Exclusive Interview: Roger Nabedian On 37 Years At Gallo
October 20, 2023Yesterday, SND exclusively reported that Roger Nabedian will be retiring in January after a 37-year career with the world’s largest wine marketer. After playing a vital role in developing Gallo’s premium portfolio over the years, Nabedian has unique insight into how the landscape has changed in recent decades both within Gallo and across the broader wine market. SND executive editor Daniel Marsteller caught up with Nabedian to get his reflections on that long-term evolution.
SND: What do you see as the biggest changes that have occurred in the wine business since the beginning of your career?
Nabedian: From a business point of view, a lot has changed. In the early days of my career, wine was still becoming culturally relevant in the United States. In-house penetration of the wine category was still fairly low, below 30%, and there were products being launched to try to introduce new consumers into wine, wine coolers for example.
Then there was a lot of news media around the health benefits of wine that came out in the early nineties, the Baby Boomers came of age and had purchasing capacity, and the wine category had continuous strong growth in the United States for the next 25, 30 years based on those things. The California wine business really came of age as well. A lot of entrepreneurs that had started wineries in the sixties, seventies, and early eighties helped fuel and then rode that growth for a generation.
More recently, over the past 10 years, it’s definitely changed. Consumer interests are different. The generations that followed the Boomers interact with the category in a different way. Spirits makers have been more innovative and aggressive introducing products and marketing them in a way that provides more energy to the category. And so there’s been a shift that you clearly see in the data where spirits have become a much bigger share of the usage occasions—at the expense of predominantly beer, but to some degree wine. The category shifting and consumer behavior shifting has been pretty meaningful over the past several years.
SND: Similarly, what have been the major changes within Gallo as a company?
Nabedian: I’ve been fortunate that I’ve worked for the company in a period where we transitioned from the first to second generation and now to the third generation of the family. So I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to be along for that. From the beginning, though, the cultural touchstones at Gallo really haven’t changed.
The aim is to provide a portfolio of products that meet consumers where and when they want to buy and add value to their life in moments that matter, and provide products that are compelling and a good value for money regardless of the price, whether it’s a $5 bottle of wine or a $200 bottle of wine. We’ve been focused on continuing to build our portfolio through that lens, and it’s been an evolution of how we think about portfolio construction, the categories we play in, how we think about innovation, and how we think of acquisition.
SND: That acquisition drive has continued right up to the present with recent additions like Rombauer. Do you see it accelerating?
Nabedian: It has accelerated in the past few years. Not that our approach has changed, but there’s just been more opportunity and more segments that fit what we’re trying to do. We’ve certainly been much more active in the spirit and ready-to-drink and ready-to-serve categories on the acquisition front. In wine, we’re keeping a similar pace to what we’ve had for the better part of 15 or 20 years now.
We’re always keeping an eye out for opportunities to add to our portfolio in a positive way. We’re constantly dialoguing with entrepreneurs who might be interested in doing something different in the future. Sometimes those conversations take years to develop, and sometimes they develop in a matter of a year.
On the wine side, you have a community of entrepreneurs who started wine businesses in the sixties, seventies, and eighties. Some of them have succession plans in place and some don’t. I think there will continue to be a network of those folks interested in finding somebody who can carry on the legacy of their brands effectively, but allow them to exit. So I do expect that the market will continue to be active. On the spirits side, there’s a lot of incubators and innovators out there, and their sole purpose is to create brands that gain traction in the marketplace that they can then try to transact on. So I think there’s going to continue to be opportunities.
SND: What do you see for the future of the wine market?
Nabedian: I’m still optimistic about the wine category. There are near-term challenges. The industry is in a moment where it’s having some struggles. It has to continue to become innovative and make wines that are compelling and interesting and have strong stories. But I still believe that the generations coming of age will continue to find pleasure in understanding and enjoying wine as part of their lifestyle. As an industry, we have to continue to find ways to make the products—in terms of their taste and the brands—relevant to them.
SND: Besides serving on the Gallo board, any retirement plans to share?
Nabedian: I’m retiring and I’m looking forward to having a little bit more time, but I also expect to continue to stay engaged in the category.
Tagged : E.&J. Gallo
