My life long affair with wine started a bit over 10 years ago with a bottle of quite expensive Chateau Lafite Rothschild that a sommelier and a dear friend of mine brought to celebrate my very first bonus in the company I worked for in the turbulent time of the financial crisis of 2008-2009. To me it was more than just a drink exhibiting aromas of tobacco, spices, leather and prune along with deep dark color; it was an intellectual pursuit of major significance from cultural and historical standpoint. I appreciated it so much that decided to build a solid theoretical knowledge of production processes, various regions, grapes, producers as well as consumption skills. Since then I have traveled to all major wine regions in countries like France, Italy, Spain, Argentina and all over Napa Valley and studied in Napa Valley Wine Academy. I now hold WSET Level 1, 2 and 3 certificates and regularly read wine industry reports issued by Silicon Valley Bank.
It was not before I got introduced to Matt Dukes CEO at VINEBOX a premium wine subscription service that ships fancy tubes of wine from elite boutique vineyards in Europe direct to consumers all around the states when I realized that wine represents an interesting business opportunity both from Direct to Consumer and Venture Capital perspectives. I was very impressed with the team, business model as well as with the market dynamics and quickly became an active angel investor and advisor to the company. Just 3 years and 2 investment rounds later the company is growing at 300% YoY rate, delivering over $10m in revenue and 60% profit margin and just launched its own Sonoma-based brand called Usual.
It was not before I got introduced to Matt Dukes CEO at VINEBOX a premium wine subscription service that ships fancy tubes of wine from elite boutique vineyards in Europe direct to consumers all around the states when I realized that wine represents an interesting business opportunity both from Direct to Consumer and Venture Capital perspectives. I was very impressed with the team, business model as well as with the market dynamics and quickly became an active angel investor and advisor to the company. Just 3 years and 2 investment rounds later the company is growing at 300% YoY rate, delivering over $10m in revenue and 60% profit margin and just launched its own Sonoma-based brand called Usual.
I am taking this class because I want to learn more about various aspects of the business of wine, current trends and consumer preferences as I am planning to do more investments in this area. Really looking forward to the next class on Thursday!
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