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August 06, 2007
Trade Group for Lake County Wineries Voted On
The Lake County Winegrape Commission today announced that several local wineries have come together to form the Lake County Wineries Association to promote greater public awareness of the wine region.
The drive to form a promotional group originally was spearheaded last year by Roy Cecchetti and Bob Browman when they were president and winemaker, respectively, of Langtry Estate & Vineyards. However, they left the winery in September 2006 during a disagreement with the ownership over the direction of the wine company.
Mr. Cecchetti since has formed Sonoma-based Cecchetti Wine Co. and released a Lake County brand, 39 Degrees.
Several of Lake County's rising wine stars took up the cause and came to a general agreement this summer on the formation of a wineries association then voted for the initial board of directors, according to Matthew Hughes, co-owner of Zoom Wines and chairman of the board.
Other members of the first board are Greg Graham of Gregory Graham Wines, Sandy Tucker of Langtry Farms, Clay Shannon of Shannon Ridge Winery and Nicole Johnson of Cougar's Leap.
The first steps for the new association, which is set to meet again later this month, will be to build membership and collect dues to support a plan they will develop for marketing activities.
Such marketing activities will include the Lake County Wine Adventure now in its third year, wine tasting events on the East Coast, creation of brochures with maps to wineries and installation of winery signs. The association also will be working with the 15-year-old winegrape commission, which has been promoting the county's wineries to a limited degree for six years, to put point-of-purchase materials in local restaurants and wine shops.
The new association has sent out questionnaires to the some two dozen wine companies in the county requesting they give input and join the group. How much the dues will be will be open to discussion, but the initial idea is for an initiation fee of $500 and annual dues of 10 cents per case of wine produced in Lake County, according to Mr. Hughes.
To contact the Lake County Wineries Association, call 707-263-8001 or send mail to 401 11th St., P.O. Box 1829, Lakeport, CA 95453
LAKEPORT, August 5, 2007
Posted by fortna at August 6, 2007 07:44 AM
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