1. Dear Nelly, I am very happy to introduce you and WYNE as part of our Female Founder Community. Please feel free to tell us a little about yourself and your company.
Dear Lisa, I’m really excited to be part of your female founder community – thank you for this opportunity! I'm Nelly (30), I live in Munich and founded wyne last year - a real Corona startup that started in the home office during the first lockdown. My passion for wine began relatively early, even though I come from Celle, near Hanover. So really not a wine-growing region. When I was 15, I went to the cinema and saw a film (A Good Year) that was set in a French winery. With a lot of romance, in the middle of the vineyards. That fascinated me. I had my first real experiences and training as a winemaker at a winery in southern Germany. I then studied international wine business and worked at renowned family wineries. And now I don't have my own winery, but I am the managing director of Wyne - the first urban winery in Germany.
During my time in the wine industry, I have increasingly noticed that wine is becoming increasingly complicated. With wyne I want to change that by focusing on simplicity: our customers shouldn't have to fight through a huge selection only to end up with just one wine again. Enjoyment instead of elitism. With my expertise as a winemaker, I guarantee that we only offer high-quality and delicious wines.
During winemaking, animal proteins, such as egg whites or gelatin, are used in the clarification process of wines (also called fining). Our winemakers use vegan aids to clarify the wine. In the wine sector, this doesn't necessarily have to be on the bottle, but we think it should be dealt with transparently. Furthermore, it is important to me that our winemakers work sustainably, meaning close to nature, a lot of manual work, no use of pesticides. However, in my opinion, there is no difference in taste between vegan and non-vegan wines.
3. As a winemaker, you are a wine expert! Nevertheless, you don't want to talk to WYNE in complicated technical terms, you just want to offer good wine. Not for critics, but for you and me. What makes a good wine for you?
For me, the focus is clearly on taste. You have to like the wine personally, regardless of awards or other flagships. It is important to me how the winemakers work in the vineyard and share their passion for the product with me. It must be clear where the wine comes from and how it is made.
4. Have you always been open to starting a business or did you have fears, doubts or other things that stopped you from starting your own business?
I definitely always had the dream of owning my own winery and creating my own wine. Unfortunately, this isn't easy in Germany if you don't have a family background in the wine world. Or you need a certain amount of change. Therefore, when the opportunity to found wyne arose, it quickly became clear to me that I would take advantage of the opportunity. Although I don't have my own winery yet, I can work with winemaker friends to create wines as I imagine them. Nevertheless, it was of course completely new for me to manage a company, which also involved some bad decisions. But you learn a lot from it. Fears and doubts are always there, especially at the beginning. I have learned that it is particularly important to talk to as many people as possible who are either in the same situation or are much more experienced and can therefore help you. If I've learned anything, it's to share your fears and doubts.
5. Which 3 learnings from your first year of founding would you like to share with other female founders?
One of my most important learnings - also from a woman's perspective - is definitely to accept help. At the beginning I wanted to prove to everyone that I can do it on my own, but so many new things come your way that at some point you need support. That's why I learned to exchange ideas more and, above all, to build a network with other founders and entrepreneurs in order to move forward.
In addition, there are countless ups and downs. Days when you question everything. But it's worth continuing. To review what you have already achieved. Of course, positive feedback from outside is particularly helpful here!
Last but not least – everything takes more time than you plan for! And that's exactly when it's sometimes worth taking more time with certain things. For us, for example, it was the design of our labels. We did several extra rounds and surveys to find the perfect design. This probably pushed our launch back a month, but today I can say that it was worth it and that both we and our community love our design.
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