Startup Aims to Democratize Winemaking

14 January 2013

Starting up as a winemaker has traditionally been a complicated, expensive process. Not only does an aspiring winemaker need to learn winemaking, but he or she needs to find or produce fruit, have the correct facilities and tools for making wine, and ultimately, be able to distribute the wine. On top of that, purchasing a vineyard and either building or buying a winery can be multi-million dollar expenses.

It doesn’t have to be a nightmarish process, though. UK-based Naked Wines is helping democratize winemaking by investing in talented independent winemakers from around the world, now including the United States with the opening of its Napa, California office in January and the launch of its U.S. site on Friday.

With seed money to get started, winemakers are now able to focus on the core of their passion — winemaking, not financing. “Because winemakers don’t have to waste their time and money selling to us, they make a profit, with massively reduced risk,” says Gormley. “And we get great wines at an exclusive price.”

Naked Wines is always on the lookout for the talented would-be winemakers stuck in assistant winemaking or cellar rat positions. In many cases, these wine aficionados know the trade, but it can take years, even decades, to work up the ladder in the winemaking business. With backing from Naked, though, these aspiring winemakers are able to get started on their own projects — instead of working for the man — much sooner.