Q&A with The Valley Wines Founders
I’m super excited to share with you guys about this amazing wine delivery website called The Valley Wines! Being a JMU girl, the Shenandoah Valley holds a dear spot in my heart. And as much as I love visiting, I normally don’t have the time to make the drive out there from Richmond as often as I like. So seriously, when Darin and Monica (the founders) reached out to me to tell me about their business, I was incredibly excited. Also, their website blew me away, it’s SO pretty and user friendly. It’s probably one of the best websites I’ve seen across the board (My non-wine job is in digital marketing, so you can def believe me on this). If you also love that region, or are curious, definitely check them out and use my code WINEINVA for 15% off!
I ordered the CrossKeys Viognier and the Bluestone Vidal Blanc from them, and both wines are amazing. Obviously I am dying to visit those wineries, but it’s so incredibly convenient to have access through them through The Valley Wines website until I can make time for a trip!
Check out my Q&A with the founders below and learn about how they got started, and what’s in store for them next!
How did Valley Wines get started?
The Valley Wines was birthed out of solving a problem we personally faced. It was nearly impossible to source VA/local wines in our area unless you travelled to each individual winery. Given the current state of the union the last year traveling anywhere wasn’t the norm. With that said, we wanted to come up with a way to easily source all of the wines we loved in one place! We also wanted to add value to the already amazing winery experiences in our area so we felt creating an online wine store that houses all of the wines in our region and ships directly to the consumer was the best place to start.
What was the biggest challenge in getting started?
The biggest challenge was and still is loading all of the inventory from each individual winery as well as building out a website experience that was seamless and not boring! We didn’t want to load just stock photos of each bottle. We wanted our website to mimic an Instagram feed! Creative and inviting! With that said, that required tons of photo and scenes to capture somewhat of a real life photo. We are still in the process of loading wineries from our region. When it’s all said and done we will have close to 30 wineries with over 300 choices of wine!
How did you guys learn about wine and wine distribution at the beginning of your journey?
We honestly just immersed ourselves in as much information as possible. From connecting with winery owners, wine makers and consuming information from wine influencers on IG. We are still learning new things every day as well as sharpening the things we have learned!
What are your best-selling products?
We are a bit young to really have a true best seller. With that said, what’s been amazing to see is every single order we’ve processed each individual has chosen wines from multiple vineyards. That’s so exciting for us! That’s exactly why we created this company!
How do you select which wines to distribute?
The Valley Wines only distributes wine from The Shenandoah Valley! The Shenandoah Valley AVA is a footprint that mostly spans from Winchester, VA to a little outside of Staunton, VA - give or take! We also distribute Hard Cider and Mead as well! A fun fact. We work with the oldest operating meadery in the State of VA! Misty Mountain Meadworks.
What is the biggest day to day challenge in managing a wine distribution/delivery website?
Right now it’s inventory. Getting a handle on inventory levels is something we are working hard at.
What’s unique about the wine industry in Virginia?
We are a young industry with a bright future. We truly have some amazing wines out of our state and out of our region! We believe this is only the beginning of great things to come!
What is your advice for someone wanting to start a business in the wine industry?
Stop thinking about it and just start! Maybe it will work and maybe it won’t. One thing we will add is when you set out to solve a problem instead of just creating another product it creates more opportunity and less competition. Look for a problem or pain point within the wine industry and come up with something creative and then give it your all and see where it takes you!
What is next for Valley Wines in the next few days/months/years?
We will continue to add new inventory weekly/monthly so keep checking our website (www.TheValleyWines) and make sure you follow us on Instagram and Facebook @TheValleyWines. Some other exciting news is we are rolling out curated seasonal menus for restaurants in The Shenandoah Valley as well as Northern, VA. This is just another opportunity for individuals to get a taste of The Valley and what better way to do that than pairing it with some amazing food!