Partnering through Common Values w/ Matteo Lunelli, Ferrari Trento

XChateau Wine Podcast

With 100+ years of history, many accolades, and distinctive mountain-grown sparkling wines, Ferrari Trento is still often confused with the car maker Ferrari. Matteo Lunelli, President and CEO, explains how Ferrari Trento leverages partnerships, including Formula 1, The Emmys, and others, to tell its story and grow its audience globally.

Detailed Show Notes:

Ferrari Trento overview

• Founded in 1902 by Giulio Ferrari
• 1952 - Bruno Lunelli (Matteo’s grandfather) acquired the winery
• Trento DOC in NE Italy, in the middle of the Alps, famous for the Dolomite mountains
• A leading brand for luxury sparkling wine in Italy
• Methodo Classico - 2nd fermentation in the bottle
• Mainly Chardonnay, Pinot Noir
• Mountain sparkling wine - gets sunlight, but big diurnal shift to keep acidity
• Pioneer of Trento DOC, started denomination, now 60 wineries
• Won Sparkling Producer of the Year several times
• All estate vineyards are certified organic, winery carbon neutral

Il Ferrari (masculine, the wine) vs La Ferrari (feminine, the car); separate companies, no familial relation

Formula 1 (“F1”) partnership - “Official Toast of F1”

• Started as a dream, Matteo passionate about F1
• A team member who used to work at Heineken, which sponsored F1, started the conversation in 2019
• Share common values of search for excellence, tradition, and innovation
• Started in April 2021
• Jeroboam used to celebrate wins on the podium, served in Paddock Club (hospitality)
• F1 exploded with Drive to Survive movie on Netflix
• New races started in Miami and Las Vegas
• Formerly used Champagne, 1st Italian wine used to celebrate
• ROI is measured by growth in international sales (US sales 3x, TX 10x, Las Vegas huge growth since 2020), increased attention from key international accounts

Key benefits of F1 partnership:

• Visibility - social media key, particularly pics with drivers showing bottles during the celebration (easier to do for sparkling wine)
• Paddock Club - >5,000 guests in Las Vegas, serves fine dining during race weekends, high-end clientele experience Ferrari Trento, fine dining, and F1
• Create customer experiences - invite some customers to F1
• Race weekend activations - organize and partner with events around the race weekend, replaced prior market work
• Best article - Financial Times “Why there will always be a Ferrari on the podium of F1”

F1 label series - limited, special editions

• Big interest in Jeroboams, celebrate like F1 champions
• F1 Editions - dedicated to some of the iconic Grand Prix, the shape of the racetrack on the label, very successful in race markets (e.g., Suzuka in Japan had a long time to buy wine)
• Creates a collectible wine

Emmy Awards sponsorship

• Ended w/ Covid, sponsored for ~5 years
• Served at Governor’s Ball just after the show, ~5k guests, black tie in LA
• Helped in the CA market and positioned Ferrari as a lifestyle brand
• Timed well w/the rise of importance of TV (e.g., Netflix/streaming movement)
• Only 1x/year vs 20 races/year w/ F1
• 1st non-Champagne organized blind tastings w/ prior sponsors

Creating value w/ partnerships requires activation and communication; the rule of thumb is to invest at least 1x sponsorship fee in activations

Mass market partnerships like F1 benefit Non-Vintage more than vintage/reserve wines

• Vintage/reserve wines sold mostly to collectors, highly limited supply (only 60k bottles of Giulio Ferrari/year), and need different communication channels

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