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

Inside Portofino Dry Gin | The State of The Gin Market | Finding The Right Distributors | Brand Partnerships as Distribution Channels | Ruggero Raymo, Co-Founder and CEO of Portofino Dry Gin

This podcast is sponsored by Dolia, the growth platform for beverage brands. Find out more at https://getdolia.com Ruggero Raymo co-founded Portofino gin in 2019 after a career in sports sponsorship at AC Milan, FIFA, and Eurosport, with no prior experience in beverage or spirits. Seven years later, Portofino is a globally distributed premium gin brand, and Ruggero has become one of the sharper commercial minds in the category on how to build demand from outside the traditional trade playbook. Ruggero walks through how Portofino used cross-industry partnerships with fashion, design, art, and sports brands to create consumer pull before ever pitching a distributor, the pyramid strategy behind sequencing on-trade, off-trade, and eventually supermarkets, and how two competitor acquisitions reshaped the Mediterranean gin category in Portofino's favor. Essential listening for anyone building or distributing a beverage brand in a category everyone insists is already too crowded. AGENDA 00:05 From sports sponsorships to launching a gin brand 02:40 Three lessons for launching a brand with zero experience 04:30 State of the gin and spirits market today 07:09 Is the gin category oversaturated? 09:09 Where the real growth is: premium and ultra-premium 10:08 How the market outlook has changed since 2019 13:13 The no/low alcohol trend, plus a teaser on Portofino's next launch 16:00 The early days: hand-delivering gin and first sales channels 18:58 The cross-industry partnership strategy behind Portofino 24:43 Balancing wide distribution with a premium position 27:22 Current sales channel split and market-by-market differences 28:55 How Portofino picks its next market: the data behind expansion 31:31 How two competitor acquisitions opened doors for Portofino 34:26 The US opportunity and the state-by-state playbook 36:20 Alcohol tourism and hospitality strategy 38:02 Quick fire round

How to Export Wine to the US | The Three-Tier System Explained | Why Quality Is Not Enough | Paola Pavan

This podcast is sponsored by Dolia, the growth platform for beverage brands. Find out more here [https://getdolia.com]. Paola Pavan spent years running multi-million-dollar promotional campaigns for the Italian Trade Agency before going independent to help individual brands solve the part the institutions never could: actually selling in the US market. Today she runs OPC International, guiding European wine and spirits brands through the country's notoriously fragmented three-tier distribution system. In this episode, we cover how that system really works, why most brands compete inside their own distributor's portfolio before they ever compete in the open market, what it takes to create demand for a new product in a category with limited shelf space, and why some of the best-selling "Italian" wines in America are owned and run by American companies. Essential listening for anyone working on US market entry for a beverage brand. AGENDA: 03:33 US alcohol consumption trends vs Europe 04:24 Market size and the three-tier distribution system 06:23 Inside a distributor's portfolio: the Mionetto example 08:19 Strategy and execution: why quality alone isn't enough 09:01 Italy vs France vs the US: the competitive landscape 11:38 The "Italian" wines actually owned by American companies 12:15 Should a small producer even try? Access to capital in the US 14:55 The minimum viable presence playbook 16:13 Why brands still need to manage key accounts directly 18:25 Budget reality: Italian revenue vs US marketing spend 21:00 Creating demand without a distributor's help 24:39 Alternative entry paths and lucky breaks 27:26 The role and limits of consortia and trade agencies 31:20 Can social media build demand before distribution? 35:12 The export process, start to finish 39:25 Timeline and cost to enter the US market 40:11 Ready-to-drink: an underused opportunity for wineries 41:39 Why market entry strategy differs by country 42:44 Quickfire round

Why No Wine Market Is Exciting | Managing Distributor Relationships | Do Trade Shows Still Matter? | Leonardo Mocetti, Sales Manager at Castello di Meleto

This podcast is sponsored by Dolia, the growth platform for beverage brands. Find out more at https://getdolia.com Leonardo Mocetti is the Commercial and Marketing Director for Italy and Export at Castello di Meleto, one of Chianti Classico's most recognised estates. He joins Giovanni to talk about what he learned moving from building Franciacorta's commercial case from scratch to navigating the very different challenge of making Chianti Classico's fame actually convert into sales. The conversation covers the real gap between brand awareness and brand clarity, why "is this a good wine?" stopped being the question buyers ask, and how the timeline mismatch between producers and distributors is quietly breaking down relationships across every major market. Leonardo also gets into wine tourism: when it becomes a genuine commercial channel and when it stays a beautiful but strategically hollow exercise. They close on trade fairs: what Vinitaly and Wine Paris are actually useful for, what most producers get wrong about showing up, and why a fair should work as a market intelligence tool rather than a showroom. Essential listening for anyone working in wine export, brand building, or distribution. AGENDA 1:10 — From Franciacorta to Chianti Classico 6:17 — Individual Producer vs. Appellation: Who Drives Differentiation? 9:02 — Italy vs. Export Markets 11:37 — Key Export Markets 16:06 — US Tariffs & Market Uncertainty 20:38 — Producer–Distributor Relationships 26:20 — Tips for Young Export Managers 30:00 — Wine Tourism & Hospitality as a Commercial Channel 35:19 — Attracting Younger Consumers 37:52 — Trade Fairs: Still Worth It? 43:50 — Quickfire Round Follow Dolia on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2kJbKqfcg6W7cW0C0Tv2MS?si=2639fe12d822484c Follow Dolia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/getdolia/ Follow Leonardo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonardo-mocetti-91666b36/

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