Wine has traditionally been bound up with the trappings of wealth – both in its consumption and it production. Indeed, it is this free association which has often held back the marketing of wine in Britain, challenging perceived class and gender hierarchies associated with the drink. Yet, at the same time, products replete with social capital hold their value somewhat better than those aimed at the lower end of the market (see the post on ‘Shelter from the Storm’). Balancing the intrinsic value of a product against the volume driven by pandering to the mass-market has been the dilemma of many prestige wineries during these challenging economic times.
Such wealthy prestige, however, can very well have a positive influence on wine – specifically when it involves reinvigorating a prestige winery on the brink of collapse. In one such case, the famed businessman and renowned hair model Donald Trump has recently bought over the Kluge winery in Virginia. Interestingly, with the potential of Trump running for the Republican Presidential Nomination, Kluge wines were enjoyed at the wedding of Chelsea Clinton. If Kluge’s wines can continue to grace the functions of the influential when they are allied to one camp in the greatly partisan United States, then such associations will prove an asset.
The Kluge estate was itself born of wealth, with the ownership passing to Patricia Kulge as part of a divorce settlement with former Forbes table-topping millionaire John Kluge. Since the millennium the Kruge estate has enjoyed good fortunes, expanding and ameliorating produce in an effort to place themselves amongst the world’s most exclusive boutique wineries. Tales of Kluge wine served at the weddings of the wealthy and powerful added to an allure which allied the caché of exclusivity with the aura of old money. On the back of these positive signs, expansion seemed to signal the way forward. Yet, in the midst of a global recession, expansion proved near ruinous. Indebted to the tune of $23m, the Kluge estate was sold to the Bank of America for $15.3m. At auction, however, the prestigious domain was to find an even lower price, albeit a more solvent guarantor. Donald Trump paid an estimated $6.2m for the estate, which he plans to take on as a going concern.
The winery will likely retain its staff (most certainly at the top) and will undoubtedly continue to make recourse to the internationally successful and near unanimous consultant Michel Rolland. Yet, as a condition of sale, Trump will rebrand the wines to fit his own stable of assets. Trump’s vanity projects all bear his name proudly, although he perennially faces the same dilemma of undermining core brand value with wide availability. If Trump bankrolls expansion at Kruge then it must be firmly allied to a belief in the quality of the product. Problematically, Trump has himself declared that he is still more interested in real estate than wine and that all matters viticultural will be left to staff at the winery, including friend and former owner Paricia Kluge. Yet, having already sold the farm once, can Kluge’s owners turn it around? This is Trump’s gamble and one which he may be able to help ensure is a safe bet.
