Two teams of students in Professor Terry Lease’s Senior Project class (WVIT 460: Senior Project – Wine Business) took part in the sixth annual Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational (IWBI). The IWB, led by Tim Hanni and his wine business education organization, is held online and pits teams of wine and hospitality students from around the world against each other to compete for the title.

The Cal Poly team comprised of Samantha Gingrich, Lauren Montgomery, Matt Ogden, Matthew Tibbetts, and Riley Welsh took second place for their concept of the Contravin brand and its Carbonic Grenache wine. The judges praised the team’s clever label and packaging. They liked the unique concept of carbonic grenache and its lower alcohol, lighter wine style as product differentiator.

The team of Nick Ciotola, Taylor Coates, Julia Gregson, Mackenzie Honeycutt, and Camilla McFall created the Rural Rebel brand and its Zinfandel – Syrah Rebel Red blend. The judges said it was a very nice project with excellent buyer personas and commended the depth of the brand the team created.

Students participating in the IWBI work as a team to design a wine brand and label, calculate costs of production, determine a realistic pricing structure, and create a business plan in a true Learn by Doing experience. Projects are evaluated by a panel of industry experts.

The Cost of Goods and Wine Pricing calculators used in the IWBI evolved from spreadsheets developed in Bill Amspacher’s Senior Project class at Cal Poly when Hanni was working in Paso Robles for Foster’s Wine Estates (now part of Treasury Wine Estates). Hanni was one of the first two Americans to earn the title of Master of Wine and is the author of “Why You Like the Wines You Like; Changing the way the world thinks about wine.”

In total, there were 8 teams from 4 academic institutions. The recipient of the Byron Marlow Memorial Trophy for first place was The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Hotel and Tourism and a team from Washington State University came in third place. Other universities competing in the IWBI included Michigan State University, Linfield University and the César Ritz College in Switzerland.