A Thirst for Knowledge

Plain and simple, I like wine.  I like to taste it, drink it, and learn about it.  Each wine is a fingerprint with a unique story that transports me to a region of the world in a sip.  I cannot imagine a better way to spend my short time at Stanford and in this unique wine region then to learn about business through the lens of the wine industry from a leading expert.  

I'm amazed at how the wine industry exploded in the U.S. and wine appears to have become an inelastic good. How do companies like Costco and Trader Joe's bring terrific wines to market at lower costs under their own labels?  How does Cooper's Hawk grow its market share, purchase grapes harvested around the world and manufacture under its own label in Illinois of all places?  Sometimes I study the shelves at Trader Joe's and think there is a large portion of the wine consuming population that is simply going for the least expensive wine and cares little for quality.  I suspect there is evidence to support this.  

Now that we know 90 percent of wine sells for less then $10.00 per bottle, what makes a great wine at that price point?  In the case of the $10.00 bottle, how does a brand distinguish itself and make a profit, and what makes a $100.00 bottle worth it?  Distribution is a mystery to me and sounds like it could be fun work. Yet the distribution process coupled with regulatory constraints seem like one of the many gatekeepers between success and failure when working to expand a brand. I could go on with inquiries, but I'm delighted to have the opportunity to credibly quench my many wine curiosities through this course. 

Le vin est ce qu'il y a de plus civilisé au monde.

Le vin est ce qu'il y a de plus civilisé au monde.

This statement from French Renaissance writer François Rabelais translates to: wine is what is most civilized in the world. For reasons I will explain, I am not at this level... yet.

I grew up in New York to French-American parents and attended a French high school, the Lycée Français de New York. As a byproduct of my French education, I grew up drinking French wine. To top it off, my great-grandmother's cousin was Nicolas Ruinart, the founder of the oldest champagne house. However, despite my upbringing, I know very little about wine, largely because I frankly find the number of châteaux impossible to keep track of. However, I do know quite a bit about a less civilized alcoholic beverage: beer.

This summer I worked at AB InBev in their accelerator program within their corporate venture fund, ZX Ventures. I was focused on reviving a British legacy beer within their portfolio called Bass. After interviewing 60+ men between 21 and 35, I became acutely aware of the emotional drivers that support purchase decisions in alcohol. My team's hypothesis was that, as men graduate from college and enter the workforce, they trade-up from light beers (lagers) like BudLight to IPAs to signal that they are "grown up." Yet, most of these men don't even like IPAs. I am curious to explore similar evolutions in psychology and taste within wine over the course of a consumer's lifecycle.

A key concern for ABI and the beer industry as a whole is that beer will undergo "winification" - this means that beer will no longer be known through the power of its brands but by its varieties (IPA, lager, weissbier, etc.). I am curious to explore the consolidations in the wine market and ways that wineries have developed (and protected) their brands.

Through this course, I am excited to fill the gap in my French education and enter the ranks of the most civilized.

Moving up the cost-quality frontier

I have to admit I jumped at the opportunity to take this class primarily because of the weekly wine tastings. My number one goal is to learn how to taste wine and to learn about different types of wine. My current criteria for buying wine is price (<$10 preferred) and attractiveness of the label, so I want to become a more informed consumer. If I'm spending $20+ on a bottle I better like it!

But to truly become a more informed consumer, I do believe I need to learn about the whole value chain. So I'm excited about the comprehensive nature of this course. It'll be cool to pull in all the discrete management foundations course learnings and apply them to one industry.

Lastly, because I grew up in in the Bay Area, I've been brainwashed by my parents who said that California wine is the only type of wine worth buying. I'd like to learn more about how and why California became such a huge player and what regions are next.

My three greatest loves: Cooking, Coffee, and Wine

A personal goal of mine for many years has been to become more educated about wine & the wine industry – it was always something that I thought I would do as part of a cooking class series or on my own. I never imagined that I would have the opportunity to take a course in business school dedicated to the topic!  There are several reasons why I am taking this course: (1) my experience living abroad in Europe as a child and as an adult (2) the relationship with cooking and food and (3) my pre-GSB career at Starbucks Coffee.

I spent six years in Brussels, Belgium from the age of eight to fourteen so I grew accustomed to there always be wine at dinner, especially when my parents hosted dinners and parties with friends. At that age, I didn’t appreciate the product – I much preferred juice boxes and Capri Sun. Fast forward to undergrad when I was fortunate to spend 6 months living with a host family in Grenoble, France. My host mom was keen on exposing me all sorts of French wine; every dinner featured at least two types of wine paired perfectly with her French cuisine. I absolutely loved learning about the different types of wine and what paired well with that types of foods. At the time, I didn’t realize how lucky I was to live with a host family that made my French cuisine and wine education a priority. At the end of my time in Grenoble, I spent a week in Bordeaux, France with a few friends where I took my first wine tasting class at L’Ecole du Vin. It was incredibly fun and where I learned I have a knack for picking out different smells in wine.

In college, I spent my summers working as a prep chef on a ranch in Jackson, Wyoming. You might ask what this has to do with my taking this course, but it was here that I fell in love with cooking and the culinary arts. As you know, the relationship between food and wine is undeniable. As an amateur chef, I am very interested in learning more about wine and how it relates to food. Although I feel that I have a general sense of how to pair wine with a certain meal, I know I have so much more to learn. The course and the reading list are a great way for me to become a more informed chef when I cook for others and I want to match the food with a perfect bottle of wine!

Lastly, I spent two years working in Product Innovation (aka Research and Development) at Starbucks before coming to the GSB. Although I felt I knew a good deal about coffee before joining Starbucks, I had no idea how much more knowledge about the actual product and industry I would learn about the those two years. There is such a rich history surrounding coffee that I gained such an appreciation for while with the company and I can only imagine how rich and beautiful of a story exists with wine. From a business perspective, I learned an incredible amount about the coffee industry to where my love for coffee only became stronger. I have a feeling a similar appreciation will happen for me with wine as we move through the quarter. 

Life on the Prairie

Growing up in a small agricultural town, "business" was a topic deemed foreign, and unapproachable.  Terms like "strategy" or "market dynamics" were never uttered, but weather, sustainability, and regulatory changes were frequent topics of conversation. I developed a real appreciation for the vagaries of agriculture and how challenging the industry can be. Given this background, I was naturally intrigued by this class. It's an opportunity to apply skills I'm learning at school to a topic that is of personal interest and learn more about an activity (drinking wine...) that I greatly enjoy - how could I go wrong??

*Also, Amanda said that as her Wine Circle Co-President I had to.

(Emerging Wine Interest in) Emerging Wine Markets

I was excited about Dynamics of the Global Wine Industry as a result of a personal interest in wine and a desire to become more knowledgeable about the industry and the product. The (recent) increase in awareness of and demand for Lebanese wines in the US sparked additional curiosity in understanding how the market operates and how new wines and regions are discovered (particularly in an industry where legacy seems to be an important signal of mastery and quality).

Wine at dinner (and at parties and special events) has always been an important part of my immediate family's culture. Even when we lived in a tiny apartment in DC my father had his own version of a starter cellar going at the cost of an additional piece of seating. I have grown to love wine with and without food. My main exposure to wine was Italian- particular full-bodied red wines from Tuscany (the kind you can't see through), per my parent's preferences. It was only in the past 10-15 years, since my family moved back to Lebanon (where we are from), that Lebanese wines have entered into the rotation. This is likely because Lebanese wines weren't available in the US market in the '90s and early '00s, but also because- despite the history of the various vineyards in the Bekaa Valley and Southern Lebanon- we never associated Lebanon with good wine. I visited my first vineyard, Massaya, in Lebanon in the early 00s, however, at that time the winery was better known for its Arak production (Arak is a traditional Lebanese liquor almost identical to the Greek Ouzo, but is mixed with water and served on the rocks).

I first noticed the availability of Lebanese wines in the US when dining at an Italian restaurant on the Bowery in NYC 3 years ago. The restaurant was mainstream and mostly offered Italian and California wines on the wine list- as well as two bottles of Lebanese wine from Chateau Kefraya and Ksara. These wines were some of the most expensive bottles on the wine list at over $100 a bottle. Knowing the supermarket price was closer to $15 I was stunned. The sommelier was very well-versed in the story behind the bottles, and I was both proud and shocked to see them on the menu.

Since that day I've taken a greater interested in Lebanese wines (Ixsir Grande Reserve is my favorite at the moment), and am curious to explore other emerging wine regions.

Coming out of this class I hope to have a better understanding of the challenges of the global wine industry, what contributes to pricing, and how to identify quality wine (beyond my own taste preferences). I also greatly enjoy the stories behind products and producers, look forward to reading the cases, and hearing from the Alyssa Rapp, Amanda, our speakers, and my classmates.

The real MBA : Mastery in Bacchanalian Appreciation 

I remember one day, aged fourteen, having lunch at a restaurant near the European Commission in Brussels. As I ate my linguine, I began to tune into the conversation at the next table, where a lively group of people were chatting to each other in French, Spanish and Italian. I was amazed. Here were all these people, from all these different backgrounds, and yet somehow they understood each another. Their conviviality was magnetic. I wanted to drink in the energy radiating from their table and I yearned to be part of them. Since then, my life has been about assimilating as many languages as possible and exploring the cultures that underpin them. When studying history at undergraduate, I was always interested in identifying the customs, behaviours and beliefs that defined how individuals and nations acted. In wine, I see a lens through which to explore and understand the world around us. This is a product which both creates a common language and simultaneously exposes us to so many different countries, each of which has its own story. It invites us to imbibe, literally and metaphorically, such a vast range of traditions, cultures, geographies, customs and histories. It’s both educational and experiential.

As I now pivot from a career in finance and think of roles and industries which allow for my passion of cultural exploration, “story-telling” and functioning as a bridge between different nationalities, I see in wine as a potential home. As my own country, England, becomes increasingly acclaimed in the wine world, questions of how to build brand, which customers to target and how to lure consumers from countries which already grow their own wines all come to bear. 

As someone who spent her academic career analysing the cultural influences driving people’s behaviours in the past and who has dedicated so much of her free time to visiting countries and exploring what defines their respective cultures, the idea of working with a product that is microcosm in which to observe economic, demographic, cultural and social forces holds an appeal which I can only hope will be further developed in this class. 

That, or I’m just trying to justify my early onset alcoholism.

Wine improves with (my) age

The first wines I ever tried were Midwestern – from my home state of Indiana, and from Michigan where I was interning the summer after my sophomore year of college (when I turned 21 and thought I should become “an adult drinker”).  They were mostly fruit wines, and I learned quickly that while I am a fan of mangoes, I am not a fan of mango wine.

The following school year I studied abroad in Spain, where I gave wine a second chance – and quickly fell in love with big, fruity Riojas.  It was there that I learned about pairing a bottle wine with a great meal, and how much that could enhance the experience.  When I returned to the US, I was interning in Chicago and my boyfriend James was interning in Berkeley, so I flew to California to visit him over the summer.  We took a day trip to Napa, and it was there I discovered Chardonnays, Pinot noirs, and Cabernet sauvignons.  Fast forward 6 years and many more trips to Napa/Sonoma, James and I are now engaged and planning our wedding at Landmark Vineyards in Kenwood (Sonoma) next summer.  (Also pro tip: if you ever want lots of free wine tastings, just go to Sonoma and tell them you’re newly engaged.)

I was so excited to register for this class because I’d like to build the knowledge base of the wine industry from a business perspective to supplement the informal knowledge I’ve gained from tasting rooms and visits to wineries.  I’m also looking forward to better understanding the 3-tier structure and regulatory dynamics - in my previous job at a private equity firm, we invested in a craft brewery and I saw firsthand the complexity of the regulatory environment governing the sale of alcohol.  Furthermore, I am excited to meet my classmates who are also interested in wine and learn more about companies that have been successful in the wine industry through the case discussions and speakers.  I’m looking to pursue something more entrepreneurial / early stage in the next phase of my career and so I am hoping to test whether the wine industry might be a good fit for me.

Becoming a More Informed Consumer

There are few times in life when I feel less able to make an informed decision than when I am found staring at a wall of wine in a store or a long wine list in a restaurant. The only wines on the list I recognize are those I've heard my parents order on special occasions (delicious, not cost effective), and the wines on the wall I recognize have to be on a wall at Trader Joes.

I would love to be able to understand more about how and why the wines that are being sold got there and also pick new wines that I have not necessarily tasted before but match my tasting profile.

Finally, it would be great to learn how to taste wine properly, so I don't feel like I'm swirling my glass around for no reason when I'm poured a glass at a dinner party.