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78 WINES&VINES February 2017 BUSINESS A fter Trent Preszler, chairman of the board of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation (NYWGF), announced last year that Jim Trezise, the group's president, would "step aside at the end of 2016," Trezise insisted the move was a "transi- tion," not a "retirement." Now the wine world is learning that what he meant was not just a transition for himself and NYWGF, but for WineAmerica, the national organization of American wineries that conducts grassroots public policy advocacy for the wine industry in Washington, D.C. On Jan. 1, Trezise officially became the president of WineAmerica, which has wine- producing members in 41 states. He has served on WineAmerica's board and executive com- mittee for more than 20 years, and when he decided to leave NYWGF, Trezise wanted to continue to be involved with the organization. "I'm a huge fan of WineAmerica," he told Wines & Vines, "because it's so important to the suc- cess of the wine industry in America." Within the past two years, the board of directors of WineAmerica realized that it was time to restructure the organization. The staff was streamlined to include Michael Kaiser, director of public affairs, and Tara Good, direc- tor of operations; the board itself was trimmed from 29 to 17 people, and Meyers & Associates, a D.C. lobbying firm, was hired to help with government affairs. Caroline Shaw, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Jackson Family Wines (and WineAmerica's immediate past chair), suggested that Trezise should be presi- dent, a position that had been vacant for sev- eral years. Her idea was based on his "long experience with WineAmerica, success in pub- lic policy advocacy, familiarity with key public officials and involvement with many other industry organizations." Trezise was named president Dec. 5, and a week later, Good and Kaiser each were elevated to vice president. "I don't want to duplicate the efforts of Michael and Tara," Trezise stated. "They will continue to do what they do in D.C., including working with Meyers (& Associates). Tara's the world's expert on music licensing, and Michael han- dles key issues. I want to help them out. I'll fill in the gaps." In an interview with Wines & Vines, Kaiser was enthusiastic about Trezise joining WineAmerica as president. "Jim is from the east," he noted, "and he's widely known. He has a broader scope, a better presence with the industry, and can represent the organiza- tion across the industry. It's the final step to get back to the core roots of what WineAm- erica does: to be proactive on specific legisla- tion. It's been hard to speak about issues and work on them at the same time. Jim can really push to get the message out to the industry; he can ramp up our presence and get out there more." Past successes Many wineries don't realize how much WineAmerica's work in Washington has helped them from a financial standpoint. According to Trezise, WineAmerica's efforts contributed significantly to the following changes: • The Small Producer Tax Credit, passed in 1991, resulted in major savings (de- pendent on winery size); • The repeal of the Special Occupational Tax in 2004 gave wineries an annual savings of $500 to $1,000, depending on the size of the winery; • The repeal of the bond requirement that went into effect Jan. 1 will represent up to $1,000 annual savings to wineries; • The Department of Justice music-li- censing consent decree in August 2016 struck down the Performing Rights Organizations requests for "fractional- ized licensing;" • Repeal of the country of origin labeling. Future challenges: legislative issues With Trezise coming on board as president, WineAmerica is developing its future plans and goals, with the top priority being the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act (otherwise known as the Excise Tax Reform Act) because of its large potential savings for winer- ies of all sizes. According to Trezise, the bill gathered 54 Senate co-sponsors and 286 House co-sponsors in 2016, but it was not voted on during the regular session of Congress. Kaiser said that while the excise tax bill would have to "start all over again" in 2017, the bill would probably be rewritten to be very specific to winery interests. The original sponsors of the bill, Sens. Ron Wyden of Or- egon and Roy Blunt of Missouri, were both re-elected in November and will be reintro- ducing the Excise Tax Bill in the Senate during the next session. Other areas that Trezise expects WineAm- erica to be involved in include immigration reform, trade policy, USDA research and export funding, Tax and Trade Bureau fund- Transitions for WineAmerica New president and new directions for industry trade group By Linda Jones McKee Jim Trezise