THE VISION
Rubberband Wines is here to hold it together. To be flexible. To have fun… The natural wine and 0/0 wine market is not going away! It is maturing, growing stronger, and leaping into a new future. The market thrives upon authenticity, and a connection to people, the process, the soil, the vineyards, the story. The market thrives upon knowing that the winemaker, and the vigneron are taken care of and that their processes and spirit is alive in our glasses as we celebrate and rejoice.
As consumers, and genuine fans of the natural wine movement what led us to natural wines was a very simple phrase and vibe that we kept on running into as we traveled the world in the agricultural beverage industry (hops),
“These wines are fantastic and fun, and the winemaker is also a great person.”
From Rødder og Vin, to Ordinaire, and many places in between and across the world, we kept running into this phrase. We kept running into fantastic people, and incredible vibes and conversations at the confluences of cultures, languages and customs that we continually are a part of, yet can barely describe. I caught the bug…BAD. And as a passion for all things spontaneous fermentation had to offer us from our foundational beginnings in the world of hops and craft beer, I asked a client one time who recently began making natural wine as well, “How do I learn more?”. They replied, “Drink as much as you can, and never stop learning what excites you. See where that takes you…”.
I shared that vision with my close friend and guerrilla-style old-world underground jerky and smoked fish business partner, and now Rubberband Co-Founder, Chris Joaquin… and we did just that. We became incredibly curious, and learned as much as we could over the past years.
Life happened, markets changed, and now splitting time between NYC and the SF Bay Area, we began to notice definite gaps in the market. At a minimum, some of my favorite producers from the shelves of the SF Bay Area, Copenhagen, Rome, and many other cities were just not showing up in NYC. Even when I asked about them. Similarly, some of the great producers that I had learned about in NYC and through continued market research, were just not showing up in the SF Bay Area.
Digging deeper and curious as hell about this phenomena we began to talk to winemakers, learn more and the vision of Rubberband Wines was born.
The natural wine industry is entering a new cycle, and now more than ever taking care of the entire supply chain from vineyard, to winemaker, to consumer is paramount and an enticing path forward.
The new cycle is one of diversified portfolios where non-exclusivity is baseline, and winemakers can own and enhance their partnerships with distribution on their own terms. A cycle where collaboration is encouraged between the distributors they choose to work with, and ultimately can continue to focus on making wine and taking care of the product and process, first and formost. This means utmost care for the vigneron, and the viticultural viability now and in years to come. Borrowing a page from my life in the world of hops, always take care of the source! Communicate future needs and projections as a distributor, importer, or exporter in order to stabilize the forward contracting of grapes and wine production into the world of natural wine making.
It is the perfect moment for the industry to seize this concept. The consumer’s pallet has become more discerning, more curious, with an ever-trending proclivity toward newness and fun. The winemaking in natural wine is matching this sentiment with it’s ability to shape-shift in and out of the finest bars, restaurants, and wine shops with or without needing a Natural Wine, or 0/0 designation to accompany it.
So join us on our journey, as we embark into this new and forever becoming unknown…
With Utmost Gratitude,
Adam Kryder
Co-Founder
Nov 2024
