Wisdom From The Women Leading the Wine & Spirits Industries, with Sarah Montague of John Anthony Family of Wines

An interview with Kelly Reeves

Encourage and support diverse talent to enter the industry. John Anthony Family of Wines works closely with the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture program to support education in the industry–offering internships and support financially. This program does a great job of teaching all aspects of the wine business without pigeonholing students–they can find their passion regardless of stereotypes.

Less than 20% of winemakers and distillers are women. Traditionally, women were excluded from these industries. This number is slowly rising as more women choose to study this profession and enter the wine and spirits fields. What is it like for those women who work in this male-dominated industry? What are some of the challenges that these women face? Is there hope for better representation, and better wages, for women in the wine and spirits industry? As a part of our series about women leading the wine and spirits industries, we had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Montague.

Sarah Montague, Chief Marketing Officer of John Anthony Family of Wines, built her career in advertising agencies before finding the world of wine. Building household brands such as Kraft, Quaker, and Nike, Sarah brings a consumer focus and expertise in digital and integrated marketing to her role in the wine business. Sarah, alongside her team and partners, has created a unique marketing ecosystem that generates and captures consumer demand for the JaM Cellars brand, including Butter Chardonnay the #2 selling chardonnay in the U.S. over $13.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to get to know you a bit. Can you tell us a bit about your origin story, and your childhood?

Thank you, I’m delighted to share my perspective and hope it can help women looking to be successful in the world of wine and spirits. While I’ve been with John Anthony Family of Wines for almost a decade, I didn’t start out in the wine business. I developed a passion for marketing while I was at university in London. Marketing is a beautiful mix of art and science and it appealed to my love of both language and numbers.

My first job out of school was at a small advertising agency. Over the following 20 years, I worked at several larger international advertising agencies, moved to the US–first to Chicago and then in 2012 opened an office for an agency on the West Coast. I eventually held a General Manager position at Organic in San Francisco, one of the leading digital marketing firms in the exciting tech bubble of the Bay Area.

During my agency career I was lucky enough to work with world-class brands including eBay, Nike, Fiat, Volkswagen, Quaker, Kraft and more. Each brand had different challenges in connecting with their consumers in engaging ways.

I loved the high energy, creativity, innovation, and fast pace of the advertising agency environment. I get my work ethic and drive from a strong mother who started her own business when I was young and was an exceptional role model. She helped instill in me that I could do anything I put my mind to. I’ve never thought that anything was out of my reach because I am a woman.

I was lucky to find my partner early on in life, my husband Alan, who supports and celebrates me professionally as well as personally. He’s literally followed my career journey across countries, state lines, and cities.

Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to the wine and spirits industry?

• Despite exploring lots of industries during my ad agency career, I hadn’t had the chance to work with a beverage alcohol company. Fate connected me with John Truchard, a young Napa Valley vintner with a very fast-growing brand and a mission to build the next great wine and spirits business.
• Once I left the ad agency world, I spent time with my family in the UK, and downtime at our home in Napa before jumping back into the next chapter.
• Napa Valley was one of the first places Alan and I had visited upon arriving in the US in 1999. We fell in love with the beauty of the valley, the community, lifestyle, and of course, the wines.
• I studied my Wine and Spirits Education Trust levels 1 and 2 for fun. Friends and connections in the wine industry started reaching out for marketing advice and so I began part time consulting for wineries. Before I knew it, I’d inadvertently discovered a gap in marketing expertise in Napa Valley.
• Year two of a new music and wine festival (BottleRock Napa Valley) was being planned and I ended up as winery sponsor liaison which is how I met John and Michele, the “J” and “M” in JaM Cellars. They joined the festival with their fast growing-brand and after helping them make the most of their sponsorship at the festival, they asked for my continued help to build the brand architecture and marketing ecosystem for their new brand.
• I joined the company as the first marketing hire taking on the title of CMO when we were about 100k cases. Almost a decade later, our talented marketing team of 10 now supports 1 million cases across five brands.
• I credit my “luck” of joining this industry to hard work, being open to opportunity, and investing in my happiness.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?

• I have been fortunate to work with some great (and some terrible) leaders–you can certainly learn from both! Early in my career, I worked with one of the best leaders that I still try to model to this day, Janine Bartlett at Brann Worldwide. Janine was poised, professional, prepared, and asked questions to help teach her team how to solve problems.
• Janine challenged us to reach high and do things out of our comfort zones to be our best, while being a great safety net. She celebrated her team and gave credit–she understood that our success was her success.
• I also saw the specific power of women supporting each other. Janine had a female mentor at the company, and Janine in turn mentored me. I am still grateful for her generosity of time to teach and guide me.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. High Standards:

The adage “if a job’s worth doing it’s worth doing (very) well” applies to me 100%. I’ve always strived to be the best I can be in any situation and expect a lot of myself–and others. Success and doing things really well is fun for me and I’ve been lucky to surround myself with people who feel the same. The key is giving yourself and others the tools, resources, and time to be great and give 110%. High standards at work can be debilitating if your life isn’t in balance–whether that’s being a great Mom, partner, friend, or member of the community. You can’t give your best if there’s nothing to give.

2. Positivity:

I’m a very positive person, I think that energy is critical in leading teams to excel. Positive energy helps in approaching major challenges without getting overwhelmed. “If you think you can or you can’t…you’re right.” And we spend a lot of our lives working–so finding the joy and fulfillment in the work is critical.

3. Open to change:

I’ve changed countries, changed jobs, changed my body and mind (from morbidly obese, to 15-time triathlete), and now I’ve changed industries too. I know change can be terrifying for a lot of people–but it’s muscle I have flexed often and it ALWAYS works out for the better. I greatly enjoy encouraging people to change, improve, and grow–and get the very best out of life.

Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? Why are these important?

• John Anthony Family of Wines is in a phase of intense innovation right now. We’re really looking to the future of the company–evolving some brands with line extensions; and getting into whole new categories.
• These innovations will bring consumers greater choice of beverage products they are seeking–lower alcohol and alcohol alternatives; healthier, cleaner, and feel-good.
• Along with greater demand and increased choice, consumers are also going to benefit from improved quality in these offerings.

Ok. Thank you for all that. Let’s now jump to the main core of our interview. Despite great progress that has been made we still have a lot more work to do to achieve gender parity in this industry. In Napa Valley, the percentage of lead women winemakers or winery owners is about 12%. Overall, men account for about 80% of winemakers and winery owners. In your opinion or experience, what 3 things can be done by a)individuals b)companies and/or c) society as a whole to support greater gender parity moving forward?

Yes, the entire wine industry is still male dominated, but there have been areas of improved representation–mostly in sales, marketing, and hospitality positions. For example 80% of the positions in my department are held by strong talented women and I see that more and more. However, in winemaking and winery ownership/leadership it’s a different story. I believe there’s three areas of focus to address this:

1. Challenge core beliefs that flexible working for winemakers is impossible. It’s widely believed that “nature waits for no-one” and that seasonality in winemaker responsibilities precludes women and especially young mothers from these roles. Every industry has unique challenges but until society refuses to miss out on 50% of the talent pool, there will be a lack of motivation to create the flexibility required for women to have successful long term careers in winemaking while raising a family. It’s incumbent upon companies, leaders, and individual managers to get creative with organizational infrastructure, technology, and process to accommodate flexibility for great talent.
2. Encourage and support diverse talent to enter the industry. John Anthony Family of Wines works closely with the Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture program to support education in the industry–offering internships and support financially. This program does a great job of teaching all aspects of the wine business without pigeonholing students–they can find their passion regardless of stereotypes.
3. Communicate. It’s so critical to have a voice. As an industry and as individuals we need to keep communicating and celebrating the achievements of women. Sharing accolades, challenges, and experiences with each other and our male colleagues helps raise awareness of the imbalances and opportunities to redress them. I’m not a winemaker or a mother, so I haven’t directly experienced those exact challenges, but have experienced my own share of casual sexism and discrimination when I was coming up in the advertising agency world. On the leadership team with John Anthony Family of Wines, I am fortunate to be seen for my merits and contribution as an executive and I’m able to be an advocate and mentor for the many young women who aspire to advance their careers with the company.

You are a “Wine and Spirits Insider”. If you had to advise someone about 3 non-intuitive things one should know to succeed in the wine and spirits industry, what would you say? Can you please give a story or an example for each?

There’s not as much wine drinking in the wine industry as you would think. Don’t get me wrong there are some fabulous events and experiences–it’s a fun business. But it’s more typical to have small pours, taste, and dump. A lot of people in the wine business have made an art of holding a glass of wine without drinking it.

Most wine professionals have the story of “that” wine or wine experiences that led them to the wine industry–and they love to tell it. Go ahead and ask them.

As an “Insider,” you’re often asked what your favorite wine is, but I would say few of us have just one favorite–it’s more about favorites on certain occasions, or with certain foods. Wine is more than simply the drink to us–it’s a lifestyle. So instead ask what’s your favorite wine to sit by the fireplace with? Or what pairs best with truffle mac and cheese?

What most excites you about the industry?

In my role, I love staying close to the consumer–so I’m excited for all the changes we are seeing as Gen Z enters the legal drinking age. There are a lot of choices and their decision making criteria are different. The wine industry has a lot to offer this generation–we are the original farm to table product; we are a lifestyle product that becomes even more enjoyable with curiosity; there are many inspiring, authentic stories behind wine labels; and wine is an exceptional way to discover and travel the world.

What most concerns you about the industry? If you had the ability to implement 3 ways to reform or improve the industry, what would you suggest?

The inverse of what excites me, concerns me. If the wine industry is seen to be elitist, non-inclusive, not authentic, not responsible stewards of the land and remains under-represented by women and minorities–then we will be shunned by upcoming generations and wine will increasingly become marginalized. Thankfully there are many many groups advocating for change:

1. Sustainable farming practices like Napa Green and simplifying packaging to reduce carbon footprint are major initiatives of Napa Valley Vintners and Napa Valley Grapegrowers of which we are active members.
2. Hiring, teaching, and mentoring a diverse and representative workforce as advocated by Napa Valley Farmworkers Foundation and Cal Poly Wine and Viticulture that we actively support.
3. Making wines accessible to diverse communities through approachability, pricing, education, and enjoyment. Our wines “Butter” by JaM Cellars demystify wine with easy-to-love, great-tasting, and affordable wines and by sponsoring live music festivals. We aim to meet consumers where they are physically and where they are on their wine journey.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.”

Self-belief is such an important muscle to exercise–it quashes fears, builds confidence, and enables you to try new things. With every success self-belief grows and empowers you not to let fear hold you back and do bigger and better things. It also helps reframe setbacks as new challenges you can overcome.

For girls and women, self-belief is especially valuable. The confidence gap is real when you see that well-qualified women are less likely to apply for jobs than similarly qualified men.

I wasn’t always this way, it’s grown over time. I would not be here in Napa Valley, healthy, and happy with a wonderful husband, and helping to grow an exciting company and team if I hadn’t started practicing self-belief and taking bigger and bigger risks.

I’m truly grateful for where my practice of self-belief has brought me and my ability to share this approach with others and lift them up.

Thank you so much for the time you spent with this. We wish you only continued success!

About The Interviewer: Kelly Reeves is a published writer, copy editor, speaker, and certified entrepreneurship and personal growth coach. She is passionate about working with entrepreneurs and executives over 50 to help them discover their life’s purpose, unlock their full potential, and thrive in the second half of life. As an award-winning public relations professional with multi-industry knowledge Kelly worked with global brands, startups and media personalities including the Tony Hawk Foundation, Barrett-Jackson, Targus, Kingston, WD, and Howard Stern. Kelly successfully launched a variety of consumer electronics and B2B brands and executed highly successful PR and social media campaigns. With an average track record of generating more than 50 million media impressions on a monthly basis, she placed clients in leading media outlets such as InStyle, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, CNet, TechCrunch, AllThingsD and Mashable; and landed spots on high profile programs such as Extra, the Today Show, ABC News, CNN and Good Morning America. She also played an integral role in helping clients increase sales revenue by over 350%. Her community service includes mentoring students in the Masters of Entrepreneurship Program at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine. She also mentors students in the College of Communications at California State University, Fullerton. Kelly serves as the Co-Founder and President of Paw Prints in the Sand Animal Rescue, a 501c3 animal welfare organization where she oversees the operations, donor relations, and marketing and PR strategy.