Wine Institute

Gretchen is the executive vice president at Hope Family Wines, where she spent nearly three decades working alongside Austin Hope, helping build what started as a small family wine operation into a business producing nearly a million cases annually now.

This year, she became the chair of the Wine Institute, representing California's wine industry on issues that stretch from Sacramento to DC and around the world really.

And just days ago, Wine Enthusiast named her its 2026 Person of the Year.

Think about that for a second.

Whether you're just coming to town for a festival, maybe a weekend of wine tasting, or just a good excuse to get out of your normal routine, make sure you hit up travelpaso.com before any of it, your go-to resource for planning your next Paso getaway.

That is travelpaso.com. All right, into our main chat because I've been looking forward to sharing this one with you.

My guest, Gretchen Roddick, executive vice president, Hope Family Wines, the new chair of the Wine Institute, and now Wine Enthusiast's 2026 Person of the Year.

And I think what makes this recognition so cool is that Gretchen has spent nearly 30 years helping build something that the rest of the world now recognizes, sees, but she's never lost sight of where it all started.

The state's $84 billion wine industry is battered as national sales fell to a 20-year low last year, with experts attributing it to young people drinking less and many boomers aging out of the habit of having a bottle of red wine for dinner.

Plus, uh, uh, Canada's ongoing boycott of US booze cost California's winemakers $357 million last year, according to the Wine Institute.

This year might even be worse.

Uh, about half of California's grapes harvest was, uh, contracted for sale as picking season began this summer, compared with 70, 80% in a normal year.

Well, hang around with us for a minute.

We're going to bring into the conversation Julie Berg, Vice President of Communications and Member Relations for the Wine Institute, the trade group representing California wineries.

Julie, thanks for being with us.

Thank you so much for having me.

No, seriously, this really has been a great conversation.

Cheers to you both.

I've been speaking with Jess Lander, wine reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, and also with Julie Berg, vice president of communications and member relations for the Wine Institute.

You both sound like a lot of fun to grab a glass of wine with.

But her impact goes well beyond the bottle, and even well beyond locally.

Gretchen, also the board chair of the California Wine Institute, representing California's wine industry at a time when there are some pretty big conversations happening about its future, and I think that's what makes this honor particularly interesting.

We talk a lot about winemakers, vineyards, and the names on the labels, but there are people behind the scenes building relationships, leading teams, and getting these wines out into the world.

Gretchen's been doing that work for a long, long time.

The argument has an agricultural economist at UC Davis reaching back to prohibition for a comparison, and names lost exports as a hard cost.

The Wine Institute tells that account, the Canadian boycott of American wine cost producers $357 million last year.

One San Joaquin Valley family winery is now listed at just under $78 million, its Canadian shipments down about 95% year-on-year per that same piece.

Read through? That is grape contracts and bulk pricing.