EPISODE #17 EARLY MOUNTAIN VINEYARDS, AILEEN SEVIER VP STRATEGY & MARKETING

Fine Wine Confidential Podcast

Early Mountain Vineyards was established in 2012 after Jean and Steve Case, the founders of AOL, purchased a vineyard in Madison County, at that time called Sweely vineyards, when it went on sale in 2011. Jean Case took the lead on the project with the goal to not just produce world class wine at Early Mountain but to promote Virginia winegrowing and its wines as a region that stands next to the best in the world. She started to feature wines from other top Virginia wine producers in their tasting room. In this way the consumer can sample a number of different Virginia wines and come away with a positive impression that is lastly for the Virginia wine industry. Quite a concept and it's working. In 2015 Early Mountain recruit Virginia native Ben Jordan to be their winemaker and he has established himself as one of the leading innovative winemakers in the state. Aileen Sevier joined the Early Mountain team in 2018 and is now the VP of Strategy & Marketing. Aileen had a successful career in the industry prior to moving to Charlottesville where she worked for Legal Seafoods and helped craft their wine program. Then for a number of years she was managing a portfolio of highly regarded French and Italian wine at the prominent Wine Import house of Tony Terlato in Chicago. Early Mountain Vineyards has grown during her the years she has been in charge of their Marketing Direction.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE INTERVIEW INCLUDE:
a). Aileen explains how she went from teaching English in Japan to working for Sandy Block at the well-known group of restaurants, Legal Seafoods.
b). in 2008 she and her husband moved to Chicago wheich was when she went to work managing a portfolio of European wines at Terlato which included Chapoutier from the Rhone, Il Poggione in Brunello and Rochioli Winery in Russian River.
c). Aileen outlines Jean Case commitment to Virginia wine and how Jean decided to feature other Virginia wines in their tasting room
d). Aileen has taken the concept of tasting other Virginia wines in the tasting room to a new concept of a selection of smaller batch wines and bundling them in a Wine Club concept for their consumers.
e). she discusses the impact of COVID on their business and how she believes it even helped their business.
f). Aileen speaks to the process of sitting for the Master of Wine diploma.
Much more, you can read the transcript below.

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