From sourcing, blending and making a wine to a specific price point, or developing and introducing a brand for a particular market, MW Access promises to find the right MW for you.
We all know the words to the song, don’t we? “If there’s something strange in your neighbourhood…Who you gonna call? If there’s something weird, And it don’t look good, Who you gonna call?”
Well, there’s a new answer to that for those of us in the wine industry. OK, it does not quite work as part of the usual Ghostbusters verse, but for Dan Ackroyd, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis can we introduce Masters of Wine, Tim Wildman, Barry Dick and Michael Palij. They are each offering themselves up to not eliminate ghosts, but to help get rid of or, more likely, provide a solution to any sort of vinous problem your business may have.
The three Masters of Wine have come together to create a new service which they believe is well overdue and ideally timed to maximise not only their skills and backgrounds, but the experiences of the other 382 MWs there are in 30 countries around the world. Or at least the MWs they believe are best suited to become part of their new MW Access (MWA) initiative, that aims to connect the right MW, or MWs, with any type of wine business out there that is looking for independent help and expertise.
Contracting hub
Tim Wildman MW is a winemaker in his own right and also runs the James Busby wine tours to Australia
It is if you like a MW match making service where Wildman, Dick and Palij will act as the hub, the knowledge centre, who can identify and connect he right MW with any business that contacts them looking for their support. They have been working quietly behind the scenes identifying and contacting a number of MWs they believe will be ideal to work with as part of MWA. Wildman and Dick are both winemakers in their own right and Palij is a leading importer of Italian wine through his business Winetraders and has a background in finance and private equity.
Wildman explains how it will work: “MWs can’t ‘join’ MWA. Our approach is to match the MW who have the most appropriate skills to the project and the clients needs and requirements, on a project-by-project basis. This means that depending on the project we’ll have different MWs in different geographies taking on projects, some of which will be one-offs, some longer term projects. MWA will be a broad church, and there’ll be the opportunity to work on projects for all independent, freelance Masters of Wine who have the relevant skills and experience.”
He adds: “We are deliberately not adding any other MWs to the site at the moment, and keeping it just us three founders, although this is something that will certainly evolve with time as our client base grows, and as we add testimonials and clients to the site it would only make sense to refer to the MWs who worked on those projects, but it will be very much in the context of our portfolio of projects and clients.”
There is no membership fee to be part of MWA, instead it will take a commission fee from the agreed work. As there are no set, recognised, international MW fees, costs will be agreed on a project by project basis. As Wildman explains: ‘It’s a flexible figure that varies quite widely according to geography, market, work channel and the experience and reputation of the individual in question. Therefore MWA fees will be set on a project-by-project basis, as the solutions for our clients will be highly bespoke the fees will also be set according to the project in question.
“We’ll be offering a level of professionalism and range of services and skills that has not been attempted before, and our fees will reflect that. We will certainly not be looking to position ourselves lower than any freelance MW consultants currently operating, quite the opposite we would expect our fee structures to be higher. The best comparison being that the Big Four Accounting firms charge more than a sole trader accountant. One of the aims of MWA is to add value to our clients by bringing together a number of MWs with different skills under one roof, but also raise the profile and value of the MW qualification, and those who have earned it, around the world.”
Barry Dick MW is one of the biggest driving forces within the MW community in raising the standards of bulk wine production and distribution
They will also have to reflect the local market. “An independent survey of MWs that myself and Barry Dick MW carried out last year showed that, for the most part, professional work in Asia pays the most, the UK the least and the US somewhere in between,” he adds.
Business focused
It clearly suits those MWs that are operating at the more business facing end of the wine industry, says Wildman. Be it in winemaking, wine blending, sourcing, buying right through to product development, ranging and working at each of the key touch points right up and down the wine industry supply chain.
That’s where the three see most of the interest from potential clients, and where they already have a good network of MWs, right around the world, that they call on for their support.
MWA may not be the right way to go for those MWs with enough of a name and pedigree to essentially name their own price. But it clearly offers new commercial opportunities to MWs that may be less connected, experienced, or equipped to get what MWA believes is a fair price for their skills.
It is, though, very much early days, stresses Wildman: “MWA will grow and be shaped by our clients needs. But it probably suits freelance MWs better.”
“We want to be able to show the real commercial benefits of what MWs can do,” adds Dick. “Shine the light on the hard commercial skills that some of us have. This a great opportunity to bring those different commercial elements together.”
Recognising commercial skills
It also, he says, hopefully reflects the number of MWs that now come from the more day-to-day industry part of the wine business and could be a great opportunity for new MWs to really maximise and make the most of all the hard years they have put in to get to this position.
“It could be a springboard to help MWs move out of a company position and go freelance,” says Dick knowing they have the support of MWA behind them.
Justin Knock MW, who has been part off the consultation team that has helped bring MWA to life, says the thing that really excites him about its potential is that it could bring new opportunities for MWs to work together for the first time on projects. “I have felt that something like this was needed for a while,” he adds. “I’m surprised it has not been done before.”
Michael Palilj MW came into the wine industry from a financial background
It’s one thing starting up an initiative like this, it’s another keeping it going and having the time and drive to really make it work. Particularly as Wildman, Dick and Palij stress they have come together to get it off the ground, but will not be running it full time. Only Wildman of the three is a freelance himself as Dick’s day job as winemaker at Freixenet Copestick and Palij has his Italian wine business to run. They repeatedly describe themselves as being the “founding members”.
Wildman explains their long term goals: “We didn’t set up MWA to give ourselves business, as you point out, both Michael and Barry have busy day jobs, and I’ve got my hands full with my own projects. We set up MWA because we thought it was a great idea, and we’ve all been actively involved in issues around MW members benefits for the last few years, both outside and within the IMW, and the idea of MWA grew organically from that work.
“The three of us work well together and what we have in common is that we all have strong commercial backgrounds. We’re also creative thinkers and entrepreneurs, my own three businesses, James Busby Travel, WineTutor.tv and Wildman Wine, are all examples of disruptive business models that do things differently to the status quo. MWA is an equally original business model, we felt we were in the position to build this unique ocean going vessel, but now that we’ve launched it we’ll need our fellow MWs to crew and sail it!”
Range of services
Part of that start-up process is setting out a range of services that it believes it is well placed to provide. These include:
- Brand Clinic: the chance to review a wine brand from the “perspective of quality, competitive set, design, price and channel placement by a panel of MWs”. A process that will “highlight areas of concern or excellence allowing producers to create a pragmatic brand strategy and ensure continued relevance”.
- Route Map to Market: how producers can find the best route into a new market using advice and support from a panel of MWs.
- Bottles to Bodegas: aimed specifically at those looking to invest in the wine industry, potentially for the first. time. What do they need to know, take into consideration about the investment they are about to make, be it a new winery, vineyard or brand?
- Flying Winemakers: the chance to connect with qualified winemaker MWs and use their skills at key times of the year, particularly vintage or assembling blending.
- Hand Picked Experts: the real heart of MW Access where it is putting the right people together from the MW community with the right businesses.
It’s already picking up business and projects that reflect the scope of work they hope to be able to provide for the trade.
“We have three significant projects already underway,” says Wildman. ”UK market access for a group of Australian wineries, a global education project for a country’s generic body and a vine-to-shelf brand strategy project for a group of English vineyards.
“These three projects relate to three of the five services that MWA offers, those being Route Map to Market (market access), Brand Clinic (brand strategy) and Hand Picked Experts (education), the other two services being “Flying MW Winemakers” and “Bottles to Bodegas”, our asset and investment advisory service.”
For MWA to really have the impact it wants then it needs to become a global service. The three certainly recognise that and are grateful that the MW community is so open and increasingly international.
MWA is very much an independent enterprise and is not affiliated in any way to the Institute of Masters of Wine. Wildman sees them as operating in very different areas, with the Institute focused on education and being the portal through which future MW study. MWA’s role comes later, and is potentially another “layer” to what it means to be an MW, he says. When you have the experience to then use that MW to offer commercial skills to businesses willing to pay for it.
- If you would like to find out more about MWA then go to its website here or email at mailto:hello@mw-access.com.
