We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gabriel Gomez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Gabriel , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
Great question. For us, wine has been an incredible journey and the lens through which we’ve traveled the world and have had many memorable experiences. We’ve experienced many adventures in our wine journey – from Eastern Washington to Oregon and California to Europe – and we’ve met so many incredible people who have truly shaped our perception of both the world and of wine. For us, wine helps foster our community through authentic and meaningful connection with strangers and the strengthening of our bonds with our friends and family. Relationships are foundational to our lives and we pride ourselves on cultivating strong bonds built on love and surrounding ourselves with genuinely happy people.
Our journey with wine started when a wine tasting room manager at a winery we were members at, Fidelitas, in Woodinville, WA recommended that we visit Eastern Washington and experience the region and the amazing wines – many of which weren’t represented in the Seattle area due to the cost of transport and length of trip. It’s roughly a 3-4 hour drive to the nearest remote wine AVAs from Seattle to Lake Chelan, Tri-Cities or Walla Walla. Looking back, I think you can say that that’s when the idea was born – at least on the subconscious level. Our imaginations went wild with excitement thinking about all of these great wines and wineries that we didn’t even have access to in our area yet were a relatively short drive away!
We walked away from our tasting in Woodinville with great hotel and winery recommendations and immediately planned a trip to Eastern Washington. Needless to say, we fell in love with it all. The region is technically a desert but in the middle of this high-plains desert there’s an oasis of produce – apple and cherry orchards, hops fields and vineyards. It’s such a juxtaposition of beauty amidst the rolling landscape – it truly is one of our “happy places”. It’s a place where we can shed all our worries and truly escape the hustle of urban life. When you’re visiting these wineries and taking in the view of the valley while sipping an amazing crisp glass of Sauvignon Blanc or Semillon on a hot summer day while on the patio, there’s truly nothing like the calm and peaceful breeze rustling the vineyard grape leaves. I often equate it to the feeling of lying on a white, sandy beach while listening to the waves roll in. It’s because of this, that we decided to get married at Chandler Reach winery in Benton City, WA.
For us, wine represents so much more than the product itself. It represents history, connection, thought-provoking conversation, general silliness and laughter, culture, new culinary experiences and flavor combinations, memorable life events, and so much more. That first sip feeling on a special occasion, on vacation, or while in the comforts of your own home really transports you to another place. This is how our idea was born.
We wanted to pay homage to the ancient history of wine and its roots back to ancient Mediterranean cultures – particularly ancient Greece. This part of the world is so rich with history and mythology that we felt it best to name our brand after the fabled origins of wine – being the Greek mythological character of Ampelos, himself. It was through our various journeys over the years to Eastern Washington, Napa, Sonoma, Greece, and Tuscany that some key themes began to emerge – the intimacy of the wineries, the approachability of the product, the stories of the winemakers, and the hospitality of our hosts. The questions we pondered were “how might we build a tasting room with a strong brand identity but puts the winemakers, their product, and their stories at the forefront? How might we become an ambassador for small-lot winemakers who make amazing product and have such rich and compelling stories but struggle to cut through the mass-market producers?”
So often, brands struggle with the age-old concept of being a “branded house” or a “house of brands”. We happen to think that you can do both. We can create a platform that inspires limitless possibilities for our customers while still being a responsible steward and ambassador for these smaller wineries and telling their stories through our eyes.
How we continue telling our story and the stories of our wine partners in a way that is genuine and reflects the ever-evolving landscape around wine and hospitality is truly inspiring for us to ponder and gives us energy about our future.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I find that wine tends to be an incredibly intimidating product as are most of the tasting rooms that a person encounters. At least it was for us. We were fortunate to have had friends who were casual patrons of many of the wineries in the area and helped to demystify the entire experience for us. Over time, we became wine club members and continued learning and absorbing lots of the educational aspects of the winemaking process and became eager customers – not just of the wineries in our area but in other wine-growing regions as well. It probably had a lot to do with our professions – me being an architect and my husband, Gordon, being an elementary music teacher and classically trained musician.
From the precariously designed tasting rooms and experiences we’ve patroned to the educational nature of wine tasting and the winemaking process, wine, in many ways, embodies this marriage of design and education. Our love of hospitality, food, design and education has introduced us to many relationships that have only enhanced our appreciation of this industry and has inspired us to lift those voices up.
Our differentiator is our investment in our winemaking partners and our ambassadorship of their product and brand as well as our obsession with our customers and striving to craft memorable experiences in a way that demystifies wine and encourages them to explore and learn something new. This is exactly why we chose not to open a traditional “bottle shop”. We didn’t want customers to have to fend for themselves amidst thousands of bottles of wine – this only serves to further exacerbate the customer’s anxiety and lack of confidence in their wine purchase. By providing a curated approach limited to the winemakers and varietals that we’ve hand-selected and pairing that with a hosted wine tasting experience that educates and inspires, we build confidence in the customer about their wine knowledge and potential purchase. Whether they purchase something or not, this is something that they can take with them throughout life and hopefully we had a small but integral part to play in making wine more approachable and enjoyable for them.
Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.
We intentionally chose not to get into winemaking because of the risk, time, and investment that is typically needed to start a winery. From vineyard planting and management to harvesting, winemaking, barreling and bottling, it’s typical to not start making revenue until at least year 6 or 7 if you start a vineyard from scratch – if you’re lucky. There are other routes you could take to expedite a return in revenue but they’d require a significant capital investment which we did not have.
Since we both have an extensive background in retail and food & beverage, we felt that our most expedient point-of-entry into the industry was via retail but we knew we didn’t want to open an traditional bottle shop. We wanted to craft personalized, curated tastings where customers could sample the product that we’ve hand-selected, through the relationships that we’ve cultivated, so they would leave feeling inspired, educated, and confident in their purchase. It also helped that we happen to own a retail space directly beneath our townhome. 3 years ago, we purchased a new construction live/work townhome that was zoned for commercial use on the first floor. At the time, we didn’t know we were going to open a wine tasting room but we knew we wanted to start a business so we felt that the townhome would be perfect to accommodate our future entrepreneurial aspirations.
That being said, even though we don’t produce our own wines, we’ve learned and continue to learn a lot about the industry and the manufacturing process and distribution channels which will hopefully inform us if or when we choose to craft our own namesake wines in the future.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
For me, it’s more about the lesson I had to learn. Unlike my husband, Gordon, I tend to be your classic example of “type A”, go-getter that wants get it done. There are MANY times that this approach would have actually hampered our efforts or led to many avoidable frustrations. For example, authoring our business plan. In addition to designing our logo and marketing collateral, I had hoped to complete the business plan in a very short period of time so that we could launch the business. My husband had remained steadfast and patient about the timing. Since we owned the space there was no deadline to complete the business plan, which included in-depth financial projections and analyses – neither of which I had experience in. By slowing down, we were able to take the time to consult with a local and free non-profit that assisted with business startup mentorship. This was game-changing because she was able to help us understand the financial aspect of our concept which was critical to our financial modeling and determining our pricing and potential profitability. By taking the time and being patient, we didn’t add stress to an already stress-inducing exercise of opening your own business. It also helped that we owned our retail space so rent didn’t factor into our financial modeling or level of urgency to open.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ampelos-wines.com
- Instagram: ampeloswines.seattle
- Facebook: Ampelos
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/ampelos-seattle?osq=ampelos
- Other: Tock Reservations: https://www.exploretock.com/ampelos/
Image Credits
Gabriel Gomez