From Virtual Sips To Cutting-edge Systems, Gold Sponsors Bring Fresh Strategies To Wine Industry Technology Symposium

Gold Sponsors of the 8th Annual Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS), which include WineTwits, Oracle, and Wines & Vines, will bring key insights into winery and sales operations, a virtual tasting event, and advanced marketing strategies to attendees of this year's event. The two-day symposium, which will highlight technology and innovation best practices for the wine industry, will be held on Tuesday, July 10th and Wednesday, July 11th at the Napa Valley Marriott.

WineTwits, a Twitter-powered community bringing together wine enthusiasts to talk about wine, events and special offers, will feature a Virtual Tasting event for selected wine brands at WITS. Through its Virtual Tasting Network and propriety "Sip & Twit" platform, Wine Twits will invite WITS attendees as well as over 50 influential wine bloggers to participate in the Virtual Tasting Tour, offering participating brands the opportunity to reach over 500,000 Twitter accounts nationwide. The tasting will take place during the welcome reception and technology showcase on Tuesday, July 10th, from 5:15 to 6:30 PM PST.

Senior members from Oracle, the leading enterprise software and hardware vendor, will headline two key workshop sessions at WITS. Joel Schipper, Master Principal Solution Architect, and Leanne Harper, Senior Solution Consultant, will demonstrate how to develop an analysis that measures impact on a winery's top and bottom line as part of WITS Trade Sales & Marketing track. Schipper and Harper will also help attendees understand the costs and benefits of winery operation software upgrades as part of WITS Winery Operations track.

Fellow Gold Sponsor Wines & Vines, which offers news, information, marketing and research capabilities for the wine industry, will feature several of its products to symposium attendees at WITS' Technology Showcase. Attendees will have the chance to demo Wines & Vines offerings including the Online Marketing System, the wine industry's largest database that includes detailed information on wineries, suppliers and service providers, as well as its Buyer's Guide, which includes a detailed guide to vineyard, winery and general equipment for industry members.

"Wines & Vines has always been a leader in reporting on new technologies in the wine industry and continues to evolve our data products to provide industry leaders with powerful tools and market insight," says Chet Klingensmith, President & Publisher of Wines & Vines. "We've been partners with WITS since the beginning and feel it's a very important sector of the industry," he adds.

Early bird pricing to attend WITS on July 11th will increase from $250 to $300 on June 25. Attendees can register at www.wineindustrytechnologysymposium.com.

Lesley Berglund, Co-Chair of WITS said, "Our Gold Sponsors enable WITS to offer the wine industry a world-class educational and networking event at a fraction of the true cost of putting it on. We welcome WineTwits, Oracle, and Wines & Vines as they directly impact our ability to deliver real take-home value to our attendees."


About WITS: The Wine Industry Technology Symposium (WITS) was created in 2005 by a group of wine industry and technology professionals to advance innovation and to address the unique information technology and services needs of the wine industry. Join WITS on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to learn more.

For more information, please contact Katie Hunter of Charles Communications Associates at 415-701-9463 or Katie@charlescomm.com, or contact Waunice Orchid of the Wine Industry Symposium Group at 707-261-8716 or waunice@swgnapa.com