Why I'm taking Dynamics of the Global Wine Industry

I'm really excited about taking this course. Wine has always held a special place in my heart and mind. Growing up in California attending a French international school, I remember marveling from a young age at the beautiful and mysterious adult beverage that seemed to dance in its glass on the dinner table and that was sure to appear at every special celebration. I often felt that wine was one of the key bridges between my life as a Californian and the windows into European culture that I was exposed to at school. I was always very excited whenever I was offered a small sip, feeling like I was being given a peek into a secret, special ritual that only older, more worldly and experienced people had access to.

Setting out after college, I was proud to enter young adulthood with what I then considered to be a far from amateur palate and knowledge of California wines. When I started my first job, and joined the ranks of many a foodie at a restaurant tech company, I thought surely this knowledge would give me a leg up in getting some early street cred. Soon, I realized that what I knew was barely a drop in the barrel! There was so much left to discover. I was blown away by how much I didn't know about New World wines, Old World wines, sommeliers, decanters, the three-tier system...you name it. The vastness of it all only grew my appreciation for the product and industry even further.

While a lot of my love of wine comes from the consumer side of the business, I think leveraging something that you're passionate about to take a deep dive on the business and economic side is a wonderful thing. I loved Professor Rapp's thesis that "wine is a prism," and I think it serves as a great summary of why I'm excited to take this course. For me, it has been a prism through which I have been able to distill geography, culture, human connection, and taste. I can't wait to explore strategy, global politics, and distribution as seen through the prism of wine, and taste some amazing wine while we're at it, too!

Why am I taking this Class? - Carlos Schechtmann

Whether out for dinner or at home with family, your significant other, or friends, I’ve found wine to be a nice way to relax and have conversations with others. Growing up, wine was frequently at the table or something ordered at dinner and although I didn’t really like the taste until much later, I found myself asking questions about what the vintage or varietal meant. As a consumer of a product, I think it’s important to know the story of where the product comes from and how it is made and while I’ve been interested in wine for some time, it’s candidly not one that I am well versed in. I had heard of the three-tier system that was in the case last week and a couple of the bigger wine producers that are in the syllabus but much of the remaining text in the case and in Around the World in 80 Sips was completely new knowledge that I found informative and interesting.

At its simplest level, I am taking this class because I enjoy drinking wine and would like to learn more about not only the history of wine but also the landscape and business of running a wine business. I think that there is much to be learned about how the industry came together, as well as the economics of the business, that are important lessons whether or not I’m working in the wine industry or another one after the GSB. I also would like to come away with a better understanding of what makes certain wines taste a certain way and what drives the economics of a bottle of wine, including price points and margins throughout the value chain. Compared to a few years ago, I’m much more likely to order a glass or bottle of wine today with meals than I was previously. I think that the person making the choice for a group has responsibility to make an informed choice and that is another one of the reasons why I am taking this class.

Aging with Wine

I have personal and professional reasons for taking this class. On a personal note, I have always found wine fascinating and elusive. An agricultural product that can be both a luxury good, and a commodity product. I’ve puzzled over the complex characteristics that drive these differences as I experienced them through different relationships in my life. As an undergraduate, I stared dumbfounded at a plastic bag being pulled from a cardboard box, and thought, "Can this actually be wine?" As a new college graduate, I remember the special feeling as my parents unearthed a bottle they had been saving for a special occasion. As a new analyst at my consulting firm, I sat in awe of the mastery with which the Partner on my project effortlessly weighed varietals and vintages to order the perfect bottle for our team dinner. Wine has always been present in some way throughout my life (and in a way has aged with me… or I with it?), and I’m eager to learn more about the way in which this magical product shapes the rest of the world.

On a professional level, my favorite problems to solve are those of complex supply chains, and in recent years I have focused my efforts on the global food & agriculture supply chain to improve production and distribution and minimize waste in order to more effectively feed the world. I’m excited to take a deep look at wine, a specific and complex agricultural product with an even more complex supply chain. I believe there are many parallels to be dawn between wine and other types of food products –regulation, growing patterns, climate-induced constraints, technological innovation, marketing, and many more. I think this class will influence my understanding of the nuances of agricultural supply chains and will improve the work I’m able to do after the GSB.

Why I'm Taking This Class - Robert Dunlevie

Having glanced at the posts already made on the blog, it would appear I'm not alone in my motivation for taking this class: wine has played an important role in my relationship with my family (and parents especially) and I'd thus like to learn more about it.  My parents always made sure alcohol wasn't out in the open around the house when I was younger, as I was the youngest of four and they didn't want to normalize drinking in front of their kids.  The exception to this unwritten rule, however, was drinking a glass of red wine with dinner, typically on weekends or special occasions.

My earliest memory of this exception being introduced was when my family moved to England when I was 8 years old.  The house we lived in had a large cellar where my father would store various old world wines that he collected.  On occasion, he would allow me to walk through the cellar with him.  While I was obviously not allowed to drink any of these wines at the ripe age of 8, I remember being awed by the grandeur of a cellar filled with various bottles and labels stacked in racks perceived to be endlessly tall.

As I entered adult life and was permitted to have a glass of wine with dinner, my interest in it grew quickly.  I can't remember a dinner I've had with my parents in the last 5 years in which we haven't shared a bottle of wine, and I believe that the communal aspect of sharing a bottle has helped our relationship stay so strong over the years.  That said, I'm typically one to simply drink what is put in front of me, and rarely ask questions about the wine I'm drinking.  It isn't out of lack of interest; I simply don't know enough to ask the right questions about the wine I'm drinking but wish I did.  It's this desire that drew me to this course; I hope to learn about the world of wine and gain a good understanding of what distinguishes different wines and varietals beyond surface level facts.  My goal for this class is to establish a strong foundation of both the wine world and what separates different great wines from each other so that I can better enjoy the wines that have played a crucial role in my strong relationships with my family.

Why I'm taking the course - Elisa Albella

Wine means....

I cannot remember a single Sunday lunch without wine at home. Wine means family to me, wine means coming together, wine means enjoying the food and life.

Coming from Spain, I have grown up surrounded by a very strong wine culture. My family comes from the North of Spain where there are many wine yards, where “La Rioja” wine is made. Indeed, I can remember my grandfather giving me a sip of wine when I was little as a way of “educating” me, or my father having wine in every single meal.

It wasn’t until after high school that I became more interested about the industry, when I got the right to drink it, of course... I believe the different options, the different intensities of flavor and smell and the huge world behind the industry captured me.

I was not alone in this passion, I had the luck to have friends whose families worked in the industry. We organized some trips with friends to the different regions in Spain where wine is cultivated (La Rioja, Ribera del Duero), where we learnt about the different grapes and methodologies of the process of making wine. After one of these trips, one of my friends whose family owned a small private vineyard decided to register the brand and started commercializing it “for fun”. I helped her with the design of the brand and the distribution of the product. I have to admit the wine in question is not the best one I have tried, but we managed to set up a young brand which was appealing to young customers and five years later the wine is still in the market (see picture below of the brand design).

Another friend’s family runs Cavinsa, which is the exclusive distributor of “Luis Cañas” and “José Pariente” in Spain, two of the wines that have gained the most popularity recently. They have become the option by excellence to buy or order in a restaurant thanks to a competitive price (~25€ per bottle), a good quality (>92 points), an easiness of drinking and an extremely powerful communication.

Having lived these two wine business examples I had no doubt when I came across this course. Not only I am a wine lover in terms of how much I enjoy it and how emotional it makes me, but also in terms of my interest for the industry as a business. I am really excited to learn in a more serious and formal way about it, specially about the industry trends in the world and not only in Europe. After the first class, I was impressed and curious about how the industry is changing across the world: how Chinese consumption is booming, how new countries are entering the market, etc.

In conclusion, I’m hoping to learn while enjoying and having fun with one of the things I love the most in life: WINE.  

Igniting the Senses

Sadly, for me, I grew up in a house without wine, gin martinis were the drink in our household (but not for me). While in college, I tried other less savory concoctions, Kahlua and diet coke, tequila and lemonade, Jagermeister and anything, you get the idea. Fortunately, soon after college, my eyes were opened to the world of wine.

New to New York City and craving connections, I became a member of Sotheby’s Young Collector’s Club. Sotheby’s intent was to hook the 20 something crowd on the auction scene by teaching them just enough about different periods of art and design to peak their interest. Once a month, they would hold a cocktail party with one of their experts.

My interest in wine was first ignited the evening Serena Sutcliffe, Sotheby’s wine expert spoke. She lured me in with racy stories of vintners, and wonderful descriptors of the wines they produced.

30 years have passed since that fateful evening at Sotheby’s, and my interest in wine has grown steadily. My husband and I have a large collection of wine that we enjoy sharing with friends and family. Our two sons, now in their twenties, have been exposed to a great deal of wine, both at home and on family trips.

For me, wine has always ignited all of my senses: visiting vineyards, which from afar, represent a visual patchwork, touching the grapes and vines as you walk through their straight rows, smelling the grapes as you open your car window on a drive through Napa or Bordeaux, tasting the complicated, layered flavors of wine, and last but not least, hearing the laughter and conversation sparked by a good bottle of wine.

After 30 years in fashion and design, I am here at Stanford as a DCI Partner to explore other interests. Most of my coursework has been at the GSB, focused on entrepreneurship, with the balance of my courses in sustainability and earth systems. I am currently in my second term of Startup Garage, where I am on a team hoping to develop a media platform for the wine industry. I am looking forward to digging deeper and learning more about the Dynamics of the Global Wine Industry.

Why Wine?

Wine is something that has been an integral part of family traditions for my entire life. My mother is obsessed with tradition and sentiment, and we would have Friday-night shabbat dinners every week with a blessing over wine as one of the crucial ingredients to starting off the meal. I never gave much attention to what was in the glass at a young age, instead taking pleasure out of drinking before I was legally of age. As I grew older, I began to ask more questions about the differences in what we were having, where it was from, etc - but still never gained the knowledge to fully appreciate and understand that there was much more to what I was drinking than just the liquid in the glass. I figure now is about as good a time as any to start figuring that out!

In the fall, my mother visited campus and we went to her favorite vineyard which happens to be up in Napa - Shafer Vineyards. We did a tasting and heard about the history of the vineyard as well as how they positioned themselves in the market. They also discussed a lower-cost brand that they created to explore new markets. I had never really thought about the wine as a business versus something that I had enjoyed every Friday night with family. When exploring course options, I was pleasantly surprised to see this listing and then began to think further about what I could learn by enrolling. In addition to expanding my knowledge of the basics of wine and gaining a deeper appreciation for new and varied bottles, there is much to be learned by studying the business principles of a global, ever-changing, and omni-present industry.