In this episode of the Vino Visionaries Podcast, I speak with Adam Casto from the 'What’s the Problem?' Podcast, about something much deeper than marketing, premiumisation, or tradition.

Adam is also the winemaker at Ehlers Estate, and since launching his podcast, he has become one of the standout voices in our industry.

What makes his perspective so interesting is that he is not speaking from the outside. He is inside the system, making wine, living the day-to-day reality of the business, and at the same time stepping back far enough to ask the harder questions many people avoid.

What are we actually selling, and what are people really buying?

After reflecting on 62 conversations across the wine world, this episode explores how the industry may have become disconnected from the meaning of wine itself.

Together, we discuss the multiple realities that coexist in the wine world, and why the future of wine depends on rethinking the way we think.

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👥Connect with Adam Casto: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-casto-700ab929/#Adamcasto #winepodcast #vinovisionaries #rethinkingwine #rethinkingthewineindustry #wineindustry #winebusiness

This conversation is about the wine industry’s blind spot: the Base of the Pyramid.

Wine doesn’t survive by only selling premium. It survives because people can enter the category easily, and then some move up over time.

But if we keep shaming value wines, we don’t just lose volume.

We lose the on-ramp.

John puts it bluntly:

• “We’ve told consumers anything under $20 - under $10 - is poor quality.”

• “In US retail, 79% of volume is at $13 and below.”

• "Wines above $13 (USD) need to grow by 28%to offset the fall in wines below $13."

• “The industry needs these products for the long-term health and vitality of the category.”

So here’s the big question we explore: If today’s 20-year-olds don’t find wine as a normal, accessible part of life… will they ever ‘trade up’?

#RethinkingWine #WineIndustry #Moderation #GenZ #Community #WineMarketing #FutureOfWine #vinovisionaries #JohnSutton

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⁠⁠⁠👥Connect with John Sutton: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-sutton-92367726/

If the wine industry thinks “drink in moderation” is the answer, we are missing the real question.In this episode, we unpack why moderation is not a one-size-fits-all message, why younger drinkers are opting out before they even begin, and why the future of wine depends on something we’ve avoided for too long - preventive education, peer education, and community-led conversations that help people understand themselves, not just the product.Because the consequences of drinking are different now.A single moment can be photographed, shared, remembered, and for many people, that changes everything.We also talk about the opportunity for wineries and brands to speak directly to the real concerns people have today, with more honesty, more context, and more humanity.If this conversation resonates, share it with someone in wine who still thinks the old message will work.Subscribe for more conversations rethinking wine, culture, and the future of our industry.This episode is for discussion only and is not medical advice.#RethinkingWine #WineIndustry #Moderation #GenZ #Community #WineMarketing #FutureOfWine #vinovisionaries #rafaelruiz #andrewmeans📲 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/vino_visionaries_podcast▶️ Explore more episodes on our YouTube channel: @vino_visionaries🌐 Visit our website: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/⁠⁠⁠👥Connect with Andrew Means and ⁠Rafael Ruiz⁠

Innovation isn’t “more stuff”.

It isn’t another label, another cuvée, another slightly different SKU dressed up as progress.

Real innovation is a shift in perspective.

It’s the moment you stop thinking like the majority, and start seeing the category through a different lens. A lens that makes you ask better questions, not just produce more answers. It’s not about adding. It’s about improving what matters. It’s not “more”. It’s better.

That’s exactly why we invited Paul Peterson, a US-based specialist in innovation and customer insight, to join us on the podcast. Paul has spent more than 30 years inside the rooms where product decisions get made, and he’s noticed something most industries overlook.

He talks about a very specific type of customer: Catalytic customers.

And no, they’re not the same as early adopters. Early adopters chase novelty. They like being first. They’re curious, enthusiastic, and often forgiving.

Catalytic customers are different.

They’re usually already your customers.
They already care about what you’re building.
And because they care, they do something rare: they challenge you.

They don’t just say “I love it.”

They say:

“This part is confusing.”
“This part is missing.”
“This is where people drop off.”
“This is the assumption you’re making, and it’s not true.”

They can articulate what most customers never will, because most customers don’t have the time, the language, or the patience to explain why they’re disengaging.

They just leave. Quietly.
They choose something else.
And you only feel it later, in the numbers.

Catalytic customers help you see what your market is feeling before your data forces you to admit it. And in wine right now, that matters more than ever, because we keep “innovating” in ways that make sense to us, while missing what actually makes wine feel relevant, welcoming, and easy to choose for the people we say we want to bring in.

So this conversation isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about learning to listen to the right people, the ones who tell you the hard truths early, so you can build smarter, faster, and with real relevance. Because what's the point of innovating if we're not giving customers a stronger reason to choose you.📲 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/vino_visionaries_podcast

▶️ Explore more episodes on our YouTube channel: @vino_visionaries

🌐 Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/⁠⁠

👥Connect with Paul Peterson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-peterson-mr/

#paulpeterson #vinovisionaries #rethinkingwine #rethinkingthewineindustry

We talk a lot about innovation in wine.
But if we’re honest, most of us were never really taught how to take risks.
We were taught how not to fail.

In this episode of Vino Visionaries, I sit down with Nick Karavidas, who is about to head into his 45th vintage.

With more than four decades in the industry, Nick has seen consumers change, channels evolve and direct-to-consumer become essential, but what really stayed with me from this conversation was our deep dive into failure.

A big part of our conversation is about fear.Not abstract fear, but the very normal, very human fear of getting it wrong.When I asked Nick about the word failure, we ended up somewhere deeper: how most of us were trained, from school onwards, to avoid mistakes at all costs.

At school we learn:Don’t make a mistake.Do as you’re told.Don’t cooperate.Work alone.There’s one right answer, and everything else is wrong.Then we land in the real world where:Consumers are changing faster than ever.There are many possible answers to any problem.The safest thing is no longer “do what we’ve always done”, but to try, test, iterate, and learn together.No wonder so many people in wine feel paralysed. We say we want innovation, but we’ve been conditioned our whole life to avoid the exact behaviour innovation requires: trying things, sharing ideas, testing, “failing”, adjusting.For me, this episode isn’t about pointing fingers at “the industry”.

It’s about recognising how we were all trained to think, and asking what it would look like to unlearn some of that together.If you feel that the old playbook doesn’t match today’s reality, I think this conversation will hit home.Join our community, subscribe to the podcast today.

📲 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/vino_visionaries_podcast

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🌐 Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/

⁠⁠👥Connect with Nick Karavidas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaskaravidas/

In 2021 I had my heartbreak with wine education. I realised the system I loved was part of the problem. Too many rules. Too much superiority. A constant separation between those who “know” and those who “don’t”.

Somewhere along the way I became the kind of person I never wanted to be, judging people by how much theory they could repeat.

I still remember a cellar-door moment with a group of young women. No one wanted to host them. People laughed behind their backs about their questions.

One of them said she could not taste it because she was allergic to apples. I had just described the wine as having apple notes. Instead of meeting her where she was, we made her feel small. That memory still stings. Not because of her question, but because of our reaction.

These days I prioritise connection and curiosity. I don’t assume I’m there to teach. I ask what matters to them and how I can add value. Education should open doors, not close them. It should give people their own language for taste and embrace the questions that sit outside the rulebook.

That is why this month’s Vino Visionaries makes me proud. I sat down with Preston Mohr, Managing Director of Wine Scholar Guild, to talk about a new approach they are rolling out that puts the taster at the heart the equation. No right or wrong answers. No performance for the grade. The aim is to make wine more accessible and more inclusive.

For me, this is the future. We need to replace scripts with stories, scores with feelings, and hierarchy with hospitality.

I am excited to hear how this new Wine Scholar Guild pathway lands with the next generation of students and the many professionals who are ready for a change.

If you have ever felt shut out of wine by jargon, or if you teach and want your students to LIGHT UP rather than FREEZE UP, this episode is for you.

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🌐 Visit our website: ⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/⁠

👥Connect with Preston Mohr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/preston-mohr-23459098/?originalSubdomain=fr

Blind tasting may help professionals strip away bias, but for consumers, bias is the reality.

I’ll never forget a lesson at the Escuela Argentina de Sommelier. Our teacher poured wine from a decanter, announcing: “This is the most expensive wine you will taste in this course.” Excitement buzzed around the room. Students began describing it with elaborate praise: “so elegant… refined… structured… the most beautiful wine I’ve ever tried.” Word after word piled on, each more glowing than the last.

And then came the reveal. It wasn’t a grand cru at all. It was cheap Tetra Pak wine, poured into a decanter. The room went silent. Everyone felt a little foolish. But the lesson was unforgettable: we hadn’t been tasting the liquid. We had been tasting the story.

Our guest Marco Baldocchi put it perfectly: “If you don’t put the value first and the price at the end, people are going to think you are so expensive.” Value, in other words, is not an absolute, it is PERCEPTION.

This is also what Rory Sutherland calls psycho-logic in his book Alchemy. Value lives in the “black box” of the human mind. A $30 bottle can feel like a waste of money or like a revelation depending entirely on how expectations are framed.

We can see the same truth outside wine. Consider the famous Coke vs. Pepsi study. When people tasted the sodas blind, preferences were split nearly 50–50. But when participants knew which brand they were drinking, Coke was strongly preferred. Brain scans revealed why: when the Coke brand was visible, regions linked to memory and emotion lit up. Pepsi didn’t trigger the same response. The taste hadn’t changed, but the story had, and that story rewired the brain’s experience of pleasure.

This is the same reason Coca-Cola’s “New Coke” experiment collapsed in the 1980s. Blind tests said people preferred the new formula. But without the emotional halo of classic Coke - the red can, the Christmas ads, the cultural symbolism - the product failed. Perception won over chemistry.

Wine is no different. Its “price” is just a number. Its “value” lives in the story, the context, and the expectation people bring to the glass. A pop of cork, a heavy bottle, a label that resonates, these elements build value before taste ever confirms it. As Marco said: “The important thing is how you let me feel.”

Consumers drink perception. And perception is value.The business equation is simple: Value – Price = Gain.

And that should make us ask: if wine is increasingly seen as old-fashioned, complicated, or disconnected from everyday life, what story is the majority really telling themselves about wine today?

Join our community, subscribe to the podcast today.
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🌐 Visit our website: ⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/⁠

👥Connect with Marco Baldocchi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcobaldocchi/

⁠⁠#RethinkingWine⁠ ⁠#VinoVisionaries⁠ ⁠#WineReconnected⁠ ⁠#neuromarketing ⁠#FutureOfWine⁠ ⁠#VinoVisionaries⁠ ⁠#neuroscience ⁠ ⁠#Marcobaldocchi ⁠#WineCommunity⁠ ⁠#DecentralisingWine⁠ ⁠#WineForTheWorld

Did you know every time a hospitality business loses a staff member, it costs around $6,834? And with turnover sitting at 80%+ in some places, that number adds up fast. When I was working at Dan Murphy’s, I remember how frustrating it was trying to get my team to the next stage of training.Every time we’d start making progress, there’d be turnover. Someone would leave, a new person would come in, and we’d be right back at square one. It made everything slow down.And sometimes people jumped into hospitality with zero experience. No idea how to read customers, no idea how to handle a tricky situation, no idea about the small things that actually make people feel welcome. That’s when customers can have the wrong experience, and in hospitality, that can hurt a business fast.That’s why I love the idea of Knowbie. It doesn’t just throw information at staff, it helps them think. It gives them the confidence to make decisions and to deal with people. In this week’s Vino Visionaries, I sat down with Crystal Hamilton, the founder of Knowbie, to talk about how this platform is changing the way hospitality trains and retains its people.📲 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/vino_visionaries_podcast▶️ Explore more episodes on our YouTube channel: @vino_visionaries🌐 Visit our website: https://www.rethinkingwine.app/👥Connect with Crystal Hamilton: / crystal-hamilton-8ab50119

#RethinkingWine #VinoVisionaries #WineReconnected #WineWithoutWalls #FutureOfWine #VinoVisionaries #Knowbie #CrystalHamilton #WineCommunity #DecentralisingWine #WineForTheWorld