•North Carolina’s TOPO Organic Spirits has extended distribution to Kentucky (via Heidelberg Distributors) and Tennessee (via Lipman Bros.), bringing its footprint to 10 states. The catalyst for expansion has been TOPO’s recently launched 8 Oak Carolina Whiskey ($29.95), made from … Continue reading →
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In the evening, I took a bottle of sparkling wine to her home and with my knees shaking, got up the nerve to ask her dad, "Mr Lexon, I'd like to ask you to marry your daughter." That is the way I phrased the question. Of course it was very poor grammar. I wasn't trying to ask Mr. Lexon to marry his own daughter. It was me - I wanted to marry his daughter.
The whole scene was actually much worse than that, but in my imagination before getting the hook I thought it was going to be just like a Hallmark movie with everyone living happily ever after. The film was to include me popping a plastic stopper on my cheap bottle of sparkling wine, right at the same moment I asked her father <cue the strings.>
Needless to say that was pretty embarrassing for me, so if I had that whole event to do-over, I would have never asked her to marry me in the first place. I would have instead focused on getting my life on track first. But looking back, the painful truth is her parents were right. They had seen more of life than I, and knew marriage at that stage of our lives would have been difficult if not a complete disaster.
One of the additions to the survey this year was a winery confidence index. You will read a little more about it when we release the State of the Industry Report on January 21st, but it's a little like the Consumer Sentiment Index. 
Who is most worried? We can slice and dice that up a little more and did so in the chart above. What it shows is the region most concerned with foreign competition is the Central Valley. That makes sense because of the negative impact they have felt from foreign bulk wine. As you move down the chart what you are seeing is regional sentiment regarding the fear of foreign competition. (It should be noted that the Central Valley did not deliver a statistically significant response and Mid-Coastal, CA is Santa Cruz and a few other adjoining regions that had few responses.)
My take-away is the regions that have the strongest brands are the least afraid. That is totally appropriate. 
One final chart that I think is worthwhile is the level of concern broken out by the number of years a winery has been in business. I didn't fare well in the request for my young lady's hand in marriage, but her parents were right to object because they had the benefit of experience. In the same way, if you want to avoid a business do-over, listening to those who have been through a few cycles is important. 
What about substitutes like craft beer and spirits? It turns out the regions aren't lined up quite the same way as the AVA chart tracking imports, but I've left that chart out as I can't draw conclusions using that one. For what it's worth, the Central Coast of CA is the most concerned about substitutes. By price points however, the charts looks pretty similar between substitutes and imports.