Case Study | InterLoire
Promoting Loire Wines to Overseas Trade Prescribers Remotely
- Client : InterLoire (Loire wines vintners association)
- Market : 6 target countries (United States, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Germany, United Kingdom)
- Challenge : introduce Loire wines to a new target group of prescribers remotely across several export markets
- Solution : customized tasting kits supporting a country-specific thematic webinar
- Nature of collaboration : large-scale international operation, customized and set to be renewed
The Client
InterLoire is the Loire wines vintners association. Its mission is to represent, defend, and promote AOP and IGP Loire wines, one of France’s major wine regions. It brings together winegrowers, merchants, and cooperatives across 35 appellations and denominations, from the Nantais region (Muscadet) to Touraine.
Like any vintners association, InterLoire acts at the appellation level rather than representing an individual estate. Its role is therefore to raise awareness and promote Loire wines both in France and abroad, among the general public and especially strategic prescribers: press, importers, distributors, and industry professionals.
The Context
To showcase its appellations, grape varieties, and wine styles abroad, a wine board traditionally relies on in-person events: masterclasses, tasting workshops, and meetings with wine merchants and sommeliers. While this format has proven effective, it quickly reaches its limits when trying to reach a broad target audience spread across distant markets.
- Reach limited by in-person events
Every event requires a venue, an on-site team, and hundreds of bottles to purchase and open. Organization is heavy and participant capacity remains constrained. - A dispersed target audience that is difficult to gather
The prescribers to convince educators, importers, wine merchants, hospitality and restaurant professionals are spread across different markets, thousands of miles apart. - Restrictive sampling logistics
Presenting an appellation/grape variety/wine style requires gathering wines from several producers. Requesting full bottles from each estate, centralizing them, and reshipping them represents a significant burden for both winegrowers and the wine board.
The Problem
InterLoire wished to reach a new and precise target: trade prescribers in its priority markets (educators and students in the sector as future prescribers, importers, retail, and restaurant/hospitality distributors) through thematic webinars. The goal: introduce them to Loire wines and keep them top of mind when building their product lines.
It was therefore necessary to design a system capable of expanding the reach and scope of the operation far beyond what in-person events allow, while providing every participant with a genuine tasting experience.
The Vinovae Solution
To meet this need, we partnered with InterLoire on a large-scale international operation: one webinar per country, each with its own theme, accompanied by a customized Vinottes® tasting box sent to each participant.
Each target market benefited from a dedicated theme :
- Loire wines gems in the United Kingdom
- Chenin Blanc in Germany
- Sauvignon Blanc in the United States
- Melon Blanc in Belgium
- Cabernet Franc in Australia
- An overview of flagship grape varieties in Canada
Each time, the masterclass was hosted remotely by a recognized expert : WSET educator, Master of Wine, or sommelier serving as a true ambassador for Loire wines to their audience.
All kits were customized in InterLoire’s colors (labels and boxes) according to its brand guidelines, including its own documentation to guide participants and extend the masterclass experience.
The Vinotte® rebottling process under an inert atmosphere delivers a tasting experience faithful to the original bottle. Every prescriber thus enjoyed the wines in their glass exactly as the winemakers crafted them in color, aroma, and palate.
Implementation
The collaboration began by defining the requirements with InterLoire. Together, we framed the format, customization, and logistics of the operation, down to the composition of the boxes and integration of the tasting booklet.
The supply chain was key to success. Rather than centralizing the wines, each winegrower shipped their bottles directly to Vinovae. We organized the rebottling process to handle all markets simultaneously, then assembled the custom-branded InterLoire kits before shipping them individually to each participant in their respective country.
This organization enabled a large-scale operation to be deployed across multiple markets in parallel, whereas a traditional approach would have multiplied shipments, handling, and full-bottle requests from estates.
Following this success, InterLoire renewed the operation two years in a row for German wine industry professionals, sending 85 boxes highlighting the Melon Blanc variety and Muscadet AOPs.
Benefits
A new target reached remotely and at scale
The operation enabled InterLoire to reach several hundred trade prescribers across six target markets, including 82 participants in Germany, 168 in the United States, and over 250 views in Canada. All these professionals were introduced to Loire wines far beyond what an in-person event could gather.
Multiplied reach compared to in-person events
The online masterclass format combined with tasting boxes expanded the reach and territory of the operation without needing to book venues, deploy teams on site, or purchase hundreds of bottles per session. Result: significant cost savings and fully managed logistics.
A lighter workload for winemakers and the wine board
Direct bottle shipment by each producer simplified logistics and avoided unnecessarily tying up full bottles from estates. Indeed, each 75cl bottle yields 18 ready-to-taste 4cl Vinottes® 100% faithful to the original product.
Wines valued collectively
By bringing together wines from multiple producers in a single showcase box, the operation highlights Loire appellations as a whole, serving the collective without favoring any single estate.
A turn-key operation
Rebottling, customization, box assembly, and individual shipping were completely managed so InterLoire could focus entirely on webinar content.
An experience that makes the difference
The “miniature” Vinottes® format elegantly presented in a box is ideal for offering an innovative, simplified tasting experience that leaves a lasting impression. This compact format is lighter, easier to transport, avoids waste by delivering the perfect tasting portion, and allows InterLoire to adopt a more sustainable approach.
Controlled brand image
Customization matching brand guidelines and the inclusion of the tasting booklet made each box a seamless extension of InterLoire’s identity.
What Participants Say
“Thank you so much for this wonderful webinar, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot. The wine selection was also fantastic, a great overall choice. I look forward to attending more of your webinars in the future.” – Buyer, UK
“I really appreciated the videos and the tasting kit to follow along with the presentation.” – Sommelier, Ontario
“I loved this format; the speaker shared top-quality information.” – Sommelier, Ontario
A Word from the Client
« I collaborated with Vinovae to produce tasting boxes for thematic webinars aimed at international prescribers. I was able to customise the labels and boxes to match our brand guidelines and incorporate my own documentation into each box.
Logistics were greatly facilitated by allowing each winemaker to ship their bottles directly to Vinovae for rebottling into Vinottes®.
The process with Vinovae was very smooth and professional. Deadlines were perfectly met, allowing all participants to receive their box directly at home before the webinar. »
In Summary…
By enabling faithful home tastings simultaneously across multiple markets, Vinovae’s Vinottes® allowed InterLoire to place Loire wines directly into the hands of trade prescribers at a scale unattainable through in-person events.
This operation paved the way for further visibility initiatives, such as a webinar dedicated to German wine industry professionals. Above all, the online masterclass format paired with tasting kits has secured its place in InterLoire’s strategy: an action the vintner association intends to renew to sustainably showcase Loire appellations internationally.