By Amy Looker – editor, National Liquor News
A crowd-funded sale by Naked Wines at Christmas raised enough money for the company to secure a Margaret River winery.
By combining proceeds from the sale with the Naked Wines business model, winemaker Ben Gould was able to make settlement on his purchase of a 50-acre vineyard in the famed Western Australia region.
“We crowd-funded the deposit with wine specials at Christmas time, telling customers the revenue was to be used to purchase a vineyard. The response was overwhelming,” Gould said.
Gould has been producing his own wine for six years now, but since joining Naked Wines in May last year, his Blind Side wines have performed significantly for the company.
As a result of increased sales from Naked Wines and a special wine sale for his mailing list, Gould has been able to realise the dream of owning a vineyard that can generate enough fruit for his label, also giving him the power to maintain fruit quality.
“In recent years, we’ve found ourselves buying grapes from as many as seven different growers. The trouble with supply is that it’s difficult to ensure the quality is consistently as high as we’d like, and we could never get enough organic grapes.
“Hopefully now with this vineyard we’ll be able to maintain excellent quality control with the grapes we’re working with, and move all of our grape-growing to organic certification.
“Partnering with Naked Wines has not only brought our wines to a much bigger audience, but has provided the financial stability to take on this investment in our winemaking future. It’s a hugely exciting time for my family, and we’re looking forward to being able to really intricately manage the entire process of winemaking, starting with the grapes.”
Naked Wines is currently experiencing a period of growth, with two new winemakers joining its team.
Experienced winemaker Rob Paulazzo has released a range of wines under his own name in conjunction with Naked Wines, while Naked has also signed on Luke Tocaciu, a second-generation winemaker hailing from Coonawarra.