Wine Marketing Podcast · Heather Daenitz

What Happens When Wine Nerds Throw a Conference?

·44 min·2 clips

Barbara says wine marketing should move beyond Gen Z and think in psychographics, not just demographics.

1. Wine Marketing Podcast covers the Direct-to-Consumer Wine Symposium, a DTC wine marketing conference tied to Free the Grapes. 2. Heather Danitz hosts Barbara Gorder, the managing partner of the symposium and founder of Undisclosed Location, and Barbara also runs the event with Brian Baker. 3. The episode asks why the symposium is different from other wine conferences and what it is trying to do for wineries. 4. Barbara says the symposium is an educational organization first, with rehearsed speakers, practical workshops, and a trade show. 5. She says the event serves wineries from 1,000-case producers to Jackson Family and Gallo Family organizations. 6. Monterey is the second year in a row for the conference, and Barbara says people like the food, wine, and aquarium setting. 7. Barbara says Free the Grapes started with 17 states and now reaches 47 states. 8. She says the advocacy work is not finished because the group still has to go to legislatures in Delaware, New Jersey, and Mississippi. 9. Barbara says the conference now brings 700 to 750 people and has grown from its Santa Rosa and Napa Valley days. 10. Heather says Monterey is more accessible from the Central Coast than Napa, Sonoma, or Concord. 11. Barbara says the steering committee made the content process more democratic this year. 12. She says the conference is now a 12-month-a-year effort, with sponsorships sold and content being published the following week. 13. Barbara highlights a new referral-program workshop, including formal examples like Wine Atlas and Jason Haas at Blenheim. 14. She also points to local Sonoma County trading and a “beyond the tasting room” approach. 15. Barbara says the conference will address “demographics versus psychographics” and move beyond simple Gen Z marketing. 16. She says wineries should think about culture, art, fashion, and trend when they build a differentiated story. 17. Barbara says the conference is adding bootcamps for Meta 101, OTT, CTV, and email automation with Kelly Mantel. 18. She describes a game-show-style hospitality challenge with Kelly Cornett, blind tasting, and a four-team format. 19. The tone is practical, opinionated, and workshop-driven, with Heather and Barbara moving quickly between planning details and marketing strategy. 20. Listeners who work in DTC wine marketing, hospitality, or winery education will get the most out of it. 21. Listeners looking for broad wine lifestyle chat without tactical takeaways may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical look at the Direct-to-Consumer Wine Symposium and the direction of wine marketing.

The Wine Marketing Podcast uses Barbara Gorder's discussion of the Direct-to-Consumer Wine Symposium to present the event as a useful, grounded look at DTC marketing for wineries.

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Why you'd press play

You want a grounded read on the DTC Wine Symposium and where wine marketing is headed.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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