Expert Talks

Kyle Altomare didn’t set out to become a winemaker. He was on track to be a teacher when he fell into the wine industry and never looked back. Now, at Gloria Ferrer, Kyle blends his passion for dissecting flavor with meticulous sparkling wine production, managing everything from wines aging in tirage for over 20 years […]

Tasting Room Conversion: What the Best Wineries Do Differently with Liz Mercer, Partner at WISE Academy Liz Mercer started in a tasting room 26 years ago as a temp, barely knowing how to use a corkscrew, learning by doing. She worked every facet of direct-to-consumer: events, trade hospitality, wine club management, and DTC strategy across […]

Managing Multiple Wine Brands: Systems and Presence with Mike Tracy, Director of Winemaking at Trois Noix Mike Tracy grew up on the Fry Ranch in Dry Creek Valley, where his mother worked for EJ Gallo and his godfather was among the first cellar workers at the facility. His earliest memories are the smell of fermentation […]

Harvest Watch Wine Data: Behind the Dashboard with Anna Muthig, Data Analyst at InnoVint Anna Muthig came to data analysis through wine, not the other way around. She spent her first years in the industry at a small tasting room and production operation making fewer than 2,000 cases a year, learning bottling, harvest, and winemaking […]

Winery Supply and Demand Planning: A Six-Step Framework with Andrea Savaiano, Wine Industry Consultant Andrea Savaiano grew up in the Willamette Valley, went to college in Walla Walla, and started her wine industry career as a business analyst at a vineyard development company in Napa before spending six years in tech working in sales analytics […]

Winery Custom Crush: A Framework for Clients and Providers with Alison Crowe, VP of Winemaking at Plata Wine Partners Alison Crowe was at Bonny Doon Vineyard when it grew from about 85,000 cases to just over half a million in four years. That growth would not have been possible without custom crush partnerships, and the […]

Buying and Selling a Winery: What to Know Before You Start with Erik McLaughlin, Managing Partner at Metis Erik McLaughlin spent his career as a winery operator before he became an M&A advisor. He was at a winery when it was acquired by a large publicly traded wine company, and after that experience his phone […]

Winery Barrel Sanitation and Smoke Taint: Practical Approaches with Jim Duane, Winemaker at Seavey Vineyard Jim Duane has been the winemaker at Seavey Vineyard in Conn Valley for almost 15 years and hosts the Inside Winemaking podcast, now with more than 192 episodes covering the technical side of wine production. He was on the ground […]

Common Wine Faults: Oxidation, Volatile Acidity, and Brettanomyces with Jim Duane, Winemaker at Seavey Vineyard Jim Duane started making beer in high school in Salt Lake City because it was basically the only way to get it. From there he moved to wine kits, then to a job in New Zealand at 22, then to […]

Winery Bottling Checklist: How to Run an Error-Free Bottling Day with Melissa Hackett, Owner of Wine Unfiltered Consulting Melissa Hackett spent 16 years working across 11 wineries in two states before starting Wine Unfiltered Consulting, and her last winery role put her in charge of everything: production, harvest, wholesale, DTC, and events. That breadth is […]

Winery Financial Literacy: Five Ways to Level Up Your Career with Mike Mathews, Partner at 2GO Advisory Group Mike Mathews learned what he wanted from a career during a college internship. He was talking to a company controller and asked why he liked his job. The controller pulled him into his office, closed the door, […]

Winery TTB Report Mistakes: 6 Common Filing Errors and How to Avoid Them, with Ann Reynolds, Owner of Wine Compliance Alliance Ann Reynolds ran her first harvest in 1993. In 1998, she started doing winery compliance at Sterling Vineyards in Calistoga, working through questions that nobody around her could easily answer, piecing together an understanding […]