It is well over four years ago that it came to me. The insight, it hit me like a freight train. Surely there must be others who love their vino, in fact loved it a lot, had a couple of bucks (not heaps, but you know, could always find room for a bottle of God’s nectar, I mean we are only human), but were tired of paying through the nose for a decent drop.
I will never forget the moment. It was a cold wet Tuesday in June, I had just come back from Marlborough, having listened to bloody good people; the growers, who told me that there was a glut of wine, and that the Multi nationals, big brutes who own our biggest brands, were screwing them to the wall. I had the poor buggers on my mind, when as I opened the door into the warmth of the marital home, the second bottle of something decent with a big label was being washed down alongside a warm fire and a girly natter.
Now I had little to worry about as it had obviously been purchased on special. I am fortunate that I have married a woman that is gifted in this area. Of the 56 pairs of female shoes I noted this week, I have been reliably informed that all have been bought on Special, saving literally thousands… However I digress. The special involved passing over in excess of 100 percent more than a grower was receiving!
It started with a simple conviction (quite amazing for a man who had lacked them in any real sense his entire life). There must be a way to buy direct and sell direct to the likeminded. Surely I am not the only sophisticated tightwad wine drinker in the land?
Although at the time I was as tech savvy as Barney Rubble in his early years, it was bloody obvious that online was the new frontier. It was not a difficult insight to land on. The Morgan’s had just flicked Trade Me for the equivalent of our current GDP, and my own front door was being bombarded by myriad courier parcels (amazing considering for years I had the feedback that every minute of a housewives day is fully accounted for...)
The dots were joined and Vineonline was launched! Our Ethos was simple:
1. Only ever put top juice that always over deliver’s into our brands.
2. Never take ourselves, or the product too seriously (Surely fellow tightwads saw through such tasting notes as straw, hue and peat, I mean what do they taste like? I sure as hell have never eaten them!)
The rest is history: Hundreds of thousands of cases of wine sold , great relationships with most of New Zealand’s family owned wineries, and a large, loyal and happy following. I am sure many a time a Vine On Line offer has made that credit crunch seem just a little less daunting.
However like a great 10 year old Hawkes Bay Cabernet Merlot there comes a time to move on. To exit when everything is in sync and the product is at its best. I leave Vine On line with mixed emotions, pride, sadness and a real sense of achievement.
Nick and the team continue to do a wonderful job sniffing, sipping and spitting their way to getting New Zealand’s best wine deals (I never really understood the spitting bit, how do you really make a call on a wine without swallowing stuff? In the thousands of samples to have passed my lips, never has a sip gone in reverse trajectory!)
I will however live on in the Vineonline world writing this blog under my alter ego “The Boozy Foody”. The former obviously needs no explaining, whilst the love of food, and in particular the cooking of it, has come about by a recent midlife crises. Of late, and quite inexplicably, I have felt the need to cook the likes of lamb rogan josh from scratch, or spend the day preparing a beef bourguignon.
I have come to the conclusion there is nothing better than sharing good food with great wine and fine funny people. (Well maybe there are couple of things…)
My blog’s will not be as an industry player, but as a fellow sophisticated Tightwad. Rambling on about the VOL wines I love, and the food I put together to enjoy with them, and anything else that basically comes to mind. I am not too concerned of any backlash, if you think it’s just a load of old cobblers you are still only one click away from getting back to the outstanding jaw dropping deals. But feel free to give me your thoughts, they will be posted and I will respond.
The next ramble will involve the two things Australia has given the world; Shiraz and beef, and a small country pub in Taranaki on a cold wet Friday that seemed to last for days...
Cheers
The Boozy Foody
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