On Tuesday evening the group had
the gracious opportunity to see Wieninger winery. What I found to be the most intriguing
was the passion Mr. Fritz Wieninger emanated to us students throughout
the session. It is my understanding that this passion to consistently challenge
himself to think proactively, raise the bar and always work to be his own devils
advocate and biggest competitor has propelled him into his successful status
quo. It is my belief that the domestic wineries within Canada could stand to
learn a few things from Mr. Fritz such as his attention to detail, promotion of
elimination related towards modified and chemically enhanced products (extended
far beyond organizational supported products), drive for both performance, and
quality. The business strategy to remain competitive and relevant is to be
ruthless on its journey towards a quality product.
We explored the cellar (from the
sixteenth century) on our visit and learnt a fact that wine has had presence in
Vienna for close to two and a half thousand years. Granular facts such as the harvesting
process details, and exporting details demonstrated the devotion and knowledge
to his trade. A highlight of the event was a tasting of an unfiltered, zero
intervention white wine, I have never tasted anything similar before (referred
to as, “how the Romans drank”).
To my peers, I am curious to know
if the passion of the presenter stuck an inspirational chord with any of you as
well? If so, in what way?
Great post Shafina and Kendra. Fritz Weininger passion resonated with us as well. He embodies the saying the “If you do what you love you never work a day in your life.” As students this is important to us because we should be pursuing an education in a field which is important to us and that we can make a meaningful difference in.
ReplyDeleteIn your blog you said “to consistently challenge himself to think proactively, raise the bar and always work to be his own devil’s advocate and biggest competitor…” We feel that these are the reasons that Fritz Weininger and his winery are so successful. He is also very successful because he holds himself and his winery to such a high standard. Fritz Weininger does not produce a wine that he would not drink himself. He also refuses to sell products that do not meet his professional standard and that is why we feel he is so successful.
We personally were inspired by his passion and attention to detail in every step of the wine making process. As we enter our perspective careers, we should emulate Fritz Weiningers passion and pursue our own passions as he does.
Ashton and James
We found Fritz's whole demeanor to be amazingly passionate. This definitely struck a chord with us, as we both came away from that visit striving to find something we could be as successful and passionate about. Even today with the trade commissioner, you could see the sparkle in his eye when presenting. It would seem that we are meeting individuals how have a burning passion for their careers. This inspires us to use our education to potentially find employment that is both meaningful and ideally well paying.
ReplyDeleteFritz's strategy of always bettering his process is something that others can learn from. Many companies can get stuck in their traditional ways, and not step out and try new things. We see this as a great competitive edge. How else is a company supposed to grow if they don't change and try new things.
Another striking thing was his passion for only producing something he enjoyed and could be proud of. Often, companies can be worried about pleasing the masses or only creating a product because it is what the consumer wants. However, when it is a personal name on a brand, it is imperative to have something you can be proud of.
His ability to not only create a product he can be proud of, but that has seen world wide success is truly inspirational. We both left this experience with a belly food of good wine and a soul full of enthusiasm for passion.
xoxo - EJ
Hey guys! We completely agree when you say “the business strategy to remain competitive and relevant is to be ruthless on its journey towards a quality product.” We feel that Mr. Fritz emanated that believe extremely well. We wanted to reply to your guys’ post because we also felt that Mr. Fritz struck an inspirational chord with us when he presented. Right from the moment we arrived in the pouring rain, his smile and eyes permeated his love for what he does. When we all asked him questions he provided us with great forward-thinking answers which seamlessly led him to explain another aspect of his company. His knowledge was exceptional and really provided us with a full view of his industry; not just explaining the process of making wine and how he exports. While the numbers and strategy are crucial for business, he showed that passion for what one does is equally as crucial.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect we found interesting was that Mr. Fritz’s success, belief, and love for the quality of his product shows that, while there is a market for cheaper low-quality wines, a business will discover and potentially prosper from delivering quality to its customers. While he mentioned that his biggest competitor is “poor taste” and other alcoholic beverages, it is inspiring as business students to witness a product like his continue to be successful with maintaining its strategic positioning without succumbing to the pressure of repositioning or necessarily responding to the “poor taste” competition. Further to that, we feel that Mr. Fritz’s advancements in biodynamics will be key in influencing wineries to develop more sustainable practices. Perhaps Canadian producers should further their endeavors in this area.
He made our tour feel like it was the only tour he has given in all of his years and Stephanie and I feel lucky to have met with him.
We look forward to continuing being inspired as business students with each speaker we interact with on our tour!
Stephanie & Michael