Direct Wine Sales Blog


GOOD TO GREAT “Tasting Room Sales Training Webinars” Announced!

[August 29, 2024 – Sandra Beals] Winery owners in the US are experiencing the most competitive time in history to sell wine direct to consumer. Wine consumers are being a bit more conservative with how they spend their time and finances as we wrap up this summer season. Today, every […]


Tasting Room “Things to Do When Slow” Checklist

[July 31, 2024 – Sandra Beals] High performing hospitality teams actively care for the tasting room, even on the slowest days. Guests should see the staff polishing glassware in between visits to their table, tasting bar space, etc. Guests should not see staff sitting with their cell phone, making personal […]


Direct Wine: It’s Time to Return to the Basics with these Top 5 Tips

[June 27, 2024 – Sandra Beals] The US Wine Industry is certainly experiencing some shifts as distributor consolidation and increased direct wine competition continues to play out. There are 11,691 wine brands across the nation today, representing about 400 more than in 2021, according to the Wines Vines Analytics Winery […]


Direct Wine Sales 101: Key Questions to Thrive 

[April 23, 2024 – Sandra Beals] In today’s competitive direct wine space, successful wine brands must have a laser-focused sales and marketing strategy in place to remain relevant. It pains me to hear winery leadership teams share that they simply don’t need a direct sales strategic plan. That sentiment may […]


Direct Wine Sales – Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid

[March 28, 2024 – Sandra Beals] In 2023, I shared a “Good to Great Blog Series” to showcase how our top-performing winery clients leverage the ideal blends of talent, tools, and technologies to grow their direct business. In today’s blog article, I share “Direct Wine Sales – Top 10 Mistakes […]


Get to the 2nd Direct Wine Sale with these Top Three Tools

[February 29, 2024 – Sandra Beals] How do high-performing winery teams across the nation, increase visitation, grow consumer contact lists and build brand loyalists year after year? At DTC Wine Workshops, we teach every member of the direct to consumer team to focus on the second sale and beyond to […]


Direct Wine Sales Specialists – 2024 Web Trainings

[January 24, 2024 – Sandra Beals] A group of Direct Wine Sales Specialists with the DTC Consultant Network have teamed up to provide live web training sessions in 2024. Winery owners, stakeholders, managers, and frontline staff will obtain much needed skills to remain relevant and grow consumer contact lists. Winery […]


2023 Direct Wine Sales Key Learnings & 2024 Training Tools

[December 27, 2023 – Sandra Beals] Our clients have much to celebrate as we wind down a year focused on strengthening and building in the direct wine space. I am pleased to share these 2023 Direct Wine Sales Key Learnings. We worked together to build “Wine Consumer Journey Maps” in […]


DTCWW Good to Great Series #8 – Rethink Winery Events

[November 29, 2023 – Sandra Beals] As our clients prepare for 2024 visitation, now is the time to rethink the WHY behind winery events. Today, most wine brands don’t have the luxury of hosting the same event five years in a row as loyalists want to be intrigued and inspired […]


DTCWW Good to Great Series #7 – Be an Admired Winery Brand

[October 26, 2023 – Sandra Beals] The luxury market is undergoing a significant transformation as it adapts to the growing spending power of Gen Z consumers. Along with Millennials, these individuals accounted for “the entire growth of the luxury market in 2022,” according to Bain & Company, and are predicted to […]


DTCWW Good to Great Series #6 – Define and Leverage Key Wine Brand Differentiators

[September 28, 2023 – Sandra Beals (NOT AI)] As the direct to consumer wine space has evolved over the past 10-12 years, we have helped leadership teams develop organizational structures, customized training programs, training manuals, hospitality service standards, and standard operating procedures. In doing this work, we walk business stakeholders […]


2013-2023 A Decade of Direct Wine Sales Success Stories

[July 31, 2023 – Sandra Beals – 20 to 30 minute read] 2013-2023 A Decade of Direct Wine Sales Success Stories “Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.” Benjamin Franklin Ten years ago this month, I founded DTC Wine Workshops Consulting Agency. […]


DTCWW Good to Great Series – #4 “Personalize and Customize ”

[June 22, 2023 – Sandra Beals] With more winery choices than ever, remaining relevant and appealing has gotten a lot more challenging. There isn’t a “one size fits all” formula for standing out in the crowd, but a common theme of our most successful winery clients is the ability to […]


DTCWW Good to Great Series – #3 “Know your Audience”

[May 24, 2023 – Sandra Beals] How do high performing hospitality teams go from good to great when hosting tasting room guests? Seasoned winery hosts first know their audience before sharing a wine presentation with relevant stories. In this post-pandemic period, time is the #1 commodity of winery visitors as […]