David Bowman, Ste. Michelle Wine Estates

This is the second in a two-part interview with David Bowman, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (SMWE). In Part I, Bowman discussed potential changes to the Chateau Ste. Michelle property in Woodinville.

Here, Bowman talks about the current state of the wine market, how SMWE is adjusting to industry changes, new investments at the company, points of future emphasis, advantages that Washington has over competitors, and other matters.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Additionally, some questions were inserted after the interview to break up the length of responses.

This is a challenging time for the global wine market. Tell me about some of the things Ste. Michelle Wine Estates is doing to get the winery onto better footing and to adjust to the overall changes in the market.

First let me say that I’m a wine guy. I’m a product guy. Period, end of sentence. I’ve been in the wine business for 20 years. I’m going to be in the wine business until I retire.

I’m here [at Ste. Michelle] because of the wine and because of the opportunity to be part of an overdue renaissance. I’m here because of the history. I look at turning around Ste. Michelle Wine Estates as a purpose-driven job. There are a lot of people employed by the Washington wine industry, and they need the industry to be healthy. I’ve been really explicit with people that this is about the business and the people of Washington wine succeeding [and] thriving. We’re the flagship bearer in a lot of ways. The health of Ste. Michelle goes a long way to helping the health of Washington’s growers, winemaking, and the overall wine industry.

As we’ve started the conversation about where we want to go from here. It starts with recognition that we’re a wine company. We’re not an innovation company. We’re not going to make things in pouches and weird formats and crazy brands and so forth. At least not anymore. We’re a 90 year-old wine company. We’re really damn good at it.

I think, like a lot of companies, you lose your way and your identity sometimes, and then you have to get re-centered. We’re going through that re-centering.

What does that process look like?

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