When serial entrepreneur, Katherine Power met Hollywood star and author, Cameron Diaz, they discovered they had something in common – a love of good wine. At the same time, they also learned they had a common frustration – the lack of transparency on wine labels.
With current TTB regulations not requiring alcoholic beverages in the U.S. to include ingredient or nutrition labeling (though this could be changing in the future – see foot note below), they decided to take action and create a new wine brand that did provide customers with this knowledge. Thus the introduction of Avaline wines – the first 100% organically farmed wine with no additives, and clear transparency by listing ingredients and nutritional information on the front and back labels.
“They found a hole in the market that consumers wanted filled,” said Avaline President and CFO
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The wine company has also received other accolades in a short 2.5 years-time frame. These include being the #2 organic wine brand in U.S. retail, and #1 in the organic ultra-premium price segment ( $14 – $19.99). They started with a launch of 25,000 cases, and today are selling close to 150,000 cases per year, growing 97% in sales revenue year over year in retail, according to Purcell.
So how did a small women-led company of 25 employees (90% female), working remotely, manage to launch such a successful wine company during the depths of the pandemic? The answer not only belongs in wine history books, but is also a fitting tribute to Women’s History Month.
Jen Purcell, President & CFO of Avaline Wines
Avaline Winemaking Strategy
“Avaline was created to make organic, delicious wine more accessible and transparent to consumers. Wellness is very important now, and consumers care what they put in their bodies. Therefore, Cameron and Katherine traveled to France and Spain to meet with wine producers who were using organically certified grapes, no additives and were vegan friendly,” reported Purcell.
Currently in the U.S. there are around 70 additives, such as sugar, concentrates, color, tannins, etc. that can legally be added to wine. Though many wine brands do not include excessive additives and most are vegan, they do not list this on their labels.
“Katherine and Cameron tasted through hundreds of wine samples until they found a red, white, rosé, and sparkling wine that they both liked. We also hired a consulting winemaker in Sonoma County, Ashley Herzberg, who specializes in organic winemaking. She assists with blending and bottling,” explained Purcell.
The wines are either bottled in Europe, or arrive in bulk containers and are bottled in the U.S. They also had a very clear reason for launching with 4 generic wines (red, white, rosé, and sparkling), instead of varietally labeled wines, such as chardonnay.
“Our market researched showed that our target consumer group – Millennials – are often intimidated by varietal, vintage, and terroir, so we decided to keep it simple. We found it to be very successful,” said Purcell.
Avaline Wines: Red, White, Rosé, and Sparkling
During their competitor analysis, Purcell reported that they could only find a handful of U.S. wineries that mention either ingredients or nutritional information on the label, but none that listed both. Therefore, every bottle of Avaline wine includes both on the label, making them the first wine brand in U.S. retail to do so.
“All of our wines are vegan friendly with sulfites below 100ppm,” reported Purcell. The front label states they are ‘Free from: added sugar, artificial colors, and concentrates.’ The label also includes a description of how the wine tastes, and fun pairing suggestions. The back label lists the calories, carbohydrates, fat, protein and ingredients.
An example of ingredients from their rosé wine made in France is: ‘organic grapes, sulfites, yeast, and yeast nutrients.’ Nutritional information is: ‘Calories 107, Carbs, 2.6G, Fat 0G, Protein 0G.’
Cameron Diaz explains their rationale on the website: “Sharing this information is our way of saying your well-being matters to us.”
Marketing and Sales Strategy for Avaline Wines
The fact that the brand was launched in the midst of the Covid pandemic – something that would be daunting to most wine brands – did not seem to faze the executive team. “We scheduled Zoom tasting sessions with many distributors in which Cameron and Katherine introduced the wines, and many were very interested in what we were doing,” said Purcell.
So interested, in fact, that they were quickly able to sign on 15 distributors, and today the wine is sold in 49 states, with easy access for consumers in major grocery and retail stores, such as Target
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“For marketing we used a paid digital strategy,” explained Purcell. “We use Instagram, Facebook, Google, and influencers that post on their social platforms. Customer feedback has been great, and we discovered that 50% saw Avaline on Instagram. “
The digital strategy was easy for both Purcell and Power because they had worked for other consumers packaged goods (CPG) companies, such as Power’s Versed Skincare brand, that capitalized on digital marketing. Purcell also has a strong background in investment banking, and was instrumental in finding venture capital money to launch the brand.
Label approval from the TTB, however, was not as easy, because their label was so unique. “Every time we submitted a label to the TTB, they always come back and asked us to make changes – sometimes 5 and 6 times – but we eventually got them all approved in around two months,” said Purcell.
She also described the steep learning curve that it takes to understand the strict regulations and complex compliance rules to sell alcoholic beverages in the U.S. “Every state has different laws and tax codes for alcohol, which is different from CPG companies,” explained Purcell.
What’s Next for Avaline Wines?
With such rapid growth, many industry insiders wonder what is next for Avaline. Purcell mentions they are now adding some varietally labeled wines to their portfolio, such as an organic cabernet sauvignon from Washington State.
She added that they would like to source more wine from the U.S., but that it isn’t always easy to find wine made with organically farmed grapes at the quantity and price point they seek. “In the meantime, we still have very good relationships with our supplier wineries in Europe,” she said. “ Most are family owned wineries that had been making wine for generations. As we’ve grown, they have been even more willing to work with us.”
Cameron and Katherine still travel to Europe once or twice a year to meet with their suppliers and taste the wines, and they feature each of their winery suppliers on their website. The co-founders are also still very involved in the brand through marketing and PR.
Purcell c0ntinued: “Our customer base is also expanding from age 24 to the mid-50s and even older. Some customers tell us ‘My millennial daughter showed me the wine. Now it’s my favorite wine.’”
Avaline is also considered selling more wine in on-premise restaurants and wine bars, which was challenging to do during the pandemic.
When asked if they have considered selling the company now that it has become so successful, Purcell responded: “Well, we are a venture backed company, so a change of control could happen.”
So what do the wines taste like? They are refreshing, light to medium-bodied, and brimming with pure fruit flavors. They also ‘pair well with laughter and moments to remember,” as it states on the Avaline sparkling wine label.
Footnote: Starting in December 2023, the European Union will require ingredient labeling for wine. The TTB is considering similar requirements after a lawsuit was filed by consumers on this issue, according to Nutrition Insight. Other sources confirm that ingredient labeling for wine in the U.S. is coming soon.