The 2027 DTC Wine Symposium program just released, and I am super duper excited!
Full disclosure: I’m on the Steering Committee for this conference and am moderating one of the sessions, so I have a certain level of bias here, BUT I promise I’d be excited even if I weren’t one of the folks helping plan this little (big) shindig!
The Deets
Dates: Tuesday, January 19 – Thursday, January 21, 2027
Location: Monterey, California
Register: dtcwinesymposium.regfox.com
How I’m Planning My Week
Heads up: This isn’t necessarily a ranking of the sessions I think are best (though I’ll admit to tooting the horn for the session I’m moderating); this is simply part of how I’m planning my own three days, based on my clients’ needs and my own nerdy interests. There are lots of other great sessions I haven’t mentioned (and your list will probably look different, depending on whether you run a tasting room, a wine club, or the marketing department). I fully intend to swap notes with friends who are attending other sessions so we can all get the most out of this conference.
You can see the full program here.
Tuesday
Ultimate Wine Hospitality Challenge. This was a blast last year and though I’m no longer on the hospitality side of the industry, I still like learning how others are doing it so I can share ideas with clients and this here Substack community.
Bring Your Own AVA Grand Tasting. I’m especially excited for this one, since I was pregnant last year and didn’t get to taste anything. *insert smallest violin here*
Wednesday
Keynote with André Hueston Mack. André is a delight to follow on Instagram, and I’m particularly excited to hear him speak on how he used streetwear-drop thinking and punk aesthetics to build a wine brand!
It’s Showtime: Wine Service as a Performative Art. Again, I’m no longer on the hospitality side of things, but I do think there is a lot of overlap on the “stage” of the tasting room and what I do on social media. Plus, one of my clients' tasting room hosts is on this panel, so I’m excited to support him!
Lo-Alc & No-Alc Go Mainstream. As a recently pregnant person and now a breastfeeding mom, I have a lot to say about the Lo-No movement happening right now, and I'm excited to hear how real wineries are making it work. I'm also looking forward to meeting Lawrence Bremer, founder of St. Buena Vida Wine, which makes one of the only non-alcoholic wines I've actually enjoyed.
What Can Wineries Learn from the World’s Best Email Marketing Teams? My pal Erica Walter of Email Mavens fame is leading this conversation. Need I say more?
From Invisible to Inevitable: Rethinking Your DTC Strategy for an AI-Discovery World. Love it or hate it, consumers are using AI the way they used Google years ago. I want to learn how to help my clients get discovered in AI searches as well as Google.
Real Consumers in Real Time. Always one of my favorite sessions. As the name implies, they bring in real consumers from different generations to answer the questions we wineries always want to ask. It’s like a mini focus group!
Thursday
Keynote: Terroir Remix: Merging Art, Music, and Wine to Culture-Hack the Industry, with Jermaine Stone. I met Jermaine at the 2026 Unified Symposium, and he had a lot of great things to say, so I’m particularly excited for this one.
The Spy Who Segmented Me: Unleashing Your Marketing Mojo with the Klaviyo & Claude Integration. Last year Kelly Mantel dressed up as a pirate for a bootcamp, and I heard it was one of the best sessions of the week (I was speaking on a different panel and sadly missed it). I always love his commitment to the bit, so I’ll be doing my best to make this one.
Does Your Website Suck? Finding Your Place on the DTC Spectrum. Andrew Means, who is on this panel, recently surveyed over 5500 winery websites and shared some amazing insights! I’m excited to hear him speak again.
Instagram Field Guide: A Winery’s Tour of Every Tool in the App. I’m moderating this session with two friends doing awesome work on Instagram: Ian Consoli of Tablas Creek and Alice Anderson of Âmevive. You’ll see how real wine brands use the app to market their wines, and how you can take full advantage of its many features. (P.S. I just wrote a whole post on every Instagram feature as of 2026, so consider this a live version!)
New to DTCWS? If you want a taste before you commit, the 2026 presentation slides are available on the symposium site. You can also see my recaps of the 2026 Symposium, the 2025 Symposium, and 2024 Symposium.
If you’re going, say hi! Some of the best conversations at these things happen at the hotel bar afterward (see this article from last week), although I don’t know how much bar sitting I’ll be doing, since I’ll be bringing my CUTE LITTLE BABY with me this year! In any case, I’d love to know which sessions are on your list!
