Event
Sovos ShipCompliant Wine Summit
Event Summary
The Sovos ShipCompliant Wine Summit is the premier conference for winery compliance, hospitality and owner/operator professionals. The Wine Summit gathers winery professionals for one-and-a-half days of hands-on user training, learning, networking, one-on-one Sovos ShipCompliant staff interaction, and more!
May 21-22, 2025
Napa Valley Marriott
#WineSummit
What attendees can expect from the Wine Summit:
Updates on the latest regulations impacting the wine industry
Sessions focused on marketing, hospitality and customer experience
Strategies for innovation and growth
ShipCompliant product news and user training
Networking and inspiration!
2025 Agenda
Wednesday, May 21
ShipCompliant User Training
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Registration and Check In
Grand Ballroom Foyer
1:00 pm – 1:40 pm
Beginners Breakout Session
Beginners View into ShipCompliant
If you are new to ShipCompliant or want a refresher on the basics, join us for keys to managing your account, working with Support and how to handle common scenarios that users may encounter.
1:00 pm – 1:40 pm
Intermediate Breakout Session
Entering Information in Your ShipCompliant Account
Join our session to learn how ongoing maintenance can keep your account in top shape. Designed for all users, including DtC and wholesale, this session will help you enter information accurately from the start. Experts from Sovos ShipCompliant will guide you through key processes such as adding products, brands and distributors, maintaining licenses, entering orders manually and understanding and resolving errors.
1:40 pm – 2:20 pm
Beginners Breakout Session
Navigating Sales Tax Compliance in ShipCompliant
Sales tax compliance is becoming increasingly complex as states introduce new policies targeting remote and marketplace sellers. This session combines expert insights on the latest sales tax updates with practical guidance on how to manage compliance seamlessly in ShipCompliant. Learn how to handle sales tax calculations, reporting and evolving regulations—all within the tools you use every day.
1:40 pm – 2:20 pm
Advanced Breakout Session
Optimizing ShipCompliant Integrations & Third-Party Apps
Streamline your compliance and operations with seamless ShipCompliant integrations! This session explores how to connect ShipCompliant with your ERP systems, e-commerce platforms, fulfillment solutions and other key applications. Learn best practices for optimizing data flow, reducing manual entry and ensuring compliance through automated connections. We’ll cover key integration types, setup best practices, troubleshooting and will include a hands-on look at ShipCompliant’s API.
2:20 pm – 2:35 pm
Break
2:35 pm – 3:15pm
Intermediate Breakout Session
Mastering AutoFile
Our AutoFile team is responsible for your monthly state reports – but how can you maximize efficiency? Join us to learn more about fix prompts, prepared returns, return statuses, holding reports and auto-confirmation. This session will benefit current AutoFile users as well as those who may be interested in adding this managed service to your account.
2:35 pm – 3:15pm
Intermediate Breakout Session
Market Ready: Streamline Product Registration & Compliance
Market Ready simplifies wholesale go-to-market complexities with automated project management and real-time government integration, while LabelVision helps you streamline the research required to protect and grow your brand. Topics will include COLAs, registrations, price posting and sales reporting. Learn how to get products to market efficiently, research trademarks and stay ahead of competitive trends.
3:15 pm – 3:55 pm
General Session
Optimizing Your ShipCompliant Reporting
Are you maximizing the value of your ShipCompliant data? Our team will demonstrate how to leverage ShipCompliant’s comprehensive reporting and analytics tools, including compliance, sales, and advanced label reports, to gain a deeper understanding of your winery. Gain practical knowledge and actionable insights to drive your winery’s efficiency forward.
3:55 pm – 4:10 pm
Break
4:10 pm – 5:00 pm
General Session
Navigating Success: Engaging Support, Knowing Your Team & Account Wellness
Join us for a session on maintaining a healthy and accurate account for long-term success. We’ll cover key maintenance tasks like properly entering licenses, keeping data clean, maintaining state login information, reviewing returns before submission, enabling new report types and updating filing frequencies. Plus, meet our team and discover how we can support you in optimizing your ShipCompliant experience.
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Welcome Reception
Grand Courtyard Event Patio
Thursday, May 22
7:30 am - 8:30 am
Registration and Breakfast
Grand Ballroom Foyer & Grand Ballroom
8:30 am – 9:00 am
Opening Session: Looking Back: 20 Years of Granholm & DtC Wine Shipping
Grand Ballroom
Alex Koral, Sovos ShipCompliant
Join us as we take stock of 20 years of the landmark Granholm v. Heald decision and its profound impact on the U.S. wine market. Regulatory General Counsel Alex Koral will share observations on the journey of direct-to-consumer wine shipping from gray area practice to a well-regulated, $4+ billion channel that has opened doors for wineries to serve customers that previous remained out of reach. Alex will also reflect on the role of ShipCompliant and our many key partners in the DtC shipping ecosystem along the way, and as the industry collectively examines what’s ahead for a mature shipping channel.
9:00 am – 10:00 am
Opening Keynote: Charting the Future: Keeping Pace with the Changing Consumer Landscape
Grand Ballroom
Evan Shirley, Clarkston Consulting
As a highly regulated industry, wineries are no strangers to significant business hurdles. And yet the challenges facing all of beverage alcohol today are at least as numerous and significant, if not more so, than ever. Aging Baby Boomers and younger consumers focused on moderation and non-alcoholic adult beverages. Cannabis. Inflation. Global attention on the health impacts of alcohol. Changing palates and occasions. Technology and how to connect with digital natives. This talk will delve into how these factors are shaping the wine market and influencing purchasing decisions, and how savvy wineries can keep pace.
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Break
Grand Ballroom Foyer
10:30 am – 11:30 am
General Session: Regulatory Updates from the TTB
Grand Ballroom
Aniko Kasprian, TTB
Hear directly from the TTB on the agency’s current and upcoming areas of focus, including updates on initiatives that are already underway.
11:30 am - 12:20 pm
General Session: State Regulatory Updates
Grand Ballroom
Robert de Ruyter, California ABC; Moderator: Alex Koral, Sovos ShipCompliant; Additional Speaker TBA
Gain perspective and insights directly from some of the key regulating agencies governing the wine industry as they discuss a range of issues impacting your business.
12:20 pm - 1:20 pm
Lunch
Grand Ballroom
1:20 pm - 2:10 pm
Breakout Session: Balancing Tradition and Innovation Within Your Winery
Vintner’s Ballroom
Megan Currie, Lawrence Wine Estates
Heritage and tradition are gifts enjoyed by many family-owned and other small wineries. These legacies can also bring challenges as brands wrestle with how to reach and remain relevant with younger and emerging generations of consumers. What strategies and pillars are successful wineries leaning on as they make marketing and go-to-market decisions? Hear from companies navigating these waters in thoughtful and innovative ways.
1:20 pm - 2:10 pm
Breakout Session: Legal Professionals Panel
Grand Ballroom
Roger Clayton, Strike, Kerr & Johns; Tracy Genesen, GALLO; Brian Simas, Simas Law; Moderator: Alex Koral, Sovos ShipCompliant
Hear from expert beverage alcohol attorneys as they discuss the history of DtC shipping, along with key regulatory topics impacting winery compliance professionals, including direct shipping and three-tier compliance concerns. This conversation will be moderated by Alex Koral, regulatory general counsel, Sovos ShipCompliant.
2:10 pm – 2:40 pm
Break
Grand Ballroom Foyer
2:40 pm - 3:30 pm
Breakout Session: Inspired Tactics for Growing Tasting Room Visitation
Grand Ballroom
Lindsey Eddy-Cort, Foley Family Wines; Moderator: Sandra Beals, DTC Wine Workshops; Judd Wallenbrock, Somerston Estates
Driving traffic to the tasting room remains a central pillar in growing your wine club and building customer loyalty. With the new realities of post-pandemic tourism and travel, how are wineries getting people to the tasting room and building profitable customer relationships? Hear creative and practical ideas from wineries innovating in this arena.
2:40 pm - 3:30 pm
Breakout Session: Expanding Horizons to Wholesale Distribution
Vintner’s Ballroom
Speakers TBA
Congratulations, your winery has built a strong audience via direct-to-consumer sales and shipping — and done so compliantly. If a new or expanded wholesale distribution play is in the cards, what are the contractual, marketing and compliance considerations to be aware of? Learn from wineries that go to market via both DtC and three-tier channels on how get the balance right and how to avoid potentially costly mistakes in the process.
3:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Break
Grand Ballroom Foyer
4:00 pm – 5:15 pm
Closing Keynote: State of the Industry
Grand Ballroom
Steve Gross, Wine Institute
Steve Gross will deliver his highly anticipated deep dive into regulatory and legislative activities impacting the wine industry, with a focus on direct-to-consumer shipping regulation and what’s on the horizon in the coming months and years.
5:15 pm – 6:15 pm
Wine Party
Grand Courtyard Event Patio
2025 Speakers
Read full speaker bios here.
Alex Koral
Regulatory General Counsel, Sovos ShipCompliant
Sandra Beals
Founder, DTC Wine Workshops
Steve Gross
Vice President, State Relations, Wine Institute
Roger Clayton
Partner, Strike, Kerr & Johns
Maggie Tillman
Owner/Sales & Marketing, Alta Colina Vineyard & Winery
Megan Currie
Executive Director, Memberships and Fulfillment, Lawrence Wine Estates
Lindsey Eddy-Cort
Senior Vice President, DtC, Foley Family Wines & Spirits
Brian Simas
Principal, Simas Law
Aniko Kasprian
Industry Education Technical Advisor, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)
Judd Wallenbrock
Chief Executive Officer, Somerston Estate and Priest Ranch Wines
Robert de Ruyter
Assistant General Counsel, Calif. Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control
Judd Wallenbrock
Chief Executive Officer, Somerston Estate and Priest Ranch Wines
Thanks to our 2025 sponsors
Gold Sponsor
Premium Exhibitors
