We were lucky to catch up with Christine Meredith & Daisy Kwoh recently and have shared our conversation below.
Christine Meredith & Daisy Kwoh, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
Christine: With each season, we recreate our wine shelf to focus on what’s current and relevant for consumers. We take inspiration from everything that’s in season. We’re at the farmer’s market – identifying wines that pair well with fresh produce and seasonal recipes. We lean in on new wine trends – whether it’s a style like pet-nats or chilled reds or a region of wine that people are interested in learning about. We also look at each season’s wine-drinking occasions – whether it’s poolside must-haves in the summer or brunch-pairing favorites in the spring.
For example, we just launched our Winter Collection and this season our consumers are spending more time indoors, cooking and gathering with friends. Our collection includes sipping wines to keep the party going for a cozy night in or a festive feast. We also highlight wines that pair well with appetizers and ones that pair deliciously with turkey or slow-cooked recipes. With the holidays, we also call out our favorite wines for gifting.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Daisy: We understand that it’s hard to find interesting wines unless you’re actually traveling through wine country or get a recommendation from a friend. The typical wine shelf is overwhelming and with retail stores focused on big-volume producers, 90% of the wineries aren’t represented because they make smaller-batch wines.
What makes us special is that we’re giving consumers access to these wineries and their incredible wines. We are constantly working with and connecting with new winemakers that are often limited to their tasting room and website for distribution. Our wines come from family-owned wineries, farming sustainably and harmoniously with the earth. And our seasonal collections allow us to continually introduce new wines and share their stories, one bottle at a time.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Christine: Having worked in the wine industry for many years, I dreamed of a more welcoming way to buy wine. Guildford Green is a thoughtful and engaging experience that introduces wines in a relatable way and connects customers with winemakers. Looking back, I believe our success has come from being fearless, being unapologetic, and being a fast decision maker.
Being fearless – Launching the business required time, money, and a lot of heart. We tested what we could before the launch, but there was often a lot of uncertainty on specific products and concepts. I definitely had some anxiety, but I couldn’t let fear get in my head. I focused on our purpose and was willing to embrace inevitable failures as opportunities to do better.
Being unapologetic about my vision – As I started putting Guildford Green together, I received advice and suggestions from friends, family, and many others in my network. With an overwhelming amount of data to consider, it was easy to get side-tracked in trying to accommodate all of this information. I think being unapologetic kept me from letting others water down my vision and losing what makes it unique.
Fast decision maker – Decide and move forward. We went into this with the mindset that most of our decisions were going to be wrong, but they were also going to be close enough. We might get lucky with a winning decision that was perfect in every way, but realistically we would be continually iterating to make things better. For example, we’ve re-designed and launched our website three times and with each version, we’re continuing to iron out more details.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
Daisy: I recently read a book by Annie Duke (How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed, and Won Millions) about how she started her career with a psychology degree but fell into the world of professional poker. The book resonated in many ways. She details the struggle of balancing her career (aka poker) with her personal life. With kids at home and tournaments on the road, it’s an emotional journey as she is constantly making tradeoffs with her family.
While the book details her strategies at the poker table, she also discusses the realities of competing in a male-dominated sport. She chooses to forgo the Ladies’ tournaments for higher payouts in the Men’s tournaments. In doing so, she’s continuously overcoming gender biases and navigating male egos.
She wins and loses throughout the book but her ability to make rational decisions and manage her emotions is inspirational. She is often at the final table playing against her brother and is able to compartmentalize her emotions to knock him out of the tournament. She detaches from quick wins and losses, and is laser-focused on the odds of each hand, long term probabilities, and continuously profiling her competition. She is quick to identify emotional and impulsive behavior from her competitors and plays them to her advantage.
While her overall story is rooted in her poker anecdotes, Annie’s approach to making complex decisions is really fascinating.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.guildfordgreen.com
- Instagram: guildfordgreenwine
- Facebook: guildfordgreenwine
