{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/62301a5c63c97500122f8a76/661e29ce84d98d00171064cf?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"The Right Place at the Right Time w/ Devon Magee, Offshore Wines","description":"<p>Having gotten bitten by the wine bug young and with deep wine retail experience, Devon Magee, founder of <a href=\"https://www.offshorewines.com/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Offshore Wines</a>, decided to start a small wine importer. Inspired by Kermit Lynch, Offshore focuses on small, artisanal brands making high quality, yet affordable wines.&nbsp;Devon shares how he bootstrapped the company and is finding his way as an importer.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Detailed Show Notes:&nbsp;</strong></p><p>Background - mostly wine retail, did harvests in France (Vieux Telegraph, Chandon de Brialles in Burgundy - 2012-2014)</p><ul><li>Inspired by Kermit Lynch, he was interested in writing</li></ul><p>Offshore Wines Portfolio</p><ul><li>Christian Knott of Chandon de Brialles started a new project, Domaine Dandelion, and asked him to import them</li><li>2017 - 1st shipment - 4 cases of Domaine Dandelion, 20 cases of Champagne Charles Dufour</li><li>15-20 producers now</li><li>Goal: find high-quality wines made in an artisanal way from lesser appellations that are “affordable”</li><li>“Affordable” = $30-100 in US retail</li></ul><p>Starting an import business</p><ul><li>He did it on his own, with no lawyers</li><li>~2 months to get a license, ~$1-2k in fees</li><li>Need a licensed warehouse to receive wines (uses CA Wine Transport)</li><li>Self-financed 1st shipment</li></ul><p>Cash flow is challenging</p><ul><li>2-3 months for wines to land in warehouse (from France)</li><li>Restaurants/retailers get 30 days terms</li><li>Payment to wineries varies - most ~60-day terms from shipment, while others want payment upon shipment or 50/50 terms (upfront and on delivery)</li></ul><p>Lifestyle is fun, traveling and visiting rural areas</p><p>Choosing winery partners - a lot is timing, being at the right place, getting to know communities, and very relationship-based; most wineries are referrals from existing relationships</p><p>Offshore differentiation - speaks the winemaker’s language (French, Spanish), worked production, and is building deep personal relationships</p><ul><li>Wineries are exclusive to CA, and only market Offshore works, though they sell to a small distributor in CO</li><li>Focus on small producers precludes needing to be in all 50 states</li><li>Optimal portfolio size ~25 wineries to be able to respond and represent wineries well</li><li>Gets wine out for people to taste them, prefers personal connections over social media</li><li>Shares other aspects of what people are doing (e.g., got and gave away bags of coffee from a producer experimenting w/ carbonic coffee bean ferments, giving away sweatshirts from Domaine Hausherr with an artistic word game on the back)</li></ul><p>Devon is the only salesperson now, and he would ideally like 1-2 salespeople</p><ul><li>Other salespeople have opened doors for him to help him</li></ul><p>Building small brands</p><ul><li>Many people struggle with name pronunciation </li><li>He tries to share wines, stories, and pictures of brands</li><li>He doesn’t agree with the need for scores and tasting notes; he uses email to share stories, wants to publish a newsletter eventually</li><li>The new style of wine writing can help small brands - e.g., Alice Feiring, Ray Isle’s new book</li></ul><p>Advice for others - be able to sell the wines</p>","author_name":"Robert Vernick, Peter Yeung"}