Ted Fleming’s Post

The wine industry has launched an assault on #SoberOctober and non-alcoholic beverages as if the sole existence of the booze-less category is to put a hit against wine. With its new campaign, Come Over October, wine folks are declaring you should grab a glass instead of going sober, because wine brings people together. Instead, #wine should really be looking at their core messaging because that's why wine is declining. At the #ComeOverOctober kick-off party, I had a conversation with a salesperson of a wine distributor. He attempted to be ok with the evolution of wine by explaining that ready-to-drink, single-serve wine brand, BeatBox, marketed to the 21 to 25-year-old set, was crushing the market. He was all for it. While the brand has wacky flavors like blueberry lemonade wine, he felt that every wine consumer “starts somewhere.” It was promising to him because he said they would “continue their wine journey” and start “drinking real wine.” So many problems here but here is the big one: They don’t often continue the wine journey. News flash, wine people! Consumers don’t have time. We don’t desire it. We want to build connections, not spend the evening only discussing what we want to drink. We have jobs and travel and bills to pay and kids and dogs and aging parents and hell, we just want to buy a house. We have no job security. We have been hit with recession after recession. Right now, inflation is making our groceries cost some 40% more. You really think we are jumping at the time-consuming task of learning about wine? Get real. We’ll grab a #Martini. And start ranting. Which is exactly what I'm doing in today's The Mad Ones 👇 Link in comments.

Here is the Bolle Drinks sales and marketing challenge. Let me know your creative ideas. A customer of ours recently saw a California alcohol free wine in her local supermarket (high end supermarket, award winning winery). She decided to buy it and try it. Her comments "This is terrible! Tastes like vinegar! Or wine that has sat in my fridge for two weeks & turned. And smells a bit like p*ss. No wonder it's on sale." Imagine what is happening. Every person that buys that wine thinks "alcohol free wine is disgusting" and the store manager thinks "alcohol free wine doesn't sell" because....nobody is buying the second bottle. Now the BOLLE job is: (a) Convince the customers that not all alcohol free wine is disgusting (b) Convince the store manager that actually yes, there is a demand, but you have to sell a product that people like It's why we say, Tasting is Bollieving - because people are amazed when they taste BOLLE Let me know your creative ideas to solve this. We need to teach the world that alcohol free wine can be amazing. #marketing #tastetest #alcoholfree #wine #sipsonlips

Wine sales are sluggish, young people are drinking less, and the specter of a "Neo-Prohibition" movement is stripping wine of its once-vaunted halo. Are we witnessing Dionysus’s last dance? 🍷 This is the question I ask in my latest Substack post, "The End of Wine": https://lnkd.in/ebFdwGqW. Most people here already know the answer, but I try to explore the nuances and not get caught up in more polarizing views that hold wine will be the death of us or teetotalers are trying to pry the wine from our hands. I got some help from wine friends, Rachel Martin, Ian Blessing, and Dave McIntyre. What I didn't say is that I love wine (mostly because Ian said it better). The last recreational glass of wine with alcohol I drank was a 1982 Château Lafite Rothschild. The last glass of wine I drank, this weekend, was from Kolonne Null GmbH - Der Alkoholfreie Wein "Le Grand Verdus." I throughly enjoyed both. This is one of my longest and most important articles via Substack. I'd love to do more essays that combine health, drinking, and culture in depth. I enjoy a good listicle as well as the next guy, but this is what sustains me. Not monetarily, soulfully. This article is free but please consider becoming a subscriber or sponsor. If you don't have the money now (it's $5 a month but times as they are) I'm happy to offer you a provisional membership. Just send me a DM. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy the essay! #mindfuldrinking #alcoholfree #nonalcoholic #boozefree #alcoholfreelife #mocktails #nonalcoholicdrink #noalcohol #cocktails #drinks #mocktail #alcoholfreebeer #zeroproof #bartender #nonalcoholicbeer #cocktailsofinstagram #mindfulness #wellness #wine #nonalcoholicwine

Having spent 15 years driving growth for a few wonderful craft breweries, and the last 5+ immersed in Bev Alc data, I've long been fascinated with what people want to drink. And I love seeing companies evolve to meet customer's needs. Derek Brown provides an interesting take on the flattening of the wine category and he's a great follow for anyone interested in keeping a finger on the pulse of the mindful drinking movement that includes less alcohol and more high-quality non- and low-alc alternatives. One thing I want to add - packaging matters. As we're discussing profitability benefits for wineries exploring non- and low-alc, we should also be considering sustainability (and the profitability benefits associated with it), and you can't have that conversation without including Tetra Pak, boxed, and canned wine, all of which have seen huge gains in $ sales. There are some really interesting brands putting excellent wine in alternative packages and I can't help but recall asking Ken Grossman to consider canning Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to better align with SNBC's tremendous sustainability efforts and ALSO give customers what they want (living in Denver, I was seeing Dale's Pale Ale everywhere - at concerts, tailgates, ski slopes, etc). SN did indeed start canning in 2012 (I like to think my persistence played a small role), and in 2024, up to 85% of craft beer is canned. (And we keep their non-alc Trail Pass IPA on hand as well, so certainly a great example of a company constantly evolving.) As Derek mentioned - there's a coolness factor with natural wine, and even more so with natural wines sustainably packaged. Jenny Lefcourt has certainly played a role in leading this charge with her French imports, and a newly formed Alternative Packaging Alliance has killer founding brands, many of which are boxing natural wines. Finally, as the only "drinker" in my household, and an aging one at that (see 20+ industry years), I'm delighted to be able to enjoy a glass of beautiful wine and not worry whether I'll be able to finish the bottle myself before it goes bad. Have you tried any of the newer boxed wines? Let me know your favorites!

In 2023, Forbes posed a grave warning for the wine industry—younger consumers in their prime spending years just weren't buying wine. What they didn’t know, is that La Vieille Ferme - the infamous Chicken Wine - was about to come clucking around the corner.    Was this UK moniker a shortcut for a French name Brits couldn’t pronounce or an incredibly clever publicity strategy from the brand itself? After all, it was originally named ‘Three French Hens’ by owners and fifth-generation wine makers The Famille Perrin, the same vintners behind Miraval – a wine that sold out within hours in 2013 - making them no stranger to success.   Either way the results speak for themselves, with reports of a 96% boost in La Vieille Ferme Rosé sales, attributed to the wine’s viral sensation.    So, the question becomes: what lessons can other brands take from its success? #brandstrategy #chickenwine #growth https://lnkd.in/e4aTYvtp

More than 500 people have taken our consumer survey about how drinking habits have changed. Have you? If you haven't taken it and you're not employed in the beverage alcohol business, please take this very short survey. You'll get the results when complete. #marketresearch #alcoholicbeverages #surveys #drinkinghabits #wine #beer #spirits #cocktails

If you love wine or are in-industry please read this article by Derek Brown. It is a comprehensive approach to addressing a complex and serious issue wineries are facing worldwide. Excluding adults who choose to live alcohol-free is not a productive solution to the decline in wine sales. The wine industry, including farmers, faces serious challenges stemming from a clogged distribution pipeline, a broader decline in alcohol consumption driven by health-conscious lifestyles, competition from alternative beverages, and the ongoing effects of climate change. No- and low-alcohol wines offer a vital lifeline for the industry. Dismissing their economic value, as some gatekeepers and industry traditionalists do, is short-sighted and harmful to the future of the wine industry as grapes go unsold and wineries’ bottled inventory continues to age.

Just like cheese, wine needs two places in the grocery store. A quick grab space of commodity wine that fills a functional need - your cheddar, jack, and swiss cheese priced by half pound. Then in a separate aisle your fancy wine place - your Epoisses, fancy blues and tartuffos - so that those who feel confused, haven't leveled up, or are only moderately interested won't need to agonize in confusion. Bonus, the marketers can then stop lumping consumers and wine together into one erroneous aggregate! https://lnkd.in/gW4z2mVi

Does wine in a box with a little umbrella count? The wine industry is facing a turning point as global wine consumption fell to its lowest level since 1996. That equates to 3.5 billion fewer bottles of wine. Worse, people are either drinking less wine or skipping alcohol all together. We're putting a cork in it and going dry. A generational shift has the wine industry worried. In the past, Baby Boomers have helped to keep the industry afloat, but today's generations aren't having it. And while factors such as inflation may be contributing to the decline, consumer preferences are a much significant issue. Wine is no longer the toast of the town. The shift has left wineries with tons of unpicked grapes and tanks of wine sitting in reserves. Separately, winemakers are investing heavily in marketing campaigns to bring customers back. But, that's a tall order because alcohol consumption is increasingly viewed as unhealthy by Americans. To rub non-alcoholic beverages in the wound, young adults are more likely than middle-aged and older adults to say alcohol presents health risks. That supports the trend since their alcohol consumption has dropped significantly in recent years. Pass the Chex Mix please. Say what you will, but people are not only drinking less, they're looking for cheaper options, which explains why non-alcoholic beers and cocktails are gaining traction. Whether wineries can expand their offerings or make a significant pivot remains to be seen. But, we're becoming less of the wine and cheese crowd, and more of the fizzy cocktail and Cheez-It gang https://lnkd.in/gj_cMH4Y #wine #beverage #business #alcohol #culture #genz #boomers #winery

📸 Want pretty food and wine pictures, tasting notes and a front row seat to our sourcing trips? Give our Instagram a follow (link in comments) - it'll kick into gear over the next few weeks. For now there is just one post that is none of the above, but we think it's pretty exciting :) 📊 We'll keep this page for more businessy insights stuff. For example, there's an interesting segmentation emerging in our mailing list membership: 📦 Group A: value convenience and not having to make decisions. Straight for the one button cart filling sampler packs. Despite us not having promoted these too heavily - they account for almost half of our sales since launch. And yep we hear you on the wine club requests - once we've sourced a wider range of whites over the next couple of months, it's coming your way! 🍷 Group B: love having a poke around and curating their own packs. Several of the sample pack bottles are still popular, but they're pulling in bottles from the other 50% of our total range as well. 💡 Which group do you belong to? Will be interesting to figure out if this split is driven by being time poor, or confidence in wine knowledge, or something else...