Protea Financial provides outsourced operational accounting for wineries and select beverage businesses. We support everyday operations and real-world challenges by functioning as an integrated accounting department, providing the depth of support typically found in larger internal teams, without requiring a winery to build one from scratch. Our motivation is simple: to provide accurate, timely financial information so business owners can make confident, informed decisions. Everything we do supports that goal. Everyone deserves better accounting, and we are here to help you meet that goal. Full-Spectrum Operational Accounting We are your full operational accounting team. We support a broad spectrum of services, from transactional accuracy to cost accounting, financial management and reporting, and forward-looking financial insight. Core Accounting & Close Strong reporting begins with disciplined execution. We manage: Transaction processing and bookkeeping Accounts receivable proce

WineDirect to Commerce7: 19% Growth in Club Customization, 50% Less Support, and the End of "Batch Day" TL;DR: Faced with manual bottlenecks on WineDirect, Hill Family Estate migrated to Commerce7 to empower their members. The results were immediate: a 19% increase in customized club shipments and a 50% reduction in support volume. Most importantly, the team reclaimed 4-5 hours of manual labour per club run by allowing their customers to customize their orders online and move to fully automated background processing.  Founded by third-generation farmer Doug Hill, Hill Family Estate is a family-run operation in Napa Valley that blends deep vineyard expertise with approachable hospitality. Their winery and tasting room experiences are known for being family-friendly, intimate, and deeply rooted in the land they have farmed for decades. For Allison Negrón, DTC Manager at Hill Family Estate, the goal is always to provide a seamless, personali

The Sonoma County airport is named for him, so is a museum and ice rink. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schultz spent 42 years living and working in Sonoma County, with “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” one of his most famous works. Schultz, during his lifetime, kept an airplane at the airport and was an avid aviator. Snoopy, of course, loved flying too. Schultz was born in 1922 in Minnesota and given the nickname Sparky at a young age. In 1929 the family moved west to Needles, California. The move was said to be prompted by a young cousin’s tuberculosis, which would fare better in a desert climate. Schultz later incorporated Needles into many of his comic strips, particularly those built around Snoopy’s brother Spike, who lived alone in the desert with coyotes and cactus. Their time in the desert was alas short-lived, and Schultz moved back to Minnesota in time for elementary school. This is also where he developed his lifelong passion for ice hockey.

Beyond SMS & Email: 2 Proven DTC Channels for More Wine Sales in 2025 New Direct Mail Strategies & Affordable Mobile Apps Deliver Quick Wins As we barrel into OND — the most critical sales quarter for wine brands — many DTC marketing teams are staring down a sobering reality: sales are slumping, inboxes are saturated, and SMS campaigns are losing steam.  The two primary direct marketing channels most wineries rely on — email (used by 85% of brands) and SMS (used by 15%) — are showing serious signs of fatigue. Promotional emails are increasingly buried in spam folders, and just last week, some of the industry’s leading SMS providers urged wineries to limit their use of SMS this holiday season due to deliverability concerns. So what now? If you’re a wine marketer looking for incremental sales this year without taking big risks, it’s time to revisit two proven channels that have quietly regained their edge: direct mail and affordabl

In today’s wine industry, tasting room reservations are not just operational tools — they are strategic levers. According to the 2025 SVB State of the Wine Industry Report, tasting room visitation remains one of the most powerful drivers of Wine Club acquisition and the second-largest contributor to direct-to-consumer (DTC) revenue, following wine sales themselves. Yet, as consumer visitation patterns evolve, how wineries manage reservations — whether through third-party platforms or built-in tools — has become a critical decision. The right choice can impact everything from guest satisfaction and Wine Club conversion to brand control and long-term revenue growth. Let’s explore the two primary approaches wineries use today:     •    External reservation platforms (e.g., Tock)     •    Built-in reservation flows on the winery’s own website External Reservation Systems: Convenience with Constraints

February 20th, 2025 — Wineries seeking innovative ways to engage wine lovers and drive DTC sales this spring now have a powerful new tool at their disposal. RedChirp, the wine industry’s leading text messaging platform, is proud to collaborate with best-selling author and wine industry thought leader Karen MacNeil—co-creator of Come Over October and Share & Pair Sundays—to help wineries seamlessly integrate this exciting new movement into their marketing strategies.  On Thursday, February 27th at 10 AM Pacific, Karen MacNeil and RedChirp co-founder Jennie Gilbert will host an exclusive webinar: "New Ways to Engage Wine Lovers: Share & Pair Sundays + Text Message Marketing." Attendees will discover the inspiration behind Share & Pair Sundays and gain access to a suite of new tools designed to make participation effortless for busy DTC teams—including prebuilt bulk message templates, expert SMS marketing strategies, and prov

February 9, 2024 – Novato, CA – The California Department of Food and Agriculture Preliminary Grape Crush Report, containing tons crushed and prices of wine grapes sold during the 2023 harvest, has been released. The Crush Report provides growers and wineries insight into the inventory position of the California wine business as a whole and influences market dynamics for the current bulk wine market and grape market.  The 2023 Crush Report, coming in at a total of 3.6 million tons, fails to capture the full story of the 2023 harvest. The crop would have been considerably larger if not for soft demand and disease pressure that caused some acres to go unharvested. Despite the size of the overall crop, most wineries found themselves with an excess supply amid challenging conditions in consumer sales.  For specific details on 2023 harvest, see below: Key Insights by Region   Tons Crushed 2023 Tons Crushed 2022 Net Gain/Loss Equivalent Gallons

The Digest of Wine and Spirits Law is the essential compliance reference trusted by industry professionals. It is the most comprehensive, easy-to-use, accurate resource available to the beverage alcohol industry. The Digest was first launched in 1991 by Mary Kramer of M.J. Kramer & Associates. In the beginning it was offered in printed form only in a set of three 3-ring binders, updated quarterly. An online option was made available later. Over the years The Digest, informally known as “The Red Books,” found its way into the compliance offices of wineries, distilleries, and breweries, including some of the largest corporate brands in the United States.  In 2018, Mary retired and The Digest was acquired by Compliance Service of America (CSA), a well-respected compliance company specializing in alcohol beverage regulation and licensing since 1983. A full-service compliance company in operation for forty years, CSA brings a vast wealth of knowledge and real-world expe

The Digest of Wine & Spirits Law’s "Compare" feature helps subscribers quickly see what's new each time regulatory information is updated. Need to know what has changed? See the changes at a glance by using the compare function: one click shows what text has been changed, added, or removed.  The Digest website is updated on an on-going basis when new laws, regulations, or policies are adopted by the states. When a new update appears in the convenient "Recent Updates" list, subscribers can use the live link to go directly to the updated article. To see what’s changed, click the update date for the “compare” view.  "This function shows subscribers at a glance exactly what’s changed." said Sara Schorske. "The Compare functionality is unique to The Digest and therefore a huge benefit to our subscribers.” The Digest is an essential compliance reference for wine and spirits professionals. It covers stat

This year has been one for the record books, COVID 19, relentless heat waves and now the challenge of wildfires threatens another harvest. The exposure of vineyards and grapes to smoke may result in wines with undesirable sensory characteristics, such as smoky, burnt, bacon, medicinal or ash, usually described as ‘smoke taint’. Here at JUCLAS USA we are ready to help with our proven smoke taint protocol. Obviously, there are different ways to deal with smoke, but we have found that using these products seems to be the least invasive and the least destructive on your wine. PRODUCTS TO HELP MITIGATE SMOKE TAINT IN WINE ZIMAROM® Enzyme for the release of aromatic components. This enzyme cleaves the aromas linked to the residual sugars and in this case the linked smoke taint markers. Dose ranges from 1 to 3 g/hL. We suggest for lab trials you try the higher dose of 3 g/hL in contact 4 to 5 days at no less than 65ºF so that the enzyme is active. Different doses and