The Business of Wine – A Global Perspective
85 out of 100

Published Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Overview

CBS Press £15.84
By
Per V Jenster Ph.D
David E Smith DBA
Darryl J Mitry PhD
Lars V Jenster MBA

As the opening sentence in the preface says “Many books have been written about the pleasure and pursuit of good wine...however this is not the purpose of this book...the authors offer a unique and very detailed view of the modern wine industry”. I’m afraid the book, read cover to cover, is not a pleasurable experience – it’s an academic text written by academics for students. But, while not riveting, it does present the current world situation of wine in a thought-provoking way. It also gets under the skin of how the industry really works. It gives a historical perspective to the production and buying of wine primarily from a Europe perspective but also covering the United States in some depth. Other regions are included, but not in any depth, since the book is limited to just under 200 pages.

I’m pleased I read it, but at the same, particularly early on, I wished I was doing something else. It didn’t answer any questions I wanted to know, but at the same time it opened up answers to questions I had not thought about. This is because the authors’ point of view is different to many wine writers and as a result The Business of Wine, gives a different perspective.

So who would read this book? Well not a wine enthusiast, sorry - it will probably put you off wine. Students are the target, particularly those needing a good overview, perhaps a WSET Diploma student or an MW student, or anybody on an MBA in wine. Another thankful reader would be someone entering the wine industry in a management position.
The Business of Wine is full of facts and figures, though only about a third of them are up to date and the authors appear not to have commissioned any new research for the book. But the Business of Wine is more concerned with showing trends so cutting edge figures are not necessarily required. What the book does very well is give a very level high overview to the UK, French, US and Italian wine markets, both production and consumption. It also shows how the markets are inter-related and how they have developed over the past 100 years.
There are 10 Chapters in The Business of Wine covering a general overview of the market and the vineyards of the world.

Chapter 1 and 2 set the scene with an overview of marketing and vineyards of the world. There are some interesting statistics, such as Germany is the top importing wine country in the world.
Chapter 2 vineyard of the world is a large chapter of 52 pages, over a quarter of the book. It really was not necessary as it covers areas that are better covered in many other books.
Chapter 3 on consumer behaviour breaks consumers into categories and gives some statistics on different drinking patterns in different countries.

Chapter 4 starts on page 91 and is where many people should start reading. It describes the main product categories of wine.

Chapter 5 starts to flesh out some of the changes in production of wine.

By Chapter 6 is on the history and development of the distribution system. We are starting to get into the meat of the book and you start to get some payback on the earlier chapters, with a good history on the development of wine marketing in the last 100 years. It also shows the strengths and weaknesses of a number of wine suppliers in the world and why the market is currently structured the way it is, in a slimmed-down but nevertheless, very complex way.

Chapter 7 looks at the marketing in a fairly high level way general trends in a shift to discounters as well a quick overview of different packaging options, I found this quite interesting and helps explain why some markets like some types of packaging while other markets do not.

Chapter 8 is an excellent chapter and gives examples about a number of different types of wine producing companies and how they differentiate themselves within the market. I found it gave me enough information on how the larger companies work to think about their strategic positioning.

Chapter 9 looks at the history of the EU wine regulation from the “wine wars” between Italy and France to today’s current legislative situation. By understanding the difficult legislative process wine has been through it is possible to start to understand some of the crazy rules coming out of the EU.

Chapter 10 finishes the book by focusing on the future consumption patterns in Europe, and emphasis the convergence in consumption patterns between the north and south of Europe.

While this book is a bit long and academic, it contains some fantastic thought provoking insights and ideas. If you’re a student or a new manager in the wine industry, it is a great starting point. While The Business of Wine can be read in a weekend, it does not need to be read cover to cover. The more you know, the more of the initial chapters you may want to skip. That said the later chapters are excellent.
I rate this book 85 out of 100

This book is an academic text written by academics for students. If you are a student, or new to the wine industry, and in a management role, it’s a great starting point. It contains some fantastic thought-provoking insights and ideas. While you may want to read the book cover to cover, the later chapters are not to be missed.