Unleashing the Power of Magic

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2024 may well be one of the most challenging years in recent history for the American wine industry. Let’s change that.

Multiple Alarm Bells

At the recent Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento, several prominent experts in various fields sounded the alarms during the enormously popular “State of the Industry” session attended by several thousand industry members.

  • Wine Economist Mike Veseth compared the present with the distant past when similar clouds were on the horizon.
  • Wine market analyst Danny Brager cited several troubling trends in consumer demographics, beverage preferences, anti-alcohol pressures, and apparent wine industry apathy.
  • Steve Fredricks of Turrentine Brokerage repeatedly urged California wine grape growers to immediately tear out 30,000 acres of vineyards—roughly the total in New York State for grape juice, wine, and table grapes–to alleviate the current and chronic excess supply situation.

Let’s Get to Work!

We possess the power to unleash the magic of wine—if we all work together. Diversity is our strength, unity is our power.

Wine is produced in all 50 states, which have more than 10,500 wineries who have millions of customers, not to mention scores of winery trade associations which can also spread the magic far and wide. Wine is worth more than $276 billion to the American economy. Why not let the world know?

WineAmerica’s website has three key sections for three key audiences: Compliance Matters for wineries and winery associations to share with their employees; The Magic of Wine for wineries and associations to share with consumers and media; Economics for wineries and associations to share with public officials, media, and others.

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Compliance Matters

This section involves matters of compliance that matter. It is general information, and not legal advice, but has the most vital information and appropriate links. Of particular note during a time when anti-alcohol messages are frequent and widespread is the specific language on what wine industry members may or may not say about the health effects of alcohol. We urge compliance with that. We also urge that you share this page with all your employees, and others as you see fit.

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The Magic of Wine

There are eight documents, starting with an introductory one (“An Opportunity”) which describes what this overall “Magic” section contains, and how to use it to benefit your business and the greater wine industry. This is primarily aimed at consumers and media, but you should also use it internally to educate your staff, and externally to inform public officials, chambers of commerce, and others. The other pages are:

  • Wine Facts–fun facts about this magic juice
  • Wine Wishes–a sampling of toasts from around the world
  • Wine Sensations–the sensory appeal of fermented grape juice
  • Wine Words–quotes from famous (and other) people including descriptions, wine and nature, food, attitude, moderation, family and friends, and humor
  • Wine Farming–wine’s reflection of place and time, and preservation of land
  • Wine Wealth–the many economic benefits that wine makes from vine to glass
  • Wine Magic: A Toast–an editorial by WineAmerica President Jim Trezise which first appeared in Wine Industry Advisor

Spreading the Magic

Here are some ideas of how you can spread the magic, but please use your imagination to create others.

  • Create links to this section on your own website
  • Use relevant information in your newsletters, advertising, wine club messaging, press releases, social media and other forms of communication
  • For items like international toasts or wine words, add your favorites to your tasting room menus or as decor; print them on point-of-sale materials; create a simple bag stuffer, topped with “Thank You”; train your staff to use them with customers. Just have fun with them.

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Economics

The Wine Wealth and Wine Farming sections of The Magic of Wine section contain summary information about wine’s economic impact and agricultural roots, and you can forward them just as they are.

However, even better is the Economic Impact Study of 2022 in the Economics section. Conducted for WineAmerica by John Dunham & Associates, it includes detailed data on a national level and for all 50 states, including number of wine producers, jobs, wages, tourism visits, tourism expenditures, and taxes on federal, state, and local levels. It also breaks out Direct, Supplier, and Induced Impacts.

Spreading the Magic

  • Include appropriate state-level documents on your website, and provide a link to the WineAmerica website section on “Economics”
  • Tout specific economic benefits (like number of tourists, and expenditures) in your newsletter, press releases, wine club communications, social media, and elsewhere
  • Highlight the amounts of state and local taxes generated by wine
  • Frame the state infographic, and display it in various places in your tasting room
  • Contact your federal, state, and local legislators to let them know of wine’s economic impact on your state by including the three documents on the WineAmerica website (see list of officials below). Important Note: Do this when they are NOT busy with legislation or other matters. Also, invite them to your winery so they can stroll through your vineyard, touch tanks and barrels, meet your employees, and taste your wines, all of which make your business come alive.
  • Share information with your state Farm Bureau, Grange, agricultural suppliers, and Chambers of Commerce
  • Make friendly signage near your checkout counter thanking customers for buying your wine and showing how it helps the local economy (the number of people you employ, the tourism figures, state and local taxes, etc.)
  • Create a simple bag stuffer thanking customers, mentioning the jobs they’re supporting, and inviting them to join your wine club.

Public Officials to Contact (including Chiefs of Staff in all cases)

Local

  • Mayors
  • Country Executives
  • Legislative Leaders

State

  • Governor and Lieutenant Governor
  • Heads of Key Agencies/Departments: Agriculture, Finance, Tourism, Alcohol Regulation
  • Top Legislative Leaders
  • Members of Key Committees: Agricultural, Finance, Tourism, Regulation
  • Your local representatives

Federal

  • Senate and House Leaders (both parties)
  • Your Senators
  • Your Representative

By contacting your federal legislators, you will make WineAmerica’s work in Washington far more effective because legislators love to hear from their constituents—YOU—since you are who they represent.

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Use Your Power!

This may seem like a lot, but if you devote just a day or two to making plans and setting up your system, it will take little time after that—and will pay huge dividends to your business and our industry. You can’t do it alone, but all of us can do it together.