Wine Books Revisited: Lewis Perdue’s “The Wrath of Grapes”
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
2d ago
A look back at The Wrath of Grapes by Lewis Perdue (Spike Books / Avon, 1999). Over long, hard decades, American winemakers have won the respect of connoisseurs everywhere. Many of the world’s most cherished, and expensive, wines come from the United States. But today, the unique and eccentric wine industry faces a grim set of challenges that could transform it forever: oversupply in the face of flat consumption, devastating vineyard diseases, an antiquated distribution system, fierce competition from abroad, attacks from anti-alcohol forces, and an inability to capitalize on wine’s prov ..read more
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The Tax Man, Carl Lewis, and the Paradox of South African Wine
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
1w ago
It was an unlikely pairing. Thirty years ago the legendary Olympic champion Carl Lewis became the face of Pirelli, the Italian tire maker. “Power is nothing without control,” the advertisements proclaimed. This photo of sprinter Lewis in high heels made the point very well (as did a spectacular television commercial). Power without a strong foundation isn’t very useful. It is important to assess situations from the ground up (where the “rubber meets the road”) rather than simply top-down. The Tax Man Cometh What prompts my interest in vintage tire advertisements?  I am inspired by recent ..read more
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What’s Your Wine’s Story? From 19 Crimes to 1000 Stories
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
2w ago
“What Young Wine Drinkers Want” is the title of a recent Financial Times article by Hannah Crosbie, one of several recent reports probing the priorities and buying habits of younger consumers. Taken together, they give anyone concerned about the future of the wine industry a lot to think about. Compared to the baby boomers who drove the wine industry for many years, younger consumers differ greatly in terms of their economic situation, communications preferences, relationship to alcohol, and much else. The Changing Nature of “Story Wines” One common theme is that younger consumers want more th ..read more
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License to Steal 2024: Forging Best Practices in Wine Marketing
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
3w ago
I will be in Syracuse, New York, next week to speak at License to Steal, a national wine marketing conference that is being held in conjunction with the Eastern Winery Exposition. License to Steal? Well, it is all about wine industry people gathering to talk about their marketing experiences, encouraging each other to “steal” strategies that have worked as a way to grow the total market pie. This would be called “sharing best practices” in consultant-speak. It is a great idea whatever you call it and very important today when the wine industry faces many headwinds. License to Steal is nearly 2 ..read more
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From Yellow Jersey to Blue Bin: Wine Bottle Innovation Steps Up
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
1M ago
Last week’s Wine Economist stressed the need to adapt to changing wine market conditions and to embrace innovations as part of that process. However, innovations are not always readily accepted (often rightly so). There is often the fear that change will simply ruin whatever good or service is being considered. Curse of the Paperback Novel The economist Paul Krugman likes to point to an innovation in the publishing industry that was initially met with fear and alarm. It will be the end of publishing and literature as we know it, critics said. What was the next big thing that got authors and pu ..read more
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Got Bacon? What Can the Wine Industry Learn from Pork’s Problems?
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
1M ago
The outline of the Wall Street Journal story was very familiar to anyone who has followed wine industry trends in recent years. The product had a long history and was well-loved in America and around the world. But the industry itself was in crisis. Demand was down. Part of the problem was health concerns and part of it was price (its retail price was higher than the most popular substitute). Worse of all, younger consumers were turning away. Production costs kept rising and rising, but retail prices not so much (or at all, in some cases) eating margins and leaving red ink stains on the accoun ..read more
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Stalin, Machiavelli, and Nutritional Labels for Wine
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
1M ago
If you want to start an argument among wine industry people, bring up the issue of nutritional labeling. Should wine labels provide consumers with the same kind of nutritional information and ingredient lists as found on most other food and drink items? Stand back! The Soviet System There is an old joke that everything in Stalin’s Soviet Union was either mandatory or forbidden and sometimes it seems like that’s the logic behind wine label regulations. All wines in the U.S. market already have some required information on the label, but thi smainly  takes the form of warnings. Beware of al ..read more
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The Road Ahead: Lessons from the Unified Symposium
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
1M ago
What’s the state of the wine industry? Here are four observations inspired by things I learned at the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium‘s State of the Industry session and in hallway conversations. The theme, if there is one, is a spin on Robert Frost’s poem about the road not taken. The industry needs to choose a direction. Follow the well-trodden path that got us where we are or break away? Frost thought the choice was significant. What do you think? One: The wine industry has a problem. But it isn’t just wine’s problem. Everyone knows that the volume of wine sold has declined in recent yea ..read more
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The Case for Cautious Optimism about the Future of Wine
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
2M ago
Sue and I have just returned from the 30th edition of the Unified Wine & Grape Symposium in Sacramento. The Unified is the largest wine industry gathering in the Western Hemisphere with about 12,000 attendees over three days and 900 trade show exhibitors. If you want to take the pulse of the American wine industry, this is the place to go. So how is the industry’s health? Well, if you go by the economic indicators such as sales trends (more about this next week), the patient is in bad shape.  There was bad news in the wine press and the expectation that more bad news was coming (it di ..read more
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A Look Back at the Future of Wine
The Wine Economist
by Mike Veseth
2M ago
The Unified Wine & Grape Symposium, North America’s largest wine industry conference and trade show, is happening this week in Sacramento, California. It is an exciting event where people from throughout the industry (and around the world) gather to share concerns and ideas about the challenges facing wine today. Questions about the future of wine are never far below the surface of these discussions, which perhaps might explain why, in the run-up to the Unified, a very old Wine Economist column has suddenly started to get more clicks. The column was called “The Future of Wine” and it appea ..read more
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