Wine Road Board – Sept. 27, 2023

Wine Road Board of Directors
Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023
9:00am-10:00am
Merriam Vineyards

Minutes – Pending Approval

Members Present: Oded, Danny, Teri, Helen, Lucas, Aaron, Jack, Lillian, Katie
Members Missing: John, Devin, Harry, Brooke
Respectfully submitted by Beth Costa

9:05am Call to order

9:05am Review Meeting Minutes for July & Sept – we did not have them to review, will share online ASAP and approve at the next meeting.

9:10am Treasurer’s Report – as of Sept. 1st – checking: $45,965.20 savings: $150,220.75
Employee Retention Credit about $25,000, however now the government is reviewing their approval protocols, so it will be about 12 months before we can expect this check.
Other pending large bills: WFA glasses, another map print run and our steaming ad costs for Peacock (WFA ad).

9:15am Website and Email collection
Recap SEO work, 404 error corrections, linking blog, Google Business
Capturing new emails –added 6000 names thus far, less than 1% opt out.
With the new Google Analytics format, Beth will work with Growth Natives to develop a dashboard we can share – goal to have by the end of the year, so we can track growth since we began this website update.

9:20am Events
Fall Wine Trail – 32 Wineries, Goal 300 tickets – SOLD 150 tickets, still had good feedback from wineries – most saw people who were new to their winery. All said they would do again. Board elects to offer Winter Wine Trail – Feb. 10, 2024, same format and pricing – 1 day, walk-in tasters, 2-3 wines offered, $50 per person

W&F Affair- 42 wineries, on sale Aug. 30, VIP tix and other events
Advertising to start Sept. 15 – Flipboard, SF Chron digital, Sonoma Mag , Peacock, $24,000, over our planned budget, but we need this event to make our year.
VIP tickets are sold out (22 people), we haves sold 1200 tickets thus far.

9:30am Marketing
Google tastings – we have now gone twice, 3 wineries per trip. We need a way to make this worth the time and expense – next meeting – brainstorm how to get them HERE.
Insider Memberships – now at 50+, problem is they are not renewing, they joined for their trip here, or for a specific event discount. Need to get more people on board and MORE offers from our wineries to make it worth the cost.

9:35am Retreat – continued follow up
Signs to wineries for Insider – done
Survey results thus far – 0 – we need to change the wording on the home page, or maybe just try a different format for getting the info – now they get our digital trip planning, but maybe just a direct survey.

9:38am Wine Road Ambassador
Participation 130 completed – multiple states, industry, and guests

9:40am Membership
Assessments thus far 15 past due wineries, 11 lodgings – slightly higher than past
Any new members or returning? Locals & Malm returning
Mueller, Nalle, Martinelli, Rued not renewing thus far
Member Benefit – Sales Seminar – 52 attendees, could host another session
Beth to create a Google doc with the info of who has not yet renwed and the contact info – Board members can then reach out to anyone they know on the lsist and make a note of it on the Google doc.

9:45am Old Business

9:50am New Business

10:00am Meeting adjourns

NOTE – October meeting date is Oct. 18th – not the 11th, this has been updated in the Google calendar.