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Most people in wine talk about accessibility. Pushing it across every tier of the…
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Health Tips for the Traveling Professional
Health Tips for the Traveling Professional
I am far from a full-on health nut or the world's best exerciser. However, I strongly believe there are invaluable…
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Barclay Webster shared thisOne common distributor practice always gives me pause. When a supplier parts ways with a distributor, their accounts are routinely left in the dark about which new distributor is carrying those wines. Some of my brands are transitioning right now. Our former distributor isn't sharing that information with their On and Off-Premise accounts, and I completely understand why. There's no commercial incentive to help a supplier they no longer represent. Guess what that decision is actually saying though? The needs of their customers come second. It reminds me of working retail early in my career. A couple of the stores I worked for instructed us to relentlessly recommend substitutes when a customer came in looking for something we didn't carry. Don't lift a finger toward helping them find it elsewhere. Marquis Wine Cellars did the opposite. We'd pull up Wine Searcher, find where the wine was available, and often even call our competitors to confirm stock. Most of the time, the customer was so impressed they'd buy something from us anyway. More importantly, they came back. Too many distributors treat supplier transitions as an opportunity for short-term retribution against their former partner instead of long-term trust-building with their ongoing ones. The accounts they're keeping in the dark are watching. And it not so subtly sets a lot of relationships back.
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Barclay Webster shared this"If you got it, flaunt it." This is unapologetically my position on wine critic scores for retail placements. Somehow, scores too often become a philosophical debate. In a market this unforgiving, whether scores are right or wrong is one debate I refuse to engage with. The counterargument is worth acknowledging. A high-scoring vintage can make the following year's release harder to sell if the scores don't match. Forecasts get complicated, and legacy supporters will push back if you don't protect their ability to maintain stock in good times and bad. These are real problems that often require proactive communication and some discipline around allocation. Nonetheless, managing those problems is entirely different from treating a commercial advantage as a liability. A strong critic score is one of the few tools in this business that walks into a buyer meeting before you do. When a winery earns one, don’t be afraid to push it in retail. Opportunity rarely waits for a better planning window.
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Barclay Webster shared thisStarting a demanding new role is a good reminder of what LinkedIn content actually costs. I have posts almost ready to go this week, but posting on my normal schedule would have meant skipping a workout and probably canceling a walk with my dog. I picked the workout and the dog. I also write my best on planes, and I have a couple of long flights next week. 🥂
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Barclay Webster shared thisWine has never had a fair shot at countless accounts across the U.S. Total beverage alcohol (TBA) distribution is changing that. Too many convenience stores, smaller restaurants, and rural social spots don't carry wine or at least anything they're proud to sell as wine because dedicated wine and spirits distributors can't make those routes economically viable. Beer distributors already do. They move high volume daily, they have the route density, and they have the retail relationships. TBA consolidation means wine gets to ride that infrastructure into channels it has largely been locked out of. The concerns are legitimate. Some worry distributors will deprioritize wine, that category expertise will diminish, or that smaller producers will get even more buried in massive portfolios. Wineries need to vet their partners carefully and invest where they can in strong B2B and DTC relationships regardless of who distributes their wines. However, product knowledge is no longer the bottleneck it once was. A customer can scan a QR code, watch a short video, pull up tasting notes, or check a Vivino score in seconds. What they can't do is buy wine that isn't on the shelf or costs more in shipping than the bottle itself. Access is where the real value lives. A beer rep who knows 10 wines well enough to sell them beats a wine specialist who never reaches the store. The larger distributors are already moving in this direction. SGWS has acquired multiple beer distributors, handles specialty beer brands like Singha across several markets, and Breakthru Beverage Group has one of the stronger craft beer portfolios in California and other states. The clearest signal yet that this trend is permanent becomes official this week. Reyes Beverage Group, America's largest beer distributor, is closing its acquisition of RNDC operations across 11 markets. The landscape fundamentally shifts when the largest beer distributor in the country absorbs major wine and spirits infrastructure at that scale. TBA won't fix all of wine's problems. Nonetheless, the upside is significant if it unlocks even a fraction of the transactions currently lost to access gaps. Wine doesn't need perfect distribution and shouldn't expect it. It needs more distribution and new consumers. TBA has big potential to deliver just that. This is the fifth installment of "What the Headlines Missed." What's your take on TBA distribution for wine?
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Barclay Webster shared thisMost businesses respond to a downturn by protecting their turf. A group of forward-thinking independent wineries did the opposite. In July 2025, Ridge Vineyards, Tablas Creek, Frog's Leap, Brooks, L'Ecole No. 41, Blenheim Vineyards, William Chris Vineyards, and Red Tail Ridge launched the Wine Atlas Collective (WAC). From coast to coast, join the wine club at one of them and receive reciprocal benefits across all eight. The mechanics are simple. It's the philosophy that's most interesting. Helping a competitor with similar principles do better doesn't cost you customers. Matter of fact, it's likely to create them if done collaboratively. No one merged and no one acquired anyone. They simply decided that treating like-minded producers as competition was costing everyone more than it was worth. The WAC isn't the only example of this thinking. Around the same time, Boisset Collection appointed Jackson Family Wines as its U.S. distribution broker for its California, Burgundy, and French sparkling portfolio. Two major family wine companies who often competed in overlapping channels chose to share sales infrastructure instead of going at it alone. The mindset is showing up internationally too. Wine Australia and New Zealand Winegrowers ran their first ever joint trade tastings in 2025. It combined events that had run separately since the 1980s. Two competing national associations decided that helping buyers get more done in one room served everyone better than going at it alone. Tough times seem to produce two kinds of businesses. Those that contract and businesses that find smarter ways to grow. Collaboration deserves more recognition as one of those smarter ways. This is the fourth installment of "What the Headlines Missed." What other examples of winery collaboration are worth talking about?
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Barclay Webster shared thisAlmost everyone in my family owns their own business. I’m the odd one out. My cousins Kels and Tommy run Nev’s BBQ in Palm Beach, FL. A few weeks ago they were featured on Guy Fieri’s “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” with important local press following. They’ve been slammed ever since. That’s Kels’ marketing instincts, Tommy’s BBQ, and a team that knows how to make people feel welcome coming together in a beautiful way. I’m genuinely proud of them. However, I have another relative with a restaurant in a small town on the other side of the country. The market is different and the timing has been brutal. Recent layoffs and inflation has hit their customer base hard and they’re grinding through it. The food is outstanding. The effort is relentless. The results have been inconsistent in ways that have nothing to do with what’s on the menu or other aspects of the experience. Small business leaves little margin for bad timing. You can do everything right and still need the right market conditions, the right moment, the right break. Kels and Tommy earned theirs. My other relative is still waiting for theirs, and they deserve it just as much. Check out Nev’s BBQ if you’re ever in Palm Beach. Links in the comments.
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Barclay Webster shared thisWhat Aussie cattle farm did Robert Mondavi convince to plant vines? It has since appeared on Wine Spectator's Top 100 seven times. That would be Leeuwin Estate in Margaret River. Some wines are made with a consumer in mind. Others are made to simply get the best out of a world-class site. Leeuwin is firmly the latter, and that was precisely Mondavi's point when he told the founders to find a winemaker without a predetermined style and let the land do the talking. MaryAnn Worobiec at the Spectator recently sat down with Simone Horgan-Furlong, the founders' daughter and current co-CEO, in Napa to taste four vintages of Art Series Chardonnay and seven of the Cabernet. The article is worth a read (link in comments).
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Barclay Webster shared thisSome opportunities are worth the wait. I first interviewed with Total Beverage Solution nearly 5 years ago and have been following their growth ever since. Needless to say, joining the team as Import Wine Director feels like a long time in the making! TBS has built something genuinely rare in this business. A team with deeply diverse experience across every tier and beverage category, expanding at a time when many in the industry are downsizing. Recognized multiple times as one of the Best Places to Work in South Carolina, there’s a genuine culture of continuous professional development here that shows up clearly across the team. The commercial execution is on point, and the import wine portfolio is one I know well. I'm particularly excited to work with several legendary Australian and New Zealand brands that I've admired for many years, and to play a role in further developing the portfolio. In this role, I'll be leading brand strategy, programming execution, and profitability across TBS's growing portfolio of iconic import wines. It's the kind of work I love most, where category expertise, trade relationships, and data-driven strategy all have to come together to drive results. Grateful for the opportunity, and looking forward to getting to work starting NOW!
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Barclay Webster shared thisJalapeño Sauvignon Blanc isn't a wine crime. They said the same thing about the California Roll. The California Roll was designed to take the raw fish hesitation out of the equation. Consumers who started there developed a taste for the category, moved deeper into it, and some of them ended up at omakase counters spending $200 a head. It served as an intro to the masses who later got curious and traded up. Wine cocktails are running the same play, taking the intimidation out of the equation. These include spritzes, mimosas, frosé, sangria, frozen mango wine cocktails and red wine + cola (i.e. Kalimotxo & most recently Jam Shed's Jammy Red Wine x Cola). They're increasingly showing up poolside, on social feeds, and at trendy bars + kitchen tables. This impure enjoyment of wine is no longer fringe behavior. The Negroni Sbagliato (prosecco, Campari, sweet vermouth) generated 35 million TikTok views in a matter of weeks after Emma D'Arcy ordered one on House of Dragon. Instagram is full of wine cocktail recipes pulling hundreds of thousands of engagements. That audience dwarfs the wine media's. Wine cocktails have received some attention as a trend. However, the more important story is that every consumer who picks up one instead of another drink is a new entry point for the category and a humble beginning worth celebrating. These libations face the same scrutiny from purists that fusion sushi did. That scrutiny misses the point, and only makes “real” wine less welcoming. Fortunately, the wine cocktails flow on nonetheless, and so do new levels of familiarity with wine. This is the third installment of "What the Headlines Missed." What's the most surprising impure wine trend you've seen gaining traction?
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Barclay Webster reacted on thisBarclay Webster reacted on thisI'm delighted to announce that we're now an official supplier to Bath Rugby! Is there a greater pride in the city of Bath? When Simon Rollings and I founded Canned Wine Group | B Corp™ back in 2019, being served at Bath Rugby was a big ambition of ours. We have been lucky enough to supply the ground for three years now, but we're excited to take a step up from that and join the ranks of Official Supplier! There's an impressive future to come with the Club and we look forward to being a partner in that journey going forward! 🍷
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Barclay Webster liked thisEvery year, we show up at Tales of the Cocktail to showcase Marriotts incredible talent and push the boundaries of beverage innovation. This year was one of our biggest activations yet, featuring eight unique experiences, including a secret VIP Omakase experience, cocktails that literally took flight throughout the room VIA a pneumatic tube system, an innovative technology called AIDA that enabled 38 unique cocktails to be served from a single menu and one single bar, and more than 20 talented beverage professionals from Marriott International properties around the world working together in one unforgettable space. None of this would have been possible without the support of our partners at EAG, who continue to help us bring world-class programs to life, as well as the many supplier and operational partners who helped make the experience possible. Special thanks to our partners across Ellis Adams Group Inc, Pernod Ricard, RIPE Bar Juice, Roberto Serrini, MY DRAP North America, Fat Ice, Zwiesel Fortessa Americas LLC, Arc Cardinal, Palm Bay International, Hospitality Glass Brands, High West Distillery, LALO Tequila, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Brown-Forman, Mijenta Tequila, Destileria Serralles,Inc., Nestlé Waters & Premium Beverages, Red Bull, The Bardstown Bourbon Company, GALLO, Fever-Tree, Trinchero Family Estates -us, Lyre's Spirit Co, Proximo Spirits, Chinola Fresh Fruit Liqueurs, Underberg, nitecappnitecapp, Victoria ArduinoVictoria Arduino and the The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans. Their partnership, creativity, and support helped us deliver an experience that truly showcased Marriott hospitality on one of the industries biggest stages. Take a look at the beautiful story released today that captures the creativity, collaboration, and passion that brought it all to life. Cheers! https://lnkd.in/p/gcRKvETqBarclay Webster liked thisA toast to talent! Did you know Marriott International's food and beverage portfolio spans over 22,000 restaurants and bars around the world? At this year's Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, Marriott's F&B talent and creativity were on display at the The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans. The Big Easy was the perfect backdrop to showcase dreamy cocktails and incredible bites. Cheers to Gary Gruver, Stephen Toevs, Isabella Capuano, and Bernice Chan for helping bring this MNC Story to life. Check out our F&B talent who are raising the bar below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/egC_s-wt
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Barclay Webster liked thisBarclay Webster liked thisA FIRST IN WINEMAKING: APERTURE X UNITED 35,000 FT BLEND ✈️ 🍇 Aperture Cellars and United Airlines have made wine history with the creation of Air and Vine, the first wine blended at 35,000 feet and designed specifically for the in-flight experience. In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, acclaimed winemaker Jesse Katz, founder of Aperture Cellars and Wine Enthusiast’s 2025 Winemaker of the Year, brought the final act of winemaking aboard a United flight from New York to San Francisco, creating a custom Cabernet Sauvignon that will debut in United Polaris business class on select international routes in 2028. Rather than selecting an existing wine that performs well at altitude, Jesse took an entirely new approach. Knowing that cabin pressure and humidity affect how we perceive flavor, aroma and texture, he tasted and blended the wine’s individual components at cruising altitude, allowing the conditions of flight to shape the final composition. The result is a Bordeaux-style blend featuring Cabernet Sauvignon from Aperture’s award-winning Farrow Ranch estate vineyard in Sonoma County, complemented by Malbec, Merlot, Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. For centuries, great winemaking has been defined by place – the vineyard soils and climate, the conditions of the vintage and the decisions made inside the cellar. With Air and Vine, Aperture adds another dimension to that idea of place: the environment in which the wine will ultimately be experienced. Congratulations, Jesse Katz Aperture Cellars United Airlines! #ApertureCellars #UnitedAirlines #AirandVine #Jessekatz
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Barclay Webster reacted on thisBarclay Webster reacted on thisIt’s been quite a journey! After 18.5 years with Treasury Wine Estates, in multiple roles across three countries, my time with the business has come to an end. Along with many other of my talented colleagues, my role has been impacted by the company wide restructure and I am now looking for my next opportunity. I’ve had some amazing opportunities and got to work with some fantastic coworkers along the way. These are memories that will stay with me forever. My principles remain the same, understanding both people and procedures helps everyone make better decisions and leads to better outcomes. I’ll take these with me to my next role, wherever that may be. For now, the plan is that October is MINE. Time to spend with the family during school holidays first, then some time to reset and recharge. If you think I may be a fit for a role you have open, or know someone who has a vacancy, please reach out. I’m also always open to catching up for coffee 👍
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Barclay Webster liked thisCan’t wait for the 2nd annual Breakthrough T1D NorCal Community Games on September 27! Bocce, cornhole, virtual golf, arcade games, and more! https://lnkd.in/gHwzR8tcBarclay Webster liked thisCome play with us! Join the Breakthrough T1D NorCal Community Games at Da Boccery in Livermore on September 27! https://lnkd.in/e4BGdTd4.
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Barclay Webster liked thisBarclay Webster liked thisAlways nice to have publications invite and publish content!Wellness meets sustainability: Luxury resorts' new standardsWellness meets sustainability: Luxury resorts' new standards
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California Sustainable Winegrowing Ambassador Course
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Don Q Culinary Cocktail Crawl
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This special event served as an opportunity for local USBG members to enjoy a fun filled afternoon of Puerto Rico’s #1 Rum with delicious cocktails crafted by the incredible bar teams at Pabu, RN74 & Michael Mina Restaurant in San Francisco.
Cocktails were made with Don Q’s award winning Anejo Rum (blend of rums aged 3-8 years) which only recently became available in liter sized bottles priced perfectly for premium cocktails. A special selection of tasty appetizers accompanied the…This special event served as an opportunity for local USBG members to enjoy a fun filled afternoon of Puerto Rico’s #1 Rum with delicious cocktails crafted by the incredible bar teams at Pabu, RN74 & Michael Mina Restaurant in San Francisco.
Cocktails were made with Don Q’s award winning Anejo Rum (blend of rums aged 3-8 years) which only recently became available in liter sized bottles priced perfectly for premium cocktails. A special selection of tasty appetizers accompanied the cocktails and kept the group fueled for what was an enduring and exciting afternoon.
To make this event even more interesting, the bar teams at Pabu, RN74 & Michael Mina competed for ‘Best Cocktail’. All attendees had the opportunity to vote using the TrophyCocktail app which was probably one of the first cocktail contests ever to utilize this tech power.
At the final stop on this Crawl (RN74), attendees also had the opportunity to taste a few other Don Q Rum expressions including the new Single Barrel Rum due to arrive in Northern California the same week. A few other spirits from Serralles USA were also available for tasting including Death’s Door Gin, Caliche Rum and Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liquor.
Such a great time with an amazing group of beverage professionals!
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Honors & Awards
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Above and Beyond Regional Manager Award
Winebow Imports
Acknowledgement of delivering more than a $3 million surplus of revenue for fiscal year ending June 2021 while also maintaining an unwavering commitment to personal and professional development through commitment to the Big Brothers & Sisters of the Bay Area organization and the Institute of Masters of Wine program.
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Caliche Rum State Manager of the Year
Serralles USA
Recognized for being the top performer in achieving assigned sales and marketing goals for Caliche Rum.
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Toast Masters Bay Area
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USBG SF
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Abstrax Releases Free Hop Water Guide to Help Breweries Tap Into Non-Alcoholic Boom Irvine, Ca, Nov. 20, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As alcohol consumption hits a 90-year low and health-conscious drinkers fuel demand for better non-alcoholic options, Abstrax is empowering breweries to evolve with the trend. The flavor science company today announced the release of How to Make Hop Water, a free white paper giving brewers a step-by-step roadmap to create their own hop water programming with confidence and precision using Abstrax’s advanced hop products....
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