Do you drink wine that comes in a can? If you do, keep swilling. If you don’t, start with a chilled sparkling rosé from West + Wilder, a Santa Rosa, CA-based brand that needs to be on your radar screen. The founders, Kenny Rochford and Matt Allan, are my guests on Alignment in Action, and we cover such topics as what it was like to get started in cans, how the category has evolved, how they stay competitive now that the big companies have seen the potential, and why you should buy a can or ten if you care about sustainability. Probably the best show yet. Click Play.

John Garn is founder of ViewCraft, a Graton, CA-based firm that helps organizations, including wineries, become more sustainable.  With more than 30 years of experience in the field, John had wide-ranging insights on how sustainability should be as much a culture as it is a way of safeguarding the environment.  We also discussed how best to educate staff and customers on a business’s sustainability strategy, as well as how to market those efforts authentically. Alignment in Action is the official podcast of Alignment Wine Marketing, a Napa-based firm devoted to addressing the strategic and tactical needs of small- to medium-sized wineries, boutique hotels and independent restaurants.

Our first guest is Ed Feuchuk, General Manager of Farm Collective, a Napa Valley-based consortium that oversees Tank Garage Winery and James Cole Winery. Ed is a marketer who dares to be different, someone who has an acute understanding of his target audiences and an endless reserve of creative strategies to keep them engaged with his brands. Alignment in Action is the official podcast of Alignment Wine Marketing, a Napa-based firm devoted to addressing the strategic and tactical needs of small- to medium-sized wineries, boutique hotels and independent restaurants.

In the world of wine, few companies are as value-driven as Clif Family Winery in the Napa Valley.  Founded by Gary and Kit Erickson, who also created Clif Bar, Clif Family Winery espouses 5 Aspirations that govern not just their culture but how they manage their bottom line. At the heart of the 5 Aspirations is sustainability, a commitment to making sure that the needs of their employees, communities and the planet as a whole are met first, which creates a space for their brands and their business to thrive. Our guest today is Linzi Gay, General Manager of Clif Family Winery. Linzi and Peter discuss how the 5 Aspirations play out in the life of their business, as well as how wineries seeking to make more of a difference in the world around them can learn from their example. Alignment in Action is the official podcast of Alignment Wine Marketing, a Napa-based firm devoted to addressing the strategic and tactical needs of small- to medium-sized wineries, boutique hotels and independent restaurants.

Kevin Luther is founder, winemaker and, yes, visionary for Sacramento-based Voluptuary and Lucid Wines. I met Kevin in 2015 when we were students in the Executive Wine MBA program at Sonoma State University. The cohort never took a formal poll, but if we had to decide who among us would be the most successful wine entrepreneur, it would have been Kevin. Kevin has a restless intelligence, he’s hungry, and he has a lot to teach us about how brands crystallize, how to connect with customers in an inundated world, and how to create engaging content that builds community. Alignment in Action is the official podcast of Alignment Wine Marketing, a Napa-based firm devoted to addressing the strategic and tactical needs of small- to medium-sized wineries, boutique hotels and independent restaurants.