Lulie Halstead is a globally recognised leader in wine business strategy.

As founder and CEO of Wine Intelligence for 20 years, she transformed how the drinks industry understands and connects with consumers, using research and data to tell the human stories behind every glass. After a successful private equity–backed exit, Wine Intelligence became part of the IWSR Group, where Lulie later served as a Non-Executive Director.

For over 20 years, she has taught strategy and marketing on wine business master’s programmes worldwide — from Bordeaux to Adelaide, Santiago to Trieste — and continues to lecture on innovation, branding, and strategy in global drinks marketing.

A keynote speaker at more than 100 international conferences, Lulie is known for blending academic rigour with commercial insight to explain how and why people drink what they do.

Lulie now advises leading wine businesses on growth and market strategy and continues to invest in and mentor founders across the wine, drinks, and hospitality sectors. She also co-hosts A Question of Drinks, a podcast exploring the ideas and trends shaping the industry’s future.

She is also a Trustee of WSET and a board member of Drinks United.

Our wine consumers aren’t thinking about us: the myths and realities of how people choose wine, and what this mean for Bulgarian wine

Most wine drinkers choose quickly, with little knowledge and far less loyalty than producers assume. This session sets the wine industry’s most persistent myths against the evidence on how people really buy, and what Bulgarian wine producers need to know to find their place in a crowded market.