As one of the major players in value wine, owning Charles Shaw (aka “Two Buck Chuck”), Bronco Wine Co.’s new CEO, Dom Engels, believes that the wine industry needs more innovation and focus on creating new entry points for younger consumers. From packaging to labels, Dom discusses how he’s navigating Bronco through the turbulence of a shrinking market for value wine from both the cost and innovation side.  

Detailed Show Notes: 

Bronco - Top 15 winery, owner of Charles Shaw (aka “Two Buck Chuck”)

• Has its own CA distribution
• House of >200 brands
• Large winery in Modesto, bottling in Napa, a boutique winery in Santa Rosa
• Owns ~40k acres, ~30k acres vineyards, but farming <10k today
• Owns Bivio, a logistics company

Charles Shaw

• No created by Bronco, acquired by Fred Franzia (co-founder of Bronco)
• Was a successful, premium, luxury Napa brand, 1st vintage 1978
• Went bankrupt in the 90s, Bronco bought the trademark in 1999
• 1st product in 2022 - $1.99 for good quality wine
• Low pricing enabled by low margins and Fred Franzia’s “genius” in bulk wine trading
• Partnership w/ Trader Joe’s through shared belief in creating accessibility and substantial cultural overlap

Believes the industry needs more good entry-level wines to get younger generations a start in wine

• The ethnic makeup of younger people is not the same as that of older generations
• “Not your father’s Cadillac” - young tend to rebel against what their parents did
• 11,400 wineries in the US create a diffuse set of interests, a lack of clear messaging (e.g., craftsmanship, agriculture) to separate wine from alcohol
• Accessibility could be driven by the right packages (including formats) and labels; good labels drive trial, good liquid drives repeat sales
• Significant marketing spend is difficult due to low margins
• Industry covers the right price points (e.g., Charles Shaw $3.49 in CA), but needs other elements, not a lot of great innovation or marketing at low price points (some pockets of innovation, e.g., XXL focus on high ABV)
• Need more transparency - ingredients, nutrition, ownership, provenance - Bronco is adding more back stories to brands

Enhancing social interactions is important; e.g., Jack Daniels’ ad that getting together with other people is healthy too

• New Bronco company motto, “better times at every table,” similar to Pernod Ricard’s “conviviality”

Believes dislocation of restaurant price vs retail is a core driver of wine industry decline, $14 IPA and $25 cocktails make people drink less

Navigating lower volumes requires being more efficient, sees opportunity in winemaking (most capacity utilization at wineries now <50%), distribution (reduce inventory), and retail

Likely too many brands in the US and too much shelf space in retail

Mothballing a lot of vineyards due to oversupply

• Can’t bring back in 1 year, but can in 2-3
• Cut buds down so vines don’t produce fruit
• Still requires some maintenance costs
• Vineyards in less optimal areas are to be pulled first, and he does not believe there will be an overcorrection

Competing in value vs international

• Can’t compete on labor
• Need to compete on quality, provenance, and taste
• Even tariffs won’t solve the cost gap
• EU subsidies help democratize wine

Tariff impacts

• Some input cost increases (e.g., China for glass)
• A good thing overall for the US industry, which will lead to more US wine being consumed
• Likely no structural change

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In an oversupplied market with rising costs, being a winegrape grower is probably the hardest it has ever been. Natalie Collins, President of the California Association of Winegrape Growers, breaks down the cost of winegrape growing in CA, the challenges in the marketplace, and the policy dynamics in the US, CA, and EU that continue to exacerbate the challenges for CA’s winegrape growers. 

Detailed Show Notes: 

CA Winegrape Growers - based in Sacramento, lobbies at the state and federal level

• CA has ~5,900 winegrape growers and 550k planted acres

Key cost drivers of winegrape growing

• #1 labor, ~45-50% of budget (30-45% CA interior, 45-65% CA coast); doubled in the last 10 years, driven by:
• High min wage ($16.50; most pay $18-30/hr) → increases take entire pay curve up, not just bottom
• 2016 labor law change reducing hours before overtime pay → reduced farmworker take-home pay (OR provides an overtime tax credit to employers)
• #2 regulatory compliance (water, air, worker health, safety), ~10% budget
• Cal State SLO study on lettuce growers - compliance costs ~$1,600/acre (1,366% increase since 2006, 637% since 2022)
• #3 land - CA has some of the highest land prices in the US 
• #4 crop protection/fertility tools
• Farming costs ~$4k/acre Central Valley, $6-8k/acre Paso Robles, $8-10k/acre Sonoma, ~$10-17k/acre Napa

Grape pricing not rising w/ input costs - Central Valley ~$500-600/ton, Central Coast ~$1-2k/ton

• Bulk wine from Chile is cheap, and the US can’t compete on price

The annual CA Winegrape Crush Report shows pricing for all varieties by district

• No US federal support vs EU
• EU subsidizes at every level (growing, marketing, production)
• >e2B/year in direct and local support, enabling cheap wine production
• Crisis distillation - buy surplus wine to convert to alcohol (e.g., hand sanitizer)
• Vineyard removal and vineyard planting subsidies
• Aggressive marketing support (France investing $5B to support wine exports to the US w/ new tariffs)

US wines can have up to 25% foreign wine blended in and be labeled as US wine

2023-2024 - CA left ~300k tons/year on the vines; 2025 ~50% of vineyards don’t have a contract for the 2025 harvest; industry calling for another 50k acres to be removed (60k removed since 2022); all regions pulling out or mothballing/minimally farming vines

Tariff impacts (May 2025)- input costs increase, but can be positive for CA winegrape growers

• 2019 tariffs saw domestic wine increase its share by 10% vs EU wines
• Canada is actively removing US wines from shelves in retaliation; the US exports 10% of its wines, 40% to Canada

Deportations - creating fear, people are afraid to leave their homes for fear of their families getting separated

Seasonal labor is not big, 90% vineyards are mechanically harvested; H2A temporary workers (mostly from Mexico, all-in cost ~$30/hr, often more productive, cannot be paid more than domestic workers)

Economic impact of CA wine - 422k CA employees / 1.1M across US, $73B CA economic impact / $175B/year US

All agriculture is struggling in CA, replacement crops for grapes not easy (some almonds, pistachios, cherries); costs ~$30-70k/acre to plant a vineyard

Duty Drawback - a federal tax refund program meant to encourage exports

• If a winery exports wines, then imports them back, it gets 99% of import fees (including the Federal Excise Tax of $1.07/gallon) refunded
• If importing ~$3/gallon bulk wine, can save ~30%
• Mostly used by the top 5 wine companies
• 2024 - 38M gallons bulk imported (70M in 2022) vs ~70M gallons left on the vine in 2023

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Having met at the UC Davis Wine Executive Program, Kia Behnia, CEO, and Mason Earles, CTO, founded Scout to replicate the best sensor in the vineyard, “the farmer’s eye.” Leveraging off-the-shelf hardware, Scout uses AI to process images taken from a tractor to automate vineyard mapping, vine counting, yield forecasting, virus identification, and more. From managing vineyard assets to implementing precision agriculture to improve quality, Scout is harnessing the power of AI to optimize vineyard management.

Detailed Show Notes: 

Mason’s background - UC Davis Professor, Apple, AI & agriculture

Kia’s background for Scout - owns the Neotempo wine brand, worked at Splunk, the “data for everything” company

The official company name is Agricultural Scout, dba Scout, the website is agscout.ai, so it can be called any of those names

Founded in 2022, initially more hardware-based, but pivoted to an intelligence company using off-the-shelf hardware

The goal is to “replicate the farmer’s eye” with an AI-based solution using cameras, tractors, and Scout cloud and mobile app (which can be used offline); the brain is centered around a phone

US only today (~50-100 clients, 300 blocks, 2M vines, processed 56M photos), going international in 2026

4 main use cases currently: 

• Automate vine count, inventory, and mapping of vines - 4x faster than people could do
• Estimate crop performance - both vigor and fruit
• Yield forecasting - can use every step in the growing season to forecast yield with historical performance and weather forecasts
• Health performance and vine mapping - leveraging AI for virus detection

3 types of clients

• Estate wineries
• Vineyard management companies (“VMC”)
• Real estate investors or owners to track vineyards

Benefits include: 

• $400-1,200 savings/acre
• Productivity gains through managing more acres with fewer people, identifying low-performing vines, and the program tells farmers where to sample
• Remote monitoring of faraway vineyards
• Early season yield forecasting
• Disease management - virus can cause $170k/acre damage over 3-5 years, costs $40/PCR test, the goal is to keep virus <15% not to lose the whole block, has a 7,000 photo database on vine disease

Bench Vineyards discovered 1 acre of missing vines out of 24 acres and filled them in

Pricing is a subscription model, $150-180/acre per scan

• Volume discounts >50 acres
• Neighborhood and AVA discounts
• Starter - 2 scan package (for inventory and virus)
• Professional - 6 scan package
• Typical customer starts w/ 2 and upgrades to 6
• Monarch promotion, customers get 1 free scan
• Up front hardware costs ~$3,000

New product in beta in July 2025 - ChatGPT Scout for vineyards

Marketing mostly through word of mouth, industry trade shows, and webinars have been effective, as has partnership with Monarch (already tech enthusiasts)

Barriers to purchase are often due to farming budgets built around labor

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From 200 mph electric cars to 20 mph electric tractors, Praveen Penmetsa, CEO of Monarch Tractor, leveraged his passion and expertise in vehicles, robotics, and batteries to develop the first smart, electric tractor. Making farmers more profitable and efficient first, and then sustainable, are the core tenets that drive Monarch’s business. Praveen discusses the core benefits of using an electric tractor and how it works with farmers to take advantage of government incentives, making farming more efficient and cost-effective.  

Detailed Show Notes: 

Praveen’s background: mechanical engineering, loves fast cars, worked on electric vehicles, robots, and battery systems

Founded Monarch in 2018, the company is currently the only company selling smart, electric tractors

Now on four continents, with most sales in the US, pilots internationally

Solution is a smart electric tractor with an app and piloting autonomous driving

• Fits in 5’ rows
• Runtime 10-14 hrs for pushing, 8-11 hrs for mowing, 4-6 hrs for heavy operations; takes ~6 hours to charge

Core markets - vineyards #1, dairy #2, orchards, horse ranches

Core benefits

• Save $7-12/hr on diesel savings
• Remote service and support, day and night - can submit a service ticket on the machine and get help remotely
• Product gets better over time with SW updates (e.g., released the ‘row follow’ feature)
• Can power other things, be used like a generator (e.g., night lights for harvest)
• Easier to train operators (smart screen vs 20 manual controls)
• Environmental impacts - reduces carbon emissions
• With increasing automation (mowing is 1st operation), more labor savings

Autonomous driving has guidelines by CA OSHA (need signs that the autonomous tractor is running and no people in the block), but there are no legal guidelines in other places

Pricing

• $90k baseline price + options + subscriptions
• Gov’t incentives can make it cheaper than a diesel tractor, 20-70% savings
• Monarch helps apply for subsidies, including charging infrastructure and solar installation
• Subscription charge for connectivity and SW has various levels; some charges can be offset by incentives with carbon offset reporting (e.g., Dannon gives dairy farmers incentive payments for the carbon offsets)

ROI driven by tractor usage, payback ~2 years; has an ROI calculator on the website; needs to be cheaper and more efficient before sustainability elements come into play

Most farmers want autonomy to reduce labor costs

Sells through a direct sales team and dealers

Marketing driven by non-electric tractors today, podcasts are helpful, social media, and demos have been very effective

• Social media, primarily Facebook and LinkedIn for owners, Google SEO, and local dealer support
• Demos are essential; most farmers want to try before they buy

Partnering with other companies to use their technology inside, also partnered with AgScout to leverage AI for vineyards

Barriers to purchase primarily worry about service and support, and wanting more autonomy for labor savings

Continuously update both HW and SW on machines, some tractors now close to 4,000 hours of operation (vs. standard tractors need to be replaced after 4-6k hours)

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Drawing on her background in winemaking and Silicon Valley, Ashley Leonard, Founder and CEO of InnoVint, has developed a modern platform that tracks everything from the vineyard to the bottle. From getting granular with COGS to automating TTB compliance, InnoVint gets the winery out of spreadsheets and into a modern, cloud-based, mobile-centric system. This system is designed to accomplish InnoVint’s mission: Helping wineries run better businesses.

Detailed Show Notes: 

InnoVint overview - mobile-driven winemaking platform, tracks and manages all winemaking options, and automates compliance

• >600 winery clients (~80% of wineries still using Excel)
• 92% of clients in North America, 8% International
• Mission: helping wineries run better businesses

TTB requires reporting for producers >500 cases

4 products

• Grow - vineyard tracking platform from the winemaker’s lens; phenology dates, yield estimates, applications, harvest scheduling, historical trends
• Make - winemaking from fruit reception to bottling; work enablement platform with digital work orders
• Finance - tracks all costs associated with making wine, final COGS; the finance team applies overheads
• Supply (2025 launch) - case goods management, inventory tracking, integrates with DTC platforms & distributors, has allocations as a planning tool

Has open APIs; integrates with TankNet and VinWizard for winery automation, receives data back for actions taken; integrates with quality control labs (e.g., ETS) and can take action more quickly

Core benefits

• Key differentiator: profitability per SKU and true COGS/product (w/o InnoVint, calculated once per year)
• Efficiency, working smarter, better decision making, and more transparency
• Reporting to be able to manage quality
• Some wineries use data to track carbon footprint (e.g., water use, weight of glass)
• Reduces the risk of an audit

Compliance reporting (e.g., TTB 5120, export reports) - Gloria Ferrer went from 3 people over 2 days to 15 minutes for 1 person

Larger wineries tend to have more tangible benefits

• Domaine Chandon saved $75k annually by making the workflow paperless
• Patz & Hall saving 40 hours/month

Onboarding

• 5-step self-serve process (vineyard sources, lots, volume, vessels, current inventory) takes a couple of days for small wineries
• Premium package for larger wineries includes team training, and full data migration takes 2-8 weeks

Pricing - SaaS model

• Scales based on size (production) and complexity (# of locations) of the winery
• Not user or usage-based
• Implementation ~$1-2k
• Subscription starts at $2,400/year for a boutique winery for Make

Marketing - “has tried it all”, tries to add value to the end user

• Does a lot of speaking engagements/webinars on being a healthy winery
• Manages The Punchdown, a free digital community that is a peer-to-peer exchange
• Referrals from clients are the most effective marketing
• Launched the State of the Wine Business Health Report (2024) - surveyed with >500 participants
• To reach wineries that don’t go to conferences - LinkedIn/social, co-marketing, financial webinars
• Paid advertising sometimes works, but it's not a top lead generator

Barrier to purchase - resistance to change, case studies help overcome (e.g., Domaine Carneros saw what Chandon was doing and bought the product)

The product roadmap includes Supply module, AI applications, and embedded tools

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Making wine in California, France, and even Serbia, consulting winemaker Julien Fayard has a broad view of the winemaking world. His constant monitoring, evaluation, and investment in winemaking technology benefit both his own and his clients’ wineries. Julien offers insight into winemaking technology on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as some of the specific technologies he utilizes. 

Detailed Show Notes: 

Julien’s background: French, came to the US in 2006 and worked for Phillipe Melka, started his consulting practice in 2013, built two wineries and manages three others; mostly Napa (~85%), but also makes wine from Sonoma, Sierra Foothills, Provence, Bordeaux, and Serbia

Uses trial & error to evaluate new winemaking technology

Usually, a trigger that causes each tech adoption

Hears about new tech from travel and conversations with other wineries and tech companies

French tech is mostly involved with wine contact (e.g., yeast, oak treatment), the US is mostly logistics, mechanization, automation of labor, and CA is slow to mechanize vineyard work

Monitors the slowly evolving knowledge base in winemaking - most tech innovations are slight derivatives of existing knowledge (e.g., sulfur automation)

To buy into a new tech: other people using it, company viability (and ability to scale), practicality of solution (e.g., barrel door for fermentation did not take into consideration time and the challenge to move between barrels)

ROI calculation includes cost savings, risk assessments, and quantity or quality improvements

Generally does not implement things that could move costs more than 10-20%

The most significant variable cost driver is when volume drops (e.g., waste, accidents, filtering, bulking out wine) - each tank is ~$100k of wine

Fruition Sciences did a lot of sap flow analysis, but never got mass adoption

Well monitoring technology is happening, and may be required soon

Communications modules for sensors are getting much cheaper, enabling more tech

Vinwizard (NZ) - wall winery automation

• Started with pumpover automation (temp, speed)
• Can control to avoid peak energy hours
• Can set times for tanks to make temp-sensitive additions easier
• Alarms for glycol system outages
• Arkenstone was 1st Napa winery to adopt, learned from them, a solution more complete than TankNet
• Min ~$50k cost

Innovint - winery SW management system

• Creates all work orders, does costing, compliance, and traceability
• Clients, CPAs, and compliance can see everything
• A communication tool, very user-friendly

Sentia - hand wine analyzer (VA, malic, alcohol, SO2)

• $2k/machine
• <$1/use for strips
• Uses a solid chemical reaction
• “Fragile” tech, 1 in 30 results is way off, researching this with a Phd
• Tried bungs with sensors, but requires a tech breakthrough to work

Oenofrance - a system for faster oak extraction

• Put oak blocks (closest to staves) under pressure to extract oak flavors faster
• $40k in oak to $4k (renting tech)
• Costs ~$80-90k to buy machine

Excited about new destemmers, probes for monitoring wines (for “modern natural wine,” in-ground amphora aging)

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Exactly five years ago, Robert and Peter published the first episode of XChateau! To help us reflect on how the wine market has changed in the last five years, XChateau’s most frequent guests, Amanda McCrossin and Charlie Fu, return to discuss the changes in wine influencing and social media, the wine market upheaval occurring now, wine marketing done right, and wine drinking trends. 

Detailed Show Notes: 

Changes to being an influencer

• AM: did not think TikTok would be big for wine in 2020, built it up in 2021, and created more “snackable content” (<90 sec videos), reaches wider audience (late 20s to boomers, more female) on TikTok
• Influencers are changing, and many get burnt out (including Robert)
• Influencer growth today - e.g., Olivia Tiedemann (@oliviatied) went from 0→4M followers on IG in 2 years, raw, skilled, edgy style caught people’s attention, used collabs to keep growing

Social media evolution

• Things are more video-heavy today vs. the static content of 5 years ago
• Not a lot of male creators (tend to be older, more “academic”), female creators are much better at wine education
• YouTube skews more male, TikTok more female
• Males tend to consume more long-form content, while females tend to consume more short-form content
• IG likes higher production quality, TikTok more “authentic” videos, IG upped video content length to 3 mins
• Rednote (Little Red Book) - a popular Chinese app for local food & beverage recs, particularly in Asian dominated communities

Wine market upheaval

• PY: Anti-health messaging is hitting wine more than other alcohol, reversing the trend of the last 30 years, fueled by the “French Paradox” research on positive heart benefits of the Mediterranean diet
• Premiumization is somewhat continuing - the top 1% are maintaining the high-end market, while others are trading down
• AM: “Wine isn’t cool,” wine is not great at being in pop culture today
• PY: Taylor Swift helping things like Sauv Blanc, but she’s not out talking about wine (AM)
• AM: Wine needs an Alix Earle (@alix_earle) w/ a glass of wine or maybe more medium-sized influencers (100-500k followers)
• CF: Health kick is a major trend impacting alcohol consumption, fewer people at restaurants ordering wine (at least in LA), people pushing NA options
• AM: people not interested in the <$10/bottle category (except things like Kirkland wines), want $30+ bottles but need to sell the wine as there is so much choice
• AM: Wine needs to revamp its merchandising to reach more people (e.g., more by style than varietal)
• CF: High-end wines getting cheaper and more available; when top wine prices fall, alternatives also crash
• AM: No such thing as brand loyalty anymore, NDA wines big for Wine Access (private label w/o being about to say the source)

Wine marketing done well

• CF: Winemakers from Burgundy (e.g., Dujac) are out there a lot more, increasing the popularity of the entire region
• PY: Doing more experiences both at the winery and on the road
• AM: Clean wine movement (e.g., Avaline) has some negatives, but is positive in terms of giving more transparency (what many consumers want these days)
• RV: ingredient and nutritional labeling on the bottle is better than just available on the website; PY: NA wines have full nutritional panels, which could help promote wine’s good sides

Wine drinking trends

• AM: Sauv Blanc is America’s grape right now, theory: women think it’s a healthier option due to its lighter, crisp style
• CF: people not drinking as broadly, but more hyper-focused due to so much available information (e.g., William Kelley and Burgundy); fewer people drinking natural wine

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Spraying for powdery mildew can be ~25% of the cost of farming a vineyard and be one of the key elements of a grower’s carbon footprint. Sarah Placella, Founder and CEO of Root Applied Sciences, has taken her deep research in microbes and created a data-driven solution to monitor the air for mildew and spray only when needed. Root can cut ~5 sprays per season, and growers have an average 5x ROI using the system.  

Detailed Show Notes: 

Root Applied Sciences (“Root”) - airborne pathogen monitoring for farmers, like an “early warning system”

• Founded in 2018, 1st work with/ growers in 2021
• Powdery mildew (“PM”) is a big problem for vineyards in CA (March - August)
• Currently only markets to vineyards, done work with/ strawberries, leafy greens, can do anything with/ DNA and small insects
• Napa, Sonoma, Central Coast today

HW enabled SaaS model - Root owns and maintains devices

• Device in the field, just above the canopy
• Send data (battery status, device status, temp, humidity) to the cloud over LTEM connection
• SW to see the data
• The grower collects samples from devices 2x/week and sends them to the lab
• Growers can share data with/ each other

Has an automated prototype in process

• Will not need a grower to collect and send samples
• Fundraising “seed” round for an automated system

~25% of operational costs are spent managing PM

• 6-16 pesticide applications/season
• Conventional growers have fewer applications, but spend more for each one
• Organic may be spraying every week
• PM takes 7-10 days to enter plants. See 2 peaks of PM before growers can see it, once PM exists, it's hard to control
• Root can cut 20-80% of sprays (~5 sprays/season), lengthens spray intervals when low risk
• ~$100/acre spray cost per application, ~$300/acre if need to spray by hand (e.g., steep slopes)
• 2024 - saw PM on Mar 29 in Carneros, growers planned 1st spray 4/16, moved up 1st spray to 4/2; cut sprays and more clean fruit
• Root data enables more biological sprays (have shorter efficacy windows, are more environmentally friendly, and data gives more confidence to try them)

Other benefits of Root

• Clean fruit - faster fermentation (5 days faster), higher quality, possible increase in yields
• Environmental (less sprays, tractor use) - less diesel use, lower soil compaction; for 1 grower, 1 spray is a 13% reduction in carbon footprint
• Farmworker health - fewer chemicals in the air

Pricing

• $3,000/season/monitoring station all-in
• Avg grower has 4 stations, 1 every ~30-50 acres
• Precision growers or rolling hills, 1 station every ~10 acres

~5x ROI

Barriers to adoption

• Risk aversion
• No access to a carrier to send samples
• Grape prices down (budgets)
• More adaptive sprays can make operational scheduling harder for vineyard management companies

Other PM solutions

• “Spray and pray” (~90% of growers) - calendar-based system
• Weather-based tools don’t work well and may be impacted by climate change
• Spore trapping tools (e.g., spinning rods, roto rods) have sticky material that reduces sample size and efficacy, UV light exposure degrades PM
• Image-based analysis (new) - lots of data to send, samples ~2L air/min vs 400L air/min Root, does not specify type of PM present (~40 types)

Product roadmap - more power efficiency, integrating a solar panel

Has done work with/ downy mildew, botrytis, vine mealybug, and can detect them, but does not add a lot of value

Excited about growth in microbial mildewcides (biologicals)

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With over 1,000 kosher wines from across all major winegrowing regions, Royal Wine is the largest importer (and producer and distributor) of kosher wine in the world. Gabe Geller, Director of PR & Wine Education, discusses the market for kosher wine, how and where it is made, and how Orthodox Jews hear about them.

Detailed Show Notes: 

Gabe’s background, at Royal Wine >9 years, wine industry for 16 years (retail, consulting, marketing)

Royal Wine - world’s leading importer, producer, distributor of kosher wine

• In US, carries >1,000 kosher wines from every major wine producing region
• Owns Kedem, Herzog, and other brands

Can’t taste kosher wine, similar to other wines

• Produced only by Sabbath observant Jews
• No non-kosher ingredients or processing agents (e.g. - fining agents)
• Has kosher certification on the bottle
• Mevushal (“boiled”) - for some kosher wines, uses flash pasteurization which is also used by some non-kosher wineries; tend to taste more approachable initially, but ages longer

Israel #1 producer of kosher wine (~5M cases), USA (~350k cases; mostly Herzog), France (~350k cases across many wineries)

Kosher wine market

• Observant Jews drink kosher wine year-round
• Jews use wine in almost every religious ceremony, considered the “holy beverage”
• Passover 1st night dinner (Seder), every adult is required to drink 4 cups of wine (can by any kosher wine or grape juice), each cup symbolizes 1 way God saved Jews from slavery
• Jews who don’t do kosher normally will for Seder
• 40% of kosher wine in the US is purchased for Passover (used to be 60%, declining as more quality kosher wines available, so more is being bought year-round)
• Top markets - Israel, US (NY/NJ #1, FL, CA - CA Jews drink less wine than East Coast Jews), France

In top kosher markets, large retailers (e.g. - Total Wine) will have a kosher selection, some kosher wine stores, and online retailers (e.g. - Wine.com) also carry kosher

Of the 15.7M Jewish people (2023), only a small portion keep kosher

Some kosher wines sold to the general market (e.g. - Bartenura Moscato #1 imported Moscato the past 15 years, most don’t know it’s kosher; Jeunesse semi-dry wines have a distinct consumer appeal)

Israeli politics / Gaza war have lead to people buying more to support Israel

Marketing to the Orthodox community

• Identify sects with stricter mevushal rules (e.g. - 101F vs 105F) and promote specific brands that meet those
• Print advertising big (English, Yiddish), many do not use as much internet, none on Sabbath, take in news via print
• Whatsapp #1 social media for Orthodox Jews (or Telegram)

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Though one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world, Israel is still exploring its potential after Muslim rule after World War I. Victor Schoenfeld, Head Winemaker, and Walter Whyte, VP of Sales for Yarden Imports, explain how Golan Heights Winery has set the bar for the quality of Israeli wine and spreads its wines globally, both within the Jewish community and beyond.  

Detailed Show Notes: 

Victor Schoenfeld - CA native, went to UC Davis, recruited to Golan Heights Winery in 1991

Walter Whyte - managed officers’ clubs in the military and learned about wine

Golan Heights Winery (“GH”) background

• Founded 1983 to export wine of high quality
• 26% exported today (production to increase 30%, primarily for export)
• NE Israel, Syrian border, 33rd parallel (like San Diego)
• Volcanic plateau, Mediterranean climate, high elevation (1,200-4,000 ft)
• 19 varietals, known for traditional method sparkling, Yarden Cabernet
• Zelma Long, former consultant
• Price points range from $15 (Mt Hermon) - Yarden Cab ($50) - $80+ - $1,000 (Cru Elite)
• Manage 40% of vineyards (to increase), rest on long-term contracts
• 500 vineyard blocks, harvested & vinified separately
• Has two propagation vineyards and a nursery

Israeli wine history

• Journal of Science (2023) - identified two winegrape domestication events 11,000 years ago - Caucasus (Georgia) and Western Asia (Israel)
• Discovered ~30 ancient wine artifacts
• Golan Heights is the coolest climate region in Israel
• Muslim rule 738 - WWI - old varieties died out

Israeli war impacts

• Minimal grape growing impacts (1 missile fell on vineyard), but emotionally challenging
• Support in the US for Israeli wine, reduction in sales in Europe after Oct 7, 2023 events

Israeli wine market

• GH demand > supply in Israel
• Per capita consumption is low; a large segment does not drink due to religion
• The food scene has exploded in the last 20 years, but many restaurants do not serve Israeli wine
• Top 5 markets - US, Canada, Europe, Far East (Japan)
• Top US markets - NY, NJ, CT, FL, TX, IL, CA
• Historically, wines went to religious markets, expanding into secular
• internationally marketed as high quality, not as kosher; Angelo Gaja distributes in Italy

Differentiating GH

• “Oldest new world winery in existence”
• Marketing messages: World-class wine, kosher, then from Israel
• High elevation, volcanic soils on 33rd parallel (Etna is 37th)

Marketing

• Grass roots, get people to taste the wine
• Active in Jewish organizations, ads in Jewish publications, tasting events sponsored by Jewish groups
• Strong presence in Kosher wine stores

All GH wines are kosher

• 2 types - Mevushal (cooked/pasteurized) - required for some, esp Kosher restaurants (catering, weddings, bar mitzvahs); Non-mevushal
• Many wineries do both
• Everything used in winemaking needs to be certified kosher (e.g., yeast)
• Can’t use things like isinglass
• GH's whole facility is kosher
• “Could double business if made mevushal,” but will not to maintain quality

Food and wine pairing is not typical. Traditional Middle Eastern cuisine, “mezze,” has a lot of different flavors at once

Passover dinner is coursed, and every adult must drink four glasses of wine (or grape juice)

Yarden Cru Elite - $2,000 per pair

• 265 pairs related, including NFT, sold directly from winery
• Celebrate the 40th anniversary with collectors
• Cabernet Sauvignon, single vineyard, single block, two single barrels
• Launched at an Israeli restaurant in Singapore

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