Last year, Brett Preston and Matt MacPherson launched The Little Grape That Could. The twist? All profits from the wine sales go to charities, from the Heart & Stroke Association to Toronto Cat Rescue. In the video below, they talk about how they came up with the idea and how wine lovers can do good by drinking well. What was your motivation for this project? Why did you pick wines from Argentina? How much of the wine’s price goes toward charity and what sales have you achieved? How does it work? I buy the wine, then what? How […]
Wine Marketing
How a Wine Name Impacts Price: Dr. Antonia Mantonakis Video Chat
In this fascinating video chat, Dr. Antonia Mantonakis reveals the insights from her research on how the name of a wine affects both our perception of it and how much we’re willing to pay for it. Difficult to pronounce names score higher, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that wineries should use them… find out why in this video. Why does the ease with which we can pronounce the name of a wine influence our perception of both its quality and price? How much more were research subjects willing to pay for the difficult-to-pronounce wine name? Why is that […]
Celebrity Athlete Wines: Which Ones Score on Price and Taste? Video with Dr. Antonia Mantonakis
In this fascinating video chat, Dr. Antonia Mantonakis reveals the insights from her research on how the fit between a celebrity athlete’s particular sport affects our perception of a wine, including golf, wrestling and speed skating. It’s not what you’d expect … find out why in this video. How does the degree of “match” between a celebrity athlete and “wine” impact our perception of its taste and how much we’re willing to pay? What are the good versus bad matches when it comes to particular sports? Is wine more prone to these extrinsic clues say than other product […]
Kevin O’Leary Wines for a Dragon: Launching a Brand Video
In this video below, Kevin O’Leary, best known as the prickly Merchant of Truth on CBC’s Dragons’ Den as well as on ABC’s Shark Tank, talks about his latest venture in launching his own wine brand. He has also built a software company that was acquired for more than $4 billion dollars and now runs O’Leary Funds, an investment firm with assets of more than $1.5 billion. It was just coincidence that Kevin’s smartphone dinged as I introduced him, but it seemed that he was instantly beamed down from the Investment Mother Ship for our conversation at the […]
Celebrity Wines: Dan Aykroyd, Sonja Smits, Arlene Dickinson
The month’s column in More Magazine focuses on wines made by or endorsed by celebrities such as Arlene Dickinson, Sonja Smits and Dan Aykroyd. Surprisingly, these are well-made wines and range widely in price. Pair them with your favourite movie or television series featuring these stars …
Wine and Women Go Hand in Hand – National Post
By Hollie Shaw Wolfgang Blass says women are his long time weakness and the secret to his success. In a recent interview with the thrice-married raconteur behind Australia’s Wolf Blass wine label, females were a frequent topic, both for a good bon mot — he repeats his oft-quoted trope, that his wines “make strong women weak, and weak men strong” — and detailing a canny business strategy. Mr. Blass, 78, was in Toronto last week to support the brand’s extensive film festival sponsorship, and chronicled how he left war-torn Germany at age 23 to pursue winemaking. Now the fourth largest […]
Creating a Persuasive Brand of Wine: Arlene Dickinson Part 2
We’re back with Arlene Dickinson in this video chat below, one of Canada’s top entrepreneurs who has had phenomenal success in many fields, from television to books; consultancy to consumer products. We’re going about her wine Persuasion. Let’s start with your own experience with wine: Was wine on the family table when you were growing up? First time drinking wine? How did you acquire a taste for good wine? Do women buy wine differently from men? Women buy 80% of wine as the household purchasers of most consumer goods, the social organizers and dinner planners. Is their approach […]
Wine Prices for California and Other Regions – Smart Money Magazine
The glass looks half empty for lovers of California wine, as many wineries are expected to raise prices in the coming years. But experts say consumers can still hunt down a wide variety of cheap bottles. Although consumers have been drinking more wine, California wineries — which produce 90% the country’s wine — haven’t ramped up production, an imbalance that is starting to push up prices. The cost of Napa Cabernet grapes rose 35% last year, even as the region’s total grape supply fell 8% short, according to a report from Silicon Valley Bank. “We went from a glut situation […]
Wine as a Career
Pursuing wealth has its obvious rewards, but making money is much easier when you’re doing something you love. Starting a business requires plenty of time and energy, and as such it should be something that is worth trading your life to undertake. Follow your passion, experts say, and you’ll succeed. This aphorism certainly applies to Natalie MacLean, many times over. The accredited sommelier, wine journalist and author of Red, White, and Drunk All Over got her business start early — she opened a dance school in her Nova Scotia basement when she was 15. She photocopied handmade notices and took […]
Economy & Wine 4
Looking ahead to 2009 seems to be a scary proposition if you listen to the economists. Stocks and the housing market haven’t hit bottom, they say, while uncertainty about jobs and a new president are adding to our jitters. While it isn’t fun to live with uncertainty, it is fun to talk about wine. This time of year, it’s especially fun to make educated guesses about what trends are afoot. For their insights, we asked Guy Stout, master sommelier for Glazer’s distributing; Ray Ayala, wine specialist with Republic Beverages; and Natalie MacLean, wine expert and author with a popular newsletter, […]
