After seven months of research and development, the Wine Ambassador — a new online wine community founded by serial entrepreneur, Lou Zant — is launching a game-changing, e-commerce platform that directly connects winemakers and wine drinkers to the wine culture at large, and to inventories of wine that have largely been untapped in the marketplace.
The wine industry is notoriously ruled by what is known as the “three-tier system,” which was established in the U.S. after the repeal of Prohibition. The general constructs of this system strenuously restricts producers of alcoholic beverages from selling directly to retailers and consumers by requiring producers to enter the marketplace almost exclusively through one of a handful of wholesale distributors who dominate and control the industry. Wineries with large enough inventories can survive on the margins they get from these distributors; but the small to medium-sized wineries simply can’t, leaving them with few options for finding customers.
Addressing this scenario, Lou Zant, founder of the Wine Ambassador recently stated, “The way wine is sold and distributed in this country is a mess. You’ve got this soul-sucking three-tier system that makes it impossible for a lot of winemakers to sell their wines – and the wines that do pass through the system end up overcrowding the shelves at your local store with wines that have no connection to people.”
In an effort to sell outside of the three-tier model, many wineries and marketing groups have discovered work-arounds by applying for direct-to-consumer (DTC) licenses, which permit wineries and their affiliates to sell/ship wines to a limited population of people on a state-by state basis via the Internet. But the success of online wine clubs as a whole is debatable.
Addressing this, Zant further explained, “You’ve got the self-serving approach of online wine clubs that only feature one winery with lots of membership strings attached, or even worse, you’ve got clubs trying to pass off brands no one has ever heard of as great wine. There’s a clear problem, but so far, nothing’s working. So when I started looking around to see how I could create something new, I realized we didn’t need to play the games or launch another club – we needed to create an online community that serves the winemaker and the wine drinker in a fresh new way.”
Using high-end videos featuring intimate and interesting interviews with award winning winemakers (who have very limited market presence) serves as the first layer to the platform. This is combined with powerful narratives on the history of the industry, lessons on how to choose a great wine, and of course, food pairings, where people are given expert advice on how to buy that perfect complimentary wine for any meal.
The Wine Ambassador also offers premier wines through their own DTC licenses – and in the coming months, Zant and his team have come up with new and innovative channels to get more wine to more people all over the country. Increasing access to undiscovered wines and coming up with more proactive ways to get people these wines directly is the ultimate focus of the Wine Ambassador.
The concept behind the Wine Ambassador platform relies on the power and reach of the Internet. Fueled by social media and blog influences, www.wineambassador.com attracts winemakers and consumers alike, and brings them together into one central portal for multiple and relevant reasons. When people are gathered into an organized community with common interests and common needs, technology is the fastest and most reliable way to leverage the group to build up viral conversations as well as increase the community’s buying power.
That’s what makes the Wine Ambassador community approach so much bigger than a common wine club model. It mixes learning about wine, and accessing “wine culture” with a no strings attached playbook; plus, a robust e-commerce component that gives the community direct access to the wines they want. This keeps the power and conversation of the community in the hands of the individual members who plug in and start buying wines directly from the Wine Ambassador site.
For everyone wanting a more complete approach to learning about and purchasing wine, the Wine Ambassador concept is taking a very bold approach. When asked for his opinion on what Zant and his team have built, Paul Shakeshaft, part owner of the Appellation Trading Company (a wine brokerage firm in the Napa Valley) said, “We believe the Wine Ambassador is creating a big shift between the old way wine has been talked about and sold to individual consumers, and the new way people want to buy. After doing this for many years, and understanding this industry from every angle, I think this online platform is one of the best I’ve ever seen.”
For more information visit wineambassador.com
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SOURCE: Wine Ambassador
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