Yesterday, the Wineries Unlimited Conference and Trade Show, sponsored by Vineyard  & Winery Management magazine, began Main Conference Day One with a General Session presentation by Andy Beckstoffer. He is president of Beckstoffer Vineyards in California and has a long history of involvement in the wine industry.

After this presentation conference attendees chose between Viticulture & Enology sessions and Marketing & Sales sessions. While Terry attended the first two Viticulture & Enology sessions, I chose to attend the Marketing sessions.

The moderator of the Marketing sessions was Paul Wagner from Balzac Communications & Marketing in California. Wagner is a dynamic and informative speaker. Paul presented information that would be helpful for wineries to use when marketing their products. One of the most important points he made was to let consumers know what makes them unique. One of the interesting statistics Paul mentioned was that there were 5,000 wines rated at 90 or above. Customers are looking for authenticity, personality, best buys, high scores, and interesting photos.

For the third sessions, Terry and I switched so I could have the opportunity to hear Randall Grahm’s presentation. Terry was happy going to the presentation by Danny Brager of Nielsen Research who presented relevant statistics.

Randall Grahm’s presentation was presented as a serious contemplation of  “terroir.” After speaking for a half hour, Randall was happy to field questions from the audience. After the session was over, several people stopped to speak with Randall. I was one of them. I had “met” Randal Grahm on Twitter and enjoyed reading his tweets. I introduced myself as “wineabout,” my Twitter handle. It was great meeting someone whom I followed on Twitter. How unique to meet someone through Social Media and then actually meet them in person! What a small world! Note I had also read Randall Grahm’s book, Been Doon So Long: A Randall Grahm Vinthology and written a review of it.

Today I’m looking forward to learning more about Marketing & Sales at the Wineries Unlimited Conference.

Cheers! Kathy