In the mood for wine: The Business of Wine
Oct 26, 2026 · 49 min · 11 segments
*The Business of Wine* is a podcast brought to you by **In the mood for wine**, an independent publication for the next generation of wine lovers, collectors and investors…
A winery is high margin business or low margin business?
Compared to any other business in general, like would you classify making wine? Yeah.
You know, you've got the combination of the brand and the volume and the distribution to do that.
I don't think I would characterize owning a winery as being particularly high margin against, for example, being You know, in the software industry or in the tech industry or anything else like that, where the margins are astronomical or even banking, for example, where the margins are huge.
One of the things I've learned, uh, having left the city is that although the city is in the finance that are full of incredibly bright and talented people, it is intrinsically a very, very profitable industry.
And it's not all just because of their superb brains and their work ethic.
And I think we sort of underrate how fortunate we were to live in an industry like that, whilst the world of wine is really much more competitive.
And the other thing you have to cope with is critics and criticism in a way that you, you know, I mean, that's that's that I think is one of the big things you have to do is you have to learn to grow a thick skin because everyone's got an opinion about wine.
And some people will love your wine and there'll be some people who don't.
And you just have to, you know, that can be a really tough thing to learn to deal with it.
You know, you've spent years of your life putting your heart and soul into something and someone then is rude about your wine.
So it's a great industry, but I don't think you'd do it to be a millionaire.
And how would you say you cope with the criticism?
I mean, you know, in the early days, I mean, you know, Actually, by and large, I think, obviously, you can't control what people put on social media.
But by and large, I think wine critics act in an incredibly responsible, thoughtful way.
And I think, by and large, they use it incredibly responsibly and constructively.
A winery is high margin business or low margin business?
Compared to any other business in general, like would you classify making wine? Yeah.
You know, you've got the combination of the brand and the volume and the distribution to do that.
I don't think I would characterize owning a winery as being particularly high margin against, for example, being You know, in the software industry or in the tech industry or anything else like that, where the margins are astronomical or even banking, for example, where the margins are huge.
One of the things I've learned, uh, having left the city is that although the city is in the finance that are full of incredibly bright and talented people, it is intrinsically a very, very profitable industry.
And it's not all just because of their superb brains and their work ethic.
And I think we sort of underrate how fortunate we were to live in an industry like that, whilst the world of wine is really much more competitive.
And the other thing you have to cope with is critics and criticism in a way that you, you know, I mean, that's that's that I think is one of the big things you have to do is you have to learn to grow a thick skin because everyone's got an opinion about wine.
And some people will love your wine and there'll be some people who don't.
And you just have to, you know, that can be a really tough thing to learn to deal with it.
You know, you've spent years of your life putting your heart and soul into something and someone then is rude about your wine.
So it's a great industry, but I don't think you'd do it to be a millionaire.
And how would you say you cope with the criticism?
I mean, you know, in the early days, I mean, you know, Actually, by and large, I think, obviously, you can't control what people put on social media.
But by and large, I think wine critics act in an incredibly responsible, thoughtful way.
And I think, by and large, they use it incredibly responsibly and constructively.
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