V-Marketing and Vega Sicilia's Pablo

Pablo Alvarez, the general director (and owner's son) of the iconic wine, Vegas Sicilia looks like James Gandolfini. Low key, he delivered his message and opinion about marketing with an almost lithium-infused tranquility. And this understatement made his reaction to LVMH's Xavier even more powerful. During Xavier's talk I was doing my own little Yiddish theater, making comments out loud and swatting the table in reaction. I wanted to throw my own talk out and base my upcoming 'speech' to address the LVMH soldier. Pablo did exactly that. he swayed from his original talk and directly addressed many of Xavier's points. In direct opposition to what we all just heard Pablo said, 'The consumer's are not dumb. They and wine must be respected.' What a revolutionary thought. He insisted that Spain does not want to be Australia, and the way to make brands is with quality. The one nod he did give to Xavier was that most people when hearing the name of the winery Vega Sicilia ask: where in Sicily are you? Pablo knows he doesn't need to sell his wine to everyone, just to enough people. He said he was a rich man, but rich enough. His winery was big enough. Quality was more important than growth. While his delivery was unemotional and deadpan, his message and sentiment was powerful. In contrast to Xavier, (who could be selling luxury-minded cupcakes instead of wine) Pablo said, " I was lucky enough to fall in love with this wine world." I believed him. His father, David Alvarez Diaz, is one of the richest men in Spain, and he bought VS in 1982. It was then that Pablo went into the wine business. He talked of the wine as a man would take his wife's hand, look at her and say, heart plump with feeling, 'I was the luckiest man in the world to meet you."