Almaviva, the Chilean joint venture of Baron Philippe de Rothschild and Concha y Toro, was the first non-Bordeaux wine to be sold via La Place de Bordeaux. In the second instalment of a two-part interview, Rafael Guilisasti and Philippe Sereys de Rothschild discuss Almaviva’s La Place strategy with Richard Woodard – and re-emphasise the primacy of its château model. It may be hard to believe today but, until relatively recently, La Place de Bordeaux – that vaunted, complex and far-reaching distribution system for fine wine – was solely concerned with selling the products of its home region. That fact only changed a little over 25 years ago, with the release in 1998 of Almaviva’s inaugural 1996 vintage. In some respects, releasing Almaviva via La Place made perfect sense. After all, Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA, one half of the Chilean joint venture and owner of Château Mouton Rothschild, was very familiar with the system’s intricacies, benefits and shortcomings. But the same could not be said for the other part of the Almaviva double act, Viña Concha y Toro. Nor had the Rothschilds pursued the same strategy with their other joint venture, Opus One (which only entered La Place from 2004). Rather like the creation of Almaviva in the first place, did opting for La Place require something of a leap of faith? “When we suggested to Concha y Toro to distribute Almaviva on La Place, they could have said no,” points out Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, chairman and CEO
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Fine Wine
