A Look Inside Areni’s 2024
A Look Inside Areni’s 2024

A Look Inside Areni’s 2024

It was a busy and exciting year for Areni Global in 2024, where we increased the number of publications we produced, and held more in-person events.

Here are the top 5 things we got up to:

1.Went on a tour of La Place de Bordeaux

La Place is one of the fine wine world’s most significant distribution systems, yet for years (centuries even), it’s been shrouded in mystery.

In 2024, Areni Global decided to explore it through a groundbreaking, seven-part podcast. We discovered how and why this complicated system arose, including the intriguing finding that everything starts at the docks. As observers watched wines from France being dispatched overseas, they realised there was money to be made, and ramped up local production. From that decision came not just an institution, but the entire modern world of fine wine.

We did multiple interviews with key players from France to Hong Kong and beyond. Pauline, our CEO, even spent a week at En Primeur, shuttling across Bordeaux’s vast geographical region at top speed, to taste fine wine on the hour. It was, you can be sure, a hardship.

We also continued with our normal program of podcasts, including the first two episodes of our new series New Consumers, New Narratives. All in all, there were more than 25,000 downloads of Areni podcasts — a record.

In order of popularity, here’s what the world’s most discerning audience was listening to:

  1. Inside La Place – Episode Six: A Brief History of La Place de Bordeaux
  2. How to Succeed at Fine Wine Distribution: In Conversation With Mathieu Jullien
  3. Inside Norway’s Fine Wine Market – In Conversation with Arnt Egil Nordlien
  4. Inside La Place – Episode One: So You Think You Know La Place?
  5. New Consumers, New Narratives Ep. 1: The Luxury Strategies

Special thanks to Mathieu Chadronnier, Marine Vacheret and the entire team at the CVBG for their support.

And if you’d like to create a limited series with us, email [email protected].

2. Had lively conversations around money

Of the 32 articles we published this year, one in particular was read, re-read, passed around and forwarded at top speed: An Honest Conversation About Making Money in Wine.

We also added three more market reports to our publication library: country profiles of Japan, Singapore and Denmark, with an emphasis on understanding the fine wine markets of those respective countries.

The most popular report was about Denmark, a small but mighty country, whose pension funds are bursting with cash, thanks to being the home of Lego, Carlsberg and Novo Nordisk, the maker of blockbuster drug Ozempic.

Other articles that proved popular were Connecting With a New Generation of Wine Consumers — GenZ and Fine Wine and Debunking the Myths About Young People and Fine Wine.

And behind the scenes we were putting enormous effort into research and writing Rethinking Education: Shaping the Future of the Wine Trade. It’s a re-examination of wine education in the context of the many challenges facing the trade today, and it’s guaranteed to start many important conversations.

It’s being launched at Wine Paris and then online, and we’d love you to be there. You’ll find all the information here.

3. Connected with other people

This year, Areni held a series of key events around the world, and participated in many others: Paris, Napa, Helsinki, Seville, Oakland, Arles, Porto, London and Toarmina in Sicily.

Online, we brought together more than 50 people, to talk through some of the major issues facing the fine wine trade.

The range of topics was vast, covering soil health, financial health, and leadership, among many others.

And what we learned is how much people in fine wine crave the chance to meet their peers and discuss topics in depth, away from the pressures of the conference hall or meeting room. People are drawn to this sector not simply for its commercial potential, but also because they are attracted by a vision of the good life and what it means to connect as humans. As one participant said, “it’s like spiritual nourishment” to be able to speak in depth about fine wine in this way.

Speaking of spiritual nourishment, Areni is heading to what is arguably the spiritual home of wine in 2025: Burgundy. Areni Live will take place in Burgundy between 1 and 3 July 2025, by invitation only.

If you’d like to know more, email [email protected].

Education
Save the Date – Rethinking Education

4. Joined with the Institute of Masters of Wine

Areni Global became a Research Associate of the Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) in London. This opens the way for MW students to access some of the key research and resources of Areni, because they can benefit from a complimentary membership.

The IMW, of course, embodies excellence in education, knowledge and enterprise and is a key institution in the world of wine — and has been, for more than 70 years.

Our first initiative was a panel on Wine, Health and Changing Regulations, held at the Institute itself. We brought together Felicity Carter, Editorial Director of Areni, Sydney Nash, Director of Public Affairs, Political Analysis and Multilateral Strategies at IARD, and Marie Museux, Responsible Drinking & Marketing Manager, Global Public Affairs, Moët Hennessy and Treasurer, Wine in Moderation.

The discussion was conducted under the Chatham House rule, so the panel could speak freely, and it’s fair to say that the packed room was galvanised by what they heard.

This is obviously an ongoing conversation, which we will continue to update.

If you’re an active MW student, or you know someone who is, let them know they can benefit from a complimentary Areni Associate membership. For more information, email Madison at [email protected]

5. Brainstormed about what needs to happen next

Back in 2018, when Areni was hosting an event in Champagne, one of the attendees got up to warn the room that trouble was coming. A retired executive from the energy sector, he said he’d watched his field lose its ‘social license to operate’.

“We used to be the good guys,” he said. “We kept the lights on and made people warm.”

Today, however, the energy sector is almost as reviled as tobacco, because of its contribution to global warming.

“You’re next,” he said.

That made a big impression on the team at Areni Global, and we’ve discussed it many times in the year since. At the time, it seemed unthinkable that an 8,000 year old institution that has played a key role in the development of human civilization, could possibly come under attack. And yet here we are.

That’s led us to reflect on what it means to have social permission. It also inspired Pauline to write an important essay on the topic, and to consider the conversations we need to have in 2025, which will be revealed throughout the year.

Thank you for coming on this journey with us and we look forward to more in-depth conversations.

None of this would have been possible without the support of our partners. A heart-felt thanks to: thank you to:

And to start the year with game-changing insights, listen to Trends, Worries and Opportunities 2025

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