Join me on Wednesday January 17th at 9:30am Pacific Time for a live videocast and discussion of the findings from the release of the 2018 SVB Wine Industry Report. 

 

REGISTER HERE

Joining me on the panel this year will be:

• Gretchen Boock, Chief Executive Officer, Dobbes Family Estate / Wine By Joe
• Mary Jo Dale, Marketing Director, Americas, Vinventions / Nomacorc
• Paul Mabray, Wine Industry Digital Futurist and Director, Getemetry.com

It's going to be a great show but if you can't make the live videocast, please register to receive a link to the video replay and the complete 2018 Wine Report after the event.

Most of wineries have already developed their strategic plans for 2018 and are starting to execute. The plans had to be put together using history as a guide, laced with a hint of a best guess. That's just the way this family owned industry has to roll.

What would you say if I told you that growth in sales for 2017 which looked pretty good through mid-year ... hovering around 7%-9%, fell off the cliff in Q3 and came in for 9 months at 0.30%? That is zero-point-three-percent year to date for our benchmarks of Family Owned Wineries using financial statements. We'll be lucky to hit 4% growth for the year when factoring in what normally is a good October/November/December.

You might be saying, well that's just the average sized family winery, which is true - but the sales growth rate for larger wineries in distribution has also been dropping since the end of 2015.

What if I added that visitation to tasting rooms has been going through a decline for the past 5 years?

Don't you want to know what's happening?

The industry is pivoting and I can tell you for certain that winery owners need to take specific actions or be caught behind the change curve? I also believe 2018 will be a pretty good year for the industry as a whole.

Good analysis and information is hard to come by, so if you are now examining your plans for the year ahead, some questions you could already be asking might include:

• What's happening with winery visitation growth?
• What's happening with industry sales growth?
• When will millennials come to the rescue?
• Can wineries increase prices in 2017?
• Are we entering a vineyard real estate bubble?
• Will grape prices continue to rise?
• Can luxury brands increase price?
• How much can fine wine sales increase next year?
• What varietals are selling and who is buying?
• What role might bottled imports play?
• Which price points are moving or stalled? 

I started researching in late October, began writing the Annual Wine Report in middle November, augmented my findings in early December and completed writing by December 18th. I think I have a pretty good guess what the year ahead will be like and I want to share it with you!