Conference Program
Workshops & Conference
Workshops will take place on Tuesday, March 25 and provide a full day exploration of a single topic: Winery Administration and Tax Compliance or Safety and Bioprotection Issues. You can choose one of the full workshops or cherry-pick just the sessions you want from each. Lunch included.
New in 2025: A General Session on Tuesday will kick off the Workshop program at 10:30 am. Wine industry analyst Andrew Adams will present data and analysis on the current state of the U.S. Wine Industry and production trends. This session is open to all Workshop attendees.
EWE Conference sessions take place March 26-27 and will feature sessions throughout both days on Enology, Marketing and Viticulture.
The License to Steal® Wine Marketing Conference will present the full Marketing track March 26-27 as part of the EWE Conference. That means your EWE Conference pass will also give you access to LTS Marketing sessions. Separate EWE & LTS registration is not required.
Speaker biographies can be found on the Speaker page. For a list of Conference sessions in chronological order, visit the Schedule page. Click on the “+” signs below to expand each session for details.
WORKSHOP GENERAL SESSION
Presented by Andrew Adams
Worth more than $100 billion, the U.S. wine market is the largest and most innovative in the world and continues to offer myriad opportunities for wineries willing to make the effort to be competitive in the post-pandemic fight for market share. WineBusiness data editor Andrew Adams, who helped write a definitive report on the U.S. market with global bank BMO and market research firm bw166, will cover the key trends of the previous year while discussing what 2025 will bring. More than 80% of all U.S. wineries produce fewer than 5,000 cases a year and Andrew will focus on the opportunities and challenges facing small producers in all key sectors of the market including direct-to-consumer, on-premise and retail. Prior to joining the WineBusiness company, Andrew worked for several years in production at a Napa Valley winery and will discuss how market trends are being reflected by changes in winemaking, and how American wineries are adapting to best engage and serve a fragmented audience with different motivations than previous generations.
WORKSHOP 1: Winery Administration & Tax Compliance
Winery Administration & Tax Compliance
Winery administration and tax issues can sometimes be overlooked. Here, we offer two separate, hour-long sessions on TTB compliance, one on permitting, and the other on the details of records compliance, presented by TTB officials. Additionally, whether you’re considering selling your vineyard or winery or not, you’ll get valuable perspective on that issue and on how to estimate and enhance the value of your business before you do decide to sell it. The final talk introduces the sometimes-forgotten but important topic of compliance with local and state business taxes, including suggestions for minimizing taxes and easing compliance burdens.
Kelly Downs
In this overview, representatives from the TTB will cover the basics of obtaining a wine permit, including: types of wine permits, application requirements, the application process, alternating premises and proprietors; and custom crush arrangements.
Kelly Downs
Representatives from the TTB will provide an in-depth exploration into recordkeeping required for licensed wineries. This session will include an overview of wine records, a deep dive into each required record, and common compliance concerns.
Chris Brubaker, CPA, ABV, CEPA
Owners often focus so much attention on their day-to-day operations that they don’t take the time to understand what their businesses are worth and what factors drive their companies’ value. Many business successions will fail from a lack of preparation. One way or another, every business will eventually transition, and the steps that owners take to improve business value will usually help in the short term as well as the long term. In this session, attendees will learn about options for business transitions. We will also discuss factors that drive value in wineries and vineyards and steps that owners can make to enhance their businesses’ value.
Chris Brubaker, CPA, ABV, CEPA
As states become more aggressive in pursuing revenue and wineries and vineyards expand their operations, state and local tax issues become more significant. This session will increase attendee awareness of important state and local tax rules and provide suggestions for minimizing taxes and easing compliance burdens.
WORKSHOP 2: Safety & Bioprotection Issues
Safety & Bioprotection Issues
Another important topic often overlooked in this industry is safety hazards and preparing to avoid them. This workshop will include seminars on vineyard and winery worker safety, as well as bioprotection strategies for both must/juice and finished wine.
Rebecca Rainbow
One of the fundamental lessons for winemakers is that cleaning constitutes 90% of the job. This emphasis on cleanliness is vital, as a pristine winery is essential for producing high-quality wine. However, what constitutes “reasonable” sanitation? Which elements are most critical? Moreover, how can wineries identify potential issues before they necessitate time-consuming and costly remediation? This presentation will focus on sustainable sanitation solutions tailored for small to medium-sized wineries with limited staff. Rebecca will explore the concept of Integrated Microbe Management through insights from WRE experiments and relevant academic studies. Additionally, she will discuss practical applications of conventional hygiene principles in the context of Virginia wineries and provide guidance on assessing quality control protocols to optimize benefits.
Allegra Barnes
Allegra believes it is vital to establish trust between the person managing safety and the people on the ground encountering hazards, ensuring that your employees feel comfortable speaking up if they see something that is unsafe or could be done more safely. In this session, she will present the current standards required for safety training as well as reporting, and also elaborate on what else a vineyard manager could do over and above that. For example, vineyards rely on the required WPS videos to explain heat, sun, or cold protection; she’d like to see them follow up with site-specific training, or even discuss what vineyard workers learned in the video. That could make the difference in them actually taking that information seriously, and understanding that you do as well.
Nova Cadamatre
While many of our assets in the wine business are more tangible, our teams are essential assets to our businesses. Learn the basics of how to protect your team in this introductory winery safety talk. Topics to be covered include how to do a safety walk through the winery, common injuries, and how to look for risks. It is a good starting point for any winery who wishes to be more proactive when it comes to safety.
Note: this should not be considered legal advice or be considered as comprehensive for meeting OSHA regulations.
Molly Kelly
Bioprotection is the use of microorganisms, their metabolites, and/or derivatives to protect juice and wine from undesirable spoilage microorganisms that could negatively impact wine quality. The goal of bioprotection is to preserve wine quality, prevent off-flavors, and reduce the need for the addition of chemical preservatives such as sulfur dioxide. In this session, we will review microbial ecology from harvest to finished wine and discuss how bioprotection strategies work and how you can use them to increase wine quality.
ENOLOGY
Phil Plummer & Clark Smith
Accentuated Cut Edge (ACE) extraction is a new theory of grape processing that can have profound impacts on the organoleptic properties of both red and white wines. Grapes processed via the traditional crusher-destemmer often present only one edge through which polyphenols and aromatic compounds may be immediately extracted into must; employment of ACE increases the number of those edges, allowing winemakers a powerful tool in the race to establish a wine’s structural backbone and aromatic profile. Wine consultant Clark Smith will illuminate the theory of Dr. Richard Smart’s idea and present data on his collaborative study in the 2020 vintage. Then Finger Lakes winemaker Phil Plummer will discuss his experiences with this technique, highlighting the methods he has developed and results he’s seen over five vintages using this exciting new technology.
Robert Muse & Christine Vrooman
Gamay has a simple but enlivening character of universal appeal upon acquaintance. It is never astringent and can be slightly chilled, resulting in a positive, refreshing, and even uplifting wine that enhances just about any food.
At Muse, Robert describes Gamay as agreeable above all else. Indeed, many Paris cafés have served Gamay as their principal carafe wine. Robert will discuss the viticultural aspects of the grape’s production at his site in the Shenandoah Valley. He will also describe a traditional winemaking protocol used at Muse that is in contrast to those that disfigured Beaujolais for many years.
After successfully growing Pinot Noir on their high elevation site in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains in Amherst County, the Vroomans decided in 2017 to plant a test plot of Gamay and began commercial production with partial carbonic maceration in 2023. Christine will provide a brief history of the Gamay grape and its rise from being an outcast, to being the darling of young somms today. She will also discuss Gamay vs. Pinot Noir on their granite site at 1800 ft. elevation. Soils, berry size, fruit thinning, harvest parameters and other vineyard observations will be included. Christine will explain the sustainable viticulture practices that embrace the French expression, La Lutte Raisonnée, along with the supplementation of some biodynamic practices, and the vinification practices and protocols that winemaker Nathan Vrooman implements in the cellar. A sample tasting will be offered of the young 2024 vintage, served only by keg in the Ankida Ridge tasting room.
Richard Carey & Frederico Casassa
This second presentation on building phenolic compounds focuses on chemical and sensory aspects of winemaking for red wine components, covering methods to analyze them and track their development. Throughout the presentation we offer insights, from baseline fruit chemistry measurements to proposing vineyard practices to increase grape quality. The presentation will report how grape berry analysis develops during the time from veraison to harvest, based on grape berry and wine samples from eastern vineyards.
Megan Hereford, Emily Hodson & Scott Spelbring
This session will provide a comprehensive review of barrel alternatives, including different formats of oak alternatives, use, and flavor profiles. Using wines sourced from the East Coast, the tasting will explore traditional oak alternatives with French and American Oak as well as new innovations in oak alternatives. The tasting will include white and red vinifera wines. During the tasting we will discuss the impact of different flavor profiles and how they can be used to enhance your wines and potentially reduce your costs.
Molly Kelly & Maya Hood White
Ambient (aka native or spontaneous) fermentation is the oldest method of wine fermentation. Utilizing the presence of naturally occurring to ferment to wine, this method relies on a diverse microbial population that exist on the fruit. Native fermentations can add complexity to wines given the microbial matrix but can also carry inherent risks of spoilage. Diligent monitoring of vineyard and cellar conditions aid in the success of ambient red and white fermentations. Maya will discuss.
Research on the use of non-Saccharomyces yeast in winemaking has gained momentum over the past few years. The use of “native” yeast strains can act both as a bioprotectant as well as fermentative yeast, lending enhanced aromas and flavors. Molly will discuss a research project with a New York state winery performing both inoculated and uninoculated ferments of Riesling grapes. An overview of the native fermentation wine microbiome obtained at each stage of winemaking, via next generation sequencing, will be presented. Unique strains isolated as well as potential impacts on wine quality will be presented. Impacts on the future of winemaking will be discussed.
Joy Ting
High pH is a common problem in Virginia wines. The most common approach to adjusting pH is tartaric acid addition, but this can lead to wines with high TA that taste too sour. In 2023, the Winemakers Research Exchange conducted three separate experiments comparing the chemical and sensory impact of pH adjustment using cation exchange resin vs. tartaric acid addition. This session will address the chemistry and practical aspects of cation exchange treatment of juice and wine as well as the outcomes of WRE trials.
Session sponsored by:
A.J. Greely & Lee Hartman
In our current post-Covid culture, we’re seeing more of a rise in the sobriety movement. People are cutting back, or cutting out, alcohol. The Gen Zs moving into adulthood aren’t drinking as much as their predecessors did. We can choose to ignore this fact, or we can address it head- on. The rise in desire for No Alcohol (NA) beverages that look and taste (somewhat) like the real thing, is an untapped market potential. Two winemakers discuss how they’ve embraced the concept.
A.J. Greely | At Hark Vineyards we’re not only introducing one or two NA wines into our tasting rooms, but are finely crafting those NA wines we’re presenting to the public, and in distribution. How do we craft a wine, remove the alcohol, and maintain the integrity of the NA wine we offer to the public? It’s a delicate process which we’ll discuss.
Lee Hartman | Since opening its doors in 2011, Bluestone Vineyards’ most popular wine has been the one with the lowest alcohol: Moscato. While some of its popularity can also be attributed to big aromatics and sweetness, this wine’s alcohol has been intentionally and gradually lowered in the last several years. We’ve cut back chaptalization to zero in recent years, creating a wine below 10% ABV without consumers blinking an eye. This move has helped save Bluestone time and money, and has helped customers slow alcohol consumption at home and at the vineyard, while still being the most profitable wine we make.
Craig Hosbach & Phil Plummer
Aromatics and texture are both critical elements of any great wine, but it often seems as though chasing one diminishes the potential of the other. Is that really the case? Join Finger Lakes winemakers Craig Hosbach and Phil Plummer for a deep dive on aroma and texture development strategies for white and rosé wines. Divergent techniques will be explored, but with the same goal in mind: producing complex and complete wines that provide a multisensory experience.
Emily Hodson, Joyce & Stephen Rigby
Emily will discuss the growing and making of Sauvignon Blanc at Veritas where the grape is grown at two elevations on Edneytown Loam with four clones that are harvested, processed and aged separately. Vineyard orientation is just slightly off of North-South orientation to adjust slightly for the prevailing winds from Afton Mountain Gap. They transitioned from cordon pruning to cane pruning as the vines became older and the decision to pick is strictly based on acidity. They whole cluster press a portion and destem a portion and all processing is extremely anaerobic and at low temperatures. All of the Sauvignon Blanc is stainless steel fermented, and different yeasts are used for the different clones to highlight clonal specificities.
Stephen and Joyce will discuss and compare growing and making wine with Sauvignon Blanc and Sauvignon Gris at Boxwood Winery in Middleburg, VA. Joyce will discuss the differences and challenges of these two grapes in the vineyard, and how she manages the canopy to optimize uniform ripeness within and between the clusters. Optimizing desirable Sauvignon Blanc’s tropical nuances, and minimizing the vegetal and grassy flavors are goals of her vineyard management. Stephen will discuss his press regimen, yeast strains, lees contact, temperature control, and fermentation, blending and bottling for these grape varieties.
ENOLOGY / VITICULTURE
Lucie Morton, Adam McTaggart & Dean Volenberg
Historically, Norton and Cynthiana were considered different grape cultivars. Prominent 19th century viticultural authorities recognized differences between their fruit and wine. In The Grapes of New York (1908), U. P. Hedrick pointed to juice color, wine quality, and other biological differences. As Eastern viticulture reemerged after Prohibition in the late 1960s, Norton and Cynthiana were mixed in vineyards and officially deemed as synonymous. Molecular data generated in the 21st century supported this idea. However, this molecular work has not described the accessions using comparative ampelography.
A phylogenetic tree we constructed based on 1.2 million single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP’s) could not differentiate Norton from Cynthiana, but did differentiate V. aestivalis and V. cinerea. Although genetic data based on SNP’s could not distinguish Norton from Cynthiana, multiple ampelographic traits can differentiate between them, suggesting these two cultivars are unique. The fresh pressed juice color of Cynthiana is lighter compared to Norton, even to the naked eye. In a blind tasting of 2022 wines in Missouri, Cynthiana was selected 2-to-1 as the tasters’ first choice. Future DNA exploration will evaluate the whole genome of each variety grown in Missouri and Virginia plus the “Cynthiana” grown in Brazil. In this session, for the first time since the end of the 19th century, wines of Cynthiana and Norton will be presented individually for tasting.
Joseph Fiola
Joe has researched “alternative cultivars” for 35+ years in the Mid-Atlantic region and will discuss the viticultural and wine attributes of a few of his high prospects. ‘Petra’ (SK77-5-3) is a cold hardy Downy-resistant complex hybrid from Eastern Europe that makes a delightfully aromatic white wine. ‘Verdejo’ is a vinifera grape from the Iberian Peninsula with good cold hardiness, high productivity, and makes a complex full-bodied white wine. ‘Gamaret’ is a Swiss import with a mid-season harvest and produces a complex medium to full-bodied wine reminiscent of Cabernet Franc. ‘Regent’ is a ‘Chambourcin’ hybrid with more vinifera in its background from central Europe that produces a redwine that’s a bit dense but soft.
MARKETING FROM LICENSE TO STEAL®
Donniella Winchell
Developing a collaborative, regional winery livery service system can drive significant traffic, illustrate responsibility and build loyalty with and among lodgers in a region. There are models to be shared which report hundreds of wine visitors weekly.
Donniella Winchell
Steal Session: Ideas to Create Pet Friendly Experiences
Jana Mckamey
Oregon has faced significant anti-alcohol pressures from a range of state-based agencies. Jana will share the history of their efforts and the Oregon industry’s response to those campaigns. An open discussion of their efforts as well as input from attendees’ experiences with similar situations will follow her presentation.
Kimberly Charles
Kimberly will discuss the genesis of the Come Over October campaign and the success of its launch with unprecedented industry support. She will share the resulting creativity it has spawned within the industry at all levels (on/off premise, suppliers, wholesale, wineries and beyond), as well as provide an overview the global reach of the campaign well beyond US borders. Her presentation will be followed by a Q & A session.
Mary-Kate Badalamenti & Garrison Kuhl
Garrison and Mary-Kate will use their experience in the Finger Lakes and share ideas on how to drive direct to consumer sales by leveraging generational marketing strategies as well as by using digital and influential media to elevate a brand and grow market share.
Tony Debevc
Leaning on his 40+ years of business in the East, Tony will share two stories: the story of how he expanded business opportunities buy building out via additional winery acquisitions and also how he built collaboration with and among other businesses ancillary to his core wine community.
Jana McKamey & Kyle Ann Pallischeck
Creating powerful Wine Boot Camp experiences for media, elected officials, the trade, and/or core consumers. Wine Boot Camp experiences have been used successfully by several wine communities to build awareness of their region with and among influentials in the business. Typically, the camps are several days in duration and are limited to a small number of participants. They are immersed in a comprehensive set of hands-on experiences and demonstrations by winery and vineyard owners in order to create a broader understanding of the importance of their region in the larger world of wine.
Liz Mercer
A strong wine club thrives on sustainable growth through proven practices, current consumer trends, and ongoing refinement. This session will explore industry metrics and innovative strategies to boost wine club acquisition, from tasting room tactics to data mining, loyalty programs, and beyond. Attendees will gain key insights and actionable strategies for increasing signups, retaining members, and driving revenue.
Sarah Eighmey
Transitions in the wine business often involve generational and sibling dynamics as well as varying goals and perspectives. The most successful wineries thrive beyond the founders’ vision by finding ways to deal with those dynamics to build a solid future with and among all of the subsequent partners.
Bill Holden
Purchasing an existing winery creates its own set of challenges and dynamics. Finding ways toward a smooth transition, to preserve the legacy of the founders, all while forging new paths can be a difficult balance. Bill will share his story about the successful purchase of a winery and with his ability to take it, his wine, and the amenities offered by the business, to a new and more financially lucrative level.
Donniella Winchell
Based on mor than a dozen interviews of wineries recently sold in the Eastern US, Donnie will share some hints and suggestions from those who were able to find buyers to carry on the winery business. This will be followed by a conference participant discussion.
Donniella Winchell
A compendium of 100 or more brief marketing tidbits from the Tuesday Tidbit series and conference participants’ ideas. This session will focus on winery specific projects that can be implemented to drive new traffic.
Michael Kaiser
From the Farm bill through ingredient, allergy and nutritional labeling, some new USDA initiates and TTB proposed changes, the atmosphere in Washington will morph significantly based on the newly elected representatives and faces changed in the bureaucratic offices which regulate winery existence. Michael will provide an up to the minute overview of the environment in DC.
Jim Trezise
The American wine industry is facing headwinds on many levels. It is critical that the industry join together to help tell a positive story about the important role wine plays in our culture. Jim will share information about how WineAmerica is a leading voice in this regard.
Donniella Winchell
Working with influencers has become one of the most important public relations tools for the wine community. Those using this cadre of these marketers need to consider the opportunities they provide including how to vet potential partners but also as well as how to get the most out of the time and money invested. And drawing up contracts can be both daunting and full of legal pitfalls. Influencers are important, but it is important to have a well thought out game plan before looking to find an influencer to represent your brand.
VITICULTURE
Mizuho Nita
Due to possible regulatory changes and the growing cases of fungicide resistance, it’s crucial to explore alternative methods for managing fungal diseases in grapevines. In this presentation, Mizuho will discuss field test results on the use of biopesticides (such as biological control agents, plant defense activators, nutrients, and oils) and physical shelters (fruit zone shelters and fruit bags) in wine grape production to combat grape ripe rot, sour rot, and other common fungal diseases in the Eastern U.S.
Richard Carey & Frederico Casassa
In the first of two presentations, Richard and Frederico will present new information about how grapes can improve phenolic and anthocyanin compounds from vineyard to winery, and perform analyses of these. This first presentation explores the basics of growing grapes to improve the phenolic profile in the vineyard and then discusses analytical methods of their development from veraison to harvest.
Jacy Lewis
Rather than an in-depth scientific report, the focus of this session will be producer/consultant-oriented; it will provide an understanding of the pathogen and the disease from an applied perspective. Following a brief discussion on the characteristics of the pathogen, its vectors and epidemiology will be detailed. Topics covered will include: the difference between infection and disease and its implications from a management perspective; identification of Xylella infections and PD in the field; appropriate techniques for sampling grapevines for X.f. and avoiding common mistakes in sampling errors that may lead to false negative results; techniques to reduce vineyard level acquisition of the pathogen and disease incidence; and management of existing diseased vines and how they overlap.
Cain Hickey
A team of academic research and extension professionals in viticulture, enology, and marketing/social sciences is collaborating on a USDA/NIFA SCRI Planning Project. Project goals: (1) gather and evaluate data about challenges and needs of the grape and wine industry across diverse climatic regions in the U.S.; (2) develop a strategic plan with research, extension, and outreach priorities (USDA/NIFA Contract/Grant/Agreement Number 2023-51181-41189). In 2024, the project team developed a questionnaire that sought feedback from industry stakeholders to identify the primary concerns and issues impacting the grape and wine industry in the U.S. These survey results from the nation and various regional scales will be presented.
Mizuho Nita
Mizuho will provide an overview of common grapevine trunk diseases, such as ESCA and Botryosphaeria canker. He will also cover grapevine viruses, including Grapevine Leafroll Disease and Red Blotch Disease, as well as the vectors associated with these diseases, e.g., sharpshooters and mealybugs. Visuals will be presented to assist with identifying these diseases, and he will discuss various available management options.
David Campbell
David will guide participants through the current scientific literature surrounding wine tannins, with a focus on tannin losses in hybrid winemaking. He will then present his own research characterizing tannin extractability in a set of hybrid and V. vinifera grapes from locations across Pennsylvania. Next, he will examine how cultivar, location, and vintage affect grape chemistry through metabolomic and aroma analysis. This session is aimed at grape-growers, winemakers, and wine-industry professionals who would like to learn more about wine tannins, hybrid wine grapes, and regional variability in grape chemistry. It is especially relevant to those producing dry red wine styles using hybrid grape cultivars. It is expected that participants will have some background in winemaking. Other scientific concepts and terminology will be explained thoroughly and with minimal jargon.
Dana Acimovic & Jeanette Smith
Climate change, including more frequent frosts and increasing humidity, is bringing challenging growing conditions to grape growers. These conditions are especially difficult for growers who are producing popular vinifera varieties. Now that younger wine consumers are showing interest in new varieties, the time is right for growers to consider planting varieties that are better suited to harsher climate conditions. In their variety trials, Dana and Jeanette are evaluating over 50 old and new varieties from around the globe for their tolerance to the challenges of climate change. They will share some of their “winners”.
Dr. Scott Cosseboom
Diseases in grapevines can be difficult to control in the eastern U.S., with a long season full of disease-conducive weather conditions, and an environment filled with damaging pathogens. Disease prediction models can be a great way to guide disease management decisions, like timing pesticide applications. This session will cover disease prediction models for common diseases experienced in the eastern U.S. and how growers can access and utilize them.
Long He
In this session, Long will share how unmanned sprayers demonstrated more efficient and precise spray practices. Conventional sprayers typically spray with a fixed rate, which can lead to a huge amount of agrochemical waste, increased production costs and environmental contamination. Therefore, it is desirable to develop precision spraying systems to apply agrochemicals as needed to the target crops. Sensors such as light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors have been used to estimate the main canopy specifications, such as canopy structure and density. These parameters then can be used as inputs for precision spraying. Furthermore, advanced technologies such as unmanned vehicles have been adapted for automated sprayers. In our study, field trials were conducted in vineyards and orchards with an unmanned sprayer to evaluate the spray performance. Varying operational speeds and flow rates were assessed through water-sensitive paper samplers for spray coverage, and revealed that lower speeds and increased flow rates lead to better spray coverage.
Conference Manager
Richard Leahy has organized major wine industry conference programs from Pennsylvania to Minnesota since 1997, and has been writing about wines of Virginia and the East since 1986. He started the Eastern Winery Exposition in 2012 with Operations Director Marcia Gulino and former owner Bob Mignarri. In 2007 he organized the Virginia Wine Experience in London which brought the top 64 Virginia wines there for leading British wine media and trade to taste. He was a regional editor for Kevin Zraly’s American Wine Guide, and was Mid-Atlantic and Southern Editor for the Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America. He was East Coast Editor of Vineyard & Winery Management for over ten years. He is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers. Richard’s book on Virginia wine, Beyond Jefferson’s Vines, now in a third edition, was first published in 2012 by Sterling Publishing. In 2022, he was given the Birchenall Award by the Atlantic Seaboard Wine Association for his promotion of the Eastern wine industry over the years. He also has a website and blog focused on wines of the East at www.richardleahy.com.
Program Advisory Board
Thank you to the EWE Program Advisory Board for their input, ideas, feedback, and suggestions that continue to make the EWE Conference stronger every year.
- Peter Bell, Fox Run Vineyards, New York
- Tim Benedict, Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, New York
- Jerry Forest, Buckingham Valley Vineyards, Pennsylvania
- Patty Held, Patty Held Consulting, Missouri
- Lucie Morton, Lucie Morton Consulting, Virginia
- Tom Payette, Tom Payette Wine Consulting, Virginia