{"id":32054,"date":"2021-09-15T18:02:34","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T21:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/?p=32054"},"modified":"2021-09-15T18:02:34","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T21:02:34","slug":"insights-into-running-a-global-organic-wine-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/insights-into-running-a-global-organic-wine-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Insights into running a global organic wine business"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\nThe French businesswoman had flown to Mendoza from Miami, where she runs an organic wine import business with her husband, Labid Al Ameri.
\nAnne is quarantining in the family\u2019s new boutique lodge in Gualtallary, in the Uco Valley. She\u2019s the only customer and it\u2019s giving her the chance to check out the rooms and service before it officially opens.
\nThe Gaia Lodge is next to the family\u2019s winery, Domaine Bousquet, which produces more than 4m litres of organic wine a year.
\nAnne gives me a virtual tour of the hotel. It has seven rooms \u2013 five doubles and two quadruples \u2013 but the selling point is the stunning view across Malbec vines to the snow-capped Andes.<\/p>\n

\"Bousquet
\nI\u2019ve called her because I want to know about the economics of running an organic wine business. If anyone can tell me about the business side of organic viticulture and winemaking, it\u2019s Anne.
\nPrior to joining her father and her husband at Domaine Jean Bousquet in 2008, Anne worked as an economist for the European paper packaging industry out of Brussels. Anne, who has a master\u2019s degree in applied economics from Saint Cloud State University, Minnesota, and a bachelor degree in economics from the University of Toulouse, France, joined Domaine Bousquet to assist in financial planning, day-to-day operations management and business development. Today, she runs the business with her husband, whom she met at university in Minnesota. He was studying finance and went on to become a successful trader in Boston before joining Domaine Bousquet in 2005 to create the structure for its growth in more than 50 countries. About 95% of its production is exported.
\nThe third partner in the business is Anne\u2019s brother, Guillaume, who runs the European wine import arm from Bordeaux.<\/p>\n

\"Bousquet
\nThe business has invested about $15m on planting 270ha of vines, building an organic, sustainable winery, a restaurant and now a hotel.
\nThe discussion with Anne focused on the keys to running a successful organic, sustainable, vegan-friendly wine business\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2018We deliver happiness\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You don\u2019t have to provide wine tourism facilities \u2013 but it\u2019s what customers want<\/h3>\n

\"Bousquet
\n\"Bousquet
\nAfter the virtual tour of the modern hotel (above<\/em>), I wonder if they had to expand into wine tourism to make the organic vineyard\u00a0and winery more viable.
\nAnne smiles, before revealing they hadn\u2019t planned to go into wine tourism; they are responding to demand.
\nOpening the Gaia Lodge was a logical next step for the winery. After opening for tastings ten years ago, they added a tour guide. Guests stayed longer, tasted more red wines and requested food. Platters of cheese and charcuterie led to an organic restaurant\u00a0and homegrown food. After opening the Gaia restaurant seven years ago, guests then started asking about places to sleep\u2026
\n\u201cThat\u2019s how, two-and-a-half years ago, we started the construction of the Lodge and we just finished it,\u201d Anne explains. \u201cIt just happened. We never wanted to be in tourism. We never wanted a restaurant, less a hotel.
\n\u201cBut we\u2019re happy to do it, it\u2019s a fun part of our industry and it\u2019s always good because we deliver happiness.\u201d
\nIt\u2019s a perk of the job, she says, seeing people who are relaxed, smiling and laughing and \u201chaving a good moment. With the pandemic, people enjoy even more these good moments now.\u201d
\nThe business has invested more than $1m in the new hotel. But, despite the pandemic, they are already fully booked at weekends.
\nArgentinians are discovering the Uco Valley. Before Covid-19 struck the world, the bulk of visitors were wine lovers from the USA, Europe and Brazil.
\nAnne can see there will be \u201ca huge demand\u201d for oenotourism in the region again, and is already planning the expansion of the restaurant \u2013 or even a new one \u2013 as well as adding more facilities to the hotel in the coming years.<\/p>\n

\"Bousquet<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not about following a trend; it\u2019s about believing in what you\u2019re doing<\/h3>\n

Domaine Bousquet has been organic from the beginning. Its first wines, in 2005, were certified organic.
\nYes, they are benefiting from the accelerating demand for organic wines (global sales of organic wine are projected to grow from $11bn in 2020 to $30bn by 2030). And yes, Domaine Bousquet\u2019s turnover increased by 15% to $11.4m last year and by 25% in the first six months of this year\u2026
\nBut Domaine Bousquet only exists because Anne\u2019s father, a winemaker in southwest France, wanted to farm organically.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s easier if you choose a good site<\/h3>\n

Jean Bousquet found his dream terroir in semi-arid Gualtallary. Drawn here by the ability to \u201ccontrol the rain\u201d (through irrigation), he planted at high-altitude (4,000ft) in the Andean foothills, where the constant breezes helped mitigate heat-stress and the diurnal differentials were significant (15C-20\u00b0C). The virgin vineyards also had sandy soils that drained well, retained the heat, and were resistant to pests.
\nHe was so convinced that this was \u201cparadise\u201d, he sold his Carcassonne winery, Lalande, in 1997, and moved to Tupungato in the Uco Valley.
\nGradually, Anne and Labid fell in love with the place too and began to invest in the project, becoming partners in 2005 and assuming full ownership in 2011.
\nTo compensate for the average rainfall of just 20cm per year, they us a drip irrigation system with meltwater from the Andes supplemented\u00a0by their own 495ft-deep well, which took two years to dig.<\/p>\n

Organic farming is one aspect of sustainability<\/h3>\n

Domaine Bousquet takes what it describes as a \u201c360-degree sustainabilty\u201d approach, of which organic farming is one of the pillars.
\nAnne mentions installing solar panels to power the winery, water treatment facilities to limit waste, automatic cut-off cleaners to reduce water consumption, and the use of lightweight glass bottles across the range of ten wines to further reduce their carbon footprint, but she\u2019s most proud of the economic sustainability they are providing to the local community. The wine industry which followed Domaine Bousquet to Gualtallary has transformed the Tupungato economy and infrastructure.
\n95% of Domaine Bousquet\u2019s 148 employees are residents of Tupungato.
\n\u201cAs an economist, I really appreciate being part of that economic development,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Creating import companies to handle overseas sales<\/h3>\n

Domaine Bousquet has its own import companies in the United States and Europe. This gives them more control over their distributors and has been key to their phenomenal growth.
\nWhen I ask Anne about the major changes over the past ten years, since her father stepped back, she says it\u2019s the growth of US sales and the success of their Miami-based import company, Origins Organic Imports.
\nSince it was set up in 2015, sales in the US have grown by about 40% each year. Now they are selling in every state, they can approach retail chains. \u201cAnd that opens the door to the next level,\u201d Anne points out.<\/p>\n

Encouraging growers to go organic<\/h3>\n

Domaine Bousquet grows 50% of its grapes and buys the rest from local farmers.
\nAnne says they help local growers convert to organic farming methods and become certified before buying from them. At first, local growers were sceptical, but now her team receives regular calls from growers who want to sign up.<\/p>\n

\"Bousquet<\/p>\n

Adding a line of zero-zero wines<\/h3>\n

Chief winemaker Rodrigo Serrano, who joined in December 2017, combines traditional and modern winemaking methods in a modern winery packed with stainless-steel and cement vats, and oak barrels.
\nBut \u201chis baby\u201d is non-sulphite organic wines under the Virgen label \u2013 starting with a red blend of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc from the 2018 vintage that sold out in just over two months. This year they have released the same blend from 2019 as well as a Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. A Chardonnay will follow.
\nHe believes it\u2019s \u201cthe purest expression of the local terroir\u201d.
\nAnne says she has been tasting the 2019s in the hotel. \u201cThey\u2019re holding up well,\u201d she volunteers. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing with organic grapes \u2013 you feel more the fruit. They are more natural and stronger, so they just preserve well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organic wines can still offer good value<\/h3>\n

The Virgen red blend sells for $13 in the US.
\nWith the import companies, they are selling 7 million bottles of organic wine a year, at retail prices of $10-36 in the US.
\nThe core line ranges from Virgen and premium varietals to sparkling wines, special editions and Gaia, which is aimed at the on-trade.<\/p>\n

But the big question is: does organic viticulture make financial sense?<\/h3>\n

\u201cIt makes sense,\u201d Anne confirms.
\nIt\u2019s made sense from the beginning, when they planted the vineyards in 2000 and sold their first bottle in 2005 \u2013 already certified organic. It helped them to establish themselves and stand out, competing in a niche market where there were fewer competitors.
\nShe also points out that the economics are improving \u2013 as machines take over some of the more laborious tasks in the vineyard.
\nI point out that more machines mean more fossil fuel usage.
\nAnne replies: \u201cI still believe it\u2019s much better to use more machines but not spray so much. We can see the difference between our vines, planted 20 years ago, compared to other vines in the region planted about the same time and managed conventionally. Our vines are much more vigorous so that means, over the long term, a vine that has always been managed organically like ours lasts longer because the soil is not polluted and will give.\u201d
\nShe says they will try to offset the additional fuel use by installing more solar panels \u201cso the global impact stays the same or goes down\u201d.<\/p>\n

I leave her admiring the view of the blue sky and the soft glow of the sun on the distant snowy mountains. Her recollection of growing up in her father\u2019s vineyard in Languedoc echo around the room: \u201cIt was painful for us to put so much chemicals into the vines.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domaine Bousquet\u2019s results in IWC 2021<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Source https:\/\/www.internationalwinechallenge.com\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anne Bousquet, an economist by training, reveals the realities behind running Argentina\u2019s largest organic wine exporter and two organic wine import businesses\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media-pacements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/domainebousquet.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}