Halleck Vineyard | Beaulieu Vineyard | Raymond Vineyard | Jordan Winery | Iron Horse Vineyards

Challenge

In the highly competitive wine market, build a brand that is differentiated by outstanding quality in every aspect, from earth to glass.

Approach

Halleck Vineyard began as a vision from a home in Menlo Park and office in Palo Alto. Ross traveled to the North San Francisco Bay Area looking for property to plant a Pinot Noir vineyard for almost a year. He stumbled upon Sebastopol in his search, bought a house on a 5-acre parcel and moved. Within 2 years, he planted the vineyard.

The land turned out to be a "magic spot", producing grapes of a caliber that was surprising and impressive. It won awards for others, justifying the effort to build it into a brand of its own. Ross created the packaging, followed by the web site and a host of marketing support literature for each wine.

Results

In three short years, Halleck Vineyard has grown almost 20x, from 89 cases in 2003, to 1600 cases in 2006. It is distributed amongst the best restaurants in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Chicago, and North Carolina. It has received national recognition from The Wine Spectator, The Connoiseur's Guide, Wine and Spirits Magazine, Robert Parker, and received the 2005 Pinot Passion Award from The Pinot Report.