Wines & Dimes: A Wine Blog About the Business Side of Wine
If you’re reading this, you are likely either in the wine business or thinking of getting in the business. If that is the case, this is for you!
There are countless blogs about wine, most of which are about making, tasting and experiencing wine, but very few that are dedicated to the business aspects of starting, owning or operating an actual wine company.
This is precisely why I decided to launch Wines & Dimes — a new blog about the wine business, for people in the wine business.
“Wines & Dimes is about the intersection of wine, business and technology for wine industry professionals.”
About 10 years ago I was working as a management consultant and had the good fortune of tasting an incredible bottle of wine one evening. Soon after I became absolutely obsessed with wine. Over the next few years I began a wine journey that has resulted in tasting tens of thousands of wines, starting four wine-related companies and investing in many others.
Along the way, I’ve seen hundreds of business plans, business models and wine related concepts and much of my social circle became people in the wine business.
As the inquisitive consultant, I asked a lot of questions and noticed a couple trends that led me to the conclusion that the wine industry needs more resources dedicated to the practical aspects of owning and operating a successful wine business.
One of the trends I’ve noticed is that the wine business is filled [mostly] with people who are genuinely passionate about wine. This may sound rather intuitive and obvious, but consider the vast majority of industries and jobs where people are generally much less enthusiastic about the products. When was the last time your banker friend posted a picture on Facebook holding up a new debit card and proclaiming a great day?
While this passion for wine is usually a prerequisite for entering the wine business, a solid background in key aspects of business… finance, marketing, strategy and operations… is however, not required. I’ve seen too many instances where a disregard for business fundamentals, either intentionally or otherwise, has led to difficult circumstances for even the most passionate wine professionals.
The reverse can also be true when someone takes a very methodical and purely business-oriented approach to the wine industry without the important element of passion. The result can be a very bland offering that fails to speak to the right audience.
Luckily, it is a lot easier to learn the business side, or augment your team with proper business fundamentals, than it is to teach someone to be passionate about wine if it does not come naturally.
“Step number one to starting or running a successful wine business is to embrace the passion for wine and recognize where the business skills may be lacking.”
My goal with Wines & Dimes is to highlight many of the topics that are important to a successful wine business and create a practical guide that can be applied by anyone.
By sharing my learnings, failures and successes I hope to help more wine entrepreneurs reach their business goals.
