Agents for Change in the Wine Industry

The latest estimates are that approximately 33% of American restaurants will close this year. And next year? Normally I would attend wine tasting events 3 or 4 times a month for the last 5 years I have not been to one in over 6 months and right now none are scheduled. Most American wineries were closed for 3 months and were allowed to reopen but with restrictions about a month ago, now many have been forced to close again. How many of the over 10,000 American wineries will be able to open (and stay open) when all the restrictions are removed.

Needless to say, the wine industry and wine sales are in turmoil. Statistics show American wine sales are up but much of the volume are big “known” name wineries. Ask yourself why people bother with wine tasting, especially low production wine? Because they want to try the latest release vintage of unique tasting wines. These wines are not mass produced but are craft wine.

Wine tourism will eventually return and be especially important but how long will that take? Will wine tour operators be able to bring visitors to wineries they way they use to?

Where there is turmoil there is also opportunity. Globally, there will be many new opportunities to gain a foothold into markets. But how?

Many smaller wineries do not have a permanent staff member to handle international sales. The costs are extremely high. For those wineries who do have an export manager will the owners be willing to risk having them travel around the world exposing them to pandemic risks.

Northbridge Global has developed a strategy that will allow the right wineries to discover new sales channels and we are looking to expand our network of agents.

Currently, we are looking for experienced wine knowledgeable individuals who can act as our agents in Tuscany, Bordeaux, and Rioja. If you have strong contacts among high quality producers and are interested in working with us, please send me a note here on LinkedIn.