{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"<iframe src=\"https://embed.acast.com/$/62301a5c63c97500122f8a76/6a1a18c4ad55909da6e2a75e?\" frameBorder=\"0\" width=\"700\" height=\"250\"></iframe>","title":"The relationship business w/ Chris Baker, Brassfield Estate","description":"<p>After retiring twice, Chris Baker, President of Brassfield Estate, was lured back in by a unique opportunity to build one of the world’s largest monopoles in the High Valley AVA of Lake County, California.&nbsp;Its unique volcanic terroir is now being scaled nationally with a 10 year contract and national alignment with Southern Glazers.&nbsp;Chris describes the best practices in working with distributors and partnering together to create a successful brand, built on trusted relationships.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Detailed Show Notes:&nbsp;</p><p>Chris’ background: hospitality, distribution, ran wineries, has tried to retire twice and come back due to his love of wine</p><p>Brassfield overview</p><p><br></p><ul><li>High Valley AVA, in Lake County CA</li><li>100% estate grown and produced&nbsp;</li><li>5,000 acre property, 500 acres planted, up to 2,000 plantable</li><li>65k sf cave, only 15% utilized</li><li>Grows 17 varietals (10 in distribution), best known from Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot Noir</li></ul><p>Retail price points - $16-17 whites, $25-30 reds</p><p><br></p><ul><li>National partnership with Southern Glazers</li><li>Was in 14 states, now in 45</li><li>Perks to being nationally aligned - a little more attention, assigned trade development manager</li><li>Have a 10 year contract (normal is 2-3 years) w/ automatic renewal</li><li>Southern chose Brassfield because of its scalability (potential to be biggest monopole in the world) and they didn’t have a national product for Lake County</li></ul><p>Sales team being built out</p><p><br></p><ul><li>9 division managers, 1 national accounts on-premise</li><li>Picked up experienced people (e.g. - from Vintage, others) who know a lot of accounts and not afraid to put a bag on their shoulders</li><li>Team needs to know distributors feet on the street all the way to state leaders</li><li>KPIs to drive velocity (getting several products in the right accounts, volume goal, rate of sales, accounts sold goal, 50/50 on- and off-premise split)</li></ul><p>Small, medium wineries need to do more DTC, social media in new distribution environment</p><p>Need to identify brand’s uniqueness</p><p>Distributors and accounts want to know what brand will do to create pull</p><p>Focus on top moving accounts: top 250 restaurants, top retailers, share accounts b/w distributor and winery, need to understand what brands are important for the distributors (to not cannibalize sales)</p><p>“We’re in the relationship business”</p><p>National account restaurants - often have 3rd party agencies (e.g. - Patrick Henry, IMI) to work through, hard to get direct contact, can meet some people at Vibe conference, trade conferences, Aspen Food &amp; Wine</p><p>Need to learn about customers and get to know each other</p><p>Best practice: being present, everyone is trying to get mindshare of distributors, can’t only go once every 6 months, need frequent communications, involvement, and call on accounts direct w/ or w/o distributor</p><p>Distributors have big notebooks of incentives (some suppliers have big ones), they cherry pick what they think will be easiest to accomplish</p><p>The top down approach can work, if distributor leads push down priorities to team</p><p>Creating consumer awareness (marketing, social, PR) can get attention w/o incentive programs, Brassfield hired a PR agency in NY and a marketing company in Napa</p><p>Biggest success stories:&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Lazy Dog - national account w/ Eruption Red Blend, participates in their annual summit</li><li>Sugarfish Sushi - Sauvignon Blanc is in all 17-18 locations</li></ul><p>Annual Volcano Camp (started 2025)</p><p><br></p><ul><li>Brassfield responsible for High Valley AVA</li><li>Partnered w/ SommJournal to bring somms from around the country</li><li>Dug soil pits</li><li>Investment in education builds brand ambassadors, believes it is high ROI</li></ul>","author_name":"Robert Vernick, Peter Yeung"}