Mark your Calendar
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Preferred Partner Spotlight
Beckmill Research, LLC, offers valuation, value-enhancement, litigation support, transactional (M&A, gifting, estate tax), exit-planning, and forensic services to wineries, wholesalers, specialty retailers, and other middle-market companies. Our primary aim is to add value for clients. Although they are concentrated in the eastern half ot the United States, we work nationwide. We have been in business since 1990 and are based in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley outside Lexington, Virginia. We are here to serve you.
Beckmill Research offers Virginia Wineries Association Gold and Silver members a 15% discount on billing rates. Initial telephone consultations and/or meetings are at no charge.
Warren Miller, CFA, CPA
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WINE GRAPE INFORMATION FOR
PENNSYLVANIA AND THE REGION
From Penn State Cooperative Extension
March 1, 2013
Table of Contents:
- Upcoming Meetings
- 2 New Research Abstracts from Bibiana Guerra Meeting Reports
- A New Vineyard Disease: Red Blotch
- UCD RAVE and webinar archives
- Vineyard Pest Management Toolkit from VineSmith
- Penn State Research Viticulturist Announcement
Mark L. Chien
Viticulture Educator
Penn State Cooperative Extension
College of Agricultural Sciences
1383 Arcadia Road
Lancaster, PA 17601
Tel: 717.394.6851
E: mlc12@psu.edu
Web: http://pawinegrape.com/
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Executive Director's Column
As the number of the Virginia wineries grows, so does VWA's involvement in the industry. There are many events and initiatives we have developed that we want to make sure you are taking full advantage of.
Free Events with educational and networking opportunities
- Governor's Case Seminars highlighting the 12 top scoring wines in the Governor's Cup® competition (see calendar to register)
- Governor's Cup Gala celebrating the Gold Medal winners, Governor's Cup Case wines and announcing the winner of the Governor's Cup®
- Annual Meetings give a chance for wineries to network with each other, Associate Members and Preferred Partners as well as keep you up to date on industry in Virginia
- Regulation & Rules Round Up discussing issues of importance to Virginia wineries (see calendar to register)
Expansion of our role in the wine industry
- Cooperative: We are currently in the planning stages and we are looking for VWA members' participation through serving on the planning committee and answering surveys. We have been awarded two grants and are seeking additional funding through grants for the implementation of the Cooperative.
- Winery Resource Guide: A comprehensive resource compiling information for wineries with information gathered at Regulation & Rules Round Ups, ABC forms and policies, etc.
- Salary & Benefits Survey: Currently seeking funding to create and promulgate this multi-state regional survey
- Commonwealth Quality Alliance: Developed a marketing plan to increase awareness of the program and the CQA member wineries. We are seeking additional funding through grants for further marketing.
Money-saving Opportunities
- Our list of Preferred Partners is ever-growing. In March alone, we added 3 new Preferred Partners. As a Gold or Silver Level member, you can save a minimum of $3,000 through the discounts offered by our Preferred Partners.
- Wine bag orders are in if you have not picked them up yet. Would you be interested in purchasing a three-pack box with the Virginia First in Wine logo to be ordered at the end of the year?
If you are not a current Gold or Silver level member, please consider joining to help up support our efforts and continue our growth. If you are already a Gold or Silver level member, make sure you are taking full advantage of your VWA membership.
Laurie Aldrich
VWA Executive Director
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 Wine Board
Research Reports Visit our website to read the final reports of research funded by the Virginia Wine Board. Currently, reports from 2012 are posted; we will post previous years' reports as they become available to us. |
Using the terms Farm, Vineyards, Ranch, or Orchard on wine labels
It was great to see so many of you at the Wineries Unlimited show last week. This naming issue came up during a session at Wineries Unlimited. The issue was raised that when any of the terms "farm", "vineyard", "ranch" or "orchard" are used on a wine label, 95% of the fruit in that bottle must come from that farm, vineyard, ranch, or orchard.
Technically, this is true, but so many wineries these days use the word "vineyard" or "farm" in their licensed name that I called the TTB to discuss it with them. The rule in question (27 CFR 4.39m) was written about 75 years ago. In late 2008, TTB loosened enforcement on this rule and a number of others that are antiquated while they go through the process of updating the labeling rules to better reflect the realities of winemaking in the 21st century. The rule was originally put in place with a "truth in advertising" mentality, meaning that the consumer has the right to expect that if the label says the product is from a specific ranch, farm, vineyard, or orchard that the fruit is actually from that location. But, as the number of wineries grows and product becomes more readily available to people far from the actual vineyards from which the fruit is coming, the importance of these terms has diminished. Terms like "estate grown" have replaced these terms in protecting the consumers. If you don't grow your own fruit, I'd avoid using these terms on your labels, but if you are a farm, orchard, vineyard, or ranch and use that term on your labels, it's not going to be an issue if less than 95% of the fruit in a particular wine is grown on site. The reg change process is drawn out at both the federal and state levels, and the actual changes won't happen overnight, but they are not looking for violations of this regulation.
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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 Music Licensing Discounts Make sure to take advantage of the partnership between VWA and BMI. With this partnership, Gold and Silver members will receive a 10 % discount when paying online with a timely payment at www.bmi.com/ede. To receive your applicable discount, please contact BMI at 1-888-689-5264 or visit www.bmi.com. |
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