American Winery Guide

American Winery Guide (AWG) is an online compendium focused on wineries in the United States. Founded in 2007 by Jim Finley and Tim Donahoe, the service was created to organize information about American wineries in a format useful to wine travelers, consumers, and people exploring regional wine production. Rather than functioning as a winery, producer, retailer, or reservation operator, American Winery Guide serves as an information and discovery platform. The guide catalogs wineries by state and viticultural area and combines directory-style records with geographic mapping. Its listings provide practical and descriptive information about wineries, including addresses, ownership, winemakers, founding dates, operating hours, tasting fees, and production statistics. This makes the service relevant both to visitors planning winery trips and to users seeking an overview of the distribution and scale of wine production in different parts of the United States. The guide is particularly oriented toward place-based discovery: users can browse wineries according to geographic location and wine-growing region rather than only by individual brand or product. American Winery Guide has also used editorial material to complement its directory. The organization employs correspondents who write articles about wineries and wine-producing areas, adding narrative coverage to the underlying listings and maps. The combination of structured data, regional organization, and correspondent-written content distinguishes the service from a simple list of winery names and contact details. In 2013, American Winery Guide partnered with CellarPass and VinoVisit, two winery reservation services. The arrangement enabled users to search for wineries through the American Winery Guide website and then book wine tastings or winery tours through the reservation companies. This connected the guide's discovery function with transaction-oriented visitor services, extending its role from reference source toward trip planning and reservation access. Publicly available reference material identifies the service's founding, scope, database contents, editorial model, and 2013 reservation partnerships, but does not establish a current corporate owner, headquarters, legal structure, leadership roster beyond the founders, financial performance, or present operating status. Its documented subject matter remains American wineries and the visitor experience surrounding them.

American Winery Guide was established in 2007 by Jim Finley and Tim Donahoe as an online reference service for wineries in the United States. Its basic premise was to make the country's geographically dispersed winery sector easier to research and navigate by combining directory records, regional classification, and maps. The service organizes wineries by state and viticultural area. Its listings are designed to provide more than names and locations: available records include winery addresses, owners, winemakers, founding dates, operating hours, tasting fees, and production statistics. This information gives the guide both a consumer-facing travel function and a reference function for users studying American wine regions and producers. American Winery Guide also developed an editorial dimension. Correspondents write articles about wineries in particular areas, adding local and regional context to the structured directory. In this respect, the service combines elements of a database, geographic guide, and wine-travel publication. By the time described in the available reference material, the guide covered more than 7,500 wineries. In 2013, it expanded the practical utility of its website through a partnership with CellarPass and VinoVisit. These services allowed users who discovered a winery through American Winery Guide to proceed to reservations for tastings or winery tours. The partnership linked winery information and geographic discovery with booking functionality without indicating that American Winery Guide itself operated the reservation businesses. The available sources do not provide a documented acquisition history, ownership structure, headquarters, financial information, public-company status, or a detailed account of later developments. Accordingly, the guide's present operating status and current management cannot be confirmed from the supplied material.

1. 2013Reservation partnerships are introduced

   American Winery Guide partners with CellarPass and VinoVisit, allowing users to book winery tastings and tours after finding venues through the guide.

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2. 2007American Winery Guide is founded

   Jim Finley and Tim Donahoe establish the online winery directory and mapping service.

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A geographic and editorial discovery guide for United States wineries, combining reference information about producers with travel-planning and reservation access.

• American Winery Guide directoryOnline winery directory and map2007

  The core service is a searchable and geographically organized compendium of wineries in the United States. Listings are arranged by state and viticultural area and may include addresses, ownership, winemakers, founding dates, operating hours, tasting fees, and production statistics. The directory is intended to help users research wineries and plan visits across American wine regions.

• Winery articles and regional coverageEditorial content

  American Winery Guide supplements its database with articles written by correspondents about wineries in particular areas. These articles provide narrative and regional context alongside the factual information in the listings.

• Winery tasting and tour discoveryTravel and reservation referral2013

  Following the 2013 partnerships with CellarPass and VinoVisit, users could move from winery search and discovery on American Winery Guide to booking tastings or winery tours through the reservation partners.

• 2013Connect winery discovery with reservation servicesStrategy

  The guide already provided geographic and practical information about wineries, but reservation functionality was supplied by separate specialist services.

  What changed. American Winery Guide partnered with CellarPass and VinoVisit so visitors could search the guide and then book tastings or tours through those services.

  Aftermath. The arrangement expanded the guide's role from informational discovery toward winery-visit planning and reservation access. No further outcome is documented in the supplied sources.

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• 2013American Winery Guide partners with CellarPass and VinoVisit

  The guide partnered with two winery reservation services so users could find wineries on its website and book tastings or tours through the partner platforms.

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• 2007American Winery Guide founded as a U.S. winery compendium

  Jim Finley and Tim Donahoe founded American Winery Guide to catalog and map wineries in the United States by state and viticultural area.

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1. American Winery Guide