Naked Wines offers custom crush for $100 per ton to experienced winemakers

NAPA, Calif., July 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Naked Wines, the fast growing online wine retailer, is helping talented winemakers to reduce costs by offering custom crush at the remarkable price of $100 per ton at the former Blackstone Winery.

Naked aims to support independent winemakers by removing their greatest costs. All the winemaking up to post malo, including crush and adds, can easily cost 10 times more than this offer, and crush facilities are often in a hurry to get as much volume through the winery as possible. Naked Wines is more interested in working professionally with the best winemakers than in turnover and volume.

"We're building a network of America's most serious winemakers," explains Robin Langton, Director of Winemaking who brings years of experience working for Patz & Hall, Calera Wine, Vignobles Andre Lurton, Oyster Bay, and many more.  He continues, "This is an offer designed to grab the attention of experienced winemakers with impressive track records."

Veteran winemakers already applying

Most of the 100,000 case winery is already accounted for with industry veterans like Ken Deis who is finally making his own Napa wine after heading up the winemaking at Flora Springs, Joseph Phelps, and Heitz for nearly 40 years.

Naked Wines is accepting applicants until August 6^th. Interested winemakers should email [email protected] with information about their experience as winemakers and the wine they would like to produce.

Website : http://www.nakedwines.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nakedwinesusa
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nakedwinesusa
Contact Details:  [email protected] / 707 723 4762

NOTES ON NAKED WINES
What we're all about
Naked Wines was born in December 2008 when twelve friends quit their jobs in the middle of the recession to do things a little differently.
Our goal: Find the world's most talented, undiscovered winemakers and set them up in business.

How we go about it:

• 100,000 customers invest over $3 million dollars a month towards future orders (we call them 'Angels')
• Which we use to fund independent winemakers
• In return for exclusive wines at preferential prices
• Which we pass back to our customers

We call it the 'virtuous circle', as everybody gets more for less, without trampling on anyone along the way.

The hard and fast facts
If you're looking for something a little meatier, this should help:   

• We've invested in 50 independent winemakers to date
• We ship an average of 10,000 bottles of wine every day
• We've seen over 100% growth year-on-year, with sales of $40 million in 2011
• We've recruited 200k customers, 100k of which invest over $3 million dollars a month towards future orders
• We were named the UK's most innovative wine company for two years on the trot, at the IWC
• We were named the UK's Online Business of the Year at the 2011 National Business Awards
• And we're probably the world's largest group of net wine investors

A truly social business
As well as the model itself, the website delivers a truly social experience.

• Customers can chat directly to one another and to the winemakers.
• Customers can vote with their feet on new initiatives and wines, to decide what makes the cut.
• And we can suggest to customers what to buy AND what not to buy, based on their preferences.

The team
The man at the top is Rowan Gormley, former Virgin Wines and Virgin Money CEO, and our non-executive director who keeps us in check is Ian West, former BSkyB MD. The rest of us are an assorted bunch of 20 wine and tech-loving employees based in Napa.

Media contact: Adam Reiter, 707-723-4762, [email protected]

SOURCE NakedWines.com