Ep. 2647 Wine Industry in Crisis: How Wineries Can Stay Relevant Amid Market Shifts - with Cyril Penn | Masterclass US Wine Market

Welcome to Episode 2647 of the Italian Wine Podcast. In this episode, Barbara Fitzgerald talks with Cyril Penn, editor-in-chief of Wine Business Monthly and WineBusiness.com. Together they discuss some of the biggest debates currently occurring in the global wine industry, drawing from Cyril’s recent article on structural challenges facing the market.

Read the article: https://www.winebusiness.com/wbm/article/312710 

Key Takeaways:

• This is not simply a volume crisis, it’s a relevance crisis. The key question is how wine fits (or fails to fit) into modern lifestyles and consumer habits.
• The wine industry structure is evolving. Traditional distribution and market models are being challenged, requiring adaptation and new approaches.
• Performance gaps are widening. While some wineries are struggling, others are thriving.

More about the guest:

Cyril Penn is editor in chief of Wine Business Monthly and winebusiness.com, part of Wine Communications Group, the leading supplier of information to the wine industry.  Penn has been with WBM since 2000. His work on the wine business has appeared in a number of publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, where he contributed the Wine Business Insider column for five years. Penn has traveled to wine regions throughout North America, Europe and South America as a speaker and wine judge. Prior to joining WBM, he was managing editor of the California Energy Markets newsletter in San Francisco. His background includes several years as a freelance journalist. Following stints at the Columbia Journalism Review and MacNeil Lehrer Report (now the PBS NewsHour), Penn worked for Reuters in New York. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in media studies from Fordham University.

Connect: 

Website: https://www.winebusiness.com 

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyril-penn-8a60895/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cyril.penn 

Twitter: https://x.com/CyrilPenn 

More about the host:

With a career of nearly two decades in the wine industry, Barbara Fitzgerald specializes in D2C marketing and business development. She's led roles from entry level to senior management, combining her extensive experience with data analysis, critical thinking and storytelling while driving revenue growth and brand recognition for California wineries. As a part of the 4th generation of an Italian-American family among the California wine industry pioneers, Barbara has spent her life around wine growing, production, marketing, distribution and hospitality. A Syracuse University graduate, she returned to California to gain diverse industry perspectives from a range of wineries.

As an Italian Wine Ambassador, she brings her expertise to the Italian wine market, known for its authenticity and consumer demand. Barbara now runs Apri La Creative Consulting, coaching wineries in Italy and the US to strategically develop their D2C channels in line with their brand values. Together with her husband, Barbara also owns and operates a boutique wine production company, and a small import company specializing in Italian wines to the US.

Connect:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/barbarajeanfitz/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbara-fitzgerald-iwa/

Website: https://www.aprilacreative.com/ 

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