The site launched Jan. 26 and has 180 winery members in 16 countries. Winery members include Miguel Torres in Spain, KWV in South Africa, San Pedro in Chile and Yalumba in Australia. Cole and Massolo met in Chile in 1994 when they were both single and nurtured the idea while working on a project together. At the time, Cole was working for J.P. Morgan and later worked for Texas Pacific Group. Massolo worked for the Vina Concha y Toro.
Wineries also have to spend time and money traveling to be part of major trade shows.
If you do that four times a year, you've spent your marketing budget. B2Bwine helps wineries make those connections. Massolo and Cole chose to focus on the wholesale market, rather than the consumer, because there's greater volume and demand in the global marketplace. B2Bwine is able to work with such restrictions because wines or wine samples are sent through wholesalers. Wine producers, importers and distributors can show their products on the Web site and find sales leads.