We have a few changes to our speaker lineup for this year’s conference:  Google Travel will still provide the opening keynote, changing the focus slightly with Michael Thomas, Principal Analytical Lead, who will provide insights into incorporating digital tourism practices to your current program that will help drive consumers to your door.

And, back by popular demand, we have added Judd Wallenbrock, President & CEO of C. Mondavi & Family, as the closing keynote speaker.  Judd will share his many years of experience in the wine industry on trends affecting marketing, tourism, and events.

We are excited to welcome both of these speakers to our program!

Updated Opening Keynote

Michael Thomas
Principal Analytical Lead, Google Travel

Michael has been at Google for 5 years and works with some of the world’s largest travel brands. His clients include hotels, airlines, and online travel agencies, just to name a few. Michael provides the business analysis and innovative strategies needed to drive growth across 20 clients touching diverse areas in the travel space. Michael is also an avid traveler, having been to 15 countries and 5 continents. Before working at Google, Michael worked at General Electric in their Energy sector.

New Closing Keynote

Judd Wallenbrock
President and CEO, C. Mondavi & Family

Judd is a seasoned veteran of the wine industry with over 38 years experience and has the scars to prove it. His excitement and passion for wine, food and the arts has never been stronger. Judd has a BS in Agri-Business, an MBA in International Marketing and has served as an executive for Robert Mondavi, De Loach Vineyards, Michel-Schlumberger Estate and The Good Life Wine Collective of Jessup Cellars and Handwritten Wines. He has experienced the thrill of starting his own winery, Humanitas, and is now President and CEO of C. Mondavi & Family, home to Charles Krug, Purple Heart, and CK Mondavi.

For a full Agenda, please visit www.winetourismconference.org.

Registration is currently $450.00 for the three day program and it will go up to $475.00 on September 16, 2018, so be sure to take advantage of the early pricing and Register today!

One of our Marketing Track sessions this October will focus on “Local Guerrilla Marketing for Your Wine Event”. While the overall goal of any event is to make more money than you spent and to create goodwill in your customer base, your marketing goal should be to get people to attend. Putting on a fabulous event that is under-attended and costs more than you get in return (either financially or in good will) can be frustrating, time-consuming and counter-productive.

Here are a few ideas to get the word out about your event without breaking the bank:

• Create targeted, effective email campaigns. Look at your customer base and evaluate your message. Segment by geographic location, include your best customers and get personal with invitations.
• Use social media. Create an event on Facebook, upload photos of past events on Instagram and Pinterest and encourage people to share. A picture is worth a thousand words!
• Cross-market. Use your vendors to get the word out about the event. If you are using a local restaurant to cater, ask them to promote it to their audience. If you have a band, ask them to reach out to their loyal audience. They want publicity as well, so make it a win-win situation.
• Be realistic. When creating an event, make sure you start with how many people from your existing base can realistically attend and adjust your event from there. Don’t assume you are going to get an overwhelming number of new visitors unless you know your strategy will work. Start small and grow – if you are effective, word of mouth becomes more valuable than any other marketing strategy.

Promoting events does not have to be expensive but it does take perseverance.  Join us at #WMTC18 for more great guerrilla marketing ideas for your next event!

One of our Tourism breakout sessions this year will focus on the topic of getting all the stakeholders from a region to work together:  from the destination marketers, to the media, to the trade, to the wineries – everyone must have a coordinated role along the consumer’s path to purchase.  One of the key players in this process are local wine tour companies.

Local and regional wine tour companies can make a difference in driving qualified buyers to wineries and, in return, make the tour companies successful. Regardless of region, many repeat wine country visitors will use the same company and drivers year after year, so establishing a rapport with those companies can pay off for a winery in the long run again and again.

It is important to have a good working relationship between the tour company and the winery.  Communication is key – some tips for success include:

• The winery should establish criteria with the tour company before the tours begin – provide pricing for both tasting and wines so that the tour company can match their guests appropriately to the experience.
• Provide consistent, positive experiences that reflect well on both the winery and the tour company. The tour company will keep bringing their guests back to a winery if they know their guests will be happy.
• Provide unique experiences on both sides that they may not get elsewhere and that are not available to the general public.
• Provide a meal. If a tour company has the responsibility for their guests all day, they will need to eat, and serving lunch at a winery can be a unique experience. Bringing in a local restaurant or deli to cater adds an additional layer of local support that guests will notice and appreciate.

Cultivating relationships with wine tour companies is an important factor in introducing new and repeat regional visitors to the local wineries.  United we stand!

by Heather Atherton

Did you know there are more than a dozen world-class wine regions across Northern California? California wine goes beyond the quick hour’s drive to the world-renowned Napa and Sonoma wineries.  Most of these unique wine regions are within a one- to two-hour drive of Sacramento, without the congestion and traffic of the Bay Area, making SMF the easiest gateway to these amazing destinations for visitors from across the globe.

In about an hour, you can experience the brilliant chefs at famous restaurants and bistros along with incredible wines to the west in Sonoma County and Napa Valley. North of there by another 30-60 minutes visit boutique wineries throughout rustic Lake and Mendocino Counties, which specialize in organic and biodynamic wines. If you head east from SMF, you can sample sensational wines on the way to Lake Tahoe. About 30 minutes east on Interstate 80 are the developing wine regions of Placer County and the Sierra Vintners where you can sip Pinot Noir or Riesling while experiencing areas rich in Gold Rush history. About an hour’s drive east along, state Highway 50 and the historic Highway 49 (to the north and south of Placerville), there are several up-and-coming wine regions including: El Dorado County, Amador County and Calaveras County which are known for their Old Vine Zinfandels, Barberas and Rhone varietals. Venturing south from SMF, wine lovers will find a treasure in Clarksburg, just minutes from downtown Sacramento, where you can visit multiple wineries and tasting rooms. Just a short 30-minute drive further to the south on I-5 is the Lodi wine region, famous for award-winning Zinfandels and named 2015 Wine Region of the Year by Wine Enthusiast magazine. For those wanting to complete the Northern California wine tour, Livermore Valley is not to be missed for its Bordeaux style wines.  Livermore Valley is just 90 miles south of SMF on the outskirts of the Eastern Bay Area along Highway 580. Then don’t forget to cap off your day of wine tasting with a visit to dozens of top-notch restaurants throughout the Sacramento region, the Farm-to-Fork Capital of the United States. Sacramento’s Farm-to-Fork Festival which celebrates the entire bounty of Northern California’s agriculture, draws more than 60,000 and will take place on September 29, 2018 in downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento International Airport offers more than 160 nonstop flights per day from 35 cities, many of which also have great food and wine scenes. We make it easy to access our food culture from cities such as: Austin, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington, DC and currently serve three of the four Hawaiian Islands.

Clearly Northern California provides abundant opportunity for wine lovers to enjoy numerous varietals and wine-making styles. With the easiest access to Northern California’s world-class wine regions of any major U.S. airport Sacramento International Airport offers a travel experience worth toasting.

Heather Atherton is a travel, food and lifestyle writer based near Sacramento, California. Heather is also a PR consultant to the Sacramento International Airport.

 

At this year’s conference in Santa Rosa, we will be focusing on national and international marketing and tourism and how that impacts local wine events and sales.  Our three General Sessions will cover each of these topics:

Working Together to Grow Wine Tourism: This session will talk about cross-functional collaboration to grow wine tourism. Our panel will include representatives from a winery, winery association, destination management organization, tour operator, and hotel. In addition, this extended session is designed to encourage audience participation, so come prepared to contribute!

Wine Marketing Around the World: We all know wine marketing is not the same in all regions, whether the difference be California versus New York or the US versus other countries. In this session, hear from a panel of wine industry leaders from throughout the world and learn what in their country might or might not be applicable to you.

The Impact of Wine Events Locally and Globally Wine appreciation is a common theme throughout the world.  We will explore how local, regional, national and international wine events impact and promote the wine business as a whole and your business specifically.

Be sure to join us October 23-25, 2018 in Santa Rosa, CA – to register, please visit our registration page at www.winetourismconference.org.  The early registration deadline is September 15th, so register today!