HISTORY

The changes in the new-age marketplace are revolutionary - globalization of the food system, consolidation and the changes it brings, new technology from production to retail, consumer segments seeking solutions to help them manage their challenging lifestyles...

Fundamental change requires, at some point, fundamentally different business and industry practices. For a year now, a number of industry leaders have been discussing the merits of an industry-wide strategic planning initiative. The changing business climate coupled with crop projections around the world suggests that the time to move is now.

We call this initiative WineVision: American Wine in the 21st Century. Our intent is to involve a broad representation of the industry in a planning process to examine this changing global business climate for opportunities to expand the market for U.S. wine.

The strategic planning process will:

¨ scrutinize the changing industry business climate and prioritize the
forces most critical to our future
¨ craft a vision describing the industry-wide success we're seeking
¨ identify the gaps between where we are today and our vision
¨ focus on those critical success factors that are best addressed by a
united industry approach and develop a menu of strategies designed to close
the gap on our vision
¨ leverage existing resources to implement a strategic plan to achieve our vision
¨ establish a system to evaluate progress and make mid-course adjustments
in pursuit of our industry-wide vision.

The plan, which is expected to take close to a year to draft, began by retaining Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, Inc., a progressive strategic planning firm with strong agri-food chain experience. Funds were then raised from vintners and growers to begin the project.
Broad representation of the national wine industry is sought in the following ways:

Early-on Trade group staffs and boards of directors help collect
preliminary data, participate in planning sessions and determine their fit in the implementation of WineVision.

April-June Telephone survey with a representative sample of the
national industry leadership.

May Mail survey to an expanded list of industry leaders.

May 13 A workshop with industry resources to gather data and create a snapshot of where the industry is today given the changing business climate.

June 7-8 WineVision planning team, representative of the industry, meets to scrutinize the changing business climate, craft an industry-wide vision, identify the gaps between the current-and vision-state and identify critical success factors for development of action plans.

June 28 Founding vintners and growers meet to decide if work groups are to be commissioned to develop action plans focusing on critical success factors.

July-Sept. Industry work groups are initiated to build on industry discussions over the last year. Objectives and a menu of strategies are developed for each critical success factor.

The intent of the WineVision strategic planning process is not to start a new organization but to provide a platform for an industry-wide strategic planning process to be implemented by existing organizations and individuals. The planning process should be considered a work in progress with adjustments made along the way to assure project success.

Attachments include the current planning flow chart, lists of the WineVision founding vintners and growers, attendees at the May 13 resource planning meeting and the WineVision team.

Industry Catalysts

Paul Dolan Fetzer Vineyards (707) 744-7600
David Freed UCC Vineyards Group (707) 255-9222
Jerry Lohr J. Lohr Winery (408) 288-5057
Bill Turrentine Turrentine Wine Brokerage (415) 454-4546

Kerry Tucker
Nuffer, Smith, Tucker, Inc.