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It’s easy to sit back and let others take the lead on diversity and inclusion, but as Tim Milford so passionately explains, we all have our own part to play – particularly men in the wine and drinks industries.
Before I start getting into thoughts on this subject, I thought that I better explain who I am and why I have some ability to talk on this subject.
First of all, I am not really a member of the wine trade. I am a wine enthusiast and have spent the last 10 years learning more about the wonderful world of wine through my interactions over Twitter, Instagram and real life with many of the fantastic people who work in the wine trade and who have been hugely generous in sharing their knowledge and experience with me.
Four years ago, Rob McMillan asked me to build a chart with all the DTC vendors, to coincide with the annual SVB Report. The first report was an interesting challenge and became a labor of love. With few exceptions and aside from the format improvements from Erica Gomez the changes over the subsequent years have been minor.
That was my expectation for 2020. Every year I write a theme for the year and 2020’s was “Digital Transformation (Why and How to Start NOW)”, which I presented in March in London, at the inaugural One Step Beyond conference. Little did I know that would be the last time I traveled or saw other humans or how prescient and necessary that presentation was. We had the confluence of the global pandemic and terrible fires, along with an American society divided by ideological and political differences, coupled with disinformation machines running on overdrive. While Rob and I had warned about the limitations of the tasting room model as the primary driver