Grow Big or Grow Home

Last week’s theme seemed to be tradition: between the historic story of the Rothschild family and our discussion of the Wente winery, I began to think about the tension between maintaining tradition and developing an ambition of growth. At one point in her presentation, Christine made a passing comment about preferring to support mid-size family wineries over the big guys. I then raised my hand and asked whether any of the family wineries had ambitions of getting acquired, and she had trouble thinking of any examples.

Do these companies just run as lifestyle brands and ways to employ family members, or do they actually aim to be profitable in an ambitious way?

The Rothschild story obviously represented the latter category, maintaining huge growth globally throughout the decades. I’m curious: what differentiates the brands that aim to grow like Rothschild from the moderate family companies like Wente?

I’m also curious about the intra-industry perception: how do the big guys perceive the small guys, and vice versa?

I’m also curious about consumer perception: in the same way that farm to table food made its way in the 1970’s and microbreweries became popular in the 1980’s, there are now so many smaller wineries across the country. There is so much consumer consciousness about what we eat (think buzzwords like local, sustainable, etc)—are people also thinking this way about the wine they drink?

I’m also curious about why people will buy a bottle for the first time. I hypothesize that major contributing factors include: the label, price, vague guidance from whomever is selling the products, and maybe some previous knowledge or conceptions. Since the vast majority of consumers are unknowledgeable when it comes to what they drink, I’m keen to learn tactics for getting someone to purchase a new brand for the first time. How do folks like the Wente family, who don’t have the deep pockets or advertising budgets of the big distributor brands, reach consumers?