Archive for the ‘Wine Business’ Category
Monika Elling, a wine marketing consultant out of New York, recently reminded us in a Harpers article that women are under represented in the wine trade, particularly in the distribution tier. This is true. In fact I’ve been reading this claim a couple of times a year for the past 2 years. “The products are crafted by men, sold by men but these men don’t necessarily know what women want…How different would it be if women were in the decision-making…
With the In Pursuit of Balance organization shuttered and the American wine world now completely unbalanced again, it occurs that there is room and need for new organizations to form within the wine industry. My candidates for new organizations follow: 1. Association For the Advancement of Wine Forgers (AFAWF) Anyone who followed the recent controversy concerning the Baghera Auction in Geneva and the alleged forged bottles that Don Cornwell identified simply by looking at the pictures of the bottles in…
This is a tale of incompetence, crookery, fraud and good old fashioned comedy: 1978 Romanee Conti “I immediately knew that the 1978 Romanée Conti was counterfeit and that there were four significant things wrong with it…First, and most obviously, the Romanee Conti wine had a plain red capsule. Second, the bottle itself has embossed glass – it says “Domaine de la Romanée Conti” at the bottom of the glass. That immediately told me this bottle is fake because none of…
In a recent article at Wine Searcher, Writer Liza Zimmerman attempts to answer the question, what would the American wine marketplace look like if wholesalers (the middle tier of the three-tier system) were eliminated. It’s a tantalizing question and Zimmerman does a good job of sussing out answers with the help of some pretty smart people. However, in the end it’s a silly question. It’s like asking, what would the American wine marketplace look like without retailers? Zimmerman sets the…
Assuming we don’t fall victim to a zombie apocalypse between now and 2045, what are the odds that in that year the likes of Rolex, Aston Martin, Chanel, Cartier, and Four Seasons will have gone belly up? What are the odds that St. Barts, Aspen, Bora Bora, Ibiza and Monaco will no longer be destinations for the wealthy? The odds are small. Very small. These are all brands that possess enormous equity that has been earned over time and remained…
