The 6th Annual Traveling Vineyard HARVEST conference is underway in beautiful Washington, DC! With more than 400 Wine Guides in attendance, we are proud to say that this is our biggest Harvest yet. We have gone ALL OUT to turn the Grand Hyatt Washington into “Wine Camp” for the next few days.
While we’re here, we’ll be sharing knowledge with one another and getting inspired by amazing speakers—like Valorie Burton, Kindra Hall, Sarah Robbins, and Mala Grewal. We’ll also taste new wine and enjoy the friendship that is truly the hallmark of Wine Guide Nation.
One of our favorite aspects of Harvest is spending time together, and hearing the stories about how Wine Guide Life has been life-changing for so many. We will be sharing some of those stories, as well as reactions to all the excitement of Harvest, on the Traveling Vineyard Facebook page this weekend. Let’s take a look at Day One!
Leadership Workshop
Our leadership teams gathered for leader training throughout the day on Wednesday with Talent Catalyst’s Mala Grewal and Caroline Welty. From our Diamond Directors to our Team Leaders, this event was a powerful, fun, and inspiring experience. Mala Grewal focused on “What Motivates Us,” and we found out the top three things that motivate Wine Guide Nation based on individual assessments done prior to training: Family, Friendship and Learning.
Mala left us with many amazing new thoughts. A Wine Guide favorite? “You weren’t born to be fine, you were born to be fabulous!”
We also noticed that our leadership team has grown by leaps and bounds! We loved what Kim Kunchick had to say about this year’s Harvest.
“Sitting here in the leaders training, I’m remembering back to my first Harvest four years ago. The amount of leaders here today seems close to the amount of Wine Guides who attended the entire Harvest that year. Crazy!” – Kim Kunchick
Grand Wine Tasting
All of Wine Guide Nation joined us for the Grand Wine Tasting, which we LOVE to host on DAY ONE because after all, we LOVE wine! We tasted and learned about seven new wines that will be released in the coming months. Wine Guide Laura Kelmelis from Oxford, PA, said she loved trying new wines before their official release and listening to Wine Director Francis Sanders describe each one. “It’s one thing to read about the wines, it’s a whole other thing to talk about them in person,” she said. Now, Wine Guide Nation is prepped and ready to bring those wines to in-home tastings from coast-to-coast with all new experiences and pairings for our wine lovers out there! Here are some of the wines you can expect to experience soon!
WinedUp Party
To put a BIG exclamation point on a perfect Day One, we did some celebrating at our WinedUP welcome party! This year, we asked Wine Guides to STRUT their STATES and come dressed in a costume to represent the state where they live. We absolutely love having FUN! Check out the album of costumes on our Facebook page!
We also surprised Wine Guide Nation with a few extras, like walking statues of past presidents, and Uncle Sam on stilts. Did we mention the Lip Sync Battle? Wow. The fun is just getting started here in Washington!
Today, we welcome Sarah Robbins, Kindra Hall and other amazing speakers to the Harvest stage, and we will enjoy a full day of breakout sessions including wine education, business tips and tricks, and team building.
Follow everything Harvest with us on Instagram Stories!