January 2021 Newsletter

Save the date for our Annual Meeting, Help support MWC member GRNoir, catch up with our committee activities, meet the Michigan Beverage Collective, learn about a cider project, read a message from MWC President Dave Miller, and more!

MWC 2021 Annual Meeting

We will be hosting our Annual Meeting in conjunction with the 2021 NW Orchard & Vineyard Show at 10am on January 21st. During this meeting we will give an overview of the 2020 initiatives of MWC, membership update, receive committee reports, and more. Following the committee reports we will go over the board seat candidates, open seats, and bylaw proposals.

Meeting information will be mailed out to the entire membership. Voting members will receive an electronic ballot for Board of Director and Bylaw votes.

Board Seats

Supplier (Cadus)- Gina Shay (Vice President, Grants & Funding Chair)

NW Winery (Petoskey Farms)- Josh Morgan (Sustainability Chair)

Open Board Seats

NW Winery
Winery (Other Region)

Bylaw Proposals

The elected officers shall be elected by the procedures provided herein. The Secretary and Treasurer are to be elected for three-year terms. The Directors are to be elected for three-year terms, with five positions up for election annually. The Vice President is to be elected for a two-year term. After completion of his or her term as Vice President, and with the approval by a majority of the Board of Directors, he or she shall become President for a two-year term. After completion of his or her two-year term, the President will serve as Past President for one year after which, they may run again for a Board of Directors seat. The terms of office of each elected officer shall start on February 1 of the year of election and continue until a successor shall qualify.

GRNOIR Now Open!

GRNoir is now open for online/curbside pickup Monday-Saturday from 2-10. They are offering 4 wine club tiers at various price points. Visit the website www.grnoir.com to view the shop and place wine/merchandise/gift card orders or call 616-719-1191 to place food order and wine order when ordering food. GRNoir is greatly looking forward to opening the space to the public and for wine events when it is safe to do so.

Would you like to get your wines on the GRNoir list? Email Shatawn and Nadia HERE!

Membership & Communications Committee Transition & Recruiting

Membership & Communications Committee Gearing Up for 2021
After much discussions, we feel that the Membership & Communications Committee(s) can be split into 2 separate committees dedicated to their primary areas of interest: the Marketing and Communications Committee and the Membership Committee.
We are currently in need for leadership on the Membership Committee as Chairperson. Contact Emily if interested in leading this committee.

Brian Lillie will continue to chair the Marketing and Communications Committee. On this committee we have identified the following priorities for 2021 including 2 big collaborative initiatives with the Inclusion & Expansion committee:

Writing a Specialty Crop Block Grant for defining a brand identity package for Michigan Wine.
Partner with the Inclusions and Expansion Committee to drive membership and programs to untapped BIPOC populations.
Observing Latinx population for their importance in the wine business.

If any or all of these priorities resonate with you, please consider volunteering with the Marketing and Communications Committee, Inclusion and Expansion Committee or the Membership Committee. CONTACT US with your intentions to volunteer.

If you are interested in sitting on the steering committee for the proposed SCBG CLICK HERE!

Inclusion & Expansion Fundraiser Needs You!

MWC has begun raising funds that will enable us to offer support to create and maintain a pipeline of recruitment, both for the industry and its consumers. It is our goal to specifically provide resources to support aspiring BIPOC students from Michigan obtaining Level 2 WSET OR the first year of the VESTA program. In 2021 we hope to award the MWC Inclusion & Expansion Educational Fund to one student with hopes to add additional student awardees annually.

The fundraising efforts have unfortunately become stagnant after the holiday rush. Please help us generate interest and donors by supporting and sharing this endeavor. We need the entire industry to lean in and help us create something great for the future of Michigan wine. We need you.

The Inclusion & Expansion and Communications Committees will be strategizing a re launch of the campaign in the coming weeks. If you would like to get involved please reach out to us HERE!

MWC Inclusion & Expansion Educational Fund
As we begin raise funds for this initial scholarship as a way to encourage and increase diversity in the Michigan wine industry, we put the call out to our members to lead the industry through example. We hope you will consider making an investment in the future out of industry. This fund will provide partial to full funding towards Level 2 WSET OR the 1st year of the VESTA program. Click Here to Contribute.

MWC Mentorship & Apprenticeship Program
We are also in the beginning stages of creating a Mentorship & Apprenticeship program utilizing the MWC membership. This program with work directly with the MWC Recruitment Pipeline to serve as a database for both aspiring and/or skilled winery. vineyard, or hospitality staff and for businesses looking for staff or to train the future of the MI wine industry. If you are interested in being involved in this project please reach out to us HERE!

Join the List of Supporters & Participants
MWC will be publishing the list of Inclusion & Expansion donors, participants, and supports to our website as well as promoting on social media in 2021. Please Click Here to Join the Growing List of Supporters.

Michigan Beverage Collective

Some 500 independent craft breweries and wineries can now shop for better value on health insurance for their employees through the new Michigan Beverage Collective (MBC).**

The MBC is an Association Health Plan that pools Michigan’s growing community of craft beverage makers and distributors into one buying group. It gets rates similar to large corporations on coverage from Blue Cross Blue Shield for medical and dental, VSP for vision and The Hartford for short-term disability.

“The Michigan Beverage Collective helps family business owners attract the best talent with employee benefit programs that cost less and are easy to administer,” MBC Plan Manager Spencer Nevins says.

Formerly known as the Michigan Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association Employee Benefit Trust, a change in federal regulations in 2018 enabled the insurance program to broaden its membership to become the MBC. It previously served 47 beer and wine distributors throughout Michigan.
**Some links in this release are not yet live. Keep checking back for updates from the group.

ATTENTION CIDER PRODUCERS!!!

Great Lakes International Cider and Perry Competition (aka GLINTCAP) and Cider Guide are working on updating the cider producers database in preparation for their 2021 competition, tentatively scheduled for May 2021 in Grand Rapids, MI.

Click Here to Join the Cider Producers Database!

Remembering A Legend

The Michigan Wine Collaborative would like to take a moment to remember and honor MI wine legend, Ed O’Keefe. The entire MI Wine Collaborative is thinking of the O’Keefe family during this time and we invite the entire membership and MI wine industry to raise a glass to Ed, the O’Keefe family, and his eternal legacy, without which none of us may be here today.

Now that 2021 has arrived we can put 2020 behind us and look at what’s ahead in the new year.
The MWC Annual Meeting will be held virtually, at 10:00am January 21, 2021 as part of the Northwest
Orchard and Vineyard Show. An agenda will be coming out soon to the membership and will be available on our website. Call in and registration details can be found in this email, on our website, on Wild Apricot, and we will be sending additional email reminders. We will elect new
board members and vote on proposed changes to our Bylaws as well as hear reports from each of our committee chairs about progress in the previous year and plans for the year ahead. Plan to join us!

Volunteers are needed to help organize and run The 2021 Michigan Wine Competition. We need your help! Please volunteer to either a) chair the wine competition committee or b) help organize and execute activities as we enter 2021. Without help it is unclear if there will be a 2021 Michigan Wine Competition. We must act soon for the competition to happen this year. Contact Emily Dockery, Gina Shay or me if you’re interested.

Everyone is extremely weary of COVID restrictions and are ready to move on. Two vaccines have been approved and are in distribution with more on the way in coming months. It looks like we may get back to more normal conditions by June. The winter months will be challenging but we will get through them
safely by continuing to work together. We’ve gotten this far and the end is almost in sight. Lets keep doing what we’ve been doing: #staysafestayopen! We look forward to getting back on track with several projects in 2021. We hope you can join us. Please consider working on a committee, running for an open board seat or
Here’s wishing everyone a Happy and Healthy 2021!