VinVenture and wein.plus cooperate in promoting young winemaking talent

The European wine platform wein.plus has agreed on a cooperation with the young winemaker community VinVenture. It is currently establishing itself as "Germany's first talent factory".

The project, which wein.plus is supporting with immediate effect, focuses on discovering young winemakers with unusual ideas: Every year, VinVenture scouts talents who are at the beginning of their careers. The winners receive comprehensive support in setting up sales as well as communication. VinVenture was founded by Natascha Popp, managing partner of the management consultancy "die weinräte" from St. Johann (Rheinhessen), and Andreas Schlagkamp from Senheim, an eleventh-generation Mosel winegrower.

"The winemakers selected by VinVenture tell an exciting story. We give them a wine line that bears their face, their signature and their story in its name," Natascha Popp explains the approach. Each of the talents receives a marketing concept that also includes events with retailers and personal contact with the VinVenture community.

New perspectives for winemakers outside the mainstream

"We support the innovative concept of promoting hitherto unknown winemakers who do not submit to the mainstream. VinVenture offers them a perspective for success with exciting wines that would otherwise not be open to them," says wein.plus founder and CEO Utz Graafmann.

wein.plus is developing a landing page for VinVenture for traders and private wine lovers that introduces the concept, the community and the winemakers. This information is supplemented with reviews of their wines, which are blindly evaluated by tasting director Marcus Hofschuster according to the strict wein.plus rules. "This is often the first time that the young talents receive truly independent feedback on the quality of their work," adds Graafmann.

"Exceptional processes, new techniques, long forgotten vineyards"

In addition, new VinVenture Club members will receive a complimentary Private Premium one-year membership from wein.plus. VinVenture will continue to link viticultural terms for explanation with the world's largest wine encyclopaedia from wein.plus in its "Behind-the-Wine" documentation.

Currently, the VinVenture portfolio includes 25 wines from winemakers of two generations from the Nahe, Mosel, Pfalz and Rheinhessen regions. "These wines were made using unusual processes, new techniques or from long-forgotten vineyards," says Andreas Schlagkamp, describing the crucial difference.

"Great talents with new ideas are given a business environment for personal development for the first time through VinVenture's support. They are explicitly encouraged to go their own way," emphasises Utz Graafmann, "and this is a necessary, important step for the future of the German wine scene."