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6 WINES&VINES July 2018 A member of Wine Communications Group Inc. ADVERTISING Vice President and Director of Sales Jacques Brix jbrix@winesandvines.com (707) 473-0244 West Lydia Hall lydia@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 103 Midwest Hooper Jones hooperhja@aol.com (847) 486-1021 East (except New York) Laura Lemos laura@boja.com (973) 822-9274 New York and International Dave Bayard dave@bayard.com (973) 822-9275 Advertising Production Manager April Kushner ads@winesandvines.com (415) 453-9700, ext. 114 DIGITAL EDITION All print subscribers now get digital access to Wines & Vines. You can: • DOWNLOAD pages or full issues • BROWSE current and archived issues • WATCH videos • ACCESS via desktop, tablet or smartphone • SEARCH by keyword or table of contents • NAVIGATE by topic or page thumbnail • QUESTIONS? Contact customer ser- vice at custserv@winesandvines.com or (866) 453-9701 Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. PDT. CONNECT WITH US CONTRIBUTORS Making his first contribution in his new role as edi- tor at large, Jim Gordon profiles the estate winery of Crocker & Starr Wines in St. Helena for this month's Technical Spotlight profile. Gordon edited countless of these types of features during his more than 12 years as the editor of Wines & Vines and transitioned into his new role so that he could do more writing and spend more time in vineyards and wineries. In his article on page 28, Gordon describes both the estate vineyard and winery of the vintner and winemaker partners who founded the winery in 1997. The first part of Dr. Andrew Reynolds' examina- tion of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) for vineyard mapping appeared in the June edition of Wines & Vines. Reynolds, a professor of biologi- cal sciences and viticulture at the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute of Brock Uni- versity in Ontario, Canada, reports on a study of UAV mapping of several Ontario vineyards that he reports produced, literally, hundreds of maps in the second part of this feature that begins on page 60. Andy Starr continues to find ways to help wine- makers produce high-quality wines and run well- managed businesses in his "Here's What Works" column that appears this month on page 22. Starr, who has a background in production management, interviewed several experts on how wineries, especially small ones, can and should adopt poli- cies for lot traceability for quality assurance and to reduce risk. Starr was the founder and president of Neocork Technologies and continues to work as a management consultant. Developing a lot trace- ability program may seem like a daunting task, but as Starr reports not having one could prove far costlier than getting one started. QUESTION FOR JULY: How does your current tasting room software boost DtC sales? Charles "AJ" Fairbanks President Dierberg Vineyards Santa Ynez, Calif. Features of our software (VineSpring 2.0) that boost DtC sales relate to efficiency and streamlined customer service while empowering customers with direct access to their account. The automatic "credit card updater" feature for wine club is the single most significant boost to our DtC sales. The MailChimp software integration allows us to embed "authorization tokens" into emails, allowing each recipient one-click, secure access to their account without typing a password. Connectivity to UPS WorldShip and ShipCompliant generates tracking numbers in real time for customer review. Alyssa Ball Direct Sales Manager Talley Vineyards Arroyo Grande, Calif. With our current tasting room software, we easily collect customer information at the point of sale, allowing us to follow up with new customers via email, phone call, or mail. Establishing a relationship quickly and easily is key to future sales. Furthermore, once a customer is part of our software, we can access their past purchases, email, and website engagement history. This information is crucial in creating a personalized experience for each customer, which results in greater sales. Marcia Kunde Mickelson Chief Operating Officer Kunde Family Winery Kenwood, Calif. We currently are using WineDirect software for our tasting room and wine club sales. Allowing us the capability to use iPads at several outlying tasting areas has been very beneficial to our sales volume, where we can take the order in real time, which minimizes the amount of time to complete the sale. We can also take multiple sales at any time which increases the efficiency of the tasting room. Through this process, we can immediately capture the customer's email address which bolsters our future sales through email and calling campaigns.