Mark your Calendar
Wines & Vines Day at the Capitol
January 17, 2013
VVA Winter Technical Meeting
Jan. 31 - Feb. 2, 2013
Virginia Wineries Association Governor's Cup Gala
February 21, 2013
VWA Membership Meeting
February 22, 2013
Virginia Wine Expo
February 22-24, 2013
Love by the Glass: Virginia Wine & Dine Month
March 2013
Deadline to Register for Vintage Virginia
March 1, 2013
Wineries Unlimited
March 12-14, 2013
Vintage Virginia
June 1-2, 2013
Virginia Wine Month
October 2013
Visit our Calendar of Events for a full listing for the year.
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VWA Award Nominations
Annually, the VWA presents three awards during the Virginia Wine Expo. These awards are: the Gordon Murchie Lifetime Achievement Award, Legislator of the Year, and Wine Person of the Year. We are seeking nominations for these awards from the membership. Once we receive nominations, the VWA Board will make a final vote. Click here to submit your nominations. Nominations must be submitted by February 1st. |
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February Membership Meeting
Join us for the VWA Membership Meeting on Friday, 22nd during the Virginia Wine Expo. The meeting will be held at the Convention Center in one of the Seminar Rooms at 2 PM. The room will be announced once it has been confirmed.
Click here for the tentative agenda.
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Preferred Partner Spotlight
William R. Hill and Company, Inc. was founded in 1910 by William R. Hill, Sr., the grandfather of the present owner, William R. Hill, III.
They are a general line distributor of glass, plastic and closures dating back over 45 years ago. They can supply you with bottling and packaging needs. They serve all of Virginia. VWA Silver and Gold members receive a special cash discount of 2% -10 days or 1%-20 days from wine bottle purchase. (discount does not apply to pallets, freight or credit card purchases)
Visit http://wmrhill.com/ or call Jennifer Lotti at 804-226-4464
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 Executive Director's Column
Dear Virginia Wineries,
This past year has been a year of growth for both the wine industry and the Virginia Wineries Association. Here are some of the milestones VWA saw in 2012:
- The introduction of the enhanced Governor's Cup competition. We had a record number of entries in 2012!
- The development of the Governor's Cup Case. The 12 top-scoring wines in the competition were showcased around the state, nationally and internationally.
- The inaugural Governor's Cup Gala was held in February. At this event, the Governor's Cup was presented to Glen Manor Vineyards by Governor McDonnell and attendees were the first to taste the Governor's Cup Case wines.
- The winemaking procedures were discussed along with a tasting of the Governor's Cup Case wines in regional seminars by the winemakers and Jay Youmans, Master of Wine.
- The first two Regulation & Rules Round Ups were held. The dialogue and cooperation between wineries and ABC has already shown improvements in reporting processes and other issues. (See Compliance Corner below).
- Our Annual Meeting participation continues to grow. For the second year in a row, we had record attendance.
- We have been awarded a marketing grant for the CQA program.
- We obtained 2 grants for the Cooperative planning and development.
- After providing administrative services for VWA for three years, I was brought on as Executive Director.
- Mary Beth Williams of Williams Compliance was retained as legal counsel to provide regulation and compliance support.
- We were able to save even more for our members with the annual wine bag orders.
- We supported the industry by participating in the amicus brief during the Marterella Winery appeal.
- Even though we are no longer the beneficiary of the Wine Expo, we were able to negotiate a discount on booth fees for Gold & Silver members.
- We brought even more value to your membership by expanding our Preferred Partner offerings.
- Formed and approved VWA's Legislative Policy to provide our lobbyist at the Virginia Wine Council.
We see even brighter things for 2013. Be apart of our growing association by renewing your membership or joining today!
Laurie Aldrich
Executive Director |
2013 Governor's Cup® Competition
This year's competition is shaping up to be a great success! There were 377 wines entered from 96 wineries. The winner of the Governor's Cup will be announced at the Virginia Wineries Association's Governor's Cup Gala on Thursday, February 23rd. we hope you will join us - see below for more details.
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Virginia Wineries Association's
The Governor's Cup presentation will be during the Governor's Cup Gala. The Gala will be 6-9 p.m. on Thursday, February 21st. The Gala is the premier gathering of the Virginia wine industry. Those invited and expected to attend this fully catered event include the Governor, First Lady, the Secretary of Agriculture, members of the Virginia Wineries Association and the Virginia Vineyards Association, highly-qualified members of the trade - restauranteurs and retailers, members of the Virginia General Assembly and the press. In addition to delicious food, attendees will enjoy tasting award-winning Virginia wines, many of which won medals in the Governor's Cup competition.
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Reporting and Registration
Reporting - The new monthly report you file with ABC went into effect on January 1, 2013. To recap, the monthly excise tax report has been streamlined and ABC has agreed that 1 Purchase Order per month will suffice. Fillable spreadsheet versions of the new report and the Purchase Order have been added to the Tools & Resources section on the VWA website. It is a concise, 1 page report, and essentially requires a total of liters sold for the month, calculation of tax liability, and the purchase order number that covers the month. This report and your Purchase Order will be the only 2 items that need to be submitted to the state each month. Two changes to note: 1) You NO LONGER have to create a corresponding invoice for these transfers from your bonded space to your retail space; and 2) You no longer need to include a price for the product on your monthly purchase order. Note that this report replaces only the previous "Wholesalers Summary of Wine Sales and Taxes." It does not impact your responsibility to file a shippers report if you also have a wine shippers permit. FDA Registration- We were able to get a definitive answer from the FDA as to whether farm wineries need to complete the FDA registration as a "food facility." While acknowledging the agricultural nature of farm wineries, the FDA has classified the farm wineries as "mixed use" facilities thereby requiring registration and bi-annual renewal with the FDA. The registration can be found here and should take you about 15 minutes to complete. There is no cost for registration. As we discussed at the annual meeting, though, this does mean that you need to keep records as to the source of all items that come in contact with the wine. Keep receipts/invoices for purchases of bottles, corks, barrels, and sources of fruit or juice. The registration and recordkeeping is a regulatory requirement, and I know a number of distributors are refusing to distribute your products if you cannot provide proof of registration. Mary Beth Williams is the President of Williams Compliance, a compliance services provider based in Hanover County, Virginia. For more information, contact Mary Beth at (804) 445-2924.
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 Vintage Virginia
Applications are now being accepted for the 2013 Vintage Virginia Wine and Food Festival. Applications and registration fees must be received by March 1, 2013 to be included in the promotional materials. Click here for the application.
The Top 5 Tasting Tent will be back again this year. If you are interested in participating, click here for the application.
For this year's event, we are hoping to bring in food trucks from D.C. as the only food vendors. This is a cool new trend that we hope will refresh this event.
As a reminder, Gold Level membership pays for your 10x10 booth and makes you eligible to participate in the festival. Click here for a membership application.
For questions about participating in Vintage Virginia, contact Lindsay Newsome.
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