The Annual SVB Videocast is next Tuesday, June 17th.  Why should you listen? Prescience. Read below, please. The following is the blog post I made on April 28th, 2019, before the DTC videocast. There hasn't been a single edit. The underscored part is exactly as written 6 years ago. The wine business is far more complex than people think. It's a maze of complexities with different models, varying paths to the consumer, pressure from federal, local, and state regulations, a lack of good information, controlling power in a small numbers of hands and changing consumer demand. Oftentime decisions are made with the love of the product in mind, versus a business decision being made with financial returns in mind. Perhaps the greatest risk we should all be most worried about is our tendency to continue on on a path that's successful. If it works, we keep riding the trend as far as we can, until the strategy fails. In an industry that takes 5 years to get a fully mature y

Please join us on Tuesday, June 17, 9:00 am - 10:30am PST for a live, virtual event to review findings and predictions from our 2025 Direct-to-Consumer Wine Report. Our panel of wine industry leaders will review the findings from our latest DtC wine survey and share their thoughts on the evolution of the market. During the event, you’ll hear today’s wine sales and marketing trends, examine industry growth strategies and participate in our panel’s Q&A session. A few of the topics we plan to address are:  Market trends that show glimmers of hopeful news as we progress through the current business cycle. Personalized, community- and experienced-based marketing strategies that are being used to successfully engage with younger consumers. Making sense of the ever-fluctuating wine club, tasting room and wholesale channel sales percentages. The potential benefits of piloting variable, traffic-based tasting fees. Our exclusive panel of wine industry innovators will i

Nearly 3,000 attendees from dozens of the wine-producing countries of the world tuned in on January 18th to hear from Rob McMillan, EVP & Wine Division Founder, Crimson Wine Group CEO Jennifer Locke, industry innovator Paul Mabray, and Enolytics SVP of Professional Services Ed Thralls as they discussed the trends and findings identified in SVB’s 23rd annual State of the US Wine Report.  Watch the Replay: State of the US Wine Industry - 2024 Virtual Event (youtube.com)  Read the Report Here: State of the US Wine Industry Report 2024 | Silicon Valley Bank (svb.com)  Recognizing the Need for Change  The key findings indicate that the alcohol beverage market across the board is in a period of change, driven by evolving consumer dynamics, including the aging of older wine-focused boomers, who are being replaced by a new set of primary consumers who drink across categories, drink less wine, and consume less alcohol.   “With the current messaging

Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, today released its 2024 State of the US Wine Industry Report. Widely regarded as the leading source for market trends in the premium wine sector, the annual report provides an assessment of the industry, analysis of current market conditions and forecasts for the year ahead. The report is based on proprietary research and survey data collected from more than 500 wineries across the US. "Now more than ever, changing market dynamics favor wineries that adapt to a changing demand environment," said Rob McMillan, Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division founder and author of the report. "Solutions to changing demand should include collaboration across the industry, but absent that, finding increased efficiencies in marketing and sales will become critical for success. Future demand improvement will rely on the industry's ability to attract new and younger consumers, take market share from oth

Please join us on Thursday, January 18 for a live, virtual event to review findings and predictions from our 2024 State of the US Wine Industry Report.  Don’t miss an opportunity to discuss the emerging trends impacting the wine industry. Our panel of industry leaders will discuss their observations on the current business climate, offer their take on the evolution of the wine market and share insights on what is needed for continued success in the years to come.  We plan on covering the following topics:  The continued growth of advanced analytics in our industry  The positive outlook for premium wine sales  A silver lining to the declines in tasting room visitations  Tactics to overcome an increasingly crowded marketplace  The root causes of the ongoing decline in total wine sales  Our panel will include the following industry thought leaders: Rob McMillan, EVP & Founder, Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division  Jen Locke, CEO, Crimson

Afternoon Brief, June 7th

Pix Poised to Re-Emerge Despite Legal and Financial Challenges: Paul Mabray started Pix in late 2020 and launched it the following year. The company cut most all its writers and editors in August 2022 after a round of funding didn’t materialize, but next week a customer-focused website portal for vintners and retailers called Pix Business is set for rollout...

US Wine Industry Enters Negative Growth Phase; Adoption by New and Younger Consumers Is Lagging  NAPA, Calif. – January 18, 2023 –Silicon Valley Bank, the bank of the world’s most innovative companies and the US premium wine industry, today released its 2023 State of the US Wine Industry Report. The 22nd edition of the annual report provides an assessment of the industry amid current market conditions and shares a unique forecast for the year ahead based on proprietary research and economic and behavioral trends among consumers. While the premium side of the wine industry experienced another strong year amidst an increasingly challenging marketplace – with revenue on average up 9.7 percent through September 2022 – the US wine industry as a whole experienced negative sales volume growth due to a decrease in sales of lower-priced wine. Silicon Valley Bank will host a live webinar with Silicon Valley Bank Wine Division founder and author of the

The answer to the blog title is the point of the Annual SVB Direct to Consumer Videocast, which is taking place this coming Wednesday, June 15th.  You can sign up to receive the SVB DtC Report, receive a link to the live presentation, and a post-conference link to the videocast replay ----> [HERE.]  The past two years have presented us with dislocation and change that needs unbundling. With an expert live panel (below) we will take 90 minutes to discuss the current state of the Direct to Consumer Wine Business, and offer our views on what's coming next:   Internet sales from wineries grew by 500% when the Nation locked down in 2020. Internet sales are holding steady since the reopening. That is a permanent consumer change.  The change to by-appointment tastings for years was resisted by many in the wine community. There was always the fear that moving away from the walk-in model would reduce sales opportunities. But regional mandates required tasting room ap