Tasting Rooms Ain’t What They Used to Be

Dear Client:For the average winery, direct-to-consumer sales make up about 61% of total revenue, and of that, nearly 80% is dependent on consumers to first visit the winery's tasting room, according to Silicon Valley Bank's annual state of the union report.The problem is that tasting room visits have been on a downward trend for the past five years, particularly in Napa and Sonoma counties, according to evp and founder of SVB's wine division Rob McMillan. Interestingly, tourism in those areas