Naked Wines has opened a winery in California and is offering winemakers the opportunity to crush their own grapes.

Building on its recently announced $5.5 million investment in the US market, winemakers will be able to crush their own wines for $100 (£65) per tonne.

The online retailer which has also just started an Australian operation, wants to help winemakers cut costs at its new site, the former Blackstone Winery in Sonoma.

“Naked aims to support independent winemakers by removing their greatest costs”, said founder Rowan Gormley.

“All the winemaking up to post-malo, including crush and adds, can easily cost 10 times more than what we are offering. What’s more, with us, winemakers can take the time they need rather than work with crush facilities that are often in a hurry to get as much volume through the winery as possible.”

The company receives £2 million per month from its 100,000 Angel investors, which it is using to finance these new projects. Angels then have access to Californian wines at prices 40-50% below the usual pries. The idea behind the American launch was to “back the talent behind the big names”, producing wines equal to those at a fraction of the cost.


“When we finally worked out that a $50 bottle of Napa Cabernet costs $10 to make, and we can sell it for $15, we knew we had no choice but to get in on the ground floor,” said Gormley.