Believing in your wine w/ Luisa Amorim, Mirabilis

Building a new wine category is not something that is easy to plan. It often is more like a startup, where belief in the product and market is just as critical as a defined strategy. That's how Luisa Amorim, CEO of Amorim Family Estates, launched Mirabilis into being an iconic still white wine of the Douro Valley. She outlines priority markets, views on scores and social media, and her belief in word of mouth marketing. Detailed Show Notes: Luisa’s background: hospitality, marketing; started in the family business at 23; spent 3 years in a global rotation program Amorim Family Estates 3 regions in Portugal (Douro, Dao, Alentejo) Each property has its own winery and team and does hospitality with a culture and food component Division of bigger Amorim cork company and family Mirabilis (part of Quinta Nova) Produced white wine from the beginning (2000) First an unoaked white, then a reserve, then Mirabilis (Latin for “marvelous”) White was not popular in Portugal at the time, production processes were not set up for whites Took 2 years of experimentation, 1st vintage 2011 (2,000 bottles) Whites still have pricing barriers vs reds Douro white differentiation: close to Atlantic, schist soils, native grapes, and blending Introducing Douro whites: older people were harder to get on board, younger were more open to exploration Need to have belief in product and its viability over having a detailed marketing plan Marketing focus has been on teaching Portuguese wines (including culture and traditions) Geographic focus for Mirabilis Portugal 1st - need to be well respected in the home country Switzerland, Benelux (lots of Michelin Star restaurants) Not Scandinavia (targeting higher end of the market) Brazil (speak Portuguese) USA, Canada 5 people, based in Portugal, work internationally; travel 3-5x/year to each market While design and packaging, price positioning are important, the sales team and their relationships are critical in the wine industry Having a good wine is more important than press or reviews, people are paying less attention to reviews Consumers now look at peers and friends for recommendations and they need to trust the wine producer Social media - “should be doing more” - hiring younger people into marketing Wine marketing needs to capture the “soul” of the wine Make things simpler, less technical talk More provocative, “sexy” vs saying the same thing all wineries say Has not done any paid advertising Relies on word of mouth (people taste, buy, and talk) and partnerships Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Believing in your wine w/ Luisa Amorim, Mirabilis is an episode from XChateau Wine Podcast by Robert Vernick.

This episode is 42:35 long.

This episode was published on Nov 25, 2025.

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