Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/776679
February 2017 WINES&VINES 79 BUSINESS ing, music licensing, genetically modified organisms and marijuana laws, along with other issues as they arise. Future challenges: membership In the past, Good has handled member ser- vices, but going forward, Trezise sees all three—Good, Kaiser and himself—working to increase membership in WineAmerica. "We'll all be working hard on that," Trezise stated. "With more members, there's more money and more involvement with the issues. I want to educate people on how this (WineAmerica) could help you as a winery, but only if you support WineAmerica." Another way in which WineAmerica has worked to help the wine industry is to form "initiative partnerships" with other wine orga- nizations such as the Winegrape Growers of America, the National Grape & Wine Coalition, Wine Institute, the Brewers Association and the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. One of those partners has been Family Winemakers of California. Trezise, as a WineAmerica board member, and Pete Downs, acting president of Family Winemak- ers of California and a former board member of WineAmerica, have developed a special partnership between the two organizations concerning membership in both. In the past, when a winery joined Family Winemakers, that membership fee was based on six cents per case, with a $300 minimum. Under the new agreement, new members can have a joint membership with WineAmerica for an additional two cents per case, with a $100 minimum. (The normal minimum for WineAmerica membership is $500.) "We're not trying to compete with Wine Institute," Trezise noted. "We want to make it so smaller wine producers can get two memberships for a reasonable price." Downs, who retired from Jackson Family Wines in 2012, served as chair of WineAmer- ica's legislative committee. He told Wines & Vines that the emphasis of Family Winemakers is to help small producers in California. As acting president, he would like to focus on legislative issues in California and let Trezise and WineAmerica handle issues and legislation in Washington, D.C., for small wineries. He also noted that another important as- pect of WineAmerica is its State and Regional Associations Advisory Council (SRAAC), which is comprised of 28 state and regional winery and winegrower associations. This group provides a forum for communication and grassroots action on wine industry issues. Trezise and his team may look to this group for help with increasing memberships as well. The transition at NYWGF Trezise will not be departing for Washington, D.C., even though he is now officially presi- dent at WineAmerica. He will remain at NYWGF until March 31 to help Samuel Filler, the new executive director of the NYWGF, with his transition into that organization. Filler comes to the NYWGF with a depth of experience working with New York's farm- based craft beverage producers. For the past several years, he has been the director of industry development for Empire State Development Corp. (ESD), the umbrella organization for New York state's two main economic development financing organizations: the New York State Urban Development Corp. and the Job Develop- ment Authority. In that role, Filler has run Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's "One Stop Shop" program, under which the alcoholic bever- age industry can contact ESD for assistance with the numerous state agencies that com- panies must deal with to go into business and stay in compliance. He also has admin- istered the $9 million in state funding ap- proved for advertising, marketing and tourism projects for the craft beverage in- dustry. In addition, he has been on the board of the NYWGF for several years as represen- tative for the ESD. DAILY WINE INDUSTRY NEWS winesandvines.com