Careers in Wine

9 Core Behaviors Of People Who Positively Impact The…

March 17, 2017February 26, 2020

It’s critical to note that people who’ve made a real difference aren’t all privileged, advantaged or “special” by any stretch.

Many come from disadvantaged families, crushing circumstances and initially limited capabilities, but have found ways to pick themselves up and rise above their circumstances (and their genes) to transform their own lives and those around them.

Researching these makers, shakers and disruptors, and working with our own clients who shape the world around them in powerful and constructive ways, We have observed 9 core behaviors that set them apart – habitual ways of behaving and approaching life and work that distinguish them from those who long to make a difference but can’t or won’t find the way.

image of hands cupping a small glass globe

The 9 core behaviors of people who positively impact the world are:

They dedicate themselves to what gives their life meaning and purpose.
They commit to continually bettering themselves.
They engage with people in open, mutually-beneficial ways
They invest time and energy not in what is, but what can be.
They embrace critique.
They spread what they know.
They uplift others as they ascend.
They view the journey as the goal.
They use their power and influence well.

Now go out and impact the world!

Careers in Wine

When Not Everyone Agrees With You

August 26, 2014

News From Napa…
As I am sure you have all heard and seen the images from Sundays 6.0 quake. Thank you so much for all the calls and texts, and emails. We were very lucky – the Benchmark family is safe and intact. We had a few few minor breakages, but overall we are grateful and our hearts and prayers go out to our neighbors and friends who did not fare as well.

We wish a speedy recovery to our industry friends and families.
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When Not Everyone Agrees With You
The more invested we are in an idea, the more likely we are going to present an idea persuasively. And even if we do present it well, there will likely be some resistance to some or all aspects of it. How we react to resistance is a determining factor in both the growth of our ideas and ourselves.

What is there to do when not everyone agrees with you? You could rejoice at the evident diversity of perspectives, but realistically, you must remember that this is not a personal evaluation. Keep discussions objective and tightly anchored to the original idea.

Perhaps you feel very strongly about something. As situations become more qualitative than measurable, the ultimate redress may be impossible to define. As you may have previously noted, others will have their ideas and beliefs at least as strong from another perspective.

Perhaps you have taken great pains in presenting an idea. Opening ideas up to questioning allows you to use the knowledge gained from experience and research to further elaborate on the merits of the issue. As you rationally express your points, you will learn more deeply about the subject, as well as increase your general ability to maintain a positive and productive attitude.

Careers in Wine

Sonoma County Winegrowers Announce New President

March 7, 2013

Sonoma County Wine Growers Announce Ne Karissa Kruse says one of her top priorities when she assumes the position of president of the Sonoma County Winegrowers is to continue the joint marketing effort developed by the organization and the county’s vintners and tourism groups. Kruse, who had been hired as the Winegrowers’ marketing director in August 2012 has been picked by the group’s board to replace outgoing president Nick Frey, who will officially retire May 1. With the industry associations in Sonoma County already linked by the same marketing strategy, Kruse said the next step is to leverage that cooperation to elevate the reputation of the county’s wine and grape industry both nationally and internationally.

“What a win for the growers to have such a strong relationship with the vintners,” she said. Getting to know their neighbors Kruse will also continue to implement the group’s community outreach program to help Sonoma County residents who don’t work in the wine industry gain a better understanding of it. “They often don’t even know as much about our vineyards and wineries as our visitors,” she said. And while the county’s wine and grower groups have improved the region’s reputation in the wine trade and press, Kruse admitted the same isn’t necessarily true for the people living in the group’s own backyard.

“We haven’t done as good of a job of relating to our community,” she said. Some of the tension between growers and county residents has stemmed from vineyard development. Just recently, Sonoma County and conservation groups worked out a $24.5 million deal to preserve 19,652 acres of land, of which nearly 1,800 were to be developed into vineyards in a plan backed by the state employee retirement fund CalPERS, according to a report by the Santa Rosa, Calif., Press Democrat newspaper. Kruse said the proposal and deal were worked out well before her transition into the president position, but she views it as a “win-win” agreement for conservationists and growers. Simple supply and demand economics indicate there’s benefit to not having a large amount of new acreage getting planted with vines. Kruse said the winegrowers are focused on producing the highest quality fruit and improving the region’s reputation for fine wine. “It’s nice that it doesn’t have to go into development,” she said. Keeping the transition smooth Nick Frey joined the county’s grape growers association in 1999 and led the group through its reformation as a state commission in 2006. He will stay with the group through the end of the year to help ensure a smooth transition. When the change is complete, Kruse will oversee the roughly 1,800-member group, which recently changed its name from the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission to the Sonoma County Winegrowers. The organization has a small staff including a grower programs manager, winery and sponsor-relations manager and a part-time bookkeeper and part-time web developer. Growers pay $1.2 million to the group in assessments collected from grape sales.

“Karissa has been a great addition to the commission staff in just six months,” Frey said in a statement released by the group. “She is quick to learn and motivated to represent growers’ interests to the wine trade and local community. Karissa’s experience and energy are what is needed to continue moving the commission to new heights.” The promotion came at the end of an 18-month recruiting and succession-planning process, during which the group’s board identified Kruse as someone who could first help the group’s marketing efforts and then follow Frey.

Kruse earned a master’s degree in marketing and a bachelor’s in economics from the The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the winegrowers, Kruse worked for General Mills, Universal Studios and the Dairy Management Inc., a national marketing group for the U.S. dairy industry. Kruse came to Sonoma County in 2007 to purchase a vineyard and pursue a career in wine. She owns a 25-acre parcel in Bennett Valley AVA, of which 5 acres are planted to Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The grapes are used for Kruse’s Argot Wines, a company she owns with a partner. Kruse said she makes about 2,000 cases with fruit from her vineyard and also buys grapes from county growers. “I’m not just the president, I’m a client,” she said.

Original Article Here

Careers in Wine

Curiosty

January 5, 2013

The important thing is not to stop questioning… Never lose a holy curiosity.
Albert Einstein

Curiosity is an important trait of a genius. I don’t think you can find an intellectual giant who is not a curious person. Thomas Edison, Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, they are all curious characters. Richard Feynman was especially known for his adventures which came from his curiosity.

2013 is a new year. A new time for all of us to discover what makes each of us unique and wonderful and how we pull that back into the universe.

In the Wine Industry, curiosity is the mainstay of our existence. Ask any Winemaker, if it wasn’t for curiosity wine would not be what it was is today. With the shrinking of the individual family wineries and the drive to recreate over and over again the same wine flavor profiles we may be losing what makes us special on many levels. Not allowing ourselves to take the time to allow curiosity and discovery to take over we will lose what makes us special.

When looking at yourself or your team or your company…ask yourself, “Are you curious?”

If you discover that you have been in the weeds and lost your way to curious behavior..I have listed a few ways to take it back.

But why is curiosity so important? Here are four reasons:

It makes your mind active instead of passive
Curious people always ask questions and search for answers in their minds. Their minds are always active. Since the mind is like a muscle which becomes stronger through continual exercise, the mental exercise caused by curiosity makes your mind stronger and stronger.
It makes your mind observant of new ideas
When you are curious about something, your mind expects and anticipates new ideas related to it. When the ideas come they will soon be recognized. Without curiosity, the ideas may pass right in front of you and yet you miss them because your mind is not prepared to recognize them. Just think, how many great ideas may have lost due to lack of curiosity?
It opens up new worlds and possibilities
By being curious you will be able to see new worlds and possibilities which are normally not visible. They are hidden behind the surface of normal life, and it takes a curious mind to look beneath the surface and discover these new worlds and possibilities.
It brings excitement into your life
The life of curious people is far from boring. It’s neither dull nor routine. There are always new things that attract their attention, there are always new ‘toys’ to play with. Instead of being bored, curious people have an adventurous life.

Now, knowing the importance of curiosity, here are some tips to develop it:

1. Keep an open mind

This is essential if you are to have a curious mind. Be open to learn, unlearn, and relearn. Some things you know and believe might be wrong, and you should be prepared to accept this possibility and change your mind.

2. Don’t take things as granted

If you just accept the world as it is without trying to dig deeper, you will certainly lose the ‘holy curiosity’. Never take things as granted. Try to dig deeper beneath the surface of what is around you.

3. Ask questions relentlessly

A sure way to dig deeper beneath the surface is asking questions: What is that? Why is it made that way?When was it made? Who invented it? Where does it come from? How does it work? What, why, when, who, where, and how are the best friends of curious people.

4. Don’t label something as boring

Whenever you label something as boring, you close one more door of possibilities. Curious people are unlikely to call something as boring. Instead, they always see it as a door to an exciting new world. Even if they don’t yet have time to explore it, they will leave the door open to be visited another time.

5. See learning as something fun

If you see learning as a burden, there’s no way you will want to dig deeper into anything. That will just make the burden heavier. But if you think of learning as something fun, you will naturally want to dig deeper. So look at life through the glasses of fun and excitement and enjoy the learning process..

6. Read diverse kinds of reading

Don’t spend too much time on just one world; take a look at another worlds. It will introduce you to the possibilities and excitement of the other worlds which may spark your interest to explore them further. One easy way to do this is through reading diverse kinds of reading. Try to pick a book or magazine on a new subject and let it feed your mind with the excitement of a new world.

Research

The New U.S. Wine Market

November 7, 2012

The U.S. wine market fell off a cliff in September 2008, and it is still hanging in mid-air.

Far more has changed in this market than the behavior of the American consumer: The companies that distribute and sell the vast majority of wines have dramatically changed the way they do business.

To begin to understand this new market, Stonebridge Research created its Fine Wine Trade Monitor in March 2010, with support from industry groups including Napa Valley Vintners, the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance and South African Winegrowers, and with help from industry leaders across the country.

From March to June 2010, we conducted telephone conversations of one hour or more with more than 50 top managers in the wine trade: eight distributors, 17 independent wine retailers and 25 full-service restaurants (both chains and independents, including national accounts) in the top wine markets in the United States (New York, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Las Vegas/Reno, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Francisco) and several smaller markets.

In each conversation, we asked:

How has your wine market been, over the last 24 months?
How have you adapted your business?
What is selling and what isn’t?
What moves wine in this marketand what doesn’t?
What notable trends have you seen in consumer behavior?
What has been the impact of changes in distributor business?
What can – and should – producers do?
What worries you about the future?In the process, we learned what exactly this new market was and how the trade – wholesale, retail, restaurant – has changed to adapt to the new economy.

BEYOND GROCERY STORE DATA

We know that Americans are still drinking wine. They are just paying less for it. Consumers have changed what they buy, what they are willing to pay for it, and particu- larly, where they buy it – with consequences for everyone in the wine business.

You may have read that not only are retail wine sales rising, so are wine prices at retail. But that is InfoScan data, which is primarily grocery and drug store data, in the states where wine can be sold in those channels. In late 2008 and early 2009, grocery stores closed out – at huge discounts – most of the higher-priced, small-production wines on their shelves. Pretty much everything else has been heavily discounted.

So what does it mean if those prices appear to be increasing? Either that discounts may be some- what smaller or that consumers are taking advantage of better wines being discounted.

So, wine prices are rising…from what?

Are wine prices recovering?

What is really going on out there?

RETAIL

Here are some basics on wine sales. In the “normal” market, before the recession, it would take about three months to move an inventory of wine at retail (described in the trade as a “turn rate” of four times a year). Some lesser-known or more expensive wines might take longer to move. Thus, much of the cost of wine in all parts of the market is the cost of holding inventory. That inventory turn rate for wine has now slipped to once a year: 12 months to move all but the strongest brands and biggest values. This happened at a time when credit was becoming scarce and more expensive.

From the third quarter of 2008 through the spring of 2010, retail wine sales revenue declined 15%- 20% in most parts of the country, while sales volume – the number of bottles sold – rose. Many retailers found they were “working twice as hard for less money.” Wine would only sell with large discounts – 30% being the norm – or a special event. Many retailers cut staff by as much as 20%. “Hand-selling” of wine was an expense few could continue to afford.

Retailers also responded by cutting inventory, by 20% or more. They swapped out wines costing more than $50 for wines under $20. Anything that didn’t move quickly was closed out. Imports were the first to go, then smaller producers, library wines, multiple vineyard-designates, all those “new varietals” – all gone. And if they haven’t seen you lately, you are probably one of the brands they cut.

If it looks like retail shelves became filled with large-volume brands, they were. Risk-averse consumers were reaching for not only less expensive wines, but familiar labels from large producers able to fund the promotional allowances and discounts needed to sell wine.

The only alternative to discounting that seems to work has been special events with winemakers. Vintners’ travel is up 30% or more.

We do a lot of consumer research at Stonebridge. A few years ago, price was a factor in wine purchases – one of several, along with brand, variety, ratings, the occasion when the wine would be served, etc. Wine was, to use a wonderful phrase from Yankelovich Partners’ study for the California Wine Institute in 2005, a “safe adventure” – consumers were excited about trying something new, even dangerous, in wine. Well, that’s over.

Today no one is quite sure what consumers want, other than price. At least at retail, they are not being adventurous. Not that they are being given much of an option, either, because there is less and less adventurous wine on the shelf.

RESTAURANTS

Restaurants have been much more creative in responding to this economy.

The year 2009 was the worst for U.S. restaurants in almost 40 years. Full-service restaurants were the hardest hit, with particular pain coming from the loss of corporate and expense-account business. The average check was down 15%- 20%, but the average wine sale was down 20%-50%. Wine sales were down far more than spirits or beer, which were seen as more economical alcoholic beverages.

Restaurants responded by adapting their menus to allow customers to “manage their spend” through increased choices in more price categories and flexible portion size, prix fixe meals, special offers, food sharing and small plates. And they have adapted their wine lists accordingly.

Customers have been turning toward wine by the glass for several years, but in 2009, the shift was drastic, from bottle purchases to a cocktail, followed by a glass of wine with dinner. Restaurateurs described their new business as “selling more wine to fewer people at lower prices.”

The “sweet spot” for wine bottle sales dropped to the $40-$60 range from $90 or more – and it hasn’t improved. We even began seeing “house wine” again, albeit of better quality than in years past. With wine sales slowing, restaurants began cutting new purchases, cutting lists and selling from inventory. They put the expensive wines on special and when they sold out, they were replenished with wines they could sell for $40 or less.

Inventory levels were cut, long- term, to reduce costs. Individual orders got smaller – cases became six-packs and six-packs became two bottles – to limit inventory exposure.

Restaurants have long expected to be able to re-order regularly, monthly or bimonthly, for their more active wines, which became more important as individual orders dropped in size.

With the wines they do offer, restaurants have taken a different road than retailers. They are looking for “esoteric” imports, new wines, small producers, wines not available at retail. The last thing customers need to see on a restaurant list is a wine they could have bought in the grocery store or (horror of hor- rors!) at Costco at a fraction of the price.

Thanks to creative wine lists and support from energized sommeliers and trained servers, consumers have regained some of their cour- age to experiment with wine, seeking new, affordable alternatives to the more expensive wines they used to order in restaurants. Thus, wine sales on premise have been shifting toward small-production imports: particularly Veneto whites and Rhône reds. Restaurant traffic was revived in much of the country in 2010. Corporate and private dining business is coming back — yet wine lists have not returned to their glory days.

With restaurants and retailers heading in different directions, how do you build a brand today?

DISTRIBUTION

Now we get to the distributors.

Think about it: The whole structure of the three-tier system depends on distributors holding inventory. Inventory costs have multiplied as turn rates collapsed. Restaurants cut their purchases by as much as 50% and many closed. Retailers cut orders. Inventory credit costs rose and conditions tightened.

Starting in late 2008, most dis- tributors started trimming everything that had not moved in 30-60 days. During the past 18 months, there were hundreds of closeouts, if not more, flooding the market at discounts to retailers and res- taurants of up to 80%. Accounts often could not find out where to buy many of their usual wines.

Distributors have since cut 20%-30% of brands from inventory, primarily slower-moving small producers, library wines, new brands and imports.

One sales director described distributors as “triaging” customers, with major national brands at the top and smaller brands on the third level, described as the “if you are lucky, we might return your phone call” customer group.

Distributors have targeted inventory for no more than 30-60 days, even if it means out-of-stocks. They are not holding inventory for mid- season re-orders. Allocations go out once or not at all.

In the long run, long after the consumer starts shopping again, it is these changes in distribution that will have the greatest impact on the U.S. wine market.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO PRODUCERS?

First, few, if any, producers will be able to depend on wholesalers to simply take their production off their hands and find a market for it. This situation has been coming for several years, and producers have largely been in denial.

The most immediate impact is on producer cash flow.

Distributors are decreasing what they are willing to buy, and completely eliminating some brands. In September 2009, wineries began dumping inventory to distributors with discounts as high as 60%, after spending much of the year insisting they could not even moderately adjust the pricing they had built up during the boom years.

The idea was presumably to clear out inventory to enable a healthier market with the new vin- tage, yet the discounts continue.

The expectation that pricing would return to old levels is unlikely to be met. Trade and consumers who purchased wines earlier in the year, at higher prices, felt betrayed, and those brands are likely damaged for the long term with these customers.

Next is the realization that producers are indeed responsible for generating their own demand.

Vintners need to nurture their relationships with their accounts, understand what they can sell and be out in the market to provide the training and support sales.

Independent sales and marketing companies are proliferating, assisting producers who can’t afford a sales force, yet this also adds another layer of costs.

Wine companies are learning they need to manage their distributors, monitor their inventories to avoid out-of-stocks, keep an eye on pricing to avoid closeouts, keep tabs on warehouse situations and check on deliveries.

They must work harder to make sure they get paid, and to ensure their wines are valuable to their distributors.

Finally, it comes down to more rigorously managing the business of wine: building sales planning and inventory management capabilities, and understanding and controlling costs.

Most important is to protect and improve quality while tightening business practices.

There is already concern that wine quality may be compromised as vintners try to protect margins, a counter- productive strategy when consumers are discovering that good wine can be found at every price level.

Cost savings will have to come from improved business, financial and operations management, with retaining and improving wine quality a top priority. Or, in the words of one former large-company executive, “taking money out of process to put into quality.”

What other options are there for producers?

Consumer-direct sales have revived in some regions, making up for some of the lost trade markets. But as ShipCompliant data has shown, consumer-direct is still a small segment of wine sales. Most wine will continue to be sold through retailers and eating-and- drinking establiishments.

Attention is gradually focusing on the opportunities for direct-to- trade sales, through so-called clearing distributors. There is anecdotal evidence of distributors setting up clearing divisions to process three- tier paperwork for a fee, leaving actual sales and physical distribution to wine producers. Many of the new sales and marketing companies and brokers, started by distribution veterans, are developing comparable services.

Restaurateurs report that distributors are proposing to take orders for smaller wines they do not usually stock, if the trade commits to pay in advance and to take immediate delivery, so that no inventory costs are incurred.

I had a conversation several months ago with a friend in the industry who remarked, with a startled expression, that he had just realized that he usually said “supply and demand” and I say “demand and supply.” Perhaps, he suggested, that says something about the industry and the market today.

Sadly, selling wine has always been more difficult than making it. Today, it is definitely what a vintner needs to think about first.

Barbara Insel is president and CEO of Napa-based Stonebridge Research Group LLC, a leading strategic advisory and research firm servicing the wine industry. Insel has led major projects for the French Trade Ministry, Wine Institute, California Association of Winegrape Growers, Napa Val- ley Vintners and many others. To learn more about Stonebridge Fine Wine Trade Monitor, visit www.stonebridgeresearch.com or contact Insel at binsel@stonebridgeresearch.com.

Careers in Wine

Follow a Career Passion? Let It Follow You

October 2, 2012

IN the spring of 2004, during my senior year of college, I faced a hard decision about my future career. I had a job offer from Microsoft and an acceptance letter from the computer science doctoral program at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology. I had also just handed in the manuscript for my first nonfiction book, which opened the option of becoming a full-time writer. These are three strikingly different career paths, and I had to choose which one was right for me.

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Daniel Rosenbaum for The New York Times

Cal Newport, a computer science professor at Georgetown, says many people lack a “true calling” but have a sense of fulfillment that grows over time.

For many of my peers, this decision would have been fraught with anxiety. Growing up, we were told by guidance counselors, career advice books, the news media and others to “follow our passion.” This advice assumes that we all have a pre-existing passion waiting to be discovered. If we have the courage to discover this calling and to match it to our livelihood, the thinking goes, we’ll end up happy. If we lack this courage, we’ll end up bored and unfulfilled — or, worse, in law school.

To a small group of people, this advice makes sense, because they have a clear passion. Maybe they’ve always wanted to be doctors, writers, musicians and so on, and can’t imagine being anything else.

But this philosophy puts a lot of pressure on the rest of us — and demands long deliberation. If we’re not careful, it tells us, we may end up missing our true calling. And even after we make a choice, we’re still not free from its effects. Every time our work becomes hard, we are pushed toward an existential crisis, centered on what for many is an obnoxiously unanswerable question: “Is this what I’m really meant to be doing?” This constant doubt generates anxiety and chronic job-hopping.

As I considered my options during my senior year of college, I knew all about this Cult of Passion and its demands. But I chose to ignore it. The alternative career philosophy that drove me is based on this simple premise: The traits that lead people to love their work are general and have little to do with a job’s specifics. These traits include a sense of autonomy and the feeling that you’re good at what you do and are having an impact on the world. Decades of research on workplace motivation back this up. (Daniel Pink’s book “Drive” offers a nice summary of this literature.)

These traits can be found in many jobs, but they have to be earned. Building valuable skills is hard and takes time. For someone in a new position, the right question is not, “What is this job offering me?” but, instead, “What am I offering this job?”

RETURNING to my story, I decided after only minimal deliberation to go to M.I.T. True to my alternative career philosophy, I was confident that all three of my career options could be transformed into a source of passion, and this confidence freed me from worry about making a wrong choice. I ended up choosing M.I.T., mainly because of a slight preference for the East Coast, but I would have been equally content heading out to Microsoft’s headquarters near Seattle. Or, with the advance from my first book, I could have hunkered down in a quiet town to write.

During my initial years as a graduate student, I certainly didn’t enjoy an unshakable sense that I had found my true calling. The beginning of doctoral training can be rough. You’re not yet skilled enough to make contributions to the research literature, which can be frustrating. And at a place like M.I.T., you’re surrounded by brilliance, which can make you question whether you belong.

Had I subscribed to the “follow our passion” orthodoxy, I probably would have left during those first years, worried that I didn’t feel love for my work every day. But I knew that my sense of fulfillment would grow over time, as I became better at my job. So I worked hard, and, as my competence grew, so did my engagement.

Today, I’m a computer science professor at Georgetown University, and I love my job. The most important lesson I can draw from my experience is that this love has nothing to do with figuring out at an early age that I was meant to be a professor. There’s nothing special about my choosing this particular path. What mattered is what I did once I made my choice.

To other young people who constantly wonder if the grass might be greener on the other side of the occupational fence, I offer this advice: Passion is not something you follow. It’s something that will follow you as you put in the hard work to become valuable to the world.

Cal Newport is the author of “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.”