Naked Wines launches a “Facebook for Wine Lovers”

Dec. 15, 2008 - PRLog -- Rowan Gormley, founder of Virgin Money, the Virgin One Account, Orgasmic Wines and Virgin Wines, launched www.nakedwines.com, on 1 December 2008, to be a “Facebook for Wine Lovers”.

Naked Wines puts wine-buying customers in direct communication with one another and with independent winemakers from across the globe – offering small-scale, high-quality wine producers the chance to offer their wines to savvy consumers looking for interaction, information, and wanting to move on from the mass-produced selection on supermarket shelves.

As a wine drinker, Naked Wines allows you to:
1.Try before you buy... in your own home, over food, with friends: the way wine is meant to be drunk

2.Speak directly to the winemaker... and to other customers by posting questions and comments on a Facebook style Winemakers Wall. Much more friendly, useful and informative than having to rely on the traditional wine industry “bicycle saddles, raspberries and cigar box” jargon

3.Save money. Our winemakers will refund 1/3 of the normal price to customers who support them

4.Rest easy. Naked Wines…

 offers next day UK delivery as standard, for £4.99

 can recommend wines to you that we know you will love. And even warn you away from wines we know you won’t like.

 will refund you in full if you are in any way dissatisfied.

Why Did Naked Wines Come Into Being?
The most exciting wines in the world are not made by huge multinationals which happen to have the financial muscle to get into the supermarkets. They are made by the mavericks. Small winemakers who are just too small to get a listing in a supermarket, and would prefer to make wines their way, rather than compromise themselves to find a place on the shelves of identikit, mass-produced plonk.

The bad news for wine drinkers in the UK is that these wines are hard to find. And if they can be found they are often very expensive. We set up Naked Wines so that UK wine lovers can enjoy these wines, make friends with the people who made them, and save money.

Key Facts About Naked Wines
Naked Wines was set up by Rowan Gormley and 17 former senior Virgin Wines’ staff.

Our website, www.nakedwines.com lists 96 wines from 32 small producers, with the focus on up and coming wine regions (like Chile’s Bio-Bio Valley) rather than over-priced and over-traded regions like Burgundy and Bordeaux.
Wines are selected purely on the basis of quality

• We solicit wines for tasting from our customers, our friends and a network of 14 wine insiders, on the ground in key wine regions
• All wines are tasted blind (i.e. with labels covered) so that we focus purely on quality rather than flashy artwork
• We have 100 Naked Wines Tasters – a panel of customers from across the UK –s who select the final wines from our shortlist

Naked Wines delivers next day, UK wide (for £4.99 as standard).

Customers can volunteer to become ‘Naked Tasters’: receiving free wines to taste in return for telling us what they and their friends think about them.

Customers can also become ‘Naked Wines Angels’, where the winemaker offers 6 bottles of wine for free to encourage the customer to try their wines (the customer paying UK duty and delivery of £15.85 for 6 bottles). The costumer gets 33% of their spend with that winemaker refunded if they agree to support them by pre-paying £5 a month towards their next case.

Winemakers and Wines – some examples

• Patricio Gouguenheim, Argentina. Left a high flying job in Investment Banking, took a huge drop in income and risked everything to follow his true love, wines. Makes stunningly pure full bodied reds and a delightfully fragrant Torrontes, Argentina’s answer to Pinot Grigio

• Constanza Schwaderer, Chile. Head Winemaker at one of Chile’s most awarded wineries, with a burning passion to make wines her way, not the way that their biggest customers demand

• Dominque and Baptiste Grangeon, France. Brother and sister team in the Rhone, making 95 Parker Point Chateauneuf-du-Pape at £30 a bottle...and a stunning Vin de Pays for only £7.49 (£4.99 for Angels)

• Lise, Claire and Aline Baron, producing sensationally rich and opulent Champagne from a tiny plot of land
.
• Stephen, Jamie and Nicky De Wet, South Africa, Father, son and daughter team, farming an estate that has been in their family since 1859, and has yet to be discovered by British wine lovers

• Jock Harvey, Australia. Third generation winemaker in the McLaren Vale, producing 94 Parker Point-winning Aussie blockbusters...and highly affordable, love-at-first-taste wines for us costing only £6.99 (£4.66 for Angels)

Contact Details:
Mark Jones
Web Site: http://www.nakedwines.com
E-mail:
Naked Wine- rowan.gormley@nakedwines.com francesca.krajewski@nakedwines.com
Deliberate PR- benjamin@deliberate-pr.com
Tel:
Naked Wine- 07905 333 494 , 07905 449 592
Deliberate PR- 020 8732 8867 / 07930 408 224

Address:
Sackville House
44-48 Magdalen Street
Norwich
NR3 1JU

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