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Case Study · Swiss Premium Winery
177 importer conversations for a Valais château
Château Constellation holds one of only four Swiss Château designations, works with consulting enologist Michel Rolland, and needed international importers and distributors. The wine trade has no SaaS-style lead lists and runs on relationships and trade fairs. We built the lists and timed the outreach to the fairs.
19,547
Emails sent, all time
11,278
Importers and distributors contacted
489
Unique replies
4.3%
Reply rate on a fully cold audience
177
Interested importer conversations
7
Months from onboarding to this data
The challenge
A relationship industry with no front door.
Premium wine distribution runs on tastings, trade fairs and personal networks. A Swiss producer outside the major appellations, however credentialed, struggles to get attention: most Swiss wine exports are commodity Chasselas, so importers don't expect premium from the category.
The assets were strong: the Michel Rolland consulting relationship, indigenous varieties like Petite Arvine and Heïda that competitors literally cannot offer, and 2024 medal wins. The job was getting those credentials read by the right buyer at the right moment.
The strategy
Trade-fair timing, persona by persona.
ICP-scored importer listsPremium European wine importers, 10 to 50 employees, scored across portfolio fit and geography. Bulk importers and New World specialists excluded up front.
Three geographic tiersUK, Germany, Benelux and Scandinavia first; US East Coast, California and Canada second; Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan third.
Three buyer personasBoutique owner-founders got the producer story. Commercial wine buyers got margin and category-gap math. Sommelier-importers got the indigenous varieties.
Event-triggered campaignsWine Paris, Vinexpo Hong Kong, Seatrade and F&B@Sea cruise-line buyers: outreach timed to land when importers were planning fair visits.
The Michel Rolland hookWorld-class enology credibility as the opening line for personas that recognize it, awards and rarity for those that don't.
Multilingual sequencesCopy matched to each market rather than English-only blasts.
LinkedIn layered on emailFair attendee lists enriched with personal LinkedIn profiles for a second touch channel via HeyReach.
Low-commitment CTAsSample shipments and tasting introductions instead of meeting asks: the CTA importers actually say yes to.
Results
Event-driven outreach shows up in the chart.
Monthly sending volume and interested replies from the Email Bison workspace. The February and March peaks are Wine Paris campaigns; later waves follow Vinexpo Hong Kong and the cruise-line events.
Emails sent per monthInterested replies
| Campaign | Emails sent | Replies | Interested | Positive share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wine Paris | 9,117 | 187 | 59 | 32% |
| Post Wine Paris | 3,290 | 73 | 45 | 62% |
| Vinexpo Hong Kong | 4,382 | 85 | 34 | 40% |
| Swiss Wine Retail & Wholesale | 788 | 99 | 16 | 16% |
| Seatrade 2026 | 958 | 27 | 14 | 52% |
How it unfolded
From zero trade presence to a importer pipeline.
Phase 1
Months 1–2
Map the trade
Importer lists built and scored across three geographic tiers, personas defined, multilingual copy written around the Rolland and indigenous-variety hooks.
11,278 importers mappedPhase 2
Months 3–4
Ride the fairs
Wine Paris campaigns delivered 104 interested importers across the pre-fair and follow-up waves. The event-trigger model proved itself immediately.
Wine Paris: 104 interestedPhase 3
Months 5+
Widen the map
Vinexpo Hong Kong opened Asia, Seatrade and F&B@Sea opened cruise-line buying, and Swiss retail campaigns filled the domestic base.
3 new buyer categoriesNiche market, no lead lists, long relationships?
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