SVB on Wine

Everyone likes Fridays. This Friday is a little more special so I decided to post a non-Sunday blog for the first time. Why the deviation? ...

Selling commodities is difficult because people buy on emotion, or instinct if you will. Want and desire are powerful emotions that ca...

  In our second live video broadcast of the year, we focused on the Tasting Room, Wine Clubs and Direct Sales with a panel of industr...

  ... and your rice pudding sucks The other day I  stopped in at Wal-Mart to get some things. While checking out, a very larg...

   ABC. It's Easy As 1-2-3   The vines flowering this time of year remind me of seventh grade. Maybe its the Aqua-Net hairspr...

Immigration is a hot topic bracketed by views from the right and left that aren't predictable based on party affiliation.... maybe b...

  I will get to the topic at hand but first, a moment of silence .......... <that's enough> because last Friday Jonathan Wint...

I'm probably not the only man around that has a hard time giving gifts. As Dirty Harry aptly put it, " A man's got to know his...

Last week I had the opportunity to head off to the Bloomberg studios in San Francisco and participate in a wine panel with the still some...

Click To Enlarge According to the SVB Wine Conditions Survey we ran in late 2012, direct sales in different forms represented three o...

I had a good meeting with one of my longest tenured clients this past month. We were talking over strategy and the discussion evolved to...

Many in business view another competitor moving into your territory as an affront to all that is fair and decent. Its the moral equivalen...

You've heard the saying that one man's trash is another mans treasure. How is it possible that two people can view the same object c...

Price and Returns of CA Grape Crop Total Value of CA Grape Crop Mario Draghi was in the news this past week concurrent with th...

I f you are like me, you get offers of reports on trends in the wine business about every day. Several years ago I saw a synopsis of an ex...

Have you ever found yourself disbelieving your own eyes or being flabbergasted at a decision that defies logic? For instance, what would h...

SVB Wine Industry Report Plus Video Chat & Q&A The 2013 Wine Industry Report is out with the first ever Live Video Confere...

What are the key ingredients for success in business? In my mind its defining effective strategy, having a sense for timing in execution,...

When life is confusing, we all have to have a moral compass. For me, I look to the immortal Yogi Berra to make some sense out of things. L...

Talking to a US producer the other day about his Chinese exports, I asked what I should tell others about selling in China. He said tell t...