In this episode of Wine Industry Insiders, George Christie interviews Rebecca Hopkins, wine marketing expert and founder of A Balanced Glass and Rebecca Hopkins Wine. 🍷 Rebecca shares her journey from McLaren Vale, Australia, to becoming a leader in wine PR, sales, and storytelling. She discusses the importance of authenticity in marketing, the role of tasting room staff, and the evolving media landscape. Rebecca also dives into mindful drinking, the rise of non-alcoholic wines, and how wine professionals can maintain balance in an alcohol-centric industry. Tune in for a captivating conversation on navigating the wine business and fostering industry wellness!

When the estate winery Lakewood Vineyards found themselves with an especially abundant 2021 harvest and a vision to create an easy-drinking product with the pizzazz to compete with the seltzer crowd, they turned to their Waterloo Container sales team. A solution for how Lakewood could offer an effervescent low-alcohol beverage with appeal to younger consumers would bubble up from our regular conversations with the winery. A favorable price point would be important for Lakewood’s new product launch, and our team quickly identified a stock bottle option aligned with their goals: A pressure-rated 375 ml mini with a twist-off crown cap for their new ready-to-drink single serving Rosé spritzer. Sidekick, which features the likeness of Fizzy the Australian shepherd, companion to Lakewood’s assistant winemaker, has become the top seller at their Wine Wagon, a by-the-glass mobile bar. Sidekick is also gaining market share in the New York City metro area. For every bottle of

Paso Robles, CA – August 30, 2023 — WineDirect, the leader in direct-to-consumer (DTC) services for the wine industry, has officially broken ground on its highly anticipated fulfillment center in the heart of Paso Robles, California. This groundbreaking ceremony marks a significant milestone for the company, further cementing its commitment to providing exceptional service and innovation within the wine industry. The new, 200,000 square foot, state-of-the-art fulfillment center, strategically located in Paso Robles, a renowned wine region known for its rich viticultural heritage, will replace the existing, 30,000 square foot facility. This facility will allow WineDirect to bring their cutting-edge logistics technology and deep understanding of the wine industry’s unique needs to a much greater number of wineries as well as expand the company’s services to offer much-needed storage for wineries on the central coast.  “We are thrilled to announce the gr

After navigating our client’s business and company growth during the last two roller-coaster years, I was ready for a significant break. Armed with credits from two canceled vacations and many pent-up credit card miles, I cashed in for an extended European visit in July. While there, my husband and I traveled to and stayed in four major wine-tasting regions: Alsace, Champagne, Burgundy, and the Rhine/Mosel. While there are countless and apparent differences between how France, Germany, and the US promote tourism and sell wine directly to customers, there are equal similarities if you look hard enough. As a native of Napa, wine tourism and marketing wash over me. But, on this trip, I found myself in the rare role of a focused tourist. So, I became aware of the marketing cues and delivery vehicles and noted what worked, and what didn’t.  HERE’S SOME OF WHAT I LEARNED: 1. YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BAGUETTE BY ITS CRUST. If I were to ask you to paint a picture of your idea

The second quarter of 2022 offers multiple opportunities for taking the pulse of the DTC landscape. Headwinds against DTC growth have been brewing, but is their impact actually showing up in the data?  American Canyon, California and Atlanta, Georgia: WineDirect and Enolytics released their third collaborative report, “Q2 2022 Report, With Six Key Takeaways for Wine DTC.” Populated by WineDirect’s ecommerce records and powered by Enolytics’ technology, the report reflects on the current state of Wine DTC and delivers actionable insights for wineries to apply today. The DTC wine industry continues to keep everyone on our toes. While overall DTC sales continue to grow, Q2 sales growth has slowed noticeably compared with Q1. Download the report now to uncover tips to prepare for changing economic conditions and be the first to capitalize on new trends in Wine Club, Tasting Room, and Ecommerce sales. The report is available by registering at this link. For mo

The first quarter of 2022 maintains a positive trend, in terms of Net Sales, however, we're seeing data highlighting new considerations at both a global and local scale. American Canyon, California and Atlanta, Georgia: WineDirect and Enolytics released their second collaborative report, “Q1 2022 Report, With Five Key Takeaways for Wine DTC.” Populated by WineDirect’s ecommerce records and powered by Enolytics’ technology, the report reflects on the current state of Wine DTC and delivers actionable insights for wineries to apply today. The first quarter of 2022 maintains a positive trend, in terms of Net Sales, however, this report uncovers data highlighting new considerations at both a global and local scale. Events so far this year are already impacting wine production, tourism, and consumption patterns: inflation, ongoing COVID concerns, war in Ukraine, supply chain restrictions. Download the report now to uncover tips to prepare for changing economic c

Highlighting DTC continued success and high performance in 2021, even as wineries reduced discounts and increased prices. American Canyon, California and Atlanta, Georgia: WineDirect and Enolytics released today their first collaborative report, “2021 Direct-To-Consumer Impact Report: What Wineries Need to Do Now.” Populated by WineDirect’s 200 million ecommerce records and powered by Enolytics’ technology, the report delivers actionable insights that are derived from a scale of data and depth of analysis never before seen in the wine industry.  Top line takeaways include:  The DTC space does not align with the “doom and gloom” of some reports regarding the health and future of the wine industry at large. Obviously this report is specific to DTC and does not reflect a 360-degree view of the industry. But for DTC, the trends are decidedly positive.  The percentage of women as DTC wine consumers is growing faster than men. In addition, G

Brian BakerBrian Baker is managing partner at Cultivar, a wine sales and marketing company specializing in three-tier, direct-to-consumer, and export channels. We spoke with Brian last year on tasting rooms and the changes that came with the COVID-19 pandemic; now, we turned to him again to talk about imports and how foreign wine brands are now looking at direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. You‌ ‌can‌ ‌listen‌ ‌to‌ ‌the‌ ‌full‌ ‌interview‌ ‌here‌ ‌or‌ ‌read‌ ‌the‌ ‌abridged‌ ‌version‌ ‌below‌:‌ ‌ Milton Cornwell: Today, I have Brian Baker, who really needs no introduction. His background in the wine and hospitality space is extensive and includes senior leadership positions at Jackson Family Wines, Chateau Montelena, and Mayacamas Vineyards. We first caught up with him in 2020, right after the pandemic had hit, and got into many topics, mo

As a new year begins, we at Ciatti wish all of our friends, clients and business associates a very happy, healthy and prosperous 12 months ahead. We thank you for your continued support and have our fingers crossed that 2021 will be a more straightforward year for the world than its predecessor was.  As every January, this month’s report looks back at the year just passed and ahead to the new one. It’s always risky in this business to feel confident in forecasting how the next 12 months will go, but this year – given the unprecedented times we are living through – it is even riskier, so apologies in advance if the respective ‘Looking Ahead’ sections from each office seem a little reticent.  What do we know for sure? COVID-19 bifurcated the bulk wine market in the last nine months of 2020 and this is likely to continue in the first half of 2021. In the off-trade – which has largely stayed open as normal – and online, wine sales h