Working Your Angle
The way the industry is shifting in the 21st century offers opportunities for those with skills outside it. Texan wine lover Stephanie Fanning Peachey, 38, was running a division of technology research company Lexis-Nexis when she decided she wanted a career change. While working on her wine MBA she became intrigued by direct-to- consumer marketing. (In 2017, direct-to-consumer wine sales in the U.S. increased 16 percent over 2016, according to a 2018 report from Sovos ShipCompliant and Wines & Vines.)
“It was a natural fit, where my previous tech and marketing experience could plug in,” she says. Now a vice president at pinot producer Kosta-Browne, she focuses most of her time on direct-to-consumer marketing and brand strategy.
SSU is not the only program of its kind. The Burgundy School of Business, for example, had long had wine business courses; it launched a School of Wine and Spirits Business in Dijon, France, five years ago, with master’s degree programs taught in English. The Kedge Business School in Bordeaux has been offering a wine MBA since 2002. Groupe Inseec (Institute Etudes Economiques Commerciale) Wine & Spirits Institute has offered wine and spirits MBAs in English since 2014 in Bordeaux. And in Australia, the University of Adelaide has a master of wine business degree.
Top-Shelf Results
Before getting her MBA, Chang of Nine Suns says she didn’t realize there was so much to know. “The local, state, and federal regulations, logistics, and finances for the wine business are unique and highly complex,” she says. “Not to mention branding, immigration, and sustainability issues.”
Ray Johnson explains: “Today, good quality wine is the starting point to play in the industry. That’s not enough to assure success in what’s become an increasingly competitive market.”
One former SSU student, Brent Bessire, who went from founding an online financial trading platform to eventually founding Sonoma’s Fogline Vineyards, said, “Many people are making wine as a vanity project. I needed to actually make a living doing it.”
Last month, the institute hosted the grand opening of the new high-tech Wine Spectator Learning Center, a hub for international wine business education and research, where students can connect virtually with industry groups in places such as Croatia.
In November, it will add a hybrid version of the EMBA in response to high-level students’ desire for more flexibility and convenience. This 16-month program ($64,500) consists of in-person and online projects, with four residential immersions in California and university partnerships in France and Australia.
Last week, Stayton was shepherding students to châteaux Lafite, Mouton, and Margaux as part of a new partnership with France’s Kedge school. Among the themes was the “luxurization” of the wine industry, as well as how capitalization, mergers, and marketing differ between the two countries. This week, the group moves to California to visit iconic wineries in the Napa Valley and try out the new Learning Center’s high-tech classrooms. Naturally, they’ll eat out.
Johnson reminds me that people are ultimately drawn to the wine business because of the joy it offers. “It’s not only a rewarding career,” he laughs, “it’s a delicious career.”