We must stand on the quality of our wine, especially considering that green wineries are a dime a dozen in northern California. We make pretty good wine, so we are in decent shape there. We have a good distribution business, and that is definitely an asset. This isn't much to work with, honestly, and there are a lot of wineries that do the same things we do better than we do them. Domestic/Global Risks

The wine market is becoming globalized, and that has invited competition from all over the world, and they all want into California, which is one of the biggest markets in the world. This is bringing about a glut of cheap, decent wine into the market at a time when Napa real estate is pricey and our wines expensive as a result. Economically, we have a price sensitive market and our sales as a result can be expected to decline in the event of a difficult economy. The Congressional Budget Office is expecting slow growth for another two years. We face a couple of key domestic risks as well. The first is that some of the best retail outlets for our audience (like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods) are driving costs down with their own budget lines. In addition, we still face challenges in developing a direct-to-consumer business across state borders.

Recommendations

We need to sell our less productive land and use the funds to pay down some of the debt. The debt was created in part because we bought a bunch of land but didn't increase our sales. We are probably selling grapes on the secondary market; we're better off selling the land. Another recommendation is to reposition...

We cannot rely on older consumers in the long run, but we have done little to cultivate the 20-something and 30-something crowd. Competition is tough -- we need to put some real money into marketing to this group. Lifestyle marketing is a good starting point, along with a much improved social media campaign. But we also need to look at our distribution channels - are we getting into the restaurants this market likes? We should also look at branding. We've been around a while, and Frog's Leap is associated -- if there is an association at all -- with $30 bottles and an older demographic.
I want to see an entirely new brand. Production-wise, we might even have to buy grapes once we sell our land, but these grapes will be much cheaper. A new brand should be positioned to grow for the next thirty years, as our current brands fade through maturity and into the decline stage of the product life cycle. We can talk about our sustainability practices, but make sure that the brand and product are distributed well and at a price point that is good for the younger market. I borrow this approach from New Belgium brewery -- they do all the right eco things, but they are growing rapidly because their distribution and branding are spot on. We need to take that sort of approach -- marketing first, production second, and "green" third. By adding a brand, hopefully we'll be adding a lot of new sales as well. The result of this is that we can pay down some debt right away, and then start into a long-term growth trajectory that allows us to grow our revenues by appealing to new markets.