Château d Agel Report - Chteau dAgel Vineyard The Chteau...

Château d’Agel Vineyard
The Château d'Agel winery was acquired in 2003 by Robin Budowski, a wine specialist
and enthusiast. The vineyard of Château d’Agel is located in the Minervois wine appellation, in
the south of France, right at bottom of the Black Mountain. Before Budowski acquired the
Château d'Agel, the property had been known for producing some of the best wines in the
Minervois Appellation. The property of Château d'Agel fit Budowski’s conditions perfectly, as
the soils in the vineyard were considered as the finest in that area. However, the previous owner
focused more on producing large quantities of wine, whereas Budowski was more interested in
using the valuable soil to create high-quality vineyards and wine. Château d'Agel has now won
many awards for its exquisitely produced wines, such as the Vintage Gold Award in 2010
presented by The Concours General Agricole Paris, in which the wine competed with
approximately 15,000 other wine samples. Mainly full-bodied red wines are produced in the
Château d'Agel winery, along with dry white wines and fruity rosés as well. Approximately ten
varieties of grapes are used to make the well-known wines in this vineyard. Château d'Agel’s
team considers the wines to be made with passion, high quality natural ingredients that can only
be found in the Château d'Agel terroir in the South of France.
Situation Analysis
The wine industry in 2003 is very fragmented and still is to this day is fragmented as
there are many wineries around the world producing a variety of wines. One can see how
fragmented the industry is by looking at the data the top 5 wine producers in the world only
control 3.4% of the global market. This is why we tend to look at the producers in terms of
countries instead of individual wineries. The top 5 wine producers have not changed from 2002
to 2014 as seen in Appendix A. France continues to be the top producer of wines and therefore
this assures Robin of his choice to purchase a property in France. To properly understand the
situation, we will use Porter’s Five Forces to understand where the power lies in the industry and
determine Château d’Agel competitive position (Appendix B). After conducting the analysis one
sees that it very easy to get into the wine industry but it is highly competitive, therefore, it is
important to differentiate and market the products. We will now conduct a SWOT analysis as it
will help us determine how to approach the wine industry.
Strengths: French wine has a strong reputation around the world, therefore, it is important to
utilize this when marketing the winery. Currently, 84 of the 100 most famous wine brands are
French [BNP15].
Weaknesses: The vineyards were in poor condition as they were not properly taken care of.