In an increasingly digital world, there is still little substitute for wine in people’s mouths. Doing in-store tastings is one way to get directly in front of consumers and get immediate feedback on products. Jessica Kogan, CEO of HSP Brands, is focused on providing both an engaging consumer experience and capturing the data from in-store tastings to drive real insight and ROI for bev alc suppliers.

Detailed Show Notes:

Jessica’s background: co-founder of Cameron Hughes Wine, sold to Vintage Wine Estates and became CMO (took DTC business from $25M to $150M in 3 years), bought back HSP Brands from Vintage

HSP Brands Overview

• Conducts brand activations for adult beverages
• Off-premise primarily (e.g. - national grocery chains)
• Works w/ suppliers to sponsor tastings (1 supplier at a time)
• Digitally promotes events, executes in-store tastings, and has data analytics platform to capture data and show trends
• Usually sample 1 bottle, but can showcase portfolio of wine
• Focused on CA, AZ, NV, TX
• >$100M of product sold, talked to >1M consumers in the last year

HSP customers

• Did FitVine’s brand activations
• Works with 50-100 suppliers
• Best suited brands are 1 - want to do persistent and consistent tastings with a connection to consumer marketing team; 2 - innovation brands, test for early results (requires being on-shelf and a website)

Brand Activators

• Part-time employees
• Want to or already work in bev-alc (e.g. - bartenders, hospitality, community connectors)
• New trend: influx of college kids, recent grads; see the opportunity as a great way to learn how to present, interact, talk to people
• Boomers do a good job of selling wine
• Millennials / Gen Z tend to approach customers with more occasion messaging vs promoting a specific wine
• Pairs team members with the right brands, including feedback from the stores and from the data
• 3 step training process (1 - in-person interviews; 2 - meet w/ current brand activators and go through an event; 3 - 9 part digital training module)

ROI / benefits

• Believes tastings would outperform discounting for the same cost
• Can identify trends in advance, often 8-12 weeks before Nielsen data
• Cost of customer acquisition (“CAC”) <$1/CAC, including credit for bottle sales over a 24 hour period, samples given, and conversations had
• Other in-store tasting providers don’t report results, have zero visibility

Pricing model

• Min 3 hours / $225 ($75/hr)
• Sweet spot is 4 hour events
• Goal should be 50-100 events in 2 markets

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With the goal of living a purposeful life, Vida Valiente was founded in Napa as a combination luxury winery and charity. The foundation is focused on providing last dollar scholarships and mentorship to 1st generation college students. The winery is establishing a newly planted vineyard as the next “grand cru” site in Napa. Hayes and Susana Drumwright combine these two elements into a pathway to connect people who have succeeded with grit to the next generation through wine and impactful experiences.

Detailed Show Notes:

Susana’s background: career in tech, now full-time with the foundation and winery

Hayes’ background: had cancer early, many early failures, then sold a tech company and founded Memento Mori Winery in 2010, Vida Valiente in 2019, and just bought Edge Hill Winery in 2026; just published The Empty Center

Vida Valiente (“VV”) overview

• Planted vines to create a “grand cru” wine vs Memento Mori leveraged existing “grand cru” sites
• Has had 5 100 point wines in the last 3 years
• Produced ~3,000 cases in 2025, goal is ~4,500 cases
• Donates $100/btl of every bottle of “The Movement,” the signature blend sold
• Has a guaranteed allocation group “Los Padrinos” (“the godparents”)

Foundation founded to uplift 1st generation college students at Stanford

• Board member, Memento Mori founder, and friend Adriel Lares went to Stanford
• 191 students in the program now, admit 50 students/year of ~100 applicants
• Give each student $5k/year for last dollar scholarships, provide mentorship, and leadership offsites
• Has raised ~$6.5M to date, ~$500k from “The Movement” (goal is $100k/year); goal is $3-4M/year
• Wants to raise ~$2M/year from corporate donors
• Costs ~$1.2M/year to run, could be $2.5M if all applicants accepted
• Many VV customers have done great things and feel alignment with students
• Susana and Hayes are foundation’s only employees

Napa in Cabo charity event, held by Vida Valiente

• 3 days at the Montage in Los Cabos
• Features 10 Napa wineries, e.g. - Scarecrow, Lokoya, Eisele
• Raised $6M, $2.3M in 2025
• 1st night meet & greet, 2nd night charity gala, 3rd night to support other wineries (sold $760k of wine for other wineries)
• Exploring a “Napa in Napa” event

VV marketing

• Not as much crossover from Memento Mori as originally thought
• Napa Valley referrals important
• Hospitality a big driver, including client dinners and impactful experiences

Arc of 3 Napa projects

• Memento Mori - “remember to live”
• Vida Valiente - “live a purposeful life”
• Ultra Mortem (at Edge Hill site) - “beyond death, do something worth remembering”

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A 7th generation shipper and 2nd generation winegrower, Basile Aloy of Avignonesi in Tuscany, has a unique perspective on the geopolitical and macroeconomic events happening today and how they impact the cost of wine. Oil prices, war, tariffs, and climate change all come into play in this wide ranging conversation that showcases how much some of these macro events impact the world of wine.

Detailed Show Notes:

Basile’s background: Chairman of Avignonesi, wine distribution in Italy & US, 7th generation shipping family, CEO of shipping businesses EBE & Victrix, studied winemaking in Bordeaux

Runs a fleet of dry bulk carriers in shipping, does not ship wine

Iran war has increased the cost of cargo, a 40 ft container for wine went from $1,600 to $2,700 (~70% increase), however, per bottle (~18k bottles/container) that goes from $0.09 to $0.15/bottle (not a huge impact)

• Many ships have been re-routed around South Africa instead of crossing the Suez Canal, they don’t send ships through Hormuz, which has caused congestion for trucking in the Middle East
• There has been less fuel on the market, causing some wait times to re-fuel ships
• Tariffs have had a bigger impact on wine costs, earlier in 2026, Italy paid 15% tariffs on wine to the US, mid-2026 it is now down to 10%, which has outweighed the freight increase
• Food costs are rising, ~30% of global fertilizers come from the Middle East, diesel costs are up; food price increases are coming

Domesticating production can be challenging, but it is happening in some places, both Canada and China are leaning in; Avignonesi saw China as a big growth market, but has fallen dramatically, partially due to high quality wines made in China

Both shipping and wine are very capital intensive, but ships can be purchased on the secondary market, where prices swing dramatically (from $25M to $75M in 5 years); wine cycles are much longer, which can create longer downturns like we’re experiencing today

Avignonesi overview

• 170 ha vineyards
• Focused on Sangiovese and some international varieties, as well as Vin Santo
• ~50-60% exported
• Italian market is semi-export, as tourists drive a decent amount of consumption (e.g. - during Covid, Italian sales were down ~20-30%)
• Basile’s family took over Avignonesi in 2009, have a vision to be more transparent with customers, healthy (move towards organic and biodynamic viticulture), and a desire to take care of the environment, broadly speaking (become a B Corp, provide English classes to the community)
• Avignonesi requested permission from regulators to put “Nobile” bigger than “Montepulciano” for their Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
• Wine is more brand driven vs shipping, need to be careful about discounting and its impact on the brand

Shipping can be more sustainable than trucking wine; glass weight of wine has a huge impact on sustainability (~750g of wine in a bottle vs ~400-800g of glass; Avignonesi chose light weight bottles)

Europe is like Disneyland, “growers of memories,” which builds a connection to their wines, particularly the premium wines

The future of Avignonesi: starting a re-branding exercise, planted a “3rd millennium” vineyard to address viticulture issues with climate change (1st harvest 2027)

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