When it comes to spirits, many founders, distillers, and mezcaleros, amongst other industry figures have a variety of backgrounds. While some have inherited their craft, others such as the Founder of Doña Vega Mezcal, Sonya Vega Auvray, turned their passion projects into careers.
It all stemmed from her 17-year stint at Wetherly Group as a public relations executive. Being a tequila drinker already, she branched out to mezcal because of its complex, interesting palate.
Auvray took a year hiatus to spend time with her family and focus on her passion project: creating a distinctive mezcal brand. “I decided to go down to Oaxaca and that’s where I fell in love with the place, the people, the spirit, and then used the creativity of the connections I had through Wetherly. I wanted to merge the creativity with the authenticity of Mexico and Oaxaca,” Auvray tells Forbes. “This passion project allowed me to bring the creativity of my past, and collide it with my Mexican heritage, and of course mezcal. I’ve always loved Oaxaca, and did entertain other regions however, I love the people and the comfort level I had in that area.”
Sonya Vega Auvray
Doña Vega
Auvray was first introduced to mezcal at a friend’s wedding in Mexico about eight years ago. She mentions that many of the labels served at the wedding were unmarked mezcal. She says, “Then, I started noticing mezcal more and more on cocktail menus, and I was like, ‘Why don’t I entertain this?’” That’s when she went down to Oaxaca to get educated on mezcal and its process. “I realized that if there was one more approachable – less smoky, and less of a ‘bite’ as first sip – then others might be inclined to explore and enjoy. With this I’d been entertaining ideas to try something new in life and knew doing something I didn’t know would make me dive in deeper, in order to be very well versed,” Auvray says.
After three trips to Oaxaca, 22 farm visits, and over 70 recipes, Auvray discovered the right blend of herbs to launch Doña Vega in November 2019. True to her trendsetting and modern appeal, the producer that Auvray works with is a fifth generation mezcalera. Auvray adds, “It’s an interesting spirit, but if it’s too smoky or too gasoline, you’re never going to want to have it again. It’s a spirit that’s older than tequila, but it’s new on trend.”
The smooth sip is primarily the result of bottling at Espadín Capon, which means the spirit is matured double the time in the ground than other mezcals. The other expression signature to the Doña Vega portfolio is the Tobalá, which has a less smoky profile than the Espadín, and has a well-rounded, subtle sweet palate. “I chose blanco and mezcal because I think it’s more interesting than tequila. I think the tequila market is very saturated,” Auvray says. She also speaks of the fact that both blanco and mezcal have less calories than most liquors, thus serving as further motivation to create both spirits.
Doña Vega
Auvray funded the first two years of the business, and as of this year brought in a few investors. Prior to the pandemic, Auvray mentions she had “more than a handful of investors,” but has since secured a third of those initially interested. “Some [investors] are now coming back around, yet I had to reorganize things a bit to make sure I could financially maintain momentum and sales during this rough patch. So far, so good and [I] used this time to find my true partners, to be able to come out stronger year end,” she states. Outside of acquiring investors for the project, Auvray has faced other hurdles as well. She states, “Going into this project, I came in prepared knowing what it would take financially. I was given many warnings about this! My biggest hurdle, and still is to find larger distributors by state whom will take me seriously – being new to this industry and being a female – finding true partners per se.”
Enduring through such challenges has no doubt strengthened Auvray’s prowess. The synergy between working in PR to leading the operations of Doña Vega is something that’s undeniable from her standpoint. “I’m very driven. Having the background in PR, I can walk into a restaurant and say, ‘If you support this, I can find ways to support you as well,” Auvray states. It’s about partnerships and not just making a sale. “We don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring. My goal is to bring my old life into my new life.”
While most people involved in the spirits industry have their connections with bars, liquor stores, and sales teams, Auvray’s strength is in her innovative ingenuity spurred on from her career in PR. In addition to recently crafting home cocktail kits, she collaborated with NYC-based restaurant, La Esquina, on take-out cocktails featuring Doña Vega. “Soon after COVID hit, I approached [the bar director] with the idea of Doña Vega offering co-branded to-go bottles given the new circumstances. [I] saw it as a more elevated way to offer cocktails to go over a plastic cup with ice, where it gets diluted by the time it’s delivered,” Auvray says.
Currently operating out of Aspen, Colorado due to COVID-19 crisis, she’s had to improvise on how to spread the word on Doña Vega. Her goal is to make Colorado her case study state. The brand – which is solely wholesale for now – is currently carried at Colorado-based Casa Tua and Caribou Club and New York locales including Gemma, The Bowery Hotel Bar, Casa Mezcal, La Esquina, Dudley’s, and Pierre’s.
Being the “new kid” in spirits and managing business in the middle of pandemic isn’t easy, but Auvray maintains a positive outlook. Her words of advice? “Although I’m one of pushing and driving myself, racing to the finish line is never beneficial. Patience is key and remember to go slow and steady.”