A growing interest in varietal wines?

When attending in Geneva the conference about women as wine consumers in Europe, I was surprised by a finding common to all women in every country: the first criteria to buy a wine was the varietal, even before the price or the origin. This is a very "un-European" attitude as the European wine traditions are based on origins more than on varietals.


I do remember a funny incident happening in a Paris wine store owned by a typical middle-aged man. I walked in and asked him a bottle of viognier. The man looked at me puzzled for a few seconds and answered: "You mean, a bottle of Condrieu?" My turn to be puzzled: "Viognier is grown in other parts of the world besides Condrieu. I drank a very good viognier in California." I'll spare you the long discussion on the merits of viognier from other origins besides Condrieu!

What could be the explanation? Without being really "new" consumers, women are newer in wine buying than men. They might have a different wine culture acquired through word of mouth and tasting: women are known for their practical mind and fine tasting buds! But certainly closer to reality is the fact that varietals are easier to understand and master than origins. After all Cabernet is available in many places worldwide but will be so different from one place to an other. That's what makes international drinking so fascinating: I love to buy 3 or 4 bottles of wine from different origins but of the same grape to taste and compare the differences. It's like drinking the culture of an other country and traveling in your living room!

Does it mean varietal wines are a new international trend? It could be. I saw a few days ago in a French supermarket a "collection" of varietal wines in half bottles - as if the wine maker wasn't quite sure of his wine "saleability". Price was reasonable and quality acceptable. Did he understand the future of the wine industry or is he surfing on a new trend? Europeans are always slow to catch up in the new trends: for 20 years, the "New World" sold varietal wines but is now working on analyzing the "terroir" of their wines. In California, Gallo created his line of Sonoma wines at a much higher price than his mass market brands, explaining to consumers that the Sonoma wines are crafted in the respect of their origins. Europeans are now jumping in the "varietal wagon" that is so loose in the New World and rejecting what was their signature for centuries, the origin of the wine. Who is right? Who is wrong? Future will tell us!

Branding: Europe vs. USA

Branding a wine is a complex process depending on the wine, the targets, the location and many other factors. I happened to read the interviews of the European owner of the high-end wine brand, Sassicaia, selling around $1,000 a bottle, the Italian Piero Incisa della Rocchetta and the Gallo’s American Director of Fine Wine Marketing, Kristina Kelley.

Those interviews reveal the deep gap between American and European strategies, between American and European winemaking as well as the same passion for their product and the same respect for their consumers. Both wineries are family-owned: the Incisa della Roccheta family owned their land for several centuries and established a tradition of excellence; the Gallo family owned their fine Sonoma vineyards for a few decades and is now producing fine wines on very carefully farmed lands or with carefully selected grapes.

First difference between the two families: Piero, now in charge of the US market, is a member of the family when Kristina Kelley is an outsider. This difference is almost philosophical: "Sassicaia is a global company that's owned by a very small family—it's not a corporation. As for any family business, there's no one better than family who understands complexities and subtleties. No one understands the historical landscape and no one from outside of the family has such a deep understanding of the terroir. After 40 years (Incisa della Rocchetta's age), chances are you'll have a pretty good understanding of the product", said Incisa della Rochetta. For the interview, Kelley had to be backed by the winemaker of the brand, Eric Cinnamon.

Then branding strategies show how culture impacts the choice:need for new consumers for Rancho Zabaco, reinforcing links with existing consumers for Sassicaia. "Before establishing a new brand, need within a consumer segment is identified. We ask ourselves is there an opportunity within the marketplace? What do we view as trends? What are people drinking and what are they looking to explore or to discover? It always starts with the need in the marketplace and who is the targeted consumer", explained kristina Kelley for Rancho Zabaco. Incisa is facing a very different challenge: his brand is established, it's even a "cult wine", the production is sold out: "It's not because your product is sold out that you should not work. The large part of my work is to get together with collectors on a global scale and to taste the old and new vintages of Sassicaia, so that people can understand how the wine ages and evolves throughout the years. [...] My job is also to make sure that the old vintages of Sassicaia are served in the right order and coupled with the right dishes, drank in the right stemware. These things that might seem like irrelevant and annoying details to most, but they are pivotal to preserve the integrity of the brand."

What about re-positioning the brand along its cycle? Whether launched in 1996 like Rancho Zabaco or created centuries ago, a brand has a life of its own and needs to be re-positioned. That's where new brands and older brands find a common ground. Over the years, the image of sassicaia diluted: the sales sheets showed the same positive results but the family had the feeling the image didn't fit the quality of the wine. Piero Incisa went to work and met with the distributors, the consumers and the collectors. When Kelley had to reposition Rancho Zabaco, she had to go back to basics: "When the brand was introduced, it wasn’t just Zinfandel. It was also Chardonnay and Pinot Noir - a very different brand composition than exists today. From the marketing perspective, we learned that consumers gravitated toward the Zinfandel. It then became our decision to reposition the brand in 1999 to focus on Zinfandel because that’s what consumers were telling us. " For both brands, the consumer was the central point of the re-positioning.

Last but not least, what is the core in the process of branding a wine? For Incisa, it is "maintaining the integrity. This is not a job, it's a way of life, integrity towards the land, respect for your community, those are the things that people do not see. And passion, passion, passion, because without a consuming passion, it is very difficult to love what you do and to be successful at it." The process is a little trickier for a young brand but both Kelley and Cinammon echoed Incisa's statement in their own words: "We are trying to separate ourselves from the more whimsical, critter labels and focus on bringing forward our stylistic and appellation focus for the wines. For the past three years, we’ve focused on bringing sophistication to our packaging and separating ourselves from irreverent labeling, while keeping it fun. As our consumer base has matured and evolved, we want it to mature and evolve with Rancho Zabaco and not feel like they’ve outgrown the brand, said Kelley. "Rancho Zabaco has always been known for value, but today when consumers consider the brand, we want them to experience quality and value", Cinammon added.

There are cultural differences in branding wine on the two sides of the Atlantic but the sole business of branding is still at heart a world of passion for quality, style and value.

A "breathing screw cap" to prevent corkstaint

A MBA team from UC Davis designed a high-tech closure for wine bottles that would allow the wine to breathe much like traditional bark corks and won the prize of the annual Big Bang! Business Plan Competition.

The high-tech wine cap was developed by MBA student Tim Keller, a UC Davis viticulture and enology alumnus with 10 years of experience as a winemaker in Sonoma and Napa counties, Kevin Chartrand, MBA candidate with an undergraduate degree in materials science who worked as a thin-film expert at IBM and Diana Mejia, working on a master's degree in food engineering. This "breathing screw cap" has small vent holes. It is fitted with a liner made of alternating layers of thin metal and a porous polymer. The liner can be customized to allow optimal oxidation for specific varietals.

"If you open up lots of bottles of the same wine, you'll notice variability from bottle to bottle because of differences in the amount of oxygen that gets in," Keller said. "With cork, you just never know. Our product will give a level of control that the wine industry has never had."

It is true that, in a same case, the taste of the wine might change in each bottle due to several factors, including the oxydation (let's forget the taint for the moment). For a lot of wine consumers, it is part of the adventure of wine tasting. I admire the technical accomplishment, but would say that this type of closure will be perfect for a mass-market brand but not for a high quality one. I still want to wonder how bottle 2 of the same wine will differ from bottle 1!

Second label, bulk wine or new brand?

I just read an article in the North Bay Business Journal that raised a very interesting question: is it better for a winery to create a second label or to sell the wine in bulk when you have too much of a lower quality wine for your main brand? This discussion happened during the Business Journal’s 2008 Wine Industry Conference on April 9. Some said that their "winery had considered a second label but determined selling the excess wine in bulk was better than risking diluting the brand." Others argued that "a second label can help a winery with distributors, but it should have a different name," and be tied to the main brand at least on the back label.

The debate is still going on in the trade anyway. I can think of a few successful examples I know in the French wine industry. In 1998, the famed Château Palmer, a classified Growth of Margaux, near Bordeaux, launched a new brand called Alter Ego de Palmer. It's not a second wine but a full new brand, clearly linked to the main brand but different in its positioning: the wine can be drunk young with all the qualities of a great Margaux wine, finesse and elegance. It is not confusing for the consumer and very reliable for the distributors.

An even more recent example is "Clarence", the second wine of Château Haut-Brion, one of the five First Classified Growths. For many years, the second wine of Château Haut-Brion was named Château Bahans Haut-Brion after the plot on which the vines were planted. The name was difficult to remember and to pronounce, even for French people. A few weeks ago, Domaine Clarence Dillon, owner of Château Haut-Brion, officially announced the new name of the second wine: Clarence. "In 2009, stated the press release, Domaine Clarence Dillon will be celebrating the 75^th anniversary of the first visit of Clarence Dillon to Chateau Haut-Brion. This milestone will enable us to write a new page in the modern history of our second wine. In recognition of three quarters of a century of presence of the Dillon family at Chateau Haut-Brion, Domaine Clarence Dillon has decided to mark the occasion by renaming our second wine “Le Clarence de Haut-Brion” and by bottling our second wine in the elegant “Haut-Brion” bottle, specially engraved with the mention:“Clarence”. It was Clarence Dillon himself who fifty years ago brought this now iconic bottle design to Chateau Haut-Brion and first began using this elegant form for the 1958 vintage."

Second label and second wine are common business practice in the French wine industry. This practice is considered as a reinforcement of the primary brand instead of a dilution.

Branding in Lyon

Yesterday, I spent the day in Lyon, gastronomical city and door to several wine countries (Beaujolais and Rhone Valley), with my MBA students. I thought it would be a vacation day - relaxed lunch at Bocuse, visit of the old city of Lyon and relaxed dinner in a famous "bouchon", one of those Lyon traditional restaurants. In fact, this day got me thinking about branding in the wine and food business because each event was the occasion of a presentation by the best local specialists.

When we arrived at the "Brasserie de l'Ouest" of Paul Bocuse, one of the four local restaurants created by the famous three-star chef, we were welcomed by Jean Fleury, manager of the four brasseries of Paul Bocuse. A "Brasserie" is a local restaurant for everyday meals: some are upscale like the brasserie of Bocuse; some are not much better than a coffee shop serving sandwiches, pre-cooked dishes and beverages. Paul Bocuse is certainly one of the most French chefs, along with Ducasse and others. Over 80 years old by now, Paul Bocuse never opened any other restaurants, whether in France or in an other country, besides his famous restaurant near Lyon. That's why it was a little surprising when he opened in 1994 his first brasserie, le Nord (the North), followed the next year by the South. Then came East and West. On the 4 Brasseries no sign of the name "Bocuse" - the brand-. But if you "google" "Brasseries Bocuse", you'll be sent to the site.

How do you brand a Bocuse restaurant without using the name? Jean Fleury defined the branding process by a few words: style, quality, cuisine. When you walk in one of Bocuse brasseries, there is no way you can confuse it with your around the corner brasserie: the decor is very elegant, the napkin is nicely embroidered with the name of the restaurant, the table is covered by a white tablecloth, the food is up to your expectations, and the service is impeccable. The pricing was also a very important component of the branding system: at lunch, where the customers are mostly business people on their own lunch or taking a client to lunch "at Bocuse", you can choose the 22,90 euros menu or choose "a la carte" which will cost you from 30 to 80 euros depending on your choice. At night, the brasserie customers are families or friends who eat "a la carte" for a comfortable budget. The Bocuse signature is all over the place without having to mention his name.

What about "OuestExpress"? Jean Fleury mentioned a new concept called "OuestExpress" located around the corner from the West Brasserie and opened for 3 months. Amazingly enough it is a "fast food" restaurant where customers can eat for under 10 euros at lunch. Designed like an American upscale fast food restaurant, OuestExpress provides only high quality products: salads, sandwiches, "quiches", fresh fruit juices, teas and coffes from all over the world, luxury mineral waters. No mention of the Bocuse name either but the quality of the food and the design of the place tells a story of experience and quality.

Branding through action? Not really: the Bocuse brand exists for many decades and it was certainly easier to build the brand of the Brasserie as a secondary branding. But congratulations to an icon of the French gastronomy to be able to build a young and trendy brand on his name.

Blogs and Brands

On the OWC group on blogs, there was a post lately asking if/how it was possible to make money with your blog. Indeed more and more people are writing blogs - as a hobby, sometimes - but more often in relation to their work field and their professional expertise. It would seem logical to try to make some money when sharing experience and knowledge with your readers.

Several studies on blogs, bloggers, brands and trends just came out this week. The market research from Via Nova Spheeris is strictly about French blogs but could open some threads of discussion. First a few figures: 38.2% of French bloggers get some income from their blogging activity; 32% would like to get some revenue out of their blog. For 42.5% of bloggers, advertising is the most obvious way of making money. 17% of them see their blog as a way to comfort their professional status and even to get in touch with the traditional medias (TV, press, radio).

French bloggers ready to advertise brands on their blogs trust the brands' communication strategy: 82.9% of them think the brands' communication is "informative" and 68.6% "modern". But they regret that the brands' request for advertising on their blog are not always relevant to their blog's contents. Instead of getting money, they'd rather have products' samples, invitations to events and/or advance information on new products and services. This strategy would allow them to keep their freedom in judging the brand.

This study shows how blogs are difficult to understand by the traditional brands used to traditional medias. A blog is a media where freedom is respected. That's why the traditional medias feel threatened by this space of free speech and communities. The last market study conducted by Universal McCann on a panel of 17,000 web surfers in 29 countries shows clearly the exponential growth of blogs, podcasts and social networks as a direct competitor of the traditional medias. There are 184 millions bloggers in the world and 73% of the population read blogs. The video is now the most appreciated media just before the blogs (72.8%), sharing pictures (63.2%) and social networks (57;3%). Podcasts are now considered a major media by web surfers.

A brand can't ignore those new media. They reach directly the new consumers: young people, women, international consumer. Why wouldn't a company transfer its media budget to social network to touch the new consumers? It would seem a smart move but I'm afraid most brands are not ready to get in the 21st century... yet.

Brand positioning by video and TV on line

Videos are more and more present on the Net. Community sites, like YouTube, are the perfect example of this new trend. The wine business could use this new technological trend to promote wine makers, producers, wines and all the industry-related products and/or services. Marketers and communications people should use it as one of the best PR tool.

Let's be clear: I'm not talking about videos done by a journalist or an interview - this is PR, it's not brand positioning. Brand positioning by video relies on a video written and conceived for your brand, your winery, or your store by a professional. There are a scenario, a text, a music. Why? There are four communication elements, as Jerry Bader explained on his article for brandchannel.com, "Brand Positioning Using Web-Video":

• the scenario, telling your brand story or the story of your business,
• the sight which provides the visual context and reference,
• the sound providing, through human voice, "focus, emphasis, familiarity and personality, all of which are necessary in the creation of a meaningful, memorable experience",
• the "score: Music, Emotion and Focus" - a musical score creates an appropriate emotional atmosphere providing audio cues that direct attention and re-enforce memory recall".

To illustrate his theory, Jerry Bader created a video presented in 3 versions: visual only, visual+speech, visual+speech+visual. It shows very clearly how the combination of the 3 elements makes the video very efficient.

Is there any interesting brand positioning videos on the Net? I can think of a few - some very sophisticated as the videos of Château Haut-Brion or more practical as those of Gary Vaynerchuk and Olivier Magny. Château Haut-Brion took the trouble to shoot very professional videos with a scenario, narration, beautiful pictures and music. The budget required by this type of brand positioning is, of course, out of reach for a lot of companies. That's why it is interesting to look how smaller and younger companies promote their brands.

As our friend from OpenWine Consortium said last night during our Internet live broadcast, thenewwineconsumer.com, Gary Vaynerchuk promotes his wine store, Wine Library in New Jersey, almost only on the Internet by his videos. The brick and mortar store doesn't even have a window on the street. His model is strictly a "click and mortar" store: his videos made Gary an international star of the wine business and his store is largely known on the Net, certainly increasing his on line sales.

Olivier Magny also owns a store in Paris, O Chateau. He promotes himself and his store through the videos of his blog, winerendezvous.com, like his funny Pinot Noir video on Place de la Concorde. On his blog roll, we can see several of our OWC friends, Petrogasm and Catavino, for example. A man of taste!

Do Gary and Olivier answer the criteria set by Jerry Bader? Almost: they provide a scenario, a text, a funny presentation full of humor and young energy - but no music. Which is also the case - weirdly enough - of a very professional endeavor: WineTasteTV.com. Their videos are introduced by a music theme but there is no sound - besides the interview or the speech - during the presentation. The music doesn't come in support of the content. As stated in their press release, "The channel is aimed at upscale consumers -- from Boomers to Millennials -- seeking relevant features to enhance their wine knowledge or discover new wine brands and regions. WineTasteTV.com enters the market as wine continues to grow in popularity among a wide range of adults, and is the first effort to bring an original, broad-based on-demand Internet channel to millions of consumers through multimedia storytelling and information."

Even missing an element, the videos of Gary Vaynerchuck, Olivier Magny or WineTasteTV.com are good branding positioning tools. The image carried on the Net is clean, professional and diverse, as well as driving consumers to the brands.

The contradictions of the European market

The European press - whether on line or off line - on the wine business in Europe gives the readers very mixed signals on the state of the industry. I'd like to try - "try" being the key word - to sort out what I read lately and what it means in comparison with the "New World" wine industry.

First of all, today is the opening day of the famous "Futures" week in Bordeaux. Journalists and wine professionals gathered to taste the 2007 vintage still in barrels and that will be on the market at the end of 2009. This tasting will allow importers and buyers to set a price for those expensive and luxury bottles of wine - usually between 30 to a few hundreds euros for the most famous names (Haut-Brion, Palmer, Petrus and other Yquem). Those estates represent hardly 5% of the Bordeaux wine market: there are thousands of other properties whose wines will be sold between 2 to 10 euros for the luckiest.

Surfing on the wave of those luxury wines are a few upscale on line wine stores, such as 1855.com introduced on the Paris stock exchange and vins-fins.com (fine-wines.com). Both companies just released their new projects: expanding their business by opening their catalog to international fine wines. They might very well succeed because the wines they sell are the very symbol of a lifestyle full of elegance and classicism.

At the same time, France, Italy and Great Britain are campaigning against alcohol consumption. "Alcohol" is the key word. There is a strong confusion, in the mind of the law makers, between wine, beers and spirits, all labeled "alcohol" and demonized. In France, the "Evin" law prohibits advertising on any kind of alcohol, including wine, in the press and on TV. The law is used by a very strong and active network of anti-alcohol lobbyists, subsidized by... the French government. This lobby won two court cases lately: one against Heineken that had to close its French site (by so, making all French wine sites and blogs illegal) and an other one, against a newspaper who published an article recommending a few Champagne brands before the holidays (what about freedom of the press and freedom of speech?). At the same time, Champagne wines are so much in demand that a law included more villages in the Champagne "Controlled Appellation" area. In Italy, a law against wine (this link was provided by my friend of OpenWineConsorsortium, Ronald) might be passed by the Parliament. In Great Britain, one of the most important markets for imported wines, a campaign against drinking was recently launched to prevent "binge drinking" and female consumption. "Binge drinking" is a real and true concern for everybody since it affects mostly young people: they get badly drunk in the evening - so much as they can't stand on their feet anymore or are getting very violent. Women are a totally different case: they are the buyers of wine and food for the family and as such are very much targeted by marketers, producers and retailers. They are also - except for a few of very young women who sometimes join the "binge drinking" crowd - moderate drinkers. Unfortunately recent medical studies, in UK and in the US, linked alcohol consumption to breast cancer: more than one glass of alcohol a day could increase the risk of breast cancer. Worse, in England, Dr. Janet Treasure identified a new female drinking pattern, the drinkoresia: women are drinking without eating to compensate the calories taken with the alcoholic beverage. The damages done to the stomach are very fast and deep, which is a subject of concern for public health.

After the worries and the horror stories, the dream: Spain made wine a part of their patrimonial history and just allowed 32 millions of euros to support the export of Spanish wines. Spain wants to become the n.1 exporter in the world. By doing so, Spain joins the club of "proactive" countries, such as Australia or California - wine producing areas giving themselves the financial and human means to develop their wine industry.

What kind of logic can we find in this contradictory information coming from wine producing or loving countries? There is a confusion between wine and spirits: wine is not as strong as spirits in alcohol contents (even in warmer countries); it is part of a lifestyle and a cultural subject. Young men and women are not getting drunk on wine in bars and night clubs but on hard liquors and cocktails. Law makers should be educated about what wine is about: when we educate our young people, we should also educate our legislators and other people who think they know about wine better than the professionals. Those countries need a strong wine lobby to protect its interests.

On the other hand, those countries are also producing the most exclusive and expensive wines: the most famous brands are from France and Italy (as well as Spain). Those brands won't have any problem to keep selling but by promoting repressive policies, France and Italy are badly hurting the lesser brands and producers. Whether expensive or cheaper, good wines are the ambassadors of their country of origin. Do our governments really want to destroy part of our history and culture? I bet they don't but they don't really know what they're talking about. Without lessening the dangers of overdrinking, they should consider wine as a beautiful story shared all over the world by millions of amateurs.

Making wine at Boeing

Yes, Boeing employees are making wine! I'm not joking: it was in the International Herald Tribune issue of last weekend.

What's the deal? Thirty years ago, some Boeing employees created a wine tasting club. Nothing fancy, nothing original. In later years, it changed into a beer and wine making group offering tastings, trips, equipment and grape purchases. The club members buy grapes from vineyards, store them in a Boeing facility and crush them with rental equipment. They also attend seminars with wine makers for their education.

Results? Thousands of bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay or Syrah were produced over the years by Boeing employees. About a dozen wineries of the Washington area were started by former Boeing employees. Others used their experience to get a job in a winery. Brad Sherman, vice-president of the club for wine, told journalist Kristina Shevory that many people asked to join but were rejected because they weren't employed by Boeing.

Those people shouldn't be too disappointed. There is an alternative solution: the Crushpad experience, launched in San Francisco, California, in 2004. Crushpad provides grapes from the West Coast's best vineyards, a wine making team and a winery focused on making wine in small lots. Customers choose their level of involvement, and Crushpad does the rest. At the end of the wine making process, customers get their own "cult" wine. The customer monitors the wine making process through a private account, a blog and some videos. Crushpad also launched Crushnet, its online wine community, to serve over 2000 Crushpad clients that live in more than 35 states and eight countries.

Web 2.0 is full of resources for people with energy and imagination !

Japanese brand with a French signature available in UK

In Wine Brands, I write a lot about Japan, its wine culture and its consumers. Japan was the first Asian market open to European wines and mostly French wines that they considered as the best. Hopefully they still do!

Today the news hit the blogosphere: Japanese wines are coming to Europe! How exciting! It is a white wine, called Shizen, produced by Asagiri with the help of the French Denis Dubourdieu. It is made from the indigenous Koshu grape, grown entirely in Japan. It is only 11% of alcohol.

Why import a local (but unknown) grape to Europe? "There is an international market for wines with a real sense of origin," Dubourdieu told decanter.com. "The world doesn't need another Chardonnay, but there seems to be a real durable interest in typicity and provenance."

The Japanese producers hope the growing success of Japanese cuisine in Great-Britain and in Europe will generate some word of mouth success. The wine is available at the Michelin-starred restaurant Umu in the Mayfait district in London and at the Greenhouse restaurant within the same group, also in Mayfair, both by the glass and by the bottle

Wine, a luxury brand?

I read today on the decanter.com Newsletter that Dom Perignon opened a bar in the famous Harrods store in London and offers a glass of 1975 Oenetheque vintage of Dom Perignon for £250. If you have some financial problems, you can settle for the 1995 Vintage of Oenotheque for the mere sum of £60. If you are lucky, you might meet Claudia Schiffer at the bar since she was the advertising icon of the Karl Lagerfeld video on Oenotheque Champagne.

We all know that Champagne aimed at making its wines a luxury product. Question for luxury buffs: do you sell a luxury wine by the glass? Do you need "people" to make it great or expensive? NO! Why sell a very expensive and luxurious champagne by the glass? It is the same strategy as all those branded cheap Dior products for 50 or 100 € you see all over. Does it blur the image of the brand? YES! A luxury brand exists only through the phenomenon of scarcity: a glass is not as scarce as a bottle. Would you sell a bottle of perfume by small bottles?

Why is it bothering me so much to see a wonderful champagne sold its image to the crowd? Because I see everyday in the wine business how luxury wines protect and develop their fragile image without compromising it. Think Château Haut-Brion, think Château Palmer: all those brands create a very emotional and affective link between them and their consumers without selling a glass of their precious nectar in a department store, as elegant as it could be. Wine is not a coffee shop or department store product. Before being a commercial endeavor, wine is about taste, pleasure, people and places. It is about tradition, emotion, history --past and present. Indeed the contemporary brands might become the wines of our children and grandchildren. They will tell the next generations what our life was about.

International Conference in Paris on Wine Marketing and Brands

On March 7, 2008 at the Press Club of Paris, 8 rue jean Goujon, an international conference will take place where several presentations will be about wine brands. One of the study cases presented in "Wine Brands" will be developed by its own creator: James de Roany, from Château Beaulieu en Provence, will talk about his new brand "Rosé de Provence".

I'll be there!

Strategies to access large international markets for wine
Study of true-life experiences- Brands and geographic denominations

1. Brands and geographic denominations: complementary or in denial?

- Brands and wine appellations, do they complement each other? - Success analysis and prospects: Yves Bénard, Chairman, Wine & Spirits board INAO
- Wine brand strategies: the new world experience: Peter Hayes, OIV Chairman

2. Relevance of " umbrella " geographic denominations: fame and size of supplying production areas

- The creation of the regional " Vins de Loire " denomination, export prospects: Pierre Aguilas
- Regional gathering of AOC wine appellations in the Languedoc, Jacques Fanet AOC Languedoc
- Creation of new wine appellations: the Tuscan experience : Stefano Barzagli, Assessorato Agricoltura Regione Toscana

3. Brand and denomination creativeness - role in recent launches

- Inventiveness in brand creation to increase supply area and develop sales: James de Roany (PGA Domaines - Château Beaulieu)
- An export experience in Great-Britain: Christophe Palmowski (Vignerons Catalans)
- An original way to access the US market through Florida: Lorenzo Zonin (Zonin SA, Italie)

4. The export wine strategy of major companies

- International presence of a large international group: Adrian Keogh (Pernod-Ricard)
- The conquest of Asian markets: Juan-Maria Torres (Torres Sa)