Recently listening to a panel on drinking local during a conference, I was a little surprised by what I heard. Two main issues were raised among the panelists:

- Price is the main issue: consumers are reluctant to pay more for local wines. One of the panelists got a few laughs from the audience when he asked why American consumers are ready to pay $10,000 for a mass-market car and $50,000 for a luxury American one?

- Drinking local and eating local should be disconnected as producers do not have the same production costs in wine and food.

Both issues are important but, as a European, I had the feeling that the main issues were bypassed by the panelists. In Europe, “local” wines are really produced locally. When you visit an estate, you see the vineyards around the house. if, on a bottle, there is no mention of an estate, consumers know this is a cooperative wine, like in NV Champagne, for example. In the US, it is not uncommon to be invited in a vatroom or a tasting room at a “local” winery and not see any vineyards around the place. The winemaker or the owner will explain matter-of-factly that grapes or juices are bought from grape growers not too far or much further.

In such a context, what does “drinking local” mean for a consumer? Reading the back label of many wine brands, I see frequent mentions of grapes being bought to growers sharing the same values as the winemaker, such as low yield or healthy grapes. It might be one of those “cultural differences” but I do feel a little perplexed: where do the grapes really come from? When I read “Central Coast” on the front label, are the grapes from Paso Robles, Buellton or Santa Ynez Valley? What kind of quality guarantee do I get as a consumer? Not being able to see the actual vineyards is very frustrating. And speaking of price point, why should a consumer pay $15 for a wine whose grape growing is unknown?

This said, it does not mean that the wines are not good or well made. It just raises the question of what “drinking local” means in the US from an international point of view: how can American wine producers successfully market their wines on European markets where origin is a crucial issue? How can European wine producers successfully market their wines in the US where origin is not an issue? If you have the answer, let me know…

Château Lanessan in Haut-Medoc near Bordeaux is one of those discreet and high quality family owned estates you hear about from time to time.  But it deserves more attention that it gets.

Lanessan belongs to the Bouteiller family. It was run for the last 30 years by Hubert Bouteiller, brother of Bertrand Bouteiller who ran Château Palmer for 30 years. The Bouteiller family is established for several generations in the wine business. When Hubert retired, the family decided to bring to its management a young Spanish woman, Paz Espejo who had an international experience. Graduated in oenology as early as 1994, Paz started her career in Spain and Italy. She then settled in Bordeaux where she worked for Calvet and Cordier merchant firms. She learned to present their various wines on international markets until she was called to become director of Lanessan in 2009.

I already had the pleasure to meet Paz when she was working for Cordier. Energetic, passionate and professional, she struck me as unusual in the quiet wine scene of Bordeaux. That’s why she seems to be the right person to awaken the sleeping beauty of Lanessan. Knowing marketing as well as vineyard management and wine making, she put herself at work as soon as she got to Lanessan.  Besides her new two vintages (2009 and 2010) made in a rather different style, she worked on the image of what is now called “Domaine Bouteiller” with a new logo and includes Château Lanessan and its second wine, Les Calèches de Lanessan as well as Château de Sainte-Gemme.

A new graphic identity was created for the web site and all the communications. Orange is now the basic color of all promotional materials because it symbolizes energy, sociability and a modern creative approach. The labels are more contemporary. For Les Calèches de Lanessan, a horse-drawn carriage is used in reference to the family collection of carriages.

This new branding strategy is discreet enough not to bother existing customers but bold enough to attract younger consumers to Bordeaux wines of high quality sold at a very decent price, around $20 a bottle. Who said you cannot find a great Bordeaux wine under $25?

A recent survey conducted by Vinexpo on women and wine in United Kingdom, France, Germany, Hong Kong and the US showed that cultural differences are an important factor of differentiation in appreciating wine.

What did those women agree upon? They usually prefer red wine over white wine. They are driving the sales for rosé wines:  16% said they’d rather drink rosé (over only 6% in 2009). This is an increase of 160% in 2 years! 70% drink wine while socializing with friends or on a date: 68% consider wine important and even essential on a romantic dinner. French women are leading the trend with 50% of the answers while 10% of British women and 5% of Hong Kong female drinkers would not go on a date without some wine.

This first breach in the consensus opens the door to the deeper cultural differences. Women do not agree on the factors leading to their choice. 70% of French women consider that the country of origin is their first criteria while it is important for only 50,8% of British women. In the USA, grape variety is the most important criteria – not surprisingly. Price (58,5%) and country of origin (67,8%) are most important in Hong Kong.

The deepest difference appears with the question : is wine part of tradition or a part of your lifestyle? American women answer loudly and strongly that wine is part of a lifestyle while for French women it is part of the tradition.

This survey is an interesting marketing tool because it was conducted on line in 5 countries in partnership with several sites of various magazines: Elle in France and Hong Kong, Konsum Göttinnen in Germany, Wine Enthusiast in the US and Decanter in England. Interestingly enough, the sites partnering with Vinexpo are not wine-related in France, Hong Kong and Germany. They are more lifestyle- or -women-related magazines. In UK and in the US, it is the opposite: the surveyed women were readers of wine magazines, but they claimed wine as a lifestyle choice.

Even more fascinating is the use of Internet as a tool. The survey revealed that the women wine drinkers in the age 18-30 are using most the Internet (14%) while in France only 3% go on line to look for wine. Let’s just hope that Internet will be more and more used to discover wine(s) from all over the world, and not only by women.

Last year, I wrote in my French blog about winefair.com, this French initiative: a virtual and 3-D wine fair. I was impressed by the technology and the design of the site. This year, the second edition of winefair.com opens up to international markets.

During the last few weeks, I was in contact with many American winemakers and opinion leaders. The concept is not easy to grasp because it is rather innovative and creative: the site is mostly a business platform allowing winemakers and professionals to get acquainted, meet, talk and keep in touch after the show. In order to enjoy all the functionalities of the site, you must register as a visitor: you’ll then access the list of exhibitors, be able to see when they will be available on their booth (a green dot next to their name) and even make appointments with them on the agenda.

Wine enthusiasts are also encouraged to register as they’ll access a description of the winery, presentation of the wines available and also be able to chat with the producers.

Who are the producers ? A lot of them are French, some are American (Randal Grahm from Bonny Doon, Craig Camp from Cornerstone Cellars, Jeff “El Jefe” Stai from Twisted Oak Winery), Australian (Mark Gifford from Blue Poles in the Margaret River area), Portuguese or Spanish.  Consumers and professionals can take advantage of the agenda of each producer to come and meet them. It is a rare oppportunity as most of those international producers do not sell their wines in Europe.

As all fairs, conferences in French and in English will take place during the 5 days of the show: they are live video conferences. I listened to a couple of French conferences live today and was impressed by the level and interest of the content.

The first conference (image above) was with the CEO of the Spanish Qude Bodega about organic wines and wine tourism. This afternoon, the discussion was on the site wine-sign.com, linking communications and wine. It is a lot of fun to chat on line with the speakers using their tchat tool or Twitter.

There were some technical glitches yesterday during the opening. The site was even cut off for a few hours – thanks to a lot more connections than expected on Monday at 9:00 am!  But things seem to be fixed by now and hopefully the site will run smoothly from now on.  The wine fair might open an extra day next week to answer all the requests of people and give more time to the exhibitors to meet with the crowd.

Take the time to stop by the fair and enjoy the English-speaking program we designed specifically for you!

[Note: I work with winefair.com because I believe in the project, my first criteria to accept a new mission.]

After the unfortunate recent failure of Chamarré it seems very brave to launch a new French brand on the US market.  The press release bears the rather off putting title : “300 Year Old French Winery Brings Prestigious Wine Appellations Into The 21st Century”.

The 300 Year Old French Winery is Arnoux et Fils, family-owned and operated in Vacqueyras, in the Rhone Valley. The prestigious wine appellations are Vacqueyras, Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The brands are called “Gig” for Gigondas, “Vac” for Vacqueyras and the “Chat9″ for Chateauneuf du Pape (9 is said “neuf” in French). The range also includes some “rosés” from Côtes de Rhône. All those brands are under the umbrella of “THE-Vins” (the wines).

The launch of this new brand is based on a study conducted by Sopexa, stating that “72% of respondents held a very positive image of French wines, and 81% agreed that French wines are typically reserved for special occasions. French wines have the image of being consumed less frequently, being more complex to understand and to taste, and commanding a higher price.” THE-Vins are the answer to the shyness of young American consumers towards French wines. The packaging is supposed to break “the mold of conventional French labels, while respecting and promoting the longevity of prestigious French appellations that are currently unfamiliar to a broader range of tomorrow’s consumers”, according to the press release.

The new brand is promoted through a traditional web site 100% Flash and 100% annoying when trying to get information. My questions to young American consumers are : do you know Vacqueyras? Do you know Gigondas? Do you know Chateauneuf-du-Pape? Next questions : when seeing those bottles displayed on a supermarket shelf, will you be enticed to buy them because they’re eye-catching?Are you sure you’ll enjoy them because of their labels?

My questions to THE Vins are: What is the price point? Where are your wines going to be available? Why release several brands like Vac, Gig, under THE Vins? Why not launch THE Vins brand by itself? Why dilute the brand by too many sub-brands? Why no social media presence if targeting the young American consumer?

So many questions, so few answers. The American young consumer is the favorite target of a lot of wine brands.  Just have a look at the perfect strategy of HobNob wines launched by veteran Bill Deutsch. The consumer is involved in the strategy. He is the center of the strategy. When will Europeans understand that they have to engage with the consumer if they want to succeed? I wish the best of luck to THE-Vins.

For a consumer, nothing is more frustrating than looking for a wine and not being able to locate it.  The Bordeaux wines seem to have partially solved the problem through a partnership between their own site EnjoyBordeaux.com and snooth.com to reach the US market in times when French wines, and more specifically Bordeaux wines, are losing market shares. This site talks directly to the US consumer.

EnjoyBordeaux.com is the promotional site of the Bordeaux wines. It relays information on the smaller estates, those whose wines are available at affordable prices. The design is very French with rather efficient ergonomics. Looking for a sweet white Bordeaux ? The search brings up 20 names of properties. Let’s click on Chateau Coutet. Next to the name, several information are available :

- the rank (3 out of 5);
- technical information : varietals, region and available vintages;
-several wine reviews and rankings by snooth.com readers;
- ideas of pairing (mostly based on caramel pastries – looks yummy!);
- a list of stores carrying Château Coutet in the US.

If you don’t have your heart set on a specific type of Bordeaux wines, just enter your ZIP code in the search and you’ll get a list of stores carrying Bordeaux wines in your city.  It might be smart to make a brief phone call to check!

This kind of site is a real wonder for the consumer : easy to use, with information up to date and rather precise. My only reservation on this initiative is the lack of conversation between the consumer and the estate : it is too bad that no owner of chateaux or estates even comes to the site to talk to their consumers. But, notwithstanding this limitation, the partnership with snooth.com is a very smart idea. I wonder why other French appellations didn’t copy this idea yet… ?

For many people, even in the wine business, the Masters of Wine are a mysterious entity.  They are the elite of the wine industry, having passed a very difficult series of tests. There are only 285 of them in the world: it is an exclusive club. At least, that’s what I thought before I met Christophe Macra, one of the five French Masters of Wine, a young and entrepreneurial spirit full of energy and humor, founder of  Tasteo and Esensio.  Thanks to Christophe, I was invited to the 7th Symposium of the Institute of the Masters of Wine held in Bordeaux last week and whose theme, “Forging Links”, for the perfect topic for someone who spent most of her professional life networking and “forging links” between several cultures and their people.

I will spare you the details of every dinner and tasting. I’d like to emphasize what was so new and fascinating during this symposium. Out of the 285 MW, “only” 75 attended the conference. The 250 other attendees were professionals from the wine industry: journalists, consultants, importers, distributors, writers and educators.  There were 17 countries represented between everybody. The official language was English.  I attended every session, every tasting and every dinner. I met people I knew but mostly I was able to “forge links” with people from all over the world: Russia,  USA, England, Italy, China, Belgium, France, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, among others.

The inaugural session was moderated by Christophe Macra MW on “Wine on the Web” with four major topics: are blogs the new gatekeepers ?; Reviews : wine critics for Consumers; Social Media and Icons on the Web; mobile strategy. The speakers were Jancis Robinson MW for her blog, Eric LeVine, founder of CellarTracker/GrapeStories, Rowan Gormley, founder of NakedWines and Micheal Linton, from eBay. Most agreed on the fact that consumers and bloggers are replacing the wine gurus but Jancis Robinson is comfortable with the situation.  Indeed a blogger is powerful if he/she has an audience: Jancis has the audience and even if her job is more difficult now, she likes it. Some other types of sites will attract a lot of people: CellarTracker, for example, has a strong following because of the comments left by its many users: it has 1,400,000 consumers’ reviews at the moment. What about social media? Jancis Robinson adopted twitter.com very early: she uses with talent and on a regular basis. According to her, Twitter is a good tool to react fast to a comment. The iconic figures of the wine industry, such as Yquem, are now on Facebook and Twitter to engage with their consumers. Mobility is an other key word for the future of the web: most people have a web access though their phones and use it to look for information and very soon to buy. The conclusion of this amazing panel: according to Rowan Gormley, Internet is the best way to cut down costs of marketing and promotion. It seems that social media, and especially Facebook, is now bringing more traffic on web sites than Google and any SEO techniques.

A pasionnate debate took place between Margaret Hernandez, head of the House of Krug, Sylvie Cazes, President of the Union des Grands Crus de Bordeaux, and member of the famous Bordeaux family Cazes and owner of Château Lynch-Bages with her brother Jean-Michel, Eduardo Chadwick, owner of Villa Errazuriz in Chile and Christian Seely, CEO of AXA-Millesimes, the insurer owner of several wine estates in the world. The debate was : “Who serves the consumers best? Families or corporations? A quick survey in the room seemed to show people trusted families more than corporations. Maggie Hernandez and Christian Seely preached so eloquently for corporations they turned some attendees in their favor! Both are very lucky to manage what was formerly family owned estates. The tradition of a strong family management is still very much alive in Krug and the estates managed by AXA-millésimes: Château Pichon-Longueville, Château Pibran, Château Petit-Village, Château Suduiraut, Quinta do Noval (Portugal), for example. As Eduardo Chadwick and Sylvie Cazes strongly emphasized, behind corporations or families, there are people. This is the quality of the people that make the quality of the management and of the wines.  At the end of the discussion, almost everybody agreed that people are making the difference, not an administrative structure.

Some sort of illustration of this principle came out during the next session, “Passing the torch”. Three families, three stories: Jean-Bernard Delmas and his son Jean-Philippe both managing Château Haut-Brion and Château La Mission Haut-Brion owned by the Dillon family, Miguel Torrès and his daughter Mireia, Jean-Claude and Olivier Berrouet, managing Petrus for the Moueix family. Two families, who are now owners of the estates, figured out a way to pass the torch for 3 generations in Haut-Brion and 2 generations in Petrus to people ouside their own family. They showed that family owned estates trust the family managing the estate enough to create a sort of “succession” tradition. There is legitimacy founded on trust, high level of professional skills and a certain sense of continuation. Some people even questioned the legitimacy of passing the torch to a child who might not be as good as a hired professional. Of course, it was not the case with the Torrès family: Mireia is certainly one of the brightest wine professional of Spain. But the question was asked and deserved an honest answer: sometimes it might be better to let a professional manage the estate until a scion of a next generation can take over with the same passion and the same skills as his/her predecessors.

The next day, we were asked to concentrate on “Emerging Markets: BRIC”. We also focused on “Asian markets and their links with the world consumers”.  On those dry and very technical subjects – full of figures and hard facts – we had the most amazing speakers: Judy Leissner, CEO of Grace Vineyards for China, Eleonora Scholes for Russia, Magandeep Singh for India and Dirceu Vianna Junior for Brazil. Full of humor and anecdotes, they filled us with thoughtful insights on their respective countries. Judy emphasized the importance of the government in the wine business: the three major wineries are state owned (ChangYu, Dynasty and Great Wall).  When the typical consumers’ profile is changing in the Western world, the typical Chinese wine drinker is male, 45 to 60 yr-old and drinks frequently… without liking wine. Indeed drinking wine is a social status related activity.

Eleonora Scholes showed us the differences between the perception of the Russian drinker and the reality. Russians are considered heavy drinkers, big spenders, conspicuous consumers, unpredictable and opinionated. They are in reality not the heaviest drinkers, spend the few money they have because if they don’t, the government will take it or the economy will collapse; wine is still status related and Russians are cultured and educated.  Russians drank in 2009 81 liters of beer, 15 l. of vodka and 7 liters of wine (down from 21 liters in 1985).  Every third wine is imported but, being expensive (150 roubles=3,8 euros), they’re drunk by people with higher income.

Let’s move to Brazil now. It is a young, energetic and rich country where wine is important. According to Dirceu Vianna Junior, There are two markets: one used to domestic wines and entry level imported wines; then demanding professionals with high disposable incone. The Bazilian market meets with three main obstacles: uneducated consumers, price sensitive market and an invasive bureaucracy. But the potential is huge because of a strong population increase and the increasing interest in luxury goods.

India is the “mystery” land where an average salary is 90€ and a good salary 200€. Can Indians afford wine? Hardly, answered Magandeep Singh: the price of a bottle is about 10 to 20 euros. How often can you drink a bvottle of wine on a basic income of 90€ a month? The market is small considering the population of  India: 1,200,000 9 liters cases are consumed in India, including 200,000 cases of imported wines. Mumbai and Delhi are 80% of the market. Any hope for the future: yes, with an up to date marketing to reach the younger consumers through social networking.

The highlight of the aftertnoon was our keynote speaker, John Hegarty, creative director of the ad agency BBH and ower of Domaine Chamans in Languedoc. “Lose the mystery, and enhance the magic” of wine, was his advice to an enthralled audience.  He reminded us that the basic rule is “engagement” because of the fragmenting of the audience. he emphasized the importance of “brands” in the wine business because “brand=reputation”. He pleaded for innovative, creative, daring strategies to create differentiation. Differentiation generates traction, that generates premium. How to brand a wine to create the magic ? We have  to understand the purpose of wine (we know the function) . Wine flavors our life.

Nothing was truer than this statement when we were sitting in front of four glasses featuring wines from Paul Draper, Alvaro Palacios, Paul Pontallier and Peter Gago: “modern legends”. No, because legends are make believe or dead and those wines and their makers were wonderfully alive.

After those four days spent with stimulating speakers and guests, I completely reviewed my idea of what a Master of Wine is: he or she is a great human being able to make 250 guests from all over the world gather in Bordeaux. They’re fun, bright, knowledgeable and open. I can’t wait for the next Symposium held in 4 years somewhere in the world. See you then!

Continental China is the Eldorado for the Western wine industry. At least, that’s what you would think when reading various studies and articles recently published. The main reason of this renewed or continued interest is the switch of the Chinese consumer from hard drinks to wine.

The French Castel Group is one of the leading wine companies, being the owner of the Nicolas chain of wine stores and until recently, of Oddbins as well as the new owner of the Bordeaux negociant Oenoalliance. In France, their brands, Baron de Lestac (Bordeaux) and Roche Mazet (Languedoc) have a lot of success and sell very well in supermarkets for under 5 euros.

Established in China since 1998, Castel owns a wine estate called Chateau Changyu Castel, and a bottling center in partnership with Changyu, the country’s biggest wine company in the country. “Castel saw its sales volume reach 5.5m bottles in 2008, double that of 2007. The company expects a further rise of 18%, or 6.5m bottles, in 2009″, wrote Jane Anson in Decanter.

The French are not the only one looking at the growing consumption of wine in China. The makers of high-end Italian wines from Tuscany are now turning their eyes towards continental China. Enoteca Italiana, makers of famous Tuscan red Chianti, its upmarket cousins Nobile di Montepulciano and Brunello di Montalcino opened The House of Tuscan Wine in Shanghai in July to promote their wines. At first, they were targeting the 40 to 60 year-old consumers as having the best disposable income. “Our new target is in a range of 20-35 years old: graduates with stable jobs, well-paid and with a Western model of lifestyle and food habits,” said Alessandro Mugnaioli, head of foreign relations at Italy’s wine promotion body Enoteca Italiana, to Reuters correspondent Svetlana Kovalyova.

Italian wine exports to China remain tiny at about $20 million in 2007 compared but they jumped 64 percent last year, making Italy the fourth-biggest wine exporter there after France, Chile and Australia.

The bet of most Western winemakers is that, even if the financial crisis affects China in 2009, the wine consumption will keep increasing and open new doors to receding traditional markets, such as the US or Japan.

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.

While I was speaking in New Orleans, Wine Brands was published. I left without a copy – to my dismay – since DHL lost my package. But this morning I had the pleasure of holding my book in my hands: it is always a great moment! I just hope you will enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I’m still trying to cope with emails, phone calls and work since I got back yesterday afternoon. Which means I’ll be back on this blog tomorrow with plenty of news on the conference in New Orleans, web marketing and international markets.