What kind of founder quits a high-paying tech job to launch a single-SKU wine brand in an unfamiliar package — and manages to raise $1.4 million to do it?

In this episode, Felicity talks to Daniel Rodriguez, founder of Currently Wine Co., a Sauvignon Blanc from California’s Central Coast packaged in an aluminium bottle. The packaging isn’t just a gimmick: it’s core to the bigger mission of lowering the carbon footprint of wine while supporting nearshore environmental projects, from oyster bed regeneration to coral reef restoration.

Daniel explains how he:

Raised nearly $1 million from friends and former colleagues in a friends-and-family round

Opened up a second round via crowdfunding to let everyday consumers invest

Acquired the assets of ProudPour and turned them into a more focused brand

Solved the technical nightmare of bottling wine in aluminium with a closure nobody had standardised

Chose to launch with just one wine, in one region, despite distributor pressure to go wide

We also cover:

Why distribution is the biggest bottleneck for new wine brands

The branding lessons he brought over from tech (and why wine needs to catch up)

The rigorous taste-testing process behind the wine itself—and why he scrapped several early blends

Whether you're a founder, investor, distributor, or just curious about how wine brands actually get built, this is a rare, nuts-and-bolts conversation about what it really takes to launch something new in a saturated market.

Mentioned in this episode:

Currently Wine

Republic (crowdfunding platform)

Meet your host:

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

Christian Miller, Research Director at the Wine Market Council and founder of Full Glass Research, joins Felicity Carter to explore changes in wine consumption. With decades of market research behind him, Christian outlines how economic, cultural, and demographic shifts are shaping the way Americans approach wine.

From the decline of traditional wine drinkers to the rise of hybrid and alternative alcohol products, the conversation covers a range of factors that are altering the market. Christian also examines the role of gender, income, and ethnicity in changing wine preferences, and discusses why some long-standing assumptions no longer hold true.

Whether you're in the wine trade or just curious about consumer behavior, this episode offers a grounded and data-driven perspective on the future of wine.

This episode covers:

Key reasons behind the recent decline in US wine consumption

Differences between generational attitudes toward wine

The effect of economic pressure and wellness trends on alcohol buying

How wine's unique position has been diluted by market competition

Results from category shifting and consumer behavior research

Emerging demographic and ethnic shifts in wine consumption

Gender-specific perceptions of wine among younger drinkers

Consumer response to packaging formats like cans and boxes

Prospects for wine labeling, transparency, and simplified consumer guidance

Meet your host:

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

How can wine businesses innovate while remaining true to tradition?

Jonathan Steyn, convener of the Wine Business Management and Hospitality Leadership program at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, offers a way forward, grounded in both practical experience and academic rigour. An expert in market creation and innovation, he addresses everything from overcoming traditional mindsets to navigating global market shifts and connecting with new generations.

He gave lots of practical advice on:

and

Meet your host:

Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

It gets you drunk, hungover and sick. And yet we go back for more. What’s the attraction of alcohol?

According to Professor Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Stumbled, and Danced Our Way to Civilization, alcohol is the key to civilisation. In this insightful episode of Drinks Insider, he tells host Felicity Carter that much of what we think about alcohol is false.

We did not, for example, develop a taste for it because over-ripe, fermenting fruit has more calories. Nor did we value it primarily as a way of rendering dirty water safe to drink.

Instead, it’s a cultural technology that helped early humans forge larger cooperative societies, overcoming the limitations of small-group living. Without it, we’d never have learned to trust strangers.

In this episode of Drinks Insider, Prof. Slingerland discusses:

Professor Slingerland argues that alcohol's benefits in fostering social cohesion and creativity have been fundamental to the development of human civilisation, even if modern high-strength options present new challenges.

#DrinksInsider #Podcast #AlcoholHistory #Civilization #EdwardSlingerland #ScienceOfDrinking #SocialDrinking #Creativity #MythsBusted #FelicityCarter #DrinksPodcast

Who created the Finnish long drink? When did Finns start drinking wine? And how does wine get into their glasses?

At a time of market turbulence, when wineries are looking for new export markets, why not consider Finland? And for anybody interested, the person to talk to is Heidi Mäkinen MW, Portfolio Manager and Partner at Viinitie importing company. She’s the former Best Sommelier of Finland and a well-known WSET educator.

She talks sommeliers and Finland’s restaurant scene, why the Finns love acidity in their drinks so much, and how the wine market works. Plus, Heidi has great insights into the on-trade market generally.

The first time Natalie Wang drank wine she found it ‘rancid’.

Today, Natalie is Southeast Asia’s leading voice for the wine trade. She began as a hard news journalist for outlets like the International Herald Tribune and Reuters, before moving to work with James Suckling, which opened her eyes to the world of fine wine.

In 2019 she founded Vino-Joy, a wine trade magazine based in Hong Kong, which offers business-focused coverage of the Asian wine market, addressing a major gap in the English language media. After attracting significant attention, Don St Pierre invested in the fledgling company, which is now a research house as well as a media outlet.

In this episode, Natalie explains the unique challenges and opportunities of the Chinese wine market, highlighting its significant contraction since 2020 and the shift from a gifting and banquet-driven market to one with a growing base of younger consumers interested in categories like off-dry Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc. She discusses the decline in Bordeaux sales and a rise in interest in Chinese domestic wines.

The episode further explores emerging wine markets in Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand. Altogether the conversation is a comprehensive overview of the Asian wine market from an insider’s perspective.

Morten Sørensen is the man behind ISH Spirits, a revolutionary line of non-alcoholic drinks that have taken the beverage world by storm — including listings on the Michelin-starred menus at 11 Park Madison and Alchemy. And he’s done the unthinkable, like partnering with car companies.

In this entertaining episode, Morten shares his journey from running a creative agency in Copenhagen to travelling the world as a digital nomad, to identifying a gap in the market for mindful drinking. Despite knowing absolutely nothing about beverages, he set out to create drinks that would make it easy to participate in every social occasion, with or without alcohol.

He discusses how he developed non-alc spirits that mimic the taste and experience of their alcoholic counterparts, and what it takes to get that first export order, including the need to get to the airport fast. He reveals what he’s got in his warehouse, and why knowing someone who is handy with carpentry is a must for start-ups. He also reveals how he secured those initial supermarket deals to pioneering marketing activations with car companies and music festivals.

And, finally, he reveals what it is that makes Denmark such a creative powerhouse for beverages.

Drinks Insider comes out every two weeks. If you can't wait that long between episodes, check out my other bi-weekly podcast, A Question of Drinks. My co-host Lulie Halstead and I explore a drinks question each week. Think of us as the Freakonomics of drinks.

Jonathan Reeve, co-founder of BevSuit, is on a mission to get the wine companies to improve profitability by embracing data-driven decision-making — using the data locked up in their own company.

He shares insights from his extensive experience at Treasury Wine Estates, Wine Searcher, and Liv-ex, and explains what he’s learned about email marketing strategies, the importance of data integration, and value-based selling. 

Jonathan also touches on the impact of AI on the wine business and the growing market for low and no-alcohol products. This is a great episode for anybody who wants to improve profitability by embracing efficiency, flexibility, and data-driven decision-making — by using what already exists.

[00:01:55] The beginning of BevSuite and its mission.

[00:07:53] Working at WineSearcher and the creation of its wine database.

[00:12:04] Data disconnectedness: Why this is such a significant issue and how it hinders smooth information flor from winery to customer.

[00:25:02] Value-based selling and why data’s value should determine its price.

[00:34:09] Concierge email marketing and how it’s done.

[00:46:11] BevSuite's seven pillars: Sourcing, receiving, managing, marketing, selling, shipping, and customer analytics

[00:55:10] Profitability tips: Efficiency, calm decision-making, and flexibility

https://www.bevsuite.com/about

Everybody says they want to attract a new generation of consumers to wine, but Jess Druey’s gone and done it.

In this episode of Drinks Insider she tells the unlikely story of how a college dropout launched a wine brand at 22, after Googling how to make wine. From getting her Mom to help package and send the bottles to partnership with the McBride Sisters, to taking home the $250,000 first prize on Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars, this is one of the unlikeliest stories in wine.

But it works. Jess honed her skills at Red Bull, and she brings her relentless focus on social media and community building to Whiny Baby, along with a completely new way of looking at packaging.

If you need some inspiration, this is the episode for you. Jess shows that there’s a new consumer group out there who is not just open to wine — they’re waiting to hear more.

[2:08] Jess discusses the brand lessons she learned at Red Bull.

[5:10] The impetus for Whiny Baby and how she developed the brand.

[10:54] Early experiences, mistakes and reversals.

[14:13] Jess explains how she got her strategic partnership with the McBride sisters.

[28:58] Jess talks about her experience on Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars and that quarter of a million dollars. 

[52:07] How to build a social community who’ve got your back and will help you develop your brand.

Your Host, Felicity Carter

Based in Europe, Felicity Carter is a well-known journalist, editor and researcher. Among other roles, she is currently Editorial Director of Areni Global, the fine wine think tank headquartered in London. Previously, she was founding Executive Editor of The Drop at Pix, editorial consultant for Liv-ex, and Editor in Chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International, which she built into the world’s premier business publication, with subscribers in 38 countries. Her work has appeared in The Age and Sydney Morning Herald newspapers in Australia, and in The Guardian US, among many others. 

She was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

And her other podcast is A Question of Drinks with the fabulous Lulie Halstead. It’s like the Freakonomics of Drinks. Check it out!

The wine trade is facing its worst trading conditions in 30 years — but it doesn’t have to be that way. That’s according to long-time wine industry observer and well-known journalist Jeff Siegel, who’s been immersed in the US market for going on 40 years.

This alternate title for this episode could be ‘Bitchin’ With Jeff’ as he offers his no-holds-barred take on what’s gone wrong and why.

Is there any hope? He says yes, and outlines what needs to be done to appeal to new consumers while retaining the old ones, and securing the future of wine for at least another generation.

In this episode of Drinks Insider we discuss:

[00:10:00] Premiumization, a term coined around 2010-2012. It’s the idea that Americans wanted to drink 'better' wine, leading to a focus on more expensive bottles, which increased margins for wineries, growers and retailers, but pushed out affordable options.

[00:14:09] The wine market has become very brand-focused and consumers are now brand loyal. But as the big brands become more homogenous and take up more shelf space, consumer choice is being narrowed.

[00:21:58] The restaurant industry's focus on high-priced wine to make up for costs has also hurt the industry, with many restaurants now selling poor-quality wine at high prices, with little appeal to consumers.

[00:28:21] How the wine trade can woo back entry-level wine drinkers.

[00:31:59] Despite a current grape glut, the moment for another "Two Buck Chuck" style wine is gone because the wine business has changed. 

[00:41:08] Jeff knows exactly when the temperance movement re-emerged and why.

Sounds like fun? It is! It’s a lively conversation with someone who knows what they’re talking about and who can point the way forward.

And don’t miss the next episode, with Jess Druey, founder of Whiny Baby, who is living proof that a different approach can bring a whole new audience to wine.