Wine Crowd - First Instagram Wine

Wine There are countless wine brands out there. But what do you do when you're starting a completely new and, above all, unknown wine brand, but still want to create your own wine? How do you want to sell your wine to men and women? Of course, you look for a unique selling point, something special that sets you apart from the crowd. And Benjamin Schmitt and Reinhard Seidel have achieved just that with their wine brand WEINCROWD within the first year since its founding at the end of 2018.

Wine blogger teams up with winemaker

Benjamin Schmitt, the team's wine blogger, doesn't actually come from the wine world. His main profession is marketing, with 10 years of experience at a financial services company. He currently works as a marketing manager at a startup in Mainz. He's been active on Instagram since 2014. In 2018, he professionalized his work and had his big breakthrough with his Instagram wine blog, @schmitt_mainwein, which now has around 13,000 followers.

Image: WEINCROWD logo

Reinhard Seidel, the winemaker on the team, took over the 10-hectare family vineyard in Alsheim in 2017 at the age of 30 after graduating from the renowned Geisenheim University and immediately implemented many changes. Highly trained and motivated, he has since been crafting wines with his own distinctive style. He places particular emphasis on harmonizing traditional methods with his modern philosophy. The result is wines with excellent drinkability and beautiful elegance. Incidentally, he worked for the VDP winery Rappenhof until the end of 2019, but now focuses entirely on his family winery and the collaborative project WEINCROWD.

Wine for you, with you!

WEINCROWD came about rather spontaneously. Benjamin had always wanted to create his own wine, and as fate would have it, Benjamin and Reinhard met via Instagram in the summer of 2018. After their first in-person meeting in Alsheim, they immediately decided to produce a wine together: a Pinot Blanc Fumé. Limited to a maximum of 500 bottles, completely risk-free and without high expectations.

Image: Winemaker Reinhard Seidel from Alsheim

Since there was already a lot of wine on the market, a wine, an idea, with a unique selling point was needed. And so, the WEINCROWD project was born, along with the very first Instagram wine. Instagram? The special thing about WEINCROWD is that Instagram followers can have a say in the winemaking process and actively participate in the wine creation. Whether it's the grape variety, bottle type, or label, the crowd can democratically decide at any time through surveys and votes. In crowdfunding, fans sponsor the project with their money; here, they sponsor it with their opinions. And that resonates really well with the target audience. WEINCROWD is growing steadily and now produces five wines and a pomace brandy. A high-quality Chardonnay sparkling wine is also planned for release at the end of 2020. We're excited to see what it's like.

Exclusive events with vine mothers and vine fathers

Benjamin and Reinhard don't just want to produce delicious wine for their fans. They want to immerse their followers in the world of wine and give them a comprehensive understanding of the entire winemaking process. With the WEINCROWD vine sponsorship program, they're doing just that, allowing enthusiastic wine drinkers to become vine moms or dads to three vine saplings. They receive wine from their vines and are regularly updated on the development of their sponsored vines. The program is rounded out with exclusive events at the winery, such as the vine bonfire, the communal hand-harvest, and the grand sponsor gathering in Alsheim.

We at Winetory.net have recently become sponsors of three small grapevines in Alsheim. Further information about the sponsorship and its benefits can be found in the PDF document WEINCROWD - Vine Sponsorship .