B Cellars, located 15 minutes north of downtown Napa in Oakville innovates with AI and a new seasonal menu and greenhouse.|
B Cellars has long been at the forefront of innovation, and they’re not stopping anytime soon.
In 2011, they stepped away from traditional wine sales channels to achieve 100% of sales directly from the consumer (DTC). The estate achieved this goal in 2017, and they’ve been working with loyal fans ever since.
They took this even further in 2018 when co-founder Duffy Keys began using Metis, an AI platform that helps companies learn about their customers through algorithms.
Metis, named after the Greek goddess of wisdom, analyzes extensive data from social media and online reviews providing valuable insights into a brand's emotional connection with its customers, and identifies best practices within specific industry segments.
As a result, the winery made an unusual move to increase prices by an unprecedented 30% to better reflect the high quality of its wines and curated food pairings. The price change also elevated the experience's perceived luxury, leading to a surge in bookings to visit the estate. In addition, almost immediately, annual visits to the winery increased significantly, and total wine sales, in dollars, grew at an average yearly rate of 9%.
Keys, who spent over 20 years at Four Seasons Hotels and Resort during its most explosive growth years appreciates how perception can influence interactions with customers. He meticulously embraced what made Four Seasons stand above the rest, the "FS Golden Rule,” and “embedded it into the ethos of B Cellars.”
“My business partner Jim Borsack had an understanding of what it took to create an exceptional wine product; it didn’t stop there. I placed equal emphasis on creating an exceptional guest experience; one to surpass the expectations of even the most discriminating of patrons,” said Keys.
One of the most popular offerings at B Cellars is the Oakville Trek experience where guests tour the estate garden and grounds and then experience a multicourse food and wine pairing in the Hospitality House. Complete with five award-winning wines, accompanied by seasonal “B Bites” prepared a la minute by full-time chef Derick Kuntz, who has been with B Cellars for over a decade.
“I like to work with ingredients as they come into season here in our gardens or from one of our neighboring farmers. Because the menu follows both the wines and the seasonality of our ingredients, it is constantly changing. We’ll change the menu completely five or six times before summer is over,” Kuntz said.
The seasonal menu is expected to become even better with the recent completion of an on-site greenhouse.
“We built the greenhouse to be able to grow starts (baby plants) for the chef’s garden from seed. Working from seeds allows us to expand the variety of unique cultivars that we are producing. It also allows us to plant the seedlings over time, which gives us a greater range of harvest dates. That makes it easier to plan menus and increases our yield efficiency,” said Curtis Strohl, GM of B Cellars.
In addition to the food grown on-site, B Cellars has worked with grapes from famed Andy Beckstoffer’s Heritage Vineyards for 20 years. “Andy owns and farms six of the most historically significant vineyards in the Napa Valley — these vineyards producing top-quality fruit since the mid-1800s. B Cellars is the first of only two wineries that produce a single vineyard wine from each of these six vineyards,” said Strohl.
Thanks to their 100% DTC model, unique experience, and insights gained from Metis AI technology, B Cellars says it has experienced consistent growth since 2017, including more attention from Gen Z and millennial clients. According to the winery, 25% of B Cellars customers have been loyal for over five years and now spend three times more than when they first started.
B Cellars says it has successfully avoided the distribution challenges faced by many peers struggling with recent declines in on-premise sales, so much so that they recently launched a program with Ecologi. “With every wine order we receive, we donate a portion of proceeds to Ecologi, a program that is doing wonderful work with reforestation around the world,” said Strohl.
Keys believes this upward trend will remain, “We will continue to embrace Metis as she evolves; her insights into our customers become far more valuable. Metis’ ability to listen carefully and articulate new opportunities will help support even more confident decision-making as we go forward,” said Keys.
