How to Import Wine: An Insider’s Guide, 2nd edition

Publication date: August 1, 2018

Paperback, 6 x 9”, 304pp, B&W illustrations, fully indexed

Deborah M. Gray 

Since the 2011 publication of the first edition of How to Import Wine tectonic change has fundamentally reshaped the US wine business landscape. This comprehensively revised edition puts this new environment in a manageable, actionable context so that novices and veterans alike will be able to identify dangers and new opportunities in such areas as federal and state regulations, evolving distribution practices, the impact of social media and how to appeal to the new emerging tastemakers: Millennials.

Drawing on her real-world experience of these new dynamics, Deborah M. Gray provides essential tools for the establishment of a progressive US wine importing business. As in her first book, she details the critical considerations in branding, packaging, pricing, licensing and regulations, shipping, warehousing, marketing, and more. The book is filled with specific examples of importing triumphs and failures, with particular interest paid to arguably the most important element of business success: acquiring and maintaining effective distribution.

Deborah Gray established her first wine importing company in the U.S. in 1992 and has travelled to forty of the fifty US states throughout her wine career, working with distributors, conducting wine dinners and tastings and invited to speak at wine festivals, conferences, on radio and television. She served on the Wine Board of the Australian Trade Commission for four years.

Deborah is also an instructor at San Diego State University, where she teaches about wine importing & distribution. She lives in Southern California with her husband.