Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/100792
NORTHWEST WATCH ERIC DEGERMAN Oregon Wine Board Finds New Direction GUEST COLUMNIST Executive Director Tom Danowski covers new territory to unite vintners and growers t will take a couple years for pinot noir from the already acclaimed 2012 vintage to hit the market, but the Oregon Wine Board (OWB) and Oregon Wine Growers Association seemingly couldn���t have picked a better time to hire Tom Danowski. The past 12 months has been a remarkable homecoming for Danowski, appointed as OWB executive director Dec. 6, 2011, and the University of Oregon graduate is drinking it all in with a level of enthusiasm that could be mistaken for a caffeine buzz. ���Am I living right or what?��� Danowski said with a chuckle. ���I am driving all around Oregon and taking as much credit for this vintage as I can get.��� The job seems to be natural fit for his background. Danowski���s resume includes chief operating officer for Seattle���s Best Coffee, vice president of global marketing for Cutter & Buck, chief marketing officer for Gene Juarez Salons & Spas ��� and director of winery marketing at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. ���We continue to see terrific sales response and quality response for Oregon wines, and that makes my job extraordinarily easy,��� said Danowski, whose marketing message is laser-focused on quality. ���If someone is in a restaurant or a wine shop and the topic is Oregon, + After the abrupt departure of its the message is, ���Great executive director in 2011, the Orepinot noir, but it���s not gon Wine Board is back on track. always easy to get my hands on it. And it���s not + Vintners and growers say Tom Danreally expensive, but realowski���s first year on the job has been ly, really good.��� ��� a success. SHORT COURSE BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS In his short time on the job, Tom Danowski has earned the industry���s respect. w w w. v w m media.com + Relationship-building has been a major part of his efforts. + Danowski has earned the respect of The first report card producers statewide by attending for Danowski as OWB���s local meetings and conferences. executive director goes + His inclusive approach is helping to beyond a year that coinunite a historically divisive industry. cidentally pairs with a potentially great vintage. ���I think he���s off to the best start of anyone in the history of the Oregon Wine Board,��� said Earl Jones, owner and founding winemaker of Abacela Vineyard & Winery in Roseburg, Ore. ���He���s a very personable man who creates connections. He gets to know you, and he engages you, then he continues to do that through communications. And it���s not a hollow relationship, either. He brings meaning to it.��� J a n - F e b 2 0 13 | V I N E YA R D & W I N E RY M A N A G E M E N T 37