LTS
Richmond, VA Presentations
Terri Beirne
Updates on the major new initiatives by the Wine Institute
An update on the major marketing initiatives created by the Wine Institute. She will provide an overview and update of the “Share Wine’ project, which focused on wine professionals looking to reach out to a consumer base. Their new “We Grow Wine” is an initiative focused on policymakers.
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Beth Costa
A look inside the Wine Road Podcast
Join us for an inside look at the Wine Road Podcast, where we share the stories behind the wine, the people, and the places of Northern Sonoma County. Beth Costa, one of the hosts, will be here to reveal what they've learned over 9 years of podcasting—covering everything from perfecting sound, consistency, and their ideal format for creating authentic connections with guests. Discover how storytelling can deepen the bond between wineries and wine lovers! Think about how your podcast can drive traffic to tasting rooms.
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Holly Fusco
DTC Sales Success Begins in the Tasting Room
A direct-to-consumer marketing program is essential to every winery’s success. A strong DTC program does not happen by magic. It requires an understanding of the unique wants and needs of various types of consumers. And the achievement of a set DTC goals, the growth of wine clubs, and the like, begin with a passionate and knowledgeable staff, with programming to attract those categories of wine consumers, and generally with a sense of warm hospitality in the tasting room.
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Brittany Gibson
Inside the Mind of the Wine Visitor: What Today’s Consumers Really Want
What truly drives a consumer’s decision to visit your winery—and what keeps them coming back? In this data-driven session, we’ll share fresh research revealing how visitors choose which wineries to visit, what they value most once they’re in the tasting room, and how their preferences are shifting in today’s evolving wine landscape. You’ll gain actionable insights into traveler motivations, tasting room expectations, and the emotional connections that inspire loyalty. Whether you’re shaping guest experiences, training staff, or planning marketing campaigns, this session will help you align your strategy with what modern wine lovers really want.
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Michael Kaiser
WineAmerica is the national industry voice in Washington, DC.
As the industry faces unprecedented challenges, he will touch on the major issues being addressed by Congress, the Administration, and our regulators, as well as provide an update on the growing anti-alcohol movement coming from a wide range of sources.
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Rachel Martin
Turning Moderation into Profit
Non-alcoholic wine is no longer a niche—it’s a fast-growing category reshaping the way people drink. Valued at $1.12 billion in the U.S. in 2023 and projected to hit $1.72 billion by 2030, the market is driven by consumers who want to moderate without giving up the wine experience. For wineries, this creates new revenue streams, attracts fresh audiences, and keeps loyal customers engaged even as they drink less.
This session breaks down the essentials: where the demand is coming from, how to engage and market to these new consumers, how production choices shape quality, what compliance and labeling rules you need to know, and where the strongest opportunities lie in direct-to-consumer sales.
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Brian Matson
The Secret Pour: Content Marketing That's Efficient and Effective
Stop feeling squeezed for time and budget! Your to-do list is growing, but your marketing hours aren't. It's time to work smarter, not harder, on your social media. Brian will show you how to identify, plan, and create a strategic approach to content planning and paid tactics to get the attention you deserve—all without a Napa-sized marketing budget. You'll walk away with an actionable plan that will jumpstart your content marketing efforts!
Presentations
Davide Schiavetti
From Grape to Great: Building and Growing Your Wine’s Brand Through Trademarks
A strong brand is one of the most valuable assets a winery can have, but only if it’s protected. This session will explore why trademark registration is essential for wineries, what to keep in mind when choosing a new label or name, and how to preserve its value over the long haul. Attendees will walk away with practical strategies to safeguard their brands and leverage their trademarks for long-term growth in a competitive market, ensuring their brands age as gracefully as their finest vintages.
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Stephanie Siegel
Creating a Wine Culture in Our Region
The regional wine industry has become a major economic engine in Ohio’s Grand River Valley. With a talented and creative team, by working together with the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, the GRV has developed a broad base of community support, generated seed money, identified national trends applicable to the wine industry, and grown industry visitation while other areas have seen diminished tourism.
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Donniella Winchell
A Fun Exercise: Using ‘True Colors’ to Create Team Cohesion
The concept of personality colors, popularized by models like True Colors and described in books like Surrounded by Idiots, uses a four-color system—Red, Yellow, Green, and Blue—to represent different personality traits and communication styles for easier understanding and interaction. Each color is associated with distinct characteristics: While everyone possesses all these color energies to varying degrees, identifying one's dominant color can help improve communication and teamwork by adjusting to others' preferred styles. Take this exercise back to your winery to build a stronger, more collaborative team.
The License to Steal Sessions – So that these informal, interactive sessions are truly valuable, topics will be shared in advance of the conference with all potential attendees so that everyone comes prepared with contributions. During each session, attendees will freely share our best and most successful [as well as potential big mistakes] with the assembled group. LTS participants are typically some of the best and brightest minds in the wine community, and in these difficult times, the more each of us is supportive of one another, the better for all: A Rising Tide Raises all Ships.
· Customer service -- Examples of the great, good, mediocre, and awful scenarios. Audience stories on the best examples and suggestions to mitigate negativity. How should good team service be recognized? How should online comments be handled?. How should unruly customers be handled? How do you improve your customer service ratings online? How do you recruit your best customers to share their positive experiences?
· AI has become a way of life for marketers, and in a myriad of ways in the business of making and selling wine. How is it being used within your business? Are you using it for more than as an online search engine? What are its shortcomings? Strengths in your experience? Have there been any workforce issues, good or bad?
· Addressing Community Relations – As the wine industry grows in a region, there are often challenges beyond making great wine: traffic congestion, farm equipment on roads, the anti-alcohol movements, neighborhood rivalries and jealousies, negative stories in the press, highway patrol sobriety checkpoints, noise ordinances, local health department food service issues, and lots more. What is everyone facing, and what are some solutions to solve the problems?
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