XChateau Wine Podcast

Library Release - Originally released as episode 26 on Nov 11th, 2020 With a 25-year history, WineBid is the oldest and largest online wine auction site. The original re-commerce platform, Russ tells us about the auction process from the buyer and seller perspective and all the data they collect and display for the wines. This includes innovations such as a 360-degree bottle shot, price...

The wine storage landscape has never been as dynamic as it is today. Primarily due to Vino Vault and its goal of “making wine collecting more enjoyable.” With six facilities today and the goal of getting to 40-50, Jeff Anthony, President & CEO, and Jeff Smith, Chief Wine Officer, describe how scale allows them to offer more products and services to customers. From a soon-to-be-l...

What is the relevance of having 100s of gold medal wines and the competitions that hand them out? According to Doug Frost, MW, MS, it references back to the 19th century, when people were trying to describe what was happening in their wine regions. Doug describes the history, value, drawbacks, and key success factors of wine competitions. He delves into their changing influence in the era of...

“Wine is an emotional sale, not a rational one.” according to Katherine Cole, Communications Director of Vin Agency , making storytelling and the immersive nature of web design critical for DTC wine sales, according to Katherine and Jon Krauss, Creative Director of Vin Agency. They explain how website design can improve brand messaging and create more DTC sales by making websites discoverable, dra...

From weddings to concerts to a golf course, Wente Vineyards has a whole portfolio of experiences to share the Wente brand with consumers. Aly Wente, VP of Marketing & Customer Experiences, shares how Wente thinks about managing the portfolio of experiences and how they embed wine and the Wente brand into everything they do. From becoming more of a data company to refactoring their tasting room...

After spending two decades promoting the wines of Washington State, Allen Shoup founded Longshadows , a collective of partnerships leveraging internationally renowned winemaking talent to express the best of the Columbia Valley. Director of Winemaking, Gilles Nicault, describes how the partnerships work from both a business and winemaking perspective; what he’s learned from making wines with...

Family-owned businesses are notoriously hard to keep family-owned over multiple generations. Wente Vineyards in Livermore Valley, California, has managed to keep it going for 5 generations. Partially through having fewer children, but also through structures put in place to keep the family connected and business family-owned, Aly Wente, VP of Marketing & Customer Experience, describes how...

As designer and Executive Director of sustainability non-profit Napa Green , Anna Brittain is passionate about taking action on the 7 pillars of sustainability. Spreading the word about how pursuing sustainability can save money is critical. Anna describes how she defines the 7 pillars of sustainability, what makes Napa Green unique, gives concrete examples of how wineries save money with sus...

Revolutionized by eliminating taxes on wine in 2008, Hong Kong has become a significant wine investment and trading hub for China and Asia in general. Polly Aylwin-Foster and Ian Ford of Nimbility Asia go deep into all aspects of the Hong Kong ("HK") wine market. From the HK wine consumer, the retail landscape, cross border transactions with China, the large "hand carry" market, and the British in...

Drinking wine since Roman times, the UK market for wine is both mature and competitive. Changes happen slowly, and old traditions remain as the market evolves. Katy Keating, Managing Director of Lay & Wheeler , one of the UK’s oldest wine merchants, gives a deep dive into the UK wine market. She explains the history of wine drinking, its impact on wine purchasing, the up-and-coming wine region...

Navigating a very fragmented and dynamic Chinese wine market is challenging. Ian Ford, Founding Partner, and Nichole Mao, Partner of Nimbility Asia , help guide wineries to the right pathways for import partners and building demand in China. They also discuss how important domestic Chinese wine production is, the market for US wine in China, and the importance of wine education.   Suppor...

As one of the biggest alcohol markets in the world, China is slowly waking up to wine. Ian Ford, Founding Partner, and Nichole Mao, Partner of Nimbility Asia , walk through how the Chinese wine market has changed, what has led to success, and the current wine trends in the country. With significant growth potential, the Chinese market is a critical global wine market to grasp and underst...

Celebrating its 100th year in 2022, Vinmonopolet , the retail wine monopoly of Norway, is tasked with reducing overconsumption of alcohol while enabling a growing food and beverage culture in Norway. With over 32,000 selections, covering 95% of the population, and educating customers with podcasts and other programs, Trond Erling Pettersen, category manager, describes how the monopoly serves...

While traditionally a beer and spirits market, wine has now risen to equal footing in Norway. As a category manager for Vinmonopolet , the retail wine monopoly of Norway, Trond Erling Pettersen describes the wine culture in Norway, the four categories of wine consumers, and the major trends for wine consumption.   Detailed Show Notes:  Wine in Norway Wine is now equal to beer a...

Operating your own winery is expensive. The custom crush business model enables small wineries to solve this. Robert Morris, the founder of Grand Cru Custom Crush in Sonoma County, explains the benefits of the custom crush model, how it works, and how Grand Cru has changed the custom crush game.   Support the show via Patreon ! Detailed Show Notes:  Robert’s background A Mechanical...

Building a global brand takes a lot of effort and investment. Even with the network of >400 negociants on La Place de Bordeaux, wineries have to make significant investments in brand building and press. Rebekah Wineburg, Winemaker, and Diego Garay, Director of Exports for Quintessa in Napa Valley, discuss their journey towards selling in 50 countries in 3 years through the La Place system.&nbsp...

Co-operative wineries, popular throughout Europe, are generally associated with higher volume, lower quality wines. Not at Domäne Wachau , where Winery Director Roman Horvath MW has been leading the quality vision for its family growers to great success. Roman discusses how co-ops work, how they pay their growers to get to zero income, and how managing a co-op is different from other com...

A lot can be learned through collaborating. Even how to stay calm during a pandemic when your Italian partner is in the thick of it. Calm with the perspective of 26 generations of winemaking and having survived two World Wars. Juan Munoz-Oca, Head Winemaker for Ste Michelle Wine Estates , Washington State's leading wine company, describes what he's learned and the process of collaboratin...

Seeing the opportunity of bringing solutions in the financial markets to fine wine, James Miles, CEO and Co-Founder of Liv-ex , launched the London International Vintners Exchange (“Liv-ex”). Through standard contracts, guaranteed trades, and a plethora of data, Liv-ex is making the fine wine market more transparent, efficient, and safe. Though the Liv-ex 100 and 1000 indices are what it...

After two years and over 100 episodes of XChateau , Robert and Peter reflect on how the wine industry has changed, the major themes that have popped up in the show, and some of the lessons they have learned in the process. From the changes to social media, the spectrum of fine wine to everyday wines, and the importance of social issues, XChateau has covered a broad array of critical business...

As the winemaker’s last choice before wines go in the bottle, cork has played an important role in wine ever since bottles could be made with consistent necks. The consistency of corks is another challenge that Diam is tackling. Francois Margot, Director of Sales, North America describes how Diam is creating corks with choices and consistency for aging, oxygen transfer, and initial oxygen release....

Interview with Carlos de Jesus, Director of Marketing and Communications for Amorim Corks in Portugal, the largest cork company in the world, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2020. We discussed the various uses of cork, the differences between corks and other closures, and how the business of cork has evolved over the decades.  This episode originally aired in September of 2020. To a...

As a 7th generation family-owned and run company, being sustainable means building towards the future for the next generations. That’s the philosophy that has led Champagne Louis Roederer to move towards organic farming with biodynamic and permaculture principles since 2000. With 100% of its historic estate (50% of total vineyard holdings) certified organic, this process has had a significant impa...

Sparkling wine is trending at the moment and no brand best embodies the trend more than cult California sparkling wine producer Ultramarine . Michael Cruse, the founder of Ultramarine and Cruse Wine Co , explains how he developed a passion for sparkling wine that led to his accidental success. He covers how Ultramarine took off, techniques and production practices that have business implications h...

As the climate and resulting fruit quality change, winemakers must adapt to achieve the highest quality. That led the historic (246 years as of 2022) Champagne house of Louis Roederer to create Brut Premier in 1986 to overcome the challenges of underripe vintages, particularly in the 1970s. In 2022, another evolution has occurred, where the fruit is consistently ripe, and the main challenge is to...