Drinks Insider

Felicity Carter
  • ٥٫٠ (٤)
  • ريادة الأعمال

The podcast that's interested in everything drinks. If you can drink it, sell it, and make money from it, we'll talk about it, though we're (mostly) fascinated by beverage alcohol. It's all about the intersection of drinks and commerce.

  1. Ep 39: Justin Cohen Says Chasing Loyalty Is Killing Your Wine Brand

    ١٢ نوفمبر

    Ep 39: Justin Cohen Says Chasing Loyalty Is Killing Your Wine Brand

    Ready to hear marketing folklore dismantled? Justin Cohen from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute takes the myths apart, one by one. In this episode of Drinks Insider,  we talk about why mental availability wins out over awareness, how to prioritise category entry points, and why the law of double jeopardy means small brands should stop chasing “loyalty” and start recruiting light and occasional buyers. Cohen maps the mechanics of growth across wine and beyond, from media choices to where your brand physically shows up, and explains why reach beats narrow targeting when you’re trying to get from zero to one purchase. We also get into distinctiveness versus differentiation, portfolio cohesion, and the duplication-of-purchase reality that your customers are also someone else’s customers. Cohen shows how to design tastings that encode the brand not just the occasion, how to defend against retailer private labels with consistent distinctive assets, and how to adapt when affluent Boomers age out and younger buyers refuse waiting lists.   Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. And Drinks Insider is an award-winning podcast! It has won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award in Audio.

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  2. Ep. 38: Zero Sugar, 90 Points, 1 Smash Hit: The Story Behind Sunny With a Chance of Flowers

    ٢٩ أكتوبر

    Ep. 38: Zero Sugar, 90 Points, 1 Smash Hit: The Story Behind Sunny With a Chance of Flowers

    What can dog food teach you about the wine market? Heidi Scheid was walking through the supermarket in 2019 when she noticed that there was a low sugar, ‘better for you’ version of absolutely everything — including dog food. The result of her insight is the blockbuster wine Sunny With a Chance of Flowers, which is 9% abv, zero sugar and barely any calories, but which has regularly scored 90 points. In this lively conversation, she explains how Scheid Family Wines moved up the value chain, from being a grape supplier to a producer of private labels, and then to making its own brands. She talks about business decision-making, from when to create a brand to when to kill it, and what consumers are looking for right now. She also mounts a robust defence of the culture of wine drinking, explains the SKU-rat and goes into detail on their flowers-for-a-year sweepstakes. You’ll come out the other side understanding what makes a successful wine business tick. Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. And Drinks Insider is an award-winning podcast! It has won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award in Audio.

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  3. Ep 37: How Rod Micallef Turned Lemons into 3.5M Bottles of Gold

    ١٥ أكتوبر

    Ep 37: How Rod Micallef Turned Lemons into 3.5M Bottles of Gold

    It’s the midnight idea that launched a sensation — Zoncello, the “it” drink of summer 2023 that’s now an established classic. Micallef, a former electrician turned restaurateur and winemaker, created a limoncello/Prosecco spritz that hit the sweet spot between low-alcohol refreshment, Italian nostalgia, and post-lockdown escapism. From the restaurant floor to Dan Murphy’s shelves to Fresh Hippo’s 500 stores in China, Zoncello’s rise offers a masterclass in innovation and operational nerve. Felicity and Rod unpack the real mechanics of the boom — from cashflow chaos and supplier contracts to the bizarre “vegetable wine” tax category that made the product viable. Micallef discusses what happened when his suppliers ran out of lemon, and how cohesive branding kept him ahead of imitators.  He also shares his new ideas, discusses his Zonzo Estate, and makes a prediction for the category. The takeaways: Innovation often starts at the bar — the best ideas come from direct contact with what customers are actually ordering. The regulatory framework can make or break a product. Rapid growth kills businesses that can’t manage cashflow. Scarcity can be marketing. Competitors copying your idea validates the category. “Surprise and delight” launches still work. Retailer relationships are everything. Direct supplier deals can simultaneously secure volume and loyalty. Community sourcing can double as PR. Diversification should reinforce, not dilute. Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. And Drinks Insider is an award-winning podcast! It has won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award in Audio.

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  4. Ep 36: Nicholas Crampton on Selling 16.8 Million Bottles a Year Without Owning Vineyards

    ١ أكتوبر

    Ep 36: Nicholas Crampton on Selling 16.8 Million Bottles a Year Without Owning Vineyards

    Nicholas Crampton has pulled off what many in wine say can’t be done: turning a small redundancy pay out into a multi-million dollar wine juggernaut. As co-founder of Fourth Wave Wines, Nick has mastered the art of “trend-first, retail-ready” wine: spotting shifts in London, Paris or the Hamptons, adapting them to mainstream shelves, and negotiating hard with Australian retail giants like Dan Murphy’s and BWS. The result is a stable of 45 brands, including lighter, sustainable labels like Tread Softly and unapologetically full-flavoured wines like Elephant in the Room. In this episode, Nick explains why consumer testing is overrated, why Dan Murphy’s functions as his “number one export salesman,” and how Fourth Wave uses packaging, pricing, and design to give boutique ideas mass appeal. We cover natural wine, flavoured sparkling, the rise of Bento for Asian dining, and even high-strength Shiraz under the Mullet brand. It’s a rare look at how a modern wine company thrives not through vineyard pedigree but through brand architecture, ruthless pragmatism, and a nose for what’s coming next. And it's a playbook that can be used in any market. Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. And Drinks Insider is an award-winning podcast! It has won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award in Audio.

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  5. Ep 35: How Bonterra Built a New 50,000 Case Brand by Thinking Like CPG

    ١٧ سبتمبر

    Ep 35: How Bonterra Built a New 50,000 Case Brand by Thinking Like CPG

    Kate Herbert used to sell cereal and pet food at General Mills and J.M. Smucker. Now she’s in wine, where the budgets are smaller, the competition is insane (110,000 SKUs in the US alone), and the glamour wears off the moment you look behind the curtain. Her first year on the job produced something unusual: Ranch Wine. It looks like an RTD, comes in at 11% ABV, and tastes like pineapple, strawberry or cherry — except it’s all grapes, no flavourings. “Flavourful, not flavoured,” as she keeps repeating, because even her own winemakers didn’t believe it at first. The project went from idea to shelf in about five months, which is nothing in wine terms. Demos had to be staged with rocks glasses, ice, salt and tajín rims, because influencers kept pouring it into stemware. Off-aisle displays work better than the varietal wall; younger drinkers don’t even walk the aisle. The result: 50,000 cases in six months, 40% of them in places Bonterra had never been before. It’s a reminder that agility, not heritage, is what makes innovation land — and that taste still beats every sustainability claim on the shelf. 00:28 CPG to wine: what transfers and what doesn’t 02:33 Why wine is hard: 110,000 SKUs and thin resourcing 03:51 Pet-food “health halo” and what it taught Kate 06:05 Ranch water explained and the $115m signal 06:32 Thinking like a beverage brand, not a wine brand 10:25 Concept testing, packaging-first surveys, 85% non-wine appeal 11:52 Numerator/Cydex insights on Gen Z drivers 13:38 Flavour-forward yet grape-only; “flavourful, not flavoured” 19:38 Demos, influencers, and breaking the stemmed-glass reflex 28:40 From brief to shelf in ~5 months; why agility mattered 30:31 Scaling and distribution; national, ~50k cases And don’t forget to sign up to the Drinks Insider newsletter! Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly. And Drinks Insider is an award-winning podcast! It has won the 67 Pall Mall Global Wine Communicator Award in Audio.

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  6. Ep 34: How Los Cuernos Canned Wine Transformed the On-Trade With Just $1.4M

    ٣ سبتمبر

    Ep 34: How Los Cuernos Canned Wine Transformed the On-Trade With Just $1.4M

    How did US wine lose the plot — and a whole generation of new consumers? Cory Assink and Zeke Blattler, co-founders of Los Cuernos, explain what happened and how they’re rebuilding the on-trade wine category, one consumer trial at a time. They discuss the incentive failures of the three-tier system, why on-premise margins bred stale product and bad value, and how beer distributors outmanoeuvred wine by owning convenience and single-serve.  They detail how they grew their accounts from 0 to more than 240. Forecast: ~15k cases this year, aiming for 50–70k next year. And don’t forget to sign up to the Drinks Insider newsletter! Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

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  7. Ep 33: CEO John Sutton on Why The Wine Group Is Betting Big on the Future of Wine

    ٢٠ أغسطس

    Ep 33: CEO John Sutton on Why The Wine Group Is Betting Big on the Future of Wine

    There’s a wine downturn going on, and yet The Wine Group, America’s second-largest wine company, is snapping up brands like the market is expanding. Felicity Carter speaks with CEO John Sutton, who explains why he remains bullish on wine even as headlines warn of slowdown. Earlier this year, The Wine Group bought a suite of Constellation Brands labels, including Meiomi, Robert Mondavi Private Selection and Woodbridge, plus vineyards and production facilities — a deal Sutton describes as both a vote of confidence and a deliberate decision to consolidate scale. He discusses how the company rehabilitates neglected brands, the growth of private label in the US, and why premiumisation still matters despite pressure on value wines. Sutton also outlines how portfolio segmentation works inside a business with more than 60 brands, when to divest rather than persist, and how alternative packaging such as boxed wine and single-serve formats are reshaping consumer behaviour. The conversation ranges from Gen Z’s cross-category drinking habits to the rise of “better-for-you” low- and no-alcohol wines, and the surprising growth of very high-alcohol styles. Sutton also explains The Wine Group’s longer-term ambitions in spirits and functional beverages, while keeping the focus on wine innovation, channel expansion, and premiumisation. And don’t forget to sign up to the Drinks Insider newsletter! Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

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  8. Ep 32: How Stuart Forsyth Parlayed the Great Oat Milk Shortage Into a $40M Business

    ٦ أغسطس

    Ep 32: How Stuart Forsyth Parlayed the Great Oat Milk Shortage Into a $40M Business

    How did a scrappy idea born in a London garage turn into one of the world’s most recognisable oat milk brands? From the early days of KeepCup to building the first shelf-stable cold brew, Stuart shares the hard truths about entrepreneurship in food and drink — wafer-thin margins, constant reinvention, and the sheer expense of creating a new category. Their conversation dives into the evolution of plant-based beverages, the chaotic launch into the US market during the Great Oat Milk Shortage, and the role of timing, luck, and relentless work. Stuart is candid about investor relationships, the bruising challenges of scaling internationally, and why Minor Figures doesn't just sell oak milk — it sells attitude. And also why oat milk is the perfect pairing with coffee. Key moments: 00:52 How creating a product that fits seamlessly into existing workflows, like KeepCup’s size matching disposable cups, can drive rapid adoption. 11:28 The virtues of launching with a “minimum lovable product” rather than a minimum viable one. 12:11 How commercial failure can still attract big players if you’re solving a technical problem no one else has cracked. 21:07 In beverage distribution, you often need to create demand first so that distributors are willing to carry you. 24:08 Proving product-market fit comes before scaling local production, even if international shipping is costly. 25:52 External shocks like tariffs can create operational drama, so resilient supply chains are essential. 27:54 Winning over industry tastemakers (like roasters) can cascade into broader adoption through their networks. 34:47 Investor partners who genuinely love the product often provide more support and better terms than purely financial backers. 39:50 Growth can overwhelm back-office systems, so prepare for scaling pain long before you need it. 49:59 New categories are extremely expensive to grow, so anchoring your product in a passionate community is critical. And don’t forget to sign up to the Drinks Insider newsletter! Meet your host: Felicity Carter is an award-winning wine and drinks journalist, editor, speaker trainer and content strategist. She led Meininger’s Wine Business International to become the world’s most must-read wine trade magazine, and was founding Executive Editor of The Drop/Pix, which the Wall Street Journal named one of the most trusted sources of wine information. A regular keynote speaker at international events, she was named a 2024 Industry Leader by WineBusiness Monthly.

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The podcast that's interested in everything drinks. If you can drink it, sell it, and make money from it, we'll talk about it, though we're (mostly) fascinated by beverage alcohol. It's all about the intersection of drinks and commerce.

المعلومات

  • صناع العمل
    Felicity Carter
  • سنوات النشاط
    ٢٠٢٤ - ٢٠٢٥
  • الحلقات
    ٤٧
  • التقييم
    ملائم
  • حقوق النشر
    © 2024
  • موقع البرنامج على الويب
    Drinks Insider

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