Chapter 250 The Role of Marketing

In the words of Alain Chevalier, Spade Champagne is very ordinary.

He didn't even know why the boss was interested in this winery.

Milo took a brief look at the information he provided.

I also learned that Spade champagne was extremely popular in the United States and some places in China.

In France, the birthplace of champagne, it can be said to be of the mediocre variety.

After a little thought, Milo understood what was going on.

To put it bluntly, it is because of this that the Spade Champagne House became so popular in later generations.

It's not about how good the quality of Spade Champagne is.

To put it bluntly, this champagne brand has become so famous in later generations.

In fact, it was thanks to marketing and the cooperation of a certain black hip-hop superstar and some Hollywood stars that this ordinary winery champagne became so famous.

It's not that the product of Black Spade Winery is worth the price.

So replace the Black Peach Winery with the White Peach Winery, the Red Peach Winery or the Green Peach Winery, it doesn't matter which winery it is, as long as the quality is not too bad.

If the marketing can keep up, then the model of Spade Champagne can be copied completely.

After realizing this, Milo no longer insisted on taking over Spade Winery.

He told Alain Chevalier about his ideas.

Let Alain Chevalier choose one of acceptable quality.

At the same time, you can tell history - which is actually telling stories.

This is the same reason why luxury brands can sell at such a high premium.

That is, while ensuring acceptable quality, you can use the brand's history to tell a story.

To put it bluntly, it's marketing.

They collect IQ tax, but that's just how the human elite is.

They desire to distinguish themselves from ordinary people, and luxury goods exist to meet their desire.

Something that can differentiate them from ordinary people while ensuring quality.

This is the luxury item that wealthy people love to pursue the most.

So spades, green hearts, and red hearts are actually all the same.

What matters is storytelling, which is marketing.

This is also the reason why Spade champagne is difficult to be accepted by the upper class in later generations.

Because the one promoting them is a hip-hop superstar, with the help of some Hollywood stars.

Naturally, it is only popular in nightclubs.

It really happens that in those high-end and fancy occasions, such as some state banquets and dinners hosted by top wealthy people.

There is almost never any such thing as a spade champagne.

What usually appears are Romanee-Conti or Lafite red wines.

The next level ones include Latour and so on.

To put it bluntly, every class has its own "Champagne of Spades".

The nouveau riche and nightclubs love Spade Champagne, while the so-called old money and aristocrats have their own "Lafite" and "Romanee-Conti".

Let Alain Chevalier pick a brand to market.

Milo put the incident out of his mind.

However, the acquisition of Domaine Romanee-Conti went smoothly.

Andre got everything done before almost returning to the United States.

So Milo decided to go to the Romanee-Conti winery to take a look.

More than thirty years ago.

Although the original owners of the winery, the Blocher family and the Leroy family, withdrew their members from Romanee-Conti after selling their shares, this does not mean that there is no one available to work in the winery.

After all, Domaine Romanee-Conti has a history of more than 900 years.

Although there has been a constant flow of people over the past 900 years.

However, there are still many small families left that specialize in Romanee-Conti winery.

On the way there, Alain Chevalier first introduced the details of Domaine Romanee-Conti to Milo.

Now the most important thing for Domaine Romanee-Conti is the two families that have been passed down for more than four hundred years.

They are the Modray family, who specialize in winemaking, and the Kner family, who specialize in vineyard planting and fruit tree cultivation.

It is precisely because of these two families that they have maintained their original intentions and have specialized in their respective fields for hundreds of years.

Only through close cooperation can Romanee-Conti wine be unrivaled in the world for its superb quality.

The Blocher and Leroy families who had taken over previously mainly played a role in operations and management.

Therefore, after the Blocher and Leroy families left, it did not have much impact on Domaine Romanee-Conti.

Burgundy is located between the Jura Mountains and the southeast end of the Paris Basin. It is a passage area between the Rhine, Seine, Loire and Rhone rivers, and is 251 kilometers away from Paris.

After nearly three hours' drive, Milo arrived at the Romanee-Conti Winery at around eleven o'clock in the morning.

Alain Chevalier immediately summoned two old men, Gavin Modray, 68, and Jobs Kerner, 62.

"Boss, this is Gavin Modray."

“This is Jobs Kerner!”

"Old Modley, Old Kner, this is the real owner of the winery I told you about, Mr. Blackburn!"

“…”

Milo's tone was gentle, giving people a feeling of being bathed in spring breeze when he spoke.

Gavin Modley and Jobs Kerner felt no psychological pressure, and Milo's praise and commendation made them feel happy.

After some small talk, Milo decided to visit his own vineyard first.

Led by Jobs Kerner, Milo and others came to a small hill.

According to Jobs Kerner, standing on this hill and overlooking the large area of ​​vineyards will provide the best visual experience.

Although it is a hill, grape vines are still planted here. Standing on the hill, you can see rows of neatly planted grape vines, like dense green lines. The distance between each row is about one meter, which is very symmetrical. This distance should be able to achieve the best ratio of light intensity and land utilization for the grapes.

But now it is November, and although it has not snowed yet, the grape vines are gradually beginning to wither.

Although it does not give people a visual impact like the dark green in June and July, the dark green color gives people a healing visual enjoyment.

At this time, Jobs Kerner began to introduce Milo to the entire vineyard.

"Boss, the area of ​​our estate is 1.805 hectares. From 1580 to now, over 400 years, the land has not increased or decreased by even a centimeter."

“Although most of the vines died due to severe hail in the spring of 1945, we introduced older vines from Château La Tache in the Côte de Nuits. The original vines of Château La Tache were introduced from our estate after the root tuber infestation, so the vines in our vineyard are still pure Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and the age of the trees is nearly 50 years old, and the quality remains very stable…”

Jobs Kerner pointed to the busy workers in the distance and continued to introduce them to Milo:

"We don't have any mechanized equipment in our estate now. We plant and care for grapes entirely by hand. We don't use chemical fertilizers and try to use as few chemical methods as possible. After the grapes are ripe, only skilled workers are allowed to pick them. After the harvest, they need to be strictly screened to select the good grapes for brewing..."

Milo smiled and nodded with satisfaction.

In an era when winemaking technology is changing with each passing day, more scientific winemaking techniques are widely used in winemaking, but Romanee-Conti chose to be out of touch with the times.

However, it is precisely because the cultivation, management, picking and brewing of Romanee-Conti vineyards are not particularly different from when winemaking began in the 11th century that this inheritance and persistence in tradition is the important reason why Romanee-Conti wine maintains its usual ultra-high quality and is sought after by the world.

Well, that’s the official version.

In fact, these measures are exactly the "story" that the Romanee-Conti winery wants to tell.

Look, the Romanee-Conti you drink is exactly the same as the one the princes and majesties drank hundreds of years ago. It hasn't changed at all!

This is exactly the marketing approach of Romanee-Conti.

If new scientific brewing technology is adopted, perhaps the quality can be higher.

But the story you want to tell at that time may have to be discounted.

So while ensuring the quality is acceptable.

Keep the core of the story which is the most important for a marketing core.

This is why Romanee-Conti and Lafite are sold at such high prices.

Milo bent down and took a closer look at the nearly fifty-year-old vines. After checking the growth of the grape vines, he returned to the brewing area.

In the winery area, Gavin Modray will be in charge of the explanation.

Stable and controllable temperature is an important factor for the perfect fermentation of wine.

Therefore, the wine cellars of most wine estates are underground, and Romanee-Conti is no exception.

After Gavin Modray opened the door, a strong aroma of wine wafted into his nose. After entering, Milo found that the entire wine cellar was filled with a strong aroma that made people intoxicated.

"Boss, we use fine oak barrels and local wild yeast to make our wines. We don't use commercial yeast and constant temperature stainless steel fermentation tanks like some wineries do."

“Although this will make the process more complicated and the cost higher, it is the only way to ensure the quality of our wine.”

“This is because we grow Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and oak barrels can help the wine blend more tightly, which is especially important for complex, age-worthy wines such as Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.”

“Oak barrels can add aromas of vanilla, cloves, leaves, nuts, toast and caramel to wine. Oak barrels are also the place for secondary fermentation, which is unmatched by constant temperature stainless steel fermentation tanks…”

Gavin Modray pointed to the oak barrels piled on the wooden shelves around him and introduced them to Milo.

Milo walked over and touched an oak barrel, looking at the time written on the bottom of the barrel. It was September 21, 1996.

Milo looked at the wine barrels scattered around and asked softly, "Old Modred, are all these brewed last year?"

Gavin Modley shook his head and pointed to the two rows of oak barrels in front of him and said, "No, only these two rows are wines brewed last year. Our vineyard produces about 2,500 liters a year, not like those large wineries that have an output of 70,000 to 80,000 liters."

Then he pointed to the oak barrels not far away and said, "Those two rows were harvested and brewed on September 28, 1995."

“The two furthest rows are from wines harvested on September 25, 1994.”

“There is no further time, because oak barrels will be scrapped after three years at most, so the wine harvested on September 25, 1994, we will start bottling in March…”

Milo nodded slightly, and then said to Gavin Modred, "Where is the wine that has been bottled and stored? Take me over there to have a look."

"Okay, please follow me!"

After that, Gavin Modray led Milo along a road that turned left and right until they came to a large wooden door. After opening it, he turned on the light in the storage room.

Suddenly, the scene of the storage room came into view.

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This is an arched straight passage with a corner at the end, like a brick kiln. On both sides of the passage are wooden wine racks supported by tilted beams. A bottle of wine is placed on each position on the rack, densely packed like a honeycomb, giving a strong visual impact.

"Old Modred, how many bottles of wine are still stored in the warehouse? Is there a list of each vintage?"

I took out a bottle of wine from a close distance and found that it was marked with 1964, which is thirty-three years ago.

Milo put the wine back. He felt that there was too much wine and he couldn't check it all in a short time, so he asked Gavin Modray directly.

"Yes, every entry and exit of the warehouse will be registered. There is a special statistics room inside. Please follow me!"

After saying that, Gavin Modray took Milo for a walk, came to an office, and took out a huge leather-covered notebook.

He placed the book on the table, opened it, and introduced it to Milo: "Boss, here is a record of the number of remaining wines of each year. The oldest wine in the storage warehouse was produced in 1754, and there are only eleven bottles left!"

Milo raised his eyebrows in surprise and looked at the top row of the table.

There is even wine from 1754, which is 247 years old! It is even older than the 1787 Lafite that the president of BNP Paribas brought out before! But there are only eleven bottles, which is really rare!

Then Milo looked down the table.

Five bottles of 1755 vintage still in stock.

There are still three bottles of wine from 1756 in storage.

None from 1757 to 1761.

So directly below 1756 is 1762, and there are still thirteen bottles stored.

There are many gaps in years later.

According to Gavin Modray, the climate in those years was bad, and the wines made from the grapes produced did not have enough tannins, so they could not have a long enough lifespan.

Many wines are completely emptied after being stored for decades or even hundreds of years. Wines with insufficient tannins will only taste worse if stored for a long time.

A statistics was taken before 1800, and there were a total of 129 bottles of wine before that.

Then for wines between 1801 and 1900, the number was a little higher, reaching 525 bottles.

This is definitely a huge treasure trove!

The reason why Romanee-Conti is so valuable is that these stored old wines are an important factor! Looking at the ones after 1900, the closer to the present time, the more stored there are.

Of course there is an exception, such as the year 1945, of which 420 bottles are still in stock.

But during the six years between 1946 and 1951, not a single bottle of wine was stored.

Seeing Milo's gaze lingering there, Gavin Modley immediately explained, "Boss, because the climate changes every year, the grape production will also change. In a bumper year, the grapes produced can even make more than 9,000 bottles of wine, so the proportion of new wine used for long-term storage after every ten years is also different. But in 1945, due to hail attacks, most of the grape vines died, and only 600 bottles of wine were produced that year. Because of the small quantity, the storage ratio is very high."

“In the six years between 1946 and 1951, we were cultivating newly transplanted vines, and because the quality was unstable, we did not produce a single bottle of wine.”

Milo nodded slightly and said softly, "The total output in 1945 was only 600 bottles, and 420 bottles are still left. I am a little surprised."

Although in his previous life, Milo knew that Domaine Romanee-Conti only produced 600 bottles of wine in 1945.

But he didn't know how many bottles were left before he bought them, and he didn't expect there would be 420 bottles! The wine of this vintage is not only of extremely high quality, but also very rare.

In addition, the fact that it was discontinued for six consecutive years further increased its rarity and legendary status.

Even though the quality of Romanee-Conti wine in 1945 is not the best, other factors alone make it worth collecting and speculating on! In 2018, a bottle of Romanee-Conti in 1945 was sold at a price of RMB 3.86 million.

If these 420 bottles of wine are hyped well in the future, they can be worth two or three hundred million US dollars.

Looking at the end, the list ends in 1991, the storage quantity, that is, the production, is 6,589 bottles, and the harvest and brewing time is October 22.

Milo remembered that the quality of Romanee-Conti wine produced that year was extremely high, and the world also gave the wine that year very high praise.

Milo then asked Gavin Modray:

"Old Modley, a wine from the seventies, is the best quality in 1978?"

Gavin Modray nodded and said:

"Boss, the weather in the 1970s was generally bad. 1978 was the best vintage of the decade. The cold weather in the spring and early summer of that year caused the grapevines to bloom late, and the weather did not improve until August. Fortunately, the weather was relatively good throughout the fall, allowing the grapes to fully mature, but the picking time was also delayed a lot, from October 16 to October 22."

“Although wine needs more than ten years to ferment and stabilize its taste, based on my years of experience, the quality of the wine in 1978 is indeed excellent. Although it is not the best year in the history of the winery, it is also the best batch.”

"Yeah, I got it!"

Milo smiled and nodded, then stamped the register and said to Gavin Modley, "Take me to see the wines that are one or two hundred years old, and the batch from 1945."

"OK!"

After saying that, Gavin Modray took Milo out of the registration room.

During lunch after the viewing, Milo opened the oldest wine he brought out, a 1754 vintage.

Everyone present got some, which surprised Andre.

Where had he ever drunk this kind of wine that was more than 200 years old? He couldn't help but secretly thought that it was really worth it to come here with the boss this time.

Everyone tasted this wine carefully, because the most taboo thing about old wine is to constantly shake the glass, which will greatly affect the taste of the wine.

In particular, winemaker Gavin Modray tasted this bottle of wine with a pilgrimage mentality, as if this bottle of wine was his belief, which moved Milo.

This should be the belief passed down by a family of top winemakers!

However, it must be said that the wines that are qualified to be stored for 228 years are definitely of the highest quality, otherwise they would not have been preserved until now.

After more than two hundred years of sedimentation, it is hard to say whether the taste of wine has passed its peak.

But it is smooth and full-flavored, with a long aftertaste and excellent depth. Milo feels that it tastes much better than the 1787 Lafite! But to be honest, if you have to drink.

He still prefers whiskey.

In fact, most of the real old money in the United States are those members of the upper echelons of WASP.

People prefer whiskeys with a stronger taste.

Especially in the southern United States, and some places where rednecks are active.

Wine and champagne are often seen as drinks for girls.

In fact, this may be the reason.

As for the sales volume of red wine in the United States, it is just like that.

Compared to red wine, the average American's favorite drink is actually beer.

American old money prefers whiskey more.

Red wine and champagne are usually only enjoyed by the nouveau riche and Hollywood.

After lunch, Milo left Gavin Modred behind and gave him an instruction.

All wines before 1900 were tightly sealed, and no one was allowed to take a bottle away without his order.

Then the 1945 batch was no longer sold to the outside world.

He will assign someone to be responsible for the specific operation.

As he left, Milo pulled out a list of some of the wine he was going to take with him.

Let Gavin Modray pack the wine into boxes, and he will send someone to take it away by civilian helicopter after a while.

The total of one thousand bottles of wine on this list will be divided into four batches and shipped to London, Paris, San Francisco, New York and Tokyo respectively.

Because the most feared thing about aged wine is shaking, Milo plans to transport it by air throughout the entire journey, even the distance from Burgundy to Paris will be transported by civilian helicopters.

For this batch of wine, a little shipping cost is nothing! Two days after returning, Andre reported the results to him.

Château Latour was bought for £320 million.

Milo's attitude towards Château Latour is even more different.

Because compared to the average annual production of 6,000 bottles of Romanee-Conti, the annual production of Chateau Latour is as high as 200,000 bottles, which is suitable for the lower high-end market of Romanee-Conti.

In the luxury car market, Lafite and Romanee-Conti are Rolls-Royce and Bentley.

And Latour is something like Porsche.

As for the "Spade Champagne" that he plans to market, it is the entry-level BBA among luxury cars.

Therefore, Chateau Latour will be the main force in selling high-end red wine.

Who says Romanee-Conti has such low production?

Therefore, Milo asked André to transfer all the shares of Château Latour to LVMH.

LVMH Group is a wine giant among the luxury giants.

Not only does it need to occupy a dominant position in the mid-range market, it also needs to have high-quality wines to enhance brand value.

As the second of the five famous wineries on the left bank of Bordeaux, Chateau Latour is fully qualified! (End of this chapter)