CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The Monticello Wine Trail Board has chosen one of their own to be the first to hold the newly created Executive Director position.

Tracey Love started working at Blenheim Winery in 2013 as marketing, events, and distribution manager, and started working as the wine trail’s marketing coordinator a couple of years ago.

“Tracey brings a strong track record of leadership, collaboration, and strategic execution, and we are confident she will make an immediate and lasting impact,” George Hodson, President of the Monticello Wine Trail said in a statement. “Her focus will be on strengthening the value we deliver to our members while building on the momentum the Trail has achieved in recent years.”

In her new position, Love will oversee the board’s tourism partnerships, look to increase its national media exposure, utilize the board’s marketing and programming to support member wineries and oversee the implementation of a new membership structure, which the release said is “designed to create stronger pathways for collaboration across wineries, vineyard owners, winemakers, and regional partners.”

The Monticello Wine Trail includes more than 40 wineries across Central Virginia. The board is hoping to build from its momentum in recent years, having been chosen as the Wine Region of the Year by Wine Enthusiast magazine in 2023. That distinction was out of all the wine regions in the world.

“The wine industry is huge,” Love told Cville Right Now about her approach to her new position, “and I feel like oftentimes people are a bit sort of siloed.”

She said her goal is “to worker smarter, not harder” and she expects to expand networks such as recent partnerships with organizations like the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging, and Travel Association and Visit Charlottesville.

At Blenheim, she co-founded an effort called Oenoverse which was formed to “significantly contribute to building a more inclusive Virginia wine industry through focused outreach efforts that educate and include people from historically excluded and underrepresented communities,” Blenheim’s website said.

“I have been a multicultural cross pollinator within the wine industry and I’m looking forward to this next chapter,” Love said.

She said she got into this position by asking questions a couple of years ago.

“I started with basically asking who’s on the board of the Monticello Wine Trail,” Love said. “Like ‘How does that work?’ And all of these wineries, I wanted to just peek behind the scenes.”

Love said that got her nominated to the board, and she was simultaneously offered the position of marketing coordinator.

“I was sort of faced with a 15-minute time window before the members’ meeting to make a decision, and so I said I’ll take the paid gig,” Love recalled. “It has just been really fascinating working with a board of amazing winery professionals and learning from them, and it sort of just came about organically.”

Love said she’s a bit new to this role, having never been an “executive director” before.

“I am excited,” she said. “I am a big proponent of collaboration and working together with community.”