Consulting

  • For retailers — how to categorize sustainable wines and have confidence in their certifications and authenticity
  • For wineries and wine producers — how to integrate sustainability into their operations; Marketing sustainability; Diversity training and creating a diversity plan and strategy; Designing and Writing Your Sustainability Report
  • Training wine store staff on the production and benefits of sustainable wines, the language of sustainability and how to describe them for consumers
  • Workshops for wine associations, wine companies on the business case for adopting sustainable practices; social responsibility; diversity; and developing effective sustainability programs

Speaking Engagements

Sandra is a seasoned and experienced public speaker having launched as a keynote speaker in 2009 for large conventions, industry associations and management conferences, represented by Leading Authorities Speakers Bureau. She is now represented by Weaving Influence for major keynote addresses; and also available for annual wine industry conferences, regional wine events and academic conferences. Here are examples of speaking topics and speech abstracts:

  • Diversity in the wine industry
  • Women in Wine
  • How The Wine Industry Can Capture The Attention Of Millennials and Generation X
  • Why sustainability matters to the wine consumer; What’s happening internationally and why you need to care; Sustainability in the wine industry…who cares?

Guided wine tastings for corporate and fund-raising events

PRIVATE AND CORPORATE EVENTS: Benefit from Sandra’s expertise to make your event a true success. Begin you corporate board dinner with an educational, guided wine tasting rather than the typical cocktail hour. Or make your non-profit board dinner a food and wine pairing with discussion of each wine, why it pairs well with the menu item and how these wines contribute to environmental protection, biodiversity and rural community development. Team building, theme-oriented sessions, and tastings will bring people together in a fun, informative and focused way. Your teams will identify wines they enjoy while also learning about the geography, geology, cuisine, sustainable agriculture and climate change.

“He who knows how to taste wine does not drink wine, but savors secrets.”
– Salvador Dali

WINE EDUCATION and tailor-made wine classes

A wine educator, Sandra completed the French Wine Scholar course in 2010. She has taught a monthly wine course and food pairing for women wine enthusiasts who wish to learn how to identify and express their own tastes and sensations in fine wine. Members learn about wines from different regions, the heritage of wineries, sustainable wine making practices and the philosophies of wine makers. Classes are organized around grapes from different regions of the world and classes that go more broadly to study wines and winemaking in a single region. Course topics include:

  • Grape varieties
  • Understanding grape origin and geography
  • Exploring wine Regions
  • Grape growing, harvesting and sustainability