Winery registration opening week of Jan. 15 for April event in Los Angeles
As announced late last year, the Oregon Wine Board will be hosting a series of domestic tasting events coupled with trade education seminars over the next two years. The first of these events will take place in Los Angeles during the week of April 23. As we prepare to open winery registration in the middle of January, we wanted to provide an update on this inaugural event.
Partners
We are thrilled to announce that we are partnering with the team behind Feast Portland to conceptualize and execute an event that stands apart from other wine tasting events. Team Feast is best known for its eponymous food and wine event, yet they also have expertise in bringing the ethos of Oregon’s culinary and beverage scene to life in other markets. They are a longstanding partner of Travel Oregon with proven ability to represent all regions of the state effectively, having successfully brought Oregonian sensibility to trade and consumers in markets like New York City and San Francisco.
Our other partner, Please The Palate, is a top LA-based wine event producer with experience executing flawless events for regional organizations around the world. In addition to providing on-the-ground intel and services, Please The Palate brings a deep network of trade and media professionals in the LA market that will help ensure our event resonates with and attracts the kind of buyers that will prove to be fruitful connections.
Winery Participation and Registration
What: Dedicated space to pour wines for trade, media and consumer audiences
Participation Fee: $550
Available Spots*: 50
Participating wineries will have a dedicated space at the trade and media tasting as well as the consumer tasting event. You will be required to provide the necessary wines and one or two representatives to pour.
As the primary trade members that will be recruited to attend this event are buyers from top restaurant and independent retail accounts, participation is most suitable for wineries that are already working with a distributor in the Southern California market. Additionally, it is strongly recommended that the winery owner or principal attend. The attendees will be decision-makers, so you will want to be sure you are well positioned for highly effective interactions.
*Given OWB’s scope of supporting Oregon wine statewide, these events present a unique opportunity to showcase the full gamut of winegrowing in Oregon, ensuring diverse representation of varieties and producers around the state. To help fulfill that, we will allocate the 50 positions by considering each region’s portion of the state’s harvested tonnage according to the OWB’s annual industry census. The regions are:
- Willamette Valley (includes Portland wineries)
- Southern Oregon (Rogue and Umpqua valleys)
- Eastern Oregon (Columbia Gorge and Walla Walla Valley)
Registration will be first-come, first-served, and any registrations exceeding a region’s allocation will be put on a wait list. After an initial registration period, if any region has not filled its allocated spots, the remaining spots will be filled with wineries on the wait list. Deadlines will be communicated when registration opens.
What’s Next
Over the next week, we will be working with our partners to secure a venue and confirm the precise event date. Watch your inbox during the week of Jan. 15 for more details on the event, including information on how to register.
