Paul Bosc Junior Case

Paul Bosc Junior was sitting at his desk, bathed in sunshine of an early morning in May, 1991. He was in a trailer that was overwhelmed by the concrete block building beside it, the present winery of Chateau des Charmes Wines Ltd. (CdC). The company, a boutique-type winery located in the township of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, had sales of over $2 million the previous year.

Paul Jr. was just setting about reviewing his father's ideas for replacing the winery with a new $5 million chateau that would double the company's production capacity. Paul Jr. wondered how he should respond to his father's proposal. When his father, Paul Sr. had presented it, he had said , "I don't think there has been a day in my career that I haven't thought about this chateau. Do you think we should move ahead with it?"

Paul Jr. recognized that the decision would have broad implications for the future of the family business. As Vice President of Marketing, he was particularly interested in the marketing implications of his father's grand vision. He was aware that sales of all wine in Ontario had risen from $556 million in 1988 to $584 million in 1990. Unit volume, however, had fallen from the peak of 90 million litres to 80 million litres over the same period. The cause of this decline was thought to be a combination of an economic recession that started in 1989, the aging of the "baby boom" generation, and a more socially responsible, health conscious society. Nevertheless, "Ontario " wines were one of the few alcoholic products which recorded increasing unit sales over the period.

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