Event Policy and Activities AWGA takes every opportunity to promote the Arizona wine industry. The AWGA office gets requests almost daily to pour Arizona wine at wide variety of events. As you will recall, the office has donated wine to use for these purposes. Because of the large number of these requests, the Executive Committee will be developing a policy regarding when, where, and how the AWGA will pour these wines. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Over the past few months there has been some confusion about wine festival events. AWGA gets involved in several different types of wine events historically. One type is when the AWGA sells glasses at a wine festival such as Tempe and Prescott Wine Gardens. These are AWGA fundraising events that we participate and assist in designing/coordinating the wine garden portion, but the events are within larger festivals out of our control. Because these events require coordination and financial commitments, the Executive Committee discusses and determines how AWGA will be involved. Then there are wine events that are organized by individual wineries, regions, or individuals without any participation from AWGA. Individual wineries decide to participate or not but there are no resources expended by AWGA. Examples of these types of events are the Flagstaff Wine & Food Festival or the upcoming Arizona State Fair. The planning of these festivals was done by other groups without any discussions with AWGA.

The last group of events are AWGA signature annual events such as the Festival at the Farm and Grape Stomps or special AWGA events such as the Arizona Centennial Best Fests. Please get involved in the Grape Stomp 5 K races in each of the wine regions, Festival at the Farm, Centennial Best Fests, and the Tempe Fall Festival Wine Garden. The AWGA has begun in earnest the event planning. The success of these events is critical to the financial sustainability of the organization but also provide a tremendous opportunity to promote the Arizona wine industry and educate people about the great wines being produced.

In my last membership message I mentioned that the AWGA distributed an event planning request for proposal with your assistance. We talked to a lot of people and only two teams submitted formal proposals. Both cost proposals were too expensive for AWGA this year. Due to the extensive event planning expertise of the AWGA’s Executive Director’s firm, we are going to plan upcoming events using existing staff resources and volunteers. So I hope you can help.

Grand Canyon State Wine Association (GCSWA) There has been a lot of discussion about the initiation of the Grand Canyon State Wine Association created by Marge Graziano. I have met with Marge several times to discuss the purpose and future of the GCSWA. She said that the GCSWA is basically just a website and was created as a result of her coordination with the Arizona State Fair. Marge assured me that once the Fair is over the GCSWA will not be active. Her son, John McLoughlin and AWGA Vice President, is actively involved in designing and conducting the State Fair’s Wine Competition. AWGA has not been involved in any of the conversations and negotiations with the State Fair. The Executive Committee discussed at several meetings the concern about John having a conflict of interest because of his participation in organizing a potentially competing organization as well as being responsible for creating an Arizona wine competition that would be held several weeks before the Festival at the Farm. AWGA is the only membership organization that represents wineries statewide, and I expressed concerns over potential misrepresentation with the State Fair about what organization can speak on behalf of the wine industry.  Both John and Marge believe strongly in the opportunity for promoting the Arizona wine industry through participation with the State Fair. As discussed earlier, this is one of those event opportunities that individual wineries can decide if they want to participate or not. In the future, if the members of AWGA believe that the Arizona State Fair is something that makes sense for the organization to be involved with it needs to be actively engaged in the planning, organization, and commitments on behalf of the wine industry.

Legislative Affairs Prior to the May AWGA meeting, the Executive Committee made the decision to sever its contractual relationship with Husk Partners. Subsequently, they requested an opportunity to discuss the issue directly with the Executive Committee and AWGA membership. We granted that opportunity and they made a presentation in May. I asked members to provide me with their feedback. As a result, the Executive Committee reaffirmed the decision and dissolved AWGA’s contractual relationship with Husk Partners as of the end of May 2011. Due to current financial constraints, the AWGA is not going to enter into another contract for government relations at this time.

AWGA continues to work with WineAmerica to monitor the U.S. Community Alcohol Regulatory effectiveness Act of 2011(HR1161, formerly HR5034). Over 50 members of Congress have signed on with their support. Representative David Schweikert (R-AZ) District 5 is the only Arizona person on the bill. Curt Dunham (LDV), Cory Whalin (Su Vino), and I met with his office to discuss AWGA’s concerns and the tremendous negative impact this piece of legislation will have on the wine industry

Article from Wine Enthusiast - March 2011

Verde Valley, Arizona

Stunning landscapes, progressive wineries and innovative cuisine await in the Southwest.

The rolling desert hills and sandstone cliffs north of Phoenix beckon outsiders. Historic mining towns encourage artistic expression. And thanks to the Verde Valley Wine Trail (verdevalleywinetrail.com), the region now attracts the wine and food lover.

LODGING: Plan to stay overnight at The Annabel Inn (611 North 7th Street; theannabelinn.com). Annabel Sclippa, the French-born owner of the only bed and breakfast in Old Town, is known for impeccable plating, garnishing your breakfast with edible flowers and fresh herbs. Hopefully, she's cooking her stuffed French toast. Made with fresh cranberry bread from the bakery around the corner....

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