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Pictures from Taylored Wine's Instragram account
On a trip to Napa Valley three years ago, Rachel Portell fell in love with a wine from a small vineyard. But beyond stashing a few bottles in her suitcase, Portell couldn’t enjoy the wine back in Chicago. A vestige of the prohibition era, wineries can’t sell directly to restaurants or retailers, but must instead go through an intermediary. Those distributors look for the biggest bang for their buck – normally large-scale vineyards with name recognition. Small scale vineyards like the one Portell found don't produce enough wine for distributors to sell their product around the country. It seemed like the odds were stacked against small-scale vineyards, no matter how amazing their wine was.
Old-School Tastes, Antiquated Systems
While wines conjure up images of old-world charm, gently rolling hills and romantic nights, for large Chicago wine buyers – from restaurants to retailers – wine also conjures up pen and paper. That’s because the wine industry does things the old school way; orders are made by pen and paper or over the phone. That trip from Napa sat in the back of her mind until Portell decided to change the way wine was bought and sold. Her company Taylored Wines brings her favorite wines, mostly made in small batches in Napa and Oregon, to Chicago.
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Portell (pictured left) isn’t new to the wine industry; she worked with wine for four years before starting a marketing company. Her time running a marketing company gave her front row access to how tech entrepreneurs were solving problems. She realized it was possible to take her love of wine and marry it with technology. Her platform brings boutique, small vineyard wines to the Chicago scene by selling directly to restaurants. “Most wineries we work with are really small and family owned,” said Portell.
As a platform, Taylored Wines brings benefits to both parties. For restaurants, the service opens up a world of new, previously unavailable wines. The platform also brings convenience of ordering and setting up tastings (restaurants can search by varietal or by vineyard for new wines). For small wineries, the service offers them a new, untapped market. Plus, wineries get real-time data on who is buying their wine, something most distributors didn’t offer.
Boostrapping Growth
Portell has been working on Taylored Wines for two years and officially launched the company today. A big believer in bootstrapping, she funded the technology development with earnings from selling her previous marketing business. (Portell isn’t a coder and finding the right partner for technical development was a big challenge to the new business).
In the short-term, Portell is looking to get more boutique wines into the hands of Chicago restaurants, elevating the dinning experience and breaking people out of their old wine ruts. To do that, she is focused on educating her clients on understanding and using the technology. “I’ve had people place the order online and follow up with a phone call,” said Portell, showing just how unaccustomed the industry is to online services.
There’s potential for expansion into other markets, although those antiquated prohibition-style laws complicate things. Taylored Wines has to partner with a licensed distributor whenever they open shop. Still, Portell is eyeing Florida as a next stop.
And wine tasting will continue to be part of her role. “We are looking for a few new exciting wineries in the market,” said Portell.
And while consumers can’t order directly from Taylored Wines, they can find some of these great wines throughout Chicago restaurants, including Chicago Cut Steakhouse, Knightsbridge Wine Shoppe, Lush Wine & Spirits, Mastro’s Steakhouse and Tavern Libertyville. Cheers to that!
