Baldacci has seen consistent sales growth across all categories except one: case sales. So she dug into why. “Here’s another freakonomics thing—no one stores anymore, because everybody’s a renter,” says Duckhorn. She asked her team (“they’re all under 35”) what they wanted from a winery. The answer? Flexibility and smaller units. “They don’t want to buy a case—it’s harder to drink and it’s harder to store.”
So she remains flexible, trying to catch new trends and follow what drinkers, especially younger ones, want. It’s a matter of survival. “We have a lot of wine club members who are over 60, but once they cycle out, there’s no one replacing them,” she says.
