Wondering why there was only beer and spirits but no wine at Crossfit events and races, Mark Warren and Tom Beaton, Founders of FitVine, decided to start their own brand. With a goal of making wine more transparent and approachable, FitVine aims to “fit into your lifestyle.” At the $15-20/bottle price point, FitVine is bringing more Gen X and Millennials into the wine category with wine that tastes good and takes away the stuffy image of the wine industry.If you love the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon.  Detailed Show Notes: Mark and Tom’s backgroundMet ~20 years ago, both in the tech industry and entrepreneursThey have always been into wineBoth former athletes got into Crossfit 2 decades ago at events. They saw spirits and beer but no wine and asked, “why isn’t wine part of an active lifestyle?”FitVine’s foundingAt $15/bottle - many wines are overprocessedTarget a “healthy” lifestyle, and the word “fit” means how does wine fit into your lifestyle?Want to have a positive impact on people’s lives - relieve stressMarket segmentInitially thought they were targeting the athletes, but quickly learned it was the significant others at the races & events, the “aspirational group” that wanted to make better choices that were FitVine’s customersGen X “yoga mom/dad,” Millennials M/F both increasingDTC business has customers from early ’20s to late ’70sThe segment is ~85-100M AmericansFitVine vs. “Clean Wine” - try to be careful and not knock other winesFocused on 90% of the wine market and what people are drinking with an average ~$15/bottle price pointTrying to establish a “go-to” brand people can trust and remove confusion for people without wine knowledgeMarketingTargeting the average consumer who’s not wine knowledgeable and intimidated by wineTrying to be more transparent and make it easier for the consumerHave nutritional breakdown for all winesPublishes calories, carbohydrates, sugar, alcoholTTB stopped their ability to add more nutritional information (e.g., resveratrol, etc.) because it might show it as a healthy productDoes full lab tasting on all wines and have done competitor lab testing as well - sometimes show summary statistics (e.g., 90% less sugar than the Top 10 wines on the market)They took tasting notes away not to confuse the average consumerStart with the wine first, then discuss the positive attributes of the winesWine often marketed as too “stuffy,” makes it intimidatingWant to change the approach, a higher level of YellowTail - which was easy and popular in the $5-8/bottle categoryAt $15-20, more of an investment, wine needs to be goodPrimary differentiation is transparency - there are no more faces to the big brands/wine companies, the last one was Jess JacksonWant to be very approachable - no beige chateau or river on the labelProductsLow in sugar but “full” alcoholPeople want the alcohol in wineAlcohol also impacts the taste of wine - de-alc’d wine often tastes “thin”Low in tannins and histaminesTannins can be added, but none for FitVineHigh tannins are not suitable for non-seasoned wine drinkers looking for approachable wineNo flavor additives (e.g., Mega Purple) or other additives“Triple Filtering” of wine - uses crossflow filtration that passes through 3 times (standard crossflow process)Wines are not bulk wines, controlled from grape to bottleMostly Lodi fruit, sustainably raised with no pesticidesProduction2021 - ~425k cases2022 - ~600k casesGo-to-market strategyStarted DTC onlyStarted with social mediaWent anywhere, people would let them pour wine (e.g., yoga studios, gyms, etc.)Gave out samples and postcards to drive to the website2021 - still did >5,000 eventsWent consumer first vs. pushing through distributors - Whole Foods called in 2016 - brought into retail in 2017 (started w/ 4-5 stores, then spread across the US)2022 - will be in 25,000 locations in the US, ~35,000 in 2023Now focused on grocery stores and delivery (e.g., Instacart, Drizly, GoPuff)Strong repeat buyingDTC offers limi