As my eyes opened on the morning of January 1, 2010, I realized that I had survived what Time Magazine described as ‘The Decade from Hell.’ Oh, a bit beaten-up and feeling a little like one of John Stewart’s Black Pig Meats salumis at the end of the sausage making process. Yes, the economic events of the past 10 years have put most of us through the grinder, but here we are at the other end, having survived to make, market and sell wine another day. A little more than 9 months ago, I started writing the Think Wine Marketing blog.

My timing coincided with the bottom of the business cycle. In short order the US stock market had lost more than half it’s value, ending March ’09 with a Dow Jones Market index below 6,500. Housing values, the base of asset wealth for most consumers continued to decline in all but a handful of smaller SMSA’s. Credit to small businesses had been so severely constricted as to be non-existent, especially for wineries with slow moving, devalued inventories. Times were tough for the wine industry. Before this recession, now called ‘The Great Recession,’ the wine industry had always been considered to be recession proof; but this time at best our industry has proven to be recession resilient. Several cultural and structural changes were accelerated by the difficult economic times that had direct effects on wine sales. As consumers rushed to reduce credit card debit and increase their rate of savings , a significant downward segment shift hit wine pricing almost overnight.

The pressures on pricing and the shift from fine dining to a more casual food experience with an emphasis on value, led to a rapid change in channel strategy for many wineries. The rapid movement from an on-premise focus to retail distribution had eviscerated any pricing leverage that formerly not sold at retail wineries had displayed, squeezing profits and/or creating negative margin sales. In light of the current times I decided to write a blog focused on wine marketing. A blog that in part told stories that would be of some help to smaller family wineries in these difficult times. I took a Socratic approach of creating a central narrative and then providing a workbook like ending. As I look back over the last 3 quarters of 2009, and look forward to 2010, I hope that I’ve helped provide some positive mentoring to at least a few family winecos out there in the ether.

READ FULL ARTICLE