Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational
2025 IWBI Program Details
Registration is now OPEN until October 3, 2025!
Welcome to the 2025 Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational, brought to you by Tim Hanni, MW, Danni Lin, and Chris Cutler Wine Business Education. This is the eighth year of the competition pitting teams of wine and hospitality students from around the world against each other to compete for the best proposal! New guidelines are detailed below to ensure that students are focused on gaining an understanding and proficiency for the fundamentals of the wine industry from grape to glass. These fundamentals are crucial for students as they equip them with the essential skills and knowledge needed to succeed in both wine industry career and entrepreneurial pursuits, enabling them to make informed decisions, manage resources effectively, and navigate the complexities of the wine business world.
NEW PRODUCT GUIDELINES FOR 2025!
You and your teamates are working in various roles at an established and successful winery. You have been selected by executive management to research, prepare, and present a New Product Proposal:
> The target market for the new wine brand and new product is defined as, "younger wine consumers aged 21 to 35." This should be reflected in the appropriate areas of the Business Plan and wine label.
> 25,000 to 50,000 cases of a new red, white, rose, or orange wine.
> The wine may be still or sparkling.
> Packaging options have been expanded for 2025 to accommodate almost any container type or size!
> 50% of the wine to be sold through the 3-tier national distribution system in Business Plan
This project challenges your team to apply your knowledge of new product ideation, wine production, marketing, sales, and business strategy to develop a unique wine concept that aligns with the winery's brand and market position. From selecting grape varieties and crafting a distinctive flavor profile to designing packaging and outlining a go-to-market strategy. Students will gain hands-on experience in bringing a wine product from concept to proposal. This exercise is designed to enhance your understanding of the wine industry while also sharpening your skills in strategic thinking, creativity, and business planning.
DETAILS
The elements of the competition are set up in a way that each participant on a team, regardless of their general wine knowledge, can focus their attention on various elements of product ideation, brand development production costs, packaging development and decisions, and supply chain costs and considerations in a fun business while also learning to work together as a team to create the business plan, financials and final packaging of their team project for evaluation by the judging committees. Individuals are encouraged to further explore and research any processes, wine vernacular, or procedures from beginning to end of the wine supply and value chains, from the areas of viticulture, grapes, wine production, aging and cellaring, packaging, marketing, distribution and sales. The team can then discuss and employ critical thinking to determine if this might be a process suitable for their project in achieving their financial goals and product quality.
For more information, contact: Tim Hanni MW, 707-337-0327, tim@timhanni.com
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HOW IT WORKS 1. Register Your Team (as whole class working as one team or break your class into groups of 5-6 students). 2. Assign Team Roles & Responibilities determine your team roles, such as project Lead, Winemaker, Marketing, Sales, Finance, etc. 3. Create Your Brand & Product define your wine type and style, packaging, label artwork, logo, messaging, and story. 4. Build Your New Product Proposal business plan (We provide instructions, guidance, the rquired business plan template, links to gov't regulations, and online financial workbooks). 5. Submit Project by Deadline Business Plan, Cost of Goods Financial Calculator, and Wine Label with legally required information. 6. Awards Announced and Grades Provided to the Team instructors! |
KEY DATES FOR 2025 Registration is now OPEN until October 3, 2025! Register August 17 (Monday) - Pre Launch Perios - Links, instructions, timeline, grading criteria and project expectations available on IWBI website. Complete Registrations, finalize teams, ideas, biz plan template and rules. Each school to determine specific launch day according to their course schedule. September 15 (Monday) - Official IWBI Program Launch - User and Admin access to WBE Financial Workbooks October 3 (Friday) - LAST CALL REGISTRATION! - Team Registrations Deadline November 10 (Monday) - Final project submissions - Business Plan, Financials, and Labels submitted November 28 (Friday) - Announcement of awards and return of project scores for grading to faculty (project grades may be provided earlier if needed to accommodate school course schedules). |
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EACH TEAM SUBMITS: Business Plan – Mission, vision and goals for the new sub-brand product, outline sales and marketing strategies and conduct a competitive analysis for their wine. (view template). Cost of Goods and Wine Pricing Financials – Teams will also use the winebusinesseducation.com proprietary financial calculators to work up cost of goods, wine FOB selling price, plus distribution and pricing financials for selling wine in retail, online and restaurants. Detailed templates are provided for guidance. Wine Label – Both front and back labels that comply with federal label requirements to secure a Certidicate of Label approval from the United States Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). |
SUPPORT FOR FACULTY AND STUDENTS 1. The program works with a variety of class types: marketing, winemaking, hospitality wine intensives, and wine business courses. 2. Direct collaboration with Tim Hanni, MW for support and communication of program for students, and faculty. 3. Faculty roles are simple - introduce program and monitor ongoing progress. 4. Faculty Advisor determines if (entire) class vs. (individual) team participation. 5. Industry and government resources, business plan templated, and financial tutorials fare provided. |
PRODUCT CRITERIA- 10,000 to 25,000 cases of a new, red, white, rose or orange wine for a an established US winery with 90% of the wine to be sold through the 3-tier national distribution system.- Retail MSRP selling price of the wine will be between $25.00 and $75.00 USD.- Grape varieties used in the blend are at the discretion of the team.- Grape prices for the cost of goods financials must be realistic, researched, and sustainable (no low-ball, spot-market, or one-time low price).- Must include a minimum of 50% barrel aging for at least 6 months.- Production will be at the parent winery - no custom crush, contract, or bulk wine projects.JUDGING CRITERIA- Projects are graded - The scoring/grading will be provided for the Business Plan, pricing and cost of goods financials, and wine label components of the competition. - Evaluation with constructive comments and scoring based on 100 points will be returned for review and grading by faculty. - Awards will be given for top 3 best scoring projects. |
TAKEAWAYSUnderstanding the wine supply chain and learning what the financial effects of key decisions at any point along the supply/value chain has on cost of goods, pricing and marketing a wine. The additional benefit is learning more about, and gaining a greater appreciation for, wine language, viticulture, winemaking and more detailed aspects of what truly goes into the production of a bottle of wine.
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Wine Business Education (WBE) Financial Workbooks
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Resources for Team Research- Grape Crush Report for researching grape prices (COG calculator), pricing data, and supply/demand trends (Business Plan) - Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) for label requirements and details, market data, etc. - Video tutorials - Weekly webinar Q&A (Hanni to conduct, recorded for viewing later by all teams) - Wine & Vines market data and general information - Teams will conduct independent research for their projects. |
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Winning teams in the will receive engraved barrelhead trophies generously provided by Nadalié Cooperage USA
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Past "Grand Prize" Winners
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For more information, contact: Tim Hanni MW, 707-337-0327, tim@timhanni.com
