For years, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) model for wineries was built in clear, separate silos: the Tasting Room team poured and sold wine, the Wine Club team managed membership and retention, and the Marketing team focused on email, text campaigns, and social media engagement. Each department had its own set of responsibilities, tools, and goals. But the wine industry doesn’t look like it did a decade ago. With increased competition, rising costs, shifting consumer behavior, and the pressure of economic uncertainty, wineries can no longer afford to work in fragmented parts. While wineries may have multiple reasons and methods for reaching out, guests experience the brand as a single relationship. The new standard? To build trust and loyalty, outreach needs to feel seamless, coordinated, with a relationship-first approach driven by PCS: Personal Connection Strategies. From Silos to Synergy The PCS model isn’t just a philosophy—it’s a framework for unifying your D

Every member of your club is not exactly the same. So why are you treating them that way? The typical winery sends identical emails to every member of their club, from the first-time joiner who discovered you last weekend to the loyal patron who's been with you for a decade. The result? Generic messaging that resonates with no one. Segmentation, the practice of dividing your audience into meaningful groups based on shared characteristics, isn't just marketing jargon. For wineries, it's the difference between treating members like transaction numbers versus building relationships that keep them enrolled for years. In this guide, we'll explore practical segmentation strategies that don't require a data science degree—just your existing CRM tools and a willingness to see your members as individuals rather than a homogenous list. The Problem with "One Size Fits All Wine Club Communications The allure of the single-list approach is obvious: it's fast, it&#

Are Your Wine Club Members Ghosting You? Here's Why Your wine club members are breaking up with you, but they're not telling you why. They're just... disappearing. The numbers are stark: Silicon Valley Bank's latest research (which we are going to reference a lot in this blog) shows wine clubs are experiencing member attrition rates between 28-36% annually, with luxury segment clubs performing only marginally better at 23-29% (SVB Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report, 2025). That's not a leak, it's a flood. And while many wineries frantically chase new sign-ups to replace the departed, few address why members leave in the first place. Wine club fatigue isn't a mysterious phenomenon. It's a predictable human response to predictable winery behavior. The Warning Signs You're Already Losing Them Before members cancel, they disengage. They're sending signals you might be missing: Email open rates drop below your average Shipment modifications increase (dow

It’s baaaaaack! The incredibly successful “Come Over October” campaign is once again inviting the international wine community to celebrate with the beverage that brings us all together. Everyone is invited, and now is the time to get started by planning for a dozen curated suggestions: –Game Day gatherings with wine and snacks –Best Friend nights centered around cooking dinner together –Neighborhood Potlucks that build community connections –Leaves Changing Color celebrations with white, red, and rose tastings after autumn walks –At-home wine tasting parties for old and new friends –Wine Book Club gatherings that combine reading with regional wine exploration –Renewed Sunday Supper traditions –End of October costume parties featuring bewitching wines –TGIF Wine and Cheese gatherings after work –Love Your Local Winery visits to support the wineries in all 50 states And you can even create your own themes! The

International expansion creates a global winery-focused software company Bellevue, WA & Milan, Italy (July 1, 2025) – OrderPort, a leading provider of software dedicated to the needs of wineries and related beverage alcohol producers, today announced its affiliate has completed a strategic investment in Wine Suite. Wine Suite is a leading European provider of winery-focused software solutions. OrderPort is owned by Performant Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm that partners with founder-owned software and technology-enabled service companies to accelerate their growth. Founded in 2019, Wine Suite has established itself as the preeminent technology provider for European wineries by offering a comprehensive set of customer relationship management, marketing, events, and tourism management solutions. Wine Suite’s product set is highly complementary to OrderPort’s point of sale, eCommerce, loyalty program management, and wine club management offerings.

With wineries practically betrothed to spreadsheets, early-2000s websites, and stodgy cursive fonts plucked straight from a Jane Austen character’s trembling hands, is it any surprise that our industry is behind in adopting useful AI tools with the capacity to make our businesses efficient and profitable?   Despite all appearances to the contrary, given that first paragraph – this isn’t another post trying to shame the industry into adapting. A well-connected bev alc professional need only scroll LinkedIn for about two seconds for a hearty dose of “stop complaining; this is your fault” novellas on the state of alcohol sales today.  No; the intent here is to empower you: to suggest that the AI tools available to us right now are not only developed enough, but so easily adoptable that taking action today might just be enough to usher you and your team into a sound night’s sleep for the first time since, perhaps, “the before times&rdq

If this was easy, everyone would do it. Setting expectations is difficult. After all, we all want perfection and success, so isn’t it just positive thinking to predict that your campaigns will be victorious? That’s what “The Secret” tells us, anyway. But while it can’t hurt to take a stab at manifesting abundance and contemplating gratitude, you are likely using more concrete values, such as benchmarks and previous performance, to project the results of your marketing campaigns to your management. We submit additional data points to anticipate reasonable responses to your marketing campaigns. These data points are: What environment exists around this campaign? What workload can I reasonably handle successfully? What does my management consider, including the cost of goods sold? Let’s break each of these down and include some real-life winery examples.* CONTEXT – WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? Many marketing decisions are best made with

Vinoshipper announces SMS integration with SimpleTexting  Windsor, CA - December 5, 2024 Vinoshipper, the leading DTC and compliance platform for the beverage alcohol industry, today announced a new integration with SimpleTexting, North America's leader in compliant SMS beverage alcohol marketing. Developed in partnership with VinterActive, an industry leader in DTC wine marketing, this integration empowers businesses using the Vinoshipper platform to leverage powerful SMS messaging capabilities designed specifically for the industry.  "At Vinoshipper, we're constantly seeking innovative ways to help our clients build stronger relationships with their customers," said Terra Jane Albee, Director of Client Success at Vinoshipper.  "Our mission is to help any alcohol brand delight customers and grow sales with compliant text messaging," added Aylin Theodore, Partner Manager at SimpleTexting. "That's why we partnered with VinterActive to

HotSpot AG founder James Nichols lived the daily challenges of farming when he returned home to Hanford after his UC Davis graduation. His family tasked him with implementing a water budget for irrigating their 4,600 acres of almonds and pistachios. After researching and testing automated irrigation systems that didn’t meet his needs, Nichols designed his own and then spent five years perfecting it in the family orchards.  At that point, the family encouraged him to focus on sharing his invention with others, convinced it would help many people. And so, in 2018, HotSpot AG was born.  The HotSpot AG solution streamlines a grower’s workflow by making it easier to manage, track and schedule sensor data and automate irrigation pumps and valves from anywhere. HotSpot can also monitor groundwater levels and automate fertigation and chemigation. Another timely solution for North Coast growers as the frost season approaches is HotSpot’s ability to automate wind mach

For 18 years, you've known us for compliance - now discover how we've evolved into the industry's most comprehensive direct sales platform. Our team is ready to show you how we can streamline your entire operation, from point-of-sale to multi-state compliance. At booth 632, we'll be showcasing our Vinoshipper POS software and hardware - a complete solution that integrates seamlessly across all sales channels. If you're looking for a single platform to manage all your direct sales channels, we'll be happy to show you how our POS system can work for your business. We're also excited to share our new Compliance Management Services (CMS), providing a third option in compliance solutions, joining ShipCompliant and Avalara. If you're currently managing compliance in-house or using a service that isn't meeting your needs, come learn how our expertise can make a difference. We understand that changing systems or choosing a new sales platform can feel daunti