Twitter.com just is launching a new wine brand, Fledgling, to promote literacy in the world. Out of the $25 paid by the consumer, $5 will go to Room to Read, a non-profit group dedicated to raising literacy levels in developing countries. An other innovative company was brought in this effort: the winemaking team of Crushpad in California designed the wines, a 2009 Chardonnay and a 2009 Pinot Noir.

A few things are striking in this “Fledgling Initiative” for the brand standpoint:
-Twitter has basically no business connection – except for a lot of wine professionals and wine lovers tweeting – with the wine industry but chose to link its name to a wine brand instead of a coffee or a chocolate. For this charity-related operation, the company is convinced wine is the right medium to carry their message. According to Biz Stone and Evan Williams, “The Fledgling Initiative embodies two things that are at the core of Twitter’s mission: providing access to information and highlighting the power of open communication to bring about positive change.”

- The operation is conducted by two innovative companies: Twitter and Crushpad. Their marketing strategy is mostly digital and viral. Tweets have already relayed the initiative. As usual with Crushpad, buyers will be able to follow the making of the wine through digital channels, including Twitter.

- The label is obviously designed to remind the buyers of the charity behind the initiative.

This initiative is alrealy relayed by many print and digital media, by web users and many “tweeters” as well as bloggers. I could only wish more technical companies would use wine as a carrier of social and ethical values such as those promoted by Twitter and Crushpad.

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!

There are grapes whose story is very sad. Norton is one of them. It is one of those grapes that history forgot and that some bold wine makers are trying to put back on the map. The story is told masterfully by Todd Kliman in his book: The Wild Grape. A Forgotten Grape and the Untold Story of American Wine (Clarkson Potter, NY, 2010).

Daniel Norton was a  physician who died very young but not without leaving as a legacy to America a strong and resilient grape bearing his name, the Norton. It is a native grape like Catawba, Scuppernong or Niagara.  The wines made from Norton won awards in Europe in 1873 during the Vienna Universal Exhibition. A wine critic Vizettelly wrote: “The finest American red wines were those yielded by the vine sknown as Norton’s Virginia, [...]. The former produces a well-blended, full-bodied, deep-colored, aromatic, and somewhat astringent wine, only needing finesse to equal a first-rate Burgundy [...]” (p. 122).  Like some other grapes, Norton lost ground to other grapes, mostly coming from Europe. At the end of the 20th Century, some wine makers, led by the Chrysalis vineyards, re-discovered the potential of the Norton grape.

I let you discover the story told almost like an historical novel by Kliman. What interested me most in the book is Kliman’s thoughts on the “domination” of the vitis vinifera mostly coming from Europe over the native grapes. European wines were the benchmark of  viticulture and wine making for centuries. European wine growers and makers brought their knowledge to America when they emigrated.  Sometimes they applied it to growing local vines, sometimes to growing what they knew to grow – Cabernet, Pinot Noir or Shiraz.

My question now is: is there room in the American wine industry for a wine brand based on a native American grape? Chrysalis Winery took up the challenge.  As stated on their web site, “Here at Chrysalis, we’ve undertaken a serious commitment to restoring the native American grape, Norton, to its position of prominence as a source of world class wines.  Cloaked in myth and mystery for decades, Norton thrives in the mid-Atlantic and Midwestern regions, and produces a robust red wine with big fruit flavors that ages beautifully over the years.  One hundred and twenty five years ago, Norton wines were deemed the “best red wine of all nations” at a worldwide competition in Vienna. Today excellent Norton wines are again being produced in many states east of the Rockies.”

Unfortunately the rewards are not coming easily to those strong willed wine makers. An “Heritage Tasting” held in Richmond did not attract the attention of the wine world outside the producing area.  Articles in various national magazines failed to increase awareness of the grape. What’s wrong?  When “googling” Norton grape, very few information come up: a Wikipedia article, the Missouri Wine Organization web site and a few articles on the grape.

It seems there is no real strategy behind the revival of the grape. Let’s hope that Kliman’s book will allow Chrysalis and the other wineries growing Norton to get more coverage. But only a strong and clear strategy that will allow the Norton grape to get back on the map. The revival of a forgotten grape is no trivial matter, but not an impossible task. Some regions succeeded in creating awareness on brands with a very difficult name, like the Müller-Thurgau in the 80′s on the West Coast of the US or  the Cahors Malbec in France whose fame was “stolen” by Argentina.  Let’s hope for the best…!

Nothing new or exciting about it? Wrong! This new app is really innovative and for once it comes from France. It feels good to be able to write about an innovative feature launched by a French company, believe it or not!

Millesima is a Bordeaux “negociant” house founded in 1983 by Patrick Bernard. It is a family owned and run business.  Millesima launched its online store in 1997 and the online sales now account for 40% of the gross turnover. It is present in 11 countries, including the US since 2006 and just opened a branch in Shanghaï.  Their wines come directly from the producers and are stocked in their huge cellars in the heart of Bordeaux.

Since Gerard Spatafora joined the company as Internet Marketing Director 3 years ago, an innovative web marketing strategy was implemented: development of the Internet sales from 5% to 40% of the turnover, rich media with a series of videos to present the properties and their owners or managers run by Frederic Lot, an intense presence on Facebook mostly in French unfortunately, a Twitter account and now an iPhone application for their online store.

Gerard Spatafora and his team strongly believe in the future of the smartphones (IPhone, BlackBerry, Samsung ) as well as  in the future of the mobile Internet.  The keyword for Millesima is: personalization of the relationship. That’s why the app was preferred to a mobile site.  The customer just downloads the application to the smartphone and is master of the game.

On a technical point of view, the app is really outstanding by its features and very much user-friendly:

- Multilingual (6 languages), it provides access to 4000 references and a  stock of over 2,500,000 bottles. The traditional information making up the specification sheets of each product (visual, description, AOC, vintage, format, price, critics marks…) are automatically available.

- History of the orders

- Wish list,  allowing the customer who would postpone his search to save a great deal of time if he wishes to find back the wines added into the cart or into his favorites.

- Works for iPhone, soon on BlackBerry and, if needed, with Samsung.

-it allows a real direct and full purchase, without having to switch from your mobile Iphone or Blackberry to a computer.

Safety and confidentiality are of course primary concerns.  Using a SSL V3 certificate awarded by GlobalSign, the cart is  entirely secured. But it is remarkable that it is a premiere for an online wine store to offer to the web users the full experience of buying from their phone without switching to a web site to complete the transaction.

By offering its customers full services and access through the app to the full site of the country of origin of the consumers, Millesima hopes to gain a more global vision of the specific needs of its customers. This “one-to-one” marketing strategy will provide a better segmentation, therefore a more efficient development of customer’s loyalty.

Of course, the cost of the app was not advertised but anybody involved in technology is aware of the costs. The management considered that 200 new customers a month would make the application profitable – but after how many months?  No information yet. But one clue was provided: the iPhone app of Nespresso brings the company 38,000 euros a day of gross turnover.

And you know what? I wish Millesima and its daring team as much success as Nespresso in this new adventure. They deserve it: in our difficult times and with so many business people being afraid of making the slightest move, it is refreshing to see a medium-size company show such an entrepreneurial spirit.

Aline Baly from Château Coutet sent me a long email after the publication of the first article. I was so happy to read about the success of her innovative web strategy I asked her to let me publish her answer. Here it is – a little amended for more concision with Aline’s approval:

“I have been very encouraged by the recent influx of colleagues on Facebook and Twitter (most recently Yquem and Bordeaux Gold). I am very excited that this sometimes viewed as sleepy appellation is embracing social media — and recognized for doing so.

Coutet has been on Facebook for over 3 years — this has allowed me to stay connected to more than 300 followers. I also post all news related to Coutet on my personal page– keeping another 400 individuals in the loop on the latest and greatest from the Gold Wine region of Bordeaux.

As for Twitter… I have some great success stories with the tool — including getting a top level journalist at Coutet for a one-on-one tasting after replying to one of his comment and having visitors stop by Coutet after responding to their comment that places them in the region and in wine tasting mode!

Using both of these tools, I’ve connected with so many individuals that love our region! There are 4-5 twitts on the topic alone on a daily basis– and that is only a minimum.”

Thanks to Aline  for sharing her success story with us.

Sauternes and Barsac don’t have the best reputation among the wine consumers who are not luxury wines savvy.  Say Sauternes, people think Yquem. Say Barsac, they think… what?  Say Monbazillac, they picture cheap sweet wines. It is time for this category to speak up and get better known.

Internet is giving this category of sweet wines the opportunity to be heard and hopefully later on to be tasted and bought by consumers with a better understanding of their characteristics and values (not value!).

Bill Blatch, well known wine professional, launched very recently a beautifully done blog on the golden wines of Bordeaux:  BordeauxGold.com.

Then we lately met on Twitter or Facebook many famous Sauternes or Barsac names:  château Broustet is certainly one of the most active on social media. It has a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a blog (in English).

In France and unfortunately limited to the Bordeaux area, a group of about 25 estates from Sauternes and Barsec joined forces to create “Sweet Bordeaux” with tastings hosted by young women and a trendy web site. Sweet Bordeaux also offers “sweet hours”, “weet music” and “sweet recipes” – all in French. Why not a site in English and similar actions in cities like New York, Paris, London, Amsterdam or San Francisco where young crowds would love the concept?

We also spotted mYquem, the new creation of the famed Château d’Yquem venturing on Twitter. When worldwide famous names such as Yquem or Haut-Brion are on Twitter, it means that social media are becoming an important part of the image of a wine estate, as prestigious as it may be.

The weird thing is that sweet wines have a poor image but Sauternes estates have a great reputation.  The leading Sauternes estates with an international reputation are right to lead the way on Internet in order to create a contemporary and trendy image. Groups like “Sweet Bordeaux” should be all over the world reaching out to the young wine drinkers with their sweet tooth.  Sauternes is on its way to enter the 21st Century and we’ll be happy to welcome them in a virtual world full of savors and aromas. Let’s follow them!

Did you try “googling” your name or your company? Do you write a blog? Do you want to do business on the Net without technological knowledge? Do you want to become a “trust agent”? You’ll learn about that and a lot more in Chris Brogan’s book, Trust Agents. Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust.

Marketers and Web savvy professionals know about Chris’ blog, and refer to it very often for its smart comments and tips so generously shared. Trust Agent is the sum of Chris’ and co-author Julien Smith’s experience on how to use the web to become what was before them called a “guru”, a “diva”, an “expert” or an “influencer”.

Chris and Julien explained what “social capital” is about in the new media and defined 6 characteristics for trust agents. They guide the reader through the various aspects of those characteristics and – typical of Chris’ and Julien’s generosity – give him/her practical tips to get into action.

I read the book with passion but don’t want to tell you too much about it. You have to read it, savour it and then… go to work. I don’t know if everybody will become a “trust agent” but every reader will be a little wiser and knowledgeable after reading the book.

Last week, I spent 2 days at the 2008 conference of the Society of Wine Educators in New Orleans, Louisiana. SWE is a non-profit educational organization (501c3) whose mission is to advance wine education through professional development and certification. It holds an annual conference with about 60 seminars that attract about 2,000 attendees every year.

I was invited to speak about Web Marketing for the wine industry. It was the first time SWE provided a session on this very topic. It shows how much the wine industry is getting more and more aware of the importance of the web in brand marketing. My main concern was to inform the attendees of the latest technologies they could use for their business. I especially mentioned the growing importance of professional communities, such as OpenWineConsortium (or OWC) whose groups and forum allow meeting fellow professionals or wine consumers through lively discussions and exchanges.

Podcasts and live Internet shows are also very important tools. I’m especially fond of live Internet radio shows: professionals and consumers can call in and spread the good word on their business or their favorite brands very easily. There are a lot of shows all over the Internet on wine: choose the one you like best after listening to a few and get in touch with the host. Those shows are usually linked to a site or a community.

An example? The technical platform, Talkshoe.com, hosts a number of live shows through their phones and technology: those shows are organized by themes. The “Food and Spirits” section hosts various shows: newwineconsumer.com linked to the Open Wine Consortium by Randulo and The CellarDweller by Dave Nelsen, CEO and co-founder of Talkshoe. Feel free to call in during the show if the topic interests you. Indeed it is a very good way – cheap and efficient – to get your name around the Net.

How so? The “buzz” gets your name or your brands around. It is cheap, easy and efficient.

The subject of wine marketing is widely treated by practitioners, wine marketing experts as well as many organizations in many countries. But we are now entering a new era for marketers: peers trust peers. Top-down messaging is losing ground, while bottom-up buzz is gaining power. Every few months new technologies, new devices and new practices require analysis, creative processes and adaptation to the wine business.

Wine business is booming in many parts of the world (the NewWorld) and losing ground in Old Europe, the birth place of the industry. Many experts point at various reasons but the main cultprits can be downsized to one major reason: in the Old World, wine is still perceived as a local product while in the New World it already gained an international status and image.

E-marketing is a global strategy based on a transcultural approach of new behavourial patterns in traditional and emerging markets. For the first time we are able to measure the consumption patterns of an entire market and adjust quickly to their behaviours. This finer knowledge of new trends allows us to better understand wine brands in a very competitive and staurated market. This practical new book is written in an easy and accessible style. Illustrated with many case studies from around the world, it describes how marketers and academics can respond to new challenges in the wine trade and is an invaluable guide to anyone working in, or interested in, this industry.

“Wine Brands” is available on pre-order on amazon.com.