ARENI Global: In Conversation (Pauline Vicard)

Western societies are currently re-examining their relationship with wine and alcohol. For the last couple of years, the “no-safe level of alcohol” narrative has come to the forefront, with headlines highlighting new studies leading to the conclusion that there is no alcohol consumption without health risks, deeply challenging our established understanding of moderation.

So, has the science really changed, or is moderation still a valid concept?

Jennifer Tujague is Chief Scientist at the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD), a position she has occupied since 2013. IARD is a membership organization gathering 13 of the world's largest producers of beers, wines and spirits coming together under around their shared objective of reducing harmful use of alcohol. She talked to Areni about the current research on alcohol, wine and health.

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member and subscribe to our newsletter HERE.

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

How should leaders prepare to succeed in an impossible-to-predict world?

Elizabeth (Lizzy) Rudd is the Chair of Berry Bros. & Rudd, Britain’s oldest wine merchant.

Founded in 1698 at number 3 St James street in London, the company still occupies the same address 327 years later. But today, it offers more than 1,500 SKUs and stores more than 1.5 million cases of wine in a state-of-the-art warehouse in Hampshire. They also have offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, and sell to customers in more than 100 countries.

After more than three centuries, there aren’t many changesthat Berry Bros & Rudd haven’t seen. The company has survived wars, riots,geopolitical turmoil, the Great Depression and more minor recessions.

From their investment in regenerativeviticulture to the huge budget they allocate to digital transformation, Lizzy Rudd, the Chair, explains how the company is planning to thrive through yet another challenging time.

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member and subscribe to our newsletter HERE.

Follow Areni on Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

In this episode we meet Amrita Banta, founder and director of Agility Research, a luxury consulting company ranked among the top ten globally, which focuses on the affluent consumers of luxury and premium brands. 

We discuss how COVID changed the relationship between Asian consumers and luxury goods, and how the past few months have led to renewed spending, and to Fine Wine finding its way into millions of Asian households for the first time.

This week we meet Dr. Constanze Stelzenmüller, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC. Her areas of expertise include transatlantic relations, German foreign policy, NATO, the European Union’s foreign, security and defence policy, international law, and human rights.

We discuss with her what is at stake for international diplomacy in 2021 and what the global challenges ahead mean for us as citizens and wine trade people.

How do you create a new generation of life-long wine collectors and enthusiasts?

Hamish Greening knows how to find them and nurture them. Hamish is Private Client Specialist of Chelsea Vintners in London.

And he’s built a clientele of under-40 wine drinkers who are happy to spend £400+ on a single bottle of wine. 

In this fourth episode of New Consumers, New Narratives, Hamish reveals:

• What turns someone from a wine drinker into a wine collector;
• How there are plenty of women who want to be included — but who need to be invited in;
• The role of social media in the buying decisions of the young, cashed-up and curious; 
• Why trust needs to be earned in new ways; and
• Why dogs should be welcome at tastings

Hamish has all the insights into what the under-40 fine wine drinker is looking for, whether they’re based in London, the USA or Singapore.

This podcast series is part of a larger Areni Global research project. Subscribe to our newsletter to get access to our articles and publications: https://bit.ly/AreniNewsletter

How does climate change affect soils and how can healthy soils be the answer?

At the beginning of June 2022, Moët-Hennessy held a two-day soil conference in Arles in Provence, the World Living Soils Forum. Over the two days, experts came together to explore what is known and unknown about the world beneath our feet.

The following podcast is a recording of a plenary session led by Pauline Vicard, CEO of ARENI, to discuss the issue of soils and climate change, at the recent Moët Hennessy World Living Soils Forum in Arles, Provence. Joining her were: Claire Chenu, director of research at INRAE, the National Institute of Agriculture, Food and Environment Research, who also teaches soils and science at AgroParisTech; Paul Luu, a notable agronomist and Executive Secretary of the “4 per 1000 Initiative: Soils for food security and climate”, launched at COP 21 in Paris; Jesper Saxgren, vice-chairman in Organic Denmarks Global Committee and founding member of the Regenerative Viticulture Foundation; and Nigel Greening, owner of the biodynamic Felton Road Wines in Otago, New Zealand.

Today with Elizabeth Linder, we explore our changing societies, in order to get a deeper look into the new paradigms appearing through Western societies, shaping a new social framework for Fine Wine. As most of the world has now been in lockdown for several weeks, we all had to transfer most of our conversations to the digital world.

Though digital conversations are being useful to establish a regular level of connection, are they still relevant when it comes to etablishing trust, complicity or intimacy? How can Fine Wine, a social and human product that is meant to be shared, can create new paradigms to thrive in the digital world?

We ask Elizabeth her views on how these rules of conversation and engagement and explore the numerous opportunities the current and most unique situation could create for the Fine Wine ecosystem.

What role can wine investment play in the future of fine wine?

Host Pauline Vicard delves into the intriguing world of wine investment with guests Rosti Petrov and Matthew Small, of Cru Wine. Together they discuss the different opinions about investing in wine, from concerns about rising prices, to assertions that it's a safe investment with steady returns and tax benefits. Pauline also highlights the question about whether there really are people who simply invest just to invest rather than because they are fine wine lovers, as well as how fine wine collectors affect the market. Let’s explore what makes a wine worth investing in, how to assess risks, and what the future might hold for wine investments. Join us as we unravel the myths surrounding wine investment and its importance within finance.

Rosti Petrov is the Associate Director. Rostislav joined Cru Wine in 2019 having worked in the wine trade for over 10 years. Luxury wine retail, fine wine brokerage as well as a wine start up, Rosti experienced different parts of the wine industry before joining the investment arm of Cru Wine. His focus is very much helping to build Cru clients perfect cellars as well as drive expansion of the company’s wine selection.

Matthew Small is the Senior Portfolio Manager at Cru Wine. After seven years in investment banking, Matt entered the fine wine market following a lock-down which encouraged wine tasting and WSET studying. Matt’s focus is to work alongside investors, helping them to build robust, diversified portfolios with long-term earnings potential.

If you want to learn more about the report mentioned in the episode ‘Understanding the Fine Wine Consumer – Country Profile: Singapore’ follow this link. 

The research delves into the Singapore fine wine market, answering questions such as: How big is the fine wine segment in Singapore? What – and who – defines it? Who are the fine wine consumers? What are their purchasing behaviours and how is their perception of fine wine evolving? What are the main market risks and opportunities? 

If you prefer, you can also find today’s conversation here in transcript form where we highlight the most important points of the conversation.

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Follow Pauline Vicard on Twitter & Instagram: @areniglobal

Thank you for joining us today! 

Areni Global is an independent think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. We exist to answer the big questions of our time and to address our industry’s major threats, including regulatory, environmental, and societal changes. We do this by creating an international platform where experts and thought leaders can come together and share ideas, and by publishing key research and insights.

It's been a year since the murder of American George Floyd, a crime that galvanised widespread protests and political organising in the US. The world took notice and conversations, protests and other actions against racism spread internationally.

Twelve months later, we meet Dr Akilah Cadet, founder of Change Cadet, a US-based change management and organizational development consulting firm supporting diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace.

We take a moment to look back, measure the progress and ask what the next steps could be. What would true diversity mean for Fine Wine?

How does a bottle of Bordeaux end up on a collector's table? What will its journey be, from the châteaux to the world? Who decides who gets access to highly allocated wines? And the most fascinating question of all: who is currently making money (or not) in the fine wine supply chain? Are current margins enough to sustain a complex system?

In this third episode, hosts Felicity Carter and Pauline Vicard look at the behind the scenes of La Place de Bordeaux and consider the opportunities and challenges of this distribution system.

Get ready for an in-depth exploration of how the system really works, bringing in diverse and layered opinions from all part of the supply chain, from producers to fine wine merchants, all operating in crucial markets. With: Max Lalondrelle, Thomas Parker MW, Jeremy Stockman, Philippe Newlin, Vianney Gravereaux and Mathieu Chadronnier.

Inside la Place de Bordeaux is a seven-episode podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities? 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Additional resources are available for this episode. You can find an edited transcript of Max Lalondrelle’s interview. Max is fine wine purchasing director for UK based merchant Berry Bros & Rudd. Founded in 1698, BBR has accompanied and shaped Bordeaux fine wine trade over centuries and retains a large influence on the Place de Bordeaux. Max himself has been buying Bordeaux wines for almost 25years. What are the major changes that he has witnessed, or led? How does he ensure BBR’s access to in-demand wines? What are the main challenges and opportunities of working with La Place?

Max Lalondrelle’s interview: https://areni.global/inside-la-place-de-bordeaux-episode-three/

Areni members can also access 5 Things to Know About Bordeaux’s Fine Wine Distribution, an analysis summarizing all the main takeaways from this episode, a perfect tool for wine students and wineries looking to work with la Place de Bordeaux: https://areni.global/five-things-to-know-about-bordeauxs-fine-wine-distribution/

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This podcast episode was edited by Polly Hammond and the 5 forests team: https://5forests.com/ 

Inside la Place de Bordeaux was made possible thanks to the support of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux’s leading négociant house. To learn more about the CVBG:

Visit their website: https://www.cvbg.com/?lang=en

Follow them on Instagram: @cvbg_bordeaux 

Thank you for joining us today!

This week, we meet Sandrine Goeyvaerts,a Belgian wine merchant, journalist for Elle magazine and author of several books on wine. Her latest work, "Manifeste pour un vin inclusif (Manifesto for an inclusive wine) argues for a different use of language within the French-speaking wine world and looks at how changing the language of wine could open the door to new consumers.

The interview that follows is in French. For the English transcription of this conversation, visit areni.global.

How old is La Place? How did the Bordelais create the most influential fine wine system in the world? Where did the 1855 Classification come from- and who decided? Did 1982 really change the fate of the Bordelais?

In this sixth episode, hosts Felicity Carter and Pauline Vicard dive into the archives and talk to historians, to help them better understand the origins of La Place de Bordeaux.

And what they find is unexpected. Whether it’s the hard-nosed commercial decisions, or the quest for tax deductions, or even the world of smuggling, they uncover the key moments that helped create the world of Bordeaux as we know it today.

For everyone who loves wine and history, this is an episode not to be missed.

With: Prof. Rod Phillips, Charles Leary PhD and Simon Tam.

Inside la Place de Bordeaux is a seven-episode podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities? 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Additional resources are available for this episode. You can find an edited transcript of Rod Phillips’ interview.

Rod Philipps’ interview: https://areni.global/inside-la-place-de-bordeaux-episode-six/

Rod Phillips’ book: French Wine: A History, University of California Press, 2016.

Additional recommended reading: 1855 Bordeaux: A History of the Bordeaux Classification, by Dewey Markham, John Wiley & Sons, December 1997

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This podcast episode was edited by Polly Hammond and the 5 forests team: https://5forests.com/ 

Inside la Place de Bordeaux was made possible thanks to the support of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux’s leading négociant house. To learn more about the CVBG:

Visit their website: https://www.cvbg.com/?lang=en

Follow them on Instagram: @cvbg_bordeaux 

Thank you for joining us today!

Professor Shirley Mueller has had two careers. Her first was a practising neurologist and a tenured professor at the University of Indiana in the United States. She left both practice and academia to become an investment advisor, and began writing for Physician’s Money Digest about the neuropsychology of investing.

Along the way, she developed a deep passion for Chinese export ceramics and became an ardent collector herself. We meet to discuss her latest book, Inside the Head of a Collector – Neuropsychological Forces at Play. 

In this fascinating conversation, we explore the question of what drives collectors.

Today's episode is a recording of a conversation facilitated by Trisha de Borchgrave between Ambassador Anthony Gardner and Dr. Robin Nibblett on regulations, trade and tariffs that took place during the July 2020 Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines Global Think Tank. 

Ambassador Anthony Gardner, whose illustrious career straddles international finance, politics and law, served as one of the most successful US ambassadors ever to the European Union, from 2014-2017 under President Obama. He's also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations in the US, and produces wine in Tuscany. 

Dr. Robin Nibblet is the beloved director and chief executive of Chatham House since 2007. Prior to that he was Executive VP at CSIS in Washington DC, another one of the US's leading foreign policy think tanks, where he also ran the Europe programme and led its initiative for a renewed transatlantic partnership. 

Trisha de Borchgrave, is a current affairs writer and senior associate at the Global Women Leaders Strategic Philanthropy Project, a group of over 100 women working on private public initiatives to empower women and girls in the humanitarian and development area through access to education, healthcare and economic opportunity. 

In today's episode, this panel of exceptional talent and insights discusses the future of the transatlantic relationship in modern times and the geopolitics of fine wine. 

What does the wine trade need to become more profitable?

At the very moment that everything is changing, it is important to take some time to evaluate professional wine education. Is it fit for purpose? How could a revised professional wine education answer some of our industry’s crucial issues?

Pauline Vicard and Felicity Carter present Areni's latest whitepaper key findings, based on 18 months of research.

They discuss:

• What needs to be on the curriculum to make the wine trade more profitable
• What remains core knowledge, but also what set of skills are missing from the curriculum
• The gap between what wine professionals love learning about and what they need to know, and how can this gap be bridged
• Who should offer this training

Get access to the full publication HERE.

Subscribe to our newsletter to get access to our articles and publications.

About your hosts:

Pauline Vicard is the co-founder and executive director of Areni Global, the leading organization dedicated to addressing the critical challenges facing fine wine. 

Felicity Carter is Editorial Director of Areni Global, and also writes for numerous wine publications. We highly recommend her podcast Drinks Insider.

This week we feature not one but two guests to discuss collective action in the Australian and New Zealand Fine Wine scenes, and whether they can become a model for the future. Andrew Caillard MW, founder of the Langton’s Fine Wine classification looks at what brings organised gatherings together and walks us through colonisation and how its impact is still felt today.

Peter McAtamney, principal of Wine Business Solutions, then shares inspirational ways to rise above self-interest. He defines what the “common good is” and illustrates how the Fine Wine community can benefit from collaborative working.

Money is not the most comfortable of topics in the wine world, though fair remuneration is the key to increasing the diversity of voices and talents.

In this episode, we meet Andrew Jefford, an award-winning journalist, wine writer and educator, and one of the only major figures in an otherwise opaque industry to publicly reveal his revenue and earnings. We discuss writing, negotiation power and transparency, and how to define one's worth in today's wine world.

For anyone in wine, talking about soil is an imperative. The more we understand what happens below ground and how it impacts everything above, the better. Not only that, but as wine is an industry that has staked its legitimacy on the idea of terroir for so long, it has a special responsibility to conserve, protect and research the soil.

ARENI was therefore proud to participate in Moët Hennessy‘s World Living Soil Forum on 1 and 2 June 2022, which explored the nature of soil and its impact on the biosphere and climate, and considered how it interacts with agriculture. 

It was a lively and important discussion, that ranged across topics such as the question of what does biodiversity loss mean for humans? What does it even mean to talk about biodiversity and genetic diversity in the soil? And what are the main issues when it comes to agriculture and water usage?

The following podcast is a recording of the plenary session “Fostering Biodiversity and Managing Water: Key Resources for Thriving Soils,” moderated by Pauline Vicard, ARENI’s co-founder and executive director. Panellists included Professor Gilles Boeuf, biologist; Stuart Orr, the Freshwater Manager at the World Wildlife Fund; Héléne Valade, the Director of Environmental Development at LVMH, and Professor Diana Harrison Wall, Director of the School of Global Environmental Sustainability at Colorado University. The panel took place on 1 st June 2022.

In this special episode, journalist Felicity Carter and ARENI's executive director Pauline Vicard explore the concepts of authenticity and typicity, looking at what the concepts mean in different cultures.

Diving deep into history and social science, they explore how these concepts arose and how they're being disrupted by a new emphasis on individuality, versus the collective visions of previous generations.

Today, with Rodrigo Sepulveda Schulz, founder of Expon Capital, we discuss the world of technology investing and how the current economic climate is affecting this space. Rodrigo shares his experience as an early stage investor in companies that meet the UN's Development Goals, discusses the four major technology milestones the world has seen thus far and his thoughts on how technology is, and should be used, to disrupt the fine wine world.

Wine professionals are now fully aware that climate change is having an impact on wine. But what can we do about it?

Wine experts Michelle Bouffard and Jeremy Cukierman MW are two of the three co-authors of a new book called Quel vin pour demain? Le vin face aux défis climatiques, or What Wine Tomorrow? Wine Facing Climate Challenges, which is about to be released in both Spanish and English.

From vineyards all the way through to wine retail, they discuss how people around the world are rising to the challenge. In researching the book, what did they discover? Let’s find out.

Why should soil health be a major concern for young generations?

At the beginning of June 2022, Moët-Hennessy held a two-day soil conference in Arles in Provence, the World Living Soils Forum. Over the two days, experts came together to explore what is known and unknown about the world beneath our feet.

The following podcast is a recording of a workshop session moderated by Jono le Feuvre, the founder and content producer for HanDrinksSolo.com, and brought together experts in farming and agricultural education. Joining Jono were: Audrey Bourolleau, who co-founded HECTAR, a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, and a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, John Furlow, the director of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society, Ronald Vargas, secretary of the Global Soil Partnership, Land and Water Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and agricultural engineer and author Jean-Baptiste Cordonnier, founder of Vignerons du Vivant, an organic training course. 

How can agriculture and viticulture help depolluting the soils?

At the beginning of June 2022, Moët-Hennessy held a two-day soil conference in Arles in Provence, the World Living Soils Forum. Over the two days, experts came together to explore what is known and unknown about the world beneath our feet.

The following podcast episode is the recording of a panel session led by Felicity Carter, representing ARENI, on Soil Depollution. Joining her were Ludovic Vincent, the founder of BIOMEDE, a start-up that aims to develop ways to remediate heavy metal contamination using phytoextraction, or biological means; soil scientist Natalia Rodríguez Eugenio, who currently works at the Global Soil Partnership, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; and Johan De Fraye, head of Environmental Affairs at Signify where he is responsible for managing global environmental liabilities. He is also the chair of NICOLE, the European industrial network that groups industry, service providers and academics in solving contaminated land issues.

This week, we meet Corina Kwami, an American jazz singer, tap dancer and performer, and a passionate music historian. A “bridge builder”, she uses her background and her PhD in social science from the University College of London to bring a global renaissance variety to her playing and storytelling.

We explore the origins of jazz and the music’s social role in the world today, and what Fine wine could learn from jazz in terms of interpretation, blending, control and the power of bringing various voices together.

Conversations about diversity and inclusion, along with discussions about how to open the doors to Black and other marginalised groups, have been long-overdue. But, finally, the last 12 months has seen an outburst of publications and initiatives aimed at taking action.

But within wine, many of the voices speaking out were American. Although some wine articles included voices from South Africa, local voices were often missing.

We meet British journalist Tomiwa Owolade to discuss the complexity of the BIPOC situation in Europe and notably in the UK.

In this episode, we share a conversation that took place in the 2021 edition of the Batonnage Forum.

Bâtonnage is a US-based initiative stirring up the conversation on Women and Wine. Its annual forum brings together wine professionals as well as wine industry supporters to discuss and act on the unique challenges and opportunities that women in wine have faced both historically and present-day.

On the 23rd of June 2021, ARENI invited Felicity Carter, Editor-in-Chief at Pix and Jordan Sale, CEO and founder of 81 cents, to talk pay gaps, negotiation skills, globalization of the work place and financial transparency.

This week we meet Professor Ricky Burdett and discuss the way metropolises like London, New York or Shanghai are changing, and how these changes are likely to impact citizens, consumers, trade and merchants, transport and logistics.

Ricky Burdett is Professor of Urban Studies and Director of London School of Economics Cities and Urban Age: a global centre of research and teaching dedicated to the future of cities. Professor Burdett is a member of the Mayor of London’s Cultural Leadership Board, former Council Member of the Royal College of Art and a Visiting Professor in Urban Planning and Design at Harvard University.

What do we need to future proof the vineyards of tomorrow? What breeding techniques and technologies will viticulturists need in order to stay resilient in the face of climate change and its attendant problems, including disease pressure? To help unravel the issues, ARENI spoke with António Graça, Head of Research and Development at Sogrape in Portugal, and Secretary for Sustainable Development and Climate Change Group at the OIV.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode is part of our Insight Series, and it is called, “Can You Scale Up Fine Wine? In Conversation with Vianney Gravereaux, Ivan Massonnat, Dan Petroski & Joao Silva”. This discussion tackles how to drive profitability and achieve financial sustainability within the realm of fine wine. Let’s talk about the problems and reasons behind the necessity to scale up in the fine wine industry, and secondly, determine the ideal scale for fine wine production while addressing the challenges, obstacles, and steps to reach that optimal size. Fine wine has always relied on rarity and scarcity to establish its appeal. Fine wine thrives on the idea (real or perceived) of small scale, artisanal, never-changing production. But are these models still viable in today’s economy? 

About Vianney Gravereaux, Sales & Marketing Director, Ornellaia & Masseto, Italy

After starting his career at Arthur Andersen, Vianney Gravereaux has gained a vast international experience in fine wine while working for globally renowned estates such as Champagne Philipponnat and Champagne Salon. He studied Economics, English, Political Philosophy and Geopolitics, is French by birth and multilingual by vocation. 

Learn more about Vianney Gravereaux:

linkedin.com/in/vianneygravereaux

https://www.facebook.com/OrnellaiaWinery

https://www.instagram.com/ornellaiawinery/

About Ivan Massonnat, Owner, Belargus, France

Ivan’s wine lover journey was built on his passion for Burgundy wines, capable of expressing an infinite variety of expressions from a single grape variety. By rooting his family in Chinon in 2006, Ivan discovered the great terroirs of the Loire Valley and started to dream of changing his life to become a vigneron. After years of looking for “diamonds in the rough”, Ivan fell in love with Anjou in 2018, the historical home of Chenin Blanc. 

Learn more about Ivan Massonnat:

https://www.instagram.com/domainebelargus

https://www.facebook.com/domainebelargus/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/domaine-belargus

About Dan Petroski Winemaker, Massican, USA:

Dan Petroski was born in Brooklyn, NY. After attending Columbia University, he went to work for TIME magazine before the Wall Street Journal tried to poach him. Dan took a moment to reflect. He jettisoned to Sicily for a year, where he interned at Valle dell’Acate. Later, a harvest brought him to California. After harvest, Petroski was hired as Larkmead’s cellarmaster, ultimately claiming the winemaker title in 2012. Petroski spent nearly 15 years at Larkmead, but during that period he launched a white wine only brand called Massican, an ode to the Mediterranean and Petroski’s time spent living in Italy. 

Learn more about Dan Petroski:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/danpetroski/

https://www.instagram.com/massicanwinery/

https://twitter.com/massicanwinery

massican.com

About Joao Gomes da Silva, Chief Commercial Officer, Sogrape:

João Gomes da Silva has a degree in Economics and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Reading (United Kingdom). He made an international career in Europe and Latin America in the Food Distribution and Textile sectors. Since 2014, João Gomes da Silva is the Sogrape Director, leading the Global Marketing and Sales functions for the group’s Portuguese wine portfolio, which is present in the Douro, Vinho Verde, Dão, Lisbon and Alentejo regions, including compelling names, such as Mateus, Sandeman, Casa Ferreirinha and Porto Ferreira, among others.

Learn more about Joao Silva:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/sogrape-com/

https://sogrape.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sogrape/

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

It started in Bordeaux but has since become a major force in global fine wine. What’s next for La Place de Bordeaux?

In this final episode of Inside La Place de Bordeaux, hosts Felicity Carter and Pauline Vicard consider where La Place came from — and where it’s going. They talk to some of the world’s most insightful experts, and look into their own crystal balls, to predict what’s likely to happen next.

·       Can En Primeur stay in its current form, or will it transform into something else?

·       Will the market polarise further between the producers at the top and everybody else?

·       As climate change and better viticulture drive ever more excellent vintages, how will that transform the fine wine economy?

·       How will La Place upend the world of wine investment?

For everyone involved in the fine wine trade, this is an episode not to be missed.

With: Mathieu Chadronnier, Max Lalondrelle, Elin McCoy, Jane Anson.

Inside la Place de Bordeaux is a seven-episode podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities? 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

We are already working on our next series of podcasts, exploring how specific regions or wines changed the game for fine wine, and the lessons we can learn from it. To be the first to know about our next adventures, subscribe to our newsletter.

Additional resources are available for this episode. You can find an edited transcript of Elin McCoy’s interview.

Elin’s interview:

Elin’s book: The Emperor of Wine: The Rise of Robert M. Parker, Jr., and the Reign of American Taste, Ecco Press, 2006

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This podcast episode was edited by Polly Hammond and the 5forests team: https://5forests.com/ 

Inside la Place de Bordeaux was made possible thanks to the support of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux’s leading négociant house. To learn more about the CVBG:

Visit their website: https://www.cvbg.com/?lang=en

Follow them on Instagram: @cvbg_bordeaux 

Thank you for joining us today!

What do zillenials want? What do they seek? How do they think about wine and what can the industry do about this?

In this third episode of New Consumers, New Narratives, we meet Honore Comfort, the vice president of international marketing at the Wine institute, the collective body representing the Californian wine trade. In 2024, the wine institute commissioned a big study aiming to understand the minds of the zillenials – the clever contraction of Gen Z-at least the ones that are old enough to legally drink +millennials. While acknowledging that this cohort is diverse, the study focused on understanding the key points making this demographic so different from other age groups and how these differences impact the way they see – and think about wine. 

This podcast series is part of a larger Areni Global research project. Subscribe to our newsletter to get access to our articles and publications: https://bit.ly/AreniNewsletter

Consistent with its Code of Advertising Standards, Wine Institute is committed to ensuring wine is promoted responsibly to those adults who choose to consume it. Wine Insitute offers insights and tools to help our members promote their wines to consumers of legal drinking age. Their members are required to market wine to adults in a responsible and appropriate manner. This commitment includes the responsible content and placement of all communications concerning wine. All research, insights, and strategies have been developed for an adult audience above the age of 25 who are self-described consumers and purchasers of alcohol beverages.

Today with Pr Beverly Skeggs, one of the foremost feminist sociologists in the world, we explore the links between sociology, marketing and Fine Wine and dive deep into behavioural science.

Building on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of Cultural Capital and distinction, we re-visit the concept of personal taste and how culture (including food and wine) can be seen as a device to classify people while wondering if our inner distinction of “Fine Wine” is used to classify and cast out not only a category of products, but a category of individuals, going back to the genesis of "Us and them".

Far from being abstract, this interview casts a different light on some of the Fine Wine ecosystem’s oldest battles and answers some key questions on Fine Wine language, symbolic and its struggle to break cultural codes.

What does the global wine world need to understand about modern China and what will China’s role be in the future of fine wine?

About Simon Tam:

Simon Tam grew up in Australia. He worked in his parents' restaurant which is how he first came into contact with fine wines. After studying at a wine college, Tam worked as a wine consultant for the South Australian government and he even worked as a winemaker for a few years. He eventually moved to Hong Kong, where he opened the first wine school in the early 1990s. As the Chinese market grew, Simon became a bridge between the two worlds, working with winegrowers’ associations around the globe to promote the sale of wines in China. Simon Tam would eventually be appointed head of the wine department at Christie's, initially for China and then for the entire Asian region. Ten years later, Simon founded his own fine wine auction house, AEOS Auctions, and a year ago, he also launched a new project: Flavour Colours - a comprehensive wine and food pairing tool.

Follow Simon Tam

https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-tam-5845504/

https://www.instagram.com/simontamwine/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/aeosauctions/

https://twitter.com/aeosauctions?lang=en

This episode of the Areni Global in Conversation podcast is titled “Catching up with China – In Conversation with Simon Tam”. Host Pauline Vicard talks with the charismatic Simon Tam about his life in the fine wine auction world and his perspective on China’s intricate wine market. They touch on so many interesting points including symbolism in the Asian wine market as well as Simon’s very own definition of fine wine. 

We also provide the cliff notes for this episode. 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Follow me, Pauline Vicard on Twitter & Instagram: @areniglobal

Thank you for joining us today! 

If you are interested in the global conversation around fine wine, head over to our website www.areni.global and become a member. This is not only a great way to support us, but the best way to unlock all our analysis, reports and articles.

Because whether you are producing, selling or pouring fine wine, you need reliable, specific data to make informed decisions. And we have just that in store for you.

The term “regenerative agriculture” has become a buzzword in the past two years, encompassing such fields as regenerative viticulture and agroforestry.

But what does it all mean? And what will this new approach to agriculture mean for the production of fine wine? Will they improve, or even redefine, how we think about viticulture and terroir?

In this episode, we talk to Mimi Casteel, who holds a Masters in forest sciences and biology, one of the leading voices of the regenerative viticulture movement.

She discusses how studying trees and forests has shaped her vision of the world, and working regeneratively has impacted her viticulture and winemaking at her Hope Well vineyard in Oregon.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode The future of digital communication, In Conversation with Polly Hammond explores the world of digital communications, marketing as well as sustainability within that space. 

 Join host Pauline Vicard of Areni Global as she looks for answers to questions such as, How have digital communication transformed the world of fine wine? How will they continue to shape our existence? Should we care about digital communication when building a sustainable, holistic strategy?

 More about today’s guest:

Polly Hammond is the Founder and CEO of 5Forests. Polly brings over 25 years-experience in growing successful companies. As the public face of 5forests, she splits her time between Barcelona, Auckland, and Napa, consulting, writing, and speaking about the trends that impact today’s lifestyle businesses. She’s an advisor to New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, host of the 2023 podcast Be Nice or Leave, and previously, the host of Uncorked with the Italian Wine Podcast, and the Real Business of Wine.

 Polly is a graduate of the University of Southern California, where she earned degrees in International Relations and French. Those studies led to a deep and abiding love affair with Behavioural Economics, and her work is based on insights into all the crazy and irrational reasons consumers engage with brands.

 More about 5forests:

 5forests helps lifestyle and luxury brands adapt to the rapidly changing landscape of today’s digital experience.

 5forests specializes in services that lead to tangible growth and revenue for businesses. They deal in strategies to increase traffic, improve engagement and boost sales. They also produce an extensive library of articles, insights, podcasts, newsletters, as well as downloadables that are specifically designed to help improve customer acquisition, encourage brand loyalty, drive sales, and increase efficiency. 

 Learn more about Polly Hammond:

 Website: 5forests.com

Instagram: @pollyhammond_

Twitter: @mme_hammond

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/p-hammond-5f

 If you want to learn more about links referenced in the interview please see below:

https://earthfirstecommerce.com/

https://www.utilitybidder.co.uk/business-electricity/zoom-emissions/

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/security-of-the-internet/bgp/#:~:text=confirming%20successful%20delivery.-,The%20Internet%20works%20by%20chopping%20data%20into%20chunks%20called%20packets,in%20a%20series%20of%20hops.&text=Entering%20the%20network-,Each%20packet%20hops%20to%20a%20local%20Internet%20service%20provider%20(ISP,network%20%E2%80%93%20usually%20for%20a%20fee.

 More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

 Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

 If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

 Thank you for joining us today! 

What does 2025 have in store for the fine wine world? How are key players planning for this new year and where will they invest their time, and money?

Felicity and Pauline caught up with six major wine personalities, to ask them what they see ahead in 2025.

Here is what they discussed:

· China: The impact of the country’s slow recovery and how the wine market has drastically changed in five years (with some very positive trends, we promise!)

· Global: The geopolitical turmoil and taxes and tariffs, both in the USA and in the UK, and how companies are adapting

· Consumption: The rapid decline of wine consumption — notably away from home — in major Western markets and the impact on the fine wine trade. Our experts also discuss the different steps they are taking to overcome these challenges.

· Markets: How major players are investing in Brazil, South East Asia and new African markets, and what it takes to be successful in these fast-growing markets.

· Styles: The “Burgundification” of fine wine and what it means for the fine wine market generally.

Many thanks to Polly Hammond, Founder and Executive Director, 5forests; Joao Gomes Da Silva, the Chief Comercial Officer, Sogrape, Portugal; Natalie Wang, the Founder and Editor, Vinojoy, China; Matt Deller MW, Managing Director, Wirra Wirra, Australia; Pierre Mansour, Wine Director, The Wine Society, UK; Edouard Baijot MW, Director Luxury-International, Gallo, USA.

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member and subscribe to our newsletter HERE.

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

Can you scale up fine wine? What are the practicalities of scaling up and the main obstacle and challenge that wineries face along the way? Join our panel discussion to hear more...

Vianney Gravereaux, Sales & Marketing Director, Ornellaia & Masseto, Italy

After starting his career at Arthur Andersen, Vianney Gravereaux has gained a vast international experience in fine wine while working for globally renowned estates such as Champagne Philipponnat and Champagne Salon. He studied Economics, English, Political Philosophy and Geopolitics, is French by birth and multilingual by vocation. 

Follow Vianney Gravereaux:

https://www.instagram.com/ornellaiawinery/

Dan Petroski Winemaker, Massican, USA:

Dan Petroski was born in Brooklyn, NY. After attending Columbia University, he went to work for TIME magazine before the Wall Street Journal tried to poach him. Dan took a moment to reflect. He jettisoned to Sicily for a year, where he interned at Valle dell’Acate. Later, a harvest brought him to California. After harvest, Petroski was hired as Larkmead’s cellarmaster, ultimately claiming the winemaker title in 2012. Petroski spent nearly 15 years at Larkmead, but during that period he launched a white wine only brand called Massican, an ode to the Mediterranean and Petroski’s time spent living in Italy. 

Follow Dan Petroski:

https://www.instagram.com/massicanwinery/

About Joao Gomes da Silva, Chief Commercial Officer, Sogrape:

João Gomes da Silva has a degree in Economics and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of Reading (United Kingdom). He made an international career in Europe and Latin America in the Food Distribution and Textile sectors. Since 2014, João Gomes da Silva is the Sogrape Director, leading the Global Marketing and Sales functions for the group’s Portuguese wine portfolio, which is present in the Douro, Vinho Verde, Dão, Lisbon and Alentejo regions, including compelling names, such as Mateus, Sandeman, Casa Ferreirinha and Porto Ferreira, among others.

Follow Joao Silva:

https://www.instagram.com/sogrape/

Welcome to the Areni Global in Conversation Podcast. ​​Today’s episode is part 2 of Can You Scale Up Fine Wine? Part of Areni's Insight Series. This time host Pauline Vicard is in Conversation with Vianney Gravereaux, Dan Petroski & Joao Gomes da Silva. What groundbreaking insights will our returning panelists share as they delve deeper into strategies for achieving financial sustainability and growth within the fine wine industry in this unprecedented follow-up episode of "Can You Scallop Fine Wine?"

We also provide the cliff notes for this episode. 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Follow me, Pauline Vicard on Twitter & Instagram: @areniglobal

Thank you for joining us today! 

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”.

Welcome to the Areni Global in Conversation podcast. In today’s episode Understanding Japan's Latest Trends: In Conversation With Ned Goodwin MW Felicity Carter takes the reins. She talks to Ned Goodwin MW about Japan’s fine wine market, as there is sometimes no better way to understand a market than to ask an outsider, because they may have the ability to stand back and observe in a way that insiders can’t.

An Australian wine expert and critic, Ned first encountered Japan when he went on a school exchange in his teens. After falling in love with the country and the language, he returned again at the turn of this century, and worked there for more than a decade.

In this fascinating interview, Ned and Felicity discuss the fine wine consumers in Japan: who they are and how their behaviours have evolved in recent years.

 This interview is part of our new round of exploration dedicated to the fine wine consumers called The Country Profiles Series, snapshots of markets that we believe are particularly interesting. The full report Country Profile: Japan, will be released on September 21st, 2023, accessible to Areni’s partners and full members only. To secure your copy of the report, join us as a member today.

More about today’s guest: 

In 2010, Ned Goodwin became the first Japan-based Master of Wine. Born in London, raised in Australia and educated in Tokyo and Paris, Goodwin MW has had a storied career in Japan. The host of a Japanese television show, he also founded the importer Wine Diamonds in Tokyo. A well-known critic, he has worked for some of the world’s top wine publications: Now mainly based in Sydney, he is a member of the JamesSuckling.com team and visits Japan as often as he can. Areni asked him his impressions of the market.

Learn more about Ned Goodwin MW:

Website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Goodwin

Instagram: @nedgoodwinmw

Linkedin: https://au.linkedin.com/in/ned-goodwin-mw-18082

About Felicity Carter, today’s host:

Felicity Carter is a well-known journalist and editor based in Europe. She is the Editorial Director of ARENI Global in London, International Editor of Star Wine List in Sweden, co-founder of Business of Drinks podcast, and also works as a contributing editor to The New Wine Review. Formerly, she was founding Executive Editor for The Drop at Pix.Wine, and Editor-in-Chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International, a trade magazine she built into a global must-read, with subscribers in 38 countries. She has consulted to the Dutch government and to Liv-ex, and been the keynote speaker at the wine industry’s biggest conferences and events, from New York and Sydney to Hong Kong. As a writer she has contributed to the Guardian USA, Delicious magazine, and the Sydney Morning Herald, among many other publications. Felicity is also an international wine judge, who has judged in France, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg and Georgia.

To learn more about Felicity Carter:

https://twitter.com/felicitycarter

https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicity-carter-a5754380/

https://www.instagram.com/carter.felicity/

https://www.facebook.com/felicity.carter.104/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today.

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”.

Agriculture is the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, second only to the energy sector. It’s also a leading driver of biodiversity loss. But without agriculture, we die. How can these facts possibly be reconciled?

Some argue that agriculture needs to be pursued more intensively on less land; for others, less intensive agroecology is the only sustainable approach.

Unfortunately, given the urgency of the question, policymakers have failed to find a consensus. This is partly because the two models are based on assumptions that are rarely examined and depend on whether you believe that demand shapes supply, or supply shapes demand.

But what does the evidence say? And is there an ideal solution? And if there is, what does it mean for viticulture?

In this episode, Pauline Vicard meets Professor Tim Benton who leads the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House. His research covers food and environment interactions, food policy, and trade and geopolitics, and his latest paper “Sustainable agriculture and food systems, comparing contrasting and contested versions” tackles these fundamental issues.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode is entitled “Tastemakers and Palate Education: In Conversation With Evan Goldstein MS”. Host Pauline Vicard and Master Sommelier Evan Goldstein talk about wine education and how it has changed over time. They discuss tasting and the changes in certain wines due in part to climate change; they look ahead, rethinking wine education, analysing how the trade is taught, as well as the type of knowledge and skills that will be needed for wine students to thrive in the future.

More about today’s guest Evan Goldstein, MS:

Evan Goldstein, MS, is one of the nation's most prolific food and wine industry veterans. Evan's food and wine career started in the renowned kitchens of Paris and California. In 1984 he joined his mother, Chef and Author Joyce Goldstein, in opening the celebrated San Francisco restaurant Square One. In 1987 he became the eighth American and youngest ever at the time to pass the prestigious Master Sommelier examination. Since 1990 Evan has created wine education programs and service hospitality schools with Seagram Chateau & Estates Wines Company, Diageo, Allied Domecq, and most recently, as the Vice President of Global Wine & Brand Education at Beam Wine Estates. In addition, Evan continues to train and examine candidates for the Court of Master Sommeliers as a Founding Board member. Evan is the author of several books including: Five Star Service, Perfect Pairings, Daring Pairings and Wines of South America.

Goldstein joined forces with Limeng Stroh, to launch Full Circle Wine Solutions, Inc. in March 2008, it is a global wine and spirits education firm. Today they also run Master the World, Inc. where Evan holds the title President and Chief Wine Officer. Most recently in 2022, he also became the Master Sommelier for the San Francisco Giants.

Learn more about Evan Goldstein, MS:

https://mtwwines.com

https://twitter.com/MTWWines

https://www.instagram.com/MTWwines

https://www.facebook.com/MTWwines

https://www.instagram.com/evangoldsteinms/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/evan-goldstein-8ba1495

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today!

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”

If you've ever wonder what La Place de Bordeaux is all about, how it works, and maybe most importantly why - and for whom- it works, then this podcast is for you.

In this seven episodes series, Areni Global top duo Pauline Vicard and Felicity Carter tackle all the hard questions, meet key players -many of them going public for the first time - and analyze the role and place of the Place de Bordeaux in the future of fine wine distribution.

Follow them as they enter the Place, and discover what happens behind what appears to be closed doors.

This week, we meet David Garrett and Behdad Shahsavari, two seasoned entrepreneurs who are highly involved in both the tech and fine wine worlds.

They will shortly be launching Club Dvin, one of the first wine clubs based on NFTs, or non-fungible tokens.

They have also attached NFTs to Robert Parker's private wine collection which is being sold for charity later this year.

Together, we discuss not only how NFTs and smart contracts actually work, but also how they could impact the fine wine supply chain.

What can Fine Wine learn from coffee? And what, in turn, can coffee learn from Fine Wine?

This week ARENI speaks to Peter Giuliano, the executive director of the Coffee Science Foundation, to explore what two of the world’s favourite beverages can offer each other.

What does it mean for a fine wine to be a brand? How do fine wine brands define and measure success? How much does it cost to be a successful brand? What’s the role of the secondary market in building successful brands?

If you’ve been listening to the previous episodes of this series, you would have heard it: La Place doesn’t build brands. But then, who does? And how do they successfully do it?

In this fifth episode, hosts Felicity Carter and Pauline Vicard explore the concept of branding in relationship to fine wine and review the steps to build successful, desirable and recognised fine wine brands, decoding cultural differences along the way.

From iconic Bordeaux estates to award-winning marketing agencies, game-changing importers and leading auction houses, they all share their unfiltered opinions on how to build, manage and successfully grow a fine wine brand on La Place de Bordeaux and beyond.

With: Polly Hammond, Mathieu Jullien, Guillaume Pouthier, Don St Pierre, Fiona Morrison MW, Amayès Aouli.

Inside la Place de Bordeaux is a seven-episode podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities? 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Additional resources are available for this episode. You can find an edited transcript of Don St Pierre’s interview. Don heads AdaptEdge, a consulting firm providing strategic direction for building distribution channels. He is well-known in the wine world for co-founding ASC Fine Wine, one of China’s top importers, and for his interest in Vinfolio in the USA and Fine+Rare. 

Don St Pierre’s interview:

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This podcast episode was edited by Polly Hammond and the 5 forests team: https://5forests.com/ 

Inside la Place de Bordeaux was made possible thanks to the support of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux’s leading négociant house. To learn more about the CVBG:

Visit their website: https://www.cvbg.com/?lang=en

Follow them on Instagram: @cvbg_bordeaux 

Thank you for joining us today!

We meet Tom Marchant, co-founder and director of Black Tomato, an award-winning agency which creates what they describe as unique and perfectly-tailored travel experiences.

We discuss what luxury, hospitality and creating experiences means in practice.

In consideration of ARENI’s latest report, we compare and contrast what fine wine consumers have in common with affluent travellers.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode is entitled “How To Be Extraordinary”. Host Pauline Vicard speaks with Dr. Kiko Thiel to discuss her search on the extraordinary and what makes people do extraordinary things. Her research distinguishes between excellence and the extraordinary, and between incremental innovation vs. the outer reaches of radical innovation - paradigm creation. Dr. Thiel focuses in particular on the mindsets and behaviors that enable the creation of the extraordinary, the creation of new paradigms and outliers that challenge our notion of reality, or our notion of what's possible. But how can this notion of excellence vs. the extraordinary be applied to the world of Fine Wine? To find out, tune in!

More about today’s guest Dr. Kiko Thiel:

Kiko Thiel researches, writes and speaks about the difference between excellence and the extraordinary, and the journey individuals undergo when they depart from the status quo to create a new paradigm. She brings to her academic research over 25 years of experience consulting to major corporations in Europe, Japan, Africa, and the Middle East, spanning insurance, mining, oil and gas, high tech, and the fashion and cosmetics industries. She specialised in leadership and organizational change at McKinsey and Accenture, and in Blue Ocean Strategy innovation with Insead professors Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. Kiko has a PhD in Organizational Behavior from Case Western Reserve University, an MBA from Insead, BA History from Yale, speaks English, Japanese, and French, and has lived half of her life in Europe, and the other half in Japan and the US. 

Learn more about guest Dr. Kiko Thiel:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kikothiel/

https://www.facebook.com/weatherheadschool

https://www.instagram.com/caseweatherhead/

rethinkingconsulting.com (Company)

inzenka.com (Company)

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today! 

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast and today’s episode, Our Trends For The Year. From the AI boom to shaky international politics to the banking crisis, there are domino effects that could create consequences for this industry we know and love. Tune in as Pauline Vicard, Felicity Carter, Polly Hammond and Sarah Phillips McCartan discuss their thoughts, fears and hopes for 2024.

About Pauline Vicard: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

About Polly Hammond:

Polly Hammond, the Founder and CEO of 5forests, leads an award-winning global digital marketing agency specializing in the wine industry. Known for her forward-thinking approach and insightful perspectives, Polly is well known for her willingness to tackle challenging questions to keep the wine industry competitive in a dynamic market. Her leadership at 5forests reflects a commitment to advancing the wine industry through strategic digital marketing and a deep understanding of global market trends. This expertise makes Polly a valued member of the Areni Global board.

Catch Polly online each Sunday as she hosts Headtraining, a free video series dedicated to the needs of the wine industry.

Learn more about Polly Hammond:

Website: 5forests.com

Instagram: @pollyhammond_

https://www.instagram.com/head_training/?hl=en

https://www.youtube.com/@5forests

About Felicity Carter:

Felicity Carter is a well-known journalist and editor based in Europe. She is the Editorial Director of ARENI Global in London, International Editor of Star Wine List in Sweden, co-founder of Business of Drinks podcast, and also works as a contributing editor to The New Wine Review. Formerly, she was founding Executive Editor for The Drop at Pix. Wine, and Editor-in-Chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International, a trade magazine she built into a global must-read, with subscribers in 38 countries. She has consulted to the Dutch government and to Liv-ex, and been the keynote speaker at the wine industry’s biggest conferences and events, from New York and Sydney to Hong Kong. 

To learn more about Felicity Carter:

https://twitter.com/felicitycarter

https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicity-carter-a5754380/

https://www.instagram.com/carter.felicity/

About Sarah Phillips McCartan:

Sarah is Head of Membership at Areni Global and resides in Miami, Florida.  

After studying at universities in Scotland and New Zealand, Sarah joined the wine trade in 2014 to work for Liv-ex in London. She spent seven years in a range of communications roles, covering areas such as market analysis, PR, and product development. She relocated to Miami in 2019. Later that year, she won Jancis Robinson’s wine writing competition for her article, Miami for Wine Lovers. Sarah’s role for Areni Global involves developing the membership program, so you’re welcome to contact her with any questions. 

To learn more about Sarah Phillips McCartan:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjanephillips/

instagram.com/whatsarahdrinks/ 

twitter.com/sarahtacp 

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/ 

Is wine good for your health? And if it is or isn’t, what are the consequences?

The wine trade has certainly always embraced the message that moderate drinking is part of a healthy diet. But wine is now under attack by the European Parliament’s Special Committee on Beating Cancer – which has stated that there is no alcohol consumption without health risks. This could lead to serious consequences, including cutting funds from alcohol production.

In this episode, we speak to psychiatrist and drug researcher Professor David Nutt, on what is known for certain about wine, alcohol and health.

David is the chairman of Drug Science and in 2020 he published the book Drink? The New Science of Alcohol and Your Health.

The three tier system regulates the distribution of alcohol within the United States. The Federal framework stipulates that a spirits or wine producer (the first tier), should sell first to a distributor (the second tier), that will in turn, sell to a retailer (the third tier). This retailer must have a license to sell alcohol either in a shop (off-premise) or in a restaurant (on-premise). This Federal framework changes at the state level, with each local government putting in place specifications and regulations according to their interpretation of the Federal requirement.

This system, established since the end of Prohibition, makes distribution of alcohol between local zones, counties or state borders extremely difficult.

What if there was a legal way to work alongside the established three-tier system in the US to create a disruptive route to market, based on convenience, while working within the system? What would it take to build a distribution channel that would allow consumers to directly order cocktails - or wine- on their phone, and receive it a mere three hours later at their door?

What would this new “non-premise” channel mean for spirits and wine brands alike? How could it address the upper-end of the market and not only offer convenience but create bespoke, premium experiences?

We talk to Tim Angelillo, founder and CEO of Sourced Craft Cocktails, and discuss how he used his 20 years of experience working for tech giants to create an efficient data and information based system that answers these questions.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. In today’s episode Is Sense of Place the New Terroir, In Conversation with Elaine Chukan Brown, Pauline Vicard of Areni Global spends some time having a more philosophical conversation about the idea of Sense of Place within the Fine Wine space. What is the definition of Terroir and is Sense of Place Terroir? And why does defining Terroir even matter? How do the notions of 'typicity' and 'authenticity' fit into Sense of Place? Join this in-depth conversation as Pauline and Elaine try to enhance their own problem-solving capacities through an exchange of wine-centric ideas and information; analysing concepts; definitions; arguments, and problems. Their thoughts give voice to issues, and they face valuable questions head on to extract what is essential, for the benefit of the fine wine space. 

About Elaine Chukan Brown:

Elaine is a proud member of Areni Global, she is a celebrated keynote speaker, educator, & wine writer and is one of the world’s top authorities on California wine. She previously served as the American Specialist for JancisRobinson.com, and as Contributing Writer to Wine & Spirits Magazine. She contributed to the award-winning 8th edition of the World Atlas of Wine, as well as the award-winning 4th edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine. The IWSC and VinItaly have named her one of the top wine communicators in the world the last two years in a row, and in 2019, the Wine Industry Network named Chukan Brown one of the 9 Most Inspiring People in Wine. Her writing has been featured in Decanter, World of Fine Wine, the Robb Report, and others, and recommended by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Australia Gourmet Wine Traveller, and more. She has been a celebrated speaker for events worldwide. In 2022, Brown was nominated for a James Beard Award in Journalism, and served as an advisor to the Women in Wine and Spirits Awards of China.

Brown’s previous work as an academic philosopher informs their views of wine, and people. She is Inupiaq, and Unangan-Sugpiaq, that is Indigenous, from what is now known as Alaska. Much of their time is spent mentoring young people and other Black, and Indigenous people, and people of color pursuing work in wine. They also advise multiple diversity initiatives, organizations, and committees in the global wine industry, and regularly speak, and write on diversity, equity, and social justice issues connected to the world of wine, food, beverage, and hospitality. 

Learn more about Elaine Chukan Brown:

https://www.instagram.com/hawk_wakawaka/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-chukan-brown-17316b254/

https://twitter.com/hawk_wakawaka?lang=en

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today! 

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”.

Faced with declining consumption and a threatening regulatory environment, are we good enough at talking or writing about wine? Why? What could be the levers of a new narrative for wine? And what could be the risks of not improving our game?

In this episode, hosts Pauline Vicard goes to Napa to meet author, speaker, consultant and all-round wine communicator Karen MacNeil. Karen has won every major wine communication award in the English language, including the James Beard award for Wine and Spirits Professional of the Year, and the Louis Roederer award for Best Consumer Wine Writing, among many others. TIME Magazine called her ‘America’s Missionary of the Vine’. She is the author of The Wine Bible, now in its third edition, which has sold more than one million copies. What does one of the world’s greatest wine communicators think about the state of winecommunication today?

Tune in to listen to Karen’s recommendations and the many ingredients needed for a successful, impactful and relevant wine communication.

And if you want to engage more with Karen’s great content, have a look at WineSpeed, the first fast wine e-letter—with great info and advice, all from Karen, and use the code for a 20% discount on standard annual WineSpeed subscription.

In Conversation is a podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities?

Be sure to visit our website Areni Global, to learn more about becoming a member and access all our reports, events and analysis.

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

Thank you for joining us today!

Today with Minter Dial, we revisit some of our research, exploring the key notions for the future of Fine Wine: Diversity, Agility, Sustainability and Purpose, and what they could mean in a post-Covid 19 world.

After 16 years leading the digital transformation in L’Oréal, Minter Dial is now an acclaimed author and international speaker, looking at the world through the lens of technology, branding and digital strategy. Through his boutique agency The Myndset, Minter creates bespoke executive programmes designed to activate strategy and accelerate transformation.

We ask Minter his view on our changing ecosystem, discuss his latest books, and craft a vision to futureproof our businesses.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode is called “Teaching for Tomorrow: In Conversation with Pascaline Lepeltier”. In this engaging conversation your host, Pauline Vicard delves into the importance of learning wine facts, despite the ubiquity of Google. Together they emphasize the need to contextualize factual knowledge for those building careers in the wine industry. The discussion also touches on Pascaline's unique approach to wine tasting, challenging conventional methods. Join us for a geeky yet insightful exploration with real-life implications for redefining wine education and building successful careers in the Fine Wine sector. 

More about today’s guest Pascaline Lepeltier:

Growing up in the Loire Valley and detouring from a master’s in philosophy and a career as a university teacher, Pascaline began her obsession with wine at the two star Michelin-rated L’Auberge Bretonne under celebrated Chef Jacques THOREL. Within a year, she was named both Best Loire Valley Young Sommelier and Best Brittany Sommelier. While working as Beverage Director at Rouge Tomate in Brussels, she interned at the George V in Paris under the direction of Best European Sommelier and Best World Sommelier runner-up Eric BEAUMARD. Promoted to the position of Beverage Director for the Rouge Tomate flagship in New York, she moved to Manhattan in 2009. Within months, she was named one of the five best new US sommeliers of 2011 by Wine & Spirits, one of the “New Wine Prophets” by Time Out NY, one of the “40 under 40” beverage influencers by Wine Enthusiast and called the “Natural Wine Evangelist” by Ray ISLE in Food & Wine.

In 2018, she became a partner in Racines NY, one of the top wine destinations in the USA. In 2022, alongside Chef Jonathan Karis, General Manager Jared David and wine guru David Lillie, she opened Chambers, a farm-to-table wine-focused restaurant in TriBeCa. She overlooks with sommelier Ellis Srubas-Giammanco a 2000+ wine list focusing on “vins de vignerons”, mostly organic, biodynamic and natural. In 2014, Pascaline passed the Master Sommelier Diploma, and in 2018, she won 2 more major titles in her homeland: she is now a laureate of “Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France - Sommellerie” and Best French Sommelier 2018. In January 2019, the famous French magazine La Revue du Vin de France awarded her “Personality of the Year 2019”, the first woman to be given this prestigious recognition. In 2023, she represented France in the ASI Best Sommelier in the World held in Paris. She finished 4th. To continue reading more on Pascaline and all her professional accomplishments, we invite you to view her bio here. 

Learn more:

https://www.instagram.com/pascalinelepeltier/

https://twitter.com/plepeltier

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pascaline-lepeltier-2a319184/

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today! 

Today with Xavier Rolet, Knight of the British Empire, former CEO of the London Stock Exchange and 2017 Harvard Business Review 100 Best CEOs in the World, we take a bird’s eye view and explore the current situation’s global picture. We discuss finance, international governance, tech and sutainability as key levers of change, and how they are extremely relevant to both big and small players of the Fine wine world.

"To cook well, you need people who eat well.” said the Roca brothers, owners of El Celler de Can Roca, a 3-Michelin star restaurant in Girona, Spain.

To produce fine wine, do you need fine wine markets?

The definition of terroir usually embraces soil, climate and people, the latter usually understood as the people who make the wine. But it’s also true that proximity to a major city or transport node has historically been critical in the development of fine wine.

What would Champagne be without proximity to Paris? How would Rioja have developed without the coming of the railroad? And looking forward, what does the current state of international transportation and market development mean for the future of fine wine?

To answer these questions and more, we welcome Pedro Ballesteros MW, National expert at OIV, Member of Gran Orden de Caballeros del Vino and passionate wine historian. 

How is the secondary market organized in Norway? And why are Fine Wines so much cheaper there? And how long do people have to queue to buy a bottle of Domaine de la Romanee-Conti?

In this episode, host Pauline Vicard sits down with Arnt Egil Nordlien, Product Manager of Fine Wine & Auctions at Vinmonopolet in Norway. Together they discuss the in’s and out’s of a very unique distribution system. How does Arnt choose what to buy at En Primeur week each year, and how are the wines imported? How does the Vinmonopolet system work? How are Fine Wines sold and what is the margin system?

Tune in to learn more and of course do not forget to head over to the Inside La Place de Bordeaux series, where Pauline initially sought out Arnt to delve into the fascinating world of La Place de Bordeaux, a wine system shrouded in mystery, even to many people who work in fine wine.

Vinmonopolet is Norway’s state control alcohol distribution platform, and Arnt Egil Nordlien personally selects Fine Wines to be distributed to 12 locations throughout Norway. If you want to learn more about Vinmonopolet in Norway, just head to their site. There you will be able to learn about what wines they sell, their mission and sustainability report and more. 

In Conversation is a podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities?

Be sure to visit our website Areni Global, to learn more about becoming a member and access all our reports, events and analysis.

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

Thank you for joining us today!

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. In today’s episode How to Connect Farming and Hospitality to Create a Complete Wine Business – In Conversation with Jean-Charles Boisset, Elaine Chukan Brown speaks to Jean-Charles Boisset, winemaker, owner of multiple wineries, author, proponent of organic and the biodynamic farming method and so much more. Together they delve into the meaning of hospitality and Jean-Charles’ devotion to showing people that wine can be a passion, a lifestyle. He accentuates the impact of intentions; his properties’ organic and biodynamic farming methods, and their importance for the future of farming, wine and health in general. Both Elaine and Jean-Charles also explore the more interesting aspects of the biodynamic ideology.

 About Jean-Charles Boisset:

 Jean-Charles Boisset was born into the world of wine in the village of Vougeot, Burgundy, France. His lifelong passion for wine began as a child, growing up above the cellars and within view of the centuries-old vineyards of Château du Clos Vougeot, the epicenter and birthplace of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. His parents, Jean-Claude and Claudine, founded the family winery in 1961 with an innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in one of the most traditional winegrowing regions in the world. Today, the family collection includes wineries that share more than 18 centuries of combined winemaking heritage and tradition in some of the world’s most prestigious terroirs, from Burgundy to the South of France, to California’s Napa Valley and Russian River Valley.

 To find out more visit:

https://www.boissetcollection.com/

https://www.instagram.com/jcbcollection/

Twitter: @JC_Boisset

 https://my.boissetcollection.com/basicproduct/alchemy-senses-book

 About Elaine Chukan Brown:

 Elaine is a member of Areni Global, she is a celebrated keynote speaker, educator, & wine writer and is one of the world’s top authorities on California wine. She previously served as the American Specialist for JancisRobinson.com, and as Contributing Writer to Wine & Spirits Magazine. She contributed to the award-winning 8th edition of the World Atlas of Wine, as well as the award-winning 4th edition of the Oxford Companion to Wine. The IWSC and VinItaly have named her one of the top wine communicators in the world the last two years in a row, and in 2019, the Wine Industry Network named Chukan Brown one of the 9 Most Inspiring People in Wine. She has been a celebrated speaker for events worldwide. In 2022, Brown was nominated for a James Beard Award in Journalism, and served as an advisor to the Women in Wine and Spirits Awards of China.

 To find out more visit:

https://www.instagram.com/hawk_wakawaka/?hl=en

https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-chukan-brown-17316b254/

https://twitter.com/hawk_wakawaka?lang=en

 More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

 Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

To read the cliff notes on today’s interview, head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us! 

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode On Integrity, Excellence and Commitment: In Conversation With Carlton McCoy MS, explores the world of fine wine through the lens of a fine wine maker. Carlton is a powerhouse in the wine industry with a unique perspective on the definition of excellence and greatness when it comes to fine wine. Join host Pauline Vicard as she speaks with Carlton on topics such as authenticity, what makes a fine wine unique, and of course, what are the responsibilities and obligations of a fine wine maker. 

More about today’s guest Carlton McCoy:

Chief Executive Officer Heitz Cellar

Chief Executive Officer at Lawrence Wine Estates

McCoy grew up in southeast Washington, DC. Food was his first serious passion; in high school Carlton enrolled in a class sponsored by the Careers Through Culinary Arts Program, or C-CAP. In 2002, he won a C-CAP citywide cooking contest and earned a full scholarship to the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. At the CIA, something new stood out for him: The wine class with Steven Kolpan. After graduation in 2006, Carlton honed his skills in revered institutions including Thomas Keller’s Per Se, Marcus Samuelsson’s Aquavit, Tom Colicchio’s Craft Steak in New York and Eric Zeibold’s CityZen at The Mandarin Oriental in Washington, DC. It was at CityZen that he got serious about wine and began studying for the Court of Master Sommeliers certifications, guided by Andy Myers MS. 

After gaining experience at The Little Nell in Aspen, CO, Carlton would eventually become President and CEO of Heitz Cellar in December 2018. To Carlton, Heitz Cellar represents a very particular style of Napa wines: ones that speak to an earlier era in California winemaking. 

Learn more about Carlton McCoy:

Website: https://heitzcellar.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carltonmccoy/

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/carlton-mccoy-993675190

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today! 

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”

How do successful luxury brands engage with the young(er) consumers?

In this first episode of our latest series New Consumers, New Narratives host Pauline Vicard delves into the topic of Luxury strategies with Jean-Noël Kapferer

a world-renowned expert in luxury brand strategy. They discuss the levers of success for luxury and premium brands and explore how they manage to stay relevant and attractive to the new generations of consumers, whilst debating the unique position of wine in the global luxury segment.

To pick up a copy of Jean-Nean-Noël Kapferer’s book Luxury Strategy, just follow the link. 

New Consumers, New Narratives is a podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized.

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member and subscribe to our newsletter HERE.

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This week we are pleased to share the recording of our Insight Series Re-inventing restaurants, rethinking wine lists, recorded on the 2nd of March 2021.

With the insight of 6 international experts and guest star co-moderator James Tidwell MS, we start to imagine the trends and levers of change that will allow restaurants to re-surface, and decipher how they will affect restaurants’ wine lists going forward.

+ Antoine Abou-Samra - Founder, A Table for Two, Lebanon

+ Ray Isle, Executive Wine Editor, Food & Wine Magazine, USA

+ Stephan Leuschner – Director International Key Accounts, Rational, Switzerland

+ Tinashe Nyamudoka - Sommelier and Founder, Kumusha Wines, South Africa

+ Jon Pepper MW, Managing Director, Tenuta del Mundo, Italy

+ Laurent Plantier, Co-founder, Alain Ducasse Entreprise, and Partner, FrenchFood Capital, France

This week we meet popular food writer Alicia Kennedy, who is currently at work on a history of veganism, to be published in 2022.

We discuss food and the many issues surrounding it, from politics and labour to hospitality and sourcing. In exploring what the future holds for ingredients, recipes and the restaurant experience, we consider their impact on the future of restaurants and their wine lists.

Welcome to episode 1 of our new show, The Responsibilities Series, where we explore the specific responsibilities of those who work with fine wine. We believe that fine wine can no longer be defined solely by its taste or its complexity, but also by its leadership, values and ethos. And if fine wine sits at the top of the pyramid, we need to reflect on the individual and collective responsibilities of sitting at the top.

This very special series has been possible thanks to the support of Moët Hennessy and their program Living Soils, Living Together. 

Today’s episode is called “Soil Health” and delves into the new soil mandate that is being drafted for June 7th and the issues around soil health in Europe as well as some of the solutions being proposed to mitigate and even reverse the damage to this precious and finite resource. 

The hosts of this podcast are Pauline Vicard, CEO, and Felicity Carter, Editorial Director.

You will hear experts such as Virginijus Sinkevicius, the European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Faustine Bas-Defossez, the Director for Nature, Health and Environment at the European Environmental Bureau, and Sandrine Sommer, the Head of Sustainability for Moet Hennessy express their thoughts and warnings, as well as put forward new initiatives in their efforts to help the current state of affairs when it comes to our soil’s health.

To read the cliff notes on today’s interview, head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Learn more through the following links:

Sign the Soil Manifesto:

https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/news/eu-mission-soil-launches-its-manifesto-2023-04-18_en

Soil Atlas of Europe:

https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/content/soil-atlas-europe

Living Labs

https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/living-labs-jrc_en

More:

https://www.worldlivingsoilsforum.com/

https://www.regenerativeviticulture.org/

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. In today’s episode Inside the World of Luxury Wines, In Conversation with Liz Thach MW and Peter Yeung, Pauline Vicard of Areni Global explores the true definitions of Luxury wines through the lens of Peter and Liz’s book ‘Luxury Wine Marketing: The art and science of luxury wine branding’. She also looks for answers to questions such as, What is the difference between Cult, Icon, & Luxury wines? How do celebrity wines affect the fine wine sector? and What does it take to build a Luxury brand? 

About Peter Yeung:

Peter Yeung (MW Candidate, WSET Diploma, CIA CWP) is a leading wine business consultant, named one of Wine Business Monthly’s 2020 Wine Leaders. He is the author of award-winning Luxury Wine Marketing and was VP of Strategy & Biz Dev at Kosta Browne in Sonoma and Realm Cellars in Napa. Peter is a Master of Wine Candidate and holds the WSET Diploma and CIA Certified Wine Professional designations. Prior to wine, Peter was an executive in Silicon Valley and a consultant with McKinsey & Company.

Peter is also the co author of the book Luxury Wine Marketing together with Liz Thatch MW, as well as several wine and clean energy articles. He is also the host of the podcast XChateau, a Masterclass on the business of wine.

Learn more about Peter Yeung:

https://www.instagram.com/winebizguy/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkyeung

https://www.xchateau.com/episodes/

About Liz Thach:

Dr. Liz Thach, MW is an award-winning author, wine market expert, researcher, educator and consultant based in Napa and Sonoma, California.

Liz worked for more than 10 years as an HR executive and manager in Fortune 500 companies, before transitioning to Sonoma State University(SSU) in 2000 to teach management and wine business classes in their Bachelors and MBA programs. While there, she taught and conducted multiple international research projects, presented at more than 100 conferences, and published 9 books and over 200 articles, including consumer/trade journal and academic publications.

Liz was the first woman in California and the 7th woman in the US to become a Master of Wine (MW), she was honored with the title of Distinguished Professor of Wine for life. She also holds a Ph.D. in Human Resource Development from Texas A&M University, an M.A. in Organizational Communication & Management from Texas Tech University, and a B.A. in English from Notre Dame de Namur University in California.

Learn more about Dr. Liz Thach MW:

https://lizthachmw.com/

https://www.instagram.com/lizthach/

linkedin.com/in/liz-thach-mw

sonoma.edu/sbe/ 

If you want to pick up a copy of the book discussed in this podcast, please visit:

www.amazon.com/Luxury-Wine-Marketing-science-branding/dp/1913022048

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today! 

Welcome the second episode of The Responsibilities Series, where we explore the specific responsibilities of those who work in fine wine, an Areni Global podcast brought to you in association with Moët Hennessy and their programme Living Soils, Living Together.

Today we are talking about one of the most serious issues facing wine, which is the question of wine and health, and the growing movement challenging even the moderate consumption of wine and alcohol. Could wine lose its social license to operate? That once unthinkable possibility now seems to be a real threat, as the health lobby declares that there is no safe level of alcohol.

In late October, a Congress on wine and health — the Lifestyle, Diet, Wine & Health Congress — was held in Toledo, Spain. It brought together a number of prominent doctors, scientists and other researchers, to look at what the evidence says about the impact of wine on health. Areni’s Editorial Director Felicity Carter was there, and in this special podcast, she explains what was discussed. The Congress was organized by two European bodies, the Wine Information Council, and one called Foundation for Wine and Nutrition Research (FIVIN) The organizers brought together some of the world’s major researchers in wine and they discussed its impact on health. Within the conversation, you will also hear clips from scientific authorities on the topic.

(Dr. Curtis Ellison, Dr. Justus Apffelstaedt and Prof. dr. sc. Mladan Bobab)

More about today’s host:

Born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, Pauline Vicard grew up working in the vineyard. Her career has included market research for the BIVB and the French embassies in Norway and Cuba, to opening a wine and tea shop in Lille and leading the wine education programme for France's leading hospitality trade union (UMIH). After moving to London in 2015, she became Head of Wine at Clerkenwell London, for whom she organised more than 80 trade and consumer wine events. In 2017, she developed Fine Minds for Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet, owner of the Rhône Valley’s Chêne Bleu winery. This led to the creation of Areni Global in 2019. As Co-founder and Executive Director, Pauline now directs all Areni's activities, including research, events, and publications. She has moderated and spoken at international events, including for the OIV, the American Embassy in Paris, TEXSOM, the Batonnage Forum, The Summit of Collectibility, Tasting Climate Change and Moët Hennessy’s World Living Soil Forum, of which she is also a board member.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

To keep in touch with all our research and publications, subscribe to our newsletter:

https://areni.global/subscribe

About Felicity Carter:

Felicity Carter is a well-known journalist and editor based in Europe. She is the Editorial Director of ARENI Global in London, and she is co-founder of Business of Drinks. She was previously Editor-in-Chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International, a trade magazine she built into a global must-read, with subscribers in 38 countries. She is a regular media commentator, appearing on platforms as diverse as CNN, France24 and the New York Times, and has consulted to New Zealand Wine and the Dutch government. Felicity is an international wine judge as well as a regular keynote speaker at the wine industry’s biggest conferences and events. Her work has appeared in The GuardianUS, The Sydney Morning Herald and numerous other publications.

To learn more about Felicity Carter:

https://twitter.com/felicitycarter

https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicity-carter-a5754380/

https://www.instagram.com/carter.felicity/

https://www.facebook.com/felicity.carter.104/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to

https://areni.global/research/podcasts/

Thank you for joining us today!

This week with Claire Soares, founder and CEO of Up in the air Life, a luxury travel agency based in the US, we discuss what luxury and hospitality will mean in a world post covid, and how to harness the power of experience to create milestones, memories and magic in wine tourism.

This week with Pr David Heymann and Karina Robinson, we are getting inside the the World Health Organisation (WHO) to learn how WHO is addressing the Covid-19 pandemic, what's working, what's not, and ultimately how the wine trade can plan ahead in such context.

Professor Heymann, teaching at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, is now working with the WHO to combat Covid-19. He has spent 22 years working with WHO in Geneva, on secondment from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has been at the forefront of battling AIDS, malaria, measles, tuberculosis and polio, and he also coordinated the global response to SARS. In 2009 he was appointed an honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his service to global public health.

What is La Place de Bordeaux? Does la Place only deal with fine wines? What’s the relationship between la Place and the En-Primeur system? How transparent is the Place?

In this first episode of Inside La Place de Bordeaux, hosts Felicity Carter and Pauline Vicard sit down to discuss their understanding of La Place and challenge their own preconceptions of the system.

We speak to leading experts to understand their perspectives on La Place: Jane Anson, Mathieu Chadronnier, Tom Portet, Valentin Lillet, Axel Heinz, Christopher Lynch, Christian Wylie, and Philippe Newlin. With them, we examine the important fundamentals needed to understand this very unique distribution system, and discuss some of the most common clichés about la Place de Bordeaux.

Inside la Place de Bordeaux is a seven episode podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities? 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Additional resources are available for this episode. You can find an edited transcript of Mathieu Chadronier’s interview, going in depth about the origins of la Place and what it is today:

Mathieu’s Chadronier’s interview: https://bit.ly/ILPB-EpOne

Areni members can also access 5 Things to Know About La Place de Bordeaux, an analysis summarizing all the main takeaways from this episode, a perfect tool for wine students and wineries looking to work with la Place de Bordeaux: https://bit.ly/5thingsLaPlace

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This podcast episode was edited by Polly Hammond and the 5 forests team: https://5forests.com/ 

Inside la Place de Bordeaux was made possible thanks to the support of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux’s leading négociant house. To learn more about the CVBG:

Visit their website: https://www.cvbg.com/?lang=en

Follow them on Instagram: @cvbg_bordeaux 

Thank you for joining us today!

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. In today’s episode, “Understanding the Fine Wine Consumer: Market Insights - France, In Conversation with Pauline Vicard & Felicity Carter” we are changing things up. Normally Pauline Vicard of Areni Global acts as host, but today we have Felicity Carter taking the reins as she talks to Pauline all about Areni Globals upcoming market research data.

 Market research is a huge part of Areni Global’s ethos. There are six “country profiles” Areni is going to focus on this year. Today we are speaking about France. Home of many fine wine collectors. Listen up as Felicity and Pauline discuss the difference between how collectors and consumers here behave, and whether they look like their counterparts elsewhere, perhaps there is something unusual about fine wine collectors in France?

➢  Stay in the loop! The full version of this market report of the French fine wine market will be available to ARENI members only on the 20th of April 2023. Join us to access it! And stay tuned for Japan, Denmark, Singapore and Dubai, all coming up in 2023. Visit areniglobal.com

 More about today’s guest and regular host of Areni in Conversation:

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

 Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

 Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

About Felicity Carter, today’s host:

Felicity Carter is a well-known journalist and editor based in Europe. She is the Editorial Director of ARENI Global in London, International Editor of Star Wine List in Sweden, co-founder of Business of Drinks podcast, and also works as a contributing editor to The New Wine Review. Formerly, she was founding Executive Editor for The Drop at Pix.Wine, and Editor-in-Chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International, a trade magazine she built into a global must-read, with subscribers in 38 countries. She has consulted to the Dutch government and to Liv-ex, and been the keynote speaker at the wine industry’s biggest conferences and events, from New York and Sydney to Hong Kong. As a writer she has contributed to the Guardian USA, Delicious magazine, and the Sydney Morning Herald, among many other publications. Felicity is also an international wine judge, who has judged in France, Portugal, Germany, Luxembourg and Georgia.

To learn more about Felicity Carter:

https://twitter.com/felicitycarter

https://www.linkedin.com/in/felicity-carter-a5754380/

https://www.instagram.com/carter.felicity/

https://www.facebook.com/felicity.carter.104/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/ 

Thank you for joining us today!

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”.

Why do estates from around the world want to work with a historic institution in Bordeaux? What impact have these wines had on La Place and beyond? And should fine wine producers look to La Place for distribution?

In the small world of La Place, no other change has had as many impacts as the recent growth of the Beyond Bordeaux wines category. From Almaviva to Opus One, from Penfolds to Masseto, the international icons have transformed the way the Place works, and the way we understand the fine wine category.

But in the last five years, the Place has also started to distribute what could be qualified as “anonymous brands” — wines with a surprisingly limited level of desirability, or international recognition. It’s a strategic move that left many actors in the fine wine supply chain quite puzzled.

In this fourth episode, hosts Felicity Carter and Pauline Vicard explore the origins of the Beyond Bordeaux category and explore the impacts of this growing category on the future of the Place.

With many conflicting interests at play, they bring diverse and layered opinions from all part of the supply chain. From Beyond Bordeaux producers to négociants, courtiers, journalists, distributors and importers, and Bordeaux châteaux, they all share their unfiltered opinions on the impact of the Beyond Bordeaux wines.

With: Philippe Newlin, Deidre Taylor, Tom Portet, Mathieu Jullien, Ronan Laborde, Jane Anson, Max Lalondrelle, Jeremy Stockman,  and Mathieu Chadronnier.

Inside la Place de Bordeaux is a seven-episode podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities? 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Additional resources are available for this episode. You can find an edited transcript of Tom Portet’s interview. Tom is the co-founder of International First Growths, an Australian-based broker that introduces wines to La Place in Bordeaux. In this interview, Tom shares his experience of successfully bringing key Australian brands to the Place de Bordeaux, and the lessons he learned along the way.

Tom Portet’s interview:

Jane Anson’s Beyond Bordeaux tasting reports:

September release: https://janeanson.com/report/the-september-releases-2023

Mars release: https://janeanson.com/report/the-march-releases-2024

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This podcast episode was edited by Polly Hammond and the 5 forests team: https://5forests.com/ 

Inside la Place de Bordeaux was made possible thanks to the support of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux’s leading négociant house. To learn more about the CVBG:

Visit their website: https://www.cvbg.com/?lang=en

Follow them on Instagram: @cvbg_bordeaux 

Thank you for joining us today!

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode is entitled “From Australia to the Place de Bordeaux”. Host Pauline Vicard sits down with Tom Portet to talk about the wines included in the Place de Bordeaux. Tom plays a pivotal role in curating top-tier wines, ensuring they meet stringent quality standards before representation on the Place de Bordeaux and subsequent distribution. He emphasizes scrutinizing estates, assessing their essence in Bordeaux and their global presentation in the fine wine realm. Factors like typicity, history, and performance in secondary markets weigh in on defining exceptional fine wines. Tom values the confidence in the estates' representation and the competence of individuals associated with them. The network's exposure to the finest wines remains pivotal, underscoring the significance of both wine and personnel credibility in this intricate selection process. Tune in and join us! 

More about today’s guest Tom Portet:

MBA (HEC - Paris), B. Ag. Sci (Hons) & B. Comm. (Melbourne University)

Raised in the vineyards of a family spread out across the world, Tom is the 10th generation of the family to be in the wine business. He advanced through global corporate wine positions on his own merits, before establishing International First Growths & AFG Wines - working with La Place de Bordeaux's unrivaled network of wine buyers and markets. An experienced buyer, Tom is responsible for providing wine producers strategic feedback in order to build their reputation and prestige distribution around the world.

Learn more about guest Tom Portet:

https://internationalfirstgrowths.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-portet-aba8254/

https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/laplacedebordeaux/

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today!

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”

This week we meet Georgia Panagopoulou, known as Wine Gini on social media. Georgia is head of one of the biggest online wine communities, including both Facebook and Instagram where she has 112,000 followers. 

We discuss how social media campaigns are created and measured, while debunking the digital clichés, one by one.

Today with Shanika Hillocks, food & wine digital strategist, published writer and active speaker, we talk digital strategy, influencer marketing and brand engagement. As we re-assess the weight of words and the power of pictures in a deeply shaken and polarised world, we also explore good practices for Fine Wine estates and brands, and the best way for them to cut through the online noise, build meaningful relationships with trade and consumers and embrace their responsibilities.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode is entitled “Marketing, Pleasure, and Responsible Choices: In Conversation with Professor Pierre Chandon”. Host Pauline Vicard and Professor Chandon spend some time discussing how to promote healthier consumption choices using the notion of pleasure. Dr. Chandon’s research deals with understanding how marketers can continue to grow their businesses without contributing to the negative effects of over eating & drinking, his latest research, Aligning Business, Health & Pleasure through Epicurean Nudging is the focus of today’s conversation, and with this in mind Pauline dive’s into how to encourage food & wine appreciation using moderation and discernment 

More about today’s guest Professor Pierre Chandon:

Pierre Chandon is the L'Oréal Chaired Professor of Marketing, Innovation and Creativity at INSEAD in France, and the Director of the INSEAD-Sorbonne University Behavioural Lab. He holds a PhD in marketing from HEC Paris, an MS in Business Administration from ESSEC, and an honorary professorship from Pacific University in Lima, Peru. Prior to joining INSEAD, Pierre Chandon was a faculty of the London Business School and of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has also held visiting positions at Kellogg, Wharton, and Harvard Business School.

Pierre Chandon studies innovative marketing solutions to better align business growth with consumer health and wellbeing. His research has been published in marketing journals (Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, and Marketing Science) and in psychology or nutrition journals (Appetite, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Nutrition Reviews, Obesity, and Psychological Science).

Learn more about Professor Pierre Chandon:

linkedin.com/in/pierrechandon

pierrechandon.com 

https://twitter.com/pierrechandon

https://www.instagram.com/insead

https://www.facebook.com/INSEAD/

https://www.instagram.com/insead

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today! 

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode What the Future Holds for Fine Wine Secondary Market: In Conversation with James Miles and Justin Gibbs explores the world of fine wine through the lens of Liv-ex—the London International Vintners Exchange. ARENI Global hosts’ Pauline Vicard and Felicity Carter sit down in conversation with Miles and Gibbs, discussing the growth of Liv-ex, the logistics, hurdles, technology, the expected growth of the Exchange, and so much more.

More about Liv-ex

Liv-ex was founded by two stockbrokers, James Miles and Justin Gibbs, who had the idea to build an online stock exchange for wine. They took their vision to the London Wine Trade Fair in 2000, along with an eye-catching Jeroboam of Mouton Rothschild, and launched the business.

The introduction of the Internet made an electronic marketplace viable for a niche market like fine wine, bringing a fragmented industry together in one place and offering the potential to make wine trading significantly more transparent, efficient and safe for everyone’s benefit.

More about today’s guests:

James Miles is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Liv-ex. Miles was born and raised in Hong Kong and attended university in the UK. He started his career with Jardine Fleming Investment Management in Hong Kong in 1991, before becoming an equities analyst and strategist with Asia Equity (which later became Banque Paribas and then BNP Paribas). He moved to London in 1997 and left banking in March 2000 to set up Liv-ex.

Justin Gibbs is the Deputy Chairman and Exchange Director at Liv Ex. Born in Melbourne, he attended school in Australia and the UK and then university in Australia (BEc). He started his banking career with Asia Equity in London in 1994 as an institutional salesman, eventually running the UK Asian-facing client base for BNP Paribas. He left banking in March 2000 to set up Liv-ex with James Miles.

Learn more about Liv-Ex:

Website: https://liv-ex.com/

Facebook: @ Liv-ex

Twitter: @Livex

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/liv-ex/

More about today’s hosts:

Felicity Carter is Editorial Director of ARENI Global, and also writes for numerous wine publications. Previously she was founding Executive Editor of The Drop; an editorial consultant to Liv-ex, and Editor-in-Chief of Meininger’s Wine Business International, published by Meininger Verlag in Germany, which she built into a magazine read in 38 countries. A noted speaker, she has given keynote addresses at top industry conferences in Hong Kong, New York, Sydney, London, and Verona, among others.

Before her arrival in Europe, she wrote for major outlets in Australia, including the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She has also written extensively about science and medicine, and has written for The Guardian USA.

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/ 

#winetrade #finewine #wine #bordeauxwine #exclusive #money #investing

Celia Tunc is Secretary General of France’s Culinary College. The association, founded by 18 of the most renowned and influential French chefs – including Alain Ducasse, Joel Robuchon and Paul Bocuse – aims to represent, promote and transmit artisanal culinary heritage through tradition and innovation.

Celia emerges from a year that shook France’s relationships to gastronomy, restaurants, producers and winemakers, with the belief that the future of the world requires a new relationship to food, based on craftsmanship and diversity,

We meet her to discuss the challenges that lie ahead.

What does successful distribution mean for fine wine? And what does it take to be -and remain- successful in fine wine distribution? Are the keys and measure of success different whether you are releasing your wine en primeur, or en livrables (as deliverables), through exclusive importers, or direct to consumers? And what are the main advantages and limitations of each system? 

Listen in as host Pauline Vicard discusses distribution -in conjunction with her deep dive into La Place de Bordeaux- with Mathieu Jullien Marketing and Sales Director at LVMH Vins d’Exception (comprising Yquem, Château Cheval Blanc, Domaine des Lambrays and Colgin Cellars). In this conversation they touch on why LVMH was created and what their objective is. Moreover, Pauline asks about the extra protection, curation and transmission of the wines afforded by the estates within LVMH. Jullien also touches on the global definition for a successful distribution system, and the metrics for a good commercial release, plus how estates are distributed and what can go wrong with a wine during a release. 

Mathieu is certainly an authority on Marketing and distribution, he brings experience from previous roles at Wine Source Group, and Enotria Winecellars Ltd (T/A Enotria). He also holds a 1999 - 2002 Master in Business School from the NEOMA Business School. With a robust skill set that includes Wine Tasting, Sales Management, Marketing Strategy, and more. Tune in to learn more and of course do not forget to head over to the Inside La Place de Bordeaux series, where Pauline initially sought out Mathieu to delve into the fascinating world of La Place de Bordeaux, a wine system shrouded in mystery, even to many people who work in fine wine.

Learn more about LVMH - Vins d’Exception unites the exceptional wine estates owned by the LVMH Group: Clos des Lambrays, Château d’Yquem, Château Cheval Blanc and Colgin Cellars. Vins d’Exception is not a distribution firm - it is a showcase for wines of exceptional character, a tireless champion of these unique estates. Within their organization, winemaking is not subject to commercial constraints; their business is only to promote the reputation of their estates.

In Conversation is a podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities?

Be sure to visit our website Areni Global, to learn more about becoming a member and access all our reports, events and analysis.

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

Thank you for joining us today!

Today, with Richard Portes, Professor of Economics at London Business School, we discuss the economic impact we're seeing as a result of Covid-19, and the specific implications this has for the wine world.

 Originally from Chicago, a Rhodes Scholarship brought Richard to Oxford University in the UK. In 1983, he founded an organization called the Centre for Economic Policy Research, a network of mainly academic economists whose objective is to promote collaboration in research and dissemination among both academics and policy makers.

Richard's academic, research and policy achievements are numerous, and he's currently deeply involved in EU financial stability policymaking. He took time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about the pandemic economy and how this is much different than that of previous recessions, with an unprecedented outlook for a "return to normalcy."

This week New York-based wine marketer Erica Nonni facilitates a conversation between Eric Asimov and Stephen Satterfield about the language of wine.

Eric Asimov is the New York Times’ Wine Critic. His weekly column appears in the Food section of The Times. He is also the author of How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto, and Wine With Food: Pairing Notes and Recipes From The New York Times.

Stephen Satterfield is a food writer, multimedia producer and founder of Whetstone Magazine, a beautiful publication about food origins, culture and the anthropology of food.

These two leading voices in the wine industry share a curiosity and sense of responsibility when it comes to how we communicate around the complex topic of wine. Does language provide or hinder access to wine information? How does it relate to the assessment of wine and to regionalism, fundamental to traditional wine producing areas? Should there be a universal language in wine?

This conversation, which took place at the July 2020 edition of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines, touches upon so much more than language, not just how we talk about wine, but the greater impact it has on our culture.

Today, with multi award-winning lifestyle, travel and wine photographer Matt Wilson, we discuss the power of visuals and how they can convey a sense of connection and experience that words simply can't. Matt's singular personality shines through his work, which breathes a unique sense of life and action into his subjects. In this episode, Matt shares why fun is so important in wine photography and offers his expertise on how wineries can better harness the power of visuals in a digital world where seemingly everyone has become a photographer.

He's one of the advertising world's living legends, the man behind some of the most iconic campaigns ever devised. But Sir John Hegarty also owns a vineyard and is passionate about wine.

What would it take for wine companies to come up with some really compelling ideas that would inspire a whole new generation of consumers to think about wine in a new, more attractive way?

New Consumers, New Narratives is a podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized.

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member and subscribe to our newsletter HERE.

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

What does an En-Primeur campaign look like? How is it organized? The on-going campaign is supposed to be a crucial one for the survival of the whole ecosystem. How much of that is true? What would la Place be without En Primeur?

In this second episode, hosts Felicity Carter and Pauline Vicard tell the tale of the En Primeur campaign, through speaking to producers, négociants, courtiers, buyers and critics.

Get ready for an in-depth exploration, bringing in diverse and layered opinions from Jane Anson, Ronan Laborde, James Miles, Max Lalondrelle, Thomas Parker MW, Valentin Lillet, Axel Heinz,  Jeremy Stockman and Mathieu Chadronnier. With them, we examine the fundamentals of the modern day en primeur system, analyse its strengths and weaknesses and its capacity to continue in the near future.

Inside la Place de Bordeaux is a seven-episode podcast series produced by Areni Global, a think tank dedicated to the future of fine wine. Areni Global helps wineries, distributors and retailers to understand how the world is changing, and how that creates risks to be managed and opportunities to be seized. What risks? What opportunities? 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Additional resources are available for this episode. You can find an edited transcript of Ronan Laborde’s interview. As the Président of the Union des Grands Crus, Ronan is responsible for organizing most of the En-Primeur week and setting together the collective representation of the vintage. Ronan explains the origin of the modern-day en primeur system, and reveals his views for the future.

Ronan Laborde’s interview:

Areni members can also access 5 Things to Know About En Primeur, an analysis summarizing all the main takeaways from this episode, a perfect tool for wine students and wineries looking to work with la Place de Bordeaux:

Follow Areni on Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin: @areniglobal

This podcast episode was edited by Polly Hammond and the 5 forests team: https://5forests.com/ 

Inside la Place de Bordeaux was made possible thanks to the support of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux’s leading négociant house. To learn more about the CVBG:

Visit their website: https://www.cvbg.com/?lang=en

Follow them on Instagram: @cvbg_bordeaux 

Thank you for joining us today!

With international demand for glass container showing record growth in the middle of an energy crisis, the European container glass industry is heading for trouble, as glass factories across Europe struggle to maintain their production and winemakers around the globe facing both bottle shortages and/or price increases.

How can the European glass industry navigate such a difficult time? How can producers prepare for what’s coming?

Today we welcome Adeline Farrelly, Secretary General of the FEVE, the Federation of European manufacturers of glass containers for food and beverage and flacons for perfumery, cosmetics and pharmacy markets. Its members produce more than 80 billion glass containers per year across 162 manufacturing plants in Europe, providing direct employment to about 50,000 people.

This week we are extremely pleased to welcome a trio of Fine Wine legends. Acclaimed journalist Elaine Chukan Brown meets living icons Bill & Will Harlan, for an exclusive and very intimate discussion on transmission where Father and son discuss their evolving relationship through Harlan Estate’s and Promontory’s milestones. As Will prepares to take over from his dad, they share with us the next steps of their 200-year plan.

This interview was recorded prior to the fires currently devastating Napa and Sonoma wine countries, affecting some of Bill and Will's properties. As we are sharing this interview, we want to send our thoughts to both of them, and to the Napa and Sonoma wine communities. We are here and ready to help.

What are the processes, resources, the wine knowledge and skills needed to equip a vast team like Southern Glazers? Tune in and hear Eric Hemer MS, MW give his insights on what it takes.

Eric Hemer, MS MW is Senior Vice President, Product Education overseeing wine, spirits and related production education and certification in 45 US markets, Canada, and the Caribbean for Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits. Eric has been with the company for 35 years; prior to his current role he held various sales,management, and educational positions in Florida before being promoted to his current role in 2013.Eric is a Certified Wine Educator, Master Sommelier and Master of Wine, and works closely with these organizations as well as others as a lecturer, examiner, and mentor. He is also an advisor to the Beverage Academy at Florida International University.

Follow Eric Hemer MS, MW:

https://www.instagram.com/sgwinespirits/

https://twitter.com/SGWineSpirits

This episode of the Areni in Conversation podcast is called “How to Scale Up Trade Education”. Host Pauline Vicard sits down with Eric Hemer, Senior Vice President Director of Wine Education at Southern Glazers Wine and Spirits. Eric is a distinguished figure holding both the titles of Master of Wine and Master Sommelier and he talks to us about the strategies and resources required to scale wine education for over 23,000 employees, exploring how such a large company prioritizes education as a competitive advantage and the most effective methods for delivery.

We also provide the cliff notes for this episode. 

Visit us at Areni Global to learn more about becoming a member.

Follow me, Pauline Vicard on Twitter & Instagram: @areniglobal

Thank you for joining us today! 

“Through a comprehensive research and publication programme, ARENI exists to inform, inspire and empower those invested in the future of Fine Wine”

What does one of the world’s top Bordeaux expert think about La Place? As one of the world's top wine critic, how does she prepare for the upcoming En-Primeur week? And how is it likely to be influenced by the current social and economical context in Bordeaux? To answer these questions and more we sat down with Jane Anson, wine critic, writer and journalist.

About Jane Anson:

Jane is without a doubt one of the most influential fine wine critics globally, respected and praised around the world for her work ethos, dedication and talent. Her extensive works includes the magnum opus Bordeaux Legends, a history of the 1855 First Growth published in 2013 and released as an NFT book in 2022, Wine Revolution in 2017 and of course Inside Bordeaux published in 2020; a book called a ‘category buster’ by Wine Anorak and ‘the Bordeaux bible’ by Le Figaro. 

In 2021, She launched janeanson.com, a site dedicated to Bordeaux – one of the world’s greatest wine regions and, as we see in this episode, the center of so much of the global wine trade.

In Episode Offer: We can’t recommend Jane’s website www.janeanson.com enough: it’s a gold mine of insights, reports, and data on Bordeaux wines and beyond. On top of all this content, subscribers get first access to the Connoisseur Week and the Mentor Week, two of the greatest initiatives in the world of fine wine at the moment, both currently open for registration and application. To enjoy 15% off the first year's subscription, use the code use the code ARGL15OFF during the signup process . This code is valid through to the end of 2024.

Follow Jane Anson

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This episode of the Areni Global in Conversation podcast is titled “Inside Bordeaux With One of the World's Top Wine Critics: In Conversation with Jane Anson”. Host Pauline Vicard sits down with Felicity Carter, editor of Areni Global, for a discussion about their upcoming trip to Bordeaux for the En Primeur campaign. The questions they want answered include, What will happen this year during the En Primeur campaign? What's at stake in this particular week? And How does it all fit within the larger context of the Place de Bordeaux? Excited to explore Bordeaux's role in the future of fine wine, they're joined by renowned wine critic and Bordeaux expert Jane Anson. The episode promises insider secrets delving into Bordeaux's current state of affairs, the marketplace, and the preparations for this unique week ahead!

We also provide the cliff notes for this episode. 

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Thank you for joining us today! 

If you are interested in the global conversation around fine wine, head over to our website www.areni.global and become a member. This is not only a great way to support us, but the best way to unlock all our analysis, reports and articles.

Because whether you are producing or selling fine wine, you need reliable, specific data to make informed decisions. And we have just that in store for you.

Today, with Erin Gore and Karli Warner, founders of The Garden Society based in Sonoma, California, we explore the growing world of Cannabis. As we explore their strong ethos - to become the most positive and trusted cannabis brand for women by delivering exceedingly great products that turn down the daily chaos and turn up the joy – we also draw many parallel between their world and the Fine Wine Ecosystem, discussing millennials, language, terroir & provenance, and responsibility.

This week we meet French researcher Emile Servan Schreiber to discuss the power of collective intelligence, and the different ways to harness, measure and maximise the efficiency of our joined brains. As we navigate our way through the "wisdom of crowds", we also explore how women and diversity can help build better and smarter organisations.

Dr Emile Servan-Schreiber holds a PhD in cognitive psychology from Carnegie-Mellon University in the US, as well as undergraduate degrees in mathematics and computing. He is the managing director of Hypermind which operates in both France and the US, and creates prediction markets.

In the middle of the UEFA European Football Championship, we meet wine critic and journalist Tim Atkin MW and Phillipe Auclair, England correspondent for France Football. 

In this special episode, we discuss this very popular social phenomenon, while having a lot of fun pairing football players and teams with their wine equivalents.

Welcome to the Areni Global podcast. Today’s episode “The Purpose of Education in a Changing World: In Conversation with Tamar Gendler” discusses education, and its future. Education is integral to the preservation and dissemination of fine wine. Host Pauline Vicard and Gendler explore the idea of education that transcends time and culture, defining education in a way that applies to ancient times, modern industrialized societies, and even pre-industrial, pre-technological societies. While the process and methods of education may change across these contexts due to differences in subject matter, social constraints, and evolving techniques, the fundamental "why" of education, which likely involves knowledge transfer and skill development, remains a consistent underlying principle. (Philosophical thinking caps are not optional in this episode!)

More about today’s guest Tamar Szabó Gendler:

Tamar Szabó Gendler is Yale’s Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy, and Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science. She holds a BA summa cum laude with Distinction in Humanities and in Mathematics-&-Philosophy from Yale University (1987) and a PhD in Philosophy from Harvard University (1996). After teaching at Syracuse and Cornell Universities for nearly a decade, she returned to Yale in 2006 as Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Cognitive Science Program. In 2009-10, supported by the Mellon Foundation’s New Directions program, she spent a year as a full-time student at Yale doing coursework in psychology, neuroscience, and statistics. In 2010, she was appointed Chair of the Yale philosophy department, becoming the first woman chair in the department’s two-century history. In 2013, she was appointed Deputy Provost for Humanities and Initiatives, a position she held until she assumed her current role in 2014. 

Tamar Gendler is an academic known for her interdisciplinary approach, blending traditional philosophy with insights from psychology and social sciences. Her research explores topics like the connection between imagination and belief, rational versus non-rational persuasion, and the impact of habits on behavior and judgment. Gendler has received prestigious fellowships, including from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Science Foundation, and she has been actively involved in various boards and committees related to science, education, and humanities.

Learn more about Tamar Szabó Gendler:

Website: https://fas.yale.edu/tamar-szabo-gendler

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamar_Gendler

Instagram: @tamar.gendler

Twitter: @gendler_tamar

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamargendler/

More about today’s host: 

Pauline Vicard is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Areni Global. She was born and raised into a winemaking family in Burgundy, and she has been working in the wine sector for the last 15 years both in Europe and Internationally, in the market research department of the Burgundy wine office and the French Embassy, before creating her own corporate wine events and education company in Lille, France. She moved to London in 2015 to spearhead the Wine Library of the unique and acclaimed Clerkenwell London, a multi-space design destination, before developing the concept of Fine Minds 4 Fine Wines with Nicole Rolet that led to the creation of Areni Global.

Pauline now directs all Areni’s activities, when she is not studying for the Master of Wine exam or playing ultimate frisbee.

Learn more about Areni Global:

Website: https://areni.global/

Facebook: @FM4FW

Twitter: @areniglobal

Instagram: @areniglobal

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/areni-global/

If you want to read the cliff notes on today’s interview, just head to https://areni.global/research/podcasts/  

Thank you for joining us today! 

In this episode we meet Rebecca Hopkins, founder of A Balanced Glass, who is on a mission to help wine professionals stay safe and healthy while navigating a career in alcohol.

We look at the pitfalls and problems of working with wine, and ask what role fine wine plays when it comes to questions of health and well being for both employees and consumers.

Although declining in numbers, cooperatives still represent around half of the wine production of France, Italy, and Spain, plus a third of Germany’s. Their contribution to their local communities can hardly be overstated.

It is fair to say, however, that they have never really been associated with fine wine production, and that generations of both consumers and trade have grown up associating cooperatives wines with cheap mass production.

Yet in the last couple of decades, leading wine cooperatives have transformed themselves, and are now producing high quality wine. At the same time, a younger generation of consumers are developing an interest in cooperatives, drawn by their community ethos.

Are cooperatives the next big thing for fine wine?

This podcast is a recording of an ARENI Insight Series of 10th of May 2022, gathering Brendan Carter, Chief Thinker, Winemaker & Distiller – Team Unico in Australia, Christian Holthausen, Founder, Westbrook Marketing Partners inFrance, Master of Wine Roman Horvath, Winery Director, Domäne Wachau, Austria and Phillipe Leveau, CEO, Cordier by Invivo, France.

Many people find wine as a second career and re-invent themselves in their newly bought vineyards. But few have been as successful as Nigel Greening in doing so. In less than 25y, his estate, Felton Road in New Zealand, has elevate itself amongst the best, leading the way to a new generation of fine wine producers in Central Otago, New Zealand and beyond.

Felton Road is recognized today as one of the most identified and loved wine brands.

In this very special episode, we wanted to understand how Nigel and Blair made it to the top so quickly, In this wide-ranging discussion, we talk futurism, planning, and profitability.

According to Bloomberg, plant-based foods are expected to exceed $162 billion, or 7% of the global food market, within the next decade.

In its latest report UK supermarket chain Sainsbury's estimated that 25% of its customers will be vegan by 2025. This growing interest in plant-based diets is already impacting the way that fine wine is being produced and distributed.

What could a 100% plant-based food and beverage system look like?

This podcast is a recording of a live Insight Series organised by ARENI on March the 2nd 2022, gathering four international experts and moderated by award-winning journalist Elin McCoy.

This week we meet Véronique Pardo, food anthropologist and director of France's Observatoire des habitudes alimentaires ("Eating Habits Obeservatory"), where she heads two major programmes on food behaviours, cultures and human/animal relationships.

We discuss with her the values of eaters today and how the current crisis has changed some of the foundations of our food systems. How has human food become an object of such moral concern in Western societies? Are the criticisms of meat eating, and the trend towards vegetarian and vegan consumption, redefining our food model and our vision of the world? If we are what we eat, what do our Western eating habits say about who we are?

The following conversation is in French. For a written transcript in English, please follow the link to our website.