The Old Model Is Collapsing
Here is What Replaces It
Supplier-funded trips are down 80%. For decades, wineries and importers invested in bringing their best accounts to wine country — rewarding loyalty and deepening the education that makes great sommeliers and buyers. That model is disappearing under tariff pressures, declining restaurant wine programs, and tightening budgets. But the data is clear — the next generation of wine consumers engages with wine through connection to people and place, not scores and ratings. Top wineries are succeeding through experience-driven, high-touch engagement. The ones struggling haven't adapted.
Vineyard Confidential is the infrastructure that makes this work at scale.
How it Works
Your accounts — retailers, restaurants, country clubs — want to offer their top customers exclusive wine trips. It's branded as their trip, not ours. Their customers are already high-net-worth buyers who support your brands. We handle everything — itinerary design, winery coordination, sales sheets, logistics, Virtuoso travel agent partnerships. Your estates generate revenue per guest for hosting. All wine purchases flow back through proper channels at the account's margins. And every guest is a pre-qualified buyer who becomes a potential direct-to-consumer customer. All guest information is shared with you.
Or go direct. A collector taking his board through Burgundy. A couple celebrating an anniversary in Piedmont. We provide winery access and sommelier expertise. Your estates generate hosting revenue and direct wine sales — DTC with direct shipping or three-tier through a retailer they already work with. We structure it however makes sense for your business.
What This Solves
Family wineries transforming hospitality from expense to revenue. Importers delivering qualified buyers to their estates instead of funding trips with uncertain return. Distributors strengthening account relationships by offering something nobody else can. The education and relationship building that made supplier trips valuable doesn't disappear — it gets funded by the people who benefit most from the experience.