Yesterday, the 2011 edition of Vinexpo opened in Bordeaux and Burgundy was the guest of honor of the ESC Dijon Institute of Wine Management conference. Three keynote speakers presented the success stories of their business or organization : Florence Ragonneau of the Bureau of Burgundy wines (BIVB), François Desperriers, founder with Aurélien Ibanez of BourgogneLive.com blog and Jean-David Camus, who manages the Albert Bichot Hospices de Beaune sale every year.

The BIVB is the “official” voice of Burgundy wines on all markets. Florence Ragonneau’s mission was to carry the image of Burgundy wines on the Net and all social media.  First of all, she launched a web site in 8 languages to reach the most important international markets. The site provides information targeted to professionals, journalists and bloggers, influencers and consumers as well as e-learning facilities. Then she took the BIVB on Facebook and created a strong community of about 2,500 “friends” around the Burgundy wines.

Jean-David Camus is a young entrepreneur who saw the strong possibilities of taking in the 21st century a 200-year old brand, Albert Bichot.  For various historical reasons, Bichot is one of the biggest buyers of wines of the Hospices de Beaune during the famous November auction sale. Camus gave the opportunity to consumers to get together to buy a barrel of the Hospices de Beaune wines: a barrel allows 48 people to buy each a 6-bottle case for a price between 30 to 70 euros a bottle. It puts the buy at a reasonable financial level for lovers of great Burgundy wines.  What is new is that the auction and the buy take place on the Internet: the prospective buyer registers on the dedicated site and agrees on a price (usually around 4,000 to 6,000 euros a barrel): if the barrel costs less during the auction, the buyer pays less. If the auction takes the price of the barrel over the agreed maximum, the sale does not take place. It is a wine-win deal for the Hospices and the consumer. To promote his action, Camus resorts to all available media: Twitter, Facebook, web site, links to blogs. The results are convincing: he brought over 1,500 new customers to Albert Bichot and sold several barrels of wines.

last but not least, François Desperriers told the amazing success story of Bourgogne-Live.com. Launched in January 2010 by a few “tweets” on Burgundy wines, Desperriers saw his audience grow because of the consumers’ interest in Burgundy wines. In March desperriers and Ibanze launched their blog, Bourgogne-Live.com. They were rapidly frustated by the lack of comments and of conversation. They then created a Facebook page where conversations regularly engaged on their blogs’ articles and videos. Meanwhile they also carried out links to news and other blogs they thought of interest to their community.

Those success stories put Burgundy wines on the digital map. Burgundy producers also got involved, helping to spread the word about their wines. By now, consumers would have to be very distracted to miss Burgundy on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and any other media. Enjoy!

From time to time, I like to work on a case study and reflect on what went well or wrong. I had this opportunity yesterday when meeting Caroline Lestimé, owner of a vineyard in Chassagne-Montrachet in Burgundy and daughter of Jean-Noël Gagnard. Jean-Noël managed the estate for many years before he stepped down and let his daughter Caroline Lestimé take over. Caroline is one of those young winemakers who took enology classes and worked hard to master not only the wine making but also the marketing of her wines.

Of course, Caroline was lucky to have vineyards in one of the best parts of Burgundy, which allows her to make those fine and delicate Chardonnay wines in various appellations. She could decide to stay in her father’s footsteps and produce those fine wines until she steps down to her sons. After all, she’s producing very small quantities of her best wines: 200 cases of her Bâtard-Montrachet Grand Cru, 600 cases of her “Les Caillerets” Premier Cru or 200 cases of her Morgeot Premier Cru, among others. But she knew it was not enough, in the very international competitive wine world, to keep an estate ahead and running. She made two major moves:

- she developed her strategy on several international markets: she now has a strong presence in the US and in UK. Then her fame reached Asia: she sold some wines to China and has now a good foot in Japan.

- She created several new brands. The first one was a Pinot Noir from Chassagne-Montrachet, called Cuvée L’Estimée – a play on Caroline’s marital name. “The name of this wine, L’Estimée, is an allusion to the newest branch of the family − and it also means “the respected lady” in French.

This wine also reflects the Domaine’s desire to highlight a red wine from a village appellation that is mostly famous for its whites, although the reds are delicious to drink young and provide excellent value for money”, writes Caroline in her web site. There are 700 cases of this special wine.

To this rather classical village wine, Caroline added two contemporary creations:
Sous Eguisons in Chardonnay and Clos Bortier in Pinot Noir. Both wines are signed “Caroline Lestimé” and have a label different from the other wines.

They are both from Hautes Côtes de Beaune and drink much more easily. There are 300 cases of Sous Eguisons and 580 cases of Clos Bortier. Caroline Lestimé explains how she came to create those two brands: “For the past forty or so years, the Hautes-Côtes have known an increase in interest and have thus been able to reassert their position among the Burgundy appellations after a long period of decline and disinterest. Motivated by this rise in interest and by a desire to rediscover older terroirs, in 2001 I went ahead and bought up and grouped abandoned plots that lay fallow or had been given over to farming (wheat, clover etc.). In doing so, I was also able to offer younger wine lovers Burgundy wines produced in a way that is respectful of their origins, easier to access and at a more affordable price than those which come from the Côte de Beaune appellation. “

For the white Sous Eguisons, Caroline even goes further in the modernity of her wine: “Just as it is for its red counterpart, Clos Bortier, the packaging is different from that of our other wines. Its label is more modern and a more innovative screwtop is used. I chose this over traditional corks because the bottles are easier to open and it should also provide less variation between bottles. Not only that, but it should also help optimise the development and evolution of the flavour of the wine over time. However, only time will tell if this method is viable for ageing over ten years and more. “

Innovative label and closure, re-birth of an appellation, development on several international markets: Caroline Lestimé is certainly one of the leading wine makers in Burgundy. She is also one of the best. That’s why she’s now repositionning her wines as luxury brands under her own name, Caroline Lestimé: a well deserved recognition by wine amateurs.