As the pioneer of Vitis Vinifera in the Eastern US, Dr. Konstantin Frank is one of the key leaders of the Fingers Lakes region in New York. Meaghan Frank, a fourth-generation vintner, has been leading the charge to evolve its hospitality program to create brand ambassadors for the winery and the region. Its 1886 Wine Experience has won Best Wine Tour by USA Today in the last two years. Meaghan breaks down their hospitality program and its impact on their business.

Detailed Show Notes:

Finger Lakes region, NY - 150 wineries (of 400 in NY), NW NY State - 5 hrs from NYC

• Skinny, deep lakes that moderate weather
• Glaciers left diverse soils
• Tourism-driven, seasonal visitors (spring to fall) for lakes, hiking, close to Niagara Falls, Corning Museum of Glass

Dr. Konstantin Frank - PhD in Viticulture from Odesa, Ukraine; a grape scientist; fled to NY during WWII

• 35 years of cold climate grape growing experience when moved to NY
• 1st to plant vinifera in Eastern US
• Planted experiment station in the 1950s - 68 varieties, including Furmit, Pedro Ximenez, and Touriga Nacional) to research what would work best

Dr. K Frank Winery

• 17 vinifera varieties → 40 wines
• 60% wholesale, 40% DTC
• 40 states, 9 export markets (5%, incl Japan, Aruba (lots of NY visitors), UK)
• DTC 60% e-commerce (driven by wine club), 40% hospitality

Hospitality program

• The goal is to create brand ambassadors and loyalty, get the word out about the Finger Lakes
• Inspired by Australian hospitality programs - private, educational
• ~40k visitors/year (#1 PA - 1 hour away, NJ, OH, NY core markets) - all seated, paid
• Pre-pandemic - ~80k visitors/year for free bar tastings
• Moved to an experience-driven program with wine educators, take advantage of lake view

Three experiences:

• Eugenia’s Garden - modeled after great grandmother’s garden, most casual, can do a la carte glasses/bottles/flights; enables people to enjoy the day; targets a younger demographic
• Signature Seated ($15pp) - most popular, educational, 1 hr, 6 wines, 5 different themes that are part of the winery’s story (e.g., traditional sparkling, Riesling pioneer, groundbreaking grapes, red wines)
• The 1886 Wine Experience ($75pp) - only May-Oct, 2-2.5 hrs, led by wine educator, a tour of the vineyard, sparkling and still wine cellars, seated tasting of 4 wines with bites, followed by additional tastings; won best wine tour by USA Today last 2 years; lots of 1st-time visitors book 1886 due to unique nature
• Lessons learned - used to do 6 wine flight w/ bites, which was too many; did themed months (e.g., sparkling) - did not work with mostly tourists
• Differentiators - spend lots of time, has a separate private space for 1886

Wine club evolution

• Used to have people pay upfront for the year - bigger barrier to signing up, always feel like “playing catchup” to ensure value delivered, concentrated work during shipment periods
• Moved to more subscription model - quarterly, 3 wines w/ default package, fully customizable, no upfront fee, 20% discount on wines, and get free tastings (no limit)
• 8% club conversion - the only way to get free tastings now, used to waive w/ 4 bottle purchase
• Locals small portion of the club - pickup option only 10%, PA #1
• Avg tenure 1.5 years, seeing it extend with the new club model

Popular wines

• Hospitality - Rkatsiteli #1, traditional method sparkling
• Wholesale - #1 & #2 - dry & semi-dry Riesling
• Riesling 60% of production, traditional method growing

Increasing issues around climate change - 2023 had the largest spring frost in history, increasing water issues

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With ~2M monthly sessions on their newly unified commerce and media website, Wine Enthusiast continues to be a beacon for the wine industry. Jacki Strum, President of Wine Enthusiast Media, details their new wine review platform and global wine travel directory, democratizing access to wine and wine experiences globally. These initiatives help bring more people into the world of wine, including the younger generations, a critical part of building a vibrant wine industry.

Detailed Show Notes:

Covid altered the business model, led to re-structured organization and unified media and commerce divisions on wineenthusiast.com

2022 - WE paused reviews for emerging wine regions to recalibrate systems

Existing tasting process

• 1 of 2 publications that review every wine blind (high cost), taste in flights w/in region and price brackets
• Need to store, archive, organize wines, set up tastings (in paper bags with numbers), and hire reviewers
• 50% of reviews are done at HQ (imported wines), and West Coast wines are done locally
• The manual process of filling out a pdf and putting that into the box with wines, manually inputted into J Guide (legacy system, 20 years old), then stored and organized for tasting

New tasting platform (Sept 2024) - anyone can submit a wine for review and all will be reviewed

• New digital platform - bar code scanners, printed tabs, can track shipments and deliveries, a more fluid database
• Reduces large volume of questions from people submitting wine (can track digitally)
• It has the same # of reviewers, but a more flexible infrastructure can allow for more wines to be tasted
• $65/SKU processing fee - all reviewers charge in some way (e.g., require subscription, membership, or advertisement)
• 6-month processing time (same as before) - hope to reduce this over time, based on the schedule of reviewers
• Printed reviews selected by the tasting dept, all scores published online for free

Tasting platform benefits for new and small wineries

• Opens up reviews to all regions across the globe
• The US market is still heavily score-driven for distribution (some major retailers, e.g., Costco, Kroger, Albertsons, require scores from major publications)
• Helps with tasting room and local distribution sales

Media trends

• Print is still doing well (e.g., books outsold movie tickets last year), and magazine subscriptions are increasing (free tote bags help)
• Advertising up slightly
• Digital media is growing, with a targeted advertising focus
• Events - biggest growth area - launched Sip of South America, Sip of Italy, and biggest event is Wine Star Awards (25th Anniversary in SF this year)
• TikTok now allows alcohol advertising, getting Gen Z engaged with wine knowledge

New travel division for WE

• Tasting room directory, partnered w/ Tock - 1st agnostic travel global wine travel guide
• Leverages Tock’s wineries as launching list (~1,200 wineries, CA focused), building out globally with WE relationships (~100 wineries reached out in 1st month to be included)
• The 2nd most trafficked page on the site

WE revenue mix

• Covid - led to explosive commerce growth
• Today - back to 2019 levels, ~80% commerce / ~20% media

Getting Gen Z engaged with wine

• Print enables content absorption without ad bombardment (e.g., book reading bars in NYC)
• Need to change content for each channel to target audience (e.g., Google as people’s “secret diary,” article on how to hold a wine glass became a top 5 article)
• Influencers, infographics, video - bring in new consumers (e.g., wine & potato chip parking article led to major influencer doing every pairing on TikTok)

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During a career sabbatical from wine PR at a yoga teacher retreat, Morgan Perry tried combining wine education and yoga with great success. Her classmates practically forced her to found Vino Vinyasa, which has blossomed into six cities. With a focus on creating great experiences rather than selling wine, Morgan has created a platform where people learn about wine and end up seeking out the wines featured in classes.

Detailed Show Notes:

Morgan’s background - wine PR, been in wine for ~15 years, became a yoga teacher in 2017

Wine & Yoga synergies

• Both are about mindfulness - yoga and the wine tasting process
• Not for hard-core wellness or yoga people

Vino Vinyasa

• For the yoga teacher exam, the teacher encouraged something different, tried yoga & wine, and got a fantastic reception
• 6 cities - NYC (2017), Austin (2018), Nashville, Chicago, LA, Houston

Vino Vinyasa programming

• 45 min Vinyasa yoga (all levels), followed by wine tasting of 2 wines
• Taste wine after yoga - people are relaxed and have “yoga brain” in a quiet, focused environment → people may be better tasters
• Embed wine facts during yoga
• A comparative tasting of 2 wines, usually themed (e.g., Rose, Sauvignon Blanc)
• All instructors have a wine background (min WSET 1)
• 2-3 classes/month, 20-25 people/class for intimacy (capped at 30)
• ~30 classes/themes developed to date
• Very intentional class structure, certain poses not suitable for teaching

Business model

• The core business is to get people to do more classes and events, not be overly salesy with wine
• Do private events (90% are bachelorette parties)
• Sell swag (t-shirts), co-branded bottles
• Look to be good value (avg class price $30) vs. regular yoga classes (avg ~$20-25, range from $10-35 for drop in class)

Students often seek out wines after classes

Wine selection for classes

• Venue dependant, venues carry liquor licenses
• City Winery (NYC) - chooses the wines based on their selection
• Other venues - can get wines donated for classes
• Private events - Customers can select wines/themes
• Have worked with PR clients for wines
• Some wineries sponsored virtual classes during Covid

Marketing

• PR background has helped and got early press (e.g., digital Good Morning America), mostly wine market
• Email newsletter
• IG is the best channel, does some boosting, and is focused on growth during Covid (~11k followers)
• Digital marketing has focused on both wellness and wine people
• ~15-20% of people have attended multiple classes

Private events

• Bachelorette parties, birthdays, corporate events (e.g., Binny’s in Chicago)
• The focus area for growth
• Same format as classes

Wellness & wine market

• Other wine + yoga classes are not educational; some are tied to multi-level marketing wine programs that have long sales pitches
• Sees more yoga at wineries
• They have been approached by a couple of spas for partnerships, but the economics were not favorable yet (i.e., yoga teachers often are not paid well, ~$30/class)

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Taking over an iconic estate can be both exciting and terrifying. When EPI purchased the iconic Brunello di Montalcino producer Biondi Santi in 2017, they asked Giampiero Bertolini to take over as CEO. Giampiero was excited to join the “Champions League” of wine but also had to convince the local community that this outside investment would be good. He delves into how Biondi Santi has been pushing toward creating more value for the brand while maintaining its core essence.

Detailed Show Notes:

Biondi Santi’s history

• Family invented Brunello di Montalcino
• Founded in 1888 - Ferruccio Biondi Santi had a vision of quality wine with longevity during a time when people focused on quantity with wine as part of the diet
• Bottled in Bordeaux-shaped glass (a sign of quality) vs. standard Tuscan fiasco
• Tancredi Biondi Santi - one of the top consulting winemakers of the time, was asked to write appellation rules in 1967
• Franco Biondi Santi (“the doctor”) - selected the BBS11 clone in the ‘70s and organized a 100-year vertical tasting (1888-1988) in 1994 with important wine writers that boosted the image of Brunello. One writer gave the 1891 vintage 100 points

La Storica (wine library) - has all vintages since 1888, releases one old Riserva with a current Riserva each year

Path to Iconic Status

• The vision of the family - be good winemakers, high-quality
• In the global market regularly → elevated the Biondi Santi to a different level
• The wine offered to Queen Elizabeth II in 1967 was a favorite of Frank Sinatra’s

EPI acquired Biondi Santi in 2017 and installed Giampiero as CEO; the community was skeptical of French owners for an iconic estate had to convince neighbors by being transparent about what they were doing at the estate

• Before the takeover, prior 20 years, the business was not run well
• Rebuilt global distribution, did not have US distribution
• Re-connected with trade, critics, and consumers/collectors

What they kept the same

• Reinforced market position
• Style of the wines
• What they changed
• New vineyard philosophy (regenerative), replanted vineyards to improve quality, conducted soil studies
• Increased communications and more selective to the right people and thproperht channels
• Managed pricing to reposition the brand to increase demand

Keeping the brand fresh

• want s to be closer to the trade and consumer, spend more time in the market
• Storytelling of what is happening at the estate, not just the history, but today’s actions that protect the future
• La Voce di Biondi Santi - started 3 years ago, selects one word each year that is part of their philosophy (this year is “respect”); creates novel/audiobook based on a keyword (e.g., Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat) and podcasts with winemaker and Giampiero around the keyword

The most effective initiative so far - repositioning the brand by increasing price → gave higher credibility and put the brand up another step, old vintages increasing in price on the secondary market, high demand on Liv-ex (one of few growing while price increasing), one of the top 35 wines in the world on Liv-ex

Growth for Biondi Santi = value growth; volume is complex to grow

Value-driven by increasing distribution globally to rarify the brand further, not just taking price, but increasing value, which is a consequence of many conditions, and not rushing value creation in the market

Biondi Santi is now in 2.0 after 1st five years, and the next step is to increase the quality of its presence in the world and be closer to partners and consumers

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In part 2 with Stevie Kim, Managing Director of Vinitaly, she explains how parent company Veronafiere invested in the various Vinitaly products and allowed her to experiment. Stevie also dives into her prolific content strategy, including the Italian Wine Podcast, which has over 2M downloads to date and where she sees value in marketing.

Detailed Show Notes:

Italian Wine Podcast

• Initially created to develop content for VIA candidates
• Something different every day - up to 9 episodes published / week
• Example shows: Ambassador’s Corner - Italian Wine Ambassadors go deep with their favorite Italian producer; US Market Focus - different perspectives on the US wine market
• Now ~2,000 episodes, they had to switch podcast distributors to Megaphone (Spotify) as most only host up to 500 episodes
• Audience - early on, was ~80% US & English speaking countries (the podcast is in English), and VIA students
• ~6M total downloads with a broader audience than Vinitaly attendees

Funding the Vinitaly complex

• Significant investment by Veronafiere, which is majority-owned by the city of Verona
• Italian Trade Agency subsidizes some events - e.g., pays for transport for judges for 5 Star Wines
• Some ticket sales and sponsorship revenue
• Podcasts funded by Stevie personally

Veronafiere saw value in investing in Vinitaly products

• Wanted to become more international
• Allowed Stevie to experiment with new products and invest in them

Stevie’s team has a large staff of content producers (video, social media)

• Document everything they do
• Create tons of content, of which only ~50% is used
• Stevie believes in being prolific - promotes discovery

Marketing products

• Never advertise on LinkedIn - it is too expensive
• Instagram - sometimes does advertising, conversion doesn’t happen on IG, try to drive to the website to convert, more for attention vs. conversion
• Facebook - most wine producers on FB, more effective and efficient, can get ~$100k subscription revenue from ~$5k ad spend
• Less concerned with “vanity” metrics like views and engagement, more interested in conversions

Looking forward - wants to bring more people to Italy and Vinitaly - it is the best way to convert people to Italian wine

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As the world's most prominent Italian wine fair, Vinitaly attracts ~4,000 producers and turns the entire city of Verona into Vinitaly. As Managing Director of Vinitaly, Stevie Kim has built a vast, international community around Vinitaly and its many other products surrounding it, becoming a "Vinitaly Marathon." Stevie goes into depth about why each product was started and how it plugs into the entire Vinitaly ecosystem in part 1 of this 2-part series.

Detailed Show Notes:

Stevie's background: born in Korea, grew up in New York, married an Italian, and moved to Italy; Veronafiere recruited her to lead Vinitaly

The Vinitaly "Marathon" (2025 schedule)

• Vinitaly Int’l Academy ("VIA") - 5 days
• 5 Star Wines - 3 days (April 1-3)
• OperaWine - 1 day (April 5)
• Vinitaly - 4 days (April 6-9)

Also, do events outside of Verona (New York, China, Hong Kong)

Vinitaly - established in 1967 in Verona

• It started as ½ pavilion, now 14 pavilions
• Largest Italian wine event, primarily B2B
• The entire town of Verona becomes Vinitaly
• Vinitaly in the city events for consumers
• ~4k wineries (~60% of export market), accessories, winemaking equipment
• About building long-term relationships - "the Italian way" - not just about doing business vs. Prowein's more business-oriented

OperaWine

• Partnered with Wine Spectator as the most influential entity for Italian wine
• The winemaker or principal must pour
• By invitation only, each producer chosen (130 producers) gets 10 invites

VIA

• 1,300 candidates so far, 398 certified Italian Wine Ambassadors
• Used to do Vinitaly tours and masterclasses globally, now transformed to VIA
• Developed based on Stevie's experience building a medial master's program that created a deep community
• Faculty - Sarah Heller MW, Attilio Scienza - vine geneticist
• Difficult exam, deep and wide syllabus primarily based on grape varieties, uses Italian Wine Unplugged 2.0 as the textbook
• Has a course that includes 4 days of tasting ~300 wines before the exam
• Requires a group video project to ensure ambassadors can speak about wines
• Creates a big community around candidates and ambassadors - more important than the material itself

5 Star Wines (fka Vinitaly Int’l Competition)

• Gets international judges & VIA community opportunity to taste and rate Italian wines
• Helps producers - 90+ scores get a diploma during Vinitaly to display, which helps attendees navigate booths
• Did a masterclass for producers w/ top scoring wines on why they scored highly, which helped them understand quality better
• Every tasting panel has an enologist, enabling the international community to connect with Italian winemakers

Wine2Wine business forum (Nov - after harvest, before Christmas)

• The goal is to help producers better prepare for Vinitaly
• Historically, they had 40-70 workshops on business topics
• 2023 - did tastings where wine critics taught how they assess and rate wines
• 2024 - getting an overhaul, no parallel session, 8 plenary sessions, 6 tastings, new structured networking - rooms led by specialists w/ 10-12 attendees

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Written by the Biondi-Santi family in 1967, the appellation rules for Brunello di Montalcino are some of the strictest in Italy. This has led to Brunello vineyard land becoming some of the most expensive in the country and led Brunello on the pathway to becoming one of the world's iconic wine regions. Giampiero Bertolini, CEO of Biondi-Santi, explains the terroir, regulations, and market for Brunello di Montalcino and his belief in pursuing value and quality over quantity.

Detailed Show Notes:

Giampiero's background - studied economics, worked at Procter & Gamble, entered the wine industry by chance

Brunello di Montalcino - hill in Tuscany, b/w coast and Apennine mountains, protected by mountains and with altitude

• There are lots of different soils, and each location on a hill is different
• Sangiovese - only appellation in Italy with only one varietal, >150 clones (Biondi Santi uses 46 clones)
• 1967 - 78 producers; today >250

Quality has improved over the last 20 years, with more emphasis on viticulture

1970s - Franco Biondi Santi trialed 40 clones and chose BBS11 for their soil

Regulated production system

• Created by the Biondi-Santi family in 1967
• Limited yields (Brunello - 8 tons/ha; Rosso - 9 tons/ha)
• Strict aging requirements - barrel min 12 months (Rosso), 24 months (Brunello, Riserva); bottle min 4 months (Rosso), 24 months (Brunello, Riserva); Brunello min 5 years total
• Samples tasted by the Commission panel
• Appellation expanded ~20 years ago, now frozen at 2,100 ha
• 2023 - Rosso appellation expanded (550 → 900ha)

Biondi-Santi has a target style for their wines and matches vineyard lots to create style (~60% Brunello, 25% Rosso, remainder Riserva when made)

Some producers make single vineyards now (both Rosso and Brunello), but Biondi-Santi is not focused on that

The most expensive vineyard land in Italy ~₠1M/ha, a significant rise in 2015 when the 2010 vintage was released

Foreign investors (France, Brazil, Belgium, Swiss) are increasing the value of the land

Market for Brunello

• The biggest is the US, developed by producer Banfi
• Other vital markets: Switzerland, the UK (higher-end wines), Hong Kong, Italy

Sales Channels

• Rosso - more casual restaurants, wine bars, BTG
• Brunello - 50/50 on and off-premise
• Riserva - mostly high-end retail as it is for collectors

Future of Brunello - hopes the focus is on value and quality and not higher volume

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Making natural wines right out of university, Arianna Occhipinti, founder of Azienda Agricola Occhipinti, has quickly built a strong following globally, particularly in the US. Discovered by Louis/Dressner at a natural wine show around Vinitaly, Occhipinti’s focus on expressing terroir through natural farming and winemaking and doing everything with passion has led to continued success.

Detailed Show Notes:

She finished university in Milan, started making wine in 2004, and is interested in natural wines that speak of terroir

Based in Vittoria, Sicily, she makes wines from reds (Frappato, Nero d’Avola), whites (Albanello, Zibbibo, Grillo)

• Started w/ 1ha farm in Fosso di Lupo (Frappato, Nero d’Avola)
• Cultivates a pluricultural farm for biodiversity - vineyards, orange, pear, wheat, vegetable garden
• 2006 - built a small winery
• 2013 - moved to another farm in Bombolieri

Terroir - limestone (lots of fossils), red sand, 250m above sea level, 8 km from the sea, 8 km from mountains, windy and dry -> lead to low pH wines

1st meeting with Louis/Dressner in 2006 at a Vinitaly adjacent natural wine fair

• 1st presentation of wines
• Kevin McKenna tried the wines and got Jules Dressner to try them, where they immediately asked if they could import them
• Still working together, they are “very pure people”
• One of the 1st Italian producers that Louis/Dressner represented

1st trip to US (“Real Wine Tour”) - Louis/Dressner organized a young group of producers, with a lot of energy that toured the US

Traction partly from being an early mover in the natural wine movement

At the time, San Francisco (and Paris) were leading the world for natural wines

• Natural wine bars (e.g. - Terroir Wine Bar)
• Leading restaurants (A16, Bar Agricole)
• LA (Domaine LA) and NY followed
• Sommeliers promoted the wine and created strong relationships

Traction was a combination of wine quality and consistency, restaurant promotion, and good communications

Convincing people who know a lot about wine (e.g., sommeliers) helped

In the US market ~1x / year

Louis/Dressner did a great job of selecting wine producers and having good relations with their clients

Advice for others - do everything with passion, potentially spend more time on trips to spend more time with people

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