The wine world is changing. I’ve been watching it for decades.
My name is Robert Joseph. I write, speak, consult and create wine brands.
If you work in wine — or want to understand it better — you're in the right place.
Wine Thinking is my Substack — published weekly, read by people across the planet who take the industry seriously.
Heading for 2,750 subscribers in the first year.
Some of it the words make for surprising and possibly uncomfortable reading.
Most is thought-provoking.
All of it is honest.
Co-creation of innovative brands.
Le Grand Noir — 3.8 million bottles, 74 markets.
K'AVSHIRI — a super-premium Georgian wine already in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Nobody has a clearer overview of the arcane workings of the wine trade — and nobody challenges its odd ways more comprehensibly."
Tony Laithwaite, founder, Laithwaites Wine
MAKE
Keynotes for industry and non-industry audiences worldwide.
Lectures at the WSET Business Courses, Burgundy Business School, Sonoma, Geisenheim, Trento.
Strategic consultancy for wine brands, regions and producers. Clients have included Torres, Accolade, Wine Australia and Château Malartic-Lagravière.
Let’stalk
CONSULT AND SPEAK
WRITE
Regular analysis of the wine industry on Wine Thinking and Devil's Advocate, my LinkedIn newsletter.
And three books coming in 2026— on the industry, the people, and the rise of no/low alcohol.
To be kept updated, subscribe to the Devil’s Advocate
Alternatively, I could offer you insight into how the wine world really works and its likely future evolution.
Or maybe we might work together to create a successful wine brand
If you are looking for a consultant, my varied client list includes Accolade, Château Brane-Cantenac,
Château Malartic-Lagravière, McGuigan Wines, Torres, Esterhazy, Origin Wines and the generic organisations of Australia, Brazil, Georgia, Moldova and Portugal.
As a futurist, over nearly four decades, I was among the first to identify the likely growth of New World brands in the UK, the evolution of varietal wines in Europe, the impact of the internet and the move towards alternative packaging and closures.
Would you like to know what I think may be about to happen next?
If you need words of any kind, my background includes launching successful consumer and trade magazines, writing over 25 books, and creating ebooks and printed books for Wines of Brazil, McGuigan Wines and Chateau Malartic Lagraviere
If you are thinking of creating an event, I was co-founder of the International Wine Challenge in the UK, Asia and Russia and built it into the world’s biggest wine competition.
When it comes to assessing wine quality and commercial viability, I am co-chair of 5 Star Wines and on the board of MundusVini, and am frequently asked to judge wines of every kind.
Le Grand Noir, the innovative French wine brand I conceived in 2005 and co-own, now sells over 3.8m bottles per year, in 65 countries.
The equivalent of one every eight seconds.
I have similar ambitions for K’AVSHIRI my exciting new project from Georgia…
I have given keynote presentations for organisations and companies across the world, have taught business students in the US, China, and Europe and am former visiting professor at the Burgundy Business School
In 2018, I was honoured to win the inaugural Born Digital / Vinventions Innovation Award
“Robert Joseph is the “go-to” innovator in wine, constantly identifying key trends and new technology from other categories and applying them successfully to wine”
Paul Schaafsma, Former Chief Executive of Accolade Wine’;
now founder-managing director of Benchmark Drinks
