When The Going Gets Tough...

If you believe the evening news, the recession is over and our ecomonic worries are a thing of the past. For many of my colleagues in the wine industry however, it seems a bit harder to see the bright rays of sunshine that the news media personalitites are raving about. This blog post is for those of you out there that are in the same boat. "When the going gets tough, the tough get going"...I would like to offer three tools that might help.
Marilyn Hawkins is the owner of www.prhawk.com - one of most passionate people in the Southern Oregon wine community & one of the toughest, smartest women I know. She recently shared with me three pieces of valuable information that I hope will help us all.  

#1 - Check out this article:
“In a slow economy, Northwest winemakers drop prices, turn to celebrities and get savvy with bloggers”
http://seattlebusinessmag.com/article/washington-wines-get-star-power  

#2 - Attend this conference :
Save the date....Share your ideas at the Southern Oregon Wine Institute/Umpqua Community College
(Keep in mind that these events book fast, so don't wait to reserve your spot.)

Wine Cluster Conference II
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
8:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The Lodge at Riverside Inn,
Grants Pass

All parts of the Southern Oregon wine economic cluster - growers, wineries, suppliers, distributors, retailers and hospitality - will come together with economic development experts, educators, lenders, travel/tourism specialists and professionals in law, accounting, real estate, marketing and other fields. You'll learn best practices from other successful wine regions and get to express your ideas for strengthening the industry here.

Guest Speakers:
Nick Frey, President, Sonoma County Winegrape Commission, Santa Rosa, California
"Infrastructure and Resources Required to Create a Successful Wine Region"

Patty Skinkis, Ph.D., Viticulture Extension Specialist & Assistant Professor, Oregon State University
"Advanced, Region-Specific Vineyard Practices"

Joe Dobbes, Dobbes Family Estate and Wine By Joe, Dundee, Oregon
"Building a Base of Fault-Free, Consumer-Friendly Wines"

Elizabeth Martin-Calder, past Executive Director, Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance,
"Walla Walla Wisdom: Years in the Making"

Limited to 100 participants.

For more information, contact:
Allison Priestley, (541) 440-7694, [email protected]; or
Marilyn Hawkins, (541) 552-9922, [email protected] 

#3 - Dowload the pdf provided below to read Marilyn's notes from the recent "Wine Industry Financial Symposium". These notes are filled with trends, ideas and concepts being used by some of the brightest minds in the wine world to combat our current economic challenges. 

Best of luck to each of you, just remember - it is together that we will succeed.

wine_industry_financial_symposium_summary.pdf
File Size:	87 kb
File Type:	pdf

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