What Flags For Safety Does Your Wine Trail Association Wave?

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A couple of months ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with Liz Stamp, cmsimg_1218058036bustourowner of Lakewood Vineyards, located in the Finger Lake Region of New York. Liz shared how the wineries in her area had joined together to safely handle guests participating in bus and limousine wine tours. Their goal was to minimize inebriation and inappropriate conduct amongst the tour groups. The Association’s wineries established a Safe Group Wine Tours Program wherein sponsors of the local bus and limousine wine tours are handed a Yellow Card (warning) or Red Card (access denied for the day ) if the winery believes the tour group leader is transporting unruly guests that may have had too much to drink. A Code of Conduct for Group Wine Tasting was created, identifying behaviors that would cause winery staff to raise a flag and refuse service to individuals or groups. These identified behaviors include drunkenness, damage to winery property, theft, rude language, exposure, threatening or aggressive behavior.

The wineries distribute the cards to the tour sponsor and document by way of an incident report, detailed information on the group’s behavior. The winery owner then calls ahead to the next winery on the trail to notify the tasting room staff that the flagged group may be headed their way. This allows the next winery owner on the trail the opportunity to decide whether or not to serve the group.

The Wine Trail Association has found the program to be well received by the local tour group leaders, Too, they have discovered that the practice has been found to be effective in curtailing poor behavior.

With numerous weddings, bachelorette parties and other local events planned throughout the year, this program has been found to be a useful tool in encouraging safe and responsible alcohol consumption.

If your winery participates in a wine trail association, perhaps your association may also want to consider safe measures to protect its establishments and minimize liability as your guests proceed down the wine trail. For more information, on the Wine Trails of the Finger Lakes Region, visit www.groupwinetours.com

Direct Wine Shipment May Soon Come To New Jersey

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The New Jersey State Senate has recently approved legislation allowing New Jersey residents to receive direct shipments of wine. If this law is enacted, New Jersey would join thirty-five other states that currently have legislation that allow direct wine shipment. For more information read: N.J. Gets Closer To Allowing Direct Wine Shipments With Senate Approval.

A Pennsylvania Winery Does It Right!

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Pennsylvania’s own Lehigh Valley’s Pinnacle Ridge Winery made the cover of this month’s Vineyard & Winery Management Magazine. Noted for its critical acclaim and loyal following, Pinnacle Ridge Winery is highlighted as a model for success for which others can follow. For more information on Pennsylvania’s own, read here: Pinnacle Ridge Winery

Is That Wine Or Hospitality Business Partner Really Your Consultant?

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Do you already own your own wine or hospitality business and now want to merge your business expertise with those of another? Have you contemplated a new business venture with another businesshandshakepartnership person that you think offers promise for you both?

Perhaps you’ve identified a potential business partner whose business combined with yours makes practical sense while bringing a new and different business synergy. Maybe you and your new found partner have sketched out a few ideas of what role each of you intends to play in your newly planned business venture.

Conceptually, you may have wisely given consideration to formally executing a written Partnership Agreement. But before proceeding too quickly, you may want to consider another option. Ask yourself, is a Partnership Agreement really what you need?

Maintaining your own business autonomy while still collaborating with your new business partner can be achieved with a different choice. You may want to consider creating a different kind of business marriage by executing a Consulting Agreement.

Let’s say for example, that you’re a wine sommelier. You offer wine knowledge and expertise to a wide range of hospitality and wine business clients for a fee. Your new potential business partner wants to open a new food and wine bar, but lacks your knowledge and expertise of the wine industry. Combined the two of you decide your backgrounds are complimentary and together you can maximize your business opportunities.

However, you may not want to create a business relationship wherein together you share in the profits and losses of the newly conceived food and wine bar. Yet, you want to lend your expertise to the business, get compensated for those efforts, but still maintain your own separate autonomy for your own existing business. In this instance, executing a Consulting Agreement may be the right choice for this kind of business relationship.

Executing a Consulting Agreement allows you to define your terms in advance while assuring the other person that you will provide services to them in a professional manner. In these type of agreements, the responsibilities of the Consultant are defined in writing, identifying the expected work to be performed, anticipated compensation and payment schedules, start and end dates of the work, termination and dispute resolutions for the planned business arrangement.

The Consulting Agreement can set forth whether the Consultant will work exclusively for a single client and in what markets or territories. The Consulting Agreement is also a good vehicle to use to determine whether you and the other party can have a happy business marriage without the financial investment risks that often comes with forming a partnership.

So, when that next proposal for a business marriage with another presents itself, consider whether your winery, wine, event planning or hospitality based business really needs a Partner or a Consultant.

A Natural Disaster Has Taken Its Toll On The Wine Industry

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Unfortunately Chile’s wine industry has not escaped the devastating effects of this week’s earthquake. As pointed out in today’s Wine Spectator, millions of liters have been lost resulting in huge damages to the industry. For more information read: Powerful Earthquake Rocks Chilean Wine Industry.