In theory, I love that wineries are being run more like businesses. From a personal perspective, it means that good wineries can last longer, because they are no longer at the whims of an unstable balance sheet. From a professional perspective, I can totally relate to the business professionals mentioned in that article. The wine industry is a complex, fascinating industry that would keep anyone on their toes. Its complexities are what made my internship so interesting and what makes this class possible!
However, when faced with Terry Wheatley, I felt conflicted. I applaud her ability to grow a wine business as rapidly as she did. She is clearly smart, capable, and savvy. But I had a negative reaction to the Middle Sister wines because so much of what those wines are selling are the graphics and the brand personality, rather than what's in the bottle. According to Terry, what's in the bottle is simply table stakes. I recognize that my reaction is hypocritical, because when I fall in love with a winery, it is often because I visit the place, I get to know the people, and I like the wine. I'll be the first to acknowledge that I have passed on many great bottles of wine after a bad experience and probably purchased many mediocre bottles because the experience is so stellar. This comes back to the idea of authenticity and what every person's definition is. Our class with Terry led me to realize that for me authenticity means that everything from the wine, the story, the place, the emotion, and the people is coherent. It's not enough for me to just connect with the story being told. However, given the runaway success for the Middle Sister wines, it appears that many people think about authenticity differently. I wonder if you could run some kind of segmentation to identify these different definitions. By doing so, a winery could more easily target their ideal customers.
I agree, Emily. I felt a little odd after Friday's class. Unlike every other guest speaker (who owned a winery), nothing was mentioned about what makes their wine what it is. There was no mention of their grape growing, wine making, aging, barrels, traditions, etc. Can it really be all about the label, brand, and story? And now with multiple labels under one parent, what really distinguishes the wine in the $10 bottle vs. the $30 bottle?
ReplyDeleteEmily and Kaitlyn, I completely agree with you. I felt conflicted when I heard Terry speak. I must commend her for her ability to build an incredibly successful portfolio of wine brands, however, I did find it noticeable that she didn't speak about what was actually in the bottles that she was selling. Whilst she was focussed on the story behind the brand she was not focussed on the story of what was in the bottle (which for me I find more appealing). This course has shown me the importance of authenticity in the wine industry, and whilst Terry developed a great range of brands, I think her wine brands lacked this facet. That said, her brands have been incredibly successful and I really do admire the business that she was able to build.
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ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing. I felt conflicted as well, but I think that my reaction stems primarily from my own biases and opinions. Terry herself mentioned that she is not really a wine drinker - so she is someone on the other end of the spectrum, as compared to Doug Tomlinson of Vino Volo who puts much more importance on authenticity (to the point where loving and drinking wine is essentially a prerequisite for getting hired at Vino Volo). Then again, people sell things that they individually do not buy or use all the time. But I do wonder if Terry's own lack of experience or love of wine drinking, in part, has led her to develop a strong focus on the "story" about fictitious characters that are completely unrelated to the story of the vineyard. At that price point, though, and with wineries which may not have a meaningful story, maybe this is in fact the most effective approach to selling. Thus, despite her own personal experiences and preferences, Terry is a savvy business woman and I think she primarily uses the stories and labels because they work.
ReplyDeleteAs an avid wine consumer, I am actually very skeptical of "cute" labels with catchy names - to the point where I will not buy them. Whether warranted or not, I am concerned that these wineries are trying too hard to appeal to the consumer with simplistic advertising tactics (that have no tie to the winery itself) rather than with a quality product. And I think I am probably not alone here - it will be relatively difficult to convince more advanced, informed, or questioning wine consumers of the quality of these products if this is the image with which they are associated. But from the eyes of a tired mom racing through Target and trying to find something simple and cheap to look forward to at night, I can see why the labels sell. Middle Sister is clearly filling a niche and responding to the needs of a particular customer segment.