Energy - Model Holding AG
Energy - Model Holding AG
Energy - Model Holding AG
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AFFALTRACH WINE CELLARS<br />
A delight for all the senses<br />
Now more than 75 years old, the<br />
Schloss Affaltrach wine cellars are<br />
headed by the third generation of Baumanns,<br />
Reinhold and Thomas – under<br />
whose leadership sales have nearly<br />
doubled in the last few years.<br />
Schloss Affaltrach offers a first-class<br />
range of wines, both still and sparkling,<br />
that have won prize after prize.<br />
Thomas Baumann,<br />
you have been successfully<br />
holding<br />
your own against<br />
stiff competition for<br />
many years. What’s<br />
your secret?<br />
Flexibility. We are<br />
flexible at all levels<br />
and in all our processes. As soon as we detect<br />
a market need, we look for a way to meet it –<br />
rapidly and unbureaucratically. We also attach<br />
great importance to giving our customers personal<br />
service.<br />
Around 85% of German sparkling wine comes<br />
from three major producers. We operate in the<br />
smaller segment: the remaining 15%, where<br />
we focus exclusively on niche markets. I’m<br />
convinced that’s where our strength lies: it<br />
gives us a healthy cost/benefit ratio. What we<br />
want isn’t further growth – it’s to produce topquality<br />
wine, and to establish our reputation<br />
among specialist wine retailers and first-class<br />
restaurants.<br />
Our own brands account for around 95% of<br />
the sparkling wine we sell.<br />
What makes you different from other wine<br />
producers?<br />
We pursue a solid added-value strategy for<br />
specialist retailers and the hotel and restaurant<br />
trades. Volume is not a factor.<br />
There are very few producers who make<br />
both still and sparkling wines.<br />
In 1972, after supplying us with grapes<br />
for many years, 69 wine growers established<br />
a cooperative and registered it as<br />
an association. Today it has 250 members,<br />
who between them cultivate<br />
over 200 hectares of vines in Württemberg’s<br />
famous wine-producing<br />
regions. Every grape they harvest<br />
comes to us at Schloss Affaltrach.<br />
We also have vineyards of our<br />
own – about 20 hectares –<br />
that we use for experimentation,<br />
passing the results on to<br />
our growers.<br />
By constantly investing in state-of-the-art<br />
equipment, we ensure optimum quality at<br />
all stages – from harvesting to processing<br />
and ultimately to distribution.<br />
What is the state of today’s wine<br />
market?<br />
Unlike other wine-growing countries in<br />
the EU, unfortunately, consumers in<br />
Germany don’t always appreciate the<br />
wines that are produced in their own<br />
country. On top of that, aggressive pricing and<br />
price dumping – particularly with foreign wines<br />
in the discount segment – are having serious<br />
long-term effects on the buying behaviour of<br />
German consumers.<br />
We combat this by conducting various point-ofsale<br />
campaigns, tastings and the like, in order<br />
to bring our wines to the consumers’ attention.<br />
We also have 50 agents selling our wines on<br />
commission. But whether we sell them direct<br />
or through agents, we always major on the personal<br />
relationship with the customer.<br />
How do you keep the loyalty of your staff,<br />
customers and partners?<br />
It’s my firm belief that you have to manage by<br />
example. But I can’t be an example if I’m just a<br />
manager: I have to be a human being too.<br />
This is true for our customers and staff alike.<br />
Customers see it as very important for me to<br />
look after them personally.<br />
And it’s very important for me to be able to rely<br />
on my staff at all times. They know that I find<br />
time to help them with their problems whenever<br />
I can, whether these be major worries or<br />
minor concerns. Our low staff turnover rate<br />
shows how much they appreciate that. We<br />
feel like members of an extended family: we<br />
are all there when we need each<br />
other.<br />
Can a partner – a packaging manufacturer,<br />
for example – help to optimize your<br />
working processes?<br />
Top-quality products that never give us any<br />
trouble are the alpha and omega of our business.<br />
Boxes, for example, have to be wellmade,<br />
meeting the quality standards we have<br />
set. <strong>Model</strong> never fails to meet our quality requirements.<br />
It has established itself as one of<br />
our regular suppliers, taking the initiative in<br />
suggesting innovations, alternatives and solutions<br />
to problems. An example: we wanted to<br />
switch from a multi-item gift set to a series<br />
that could be used for two, three, four or six<br />
bottles. <strong>Model</strong>, it must be emphasized, was<br />
the only manufacturer to supply a display that<br />
could be used for different bottle sizes. It presents<br />
the bottles on several different levels at<br />
the point of sale.<br />
Autumn is one of your busiest seasons. Can<br />
you take things a little easier at other times<br />
of the year?<br />
Since we make both still and sparkling wines,<br />
we really only have three «quiet» weeks in the<br />
year – in July and August. As soon as the<br />
grape harvest is over and the accounts have<br />
been finalized, I’m out with our customers and<br />
agents again.<br />
What are your priorities in the years to<br />
come?<br />
One of them is my family. I’d like to spend<br />
more time with my wife and three children.<br />
But apart from that, I naturally have a number<br />
of business objectives.<br />
I want to strengthen our position in our existing<br />
niche markets, as well as moving into new<br />
ones. We have an enormous, diverse range of<br />
products, which certainly needs thinning out<br />
over the next few years. Some of our<br />
processes are in need of optimization.<br />
On the other hand, we must go on modernizing<br />
in order to become even more flexible. As<br />
long as we can keep our feet on the ground,<br />
that is.<br />
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