Direct Wine Sales Blog


DTCWW Good to Great Series – #2 Develop a “Care Culture”

[March 28, 2023 – Sandra Beals] How a hospitality team makes guests feel begins with how each team member is supported by the leadership team. Top performing winery teams have adopted Care Cultures for many years including iconic brands ranging from Cakebread, Trinchero, Wente, Domaine Carneros, and Silver Oak/Twomey, to […]


DTCWW Good to Great Series – #1 Become “Winery Community Builders”

[January 27, 2023 – Sandra Beals] Today, I am excited to release the DTCWW Going from Good to Great Series #1 “Become Winery Community Builders”. Watch for a year full of articles focused on proven models and tools for success as DTC Wine Workshops gets ready to celebrate our 10 […]


Top Direct Wine Sales Tools for 2023

[December 29, 2022 – Sandra Beals prev Hess] Winery teams across the globe leverage DTC Wine Workshops proven methods and training programs to capitalize on what is now a $4.3 billion dollar industry in wine shipped producer to consumer last year. While wine shipment volume was 9% down year over […]


Tasting Room Visitation DOWN & Private Client Sales UP This Holiday Season

[November 30, 2022 – Sandra Beals prev Hess] Consumer spending on domestic wine, including bulk imports, increased nearly 9% versus last year to $54.9 billion in the past 12 months, as winery direct-consumer shipment value gained 1% in October to $608 million according to Wines Vines Analytics. On the flip […]


2023 Wine Consumer Journey Mapping Workshops Announced!

[October 31, 2022] Join Sandra Hess, founder of DTC Wine Workshops, for this online training session ideal for winery owners and management teams. Two dates to choose from. Finish the year strong and prepare for 2023 with top-notch tools and strategies. Sandra Hess, founder of DTC Wine Workshops and Direct […]


Top 5 Tools for Selling Wine Direct this Holiday Season

[Sandra Hess – August 29, 2022] Sandra Hess, founder of DTC Wine Workshops and Consumer Engagement Specialist, brings you these top five tips for selling wine direct to consumer this holiday season. Ready to implement these tools and build a strategic plan for 2023? Reach out to schedule a coaching […]


Future of Drinks Part 2: DEVELOP MASTER WINERY STORYTELLERS

[Sandra Hess – June 30, 2022] With a 11,000+ wine brands competing for the attention of consumers in the US today, effective and meaningful storytelling is a key brand differentiator. High performing winery hospitality teams leverage past, present and future wine brand stories to best connect, educate and convert a […]


Future of Drinks Part 1: DEVELOP WINE BRAND COMMUNITIES

[Sandra Hess – April 21, 2022] 2021 was a year of direct wine sales growth for most thriving wine brands across the nation. Most avid wine consumers engaged with winery websites and social media outlets at a pace we hadn’t seen pre-pandemic. Our top performing winery clients across the US […]


Winery Talent Retention in the New Normal

[February 10, 2022] Sandra Hess, founder of DTC Wine Workshops spoke at the Wine Industry Leadership Conference yesterday. This online program was sponsored by Wine Business Network and panelists included Joel A. Miller, Owner & Principal / Chateau HR Consulting; and Karen Alary, Managing Partner / The Personnel Perspective. Stace […]


The Top DTC Wine Sales Tools of 2021

[Sandra Hess – December 30, 2021] ✓ Updated Communication Tools to Better Connect with Wine Brand Loyalists On December 9th, Constant Contact published a report detailing the average email open rates by industry type. The Retail/Direct Selling category shows an average open rate of 18.7% with a click-through rate of […]


How WELCOMING is your DTC Wine Brand?

As we prepare our Thanksgiving tables for time with family and friends, we also have an opportunity to thank long-term loyalists and top consumers. When we analyze key data points for a variety of winery clients across the nation, we identify key measures of success as well as areas for […]


Top 5 Tools for Developing Effective DTC Wine Compensation Plans

[Sandra Hess – October 12, 2021 – DTC Wine Sales Blog] Tool #1 – Start at the Top The January 2020 Pandemic taught us a lot about being nimble and adjusting. During this time of pandemic recovery, most wine regions throughout the US have suffered from staff shortages. We have […]


Ready to Offer Winery Concierge Services? Key Questions to Consider…

[Sandra Hess – August 19, 2021 – San Francisco, CA] With about 65% of US wineries falling into the “small (up to 5000 cases produce annually)” and “very small (up to 2500 cases produced annually)” categories, wine enthusiasts want more intimacy with brands they reinvest with. Over the past four […]


Developing All-Star Hospitality Teams

[Sandra Hess – July 27, 2021 – San Francisco, CA] As the US wine industry continues to recover from the 2020 pandemic, most of our clients are struggling to find qualified talent for both front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house-positions. We have spent quite a bit of time updating job descriptions and training […]