Passport Relief

There are a lot of happy sighs of relief going on in the valley today. Passport Weekend, the mega fun, mega crowded, mega lots of work annual event put on by all the wineries in the Dry Creek Valley is finally over. More personalized than March’s Barrel Tasting weekend (with Passport, each winery selects a different theme and guests get their passport stamped as they go from winery to winery), Passport Weekend has evolved into one of the most successful regional wine events around. It has become so popular that attendees receive their $120 tickets from a random lottery drawing by the Winegrowers of Dry Creek Valley every year.

Since most wineries incorporate food into their overall event scheme, food and food service have become the latest things to be highly monitored in the wine industry. Don’t get me wrong. We’ve always been required to have the proper permits to legally prepare and serve food. You know, proper equipment, sanitary food handling requirements, properly trained staff…that sort of thing. But now, the Health Department is cracking down big time to make sure that everybody is working within the exact boundaries of their permits. And this is adding a whole new layer of anxiety and complexity to the business of running a winery.

There was a lot of last minute scrambling Friday as wineries hustled to get the right paperwork submitted. Health Department officials were quite helpful, pointing out areas of improvement and concern. Happily, all went well and as far as I know, Passport Weekend was a healthy and safe success for everyone. But going forward, I suspect many wineries may have trouble interpreting the increasingly stringent regulations of this aspect of our industry.

By Kim on April 27, 2009 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

0 TrackBacks

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:
Passport Relief.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.wilmaswineworld.com/cgi/www2007/mt4/mt-tb.cgi/88

Passport Relief

0 TrackBacks

Leave a comment

About this Entry

welcome!

This is a blog about what it's really like to be in the wine industry...so sit back, take a sip and enjoy!

about me

our wines

our winery

our events

whatisfume.com

contact me

privacy statement

favorite posts

A Lifetime in Wine

Top 10 Traits of the Successful Family Winery

The Dreaded Family Meeting

Board Meeting Jitters

Is the Future of the Winery in Danger?

The Case of the Overweight Bottle

Wine and Dementia

Wanted: Talented (Normal) Individual for Family Owned Winery

A Sea of Wine

The Heroes of Our Industry

monthly archives

All monthly archives

subscribe

Hopes & Dreams

Owning a Coastal Cottage

Sailing for 6 Months

Getting a 100 Point Score

Favorite Haunts

Coast of Maine

Dry Creek General Store

Dry Creek Kitchen

Ravenous

Healdsburg Bar & Grill

Sonoma Country Antiques

The Farmhouse

Zizi

Bad Ass Coffee

Bistro Ralph

Bits of Press

Food & Wine Magazine

The Wine News

Wine Enthusiast

Wine Spectator

Press Democrat

Sunset Magazine

Connoisseurs' Guide

Dan Berger's Vintage Experiences

2008 Sonoma County Harvest Fair

Oprah Magazine

The Washington Post

Coastal Living Magazine

Wine & Spirits Magazine

People Magazine

SAG Awards Magazine

Favorite Magazines

Coastal Living

Down East

Sunset

Country Living

Quarterly Review of Wines

Wines & Vines

Wine Spectator

Wine Enthusiast

California Grapevine

Wine News

Connoisseurs' Guide

Practical Winery & Vineyard

WineReviewOnline

Vineyard & Winery Mgmt

Blog Buddy List

Fermentation

Hip Tastes

Pinot Blogger

All The Best

Julia Flynn Siler

Vinography