21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
If in the Wine Industry - Read this book, October 27, 2001
This review is from: The Wrath of Grapes: The Coming Wine Industry Shakeout And How To Take Advantage Of It (Paperback)
As the title indicates, if you are in the wine industry (at any point along the supply chain) or if you are considering entering the industry, read this book. If you are interested in learning how to taste wine, that is not the intent of this book. Lewis writes this book as an insider on the industry and from a consultant's perspective.
This book is a must read for anyone considering entering the wine business! Much of what Lewis writes could help fill out the majority of your business plan - from determining cash flows to gaining insight into the wine industry in general. Or at the least, you could use the book as a check on some of your assumptions.
If however, you simply want to learn how to taste & enjoy wine, you would do well to look for another book. His focus is purely from a business perspective.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, well written analysis of US wine business., July 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: The Wrath of Grapes: The Coming Wine Industry Shakeout And How To Take Advantage Of It (Paperback)
The Wrath of Grapes; The Coming Wine Industry Shakeout and How to Take Advantage of It, Lewis Perdue, Avon Books, June 1999, ISBN 0380-80151-5. Paper. $13.50. 254 pages. This is a fascinating analysis of the world of American wine as an industry. Perdue has written 17 books, including 11 novels, founded Wine Business Monthly and Insider, and publishes Wine Investment. He has been an aide to a U.S. Senator and a governor, taught journalism at Cornell and UCLA, was a Washington correspondent for Dow Jones, Gannett and others, and acted as a wine importer and wholesaler.
His major theme: "Thou hast showed thy people hard things: thou has made us to drink the wine of astonishment." Psalms 60:3. He clearly describes the "hard things" he sees facing the US wine industry: over-supply in the face of flat consumption, devastating vineyard diseases, an antiquated distribution system; attacks from anti-alcohol forces; and an inability to capitalize on wine's proven health benefits.
His description of the nine major wine industry trade groups - not including state, county and local organizations - and a recent history of their activities is particularly enlightening. He argues that these divisions show up as a spectacular string of economic, political and organizational failures. He points out that Gallo is the defining presence in the US wine industry, often "an active contributor to the turmoil, but more often it lets the internecine war rage unabated, reasoning that the troubles of others can only help preserve its market dominance." He concludes that if you are looking at the wine industry as an investment, you must recognize that it cannot mount a concerted approach for anything - including meeting the gathering onslaught of neo-Prohibitionist attacks on alcohol in general.
He describes the vulnerability of a grapevine - called AxR1 - to Phylloxera, despite several warnings from international researchers that it was vulnerable. He estimates the cost to tear out these vines and to replant to others at $4 billion. He worries that the structural causes of the AxR1 problem still exist in American viticulture, which may lead to similar problems with other wine pests and diseases.
He reviews the evidence that wine is healthy, concludes that "people who drink in moderation live longer, healthier lives than either abstainers or heavy drinkers", and outlines several reasons that the message does not get through to consumers. For example, the total US wine industry is about $18 billion, advertising is about $100 million and estimates that anti-alcohol and drug groups have over $3 billion in funds. The budget of the Center for Science in the Public Interest is $18 million, twice the budget of all the wine trade associations combined.
His description of the three-tier system is worth the price of the book, for anyone who hasn't experienced it first hand. His conclusion: "The battle is between small shippers and the consumers they serve, and an entrenched, well-financed wholesalers' cartel whose money reaches into the pockets of legislators and public officials in every state and in the nation's capital. The outcome will most certainly affect your choices of wines and the prices you pay."
He argues that the profits for wineries during the past two years have come from increasing prices with tiny increases in unit volumes, so increasing profits cannot be sustained without increases in demand.
This background analysis leads to his basic economic conclusion: "Both wine and sex are best enjoyed for the sake of the love involved instead of the money.... You had better love wine because there is relatively little money to be made, and it is made by a very small handful of people. ... This is not a warning against investing in either wine or the companies that produce it. The right investment can offer hours and years of enjoyment and reward. Just do it with your eyes (instead of your wallet) wide open and your investment goals focused on the horizon of pleasure rather than profit."
There are also chapters on the costs of getting wine from the ground into the bottle; the costs and possible rewards of investing in wine itself; an approach to investment research before investing in public wineries; and the risks to investors (and the benefits to sellers) of winery REITs. He reinforces his message with the view of venture capitalists about the wine business: "It's too small; the tiny growth potential is not worth the risk; returns are too small; your market is shrinking."
Well worth reading and perhaps studying, whatever your interest in American wine.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
More about wine politics than anything, January 22, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: The Wrath of Grapes: The Coming Wine Industry Shakeout And How To Take Advantage Of It (Paperback)
I gave this to my boyfriend for Christmas since he and I are involved in the industry. Unless you are planning to really get involved in the industry, we wouldn't recommend this book. It is primarily about politics with the BATF and how the big guys (Gallo) shut the little guys out of the market.
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