With a portfolio of luxury wineries, including Domaine de la Romanee-Conti and Biondi Santi, Wilson Daniels has developed deep expertise in marketing luxury wines. With allocations, deep tracking of where wines go, and a heavy event schedule, Shannon Coursey, EVP of Sales & Marketing, describes how taking great care of the wines is critical. Detailed Show Notes: Wilson Daniels (“WD”) overviewFounded in 1978, they started as a domestic wine brokerage, In 1979, they were asked to represent Domaine de la Romanee-Conti (DRC) and became an importerRepresents 37 families with ~50 producers, ~⅓ France, ~⅓ Italy, ~⅓ New WorldOwns distribution in 5 states~35 sales managers, sells ~600k cases/yearImporter roleCurate portfolioDistributor management - make sure strategy is executedCreate messaging with the wineriesPricing - for WD, keep consistent around the countryEducationChannel mix - on/off premise, national accounts, chainsWork with pressKeeping wineries top of mind in trade - does a lot of eventsSourcingSources wineries with estate vineyards, some with the ability to scale (~⅓ of the portfolio), look for regions where they will not take away from existing producersAt optimal book size now, additions could be grower Champagne or 1-2 new Burgundy producersGrew portfolio a lot in recent years - ~20/37 families added in last 8 years, ~10 in last 3 years (including Gaja, Faiveley)Distributor managementWith RNDC and Breakthru in ~50% of statesCreate groups within the portfolio to help distributorsManage pricing, inventory, programming (sometimes)Does not allow wine closeouts, prefers to buy backFast Start program - incentives for new placements, not volumeWholesale Manager Bonus - for distribution managers, often trip-basedOther support methods - ask to be on focus, market work, getting the producer in marketMarketing winesCrafting messaging is critical, and some producers already know what they want (e.g., Gaja wants to be known as 4 different wineries)Does a lot of grassroots marketing - events around the country at top restaurants, visibility of on-premise placementsA lot of trips to wineriesIconic brands - taking care of the wine from start to finish, the allocation process is essential (~⅔ of brands are allocated)Lesser known brands - more about visibility, messaging is critical, can target a broader base (e.g., use more social media)Luxury - 3 key segments - sommeliers, collectors, criticsFor larger brands, does some consumer marketing: e.g., Bisol Prosecco - did 15 city tours, wrapped an Alfa Romeo car in Bisol green, did press, consumer, and trade events; went from 7k cases (2015) to 120k cases (2024)Process for building brands in the USCreate messagingEducation - WD wholesale team, WD national team, distributorsPR launch kit and sales kitIdentify channel mix, including target account listEvents (very different for each producer - e.g., vintage tastings for Biondi Santi, Faiveley; Gaja - white launch, Tuscan properties, Sicilian tasting)Re-establishing brands that had poor marketing (e.g., Biondi Santi, Dal Forno)Need to work through inventory in the gray marketDon’t lower prices to match the gray marketMake a splash on new vintage releasesDal Forno - launches in the US 6 months before the rest of the world, helps reduce gray market activityPrivate client group / direct-to-consumer~300 people by invitation onlyExperience-drivenMembers support the entire WD portfolio Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.