Dolia Talks | Wine, spirits and beverages marketing and sales

Designing a Successful Wine Hospitality Strategy | Communicating Wine to GenZ | Rethinking Customer Experience in Wine | Valentina Zanella, Hospitality Coordinator at Cà Maiol

Valentina Zanella, Hospitality Coordinator at Cà Maiol, joins Giovanni to break down what the wine industry is getting wrong about communication, why hospitality is one of the most underused commercial channels for wineries, and what Gen Z is forcing the entire industry to rethink. Topics covered: making wine communication more approachable, how to build a frictionless hospitality experience, a 3-step framework for small wineries getting started, and why Gen Z's rejection of wine jargon is actually a good thing for the category. AGENDA: 1:33 - Valentina's Background & What a Retail Mindset Brings to Wine 3:10 - Wine Communication vs. Retail & Lifestyle Brands 5:31 -  Is Wine Intimidating? 7:17 -  Gen Z & the New Wine Consumer 8:00 -   Designing a Hospitality Experience 10:49 - Marketing & Discovery Channels for Events 12:10 - Keeping Relationships with Tourist Visitors 13:57 - Measuring ROI of Hospitality 15:32 - Why Wineries Should Open Restaurants 17:34 - The Value of Third-Party Booking Platforms 20:40 - Which Experience Formats Work Best 22:11 - Should Your Winery Have a Wine Bar? 24:34 - Hospitality Strategies for Non-Wine Beverage Brands 26:09 - Advice for a Small/Young Producer Starting with Hospitality 28:40 - Why Winery Websites Are (Still) Terrible 30:03 - Market Outlook — Exports Down, Hospitality Up 31:34 - Younger Consumers, Health & Wellness 33:04 - Quickfire Round

Launching a Beverage Brand with No Industry Experience | Distribution Strategy | On-Trade Growth | Category Building with Nicholas Dellai (VETZ)

Dolia Talks is a podcast by Dolia, the platform where beverage brands grow. Discover more at https://getdolia.com Nicholas Dellai is the co-founder of VETZ, a premium natural-ingredient aperitivo that started in Stockholm and now reaches approximately 10 markets. He joins Giovanni to tell the full story: the aperitivo event platform they built in Sweden before the product even existed, the trial-and-error recipe development that landed on a botanical profile sitting between Campari and Aperol, and the deliberate choice to anchor the brand in Italy — with Milan as its international launchpad. Nicholas goes deep on the VETZ & Friends bartender program and what genuine on-trade activation looks like in practice, how the brand has structured its distributor relationships, the expansion into RTDs and 20-litre kegs for high-volume venues, and the non-alcoholic VETZ spritz now rolling out across new markets. He also shares a clear-eyed view on category competition — why more brands building the premium aperitivo space is a good thing — and where he sees VETZ in 10 years, including the US market and the long-term acquisition play. A practical episode for anyone in beverage brand building, distribution, or market entry strategy. AGENDA 2:33 Origin story — from Aperitivo Stockholm events to creating VETZ 6:06 Recipe & product development 8:17 Bottle design, brand name & aesthetics 10:48 Why alcoholic? Non-alcoholic plans 12:12 Entering Italy — positioning in a crowded market 16:08 Wine vs. spritz occasions & consumer behavior 20:40 Working with bars — cocktail suggestions & creative partnerships 23:03 VETZ & Friends program — bartenders as brand ambassadors 31:52 Distribution strategy — Italy vs. other markets 33:44 New B2B portal launch 38:12 Product line expansion — RTD, kegs & alcohol-free 41:56 Competition & market outlook 44:24 Quickfire round

The US Wine Market, Sommelier Relationships, and Why Social Media Comes First | Samantha Madden

Wine buyer and educator Samantha Madden on what it actually takes for a European wine brand to enter and survive in the US market. Samantha has worked on the US wine scene as a sommelier, in wholesale distribution, and as a wine educator building her own platform. In this conversation she covers the full picture: why social media has to come before distribution, how sommelier relationships drive more sales than any distributor rep, what the no/low alcohol category looks like from the US consumer side, and three practical steps for an Italian producer entering the US for the first time. Topics covered: US wine market entry, wine brand social media strategy, sommelier relationships and distribution, no/low alcohol trends in the US, label strategy by price point, Gen Z wine consumer behaviour, wine export tips for Italian producers. AGENDA 0:00 Rap videos and wine communication3:19 What younger consumers actually want from wine brands7:17 The sommelier's commercial influence in the sales chain13:11 From restaurant floor to distributor: how wine lists get built16:14 US market conditions and the tariff impact on imports18:08 Breaking into the US market: the social media entry point22:33 The no/low alcohol opportunity and the RTD advantage26:41 Three practical tips for exporting to the US32:15 Underrated wine regions and the 10-year market outlook35:11 Why the wine industry's gatekeeping culture hurts its own growth

Welcome to Dolia Talks!

Dolia Talks is a podcast by Dolia, the platform where beverage brands grow. Find out more about Dolia at getdolia.com [https://getdolia.com] Follow Dolia on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/getdolia/], LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/company/getdolia/] and TikTok [https://www.tiktok.com/@getdolia]

Creating a beverage brand from scratch | How to find distributors | Drinks e-commerce vs on-trade | Nicolas Maiarelli, Founder of IESSI

Nicolas Maiarelli had no experience in the beverage industry when he launched IESSI, a non-alcoholic aperitivo built from a family recipe. In this episode, he breaks down the full journey: product development with a small Italian distillery, building a B2B distribution network from scratch in Paris, and why 80% of the brand's revenue comes from on-premise accounts rather than e-commerce. We get into how to find and choose beverage distributors, why small specialist distributors outperform large portfolios for brand-building, and how IESSI approaches geographic expansion by thinking in cities rather than countries. Nicolas also shares his view on the no/low alcohol category in Europe and what it actually takes to sell an alcohol-free product into markets where drinking culture runs deep. Topics covered: starting a beverage brand with no industry experience, alcohol-free aperitivo development, on-premise beverage distribution, distributor selection, European market entry, no/low alcohol category growth. AGENDA 1:23 Nicolas's origin story — from L'Oréal to IESSI 5:47 Market opportunity & target customer 9:31 Launching in France and distributor pushback 16:30 Products, formats & channel strategy 22:09 From e-commerce to B2B — finding what works 25:18 Geographic expansion & distributor strategy 31:19 Social media, events & community building 36:39 Market saturation & the future of alcohol-free 41:46 Quickfire round