VIDEO: California winemakers can find added rewards overseas

LODI
November 23, 2010 9:00pm

Winemaking, at least on a small cale, is often driven more by the entrepreneur’s passion than a desire for financial rewards.

But Mark Brody, a figure familiar to California winemakers and vineyard owners thanks to years in the winemaking business, says passion can take a small wine making business only so far.

What is needed then is an understanding of the ways to turn passion into profits, says Mr. Brody, now a senior vice president of Umpqua Bank.

One avenue more small winemakers are considering is exporting. Mr. Brody was part of a Nov. 19 roundtable on exporting sponsored by the Lodi Chamber of Commerce.

He sat down for this interview with CVBT….

“Often what is missing is a real concept of how they’re going to sell the wine,” Mr. Brody says of winemakers who got into the business because of a passion for making a good wine.

“That can be a fatal flaw or that can be just a minor inconvenience,” he says.