Port CEO calls on wine industry to put aside rivalry and cooperate

[Andy Velebil]

An interesting read.

Adrian Bridge, CEO of the Fladgate Partnership, has called on the wine industry to put aside rivalry and cooperate, in the interests of advancing the overall sector.

https://www.meininger.de/en/wine-busine ... -cooperate

[Roy Hersh]

Not to be a cynic, but I really find this strange. Nothing against Adrian. The cooperation in the Port trade had been poor in the past and in the last decade or two, has improved, but only slightly. They may read this and likely won't be amused, but I am not judging any single company, but the industry overall.

I spent quite a few years now putting this exact point in all of my Personalities in Port, In Focus interviews. Trying to see what could be done to get the Port industry to improve their cooperation. The biggest gripe of the people in those pieces over the years is that the trade doesn't do much of anything to cooperate, beyond their mention of Douro Boys, and one person's mention of the Confraria "declaration" parties. And as Uncle Tom has mentioned in this forum on numerous occasions, there were companies that didn't even bother to go to that.

But more so, look back at A Question for the Port Trade and you will see the "Cooperation" topic brought up more than once as the themes were slightly different for the question, but alluding to cooperation in all cases. It has been one of my personal missions, even more so than fixing the broken beneficio topic, which anybody has read the newsletter over the years, or who has been to Portugal with Mario and me, knows it comes up every single trip and why not!?!?

As to responses to AQFTPT, look back at what people said at the time. It is one thing to comment for a small band of Port fanatics and another when you know you are going to be widely read. Anyway, again this is not about Adrian or the Symingtons or any other company specifically, as LOTS of the British companies in the past had kept the Portuguese companies at arms length and even their own fellow Factory House members and competitive friends.

In fact this is not a Brits vs. Portuguese issue either. While the public face of even very close competitors can appear very friendly, some fierce competition takes place in marketing departments and board rooms. I prefer not to go into detail or mention individuals or companies here as that would be counter-productive; so this is more of a broad based commentary on the entire trade.

This also definitely applies to Portuguese companies with one another too! Until recently (the past 10-15 years) there has been a bit more cooperation. Before that ... not so much!

Also, have a look at some of the partnerships when they come to do road shows in the USA. Are the Portuguese shippers included? When I've asked principals ... WHY ... the responses have pointed to a lack of funding, as the real reason. While that is likely partially correct, as in it is a true statement ... but NOT the whole reason ... the IVDP should be helping more than it is, too. In fact, that is one of its main reasons for existing. I realize that economic realities/"austerity measure" have done away with lots of the IVDP funds for marketing, even in key markets, but there is still a LOT more that could and should be done without spending a ton of money. This is not just in the current moment, I am talking about the past few decades too. Coincidentally, the 5 years Mario Ferreira was stationed in the USA, with Sandeman and then 5 years with the IVDP, he personally presented over 200 trade and consumer tastings in all parts of the United States. That equals an average of one per week. Those were the good old and semi recent days of 1999-2005. That was SPECIFICALLY Port only events. Since then there has been almost NO concerted effort to bring the Port trade to do almost anything in the USA. Why not try to do something like Essencia do Vinho here in NY or DC and SF or LA? I brought this up with the top people in the industry lobbying this point, including privately with two Presidents of the IVDP.

Lastly, while this is not an "us vs. them" type of situation in my opinion, there is a good reason why the Douro Boys all banded together. In recent times, there has been some detente between Port firms, but there has never been real cooperation either. This was discussed in a meeting with the current IVDP President too (2014), as something I felt he should personally try to broker, as a leader of the entire Port and Douro industry. I mentioned getting growers, shippers, and smaller producers together in a room and have a "collaboration building" set of meetings to enhance cooperation. I even mentioned what could be done to facilitate this and how to improve events done by Vinhos do Portugal, which is a separate entity, run by a former President of the IVDP. In fact, the one that Mario used to work for. There is so much that could be done if the industry let their guard down even by 20% to enable open discussions to start the process. A more open collaboration within the Port trade would be the most welcome thing to happen and that could open the door to changes being made with antiquated beneficio regulations and the law of thirds etc. Of course some disagree, stating these things keep growers alive, but that's another topic for another day. As first and foremost, companies have to be cajoled into the same sandbox and start there. Who leads this effort? Nobody wants to start the process, so Adrian's comments are poignant even though he was careful to use the wine trade loosely, while avoiding mentioning the Port trade!

Call it an op/ed and definitely not a critique of Mr. Bridge whose assertions are correct. Just my


I'll let others chime in now.

[Roy Hersh]

And for those that want to talk about Craft Brewing, PLEASE take that to the OTHER DISCUSSIONS area.

In fact,

I would appreciate if the moderators would break those posts into another thread.

This is a topic that should be taken seriously and not have thread drift take this into a beer discussion.

[Glenn E.]

Done.

New topic here.

[Roy Hersh]

Much appreciated, thanks!