One of the biggest mistakes we see wineries make isn’t during a wine tasting experience at the winery. It’s what happens after the tasting. A guest visits, they enjoy the experience, perhaps they buy a few bottles, but they aren’t quite ready to join the wine club. Then they leave…and we have no way to continue the conversation, the relationship. We hope they’ll remember us. We hope they’ll come back. We hope they’ll tell their friends. Hope is not a strategy. Today’s visitor may become tomorrow’s wine club member, next quarter’s corporate gifting client, a future event attendee, a roadshow guest, and eventually a loyal advocate who introduces your winery to dozens of new customers over the next decade. But only if you earn permission to stay in touch. That’s why we believe data capture is one of the most underappreciated growth strategies in DTC. Not data collection for the sake of filling a CRM or Point-of-Sale platform, but REAL relationship building. Every guest should have an eas

It's July 1, which means you're about to start seeing "Christmas in July" everywhere. Retailers are already thinking about the holidays—even if it still feels like the middle of summer. Smart wineries should be doing the same. October, November, and December (OND) are your biggest sales months of the year. Holiday winery marketing doesn’t start in October—it starts now. They’re sprinting through Q3—right now—while everyone else is still daydreaming about hot cocoa and watching Christmas movies… you’ve got rosé in your glass and wine bundles to plan. Here's how to make the next 90 days count. 1. Clean Up Your Data — Because Bad Data Costs You Money This isn’t just about removing bounced emails. Bad data quietly drains OND revenue by blocking you from segmenting, targeting, or even reaching your customers. Your Move: Export your full email list (now, not later). Verify your SMS audience and make sure customer consent records are up to date. Use ChatGPT to help spot typos like gmaii.com

In an increasingly crowded marketplace, Buyers are always searching for products that create excitement, drive traffic, and give customers a reason to come back. Few programs accomplish that better than a custom barrel selection. Whether you call it a Private Barrel Selection, Single Barrel Program, or Barrel Pick, the concept is simple: a retailer, bar, restaurant, or hospitality group selects an entire barrel of whiskey, bourbon, rye, or another aged spirit directly from a producer. That barrel is then bottled exclusively for that account, often with custom branding and a story that customers can't find anywhere else. For Makers, barrel programs offer something equally valuable: deeper relationships with Buyers, larger order sizes, and a differentiated sales opportunity that stands apart from the traditional wholesale model. The challenge, of course, is that beverage alcohol regulations don't make these transactions simple. In most states, the physical sale must still move through a

Collaborating for Growth: Partnerships & Corporate Channels Thursday June 18th @ 10 am PST Register here: June Growth Session Presented by OrderPort Most wineries are already surrounded by partnership opportunities. The challenge is turning those relationships into something structured, repeatable, and measurable.  In this session, we’ll explore how wineries can build stronger partnerships that drive long term traffic, wine club growth, corporate gifting revenue, and repeat customer engagement. From hotels and restaurants to real estate professionals and corporate clients, we’ll break down how to create systems that make partnerships easier to manage and more impactful over time. 

The 2026 Wine Sales Symposium brought a roomful of winery sales and marketing leaders together to work through the industry’s hardest questions — softening wine club growth, a shifting distribution landscape, AI arriving in every corner of marketing, and tasting rooms competing for a new generation of drinkers. Fourteen sessions, more than thirty speakers, and a full program of practical, road-tested answers. If you couldn’t be in the room, you no longer have to miss it. On-demand Virtual Access is now available — every recorded session from the 2026 program, yours to watch whenever and wherever works for you. All 14 Sessions. 30+ Experts. One Link. Virtual Access unlocks the complete 2026 program — every session recorded start to finish, plus the speakers’ slide decks to download and keep. Here is everything included: Navigating the New Normal — Wine sales trends and winning strategies for a changing market, with Chris Bitter, Ph.D. Practical AI Wine Marketing — Boosting brand disco

The 2026 Wine Sales Symposium , produced by Wine Industry Network (WIN), concluded Wednesday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Sonoma Wine Country, bringing together winery owners, sales leaders, and marketing executives for a day of actionable insights and strategic frameworks designed to address the industry's most pressing challenges. With the wine market facing declining consumption, distributor consolidation, and rapid technological change, this year's symposium focused squarely on solutions. Attendees gained practical strategies for leveraging AI in marketing and customer engagement, navigating wholesale distribution transformation, reducing wine club churn, and creating hospitality experiences that resonate with younger consumers. The Symposium program opened with Dr. Chris Bitter, Senior Wine & Grape Analyst of Terrain, American AgCredit, providing a data-driven analysis of current wine sales trends and market opportunities. He clo

I have a confession to make. I eavesdropped. Meaning, I listened in on customer calls that Chris has been having lately, to tune in on how wineries who work with Enolytics are making the most of their data. Here are three examples from Enolytics users, with three of their favorite ways to use data. Another way of seeing this? Three new visions for making your wine data work for you too. Have a look. 1. “This is just like printing money, right? You don’t really have to do much for this except say yes, I’m going to do it again.” That’s the beauty of automation, with data-based winery campaigns in particular. Start with the task you want to execute. We help you identify the task, set it up, test it, refine it. Then set it in motion, and you’re off and running. 2. “You don’t know how much time that’s going to save me.” For real. How much time do you spend creating, and then recreating, the same reports? How much time do you spend pulling up a particular piece of information? How much time

Five years ago, running a winery on Shopify meant duct-taping a lot of things together. Great for e-commerce. Okay for DTC. Difficult for wine clubs. Not really designed for tasting rooms. That's changed. The combination of Shopify's platform investments and a handful of wine-specific apps has created something genuinely new: a single operational stack that connects your tasting room, your wine club, your online store, and your loyalty program under one customer record. That convergence has real operational consequences — and it's why an increasing number of wineries are consolidating everything onto Shopify. Here's what's actually different. Your Card on File, Finally Done Right One very frustrating limitation of running a winery business on Shopify used to be simple: Shopify didn't let you vault a customer's payment card and charge it later for anything other than a subscription — not from your POS or your back office or sales team for one-tim

Corporate gifting is quickly becoming one of the strongest growth channels in the wine industry. In this session, Allison Legg of Jackson Family Wines and Jessica Smith of WineDirect Fulfillment share how wineries can capture this demand with streamlined operations and tailored gifting experiences. Attendees will walk away with practical steps to build or expand a corporate gifting program that drives new customers and year round revenue.  Wine Sales Symposium - May 13, 2026 DoubleTree Hotel in Rohnert Park, CA Learn More Speakers Director of Marketing / WineDirect Fulfillment   Allison Legg, Vice President of Business Development - Corporate Partners / Jackson Family Wines

Looking for a thoughtful, elevated way to package wine for clients, club members, or special releases? Wine-N-Gear’s wholesale bespoke wine gift boxes are designed to turn a bottle of wine into a complete gifting experience. These boxes are fully customizable, making them a strong option for wineries and wine businesses looking to incorporate branded packaging without reinventing the wheel. With a range of styles, sizes, and finishes available, they work equally well for corporate gifting, wine club shipments, holiday programs, and special events. Beyond presentation, the boxes are built with durability and logistics in mind, offering a practical solution that still feels premium when it reaches the recipient. For businesses thinking ahead to upcoming releases or client outreach, this is an easy way to add perceived value without adding complexity. Explore Our Full Collection of Bespoke Wine Gift Boxes