Nine Hats Wines Opens New Tasting Room in Downtown Walla Walla

Nine Hats downtown Walla Walla tasting room. Photo credit: Nine Hats Wines WALLA WALLA, WASH. (June 6, 2024) – Nine Hats Wines has opened a new tasting room in downtown […]

A question I’ve been thinking about lately: Do your tasting room systems actually work together,  or do they just coexist?  For many small WA wineries, the setup feels fine on the surface. You launch ecommerce. You add a POS. You manage your clubs. You run reports.  Sure everything functions. But a few deeper questions tend to reveal where things get… shall we say, murky.  Does tasting room purchase history show up cleanly in online customer records?  If someone joins your club at the counter, does that status automatically reflect in your segmentation?  When inventory changes, does every channel update right away?  Can you pull one report that includes tasting room, online, and event sales - and trust it?  Or is the answer sometimes… “Well… kind of.”  That “kind of” is where small inefficiencies hide - extra exports, reconciliations, double-checking report

As the wine industry reels following a string of economic setbacks, it has been hoping for a rebound. Conversations swirl around whether the sales decline is slowing or if a portfolio realignment to focus on premium wines could reposition the brand for success among consumers who are drinking less. Cure-alls for capturing the Gen Z and Millennial consumer abound, along with Instagrammable images of happy young women in hats. Technological innovation thrives, bringing solutions and automating processes from weeding to bottling and streamlining online direct-to-consumer sales. Almost all the worries are real, and experimentation is essential. But, in the end, wine is a nuts and bolts business. Winery owners tally up the costs and the sales revenue at the end of the harvest season and set about readjusting as necessary. Lately, the costs have been outstripping the profits at a greater rate than ever. It’s why we see dead vines and bare earth where vineyards were thriving yesterday a

At Peregrine Mobile Bottling, we believe that the final stage of winemaking - the bottling line - shouldn't be a compromise. Instead, it should be an opportunity to elevate your product, preserving all the hard work, nuance, and care that went into every vintage. Over the years, we’ve seen firsthand how integrating advanced Gas Management using a KH Tec Membrane Technology into the bottling process makes an undeniable difference in wine cost savings, quality, shelf stability, and consumer experience. This is our story - and the story of the wineries who trust us to help them tell theirs.  Where Technology Meets Terroir When we started offering gas management services alongside our mobile bottling, we weren’t just adding a feature. We were responding to a real need in the industry. Too often, wineries saw excellent wines lose their luster after bottling. Subtle aromatics would flatten. Effervescence would fade. Shelf life suffered. The common culprit? CO₂ and Oxyge

Marketing Automation Sells Wine & Saves Time Many wine marketers face the same problem: balancing a long to-do list with limited time, but automation can help If you’re like many wine marketers, your to-do list is a mile long. You need to post on social media, write a newsletter, update your blog, plan your next event and launch another vintage of wine. And that’s just on the marketing side.   With so many hats to wear, today’s wine marketers need any help they can get.  That’s where automated SMS workflows can lighten your load. Once your SMS workflows are set, you can serve with your best customers, nurture future business, and grow your wine sales, all while sipping your morning coffee. The five automated SMS workflows outlined in this article can help any winery delight its customers and sell more wine with timely texts.  What are Automated SMS Workflows? Automated SMS workflows are time- or action-triggered messages sent automatically

Wineshipping LLC acquired Pack n’ Ship Direct, 24Seven Enterprises & Vin-Go a little over a year ago, creating the nation’s largest direct-to-consumer logistics provider with 2.6 million square feet of temperature-controlled warehouse space throughout the country. The company, which shipped close to 100 million bottles of wine last year, employs roughly 1300 people.  Chief Executive Eric Lewis joined Wineshipping just prior to the acquisition after working in direct-to-consumer fulfillment and technology for a decade. He was the first employee in fulfillment for Amazon in California, establishing a presence in Southern California before joining Google. More recently, he was SVP of Operations for Casper, which sells mattresses DTC. He worked in manufacturing with Black and Decker and Ford so has experience with engineering and automation as well.  In an interview with Wine Business Monthly, Lewis discussed how the company handled the COVID-19 crisis, managing g

With the hype surrounding AI, it’s hard to know what news matters to today’s DTC wine marketers. I suspect most of us tried using AI for content creation a couple of years ago.   But what has AI done for wine marketers lately, besides confusing us with too many models and few pragmatic uses? The good news is that, amid the usual noise about AI condemning us to a life of misery, the last few months have provided wine merchants with a new generation of valuable survival tools in the form of powerful AI Agents. What the Heck is an “AI Agent?” Leading business productivity tools – including Salesforce, OpenAI, JotForm, and Zapier – now offer their unique interpretations of “AI Agents” that can amplify the results of any sales or marketing team. Intriguing use cases in the wine industry include AI-powered sommeliers, social media assistants, DTC marketing management, and public-facing chatbots, all of which are empowered to represent your

Visual branding is so much, much more than just a logo—it’s the full, immersive experience that your customers have with your winery. From your website to the social media posts, from the T-shirts your crew wears during harvest to the stickers on your wine bottles, every visual element plays a crucial role in telling your winery’s story. If you want to stand out in the crowded wine market, it’s time to think beyond the label and recognize the power of consistent, eye-catching visual branding across all touchpoints. Recognizing Where Visual Branding Matters The first step in crafting impactful visual branding is recognizing all the places it can—and should—be used. Visual branding isn’t just for marketing materials; it’s woven into every part of your winery’s identity. Here’s where it MUST be front and center: Website and Social Media: Your online presence is often the first interaction customers have with your brand. You

Keeping up with industry news and trends is one of the most underrated disciplines in beverage alcohol. It’s a frightening habit, admittedly — slowing down long enough to read or at least skim several articles every day when the return on investment takes months or years to materialize.  When sales are down, it’s human nature to scrounge for the fastest wins available. In our desperation to keep the lights on, we abandon most eagerly the very practices that would lead to longevity and profitability for our business. The inconvenient timing of these insights — namely, that the best articles and industry reports tend to circulate precisely when everyone has checked out for the holidays —only intensifies the competitive advantage up for grabs by those who are paying attention. An up-to-date understanding of consumer preferences and behavior can inform our production, focus our messaging, and align sales & marketing so that everything from tasting ro

In the world of hospitality, there’s a misconception that offering service is just a job—something anyone can do with minimal training or effort. Yet, anyone who has truly excelled in this profession knows the truth: hospitality is a noble calling. It requires a combination of innate qualities and cultivated skills to succeed, creating exceptional experiences for every guest who walks through the door. Hospitality isn’t merely about serving; it’s about creating emotional connections and relationships, telling stories, and making guests feel seen, valued, and celebrated. At the heart of this calling lies the hospitality heart—a genuine love for serving others. It’s the difference between a transactional experience and a transformational one. But even with an inherent hospitality heart, this profession demands diverse, professional skills to truly excel. Hospitality Heart: The Foundation of Exceptional Service  Hospitality begins and ends with he