Innovation isn’t “more stuff”.

It isn’t another label, another cuvée, another slightly different SKU dressed up as progress.

Real innovation is a shift in perspective.

It’s the moment you stop thinking like the majority, and start seeing the category through a different lens. A lens that makes you ask better questions, not just produce more answers. It’s not about adding. It’s about improving what matters. It’s not “more”. It’s better.

That’s exactly why we invited Paul Peterson, a US-based specialist in innovation and customer insight, to join us on the podcast. Paul has spent more than 30 years inside the rooms where product decisions get made, and he’s noticed something most industries overlook.

He talks about a very specific type of customer: Catalytic customers.

And no, they’re not the same as early adopters. Early adopters chase novelty. They like being first. They’re curious, enthusiastic, and often forgiving.

Catalytic customers are different.

They’re usually already your customers.
They already care about what you’re building.
And because they care, they do something rare: they challenge you.

They don’t just say “I love it.”

They say:

“This part is confusing.”
“This part is missing.”
“This is where people drop off.”
“This is the assumption you’re making, and it’s not true.”

They can articulate what most customers never will, because most customers don’t have the time, the language, or the patience to explain why they’re disengaging.

They just leave. Quietly.
They choose something else.
And you only feel it later, in the numbers.

Catalytic customers help you see what your market is feeling before your data forces you to admit it. And in wine right now, that matters more than ever, because we keep “innovating” in ways that make sense to us, while missing what actually makes wine feel relevant, welcoming, and easy to choose for the people we say we want to bring in.

So this conversation isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about learning to listen to the right people, the ones who tell you the hard truths early, so you can build smarter, faster, and with real relevance. Because what's the point of innovating if we're not giving customers a stronger reason to choose you.📲 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/vino_visionaries_podcast

▶️ Explore more episodes on our YouTube channel: @vino_visionaries

🌐 Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/⁠⁠

👥Connect with Paul Peterson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-peterson-mr/

#paulpeterson #vinovisionaries #rethinkingwine #rethinkingthewineindustry

We talk a lot about innovation in wine.
But if we’re honest, most of us were never really taught how to take risks.
We were taught how not to fail.

In this episode of Vino Visionaries, I sit down with Nick Karavidas, who is about to head into his 45th vintage.

With more than four decades in the industry, Nick has seen consumers change, channels evolve and direct-to-consumer become essential, but what really stayed with me from this conversation was our deep dive into failure.

A big part of our conversation is about fear.Not abstract fear, but the very normal, very human fear of getting it wrong.When I asked Nick about the word failure, we ended up somewhere deeper: how most of us were trained, from school onwards, to avoid mistakes at all costs.

At school we learn:Don’t make a mistake.Do as you’re told.Don’t cooperate.Work alone.There’s one right answer, and everything else is wrong.Then we land in the real world where:Consumers are changing faster than ever.There are many possible answers to any problem.The safest thing is no longer “do what we’ve always done”, but to try, test, iterate, and learn together.No wonder so many people in wine feel paralysed. We say we want innovation, but we’ve been conditioned our whole life to avoid the exact behaviour innovation requires: trying things, sharing ideas, testing, “failing”, adjusting.For me, this episode isn’t about pointing fingers at “the industry”.

It’s about recognising how we were all trained to think, and asking what it would look like to unlearn some of that together.If you feel that the old playbook doesn’t match today’s reality, I think this conversation will hit home.Join our community, subscribe to the podcast today.

📲 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/vino_visionaries_podcast

▶️ Explore more episodes on our YouTube channel: @vino_visionaries

🌐 Visit our website: ⁠⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/

⁠⁠👥Connect with Nick Karavidas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholaskaravidas/

In 2021 I had my heartbreak with wine education. I realised the system I loved was part of the problem. Too many rules. Too much superiority. A constant separation between those who “know” and those who “don’t”.

Somewhere along the way I became the kind of person I never wanted to be, judging people by how much theory they could repeat.

I still remember a cellar-door moment with a group of young women. No one wanted to host them. People laughed behind their backs about their questions.

One of them said she could not taste it because she was allergic to apples. I had just described the wine as having apple notes. Instead of meeting her where she was, we made her feel small. That memory still stings. Not because of her question, but because of our reaction.

These days I prioritise connection and curiosity. I don’t assume I’m there to teach. I ask what matters to them and how I can add value. Education should open doors, not close them. It should give people their own language for taste and embrace the questions that sit outside the rulebook.

That is why this month’s Vino Visionaries makes me proud. I sat down with Preston Mohr, Managing Director of Wine Scholar Guild, to talk about a new approach they are rolling out that puts the taster at the heart the equation. No right or wrong answers. No performance for the grade. The aim is to make wine more accessible and more inclusive.

For me, this is the future. We need to replace scripts with stories, scores with feelings, and hierarchy with hospitality.

I am excited to hear how this new Wine Scholar Guild pathway lands with the next generation of students and the many professionals who are ready for a change.

If you have ever felt shut out of wine by jargon, or if you teach and want your students to LIGHT UP rather than FREEZE UP, this episode is for you.

Join our community, subscribe to the podcast today.

📲 Follow us on Instagram: www.instagram.com/vino_visionaries_podcast

▶️ Explore more episodes on our YouTube channel: @vino_visionaries

🌐 Visit our website: ⁠https://www.rethinkingwine.app/⁠

👥Connect with Preston Mohr: https://www.linkedin.com/in/preston-mohr-23459098/?originalSubdomain=fr