPDM is a very safe choice for common rubber items in a brewery (think tri clamp gaskets or valve seats. They're usually EPDM). In the USA, Butyl started to take over in popularity from EPDM hoses some 10-15 years ago. Particularly once GlideTech introduced their hoses with a n

CLUBS VS SUBS LET’S DISCUSS IF IT IS TIME TO MOVE YOUR WINE CLUB TO A SUBSCRIPTION. Unless you’ve lived in your cellar for the past five years, you’ve noticed we live in a subscription economy. We have subscriptions for food, clothing, pets, razors, socks, movies, sports, makeup, and almost anything. You name it, and there is a box that can be delivered with options on your schedule. How sustainable is this trend? Will we forever be ordering small packages in bright boxes with sample sizes, or is this just a fad? And is the decrease in wine clubs part of it? WHAT IS A WINE CLUB? Let’s start by defining a wine club. This recurring sales model provides wineries with a direct channel to reach high-value consumers and bypass traditional distribution channels. They are structured to offer repeat customers a winery-curated selection of wines at a small discount delivered to their homes monthly or quarterly. Key prospects for club membership are customers who have pu

Afternoon Brief, March 20th

Rob McMillan on Wine: Living in Two Worlds: After decades in banking, I thought I'd seen everything. But last week, with a jolt to my system, I was unfortunately proven wrong. This would turn out to be one of the worst weeks in my life. I kept thinking I must be dreaming this!...

The answer to the blog title is the point of the Annual SVB Direct to Consumer Videocast, which is taking place this coming Wednesday, June 15th.  You can sign up to receive the SVB DtC Report, receive a link to the live presentation, and a post-conference link to the videocast replay ----> [HERE.]  The past two years have presented us with dislocation and change that needs unbundling. With an expert live panel (below) we will take 90 minutes to discuss the current state of the Direct to Consumer Wine Business, and offer our views on what's coming next:   Internet sales from wineries grew by 500% when the Nation locked down in 2020. Internet sales are holding steady since the reopening. That is a permanent consumer change.  The change to by-appointment tastings for years was resisted by many in the wine community. There was always the fear that moving away from the walk-in model would reduce sales opportunities. But regional mandates required tasting room ap

The acclaimed Slow Wine Guide returns to San Francisco for its annual Slow Wine Tasting in celebration of the Slow Wine Guide USA 2021. You will have the chance to meet producers from 90+ Italian and US wineries! Time: Walk-Around Tasting 12:00 – 4:00PM 12:00 – 2:00 PM | Session 1  2:00 – 4:00 PM | Session 2 Location: Pier 27 | 27 The Embarcadero For your own safety, and that of our winery representatives, please note that we will be requiring proof of vaccination from all attendees, exhibitors, staff and vendors. We are committed to the safety of all our guests and will be continuously reviewing our safety procedures to ensure that we are complying with all government covid policies. We will be sure to update you if changes arise. We hope to see you there! Register here now