Ep. 1013 Scott Ades | Get US Market Ready With Italian Wine People

Thanks for tuning in to Get US Market Ready with Italian wine people on the Italian wine podcast. I'm Steve Ray, your host, And this podcast features interviews with the people actually making a difference in the Italian wine market in America, their experiences, challenges, and personal stories. And I'll be adding a practical focus to the conversation based on my thirty years in the business. So If you're interested in not just learning how, but also how else, then this pod is for you. Hello, and welcome to this week's edition of Get US Market Reddy with Italian wine people. This week, my guest is, Scott Addis of, Dalatera, which is, unusual, but, I think, becoming much more relevant model of, American Hawaiian particularly from Italy. So Scott, welcome to the show. Thank you, Steve. Very happy to be here. So let's jump right into it. We'll get to some bios of here you've been in the industry, a long time, but I think that the thing that's most interesting to our listeners is the Delatera model. And, what makes it unique and different? Sure. Well, Delatera, although the services it provides are essentially the same services that any, national importer would provide, Delatera is really a sales agent. So we represent the wineries that are in our portfolio to the distribution marketplace. And, in theory, I mean, I guess, in practice as well, the distributors actually buy directly from the wineries. In the traditional import model, the wineries sell to the importer and the importer sells to the distributors. And we call that an agency model. Right? What what we do as an agency model? You do as an agency model, but, yeah, I've always what we do as an agency I've always been using the term agency models where the importer buys it from the supplier and then resell them. So I've been wrong all these years? Yes. Yes. That's a that's a resell model. Exactly. Exactly. So, yes, we are an agent and then the wineries actually pay us for the services that we provide. And so that's one material difference. The second material difference is that in our model, the wineries fund all of their promotion and marketing activities in the US. We we execute them all, and we work very, very collaboratively on them with the wineries, but the the wineries actually pay for it in the traditionally important model the importer, you know, makes money on the resell of the product and they use that money to fund, the marketing and promotion. And so that factor, in addition to some other financial risk that we don't take that the wineries take, allows us to bring winds at a at a much more effective cost into the market than the traditional import model does. And therefore even maintaining retailer margins, you'll be able to sell it at a more competitive price, presumably. Yes. Generally, Everyone, I guess, except dollar tariff, but everyone makes more money, in the chain. The winery ends up making a little more money. The distributors typically make more money, and the retailers can even make more money. So are you unique in doing this? And how long ago did you guys start this and what was the reason for starting it in the first place? So Delator was founded, thirty two years ago, and by Brian Larky, And Brian, had spent almost five years in Italy working for a winery Cuddle hospital front court to producer and, decided to come back to the US. And when he decided to come back to the US, a number of wineries asked him if he would represent their wines in the US, and and they would pay him to do that. And that's really how Dialatera started. And from there, the portfolio built and the organization grew. But but the model started as simply as that. Windry is looking for representation in the US. Are other people doing this? Some other people are trying to do this. And when I say trying, I don't necessarily mean they're failing, but they're not haven't necessarily found the the correct mix of the model to be as effective as Dela Terra has been with the model. There are a couple other people. There's an importer of French and Spanish importer European sellers that has a somewhat similar model, and they've they've been very successful over the years. And and there are a few other people trying it, but but generally most importers use the traditional import model. Okay. So when I talk to people, when I talk to producers, and it'll, this concept is alien to them, but the, the, for the most part, I'm general easier, of course. And there also tend to be especially new to the US brands, pretty unfamiliar with the US market, some of the limitations, restrictions, and strange structures, that we all deal with. And the bottom line being that they have to be the ones that take responsibility for marketing and promoting the brand. That's an alien concept to a lot of people and feel that that should be included in what the, the importer does. How and and that's common around the world in other markets. And that's what makes working in the US so difficult and why a lot of people struggle early on and why I do what I do, which is the education of them, and saying, Hey, this is how it works. One of the problems I see is suppliers coming into the US market with inaccurate expectations of what an importer traditional importer is going to do for them. By the time they figured it out, they end up, being dissatisfied with what the importer is doing, the reporting that they're getting back a whole bunch of things. And it seems like everybody goes through the same process. You guys are fundamentally different. The expectations are different. How do we, educate the the one hundred and seventy five thousand individual wineries there are in Italy, we wanna come to the US market with a hundred and seventy two thousand. Let's say that many on this new option. I think the first thing that, a winery that wants to come to the US needs to understand is they don't need an importer. What they need is to distribution. And what the importer provides them is the path to getting the distribution. So if they're speaking to an importer and that importer doesn't have a good distribution network, it really doesn't matter that they've signed up with an importer. Because it it it is it is actually relatively easy to find an importer. It's relatively difficult to find an importer with good distribution. And I think the reason why Dalaterra continues to be somewhat unique. It's not completely unique, but somewhat unique and very differentiated in the market is because of the history and the strength of our portfolio, we have a very strong distribution network. And we have the model that has been built over thirty years. If you're a traditional importer, shifting to our model is a very difficult economic change because you you will give up a tremendous amount of revenue and you have to work with all of your wineries to shift all of your expenses. And that's and and they don't really know how to do that because they haven't been doing that. So it's difficult for a traditional importer to do. As a new importer coming into the market, If you don't have a portfolio of lines, it's very hard to get distribution. And if you don't have distribution, it's very hard to get a portfolio of lines. So you're in a little bit of a catch twenty two. So it's it's really a very hard model to just start up from scratch. Okay. So and this fundamentally differs or this model fundamentally differs from what we would normally call service importers. And that would be MHW Park Street, USA Wine West, and the like. Can you kind of compare and contrast those two? Absolutely. Service importers are people who legally and, you know, following the compliance regulations, bring your wine into the country or allow you to bring your wine into the country, but they're purely a compliance entity. They they file all the right paperwork with all the right agencies so that your wines are legal to sell in the US. They do not have anyone actively selling your wines in the US. Dalatera is a sales organization. That's at heart what we are. We're not a marketing company, we're a sales organization. We have a sales team across the country that works with all of our distributors that make sure the wines that we also facilitate all the compliance aspect of it. So we we facilitate that. And then we have a sales team that's out there selling the wines to both the distributors to the trade and and ultimately then consumers as well through through various events. Let me ask you about that. So give me a sense of the number of salespeople, not the exact number, but the the size of your sales force. So we've a we have about a dozen salespeople across the country, working with about fifty distributors across the country. And those fifty distributors probably have, you know, in in aggregate somewhere between a thousand and and fifteen hundred salespeople in the markets. We're in we're in every state in the union right now except for North Dakota, and we're actually looking at getting into North Dakota. But other than North Dakota, we are, we are everywhere. And so that is that that's our structure. That that's our model. Okay. So another kind of simplistic question, but I think important distinction for a lot of our listeners is you talk to distributors these days and to, some degree, also traditional importers. The expectation is that people will have, quote, unquote, feed on the street, boots on the ground, meaning what we would call have called brand ambassadors, which in the strictest sense is basically a parallel salesperson to what the distributor is doing in the market calling on on an on an off premise retailers and or supporting the importer and what they're doing. Differentiate what your salespeople do from what a brand ambassador does. And the other side of that question is what is the role of a brand ambassador for all the people who are using the Talatera? Right. So brand ambassadors are a very interesting concept, and and generally very difficult to justify if you are not a large winery. A la and, I mean, really significant at at the end of the day. The the Dalatera team does a few core things. One, they make sure that the distribution channel has one, literally has inventory in house. Right? They make sure that that wine is priced correctly. They make sure that that distributor sales team is educated on the wines. So first and foremost, the distribution channel is correctly served because they are the ones ultimately signed the warrant. Then they also go out into the market and through trade events, present the wines directly to the trade, educate, you know, trade customers that's restaurant and retailers on the wines, and ultimately do events whether it be a, you know, an in store tasting or a wine dinner that represent the wines to the consumers. So our sales team is both a brand ambassador for all the wines that we represent, which is that in market side of the business, right, the the education, the promotion, the doing the tastings, as well as the the business management side, the making sure the distributor has inventory, making sure everything's priced right, and and their team is educated well. So we we we do both of those things. And I think a traditional brand ambassador only does the second part that I described being in the market and representing the lines, which is a, a valuable function, but it really doesn't have nearly as much value if you don't make sure that you have inventory and so forth, in, in the market where you are doing that work. Right. And a lot of times, that's assumed, but boy, how many times for each of us in our careers we found how we got this really good program? Oh my god. We don't have an inventory. Exactly. Happens all the time. And I don't have any wine to sell. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Been there. Been there. Done that. Okay. So, I mean, it sounds like exactly the model that many of the suppliers that I talk to in Italy and around the world are interested in yet they're as, unaware of the existence of something like Delatera, as they are of service importers. And so that's one of the reasons why I I wrote how to get US market ready the book so that, you know, they don't sound like idiots when they're talking to people, and they totally understand, or at least have a place to look up how the US market functions and why these things don't make sense. And yet, Many people that we talked to, you were at, Provine last week, unfortunately, didn't make it to the Italy for travel issues, but so many of the people we talked to there really have very little understanding of the structure of the US market and these variations, traditional options. Can you comment on that? I mean, that's the frustration I feel every day. Yes. Well, so so two things. I think the the Dalatera model is or Dalatera itself in Italy because we are one hundred percent Italy important to to state. In Italy is relatively well known. We have the the the challenge and the benefit for our wineries that we only represent one winery from an area. So if we're already representing someone, it doesn't matter how much you love the dollar term model, we're we're not gonna take you on. So that that is a somewhat limiting factor for us and for the wineries. As far as the the the understanding of the market of Italian wineries and other wineries, You know, I think that the the broad challenge there is the incredible difference of the US market versus every other market in the world because there is no US market. There are fifty different states and fifty different state markets. And probably, you know, and that doesn't even include Washington DC, which is its own market. So really fifty one, and there's some of the Caribbean you could include in that. So that is really the biggest disconnect, I think, is that it is not one market. It's fifty different markets. Many, many foreign wineries think that the United States is New York and and maybe Miami and then a few other a few other places. And, you know, one, New York is a very, very different than any other of the country, incredibly different than any other part of the country. So it's not like the vast majority of of the US. And and so it's it's really just a lack of exposure and a lack of understanding. There's it's it's not really more complex than that. And and that put in contrast with every other market in the world. Right? So, you know, you you go to Germany, which is another big market or the UK, and they're all essentially one market. You know, and they're they're obviously, there are geographic differences, but the geographic differences don't lead to a new set of rules, regulations, pricing methodologies, and, and, and, and, retail methodologies as well. So that's the biggest disconnect. And I think you know, the a great book, to write, and this is just coming to me now. So I hope hope you think you would agree with this. Would be, you know, the fifty markets of the US and just explain how they're all different. And then and some of the, the major differences, you know? We did that actually at, at a wine to wine event a couple of years ago. We picked four, which is like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and I think one other kind of open market. But I realized, as as we, in order to make it fit into the time that we have allotted, we simplified it so much that nobody, I, I don't think they understood all the, the richness, called richness, and complication and uniquenesses of each of those markets that people like you and I who have been in industry, we kind of know this intuitively. When we're talking about Pennsylvania versus Michigan, as a control state, you know, it's only spirits on the Michigan side. I mean, we know all that. For other people, every time you they start talking, and we tell them, well, that's not the case. They I've had people cry. Yes. Yes. The other the other issue is the language barrier, which is a problem, because some of these words are not even if you are relatively fluent in a language, they may not be words you would come across. What does a, a control state mean? You know, what does the word control mean? What does a franchise mean? You know, what is What does it change? Oh, what is source? Yeah. Exactly. Right? What is primary American source? So these are these are issues that are also language barriers in the process, which is I don't know if you heard me at at one of the presentations that I made, but One of the things I think that is a problem with some of those seminars is just the language that people speak in. And, you know, I I work with, you know, foreign wineries literally on a daily basis. And when I speak, I adjust how I speak. I speak more simply. I don't use idioms. I don't use some business terms. Or if I do, I explain what the business term means. And as you said, if you're doing a a thirty minute you know, seminar, webinar, whatever it happens to be. There isn't often time to really do that, but, I think it's really important to explain what is trying to be conveyed in very simple language because that very simple language to you as the native speaker can actually be pretty complicated to the foreign entity trying to figure out what you're saying. Yeah. Well, one of the things I've done that's part of the, of the book I wrote, and also I provide to everybody who calls me, and who's ever listening to this, you want a copy, just send me an email at stevebivologyinc dot com. Is a glossary of U. S. Terms, depletion allowances, SBA's, you know, control states, franchise states, simply, but it's, you know, it's like a four page document, but at least it captures it. And what I, what I tell people, and this sounds, I think, very, obnoxious, I guess, you might say is, you need to read this, and yes, there will be a test. And if you haven't read it, then you're not going to be ready for the US market, and there's going to come a time probably very soon that you're going to embarrass yourself by being ignorant and trying to to cover up. So the best that we can do is educate them. Yes. And and by the way, in my view, the the being ignorant isn't the embarrassing part. It's the covering up, because, you know, because I always expect people will know, you know, will not know everything about the US and may not know a lot, but but just openly admit that and move on and then you can learn better. Thank you for listening to Italian wine podcast. We know there are many of you listening out there, so we just want to interrupt for a small ask. Italian wine podcast is in the running for an award, the best podcast listening platform. Through the podcast awards, the people's choice. Lister nominations is from July first to the thirty first, and we would really appreciate your vote. We are hoping our listeners will come through for us. So if you have a second and could do this small thing for us. Just head to Italian wine podcast dot com from July first to the thirty first and click the link. We thank you and back to the show. Well, that's an interesting thing. One of the things I've learned is, I go through, I know that working with wineries who are talking to importers and distributors is kind of a set of about ten questions that get asked in order, starting with UX scores. And really, the questions are designed to get somebody to answer, no. And when they say no, they say it gives you an opportunity to be politely say, well, you know, when you get your act together and you've resolved that question, you have scores, or you have a track record in the U. S. The bottom line is what, decision makers, in the process of finding an importer or distributor, wanna know is what are you going to how do I know we'll sell and what are you gonna do to reduce my risk so that it's not such a so when I ask him, tell me about your brand, it's, you know, uniquely, not uniquely, it's just commonly Oh, my grandfather bought farm here, or we moved from general agriculture into just focusing on wine, and for World War two, and yada. That's not real. And then they go and they say, I make a really great, whatever, Sacramento, not about tobacco, or Aliana, pick one, it really doesn't. It's not a relevant question at that point in time. It's how prepared are you for the US market, but nobody articulates it that way. And the answers they get tend to be usually the same, that let me tell you how great my wine is. Your wine is wonderful. All your children are beautiful. Yes. And I think the, you know, from a dollar perspective, and and I do think this varies significantly depending on the importer and and what their business model is. But from a dollar term perspective, you know, we we want to know all of those things. We do wanna know the history because, you know, how you got where you are is important. And and history can vary greatly and still be still be perfectly marketable, I guess, would be the way we put it. So we wanna know your history, but but we also need to know your infrastructure, what's your ability to produce the wine, to produce it consistently, to have a structure that can maintain price, And what structure do you have to support the wine? Do you have the right people to get the, you know, logistically help us get the wine to the US? Keep us in stock. Those are important things. We want to know if you have enough materials about your brand and your winery so that we can market you to the US. Do you have a website? Is the website sufficient? I mean, that's where everybody goes. The website in English. Is it is it well maintained? Is it accurate? Does it work? And then you have the ability to give us the the the marketing materials that we need in order to sell the wine in the format that we need. So if you need high resolution files and you need a a logo, aspect ratio of either horizontal or vertical or on a black background or a white background? And and I would say the score component is is a nice thing. I mean, we are always happy for good scores, but it's not necessarily something we require as long as we believe in the quality of the line. And one reason is scores can be a a very double edged sword. You know, it it's great when you get a good one. But if you get a ninety one one year and an eighty nine the next year, you know, That can have a big impact on your sales if you're reliant on scores. And so if you're reliant on the quality of the line and the stability of the distribution and the the the quality of the brand, the score is a nice thing, but it isn't the be all end all. And I think, you know, in a way, that's a little bit of a red flag. You know, the level of importance of that score to the importer that you're talking to. Because if they're relying on you to, you know, get over ninety point scores in order to sell the wine, then they're not really looking to represent your warranty. They're looking to benefit from the work that you've done and, and hope that other people get out there and sell it because you have a good score. Boy, that was really, a really killer point. I think that It's so important. Often, I find that that do you have scores as a way to, to get to a no answer. So the first thing we tell people is get scores, not because they're going to make a difference, but if their absence is what makes a difference. But then when we think about scores, I'm not going to go into this in two detail, but one of my pet peeves says, it's not a hundred points list. It's really eighty seven to ninety four. Right? So it's seven points, because if you get a ninety one one year and an eighty nine the next year, it's an easy way for someone to sell, well, I can't sell an eighty nine point one, even though it's perfectly good one. I think the trade buys different scores or or different scores appeal to the trade than appeal to consumer. So an eighty nine is better than an eighty eight to a consumer, but an an eighty nine is far worse than the ninety. Just not above ninety. We can't sell it kind of a thing. Do you agree with that? No. I do agree that that is that that that the market has created that issue, especially for volume wise. If if you're trying to sell a volume line, at at at at the middle tier, right, the very high volume wines that sell millions of bottles or millions of cases at eight ninety nine or nine ninety nine. A score is a nice thing there, but they're really driven by marketing and and promotion. It's really that ten to fifteen dollar category or ten to twenty dollar category where those scores become, you know, can become a much more important differentiator. And you know, ninety makes a big difference versus eighty nine, and it it's it's, you know, really, really disappointing because, you know, when you think about one, the basis of that score, I mean, in in what other area is an eighty seven, a a bad score that's gonna hurt your business. You know, I mean, when you think about just think about when your kids came home from school, you know, if if, you know, if someone at eighty seven, you may say, well, let's try and, you know, do a little better next time, but still good. Right. It's still good. Yeah. I I would imagine that most people in the industry, if they didn't average above eighty seven, they couldn't get into the industry. They probably wouldn't be here, like, not, as a as a general statement. So It's really sad that that that benchmark becomes such a problem. And and those benchmarks are, you know, everyone's taste is unique. You know, what you taste when you open that bottle is different than what the person next to you tasted. So And it's so difficult to to narrow down all these complexities about wanting to something as simple as a score. Exactly. Because it's relative to price and style and, you know, all that kind of stuff. Let me switch gears a little bit because it was another factor. You had talked about pricing, and I think that's really something that, many of the people I talk to producers don't really understand. You know, the question is often, well, everybody else seems to be making more money on my line than I am, and I have to on the, then you're dealing with weather and labor and, you know, all kinds of different things. So talk about the, the perspective of pricing, you would use the, analogy of or similarly of a, a realtor making a joint decision with the homeowner. Can you talk about that a little bit? Sure. The the way that the Delaterra model works, the the price that the winery sells into the US acts in in our model, they sell it directly to the distributor, technically. Since we get paid by the winery, we want them to sell that whining to the US as the hot at the highest price that they could possibly get. To still be competitive in in the market and actually be be better than competitive in the market in our model traditionally. In the traditionally import model, the importer is trying to buy the wine at the lowest possible price from the winery and sell it into the market at the highest possible price. So when when we're speaking to winery is about pricing, our discussion is about how well the wine will sell in the US. And and that's what they care about, not about where the margin is going, who's making more money. Right? The one where you can't say to us, well, then you're making more money on this than we are if you if you do it that way, because that's not the case. Whereas in in in the traditional import model, that is the case. Now the bigger picture issue, though, that that you didn't meant well, that that is a big picture issue, but a a second big picture issue is the point you made that selling into the US, so wandering might say, you know, everyone else is making more money And and the truth is it depends on the margin of the winery. Right? If if you've owned your vineyards for hundreds of years, you may be making more money than the person who just bought their vineyards last year. So or or just built their winery last year. So how much money you make is relative to your your structure in the market? But what I always tell wineries is that it is very expensive to sell wine in the US. No one in the US called you and said, please come sell your wine here. Right? I mean, in the most case, there actually does happen consumers taste the wine and they say can I get it in the US? But in general, you've decided to come to the US. And one of the things that you need to know when you come to the US is that it will probably be your least profitable market in the world. And that's something that you should come in understanding. And if you do understand that, you'll approach it in in a different way. If you expect it's milk and honey, and you're gonna make a lot of money selling your wine, you're misinformed relative to the rest of the world, I guess, is is what I would say. And we'll be disappointed. That's kind of what I find. By the time they get to me, chances are they've already tried and failed or are failing. And, you know, can can you rescue this situation? I well, we're kinda knee deep in the big muddy. How do we get out of here? It's either forge ahead and So there's okay. So I'll change it gears again. You had made a point earlier about, that you think people are generally aware of Delatera as a model. My experience, and I may be misstating it, but in, in any case, my experience is, is not. And when I bring up that idea and explain it, people, that's, that's why they were, how would Italian producers find out about you? How would they know about you? How visible are you guys? So, that's a that's, that's a good question. I may have I may have misspoke a little bit earlier. What I would say is mainstream Italian wineries. Mainstream being those who have fame in the market in the US for some work. Commercially exporting. Yeah. Commercially exporting, would know Delaterra. And you they would know Delaterra through relationships with other wineries. Through their interaction of being in the US. You know, Brian is is a relatively well known person in Italy. He's one of those people that just has an incredible talent for knowing people, making friends, developing relationships, and he's a very naturally curious person. So in the thirty two years that he's has owned Delatera, he he spent a lot of time in Italy and met a lot of people, and so that in the wine business. So that also has expanded the the reach of of people, at least knowing who Delatera is, whether they really fully understand the model or not is something different. They may understand the model is different. But exactly what it is they may not know, which is which is important. And if you are a new, newer winery or winery that just isn't actively commercially exporting or commercially in the US, you probably won't know. You may have heard of Gallaterra through through one or another way, but you really won't you would think of us as we're just another importer into the US. So that that that's actually fair. I may have overstated that. But what what I will say is, though, we do get a a fair number of incoming calls from wineries that are in the US that are saying I would really like to move to the model you have, which means that there are a number of people that do know and understand, at least on the surface, our model. And quite honestly, we're not shy about it. You can go to our website and there's section, our business model. So, dallatera dot com. Since you're, exclusive to a region or a style, one way somebody was interested in Delatera, what approach it would be to go there and say, okay. Do you have a French court? Do you have a a quiante classic or whatever that happens to be But then, so what if it is, you know, a place that you don't have something? How would people reach out to you? I mean, like, how many calls a day do you get? How prepared are people with those calls and understanding what you're doing? And what advice would you give to those who would say, wow, this sounds really good. I've got a line from Pollia, you know, maybe it's a I don't know if you have it from Mativa, but, you know, something that that you don't have. How would they proceed. So we we get a fair number of of incoming requests. They come in via email. They come in via calls, contacts that people know, referrals, recommendations. And I would say We don't necessarily get one every day, but we probably get a couple a week. Probably, at at least, would be my guess. Now we're just Italy, and sometimes they're not Italy. They just have heard and seen Gallatera, and so they they reach out to us. But the vast majority of them are are from Italy. What I would say and and this is where, again, I think there's a unique aspect of Delatera. It's okay to start with anything, you know, reach out and and tell us what you're interested in and we get back to people very, very quickly with, we are not looking at that area or, you know, we already represent someone in that area or whatever the reason might be if there's a reason for a no. And if there isn't a reason for a no, then we'll start a process of getting to know them better. But we take years to decide to work with a winery. Now maybe two years doesn't misunderstand me, but it's not one year. And, you know, part of that is just all the things that you need to do and understand to take on a winery, including going and visiting them. And, you know, we're not just gonna pick up and and go to Italy to meet with one winery. So we have different times of year for different events that we go. And if and this happens all the time, we just get back and we get someone reaching out to us. And so if, you know, after Provine, someone reached out and said I'd love to speak with you or someone I met at Provine, I'm not nearly again until October, probably. There's a chance I could be there in September, but so, you know, that's six months right there. So the reason we don't require a lot upfront is because we're gonna take a long time to get to know them. And You know, we have a a material courting process, I guess, is the way we would call because the way I describe it is we we get married to our producers, and we don't like to get divorced. So we really take time to get to know them to understand who they are as people, you know, as much as, you know, what their wines are, and then we we make a decision. You know, we started with a Sardinian producer about a year ago, a little over a year ago, and we worked with them for over three years. Before we actually moved forward in representing them. Now, I will say part of that was COVID driven. We probably would have started a year earlier if it hadn't been for COVID. So that extended it, but we met them by, you know, someone The person who represents them also had a an important relationship with one of the wineries that we already represent. So they knew us through one of the wine or aware of us through one of the wineries that we already represent. And they reached out to us, and it took us a while. They were a newer winery on the scene. We needed to get to know the family. We wanna know not only the family of today, but who's the family of tomorrow? Because if you're a family owned entity and there's no you know, succession, we want to make sure we can continue to represent your winery, you know, into the future. So there there's a lot we go through when we try to understand, a winery. And I think that's different than many, many other importers. There are, there are no shortage of winery collectors. And, you know, it's it's in this business, it's easy to be a collector. It's hard to be a curator, and we try to really curate what we what we collect. For someone what the big takeaway is, and we actually may have just done that. But of of all the things that we talked about, And in this case, we're talking to wineries that are not part of Delator Delatorre. What's the big takeaway of what we just talked about that that they can actually put into practical use? I would say the first thing they should do to to help them come to the US is is that piece we talked about about understanding what the US is. So they should buy my book how to get US market ready. From Amazon. IT. Yes. And and really understand the US. Understand what an importer is going to do. Understand what a distributor is going to do. Understand generally the differences in the fifty markets. And you don't need to I don't remember all of the rules of the fifty markets. That's not my job. Well, I guess in theory, it is a little bit my job, but it is it I don't need to remember every one of them every day, and they don't need to to really even read them. What they do need to understand is selling in New York is very different than selling in, Florida, which is very different than selling in California. And so they can assume that that everything's gonna be sold the same way. They need to understand that every winery in the world wants to be in the US and that, you know, they're they're vying for a very small percentage of the market. Right? If you think about that seventy percent of the wine sold in the US is US wine. That means that the the market they're fighting for is thirty percent. And, you know, whether they're completely or any other country, you know, all the rest of the world is fighting for that thirty percent. And that includes wine from China now, you know, wine from Mexico, wine from Uruguay, you know, wine from, you know, every country in Europe. So those are the things they need to understand, and that's why it's so expensive to work here and and why it's so difficult to be in the US even though it is a very large market. And and I would just say, you know, it is one hundred percent Italian focused, and I'm sure you get some beyond Italy listening because of this interesting content, but we are, we are all about Italy, and we are both wine and spirits as well for Italy. So if people want to, reach out to you and not sure to find out more about Dalatera, but, offer their, their brands. How would they reach you? Sending me an email is is absolutely the best way. Yeah. One hundred percent. Can I I'm Scott at dallaterra dot com? What regions or products or varietals are open to you that you're actively looking for. We are actively looking in Compania. We are actively looking for very interesting smaller producers, but I will also openly admit those are much more difficult to make sense in the US market. So, there are many, many smaller producers out there and and, I'm happy to speak to them, but they should know it's, you know, needle and haystack finding those, which is why we're actively looking for them. Outside of that, though, that that's really where we're we're looking right now. We have The the areas that we are not represented in are, Valda, LaGoria, Wumbria, Lollizae, Vasilicata. But but we're not that we're not actively looking at all of those. You know, we're we're really just actively looking in compounding. Right? Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. But it should be the there are holes in the portfolio, so to speak. Okay. We've been talking today with Scott Addis, and Scott. What's your title at Dallas Turn? I am president of Dallas Care. President of Dalatera, which is a unique, but very well established, variation on a theme, of how to import and distribute brands in the US. Scott, thank you very much for sharing your time with us. Thank you, Steve. Thank you for having me. Really appreciate it. And, thank you for what you do. I think, you know, when I think about all of the wineries that I talk to who are looking for solutions, there's not enough of you to go around but there are lots of options out there, and I think the easiest way to say it. None of them are perfect, but they also can be different. So don't think that the frontal assault is the best way to go to the US market. And the best thing you can do is to, educate yourself about the US market so that you can have a, informed conversation with people when you go to Italy, when you go to Proline, when you go to Mindvine, or any of these international conferences. So I want to say thank you to Scott for joining us, this week, and tune in again next week for another edition of Get US Market Ready with Italian wine people. I'm Steve Wright. We'll see you next week. Thank you. Thanks a lot, Steve. Take care. Thanks again for listening. This is Steve Ray with Get US Market Ready with Italian wine people on the Italian wine podcast. Hi, guys. I'm Joy Livingston, and I am the producer of the Italian wine podcast. Thank you for listening. We are the only wine podcast that has been doing a daily show since the pandemic began. This is a labor of love and we are committed to bringing you free content every day. Of course, this takes time and effort not to mention the cost of equipment, production, and editing. We will be grateful for your donations, suggestions, requests, and ideas. For more information on how to get in touch, go to Italian wine podcast dot com.