As online wine sales continue to increase in the U.S., the wine purchasing experience inevitably changes. How do you convey the texture, length, intensity, aromas, and balance of a wine through the internet? How do you sell a visceral product like wine with words and pictures? If the consumer cannot taste the wine themselves before purchase, they need to trust that a team of experts has.

Wine Access, one of the original online retailers in wine, began as a web hosting service for wine shops and other wine businesses in 1997. Over time, the company has evolved into the robust direct to consumer wine retailer that it is today, with a carefully vetted selection of both ephemeral daily offers and a more permanent inventory of wines from the industry’s top regions and producers. They sell their wines by telling the stories around each of the producers and wineries they work with. They are a leader in direct to consumer wine sales; an area of tremendous growth in the wine industry.

Wine Access has an unprecedented level of wine expertise, and each bottle sold must first pass through a rigorous tasting panel to get in the portfolio; indeed, only 1% of the wines in the panel tastes end up making it to the online store.

Vanessa was head of sales and marketing for several of Napa’s most prestigious estates including Arietta Wines, Dana Estates, and Realm Cellars. Previously, she was a retail buyer and wine bar wine director in New York. She’s President of the Board for the Jameson Animal Rescue Ranch, holds the WSET Diploma, and was the recipient of the Niki Singer Memorial Scholarship from the International Wine Center. Vanessa has passed the Theory and Practical portions of the Master of Wine exam and is writing a research paper as the final stage.

Eduardo served as Corporate Beverage Director for the Global Morimoto Group and has worked at some of Napa Valley’s most iconic restaurants including Tra Vigne and Bistro Don Giovanni. He is a professional Wine, Sake and Spirits Judge for many competitions in the US and Japan and writes for both the Napa Valley Register and Decanter Magazine. He is an Advanced Sommelier Candidate and is also a Certified Sake Professional.

For $100 off your first Wine Access purchase of $250 or more, please visit wineaccess.com/crupodcast and discount will be applied at checkout.

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For wine industry leaders and entrepreneurs alike the Sonoma Executive MBA programs in wine business is a game-changer. The first of their kind in the United States and developed in response to the needs of the wine industry, Sonoma State University's AACSB accredited Executive MBA programs combine globally-recognized excellence in business education with wine industry expertise.

Their alumni are leaders at elite wine brands around the world. Students have access to an unparalleled network of wine industry scholars, practitioners, and classmates. The programs offer experiential learning through an immersive 4-day leadership sailing weekend in San Diego Bay and in-country consulting projects during a 12-day international business trip. Market-responsive courses are held in the Wine Spectator Learning Center, an innovative learning space gilded with advanced technology and flexible learning classrooms. Applications for the 2020 Sonoma Executive MBA in Wine Business cohort are accepted through February 28th. Visit http://sbe.sonoma.edu/podcast for more information, to speak with an admissions counselor, or to RSVP for an information session. Follow us on social media @sonomasbe.

Dan Petroski is the winemaker of Larkmead Vineyards and the founder & winemaker of Massican.

Recently, Dan spoke on a panel regarding climate change and sustainability in relation to the global wine industry. Leaving me with more questions, we sat down to chat about the effects of climate change on Napa Valley specifically, with a focus on the benchmarking and data gathering that Larkmead has been doing to assess things like growing degree days in detail, and how Napa Valley is evolving into Zone 5 climatic conditions. We also discuss the affects of alternative packing and how that crosses over in the marketing & customer perception. Then we dig into how Dan is preparing for the potential major effects of climate change with a 21 year plan for testing other grape varietals that might possibly be more viable in the long-term.

For those who do not know Dan, I encourage you to go back and list to my original interview with him where we discussed being the winemaker of Larkmead Vineyards in Calistoga, California and the founder & winemaker of Massican, Dan’s all white wine label making beautiful expressions of Italian based white wines like a Pinot Grigio & Greco blend called Gemina.

In this episode we mention…
Larkmead Vineyards Sustainability
Winkler Index for wine growing climatic Zones
The Definition of Zone 5 on the Winkler Index
Torres & Jackson Family Climate Change Action Group
Napa Valley Grape Growers (Dan is on the Board)
Napa Valley Vintners Association
Brief history of Larkmead grape growing

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Our podcast today is sponsored by the Executive MBA in Wine Business programs at Sonoma State University.

For wine industry leaders and entrepreneurs alike the Sonoma Executive MBA programs in wine business is a game-changer. The first of their kind in the United States and developed in response to the needs of the wine industry, Sonoma State University's AACSB accredited Executive MBA programs combine globally-recognized excellence in business education with wine industry expertise.

Their alumni are leaders at elite wine brands around the world. Students have access to an unparalleled network of wine industry scholars, practitioners, and classmates. The programs offer experiential learning through an immersive 4-day leadership sailing weekend in San Diego Bay and in-country consulting projects during a 12-day international business trip. Market-responsive courses are held in the Wine Spectator Learning Center, an innovative learning space gilded with advanced technology and flexible learning classrooms. Applications for the 2020 Sonoma Executive MBA in Wine Business cohort are accepted through February 28th. Visit http://sbe.sonoma.edu/podcast for more information, to speak with an admissions counselor, or to RSVP for an information session. Follow us on social media @sonomasbe.

Founders, Jake Stover and Gina Schober, met in 2013 and started Sans Wine Co. in late 2015. Their preference for fresh, vibrant and approachable “wines of place” paved the way for what is now Sans Wine Co. The philosophy behind Sans Wine Co. is sourcing premium wine grapes from organically farmed vineyards and environmentally conscience growers in order to craft natural wines.

Jake Stover, originally from Kansas and University of Kansas alum, on the advice of his older brother, postponed applying to law school in order to intern at a Napa winery for the 2008 harvest. After working in winemaking and production for 8 years, Jake shifted his focus to the farming side of wine growing, and started his own farming company in 2014, Stover Vineyard Management, which specializes in “beyond organic” wine growing.

Gina Schober is a Bay Area, California native and UC Davis alum. You could say that wine is in her blood - her maternal Grandfather was a grape grower in Lake County for 30 years and her paternal Grandfather was a Gallo Wines sales rep in the 1960s. Gina’s passion for wine truly started while working for Bacchus Management Group’s Pizza Antica and Cafe des Amis, where she worked as a beverage manager and sommelier. She became a Certified Sommelier through the Court of Master Sommeliers in 2010 and eventually moved to the Napa Valley to work as a sommelier for Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bistro. These days, she is an independent contractor, selling wine for a premium California wine broker.

In this episode we mention…
Sans Wine Co.
Ehren Jordan & Failla Wines
Francoise Peschon Interview
Seven Stones Winery
Northern California Distribution for Sans, Vinifera Wine Marketing
Sans Rutherford Riesling
Poor Ranch Zinfandel
The Restaurant at 1900

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In 2012, Sonoma State University launched the first Executive MBA Programs in Wine Business in the United States. This program was developed in response to the needs of wine industry leaders, and remains North America's only program that combines globally recognized excellence in business education with a highly focused wine industry focus. The program is accredited by AACSB, an achievement that fewer than 10% of eligible business programs are able to earn. So far the program has produced nearly 200 alumni who are going on to provide the next generation of wine industry leaders and entrepreneurs. Students have access to an unparalleled network of wine industry scholars, practitioners, and classmates from day one of the program. Courses are held in the Wine Spectator Learning Center, an innovative learning space gilded with advanced technology and flexible learning classrooms. Applications for the 2020 Sonoma Executive MBA in Wine Business cohort are being accepted now through February 28th. Visit SBE.Sonoma.edu/MBA for more information, to speak with an admissions counselor, or to RSVP for an information session. SBE.Sonoma.edu/MBA or call 664-3501.