Weather, economy blamed for winery direct sales hit in Q1
New data on winery direct-to-consumer sales in the first quarter of this year show significant impacts to tasting room, website and club sales, attributed to a one-two punch of dreary Wine Country weather this year and more uncertainty about the economy.
The first three months of the year historically is a lower-revenue period for wine tourism because of cooler temperatures and rain — or snow for East Coast vintners. But the start of this year was noticeably different, said Cathy Huyghe, co-founder and CEO of Enolytics, at the Business Journal’s Wine Industry Conference on April 20.
