Of course the idea was created over a glass - ok, a bottle or two - of wine.
Avid winery visitors, who don't need an excuse to venture down little roads to discover a new boutique wine producer, Finestro founders, Rien Wolff and Jasmine De Martin, have been shaping Finestro since 2020.
Both hotel and hospitality leaders, they had witnessed first hand the impact technology and the internet has had on travel, tourism and hospitality over the years. Typically masked by bigger brand power, suddenly, small independent hotel brands and hospitality venues had a stronger voice and were visible to larger audiences via collective promotion platforms. A movement that really intrigued Rien, a keen boutique, independent wine supporter.
Usually responsible for the general management of commercial assets, the project development, construction and management of hotel and food and beverage venues, and day to day management of large operational teams, Rien felt there was a way to transfer this experience to the wine world. A champion of independent brand growth, Rien recognised the same values in boutique wine producers.
And so, Finestro was created. Launched in 2023, Finestro presents a dedicated digital space for small, premium producers to list products and market their labels, collectively.
"We wanted to create a place for independent and boutique, smaller makers to co-exist in a market without all the price-volume tensions that come with traditional retail," says Rien. "And, we wanted to make a place for consumers to go to as a source of inspiration, a place to discover wines from their own backyard and beyond, that they don’t see every day on the shelf.”
It was important to Rien to create a space where boutique producers are available in a marketplace that celebrates their work, highlights the value of wine for what it is worth, and positions it to an audience that holds the same view as a conscious purchaser.
Wines listed with Finestro are not mass-produced. They are of exceptional quality, often small-batch, and contain the story and spirit of the maker and the terroir, one vintage to the next.
"The Finestro difference isn’t about price," Rien explains. "We deliver on authenticity and quality; handmade and hard to find.”
Finestro allows people to instantly research, compare and purchase, putting the customer at the centre and bringing them closer to the thousands of boutique producers dotted around wine regions, making remarkable and characterful wines.
"A connection can form - certainly more than that created by large retail purchase routine," says Rien. "With Finestro, the consumer is invited to join a sustainable wine movement and journey each region with knowledge, and taste a new vintage with insight into the maker and their meaning for that particular wine".
"It's this connection and celebration of great wine and great wine making, that excites me the most".
While still dipping in and out of the hotel and hospitality industry, Rien's focus is Finestro's transparent growth and evolution, as Australia's first and only wine sales platform directly linked to the producer, offering a cellar door sale, in support of their production.
He maintains this laser focus via consistent wine tasting, drawing the line only at wines that make him remember the early years of an over-eager palate. Bulk Sauvignon Blanc, anyone?
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