New Sponsor Announcement - WIAG
Wine in a Glass (WIAG) is an exciting and rapidly growing Melbourne based organisation founded by Michelle Anderson-Sims, following her discovery of pre-filled, single serve wine. Michelle first came across this revelation when on a trip teaching her four children, how to be self-sufficient travelling through Europe. Whilst riding the London Underground, they came across an article outlining the novel new concept which would be perfectly placed in the Australian wine market.
Often after dinner, dishes and bedtime stories were done, Michelle found the perfect opportunity to research how to make the concept of bringing single serve wine a reality. This exploration led her to James Martin of Copa Di Vino in Dallas, USA who was producing a single serve concept under licence. A quick trip across the Pacific and a new relationship was formed, returning to Australia in October 2013 as the Australian distributor for the Copa Di Vino single serve wine with imports on their way.
The first container was a great success and quickly sold into the Australian market. However, the second container was a failure and all the stock had to be dumped! A hard lesson learnt, but convinced the Australian market liked the concept, the style of glass was simply not a traditional wine glass as identified with the Australian consumer, and Australian quality wine was back in demand.
To secure the place in the market a new glass model was designed, a glass style with an optional firm detachable stem, creating the traditional wine glass and returning a form of elegance to the single serve market. The glass was made of 100% fully recyclable and reusable virgin PET.
A filling line was bought in-country and quality Australian wine went into the cups. Throughout this early journey Michelle found the need to learn how to process the wine, run and fix a filling line, tracking down dissolved oxygen becoming a speciality. From there she never looked back. It seemed the world wanted Australian wines in single serve format, and export began to Japan, China, South Korea, New Zealand, and Malaysia.
In 2020 the business relocated from a regional town on the border of New South Wales and Victoria to Epping, Melbourne. Relocating to Epping saw many new opportunities for the business. Awards were won, major new clients found WIAG, and a very competent and dedicated team evolved.
2022 saw WIAG attended its first Australian trade shows in Melbourne and Sydney with excellent results. The brand awareness had begun in Australia. And user demand... ‘where can we buy this?’ began to dominate her inbox. More calls from independent retail outlets wanting to source the product came flooding in. WIAG became stocked with Gate Gourmet on the Sydney trains, with PFD in Victoria, and many independent sellers along the east coast. Orders were despatched destined for way up into Far North Queensland and WIAG opened more ecommerce platforms to help meet user demand.
In October of 2022, the first container exports into Ecuador and Vietnam were sent and became the number one selling single serve wine in South Korea, serviced by distribution through Costco, the Lotte Group and Korean airlines. Additionally, working closely with Liquortime, WIAG introduced its Rosé to the Australian market. The product line expanded to see a consumer based 12 pack enter the Australian market and the 24-unit pack have a redirected focus to be sent for wholesale, events, and export.
As WIAG continues to develop and Michelle expands her knowledge of wine and operating a global business, the organisation aims to support others in finding similar success. The Australian Women’s Golf Network (AWGN) is proud to have partnered with Michelle and WIAG and look forward to sharing some of the fantastic wines with our members on golf event days and networking events, assisting WIAG with further exposure.
During 2023 WIAG is excited to expand its offering within Australia, bringing the ‘grab and go’ four pack to the market. They will certainly seek to continue the growth in the existing customer base with bring new members into the team.
www.wineinaglass.com.au
