And the question was “solved” by the EU: it had recently rejected a proposal to create an organic wine category. Sad? Maybe not. Those last few weeks, I traveled a lot and I  met many wine makers in France who are already working their vineyards and making their wines organically without advertising it or seeking some kind of certification. What’s the point, would some ask? According tothe producers, there are several points:

- working organically is an ethical decision: it is the promise of a better product with less chemicals for their customers. More and more people are suffering from allergies and knowing that the wine they buy have less sulfites and the grapes were treated with mineral products instead of chemicals is reassuring.

- working organically is also good for the environment: agriculture (and viticulture as well) were very often accused of polluting the water or destroying the natural environment of a place. It is a way to protect our planet from further destruction.

- working organically is a personal choice, based on convictions and values.

Why not share those values with the consumers? The various wine producers I talked to said they mention their choice to their customers and to visitors. They also explain to them why they made that choice and how they hope to increase the quality of their wines but also leave a better soil to  the next generations who will work their vineyard.

Does the Europe of wine really need an other intrusion of the EU?  Mmmm…  Consumers should trust the wine producers: they know their work, they love to make great wines and they care about their property.  Let’s raise our glass of organic wine to a better world!

Do you know this fun, energetic and innovative beverage magazine, The Mutineer? If you don’t, run to your local newsstand and get one. It’s the most relaxing, entertaining and informative magazine on all trends in the beverage industry. I’m not talking sodas, but spirits, cocktails, wines… “fine beverage…redefined”, as stated on the cover.

I heard of Alan Kropf, the young entrepreneur who started The Mutineer about two years ago. He was then launching his magazine mostly in .pdf format with a very reduced distribution. Two years later, his magazine is distributed nationwide and has a strong following. Alan is like his magazine: fun, innovative, creative. When we met him “in person”, he was traveling in France to taste wines on a press trip. We shared a nice evening talking about the wine and beverage industries, comparing notes on a few wines and exchanging ideas on the state of the Internet.

There is a big generational gap between Alan and myself but I didn’t feel I was in foreign territory. Alan is so open and learned about everything beverage related it is a real pleasure to talk to him. And I learned so much about cocktails in the last issue of The Mutineer. One of my favorite cities in the US is New Orleans, its heat, its music scene and its inhabitants. But I’m not much of a cocktail drinker, which is a problem in New Orleans. Try to drink a glass of wine in a bar! I managed but I had to insist heavily. I feel sorry for myself now: what a mistake! I should have visited the Museum of American Cocktail , tried the famous Sazerac cocktail or gone to Crescent City Brewery.

What does the success story of The Mutineer tell us about wine marketing and innovation?  There were so many wine and food magazines, so many lifestyle magazines available when Alan started that it seemed difficult to succeed. But his positioning, young, trendy and centered on beverages, was exactly what was needed by young and inexperienced consumers. Alan and his team found the right way to address this younger consumer who is not interested in the technical Wine Spectator, or in the  too food oriented Wine and Spirits or very serious and a litlle off putting Saveur. The impertinent but informative tone of the Mutineer went directly to the heart of the young consumer. Congratulations to a bright entrepreneur! And long live The Mutineer!

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!

BYOB is popular in the US and in Australia and totally discouraged in France. I just read in Decanter.com that England is not very keen on the system either.  But two Bristish entrepreneurs are trying to beat the system by creating the Bring your Own Bottle Club in partnership with Nicolas. The system is astute: for a yearly fee of £75 or £100, consumers pay little or no corkage charges at participating restaurants.

For the restaurants, the advantages are obvious: they get more clients and can expect to sell at least a bottle of Champagne. What are the advantages for the consumers?  First, consumers are aware of the fact that restaurants make a lot of margin on their wine list, sometimes even an indecent one.  But second, why should they choose among wines they might not like or want to try when their cellar is full of wines they would like to share with their  friends while not worry about cooking? In the US, most restaurants, even expensive ones, are ready to suppress the corkage fees to get customers. They even encourage their clients to have large parties and bring many bottles. They know people will eat a lot more if they don’t have to pay for the wine and will usually leave a (very) large tip. Those happy consumers will also talk to their friends, who are mostly wine lovers and give the restaurant a good reputation. And this reputation will go around on the Web, the Facebook pages and be tweeted and retweeted. Some restaurants go even further in this strategy: they host tastings based on a theme  (Rosé wines, Roussane and Marsanne wines,etc.). The wines are brought by the customers who are served a sample of the main dishes of the restaurant as a buffet for a minimal fee. The restaurant gets known by many people who might not otherwise heard of it.

Of course, the British Wine Club is a first step towards a more “liberal” way of bringing wine lovers to restaurants. The next step is for restaurants to understand that a bottle of wine cannot be anymore half of the final bill.  The crisis brought out a new way of consuming wine: at home with your friends around a nice dinner. It will take more than a new wine club to bring back wine lovers to restaurants. Consumers have the right to expect new  and more friendly ways of doing business for the restaurant industry.

It’s particularly interesting for me to observe what Clos Pepe is doing on Twitter (@clospepe), because we’ve been to their amazing annual events at least twice. Wes Hagen and his wife Chanda are both charming and hospitable people, and they make a more than decent (some might call it cult) Pinot Noir, too. The folks at Clos Pepe are so nice, that even the 1997 web site design doesn’t dim my great feelings of their barbeque/tastings at their Sta. Rita Hills home and winery. In fact, I think their Twitter feed is more enjoyable to follow than going to the site which has, among other turn-of-the-century features, centered texts and multiple Quicktime videos on auto-play.

Take a look at what Clos Pepe is up to on Twitter:

If I were living in the area (or even in a location where they could ship me their wines), I’d prefer to be following this Twitter stream than to have the same events and announcement arrive in my mailbox. This seems to be an ideal way to get news of Clos Pepe.

• Subscribing and unsubscribing is a snap on a Twitter client or mobile or even using the Twitter web page.
• I can see who might also be interested in Clos Pepe, possibly follow them and compare notes, etc
• The news doesn’t come into my email stream, which I protectively reserve for high priority messages (like the vi@gra offers and Yale diplomas I deal with daily).
• The channel works both ways, so they can also get (and hopefully respond to) feedback

Using Twitter in this way goes against traditional wisdom of “engagement”, aka “Don’t Blurt!”. In the Clos Pepe example, I know Wes has his own Twitter account as well, and we can see plenty of personal engagement there. I know that the winery’s production is small enough to require you to be on an allocation list if you want to buy some. This is an enviable position for any winery to attain. I wonder how many people who are on the list are also on Twitter? I know at least one person. I wonder if he follows @ClosPepe?

Eve disagrees with me on this one, I think of Clos Pepe as a brand. What do you think and why?

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…!

A few days ago, I was talking with one of my MBA students on Bordeaux as a brand. The question was: Should Bordeaux brand itself like Champagne?  By branding its region, Champagne allowed small family owned properties to shine and sell their wines. The region leaders, the famous Krug, Bollinger and other Ruinart, did not hide the many little Champagne houses. On the contrary, under the umbrella brand, every brand was able to shine.  Champagne developed a very creative image of happiness, party and pleasure.

Would such a strategy be possible in Bordeaux? Bordeaux has the privilege of having many Classified Growths – about 5% – leading the way in term of image and price. Hidden behind this massive tree, there is a forest of small properties and estates. Some of them have a very hard time surviving and selling their wines at a decent price.  In the mind of many international consumers, Bordeaux means “quality” and “expensive”. The down side of this excellent reputation is that, when seeing a Bordeaux wine sold around $10, the consumer thinks it can not be a good Bordeaux wine because too cheap.

Is there a solution to this problem? I’m not an economist, just a marketer. As such I would answer: “Change your image”. At $10, a Bordeaux can be a very good wine. There were some efforts made at changing the image of Bordeaux in the US. Did you hear of “Bordeaux MatchMaking“? It is such a fun idea as explained on the web site : “Just tell us who you are, your interests and the wine you enjoy and we will match you with the Bordeaux wine that best suits your palate. You’ll get to enjoy this amazing evening with a group of new friends who share your way of life and most of all, your interest in affordable Bordeaux. Wine experts will be present during the evening to answer all of your questions, while our hostesses will ensure your group has an unforgettable experience. The soirees will all take place at exclusive venues in Boston, Chicago, NYC and Miami.”

“Bordeaux wines are meant to celebrate everyday occasions”, says the tagline. A little like Champagne ? What kind of Bordeaux wines ? Red, white, rosé ? All of them? In fact it seems a little difficult to match one Bordeaux with one occasion. Bordeaux wines are so different and complex it is hard to pair an occasion and a wine: birthday and white ? party and red ? pizza party and rosé ? Do you understand what I mean ? The complexity, the variety and the number of styles of wines make it a marketing nightmare.

Bordeaux is not a wine brand, not even a potential one but there are many wine brands in Bordeaux you should enjoy in every occasion. Cheers!

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.

AMOOCON, a VoIP and technical conference that began in 2008, will features 54 talks and workshops by 38 different speakers. AMOOCON is inaugurating a new feature this year: a wine tasting!

Randy convinced author and conference organizer Stefan Wintermeyer to add the idea to this annual event held in Rostock, Germany June 3-5th this year based on the fact that last year he found many speakers and attendees were interested in wine. Because people are coming to the conference from many countries including several from Europe, the United States and Israel, they are each being asked to bring a bottle of their region’s wine if possible. They can also bring cheese if they prefer.

Randy will be speaking there again this year about the VoIP Users Conference and its activities on social networks and in podcasting.  Speakers at AMOOCON  come from different backgrounds resulting in a much more diverse program than a typical technical gathering.

French wines are still the benchmark for China: they’re the best. Unfortunately, they’re very expensive: the high taxes are an important part of the outrageous prices.

Fortunately, some restaurants are ready to give their customers the opportunity to taste our greatest wines by the glass. And when I say the greatest, I’m not exaggerating: Château Palmer, Château Haut-Brion, Château d’Yquem, Clarendelle and many others are on the wine list.

The restaurant is M. and Mrs. Bund, owned by the French Paul Pairet. In the middle of the dining room, several Enomatic wine dispensers attract the attention.

Enomatic systems dispense wine directly from the bottle using  inert gas preservation. The flavors and characteristics of the wine remain intact for more than three weeks, as if the bottle had just been opened. This technology allows M. and Mrs. Bund restaurant to offer the  wines at a very decent price. The consumer can enjoy a glass of a wine he can’t really afford by the bottle.

M. and Ms. Bund Restaurant made its reputation thanks to this “wine by the glass” strategy. Of course, the food is deliciously French and the customers mostly Westerners, but it is a very original feature that is appreciated by many people. In this city where everything goes fast, evolves rapidly and everybody is improving skills and competences, a creative strategy based on a technical innovation is the best way to attract new consumers. In fact, most people in the restaurant were young business people, not afraid of a rather high price tag for a meal and nice wines. Shanghaï and its inhabitants are on the way up to success and a nice lifestyle – in contrast.