Vinovae revolutionizes wine tasting

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The start-up Vinovae is known for offering wine samples. Despite the period, it is not experiencing the crisis. On the contrary, its activity is increased tenfold and it even plans to accelerate its development considerably.

How did you come up with the idea of Vinottes® ?

We realized that it was easy to smell a perfume before buying it, while it is rare to be able to do the same with wine. Yet, wine is an equally personal product that appeals to everyone's tastes.

We have therefore sought a solution to offer this possibility of tasting for the consumer. By analogy, we have sought to create samples such as those we know in perfumery.

Today, it may seem obvious that this packaging exists and many are wondering "how is it possible that the Vinottes were not invented earlier ? ". To answer them, I remind them that we have gone through two years of R&D. There are obvious technical barriers.

How wine is preserved in this small format ?

The Vinottes, in extra thick PET, offer excellent storage capacity. Our reconditioning process acts in an oxygen-free environment from uncorking the bottle, until the corking of the Vinotte. The process is done entirely under nitrogen.

So, the profile of the wine in Vinottes is identical to that in classic bottle for at least 3 months. After this period, the wine will experience a different evolution due to the small format. We take extra precautions with natural wines that evolve differently. We invite tasters to drink them in the 2 months to fully enjoy it.

It is worth noting that defects in the wine may occur : oxidation, corky taste etc. However, these are prior to our repackaging and we can detect them before sending the Vinottes to all recipients.

I am a wine merchant or a small wine grower : is it possible to work with you ?

We wanted to put as few barriers as possible. Today, you can call us from 18 bottles to recondition, which corresponds to 650 Vinottes.

Thanks to that, we work with many actors : producers, traders, wine merchants, online sales sites or even oenology training organizations ...

Other actors, less obvious at first glance, also use our services.

Coopers, for example, can introduce their customers to their different styles of barrels. The more or less important heating will change the contribution of the barrel in the wine. Thanks to a control wine aged in different barrels, the cooper will be able to accompany the winemaker more easily in his selection.

Our process also allows us to work with the world of spirits.

Has the health crisis affected your business ?

Our activity has evolved strongly over the period. But in a good way ! All seeds sown during 4 years germinated at that time.

Historically, we received a lot of requests for tastings for professionals. This has grown and has seen new opportunities such as the Hopwine digital fairs that we co-created with the Tyméo agency.

Today, we also note that individuals home tastings take much scope : online wine training, corporate events, …

Is the international trade important to you ?

Initially, we were focused on an activity only in France. Very quickly, it has become internationalized thanks to the success of the Vinottes.

Today, 30 % of our activity is done abroad and we will soon reach 50 %.

Our activity leads us to bottle a good number of wines from vineyards around the world. About the Hopwine event, for example, we hosted the Napa Valley lodge with 25 producers.

We are already present in Italy and want to develop in Spain. We are thinking about developing in Germany or the United Kingdom as well..

In 1 year, our big challenge is to establish ourselves in the United States. We are meeting a strong demand in this country and we have advanced our development schedule there.

How is your business evolving ?

We are a small team. Currently 18, we will increase our numbers and be 25 from this summer. Our strength lies in our very good organization that allows us to respond to requests quickly.

To give you some figures, we have more than 400 active customers and we have already produced more than one million Vinottes this year ! The results we have achieved in 5 years will be reproduced in one year. This is a beautiful progression that lies in the trust of our customers, that became true ambassadors.

Although we need to move to continue our expansion, we want to stay in the Lyon region.

We have developed a new 5cL packaging to share a tasting experience. We do not believe in the value of developing a higher format.

For this new packaging, we offer a very solid glass bottle and we will soon have the fully recyclable PET version too.

It is important to have a finish

Vinovae is one of those companies that have reinvented the world of wine and opened up new opportunities for the sector. Being able to offer wine samples to the tasting is a unique opportunity to overcome event cancellations and offer a new tasting experience.