Nothing particularly new there but a nice summary of the goals of Vinous.
Find it here: Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
Interesting but for Bloomberg I’m surprised that they didn’t ask how you make a business out of it. If he has all those people working for him and they all get equity and presumably salaries too, where is the money-making part? Is it all subscriptions? Or some combination of subscriptions, advertising, trips, dinners, etc? I can see a single reviewer making a living, like Jeb or Burghound or Suckling. But it’s hard to see how you support an organization like he has unless you have ads to pay the freight. And then, there’s still Spectator, which has a longer history and more reach.
Exactly my thought…How do you monetize it? the whole interview was 1/2 bizarre and 1/2 fascinating… LOL
So without any first hand knowledge, I thought I’d pass on what I was told by someone who did some research and determined that there are approximately 2,500 actual paying subscribers to Vinous and that its cash-generating activities would not appear to be able to gross more than $750,000 a year at the moment. Maybe there’s another game plan but without a substantial subscriber base world wide, it’s hard to see the money.
I will give Galloni this though - he’s more aware of the business aspect than Parker ever was. Parker never gave the impression he understood that he actually had a business. It was always like a poorly run family affair. Of course, what he had though, was himself and he is sui generis.
Events. Advertising. Books, Speaking Fees, etc. Adelson:COMDEX, Shanken: WS Grand Tour, Suckling:Great Wines of…
and, they are all probably selling the information of their customers, too. Plenty of ways beyond subscriptions. Plenty.
Lots of dollars in points.
Greg - This is total and complete bullshit. How you can even post something like this, that is so completely off base, boggles the mind.
Well that answers that. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You are forgetting Berserkers logic:
-If he answers, it is defensive, so the dire information must be true
-If he does not answer, he cannot counter the information, so it must be true.
Please always wear your tin lined Berserker helmet when responding to any and all rumors.
P.S. That was a joke Antonio.
Wow, for once we have an actual direct response to a potshot. Nice to hear from Antonio directly. Whatever people think of critics, the modern wine industry, the good and bad, would be nowhere without them. If i were still buying in quantity, i think Vinous would be the best publication to have. Let’s give the guy a little credit, he seems sincere and generally credible.
Yeah AG interacts quite a bit with subscribers on Vinous and it is refreshing to see. Partly why I left WA. They seemed to not care about the heathens that subscribed 
Antonio gets best post of the year thus far…
How many subscribers does Vinuous have? and what’s the business model / revenue mix?
My sub to WA expires in a few months and I’m trying to figure out if there are other options
Antonio - if you’re reading, as I said, it was what I was told by someone who does a bit of research into those things. Only reason I posted it is because it’s the kind of thing I’d would have expected someone at Bloomberg to ask about - they’re a financially oriented organization after all. I received the info unsolicited but since the person is usually a pretty good source, and others were obviously wondering the same things I was, I figured I’d pass it on and if it was wrong, perhaps someone would post more accurate info.
Dennis - it wasn’t a potshot. I offered no criticism and expected no response. Seemed harmless enough to me.
The surprising thing in this article for me was that Neal Martin and Antonio Galloni both will taste Bordeaux - much as RP and Neal did for WA for many years. On WA, RP’s scores took precedence when quoted by wine purveyors. Wonder how it will work for Vinous?
I’m pretty sure whichever score is higher will get the quote in the email offer. Unfortunately, that is how it tends to work these days.
I hear this guy is getting into the wine ratings racket too
