Wine buying is daunting for most people, whether it’s online or off a menu or in an aisle filled with so many brands that it’s hard not to buy the same products time after time, just to stay sane.
Therein lies the opportunity for Bright Cellars, a nearly four-year-old, 40-person Milwaukee, Wis.-based startup that sells wines directly to consumers on a subscription basis. Other monthly wine clubs have been at things longer, sending out award-winning wines, or hand-selected wines, or small-batch wines paired with craft meats and artisanal cheeses. But Bright Cellars is trying to educate members about which wine they might like so they can figure out these decisions for themselves.
More interesting, to us: Bright Cellars is also quietly building a portfolio of its own wines based on member feedback, even while Bright Cellars doesn’t use its own label. In short, it’s going the way of wine giants like Gallo and Constellation and creating a number of different brands with the help of different suppliers. (Gallo, for example, owns Alamos and Barefoot Cellars, among roughly two dozen other brands. Constellation owns Cooper & Thief and Clos du Bois, among others.)
Taking a step back, the company starts to appear more ambitious than might seem based on its website, which immediately invites users to take a quiz aimed at discerning their particular taste profile. Think questions like: Do you like milk chocolate or dark or are you a Reese’s type of person? Do you like your tea with lemonade and ice, or hot served with a lemon slice? Read the full story here.
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