Ep. 1424 Philana Bouvier | Masterclass US Wine Market With Juliana Colangelo

Hey, guys. Check out Italian wine unplugged two point o brought to you by Mama jumbo shrimp, a fully updated second edition, reviewed and revised by an expert panel of certified Italian wine ambassadors from across the globe. The book also includes an addition by professor Ahtinu Shrensa. Italy's leading vine geneticist. To pick up a copy today, just head to Amazon dot com or visit us at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Welcome to Mastercost US Market with me, Juliana Colangelo. This show has been designed to demystify the US market for Italian wineries through interviews of spurts in sales and distribution, social media, communications, and so much more. We will quiz each of our esteemed guests at the end of each episode to solidify the lessons that we've learned. To sharpen your pencils, get out your notebooks, and join us each week to learn more about the US market. Hello. Welcome to Masterclass US wine market. Today, I'm thrilled to welcome Felana Buvier to the Italian wine podcast. Valana is the president at Demena States, an Napa Valley based Negoscient of fine wines. Throughout her career, Kislana has had several leadership positions that include leading the new business development at Young's market company, now known as R and D. C for prospect management and new supplier engagement. Kislana, I had the chance to meet a few years ago in October twenty twenty virtually. And since then I've had great chance to work together on a number of projects, and I'm so excited to have her here today at the podcast. Welcome to the show, Phyllana. It's great to have you. Thank you so much. I am honored to be here and so excited to have conversation with you and also to my dear friend, Julianna. So it's I love, you know, how much I just appreciate your support so much, especially for our wine business too. So thank you. Of course. And I it goes both ways of these relationships that make our industry so special. Before we know today, we're gonna talk. It's the time wide path, so we're gonna talk about the United States and the growth of your Italian portfolio and all those good things on the business side. But before we start, you have such an extensive background in sales marketing, you're a celebrated leader here in the US in sales and marketing, especially for women entering this industry. So tell us a little bit about how you got into the industry and what led you to your role today as president of the United States. Thank you. Well, it's been a it's quite the journey, and it's still continuing. I I've been in the business for well over twenty years. I started it out really at the beginning of my career. I was a merchandiser working for a beer distributor in Hawaii and moved my way up. From a sales position over, started at Southern wine and spirits in the wine business as a wine rep following on accounts and the on premise and really enjoy doing that. In fact, I miss sometimes being on the road in that way, I think the original sales roles. One of the most dynamic roles in our business is you still call on the accounts. This one the wine business is still a very customer driven personal business to meet that one to one interaction. And I was in sales. Most find wine sales for, you know, a little over, I think, almost five years of Hawaii working at Southern Glacier. And then I had the entrepreneurial bug to move to California and start my own business. And I I left my beloved Hawaii You know, I needed to leave Hawaii because I wanted to really grow my career. It was important to me as a young woman that I saw so much opportunity when you were when I was a sales rep in Waikiki, I would work with a suppliers that would ride with me and I would listen to, you know, how they're traveling the world and, you know, Hawaii stops, and I forgot to know the wine business through that lens standing. You know, it was time for me to leave Hawaii and really get to the next step. So I moved to Hawaii. I ended up getting involved as an entrepreneur into the water business, I bought a water company. It's an extremely dynamic story because I got involved in selling water and then moved into distribution in Southern California and kind of fell into it. Just trying to find my way when I came upon this company that I ended up getting involved with. And through that, just jumping ahead, I ended up selling that business to the Underwood family that owns Young's market company. Right. And that always linked my first entry into Young's and they gave me my first job, which I'm very grateful to today as their vice president for national accounts. And I called on national accounts and did that role for about a year and a half and then it was promoted back to Hawaii because I wanted to go back to Hawaii and became the first female to run a, a wholesaler as the Executive Vice President, Regina Boy, and was over five years. And, and that was an extremely challenging and fun time in my blind. I was very young when I started business. And my career really, you know, I learned a lot about building a business and understanding wholesale. And I know distribution with the back of my head and because of my experience and understanding, what it took to take spirits and wine and take it from the warehouse floor all the way to a retailer or a customer and understanding those steps and how to sell. Since you started as a rep yourself, right? So you saw that side of the industry working the field and working the market yourself as a rep and then moving into managing a whole territory. So we really, I feel like got to see it from a different lens as well. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, we, when you run a state as an EVPGM, I have a lot of set order. The GMs across country, especially in wholesale because you go from zero to hero in five minutes ten times a day. Oh, it's important that the suppliers are an important part of your business, but also warehouse and delivery and price and portfolio management and merchandising So you're touching so many aspects of the business all the time and it's seven days a week that you really get to understand all the pieces and the mechanics behind driving a wholesaler and also what's important to a supplier when you come in, which also Right. Gave me the the experience of what I'm doing today. And, in my time there, I was very grateful to be there as wise GM five years overseeing all the islands and a team of people that I think was about the time two hundred employees, it was such a dynamic growth time for me because I learned a lot myself as a leader, but also a lot about the business and driving the business and driving what's important to not only the state of Hawaii, but also to our suppliers. It was a beloved time. I actually, I think I could have been there forever, and I think we'd be cautious choice. The Underwoods asked me to move to California to overseeing new business development. It was for my career. And I had to take the next step to get out of Hawaii because I didn't want to be pigeonholed in that position, which I think today, a lot of people would say to me, wow. You left for a while. Like, why is it? You did that. It was so cool. It was a fantastic opportunity to because it was a great place to settle. Why is Of course. Why is all wet? I I love this. They're so beautiful there. And the people are very, very beautiful, of course. I had the follow my professional heart so I went to the next level. So I ended up in back in California. I'm overseeing new business development, and I learned a lot about a new skill set that I actually didn't really know I even had, which is new business development is probably one of the most of effective skills in leadership that someone can have because it truly is about uncovering and being able to knock down doors at the same time, which means you have to be able to go out and hustle for business and understand what your company is looking for and bring those pieces to the table. And your business is such an important part of any company that's growing because in order to grow your revenue or to push forward, not only get to grow your first and foremost base business, also to get out new business and to identify trends and what's working and also to figure out what's not working and to figure out things for that. And especially when you're doing that in wine, it's an extremely, I would say, one of the most interesting parts of the job if you have the opportunity to go into that kind of department. I strongly recommend it because you learn a lot. You learn a lot about strategy. It's it's really about strategy and overcoming challenges and being able to get the right stakeholders to the table to come to an agreement to move forward in business. I think with new business development, it also really tests your ability to not just meet the person in the contact and make the contact but maintain the relationship, build upon the relationship, nurture it through to that point of the new business relationship. And then beyond that, keep the client satisfied as well. Right? That's that life cycle of a new business development role. Absolutely. It's networking. It's cultivating, like you said, those relationships, and then also staying in touch. And to me, it's also about follow-up and results. That's the most important thing is if you are able to bring together new business and then have your company that you're representing able to follow-up with results due to the new business that you bring. That is the best recipe for success. I learned so much. I did it for, I think, four to five years. It was during the time I think we met because it was right when R and D. C. I think about four or five years later after I took on the role as, for new business development at Youngs, r and d c purchase or acquired young's market company. So that was when the pandemic hit Right. At different time. And I was all of a sudden in a new role working with r and d c. I was the vice president of Fine Line overseeing her fine wine portfolio and on the fine wine side three states. And I learned a lot. I learned so much about another new skill set is just portfolio development and understanding what the different nuances of fine wine suppliers on the distributor side and to get that through the system in different states. And it became extremely valuable the time that I had at R and D. C. Because I really can say it and I can comfortably say this and confident I have had every level in a position in wholesale in wholesale. I mean, I know I really do know what my And I think having that knowledge is so important when you're driving business forward and building brands. Mhmm. And, you know, I was very fortunate out of the blue a recruiter reached out to me about the opportunity to work with Carl to McCoy. Italian wine podcast, part of the mama jumbo shrimp family. And at the time, I did not know Carlton. I knew of him a little bit, but I didn't really know his story. And when I got to know his story Right. And the leader that he is, it is phenomenal because he is phenomenal of him being George or. And extremely ambitious, He's driven and he's a builder. He is really great at identifying how to build companies and getting the right people in their places to really build something that is about preserving a legacy. And that's what he's excellent at it. And and it's been an honor to, one, I'm very grateful that I had the to meet with them, but two, the honor will be offered me the position from domain assays. And his vision of domain estates is to be not only a producer, but also a world class importer and negotiate. Just something that's very important to him. And Right. Together, we've been able to build a really fantastic portfolio that's continuing to grow, but then we are also what I think is important is where we sell one of the most dynamic luxury Kabernet portfolios on the planet, which is awesome, you know, and what he's done with Heights and Virges and Stony Hill and InGreat and Brondell, and the team that he's assembled together is really phenomenal to work for. So, our mission, of course, it's exciting. Yeah. For sure. And, and, you know, our mission at domain is to produce important market the world's finest wines with partners who share our passions make change and it's both socially and environmentally. Our industry. Mhmm. Right. And those are such important parts today for the consumer as well. So to, you know, embody those values and your suppliers. And that's really what we wanna talk about today is the creation and evolution of the import portfolio at demand estates and what you're building with your team. So for today's master class, our three takeaways are, you know, number one, what are importers seeking and potential suppliers. Number two, what makes a valuable and and successful supplier importer relationship and know you'll have so much to offer there having worked in so many aspects of the industry. And then number three, what are some of the most exciting trends in luxury Italian wine for the US market today? So let's just dive in. We've got so much to cover and can't wait to hear all your insights on these three things. So, Phawana, you joined the United States in two thousand twenty one as president. And since then, you've brought on a number of great new suppliers, both in Italy, but also from France. Demena States was nominated for import of the year from White enthusiasts. You have an incredible team. So you've been quite busy. So tell us a little bit more specifically around about the philosophy around imports at demeanor States. Absolutely. We identify growing trends in the import market. And right now, the current appetite that we see is Shibley and Kianti. And then we carefully choose the right global partners who share our social and environmental values. Know, we always say here at the domain, we don't create trends. We create trends. We don't follow them. And that's important to us because we've assembled a team here that is extremely experienced. I am so proud of the team that we've built here and who's leading our marketing as our senior vice president of marketing as Scott Diaz, my SPP of Sales is Andrew Deets, and both of them together are a force. It's a very rare combination at any importer when you have sales and marketing on the same page. Sales and marketing being on the same page is so important because a lot of times you're working in silos and marketing has been ranking and sales is doing another. But they are so aligned and we're aligned in our messaging and and the goals that we want. And so when it comes to growing our import portfolio, there's a few things we look for. One, the wine has to taste good. That's the most important So why is that the future? First and foremost. Yeah. Few, we prefer family owned companies. It's important to do family owned because there is a long term vision that's involved. The stitches are aren't being made by shareholders. It's being made by a family. And and you can see the legacy that's being built. And that's very, very important to us. Because when you are working with family owned legacy companies, there's a rich history and there's a generational relationship between not only the family members, but also the business. They care the business that are more involved, and that's what means everything. And so we really look for families that are gonna be here long term and not looking for an exit if that makes sense. Right. Of course. Yeah. Sustainable business from a sense of ownership as well, right? Looking for that long term vision. And, you know, Italy has no shortage of family owned businesses as we know. That's yeah. Absolutely. And how, you know, I think what's important is we always ask in when we look for new suppliers, how are you presenting your brand and your family messaging to the US? And that's what demand does extremely well. Is we understand how to present your brand and your family message to a US market place into the US consumer. It's not about what we want. It's about actually what they want and what's in the best interest for them. It should never be about what's in the best interest for us because that becomes very selfish. And you don't wanna when you're when you're bringing together a family legacy and you're repositioning, and and you're having to take take on this beautiful legacy. We take that we take that actually extremely seriously, and we wanna make sure that our teams are educated that are, that all the stakeholders are involved that way when we bring on something new, everybody's involved in all of our distributor partners are involved. Everyone's involved at a very, very high level. Right. Yeah. Absolutely. And everyone understands the message and the positioning. And and I think what you said that's really important here too is that you're delivering a message that the consumer and the customer wants to hear as well and that you're tailoring and adapting the message to create as much success as possible in the market ultimately. Absolutely. Yeah. So you mentioned Kianti as one of the focuses right now on the import side and you've recently brought on Metay. Congratulations. That's very exciting. So tell us a little bit about that new relationship and just to speak a little bit more specifically about the work you're doing now within the Italian wine category? Absolutely. Well, then that says we're amazing. It's an amazing family. They've been making wine for six hundred years that are talk about legacy. They are Right. When you think about Kianti and the region of of Canti classical and obviously making some of the world's greatest wines, the first thing you think of is is the Matt Sei family. This is a family that is and passionate about who they are. We work very closely with all of their family members from, Giovanni to his father, his father, Felipo, and then to, Francesco. And They're just the wonderful to be around. I, we are very, we're very fortunate to be able to not only represent their wines, but to have this relationship that we continue to cultivate. And one of the very first things that we did is, you know, Carl and I came over to Escany, and we visited with the MetSafe family. And we were thrown away by not only the quality of wine that they're making, and everything that they do was such care, but when it comes to how they sell wine and how they present their wine, it is truly best in class. And one thing I'll say about the region of Kianti is these are wines that are very food friendly to begin with. Right. To me, I think one of the questions you were, that you had sent earlier is, you know, what's a trend right now in Italian wine, and and actually is a commodity. Because it's a classic wine. It's the benchmark of San Jose. And it's great that's hard to produce in other regions, but is very well produced, obviously, in in Kianti. And there's so many approachable price points. You get great quality into the Kianti Fosco range. There's the wines have brightness. They're versatile with food. They're just very food friendly, and, they're delicious. The ones are absolutely delicious. And if you look through the MetSA portfolio all the way from sir Lapo to the Cantic classical on to Rutally. I wanna be tracing that correctly. Yeah. On to Rutally. Yeah. As Smith at the town of Ontorutally, you immediately fell in love with the passion and the love and the legacy that is behind these wines. And then that they taste. They're delicious. They're absolutely delicious. Yeah. Absolutely. And I think that, you know, of course, that's where it all starts from. I love that you're so excited about Kianci. We are too in our work and, you know, it's exciting region for value approachability. So many reasons. You know, as we look just, you know, moving towards a different topic, more generally, really wanna hear your insights and what you think makes a successful supplier and importer relationship because I think a lot of our listeners out there might work for a winery, own a winery, trying trying to learn the US market and and be as successful as they can in a complicated market. So we'd love your insights on this topic and your experience, or what are some of the things that make for the most successful supplier important relationship? Well, one is communication and transparency is key. To communicate and be transparent about your business. I I know that I know this for a fact with domain, and it's really important. Is our reputation is for extremely direct. We're very results driven, and we believe that the communication and also having integrity of your business. So whenever you have an import supplier relationship, you have to be able to share the good news and then the bad news together. And you have to be able to work through those things together because the the goal is still the same, which is driving the business in the US. The US marketplace is the best marketplace to be in. It is the most dynamic. And if you look Italian wine, Italian wine thrives in the US because of the love of Italy in in America. Right? We love the Italian lifestyle, and it's so important and it's important to Italy that the US does very well. And when you have a balance with your company and the attention that is given to that portfolio, you will have very successful results. And together, it's about partnership, long term planning, and being able to solve for things and being able to really share in the successes and then also understanding what you need to improve. It's always about building the business and doing it together and being a partner for your supplier. You know, I I say this a lot whenever when we look for new suppliers or for us, our teams, you wanna work with people that are good people. We have the Absolutely. Thing here and what I love about our team members, especially in my executive team is we've been doing this long enough that we can identify and we'll get right to third base with somebody and realize, wow, I don't know if I wanna get into business with this person because we're in it to be married. We don't wanna get divorced. That's our goal. Our goal is to be married to this partner and to be with them for a very long time. And you're gonna have the ups and downs in business. You're gonna be able to have some really great years together. And then you'll have some years that, you know, might not be the same increases as it was last year But the regular communication and being in touch and having that personal one on one connection is very important. It's very important to me personally to have a one on one connection with all of our supplier partners, especially in the import world, because we're not living in the same country. So they're relying on this for information, and so it's important to give them the information and to really understand what they need and what they're looking for, which will make for a very successful relationship. Yeah. And I think what I'm hearing from you, Felana, is that it's a two way street too. And it has to be a two way partnership, not that the importer is always responding to the supplier or vice versa, but that there is a give and take I think also what you said about transparency and being communicative and clear is also so important, but I think the metaphor of a marriage is is a good one for the the importer supplier relationship and one that Probably a lot of our listeners can relate to. So I think that's a really personal way, but very relatable way to describe it. You know my leadership style, Joliana, I will always be more personable because it's human to human interaction. And when you are working with people where you're growing your business and you're representing your family legacy, I think it's important to be personal. Think it's important to get to know them and to understand what their values are and that the values of our companies align and we're on the same page. I saw so much of it on my distributor side of suppliers coming and going, leaving, you know, no one likes to get fired and no one likes to get divorced. And so our goal is whenever we move forward in partnership, we're in it to the very end. We we wanna be with you to the very end. That's a great reminder for all the listeners as well. So, you know, thinking about shifting gears a little again and shifting it thinking about trends in the luxury wide market, and that's a segment in which demand states really plays. But what are some of the exciting trends we've spoken about Kianti, but anything else that's super exciting for you right now as you look to build out a world class import portfolio at Dameen. For us, it's going back to authenticity with, legacy of state wineries and having history. So what Lawrence wine estates, which is the Lawrence wine estates is the entity that represents heights feller, burgess, Sony Hill, that we work with. The main estate sales and marketing partner for Lawrence, wine estates, in which is McCarlton McCoy's CEO of. And it's natural farming, low intervention winemaking, and producing wines that are very elegant and classically structured that have great brightness, great acidity, great balance, and that naturally produces low alcohol wines. And that's that's to us is is magic because you're producing wines that are very unique to the region. And if you look through different parts of Napa, from how mountain to Spring Mountain to Rutherford, and you're producing these beautiful, beautiful wines that are structured and elegant, but they're not the big boy high alcohol, high residual wines that it that has been associated with napa, you know, in some ways. Mhmm. That's not what Lawrence Wine states and what Dominicanina states for us. It's about really focusing on the environment and focusing arming aspects and low intervention winemaking. We're doing that because we like to make wines that we drink. It's not a trend. Of course. Yeah. Right. No one might drink of this. I I don't know. I mean, I I don't know about you, but I don't like to drink sixteen and a half percent alcohol. I know. We're both fine for one and I think, you know, with mindful of our alcohol intake and, yeah, those wines for me, for sure, not not what I'm putting on my table. But I love that you said going back to tradition too. I think that that's something we're seeing outside of the wine industry as well and just in terms of what people are embracing in their consumption habits and trends. We all, sought after comfort during the pandemic, and I think some of that lasting in in the way of looking for tradition and the products that we're consuming. You know, there's no better time to be in the low grocery wine market right now. There's no better time to be drinking wine right now because there's so many fantastic producers that are making exceptional wine So it's a great time to be a wine consumer because there's so many great wines out there to try. And people are experimenting and they're doing different things, and you have some phenomenal winemakers that are really bringing on awesome projects to showcase their skills and and their talents. So we work with an incredible winemaking team here. And so I get to see it firsthand. So to me, it's a very exciting time to be in the luxury wine category. And luxury wine, I just wanna say this to all the listeners, is over sixty dollars. That's luxury wine. It's not over thirty. There needs to be an agreement in the world. Yeah. It's sometimes, there's a lot of companies that say premiums over, you know, twenty two dollars, not true because if you look at the way the producers and the wineries are making these wines and producing wines with farming, what the farming costs are, you really have to understand why the price points are the way that they are. Because no one Absolutely. You know, you're creating something very, very special and there's a reason why it's priced in that way. And I think it's worth it. The item we see consumers maybe drinking less, but trading up and drinking higher price point wines, even younger consumers. Right? So I think like you said, it's a really exciting time to be in this space and to be in the luxury one category. For Lana, before we wrap up, we're gonna do our rapid fire quiz that we do in every master class episode We're gonna just hammer home our key takeaways from today's conversation and you shared so many great insights that I wanna make sure our listeners walk away with. So if you can do your best to answer these questions in one sentence or less, that's the challenge. So Question number one, what are importers like demeanor State seeking right now and potential supplier partnerships? Long term planning and partnership. Great. Question number two, what makes a valuable and success supplier importer relationship. Communication. And number three, what are some of the most exciting trends right now in luxury Italian wine in the US market? People are discovering Kianti, and it is such a phenomenal region to discover, and it's great place to visit, and the wines have precious imbalance, and they're so approachable. And it's it's Kianti all day for us. Kianti all day. We love that. Wonderful. So thanks again, Pawana, for being here today and the time one podcast. I really appreciate you sharing all your insights, your story, your enthusiasm for Kianzi, congratulations on all the success you've seen so far in the United States, and we can't wait to see where you go next. I'm sure there's Only more to come. Thank you so much. Thank you for joining me today. Stay tuned each week for new episodes of Master Class US wine market with me, Juliana Colangelo. I remember if you enjoyed today's show, Hit the like and follow buttons wherever you get your podcasts.