In late September 2002, Walt Klenz was deciding whether Beringer Blass Wine Estates should pursue internal growth via development of its current premium wine brands or external growth via acquisitions of new brands. Klenz was ending his first year as Beringer Blass’s managing director and twelfth year as Beringer’s President.

Two years earlier, he had overseen a merger between the Australia-based Foster’s Brewing Group and California-based Beringer Wine Estates, a move that had triggered a wave of similar consolidation transactions around the world of premium wines. Rumors abounded in the industry that larger rivals such as E. & J. Gallo, Constellation, and Diageo were actively seeking acquisitions of premium wineries to increase global market share.

As Klenz (rhymes with “cleanse”) prepared his notes for a presentation called “Globalization of the Wine Industry” to over 300 attendees at an annual wine industry conference in Napa, California, he privately wondered how he was going to guide Beringer Blass towards globalization in the future.