Wine Research Veteran Launches Consultancy

In the US, wine industry market analyst Barbara Insel has launched a new consultancy, Stonebridge Research, to provide data, analysis and advisory services to the wine industry.

Established by a group of food and beverage industry investors, with Insel as President and CEO, the Napa-based company brings together specialists from the broader business world with a core team with experience in the wine industry, and offers services including supply chain management, integrated marketing, market penetration advice and strategic business reviews.

Insel has more than two decades of experience providing insight for large and small wineries, state winery associations, international wine industry associations, wine distributors and multi-national beverage companies. Since 2004, she worked as MD and Lead Consultant of wine industry market research agency MKF Research, where she supported custom business research and consulting for wine industry producers, suppliers and investors, and original research on wine market trends.

Prior to this, she held senior positions at Salomon Brothers, Morgan Stanley Asset Management and Kleinwort Benson, and was one of the founders of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, created to rebuild Eastern Europe and Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. Insel, who is a member of the Market Development Task Force of the Wine Institute, has an MBA from Stanford's Graduate School of Business, an MA in Economics from Brown University and a BA from Barnard College.

The new company is online at www.stonebridgeresearch.com.