Navigating La Place w/ Rebekah Wineburg & Diego Garay, Quintessa

Building a global brand takes a lot of effort and investment. Even with the network of >400 negociants on La Place de Bordeaux, wineries have to make significant investments in brand building and press. Rebekah Wineburg, Winemaker, and Diego Garay, Director of Exports for Quintessa in Napa Valley, discuss their journey towards selling in 50 countries in 3 years through the La Place system.  Detailed Show Notes: Rebekah’s backgroundShe wanted to be a winemaker at 16Worked in Italy, New Zealand, Australia, and mainly in CAAt Quintessa for 7 yearsDiego’s backgroundWorked on exports for Sena and Almaviva in Chile, who export ~98-99% of productionDirector of Export for all Huneeus winesQuintessaEstate winery in Rutherford, Napa160 acres of vineyards and make 1 red wine (Quintessa) - ~8-12k cases/yearUntil recently, it mostly sold domestically - ~50% DTC, ~50% US wholesaleLa Place de Bordeaux OverviewA marketplace where most Bordeaux wines are traded, often futures3-tier system - chateaux sell to negociants, who sell to international tradeCriteria to be on La Place - brand pedigree (e.g., high scores) and a well-known brandWineries need to build demand for negociants w/o the help of importers, as they are not brand buildersNew world wines have only been selling through La Place for the last 15-20 yearsCourtiers (brokers that find negociants) - some specialize in new world wines>400 negociants on La PlaceNon-exclusive systemExporting via La Place2022 - exports ~5-15% of production, primarily Asia, UK, Germany, SwitzerlandThe goal of exporting - build a world-recognized wine estateLong-term export goals - ~30-35% of productionPrior to La Place - exported ~1% to Canada, Japan, MexicoThey started selling on La Place in 2019Negociant reached out to Quintessa looking for new world winesQuintessa working w/ Demand growing - negociants asking for more wines, need to start allocating themNeed to do a lot of education for global trade on what makes Quintessa unique (e.g., terroir, place), need to show the history and age-ability of winesBenefits of La PlaceIt helps put wines in a global perspective (e.g., Rebekah had to start presentations with CA instead of Rutherford or Napa)Reach high-end distribution in a short period of time - Quintessa is now in 50 countries in 3 yearsTradeoffs of La PlaceNeed to invest in brand buildingMay see discounting due to the non-exclusive systemLogistics - send all wines to Bordeaux, which are then sent on to the rest of the world (more manageable for the winery but may have extra ship lengths)Loose control of distribution (try to get depletion reports but challenging as clientele list is the most valuable asset of negociants)Costs of La Place and pricingSimilar to 3-tier in the USNegociant margins are often lower than in the US due to non-exclusivityTry to keep pricing in-line w/ US pricingHas not seen any pushback on priceMarketing with La PlaceSet up training sessions through negociants with tradeA lot of media investment (local journalists, local PR firms)Focused on UK, Japan, S Korea for pressAdvice for wineries interested in La PlaceNeed to know the La Place systemNeed to build the brand yourself and make the investmentNeed the pedigree and brand for the wines to be successful Get access to library episodes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.