In what could be termed a generational change, a new executive director of Wine Road of Northern Sonoma County—better known by the short form, Wine Road—was named to take over the 50-year old organization this month.
Katie Ambrosi, for the past half of her 21-year career in wine a marketing director for Wilson Wines, took over the official duties in June at Wine Road, replacing Beth Costa in the role. The retirement of Costa was not anticipated but not unexpected, after 26 years, but a ready replacement was found in fellow board member Ambrosi. Her 21 years in wineries and wide local knowledge (she graduated from HHS in 1996), plus her multi-winery talents and commitment to local winemaking, led to her selection.
“Katie brings a rare combination of creativity, industry knowledge and deep community connection to this role,” said Julie Pedroncelli St. John, board president of Wine Road. “Katie is the kind of leader who can guide us forward with fresh ideas, strong relationships and a real commitment to our wineries, lodgings and visitors.”
Ambrosi’s responsibilities with Wilson Wines, which includes Coyote Sonoma here in Healdsburg, spanned 12 winery brands and multiple lodging properties, including direct-to-consumer sales strategy and events with attendance of up to 1,000. That experience positions her to take over as director of Wine Road—a position of inordinate importance in the local winery environment, and one with a half-century legacy of talented if not charismatic predecessors.
Where the Wine Road begins
For the past 50 years the tone of hospitality in Healdsburg has been set by Wine Road. Its founder is the same Millie Howie recently recognized with an annual toast at the wine library that bears her name. The Wine Road was an inspiration by Howie to encourage the social aspect of wine-tasting, with personal visits with winemakers during given events. The loose organization of wine producers took shape in 1976 with first four, then six, then more wineries quickly joining to cross-market their production.
To get from one small family farm winery to another, it seemed natural to produce a map—a hand-illustrated map of wineries from Foppiano to Geyser Peak, with connecting roads clearly labeled for easy automotive navigation. It wasn’t so obvious when the Wine Road map first appeared, but time has proven it to be the cornerstone of the wine tourism business in the area.
Wine Road today is composed of over 100 wineries and 30 lodgings throughout the Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River valleys. Member businesses must meet the simple criteria of doing business in the footprint of the Wine Road. Of course, as Amrosi reminded us, “One of the primary member benefits is placement on the map, our historic map that’s been around for 50 years. It’s a map that we distribute over 100,000 copies of every year.”
Ambrosi has found that fulfilling map requests is one of her responsibilities at her new job. “We get emails, requests every day from people wanting us to send them a map. And I’ve been getting requests from wineries saying, ‘Hey, we’re out of maps!’ So I’m popping around refilling maps,” Ambrosi said with some satisfaction. “People still like a physical map.”
New director
Even if the Wine Road seems here to stay, that doesn’t mean it can’t change. Beth Costa was the first employee of Wine Road, and only the second executive director of the organization. She followed her mentor Howie into the executive director seat in 2000, 26 years ago.
“I feel like I managed to keep Wine Road moving forward even with canceled events due to wildfires and of course the pandemic,” Costa told The Tribune recently. “We worked our way through events in January and March when Mother Nature caused floods. There has never been a dull moment.”
During the Wine Road’s first 50 years it has suffered from its success as well as any shortcomings. Ten years ago many wine events throughout the year were overcrowded, tipsy and barely manageable; a party atmosphere prevailed. So bans were put on tour buses and limos, ticket prices were increased and start times managed, and the Wine Road repaired itself.
Wine Road is planning a 50th anniversary gala on Sept. 26 at Foppiano Winery, one of the original locations on the first map, at 12707 Old Redwood Hwy; details forthcoming. In the meantime order a free map from wineroad.com/contact.
