Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/112023
MARCH NEWS Frey Reflects on Tenure in Sonoma Outgoing leader joined group in 1999 S anta Rosa, Calif.���Nick Frey arrived in Sonoma County some 14 years ago with neither wine business experience nor association management expertise. Nonetheless, he landed the job as executive director of the Sonoma County Grapegrowers Association in 1999. In 2006, growers voted to re-form as a state commission with a mandated assessment structure, and the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission (now branded as Sonoma County Winegrowers) was born. On Jan. 17 at the SCWC���s annual Dollars and $ense seminar, commission chair John Balletto announced Frey would retire this year. Frey said he would help find his replacement to ensure a smooth transition. In recent years, Frey has supported new conjunctive labeling requirements and Sonoma County���s unified marketing push. With a continuing proliferation of sub-appellations in the county, members voted in 2010 to require ���conjunctive labeling.��� Signed into law in October 2010, this regulation requires every winery in the county that labels its wines with a sub-appellation also to include ���Sonoma County��� on the PM Pag label. Wineries had three GovtLiaison_Dir08 11/29/07 2:00 years to comply with this requirement. ���This will put 100 million TTB LABEL APPROVALS Low per-label costs Gov���t. Liaison Negotiations or Footwork Executive director Nick Frey said he plans to stay on board while the Sonoma County Winegrowers search for his successor. label faces out there��� identifying Sonoma County, Frey said. ���It will elevate the recognition of the AVAs.��� winesandvines.com Frey also helped bring about the coordinatLearn more: Search keywords ed marketing effort of the winegrowers, So���Frey tenure.��� noma County Tourism and Sonoma County Vintners. ���We���ve come together as a county, in a place with a long tradition of everybody doing their own thing.��� Changing public perception of the industry���even within the county���has been one of Frey���s steepest challenges, he said. ���A lot of perceptions (about the winegrape industry) are not well-founded,��� he said. Only 6% of the county���about 60,000 vineyard acres���contributes 70% of farm revenue, he said. ���If you want to preserve agriculture in Sonoma, you need to preserve grapes first.��� ���Jane Firstenfeld North American winery total passes 8,000 S an Rafael, Calif.���More than 8,000 wineries now produce wine in North America according to Wines & Vines, which Reasonable Hourly Rates released the latest data at the 2013 Unified Wine & Grape TRADEMARK SEARCHES Symposium. Fewer than half the wineries are in California, As Low as $185 Your trade names or designs are searched at the U.S. Patent Office to help establish valuable ownership or avoid costly legal liability. Over 100 years��� total staff experience handling every government liaison need for industry. Phone or write for details. 200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite 321 Arlington, Virginia 22203 Phone: (703) 524-8200 Fax: 525-8451 TOLL-FREE 1-800-642-6564 Major Credit Cards Accepted www.trademarkinfo.com Since 1957 16 W in e s & V i ne s M AR C H 20 13 reflecting the explosion of wineries throughout the other states and Canadian provinces. The number of wineries in the United States has continued to grow each year, even during the recession, although the pace has slowed from 2010 through 2012. A large majority of the wineries counted are small; almost 6,000 produce fewer than 5,000 cases per year. Just 49 wineries produce more than 500,000 cases, a number that has dropped slightly due to acquisitions. All other categories have grown. More than a dozen states (and two Canadian provinces) have more than 100 wineries each. The 2013 Directory/Buyer���s Guide presents a wealth of information about the North American wine industry contained in two major sections: the Winery Directory, which has detailed information about every winery, and the Buyer���s Guide, which contains content about equipment, supplies and services for the winery industry���plus an array of other valuable information for wine producers, grapegrowers, wine trade members and suppliers to the wine industry. The 2013 Directory/Buyer���s Guide comes in a spiral-bound, 724-page print format and is also accessible in searchable format online.