A New Wine Subscription Brand, Goes All In For Organics
Published March 26th, 2021 on Forbes
The pandemic caused many wine businesses to diversify. From a winery in Chianti expanding their skincare line, to sisters that took their brand virtual, wine consumers have had more new products at their fingertips than ever. Many of these adjustments were necessary in order for brands to find income while people were unable to gather or travel, others were ideas that made sense when certain conditions propelled them forward.
Sometimes these are behind-the-scenes services that consumers may not realize, while others are new products or deliverables that are now at the doorstep or screen with regularity. A new line from Winesellers, LTD, a forty-two-year-old wine importing and marketing company in Chicago, has recently launched an offering with a bit of both.
Adam & Jordan Sager (the brothers behind Winesellers, LTD) and their team are rolling out Kind of Wild, a subscription-based collection of certified organic wines, sourced from their grower-partners around the world. The brand will be entirely ecommerce, direct-to-consumer operated. 1% of revenue is promised to organizations that support organic and regenerative farming, and indicated partners are Kiss the Ground and Organic Farming Research Foundation. An initial crowd-funding effort exceeded Kind of Wild’s $20,000 launch goal. “We look for smaller growers, family-owned properties who are connected to their land,” says Adam Sager. “We then work with these growers closely to craft our cuvees that become Kind of Wild bottle selections.”
Winesellers LTD has always included organic producers in their portfolio, but creating a brand around this ethos is something new for the Sagers and their team. “It wasn’t until recently where we learned healthy soils, that are void of chemical residues and abundant in microorganisms, have the ability to be a climate solution by drawing down and regenerating legacy carbons,” says Jordan Sager. “This was kind of huge for us because it provides an action plan for us and the wines we import, to provide a positive impact.”
Todd Nelson, chief marketing officer at Kind of Wild, says that everything for the brand had to be created under pandemic conditions. “This is truly a startup, from licensing, registrations, designing the brand, artwork, bottles, shipper, cork, labels, certifications, communication with growers, etc.,” says Nelson. “It has been full throttle for the last several months when this idea and project was put into motion,” says Nelson.
Kind of Wild is committed to using only lightweight bottles with American-produced glass and natural cork stoppers. There will be no capsule or extra packaging and labels are printed from sugar cane and hemp and fully recyclable. The materials used to ship the wines are also promised to be lightweight and recyclable. “Talk is cheap, but we are fully vested in the climate change initiative,” says Nelson. “We have developed a criteria for selecting eco-friendly materials.”
So, what about the wines that will be available? As Sager says, these will all come from partner growers around the world, but will be branded as Kind of Wild. Currently there are six wines available, which can be purchased for an April 2021 delivery via subscription model as well as open purchase from Kind of Wild’s online shop. These are vintage-dated wines that provide a appellation—represented in the debut pack are bottles from Pays d’Herault, France; Valle de Lolol, Chile; Niederosterreich, Austria; Montepulciano d’Abruzzo D.O.C., Italy; La Mancha, Spain and Mendoza, Argentina. All wines are promised to be low in sulfur and vegan-certified.
Wines will be rotated regularly, and will deliver a diverse geographical selection with a mix of red, white and rosé releases. Subscription price starts at $20, with discounts, perks and free shipping on minimum purchases.