Consulting Wine/The Wine Firm, Intl.

Bob Craig was one of SVBs earliest clients starting with us in the 90s. He's been gone for many years now, but Elton and his staff continue on with his vision, producing world-class luxury wines at great values. This offer extends the value to unheard of levels.

I hope to see all my DTC folks in Monterey in January!

The Drinks Insider newsletter is back! And this week, it features the insights of Lulie Halstead, data cruncher extraordinaire, who has hunted down the opportunities in the global alcohol market.

🎧Now to special guest Marco Meloro, Italian Import Consultant from Salerno, Italy on The Vine Time Podcast. https://lnkd.in/eXN6FVGr @madamemojo @vinetimepodcast @thevinetimepodcast #italy #salerno #amalficoast #wine #madeinitaly #cheese #mozzerella #loveitaly #oliveoil #lemoncello #sea #chamberofcommerse

Innovation is essential for enhancing cash flow and driving growth in our industry. To create impactful change, we must unite and amplify our voices. I’m excited to see how we can collectively embrace new ideas to reshape our future. Thank you for sharing this initiative Lorenzo Biscontin. #RethinkingTheWineIndustry

And the Winner is……. Lately it’s a race to reengineer wine marketing, and for good reason. The complaint is that ‘we’re just not connecting’ to our consumers. We may be connecting to ourselves ‘in the trade’ but somehow we’re missing the bridge connecting to a whole new generation of consumers. Personally, I see the data pointing to our ‘intel’ being ‘partially’ correct BUT….there’s conflicting data swirling around in a mix of: 1) Drastic reductions of domestic wine shipments; 2) Anti-alcohol health warnings; 3) Increasing sales figures with younger consumer wine visitations….and so much more. We’re living in the fastest changing market conditions I’ve experienced in 4 decades of wine business. Each of the following areas of the trade look drastically different than our pre-pandemic world but the causal trigger wasn’t the dreaded virus…far from it. Consider these three categories for #rethinkingwine : A) Supply B) Distribution C) Consumer Behavior ___________________ A) Supply - For decades, the shift in global consumption (for most net exporting wine producers) has seen little in exporter nation’s internal supply/consumption balancing with supply balancing mitigated mainly by internal ‘program’ financial support mechanisms. Whether it be supply of vineyard water in one country, operating cost support in other countries, or direct support subsidies, an over supply of grapes in many (if not most wine exporting nations) reared its monstrous head in the harvest of 2023. (Easily a 20+ page report but is summarized in 2 pages). A huge impact was the 50,000,000 gallon over importation to backfill the 2020 Ca fire rejections (double what the 2020 Ca harvest lost to smoke rejections), and is rarely being referred to in wine academic circles). B) Distribution - For 20+ years, the trend away from ‘Distributor Build’ brands has ran its full course. Saying this, thousands of new brands hit the market every year with the brawn of a lobotomized gorilla rather than strategic thinkers creating multi-phased strategic plans. This ‘lack of planning to launch wine brands is surprising yet prevalent. C) Consumer Behavior & Consumption Patterns - This is the crystal ball conundrum. For sure, impacts of health concerns, a desire to live balanced lifestyles, while being bombarded with anti-alcohol information is fragmenting our ability to gain accurate consumer insights. The switch has been flipped a near 180 from the French Paradox days of our predecessors but trends of millennial desire to experience life more fully may negate this trend….at least in part as younger wine consumer led increase their wine country spending. Much…much more to come as we flesh out a new wine vision. #winevision2035 And the winner of the 2024 Wine Spectator Video Contest? Yes! It had to center around the topic of Zinfandel….it just had to!! Congratulations @steve Jacobson! #winemarketing #wine #winespectator #winemakersforum #winemakerslife

After our stint with #Winesong in Mendocino, Jeff Morgan joins #THEVARIETALSHOW at Little River Inn, to discuss Covenant Wines. Now based in Berkeley, he has a long and "varietal" history in wine country. We taste these treasures together: 2022 Covenant Solomon Blanc, Sonoma County; 2023 Red C Rose, Lodi; 2023 Landsman Pinot Noir, Carneros. #KosherWine

One of the reasons why I love this post is because of my own history in the ‘flavored wine world’. Between 1980 & 1990, the companies that I worked for were extremely successful in direct to consumer tasting room business. One company ran 38 wine tasting rooms in California selling 600,000 cases of wine direct and the other 8 tasting rooms selling 125,000 cases. I really didn’t know the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Pink Chablis, or a Chocolate Flavored Red Wine (referred to in the industry as ‘special naturals’), but I did know how often I was running an analysis on flavored wines and prepping bottling blends for them….and it was often! Then, we started to get ‘sophisticated’ and the wine experts began making all the decisions. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say, but if it hadn’t have been for the California Wine Cooler in US consumption history, Baby Boomers might not have ever developed their palate for wine….lots of speculation there. It is fact that it was Boomers that led the pack in consuming those flavored beverages and the next thing we’re talking about (still today) is how much we miss those Boomers in their wine consumption voracity!. The coolers were fun, fresh, wonderful chilled and at the beach and at a party. They were easy with twist off caps and you didn’t have to act like you knew what you were doing when you brought the coolers to the family get together. We (much of the industry) knew that when Gallo & Constellation and other ‘big players’ got into the game, they would take over the market….and for a while, that 50% watered back, flavored wine brought our per-captia consumption of wine up to 5 gallons! What we all didn’t anticipate was the large wine cooler players switching from wine based products to malt based products to avoid the larger tax category of wine. And that was the end of the wine cooler fad as ‘wine’ coolers. So today, where are those fun, ‘wine cooler style’ replacements that so easily remove the intimidation factor from wine and build an unrestrained freedom into beverage exploration? Well, they’re everywhere and they come in more styles and shapes and sizes than ever before. So, flavored, sparkling, low, no, canned, bagged, boxed, ‘pouched’ (that’s for you Alex Taylor), salted, peppered or skewered for all I care, explore, create, have fun and give the consumers what they’re asking for….. …..and when they start asking you for the pure item of your organically farmed 1.5 ton to the acre #oldvine Garnacha, you’ll know exactly what to do. Nicholas M. Karavidas - Principal Consultant, The Wine Firm/Consulting Wine, Intl. #wineindustry #winemakersforum #marketing #beverageindustry #branddevelopment #researchanddevelopment Kristen Newsom Captain Laura Einsetler Jennifer Stojkovic Dawn Bardessono

(MLF) [there are those who argue the conversion of malic acid to lactic acid by bacteria is technically not a #fermentation, but I digress already....] ❗ prevent oxidation of wine during (MLF) ❗ ✔ yes, that is right.... #EBX810 Fermentation Tannin (see comment below ⬇) EBX - Solutions de Tannins Oenologiques Dose Rate 5gm/ hL #EBX810 added after pressing to ensure structure and stability during (MLF) 🤠 => some leftovers from a previous sales life: use an effective bug and feed it! watch the pH! use an anti-oxidant wo sulfites! (One day we will discuss #EBXProtect, but not today 😥) Flexcube West Nicholas M. Karavidas Joe Lutomske #Enotools Fermentation Collaboration Hillary Eales FermForge Brian CHEESEBOROUGH Stéphane RADOUX (our fearless leader 🤴) EBX - Solutions de Tannins Oenologiques #USAmedee

One of the reasons why I love this post is because of my own history in the ‘flavored wine world’. Between 1980 & 1990, the companies that I worked for were extremely successful in direct to consumer tasting room business. One company ran 38 wine tasting rooms in California selling 600,000 cases of wine direct and the other 8 tasting rooms selling 125,000 cases. I really didn’t know the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Pink Chablis, or a Chocolate Flavored Red Wine (referred to in the industry as ‘special naturals’), but I did know how often I was running an analysis on flavored wines and prepping bottling blends for them….and it was often! Then, we started to get ‘sophisticated’ and the wine experts began making all the decisions. I don’t know if it’s accurate to say, but if it hadn’t have been for the California Wine Cooler in US consumption history, Baby Boomers might not have ever developed their palate for wine….lots of speculation there. It is fact that it was Boomers that led the pack in consuming those flavored beverages and the next thing we’re talking about (still today) is how much we miss those Boomers in their wine consumption voracity!. The coolers were fun, fresh, wonderful chilled and at the beach and at a party. They were easy with twist off caps and you didn’t have to act like you knew what you were doing when you brought the coolers to the family get together. We (much of the industry) knew that when Gallo & Constellation and other ‘big players’ got into the game, they would take over the market….and for a while, that 50% watered back, flavored wine brought our per-captia consumption of wine up to 5 gallons! What we all didn’t anticipate was the large wine cooler players switching from wine based products to malt based products to avoid the larger tax category of wine. And that was the end of the wine cooler fad as ‘wine’ coolers. So today, where are those fun, ‘wine cooler style’ replacements that so easily remove the intimidation factor from wine and build an unrestrained freedom into beverage exploration? Well, they’re everywhere and they come in more styles and shapes and sizes than ever before. So, flavored, sparkling, low, no, canned, bagged, boxed, ‘pouched’ (that’s for you Alex Taylor), salted, peppered or skewered for all I care, explore, create, have fun and give the consumers what they’re asking for….. …..and when they start asking you for the pure item of your organically farmed 1.5 ton to the acre #oldvine Garnacha, you’ll know exactly what to do. Nicholas M. Karavidas - Principal Consultant, The Wine Firm/Consulting Wine, Intl. #wineindustry #winemakersforum #marketing #beverageindustry #branddevelopment #researchanddevelopment Kristen Newsom Captain Laura Einsetler Jennifer Stojkovic Dawn Bardessono