The Standard story

Assuming that you, dear reader, are interested in how wine brands are created, we will now pull aside the curtain that shrouds this mysterious process to give you an insight into the development of our house wine "Standard".

We just wanted to make life a little easier.

A few years ago we noticed a particular trend. The young and up-and-coming winemakers with whom we mainly work increased their prices with great regularity. It was about 5% per year. That's actually worth a story in itself. Let's just say that the price increases were mostly justified by the material investments of these families and that the quality has certainly increased. The result, however, was that prices quickly grew beyond the range at which most restaurateurs believed they could afford to sell wine by the glass. That, too, is almost worth a story of its own. Let's just say that the price spell has now been broken and that inflation has helped. The wine bar where I occasionally drink a glass of wine has no problem selling a glass of wine for ten euros. The ten euro hurdle has been overcome. It should be noted that the wines in question are single vineyard wines from very renowned winemakers. Isn't that the point of a wine bar? The ability to try a glass of wine without committing to a whole bottle? By the way, we also have a solution for this problem. You can overcome the hurdle of buying an entire bottle at a wine bar by bringing a friend with you. Two people drinking a bottle of wine is perfectly fine. Three people is even cooler. Grab your people and go to the wine bar. Come on guys, someone has to stimulate the economy and support the poor wine clans. The fact that the wine clans are definitely not poor may someday be a story in itself. Back to the origins of the brand.

Our search for a house wine ignited a block party.

Over a decade ago we sensed the need from our customers for a really good house wine. It should be a white wine. It should be dry. It should be affordable. It would have to have a screw cap. It would need to suit a wide range of personal preferences and a wide range of dishes. Should it be be neutral? Should it be harmless? Should it even be a little boring? We toured the wine country. We traveled. We had samples sent. We collected the bottles and tasted them in a controlled setting with a team of specialists and a standardized food accompaniment. It was during the World Cup and the standardized accompanying food was initially pizza, but this also developed into veal burgers with garlic confit or buffalo bratwurst. We soon found our wine. It was the bottle that emptied first. South of the Alps we very kindly persuaded a family winery to produce the brand with us and we started offering it to our catering customers. It was a frightening success. We expanded the range to include a red wine and, almost as an afterthought, a rosé. We soon noticed two trends. Firstly, we were constantly sold out of the standard. Second, families began showing up at the camp loading large quantities of Standard into their cars. Families. They brought their children to help load the wine. We had created a monster that we could barely control. In an effort to make a "working wine" that flies under the radar, we had inadvertently created a cult phenomenon to which we were now chained. Then, as so often happens in the world of wine, the chain broke. We were convinced that although the wine was really good, it could be even better. What about organic? So the process began again, putting us on a plane to southern Europe where we discovered a new standard.

The current bottling of the white wine was made from Macabeo and Sauvignon The organic Bobal Rosé is crisp and extremely drinkable. The red wine is a Tempranillo, organic, rich and delicious that goes really well with pizza.