Bertani, Part 1

When we got into this business back in 1981 one of our suppliers was a wine distributor called MacKesson; yes, the pharmaceuticals company.  They had gotten into the wine business in a big way, owning the rights to sell exclusively in Georgia the wines of several premium California estate wineries.  And they failed miserably in the process.  America at large was not yet culturally ready for fine California wines.  So, for those of us savvy enough to pick up on what inevitably became regular dumps of fine wines at ridiculously discounted prices, it was manna from heaven.  

Earlier this year our Tenuta Santa Maria Italian wine vendor shared that his wine was actually the production of the historic brand, Bertani (est.1857), and that the actual Bertani brand on store shelves was now owned by an Italian drug company.  Weird.  

MacKesson quickly got out of the wine business, by the way, and those great labels of yore found new suppliers who knew how to market them effectively.  Here's the obvious backstory: Wine industry insiders know how to work with narrow profit margins.  Drug companies don't have the patience.  They're used to the H-U-G-E margins in their industry.

The Italian drug company has now owned Bertani for a dozen years and they've added parcels in Montepulciano, Montalcino, Chianti Classico and more recently, Marche and Friuli.  They appear to be quite successful.  How do they do it?

Three things:      

1. The wine culture in Italy is very mature so selling this product that is known to everyone should be relatively easy.

2. Georgia is a three tier state.  Maybe Italy doesn't have that extra expensive level of bureaucracy eating up profits.  AND the government over there is probably more supportive of the industry than over here.

3. The Bertani wines aren't what they used to be.  The drug company bought the Bertani name but not the best vineyards.  So there you go, they lowered their costs by sourcing from lesser vineyards to increase their margins.