XChateau Wine Podcast

In an oversupplied market with rising costs, being a winegrape grower is probably the hardest it has ever been. Natalie Collins, President of the California Association of Winegrape Growers , breaks down the cost of winegrape growing in CA, the challenges in the marketplace, and the policy dynamics in the US, CA, and EU that continue to exacerbate the challenges for CA’s winegrape growers.  D...

Having met at the UC Davis Wine Executive Program, Kia Behnia, CEO, and Mason Earles, CTO, founded Scout to replicate the best sensor in the vineyard, “the farmer’s eye.” Leveraging off-the-shelf hardware, Scout uses AI to process images taken from a tractor to automate vineyard mapping, vine counting, yield forecasting, virus identification, and more. From managing vineyard assets to im...

From 200 mph electric cars to 20 mph electric tractors, Praveen Penmetsa, CEO of Monarch Tractor , leveraged his passion and expertise in vehicles, robotics, and batteries to develop the first smart, electric tractor. Making farmers more profitable and efficient first, and then sustainable, are the core tenets that drive Monarch’s business. Praveen discusses the core benefits of using an electric...

Drawing on her background in winemaking and Silicon Valley, Ashley Leonard, Founder and CEO of InnoVint , has developed a modern platform that tracks everything from the vineyard to the bottle. From getting granular with COGS to automating TTB compliance, InnoVint gets the winery out of spreadsheets and into a modern, cloud-based, mobile-centric system. This system is designed to accompl...

Making wine in California, France, and even Serbia, consulting winemaker Julien Fayard has a broad view of the winemaking world. His constant monitoring, evaluation, and investment in winemaking technology benefit both his own and his clients’ wineries. Julien offers insight into winemaking technology on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as some of the specific technologies he utilizes.  De...

Exactly five years ago, Robert and Peter published the first episode of  XChateau ! To help us reflect on how the wine market has changed in the last five years, XChateau’s most frequent guests, Amanda McCrossin and Charlie Fu, return to discuss the changes in wine influencing and social media, the wine market upheaval occurring now, wine marketing done right, and wine drinking trends. ...

Spraying for powdery mildew can be ~25% of the cost of farming a vineyard and be one of the key elements of a grower’s carbon footprint. Sarah Placella, Founder and CEO of Root Applied Sciences , has taken her deep research in microbes and created a data-driven solution to monitor the air for mildew and spray only when needed. Root can cut ~5 sprays per season, and growers have an average 5x...

With over 1,000 kosher wines from across all major winegrowing regions, Royal Wine is the largest importer (and producer and distributor) of kosher wine in the world. Gabe Geller, Director of PR & Wine Education, discusses the market for kosher wine, how and where it is made, and how Orthodox Jews hear about them. Detailed Show Notes:  Gabe’s background, at Royal Wine >9 years, wi...

Though one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world, Israel is still exploring its potential after Muslim rule after World War I. Victor Schoenfeld, Head Winemaker, and Walter Whyte, VP of Sales for Yarden Imports, explain how Golan Heights Winery has set the bar for the quality of Israeli wine and spreads its wines globally, both within the Jewish community and beyond.   Detailed...

Tracking vine trunk movements down to the 0.5-micron level, Phytech is leveraging technology to optimize vine irrigation. Cody Ashurst, Director of Vineyards, and Lex Palmer, Marketing Manager, discuss how their solution optimizes and automates irrigation today and how it can be extended to optimize fertilization, harvest dates, and much more.  Detailed Show Notes:  Phytech - a glob...

After struggling with tracking vineyard data firsthand, Shawn DeMartino, CEO and Founder of Sentinel , decided to create a solution with his partner. Enabling vine by vine mapping and data collection that could stand the test of time enables vineyard managers to increase the lifespan of a vineyard, manage viruses, and effectively create a “medical record” for each individual vine.  ...

With the recent launch of a new $300 retail icon wine, Boulder,  Kaiken  continues to explore the potential for luxury wines from Argentina. Building on the last 15 years of Kaiken's other icon wine, Mai, Anita Correas, Commercial Director, and Gustavo Hormann, Director of Winemaking, discuss the global market for luxury Argentinian wines, how they approach launching them, and the brand-...

With many macro headwinds for the wine world, Gino Colangelo, founder of Colangelo PR, felt the negative and often poorly fact-checked press around alcohol and health posed an existential threat. Teaming with Karen McNeil of The Wine Bible and fellow PR leader Kimberly Charles, they founded Come Over October , a campaign to create a positive narrative around wine. With freely available media...

With a second year of volume declines, 2024 has been challenging for the wine industry. Digging deeper into what trends are shaping the wine industry’s malaise, Cathy and Chris Huyghe, founders of sales analytics software platform Enolytics , have uncovered important insights into the US DTC wine market, including the decline of women and the divide between the affluent and middle class in wi...

Having “taught a computer how to taste” and using that data to help winemakers improve their processes, Tastry has turned to leveraging AI and their consumer preferences and wine chemistry databases to help wineries sell wine.  Katerina Axelsson, CEO, and Charles Slocum, Chief Business Officer, discuss Tastry’s Sales Accelerator Ecosystem, which includes the Wine & Consumer Insights Repor...

With 600 acres, a polo field, a lake dock, and even a zebra and camel onsite, the Folded Hills Winery and Farmstead in Santa Barbara is able to create unique and memorable experiences. Kim Busch, Founder and Co-Owner, and Kylie Enholm, Director of Operations, discuss how they bring this vision to life through the platform of Rhone varietal wines. From hiring for the “hospitality gene” to havi...

With the health and wellness and moderation trends booming, the non-alcoholic wine market has been growing quickly off a small base. Launched in 2019, the Giesen 0% range has solidified its position as one of the leaders in the NA wine market. Duncan Shouler, Director of Innovation, explains how the 0% range was developed, the critical elements of non-alcoholic wine, the current market condit...

Having struggled to manage and maintain distribution for her family winery, Cheryl Durzy, CEO of  LibDib,  decided to start her own distributor. In comes LibDib, a tech-enabled distributor that lets any alcohol producer have distribution in most of the key US markets. Cheryl provides background on the US 3-tier system, the role of a distributor, and how LibDib is helping producers get di...

As the pioneer of Vitis Vinifera in the Eastern US, Dr. Konstantin Frank is one of the key leaders of the Fingers Lakes region in New York. Meaghan Frank, a fourth-generation vintner, has been leading the charge to evolve its hospitality program to create brand ambassadors for the winery and the region. Its 1886 Wine Experience has won Best Wine Tour by USA Today in the last two yea...

With ~2M monthly sessions on their newly unified commerce and media website, Wine Enthusiast continues to be a beacon for the wine industry. Jacki Strum, President of Wine Enthusiast Media, details their new wine review platform and global wine travel directory, democratizing access to wine and wine experiences globally. These initiatives help bring more people into the world of wine, in...

During a career sabbatical from wine PR at a yoga teacher retreat, Morgan Perry tried combining wine education and yoga with great success. Her classmates practically forced her to found Vino Vinyasa , which has blossomed into six cities. With a focus on creating great experiences rather than selling wine, Morgan has created a platform where people learn about wine and end up seeking out the...

Taking over an iconic estate can be both exciting and terrifying. When EPI purchased the iconic Brunello di Montalcino producer Biondi Santi in 2017, they asked Giampiero Bertolini to take over as CEO. Giampiero was excited to join the “Champions League” of wine but also had to convince the local community that this outside investment would be good. He delves into how Biondi Santi h...

In part 2 with Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly , she explains how parent company Veronafiere invested in the various Vinitaly products and allowed her to experiment.  Stevie also dives into her prolific content strategy, including the Italian Wine Podcast , which has over 2M downloads to date and where she sees value in marketing.   Detailed Show Notes:  Italian Wine...

As the world's most prominent Italian wine fair, Vinitaly attracts ~4,000 producers and turns the entire city of Verona into Vinitaly. As Managing Director of Vinitaly, Stevie Kim has built a vast, international community around Vinitaly and its many other products surrounding it, becoming a "Vinitaly Marathon." Stevie goes into depth about why each product was started and how it plugs into t...

Written by the Biondi-Santi family in 1967, the appellation rules for Brunello di Montalcino are some of the strictest in Italy. This has led to Brunello vineyard land becoming some of the most expensive in the country and led Brunello on the pathway to becoming one of the world's iconic wine regions. Giampiero Bertolini, CEO of Biondi-Santi, explains the terroir, regulations, and market for...