Why Your Best Wine Isn't Selling—And How to Fix It in 90 Days

Here's an uncomfortable truth I've witnessed across 25 years in the wine industry: the wineries making the best wine aren't always the ones making the best money.

Drive through Stellenbosch on any weekend and you'll see it playing out in real time. Two neighbouring estates, same terroir, same Mediterranean sun, comparable winemaking chops. One commands R600 a bottle and has customers queuing at the cellar door. The other struggles to shift cases at R250.

The difference is never in the bottle. It's always in the positioning.

The Positioning Problem Nobody Talks About

Through 116 issues of Winemakers On Fire, I've connected with winemakers, designers, and creatives worldwide who are rewriting the rules. What I've learned is this: brilliant winemaking gets you to the starting line. Strategic positioning wins the race.

Yet our industry treats positioning as a marketing afterthought rather than a business strategy. We've perfected winemaking techniques while neglecting customer connection. We obsess over terroir expression while ignoring market positioning.

The result? Mediocre wines are commanding premium prices while superior bottles gather dust on retail shelves.

What I've Learned as a Wine Futurist

My journey has taught me something counterintuitive: the path to future success isn't found in perfect predictions but in perfect positioning.

While consulting and observing wine businesses globally, I've identified four pillars that remain steadfast despite our industry's relentless evolution:

• Quality: High-quality grapes and winemaking techniques

• Experiences: Unique and authentic wine experiences

• Story: Compelling storytelling and brand identity

• Relationships: Strategic relationships and collaboration

When these align with your unique strengths, something remarkable happens. Customers stop comparing you to competitors because you occupy a distinct space in their minds. Price objections fade. Word-of-mouth amplifies. Competition becomes irrelevant because you own your category.

This realisation led me to create Master Positioning: The Perfect Positioning Playbook for Leaders—a practical framework that transforms how customers discover, experience, and advocate for your wines.

What's Inside the Playbook

This isn't marketing theory dressed up as strategy. It's a 50-page distillation of positioning successes and failures I've observed across the industry, structured into three practical parts:

Part One: The Positioning Reality Check reveals the unseen competitors and market realities shaping your position today. Because you can't fix what you can't see.

Part Two: The Four-Pillar Foundation builds an unshakeable premium brand by leveraging the four proven pillars that command loyalty and premium pricing. You'll discover why quality alone never guarantees success, how authentic experiences create premium pricing power, why storytelling trumps advertising, and how strategic relationships multiply revenue potential.

Part Three: Your Strategic Action Plan activates a focused 90-day roadmap that transforms clarity into unstoppable market advantage. No scattered effort. No positioning confusion. Just focused energy that creates market dominance.

I've also included two bonuses that tackle the psychology behind wine pricing—including why R600 bottles outsell R250 bottles of objectively superior wine—plus a Perfect Positioning Checklist to tighten your positioning and boost revenue immediately.

The Cape Town Perspective That Changes Everything

Living and working in Cape Town provides a unique insight into positioning challenges. South African wine faces unprecedented pressures: oversupply, export complexities, evolving consumer preferences, and intensified global competition.

These conditions make positioning more critical, not less important.

The wineries weathering current industry storms share one characteristic: clear positioning that transcends market volatility. They've built loyal customer relationships based on unique value that competitors can't easily replicate.

The global wine market rewards clarity, authenticity, and bold strategic thinking. South African wineries that master these positioning principles compete successfully not despite their origin, but because of it.

Why This Matters Now

In six months, your winery will be in one of two places: thriving with a clear competitive advantage or still facing the same positioning challenges you face today.

The difference won't be decided by wine quality, market trends, or external conditions. It will be determined by the positioning decisions you make over the next 90 days.

This playbook won't promise an overnight transformation. Effective positioning requires consistent implementation over months, not weeks. But the framework provides immediate clarity about where to focus energy for maximum competitive advantage.

Your Invitation

I'm releasing Master Positioning this week exclusively through Winemakers On Fire. To celebrate the launch, I'm giving away 50 free copies to readers who want to transform their positioning from confused to confident.

If you're ready to stop competing on price and start owning your category, email me with "Master Positioning" in the subject line.

The first 50 responses receive a complimentary copy. No strings. No upsells. Just a practical strategy that works.

Because when positioning works, selling becomes serving, marketing becomes storytelling, and customers become advocates.

Your competitive advantage is waiting in the alignment between who you are and what your market needs.

This playbook shows you how to find that intersection—and defend it.

The Wine Futurist
Cape Town, South Africa

Email: [email protected]

Subject line: Master Positioning