This Wine Company Wants You to Drink Beyond Conventional Borders
Photo by Alessandra Caretto/Unsplash
It’s no secret that making wine is expensive—back in 2012, one winemaker told the New York Times that “it takes 16 to 20 years to make a profit” from a winery. There’s no telling how many would-be winemakers have decided to pursue different career paths due to a lack of resources, and that means the world is missing out on a lot of wine from potential producers that don’t fit the white, male, old-money mold.
But the wine world is changing, and drinkers—especially younger ones—are interested in expanding their palates by drinking wine that falls outside of the conventional bounds of well-established regions and producers. They want to explore new flavors, of course, but they’re also thirsty for stories. At a time when more-conscious consumption appears to be on the rise, we want to know where our wine is coming from, who’s making it and how it ended up in our glass.
One company is attempting to make winemaking more accessible to producers while also delivering the narratives drinkers are craving. Go There Wines, which was launched in 2022 by restaurateur Rose Previte, her husband, David Greene, who formerly hosted NPR’s Morning Edition, and their friend, entrepreneur Chandler Arnold, aims to provide a market for winemakers in underrepresented communities and wine regions. The winemakers name their own prices, and they receive 25% of the company’s profits. Go There’s portfolio includes wines from a Syrian winemaker in exile who’s currently working in Lebanon, Georgian sisters breaking the patriarchal winemaking mold and a Black woman winemaker pushing boundaries in Paarl, South Africa. In the process, the company is introducing exciting, less-conventional wines to its consumers.
Previte knew she wanted to expand U.S. wine horizons while she was operating her restaurants. “When I opened my first restaurant, Compass Rose, I wanted to share all of these incredible wines and the stories of the winemakers David and I met while living abroad,” she said. “We were bringing in wines that rarely if never had been brought into the U.S., and guests loved learning about them.”