December 2024 Newsletter
Prepare for the 2025 MWC Annual Meeting and Election, Learn more about the upcoming #PinkSociety event, Check out an update from the 2024 Taste MI Invades Grand Rapids, Save the dates for the 2025 NW O&V Show and the MI Craft Beverage Summit, Participate in a Cab Franc Comparative Tasting, Welcome MWC new members, and More! |
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2025 MWC Annual Meeting & Election
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| Michigan Wine Collaborative will be holding our Annual Meeting & Election on January 14th at the 2025 Northwest Orchard & Vineyard Show at the Grand Traverse Resort in Traverse City. The meeting will begin at 4:05 pm and will last about an hour.
At this meeting we will be briefing our membership and the public on our achievements and projects from 2024, presenting our goals for 2025, getting update from our committees, and holding our Board of Directors Election.
The following positions will be included on the ballot:
Winery Seat (SE Region)- Currently held by Bob Utter (Flying Otter Winery)
Winery Seat (Other Region)- Currently held by Peter King (Drew Ryan Wines)
Grower Seat (SW Region)- Currently held by Sidney Finan (Stranger Wine Company)
Tourism- Ed Peabody (HOUR Media/Michigan Wine Country Magazine)
Grower Seat (Other Region)- OPEN SEAT
Grower Seat (NW Region)- OPEN SEAT
Treasurer- Currently held by Peter King (Drew Ryan Wines)
Honorary IT Specialist: OPEN SEAT
Honorary Financial Specialist: OPEN SEAT
We are encouraging all of our members to attend the 2025 NW Orchard & Vineyard Show and our Annual Meeting & Election in person. However, we are also offering remote participation.
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| The #PinkSociety is an opt in social media group on Twitter and Instagram social platforms. The Pink Society is comprised of 200 plus members that grows weekly. Their mission is to bring together like minded individuals with an overall focus on wine and wine culture. The #PinkSociety provides a platform for wine enthusiasts to collaborate, share knowledge, socialize, engage with industry leaders, and interact with winemakers and wineries.
MWC has previously partnered with Chateau Chantal, Modales, Soul Squeeze Cellars, and Detroit Vineyards on past events.
The #PinkSociety has a scheduled Twitter chat every three weeks in which members and non members are encouraged to use the #PinkSociety hashtag to participate. The theme and direction of the chat is designed to enhance and align with specific marketing goals of the host. As a guest host you can
expand you global footprint on the Twitter platform. During the event the host is given an opportunity to interact with 150+ member wine influencers and non-members influencers in the wine community, answer 3-4 targeted questions, promote strategic marketing efforts, boost ongoing social campaigns, post branded marketing materials, and videos.
#PinkSociety Statistics (1 week snapshot)
★ 200 Users (250 #pinkparty)
★ 1,434,308 Reach (How many individual users saw the hashtag)
★ 4,619,274 Impressions ( How many times the #hashtag was displayed)
★ 701 Posts with hashtag (15.4% original posts, 54.1% Retweets, 30.5%
Replies)
#Pinkparty Marketing Opportunities
As a guest host you will receive heavy market exposure within the wine community on twitter,
Instagram, and Facebook. Your event is promoted on all platforms prior, during, and after the
event.
The pink Society Marketing Package:
★ 1 Instagram post
★ 1 custom Invitation on Twitter
★ 5-6 Custom built images for Twitter
★ 1 video posted on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook
★ Custom Twitter cover photo on @thepinksociety_
★ Pre-party Hype – Tweeting all week prior to your event
★ 5 questions tailored to your business
★ Your product in the hands of our members with branding and content exposure
★ Your product in front of 150+ wine influencers
★ Twitter influence of 411,749
★ Instagram influence of 188,251
★ Average reach to 1,434,311
★ Average impressions 4,619,280
★ On-Air Podcast tastings |
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Taste Michigan Invades GR
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The Michigan Wine Collaborative (MWC) celebrated Taste Michigan Invades Grand Rapids November 19-23. Grand Rapids was swept off its feet via Taste Michigan Invades GR, transforming the city into a haven for wine enthusiasts and gastronomic aficionados alike.
We’d like to extend a special thanks to the following venues who paired with us and Taste Michigan on this epic event:
Cafe Mamo
Art of the Table
Aperitivo
House of Wine
Showspan
A huge piece of this event includes Michigan wine events spanning the 17th Annual Grand Rapids International Wine, Beer, and Food Festival. MWC hosted the Michigan Governor’s Cup trophy presentation for the first time featuring the Mayor of Grand Rapids, Mayor Bliss, presenting the trophy to Paul Hamelin of Verterra Winery. MWC and Taste Michigan also hosted the official Governor’s Cup booth featuring winning wines from the 2024 competition. Attendees also indulged in some of the winning wines at the wine pairing dinner experience with Trinity Health. The DREAM wine was also be highlighted at the festival along with fundraising efforts for the Inclusion & Expansion Educational Fund. MWC members displayed information on the educational fund with a QR code for attendees to donate!
We are looking forward to the next invasion event where we can promote our amazing member wineries and Michigan’s phenomenal wine industry!
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| Registration opens at 8 a.m. on Jan. 14 and the cost for both days is $50 in advance and $55 at the door. The line can be long at the registration desk, so meeting attendees are encouraged to arrive well before the 9 a.m. start time or register online. Both days will feature educational programs and vendor exhibits.
One registration (tree fruit or grape session) will give attendees access to both the tree fruit sessions and grape sessions for both days.
The fruit industry luncheon will be Tuesday, Jan. 14, and is open to both tree fruit and grape registrants at a first come, first serve basis.
There will be two separate lunches on Wednesday, Jan. 15. One room will hold the grape industry luncheon and the other will hold the Cherry Marketing Institute luncheon.
The exhibit hall will be open during the show to feature vendors of orchard and vineyard equipment and supplies, commodity organizations and other exhibitors.
Both Tuesday and Wednesday will offer a variety of topics relating to research and information on tart cherries, sweet cherries, apples and wine grapes addressing production and marketing. Cherry, apple and grape sessions will be held on both days. Tuesday’s sessions will conclude with a social hour, and all attendees are invited to attend; the social hour is included with the registration fee.
The program is presented by the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Foundation in collaboration with Michigan State University Extension and AgBioResearch, Cherry Marketing Institute, Parallel 45, Michigan Wine Collaborative and the MSU Northwest Michigan Horticulture Research Center.
For more information on the Northwest Michigan Orchard and Vineyard Show, please call Jenn Zelinski at 231-946-1510 or email [email protected]. |
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| The Michigan Craft Beverage Council has announced the dates for the 2nd Annual Michigan Craft Beverage Summit. Mark your calendars for MARCH 11-12, 2025.
The goal of this Summit is to convene Michigan craft beverage businesses to create collaborative partnerships and advance an ever-growing craft beverage industry. Michigan wine, beer, cider, and spirit businesses are invited to join the conversation, with topics including:
State of the industry panels.
Conversations with the Michigan Liquor Control Commission.
A new consumer-facing brand for Michigan craft beverages.
Join your colleagues at this annual event and help shape the future of Michigan’s craft beverage industry!
The Michigan Wine Collaborative will also be hosting our March Board Meeting at this event IN PERSON! We look forward to seeing our membership and the industry there!
Stay tuned for more updates and information!
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MWC is excited and honored to recognize our newest members! Let’s all raise a glass to:
French Valley Vineyards
Dune Bird Winery
Cafe Mamo
Bos Wine
We are excited to work with these new members and many others in 2025 and beyond to grow the Michigan grape and wine industries! |
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Final Push for PA 232 Signatures
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| Thank you to those who have signed and also considered the PA 232 proposal for wine grapes in Michigan. We were excited to see the amount of signatures gathered on the online petition and have submitted it for the next phase of the program.
While State of Michigan is in process validating our petition, we have some additional housekeeping…
Unfortunately, we cannot use ANY Anonymous signatures. Losing these signatures of support could be detrimental. There are approximately 20 outstanding. Losing these could put us below the required threshold of 25% of wine grape growers in Michigan for this initial step. If you are one of the anonymous supporters, you can still support anonymously by emailing Jamie Guardiola at the Office of Legal Affairs at MDARD <[email protected]>. She will accept this as confirmation if you can prove your link to grape growing. If you have yet to sign the petition we ask that you also reach out to Jamie ASAP.
If you wanted help us to continue to gather more support the petition for handwritten support can be found HERE! |
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| MWC offers a classifieds section on our website highlighting available wine jobs, equipment for sale, grapes for sale, and more. Check out what the industry is offering and promote your offerings too! MWC members are welcome to submit listings to be promoted on the website at any time. To submit a listing reach out to us at [email protected]. |
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2025 Eastern Winery Exposition
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Registration for the 2025 Eastern Winery Exposition is OPEN! MWC is a Supporting
Sponsor of EWE and as one of our member benefits, members receive a registration discount of 10%. That promo code will go out to MWC members this week. Feel free to reach out to us for the code at any time.
Now in its 13th year, EWE returns to Lancaster as the largest winery and vineyard trade show held east of the Pacific states. You’ll have the opportunity to meet with more than 200 exhibiting companies, attend workshop, conference sessions covering all aspects of the winery and vineyard business, network with 1,000+ other industry professionals, and attend the numerous social & networking events.
New in 2024: the License to Steal ® wine marketing conference is returning to EWE and will be presented as a Marketing track within the EWE Conference. That means all conference attendees can attend LTS Marketing sessions without needing to register for a separate pass and vice versa.
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Shop Michigan Wine Gear for the Holidays!
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| What better gift for the wine lover in your life than MI wine gear?! The holidays are here and we’ve got new designs and lots of styles to warm up with!! Shop hoodies, hats, bags, shirts, and more. Make sure to pick up some items for gifts for the holidays and some items for you to stay cozy in as well! |
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Promote Your Events with Vintage Michigan
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| We want to help promote your vineyard and winery events!! MWC members who are Vintage Michigan participants are welcomed to submit events at any time for promotion in the Vintage Michigan Event Calendar. These events are shared with the over 4000 Vintage Michigan members. Please submit via the form below or contact Emily with event information, links, graphics, and invitations. |
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Michigan Wine in the News
Check out notable mentions in the media featuring Michigan Wine Collaborative members and promoting the Michigan Wine Industry.
Click Here to Read the News!
*Did we miss an important Michigan wine news story? We love featuring our member wineries! E-mail us HERE! |
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The Michigan Wine Collaborative appreciates support from the following Sponsors and Supplier/Vendor Members:
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| 2024 MWC Sponsors & Donors |
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Are you interested in promotional opportunities for your business? Check out our partnership opportunities HERE!
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