Wineries have their month

From meet-the-winemaker dinners to harvest parties and winery concerts, Sonoma County wineries are celebrating California Wine Month in style.

The month kicks off with the Sonoma Wine Country Weekend Sept. 4-6, followed by innumerable smaller events around the county, including: sunset picnics at Paradise Ridge throughout the month; Hall & Oates performing at Rodney Strong Sept. 7; Alderbrook Winery's Harvest BBQ in Sonoma Sept. 12; Sonoma County Grape Camp Sept. 21-23; and winemaker dinners in Bodega Bay for Robert Mondavi Winery Sept. 18 and cult pinot noir producer Kosta Browne Sept. 25. For more information on these and other events in September, visit, www.discovercaliforniawine.com.

Connecting with social media
Social media and digital marketing in the wine industry is the subject of a series of roundtable discussions hosted by Benson Marketing Group in Napa.

The events are aimed at winery marketing and public relations professionals. “Boosting Brand Advocacy & Sales through Social Media” takes place Wednesday, Sept. 30, while “Public Relations 2.0: Leveraging Social Media to Generate Coverage, Raise Awareness” takes place Wednesday, Oct. 14. For more information visit www.bensonmarketing.com/seminars.html.

Symposium on consumer-direct sales
The third annual Direct to Consumer Symposium is again being held in Santa Rosa. The event, which takes place Tuesday, Jan. 19, at Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel & Spa, is a product of the Coalition for Free Trade and Free The Grapes!

The goal is to help wineries build their direct-to-consumer businesses and to raise funds for the two presenting organizations. Further detail about speakers will be announced in September. For more information, visit www.freethegrapes.org.