WTN Blog

WTN Services is again proud to participate in Wine 2.0 in New York. We are equally happy that many of our clients have made the trek to participate. At this event you will see such great brands as Heritage Link Wines, Porter Family, Hahn, Rodney Strong and others, pouring great wines, for the New York market. WTN Services is proud to have a strong partnership with a diverse group of brands that truely represent the great diversity of the wine industry represented at this key event in New York.

Additionally WTN Services will be introducing the soft launch of our business to business wine platform for the retail segment of limited products to a very targeted list of states. While others speak of their concepts of direct to trade, we are quietly committed to building a secondary distribution channel taking advantage of key wholesale partners that have a passion for strategic partnership that will drive sales to our clients in a very targeted fashion that creates a longer term win for all parties. Consistent with our core values is to create a win for all parties -the wineries, the secondary wholesale channel, the retailers with additional access points as main reason for all of our being- the consumer.

Innovation and investment now and over the long-run is our commitment to growing a variety of sales opportunities for our clients.

We are thrilled with the innovative launches bringing a portion of our portfolio of fulfillment partner brands and secondary brands of wine into new markets we have introduced over the last 30 days…

www.1800baskets.com a select group of great wines for gifting

http://www.winesforautism.com/ a site dedicated to providing quality wines at a value price to a national audience with a percentage of the proceeds going to major charities benefiting autism care and research.

www.geerwade.com a new look and feel coming and an expanding offering of branded quality and value wines and select private label wines highly rated of fantastic quality.

More to come, stay tuned!

By Chris Edwards

In our post from October 25th concerning the wine market battleground the the evolving models I asked the question of what models are beginning to gain traction in the US? The three models I presented were…

•  The German model is based upon low cost (one euro per liter) and hard discount sellers like Aldi. Certain retailers in the US have begun to take note of this model due to the recession.
• The American model historically has been all about corporate brands like Gallo and Constellation Brands but that model is in flux as the big boys aren’t moving wines like they were a year ago via the traditional method.
• The British model is built upon upscale supermarkets and the house brands they sell.

Recent trends suggests that the British model is gaining ground, both in the UK and here in America, where it is the model that drives Costco sales (Trader Joe, on the other hand, uses a version of the German system).
Interesting on that subject 7-Eleven announced that they were entering the wine market with a 7-Eleven house blend at a value price.  In an article titted “Sauvignon to Slurpees” on Daily Finance.com 7- Eleven responds to the market shifts…. Interesting and timely to our questions..,

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/04/sauvignon-and-slurpees-7-eleven-launches-in-house-brand-of-wine/

Chris Edwards

Vice President and General Manager WTN Services

Kristina Palko
Direct Marketing Manager, The Winetasting Network
Kristina Palko was born in 1979 and raised in the beautiful Napa Valley.  Through her academic studies at the JC and an 8 year rapport beginning at Ambrosia in early 2000, Kristina has achieved an indispensable amount of knowledge and experience in wine industry sales, operations and marketing. 
In 2008 Kristina sought expansive opportunities with LoopNet, the largest and most heavily trafficked commercial real estate listing service located in San Francisco, California.  As E-Commerce Manager, Kristina  implemented a comprehensive online marketing program, which further strengthened and refined her marketing background, a background  which would transition her once again back into the wine industry, a profession and lifestyle where her passion remains firmly planted.  
In 2009 Kristina returned to the 1-800-Flowers family of brands as Direct Marketing Manager of WTN Services. Kristina is now heading the WTN marketing team, focused on implementing a multi-channel marketing strategy across the entire WTN portfolio of retail wine brands including www.Ambrosiawine.com, www.geerwade.com, www.winetasting.com and soon to be others.

Kristina is a valuable team member providing a bright smile and challenging thought daily on how to build our brands to excellence!

Congratulations to the Napa Valley AIDS Walk benefiting the Care Network at the Queen of the Valley Hospital for a successful Halloween event. The Napa Valley AIDS Walk doubled last years donations raising in excess of $20,000.00,! The event had many more walkers and a special thanks to Cheryls Cookies, the Popcorn Factory and Harry London Chocolates for supplying goodies for the walkers in Napa Valleys “costumes for a cause.”

 Congratulations to AIDS Walk Napa Valley and the WTN Services team along with our sister brands for making a difference in Napa County.

 A photo link to the Napa Register website featuring a few snapshots of the day is located at http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2009/11/02/news/photo/doc4aed254e9e39f652673857.txt

WTN Services has partnered with Wine 2.0 as a lead participant in New York city on November 18th for the second year in a row. WTN  Services will be highlighting wines from several of our winery partners including Porter Family Wines, Heritage Link Brands and our brand of Geerwade.com where we will be introducing our newest wine addition Clarim Vineyards Cabernet.

 We hope to see our friends in New York drop by our tables and witness the great offerings that our partner wineries bring to New York. Additional WTN partners that will be featured include Hahn Wine Estates, Tom Eddy and others. We hope to see you there and for more information on Wine 2.0 visit http://www.winetwo.com/

The Wine Marketers battleground for wine sales…

The world’s wine markets are a battleground for three models of wine sales, each evolving in their own right.

• The German model is based upon low cost (one euro per liter) and hard discount sellers like Aldi. Certain retailers in the US have begun to take note of this model due to the recession.
• The American model historically has been all about corporate brands like Gallo and Constellation Brands but that model is in flux as the big boys aren’t moving wines like they were a year ago via the traditional method.
• The British model is built upon upscale supermarkets and the house brands they sell.

Recent trends suggests that the British model is gaining ground, both in the UK and here in America, where it is the model that drives Costco sales (Trader Joe, on the other hand, uses a version of the German system).
It will be interesting to see if this trend persists once the recession eases up and which model prevails as a part of the post economic bounce back in the US. A thought to ponder…

As American society becomes increasingly more fast-paced and hectic, fewer families are sitting down together for dinner. This may not a positive sign for American wine consumption as few people open up a bottle of wine to drink with their drive-thru or take-out dinners.

On a more positive note, the American population is aging, and older, more affluent people tend to enjoy wine more than other demographic groups. Hopefully they will pass their appreciation of wine to the next generation.

In many ways, the history of wine consumption in the U.S. is a microcosm of both the positives and negatives that have come with the innate American experience. Studying the history of wine consumption in the U.S. illuminates the political, cultural, religious, and racial diversity that has made the nation what it is today.

America has a relatively small but growing population of wine-lovers. Although the number of regular wine drinkers are far from being a majority, they will continue to grow as the population ages. Future trends will probably include an increase in consumption of quality varietals grown in specific, terroir-driven locations.

Wine enjoyment is symtomatic of relaxation, and these days American society is anything but relaxed. The history of wine is also synonymous with stable family relationships, and the divorce rate in the U.S. is currently about 50% and now we have an economy in flux with a holiday period that looks to be challenging at best given the political uncertain government response to health care, budget contraints, unemployement etc. What is next for wine in the US economy? For the savy marketers it is still a catagory that is growing.

WTN Services is seeing growth among those opportunistic in the wine space. Those viewing the challenge of market softness as an opportunity to review staffing, process improvement and use of new technologies are those that are growing or will in the long run. We see a consolidation of some businesses in the market. We see some competitors remaking themselves, filing bankruptcy and teetering. We see others consolidating their operations into others. We see many changes in the months ahead post harvest and post holiday. 

What will the holidays and new year present to your wine brands? The strong will get stronger, the innovators will prevail. Wise decisions on partnerships today will yield results tomorrow and the months immediately after. WTN Services is positioned for growth and solid partnerships for this holiday and the months and years to follow.

It has been a while since I updated our blog but decided there is no better time then the present to begin anew.
I was privileged this month to get to travel extensively into the wine regions of eastern Europe and to South Africa.
Those travels were real eye openers. The eastern European region of wine making in eastern Germany near Dresden and
Meissen has been making wine for hundreds of years. I was fortunate to be introduced to some great wines by the local
wine critic of the Napa Register Pierce Carson. I met him three weeks ago in Prague. He challenged me to explore wines
of the Czech Republic and East Germany. 

One of the greatest  value priced wines that are not yet available in America were from the estate of http://www.schloss-proschwitz.de/
The estate was taken away from the family post World War 2 while east Germany was under the iron curtain. Post fall of the wall in Berlin
Prince Zur Lippe has been able to purchase the family estate and winery back into his ownership and is again making great wines under his
family crest on the family estate. The wines are great, value priced and we were treated to a day of great food and wines at the estate.
We are hoping to form a partnership and ultimately bring some of these great wines to the American market in the next few years. If you ever
have a change to visit Uber Meissen in eastern Germany I’d encourage you to do so. It is a 2 1/2 hour very fun train ride from Prague.
While visiting Meissen visit the porcelain factory and the historic castle as well as the wine region. You will never forget the experience.
Next post will be on my visit to South Africa and it’s many wonders…

Our own Francis Sanders & David Griffin are at it again with episode 18 of CORKED

http://www.corkedthecomic.com/