Small Fortune Podcast

Carol invited her friend Tim Allen, the founder of accounting firm AWG (Allen Wine Group) to join her for a conversation about a number of topics in wine industry finance including: the sale of his firm to a national company earlier this year, new rules in accounting that may affect wineries, how he helps his clients with banking relationships, and more. Carol shares her observations about the current state of the wine M&A market.

https://awgwine.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

When Scott Becker acquired virtual brand Realm Cellars in 2012 the business was heading for bankruptcy, but the brand had a great reputation. In this interview Scott tells the story of getting into the business, which he partially financed by assuming accumulated debts, and how he then found more debts, less cash, and a daily working capital struggle. After the momentum shift for the brand from a 100-point Parker score, the business finally turned the corner. Today, Realm is an estate winery with properties in the important Napa growing areas of Stags Leap, Pritchard Hill, and Coombsville. In the final story of this two-part series, Scott and host Carol Collison talk about Scott’s friendship with the great wine business attorney and Coombsville grape growing pioneer Frank Farella, founder of Farella, Braun + Martel.

https://www.realmcellars.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

This episode is a re-release of Episode 4 of the Small Fortune podcast that was originally released in September 2023, before host Carol Collison cobbled together a “good enough” recording routine. Her audio is really bad, but Sam sounds great, and the impetus for the original interview, increases in the federal funds rate by the Federal Reserve and how that change ended a transaction that Carol had been working with Sam on as the representative of the Seller. Since growing inflation pressure may cause the Fed to increase rates again, we’re re-releasing it. You will wince when you hear Carol’s questions but hang in there: this episode is mostly very wonderful stories from a talented wine business entrepreneur, Sam Bilbro.

Original episode notes: Sam Bilbro is a 4th generation winemaker and owner of the brand Idlewild which specializes in wines made from Piedmontese varieties grown in and around Northern Sonoma County. Carol and Sam talk about the business case for these niche wines, as well as his thinking behind his retail Italian wine and food shop. They also talk about the business lessons he learned from his father, Chris Bilbro, founder of Marietta Cellars.

https://www.overshinewines.com/

https://ciaobruto.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

The first episode of a 2-part interview with Scott Becker tells the story of how he entered the wine business and the mentor relationships he cultivated that helped him advance his career. Jack Cakebread brought him into the Valley and vouched for him to Vic Motto, founding partner of GWP with current partner Mike Fisher. Vic and Mike hired him to work at Global Wine Partners, which is where podcast host Carol Collison and he met. He next moved to Harlan estate. Hear all the lessons he learned leading up to his acquisition of Realm Cellars, which is the subject of Part 2.

https://www.realmcellars.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

Tracy Sweeney had a big job managing the DTC operations for six luxury Napa brands in the Treasury Wine portfolio when she decided to leave to join a partner in founding Tomorrow Cellars, a company that produces alcohol-removed wines. Learn about her keys to management success in large companies, why she decided to become an entrepreneur, and the wild process of building a wine brand while learning how to make and sell a product that is regulated not by the TTB but by the FDA, and all the complexities that come with that. Carol and Tracy discuss a myriad of topics including the broad category of non-alcoholic adult beverages and her product’s role in keeping wine in front of those drinkers and occasions. Tracy’s products reflect the philosophy she learned from an early boss, Cathy Corison (interviewed in ep 28): “Wine represents a moment in time at a place on earth.”

https://tomorrowcellars.com/

https://www.globalwinebank.com/2024/08/cathy-corisons-approach-to-business-success/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

Host Carol Collison talks to Nexterra Wine’s Director of Global Wine Sourcing Duncan Marks, a passionate and effective business traveler, about how his private label wine company Nexterra serves its winery and retailer clientele through fulfilling specific wine product requests as well as discovering and delivering new ideas. Duncan describes how he travels the world to source wine, the key annual wine trade shows. The conversation also includes an in-depth discussion about how to build and maintain successful international wine business relationships. The keys to success are, in addition to actually visiting current and potential suppliers: respect, curiosity and communication.

https://www.nexterrawine.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

As today’s guest Stuart Spencer - grape grower, winemaker, and Executive Director of the Lodi Winegrape Commission – puts it in today’s interview, the US is the only major wine producing country in the world that allows its national wine designation to include foreign-source wine. Carol and Stuart discuss the recent failure of a California law, AB 1585. With American grapes going unsold and growers in severe economic distress, California growers and many others in the industry joined together to eliminate this Federal labelling loophole. The industry is working on new ideas to accomplish this goal, and in her introduction, Carol encourages all stakeholders to come together to try to find a solution that works for everyone. Also included in the interview is a discussion of the role of grower organizations in the wine business as well as the podcast’s usual subject: how to be successful in the wine business.

https://lodigrowers.com/

https://stamantwine.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

Barra of Mendocino was founded by Charlie Barra, who began planting grapes in Mendocino in 1955. Martha joined the enterprise through marriage in 1980. Hear about the beauty of off-the-beaten path Mendocino, the cool-climate California growing region most committed to organic growing. Martha discusses the decision to convert their vineyards to organic farming in 1988. Through the family’s Redwood Valley Cellars, Barra is also a leading producer of organic wine for their own brand as well as on a custom basis for other wineries. Both the vineyards and the winery are CCOF certified (California Certified Organic Farming.) Host Carol Collison and Martha discuss the benefits of organics in general and CCOF certification in particular, and biochar makes another Small Fortune appearance.

https://www.barraofmendocino.com/

https://www.redwoodvalleycellars.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

The Small Fortune Podcast is centered on the stories of entrepreneurial and small business success in the wine industry, but the lessons from large company management can be useful too. In today’s podcast, host Carol Collison speaks with Stephen Brauer, currently an industry consultant who has senior management experience at some of the wine industry’s largest companies. The two discuss why this moment in the industry may be actually harder for larger companies to navigate, whether the wine business is suitable for public markets, and what a comprehensive “route to market” strategy looks like, including the concept Stephen calls “ways of working”, which defines how a company can optimize performance in wholesale markets.

https://vinexcel.com/

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran

Randall Grahm is a highly creative person whose ideas have been expressed in a number of well-known and successful brands. At various times during his career his Big House, Cardinal Zin, and Bonny Doon wine labels were sold to others, and now he has turned his unique point of view to the creation of a “sense of place”, or terroir, at his estate in San Benito on the Central Coast of California.  Grape growers will be fascinated by his discussion of creating new varieties, how genetic diversity in the vineyard contributes to the expression of terroir, how the use of biochar “makes soil smart” and more. For winery owners and managers, Randall discusses his lessons learned over his career such as finding and building on underappreciated varietal niches, his unique use of humor in wine branding, and why the sale of Big House affected his winery operations. Carol and Randall also discuss today’s challenges in reaching younger consumers who are more visually oriented, and so less reachable through language, where Randall’s creativity as a writer really shines.

https://www.popelouchum.com/

https://www.abebooks.com/9780520259560/Been-Doon-Long-Randall-Grahm-0520259564/plp

Questions? Comments? [email protected]

Sponsor: Global Wine Partners https://www.globalwinebank.com/

Editor: John Kiernan, The PodHouse Productions

www.thepodhouseproductions.com

Music: Nate Collison

Logo Photography: John Corcoran