AVWA Coast Trade Tasting – many thanks!

On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, the Anderson Valley Winegrowers Association gathered 26 wineries from the Anderson Valley and Yorkville Highland AVAs together at the Little River Inn for an annual Coast Trade Tasting.

Originally conceived by the late Bob Nye of Goldeneye Winery as a way to thank our trade partners, the tradition continues, and surely Bob was looking down and smiling, as the day was beautiful.

Restaurants buy wines to serve their guests, Inns house the guests from the valley and, together with the shop keepers, all refer their customers back to our winery tasting rooms. This annual event isn’t about selling more wine, but a wonderful opportunity taken by our wineries to say thank you for the year round support of our business partners.

I have many people to thank for helping make this year’s Coast Trade Tasting an incredible event.

First, the participating wineries: Balo, Baxter, Bink, Black Kite, Brutocao, Copain, Drew, Fathers & Daughters, FEL, Goldeneye, Handley, Husch, Knez, Lazy Creek, Lula, Meyer Family, Navarro, Panthea, Phillips Hill, Philo Ridge, Roma’s, Seebass, Signal Ridge, Twomey, Witching Stick, and Yorkville; thank you all!

Second, the Little River Inn; thanks to Cally, DeeLynn, Melissa, Chef Marc, and the small army of staff who set the room and broke it down.

This year’s Coast Trade Tasting was initially planned to be hosted elsewhere, but after a demand for a 60% increase in agreed to compensation, unbudgeted, we had to find a new location, and the Little River Inn moved Heaven and earth to accommodate us. The venue was perfect, the food was incredible, and in an ‘above and beyond’ gesture the folks at the Little River Inn made an oceanfront view with fireplace room available for a drawing prize, and one very lucky attendee spent last night wrapped in luxury after enjoying a wonderful day of wine and food tasting.

Lately, there has been an attempt to move the Coast Trade Tasting to a different venue each year, to allow different folks to showcase their facility to our wineries and the attendees.

I’m honestly rethinking that, and would happily return to the Little River Inn each year into the future, if they would have us. I love working with professionals, who under promise and over deliver, and am just incredibly appreciative of every kindness extended to us this year.

I stayed at the Little River Inn last, in January, and look forward to the next opportunity to stay with them again.

Thanks to Paula Viehmann, manager of Goldeneye Winery. Paula expressed a desire to help out in any way she could, and feels a responsibility to see Bob Nye’s tradition continue with help from Goldeneye. Paula greeted every single attendee yesterday, handling check in chores, which freed me up to mingle and thank everyone.

Attendees, the folks we hold the event for; wow, there were a lot of you this year. Thanks to Janis MacDonald and Kacy Palmieri from the AVWA office for blanketing the coast and valley with invitations; I hit our inland partners in and round Ukiah, and our participating wineries did outreach as well. We saw an increase in attendance of over 70%, this year vs. last year. Great work all!

Thank you attendees. Thanks for coming to the event. Thank you for all of your support 24/7/365. Thank you for attending our other events, our Alsace Fest, our Pinot Noir Fest, or Barrel Tasting weekend. Thank you for referring your customers to our tasting rooms, and thanks for bringing your visiting friends and families to our tasting rooms. Thank you for everything you do for us.

A very special thank you to Kacy Palmieri. Kacy took on, and tracked, all of the logistics involved in producing the event, and brought a host of thoughtful touches to the event that I would never have thought of. Kacy also was responsible for a major and beneficial change made on the fly, seeing six wineries moved from the deck to a shaded breezeway. Where I was resistant, Kacy was insistent, and she was right to be so. Thank you for saving me from stubborn wrongness.

That’s it, a post filled with thanks about an event that is all about thanks.

Let’s do it again next year.