Playful Concept, Serious Wines w/ Kyle MacLachlan, Pursued by Bear

04/21/23 • 39 min

Being a celebrity helps and hinders the launch and selling elements of a wine venture. Kyle MacLachlan, an actor with a broad base of work from Twin Peaks to Sex & the City to The Flintstones, details his journey of starting Pursued by Bear (“PBB”) in Walla Walla, Washington and how he thinks about imbuing his personal brand with the wine brand. From getting approval for the brand name from Steve Martin to designing his newly launched tasting room, Kyle weaves his stories around how branding has worked for PBB.

Detailed Show Notes:

Kyle’s background - an actor, including Cooper from Twin Peaks, Sex & the City, Desperate Housewives, How I Met Your Mother, and one of his favorites is The Flintstones

He just wrapped filming of Fallout for Amazon, based on the video game
He grew up in Eastern Washington, always been a wine drinker over beer & spirits
Met Ann Colgin & Doug Shafer in Napa and wanted to start a Napa brand in the late 1990s, but it was too expensive
His wife pointed him to WA wine, met Eric Dunham looking for a WA Syrah for his wedding, and partnered in 2005 to launch Pursued by Bear

PBB

~3,000 cases, 5 wines
PBB Cab Sauv (launched ‘05; ~500 cases) - was Cab, Syrah, Merlot blend, now Bordeaux blend
Baby Bear Syrah (launched ‘08, ~300 cases)
Rose (launched ‘15)
Bear Cub (launched ‘16, ~1,000 cases) - an entry-level red blend
Twin Bear - “prestige wine,” 100% Cabernet

Winery name

He wanted it to speak to his ‘day job’ of acting and bring it back to the theater, a Shakespeare reference
Refers to a stage direction in Winter’s Tale - “Exit, pursued by a bear”
Steve Martin approved of the name, which solidified it

Kyle’s role at PBB

Took over 100% ownership of the brand in 2016
Very involved in the business, hands-on with operations (e.g., copywriting for labels) and parts of winemaking (e.g., blending trials)
Dan Wampfler winemaker since 2008

Leveraging celebrity

Has helped bring attention to wine (e.g., using personal social media), but most fans aren’t wine people
Gotten more press than otherwise
Some product placement (has been in the background of Desperate Housewives and How I Met Your Mother - like an “easter egg”)
Tries to be an ambassador for WA State wines
Made short videos during the pandemic - “Beary Tales”
It is a hindrance at times as people think wines aren’t good
Hollywood connections have not helped much - many aren’t big wine drinkers or collectors

Customer acquisition

Most effective has been 1:1 hand selling
Opening a tasting room in Walla Walla - April 2023
Zoom tastings were effective at selling wine during the pandemic
He wants people to feel they are on a journey w/ Kyle around PBB

Tasting room

Designed to be comfortable - cork floors, oak tables, big bronze bear
Located in Walla Walla downtown - a wine-tasting destination, mostly from WA, ID, OR, and Canada
Very little acting memorabilia - a Twin Peaks bobblehead & mug
Spring Release 2023 - will have 3 musicians playing music, walking around town
Likes surprise and delight elements, has had discussions w/ an AR company about embedding elements, but hasn’t figured it out yet

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Detailed Show Notes:

Kyle’s background - an actor, including Cooper from Twin Peaks, Sex & the City, Desperate Housewives, How I Met Your Mother, and one of his favorites is The Flintstones

He just wrapped filming of Fallout for Amazon, based on the video game
He grew up in Eastern Washington, always been a wine drinker over beer & spirits
Met Ann Colgin & Doug Shafer in Napa and wanted to start a Napa brand in the late 1990s, but it was too expensive
His wife pointed him to WA wine, met Eric Dunham looking for a WA Syrah for his wedding, and partnered in 2005 to launch Pursued by Bear

PBB

~3,000 cases, 5 wines
PBB Cab Sauv (launched ‘05; ~500 cases) - was Cab, Syrah, Merlot blend, now Bordeaux blend
Baby Bear Syrah (launched ‘08, ~300 cases)
Rose (launched ‘15)
Bear Cub (launched ‘16, ~1,000 cases) - an entry-level red blend
Twin Bear - “prestige wine,” 100% Cabernet

Winery name

He wanted it to speak to his ‘day job’ of acting and bring it back to the theater, a Shakespeare reference
Refers to a stage direction in Winter’s Tale - “Exit, pursued by a bear”
Steve Martin approved of the name, which solidified it

Kyle’s role at PBB

Took over 100% ownership of the brand in 2016
Very involved in the business, hands-on with operations (e.g., copywriting for labels) and parts of winemaking (e.g., blending trials)
Dan Wampfler winemaker since 2008

Leveraging celebrity

Has helped bring attention to wine (e.g., using personal social media), but most fans aren’t wine people
Gotten more press than otherwise
Some product placement (has been in the background of Desperate Housewives and How I Met Your Mother - like an “easter egg”)
Tries to be an ambassador for WA State wines
Made short videos during the pandemic - “Beary Tales”
It is a hindrance at times as people think wines aren’t good
Hollywood connections have not helped much - many aren’t big wine drinkers or collectors

Customer acquisition

Most effective has been 1:1 hand selling
Opening a tasting room in Walla Walla - April 2023
Zoom tastings were effective at selling wine during the pandemic
He wants people to feel they are on a journey w/ Kyle around PBB

Tasting room

Designed to be comfortable - cork floors, oak tables, big bronze bear
Located in Walla Walla downtown - a wine-tasting destination, mostly from WA, ID, OR, and Canada
Very little acting memorabilia - a Twin Peaks bobblehead & mug
Spring Release 2023 - will have 3 musicians playing music, walking around town
Likes surprise and delight elements, has had discussions w/ an AR company about embedding elements, but hasn’t figured it out yet

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Previous Episode

Library Release - The Benefits of a WSET Wine Education w/ Peter Marks, MW of the Napa Valley Wine Academy

Educating students about wine is more about the “psychic paycheck” than the monetary one for Peter Marks, MW, partner and Vice President of the Napa Valley Wine Academy (“NVWA”), the leading provider of Wine & Spirit Education Trust (“WSET”) courses globally. Peter tells us about the different levels of the WSET (from Level 1 to Diploma), the full costs of wine education, and the benefits. He also discusses the innovations happening with online learning, including sending wine kits out with their courses and best practices for virtual seminars.

Detailed Show Notes:

Being in wine education is more about the “psychic paycheck” - getting feedback from your customers and students

Napa Valley Wine Academy

Founded in 2011, offering WSETbprograms
Now the largest WSET provider in the world
An Approved Program Provider (“APP”) for WSET - it’s like a franchise; NVWA buys materials, study packs, and exams from WSET; grading is done by WSET in London
65% of business in WSET, 35% in other wine programs
Develop proprietary courses - e.g., Wine 101, Wine 201, Napa Valley Wine Expert, Oregon Wine Expert, and the Business of Wine (with Tim Hanni, MW)

WSET

4 levels, 1 through 4 (4 is called the Diploma)
Levels 3 & 4 provide more understanding of the subjects
The diploma includes the business of wine and is a precursor for the Master of Wine program
Geared towards all aspects of the wine industry, very broad view vs. other programs (e.g., Court of Master Sommeliers is focused on restaurants/service, and Society of Wine Educators is focused on education)

Wine industry (or “trade”) participation in courses

Level 1 - ~90% consumer, 10% trade
Level 2 - ~75% consumer, 25% trade
Level 3 - ~40% consumer, 60% trade
Level 4 - ~10% consumer, 90% trade
More consumers are coming into the program

The benefits of a wine education, the 3 C’s of the WSET

Credential - showing your accomplishment
Confidence - knowing the facts about wine, speaking with confidence
Culture - participating in the culture of wine...the pay may be low, but being a part of the friendship and social aspects of the wine industry

~100,000 WSET students/year - now the “go to” wine education organization - it covers the entire industry and is global

Recent changes to the program - giving students what they want

Launched a Sake program
Split spirits from Wine for the Diploma
Introducing Beer soon

Virtual classes

Has always been an option - was called “self-study” and had to go in person to take exams
Exams for L1 and L2 are now offered online; L3 and Diploma cannot be because they include tastings
NVWA launched wine kits (wine samples re-bottled into small vials) for virtual classes - do virtual tastings with them; the wines are disguised to be blind
Had to learn how to better engage students online - using breakout rooms, polls/quizzes, reducing seminar times to 1-2 hours, best practice is to engage with students every 3-5 minutes
Do live webinars that are recorded
Pricing is the same as in-person, but no travel costs

The cost of wine education

Course fees, wine (for Diploma ~200-220 wines are recommended to know; wine can cost $500-2,000 for samples), travel
Wine kits are included in course costs

Scholarships - NVWA has several partners for scholarships

Wine Unify for L1-3
Wine Access
The Roots Fund
John Hart (former NBA star) - for the BIPOC community

The return on wine education

Constellation Brands paid bonuses for employees who passed WSET qualifications and also offered tuition reimbursement

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Next Episode

Library Release - Selection and Differentiation in Grocery Wine w/ Curtis Mann MW, Albertson’s

Grocery stores are one of the biggest sales channels for wine. Curtis Mann, Group Vice President of Alcohol of the Albertson’s Companies, gives us the inside scoop on buying trends, how to sell into Albertson’s, and the rise of the use of digital. Learn about the dynamics of the grocery wine market and what makes Albertson’s “locally great, nationally strong.”

Detailed Show Notes:

Grocery as part of the wine market

Multi-outlet wine market ~$12-13B / year
Total wine market ~$60-70B / year (multi-outlet ~20% of the total market)

Albertson's Companies' wine overview

~25 different grocery brands, ~2,000 stores
Wine is a key element of business - it drives sales and customer loyalty, some customers come to stores because of the wine selection
Some stores have up to 3,000 wine SKUs
Stores with more premium selections are correlated with location (high socio-economic demographics) vs. grocery store brand
The focus is more on the “premium” price segment ($9+ based on IRI)
Top brands - Barefoot, Kendall Jackson, up-and-coming brands - Butterl Josh, but wine is very diversified, big brands are still a small part of the market
Premiumization helping imports, including New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc

Wine buying trends

Consumers are called to authenticity - they want to know what’s in their wine, the appellation, sustainability, and organic
Convenience - cans, seltzer, ready to drink
Premiumization - $10-20/bottle, $30-50/bottle, up to $100/bottle (e.g., high-end Bordeaux, Napa Cabernet) ranges all doing well, some categories accelerating with potential out-of-stocks

Wine customer demographics

Gen X & Baby Boomers - still buying a lot (more in bulk and volume), but less than before
Millennials are the new customers - buying more, less loyal to wine vs. other drinks, and have less expendable income; their preferences are different from Gen X and Baby Boomers
To meet the changing demographics, Curtis looks forward 3-5 years to develop his shelf set/selections of wine

Promotions/discounting

Limited brand loyalty in wine, customers often default to price
Promotions are very important
Need to work between price and product to optimize sales and not over-rely on price

Wine selection

What does it mean to customers? Each wine must have a purpose vs. the other ~1,500 SKUs on the shelf
Tagline - ‘locally great, nationally strong’; try to give local stores more voice (e.g., Portland stores have more Willamette Valley Pinot Noirs)
Flagship Stores (e.g., Andronico’s, Pavilions) - higher-end, eclectic offerings
Steps to sell into Alberston’s - have the 4 P’s put together - distribution network, pricing, product, and where you fit on the shelf
Generally need to place wine 4-6 months in advance
Needs a UPC code on the bottle

Private Label/“Own Brand” wines

The goal is to provide the best price to value for customers
The intent is to drive loyalty
Not a dominant part of the business
Trying to create wines that are a draw and get good scores
Selection is built around education, the desire to learn about the wine category through own brands
Suppliers have connections to maintain supply, which can help Own Brands overcome supply challenges (e.g., 2020 Napa, 2021 New Zealand)

Core elements of success for the grocery channel