There has been a lot of troubling wine business news recently and I am watching closely to see if, when, and how the industry can pull together to address the many problems. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Lewis Perdue’s 1999 book “The Wrath of Grapes” criticized wine industry groups for putting individual interests above broader industry needs. Can we do better this time around?

So far this year I have been able to take the industry’s pulse through my participation at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento and virtual and in-person speaking events in Idaho, Burgundy, Moldova, and the Eastern Winery Expo and License to Steal workshop in Syracuse. These experiences have left me cautiously optimistic, although narrow interests are a strong force.

I remember a lunch conversation with the owner of a small eastern winery looking for more direct sales opportunities. Off-site tasting rooms were a good option, but the extra sales involve substantial extra cost. What about sharing space with another winery from your region, I suggested? Maybe, was the reply, but not with a real competitor. Understood, but that limits cooperation. And that’s a problem if you are trying to grow the wine market pie rather than just grab a bigger slice.

My next stop is Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, for the 6th Ontario Craft Wine Conference. The one-day program plus trade show packs in a lot of opportunities to learn, teach, talk, listen, and build new and honor old relationships.  There are four tracks for specialized workshops: finance/operations, human resources, sales/marketing/digital, and technical/winemaking.

There are also three general “keynote” sessions where I hope everyone will gather. The day starts out with Spanish winemaker extraordinaire Almudena Alberca MW discussing “The Future of Premium Wine Production.” I take the stage right after lunch with a talk about “Secrets of the World’s Most Respected Wine Regions.” Elaine Chukan Brown addresses ” Building New & Diverse Opportunities in Wine” to close out the day’s formal program.

A reception follows and, if past is prologue, this is where a lot of the most important discussions will take place. It promises to be a full, intense day. Looking forward to it.

Can the wine industry pull together to address today’s problems? The Ontario conference title is “Roots to Resilience and Success for Ontario’s Wine Industry.” Resilience is certainly the name of the game today. Success in the future will be best achieved if the the industry can find ways to pull together.