Meet Whitney & Chaz Gates | WONDRY Wine Co-Founders

We had the good fortune of connecting with Whitney & Chaz Gates and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Whitney & Chaz, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
The concept of WONDRY was born surprisingly when I was a little girl & far too young to drink. Around the age of 10 I began visiting my late Uncle LC who was paralyzed from the waist-down but stood tall as the beacon of his Nashville community.

He was a master of all trades – barbequing, baking, conversating…but most of all homemade winemaking. I would watch in awe as he rolled his way through his garage using the oddest of tools to turn the most interesting foods into wine.

With just a nylon glove & gallon jug, he would transform fruits like peaches, grapes, pears – & even corn on the cob – into this refreshing looking “happy juice”. Although I was forbidden from indulging at the time, my family & our community drank this wine like it was water. It was a conversation starter but most importantly, a unifier, that brought people together for carefree moments of enjoyment & escape.

8 years ago, as an adult of legal drinking age, I craved to recreate those moments.
So, just like my Uncle LC, I began toiling around my kitchen. I combined a range of fruits with yeast & after a few failed attempts stumbled upon something shockingly delicious – a semi-sweet, fruit-forward wine with a noticeable alcohol kick.

Nothing like this & no one who looked like me existed in the mainstream wine industry. A stifling reality that kept me from further pursuing winemaking until 2017.

One evening in 2017 I had a couple of drinks & an aha moment. Memories of my Uncle LC floated in my mind & collided with newfound observation: the wine industry is so pretentious & exclusive.
For ages, wine drinkers with non-traditional tastes have largely gone unnoticed. Many people like myself have felt intimidated, overlooked, & excluded from the premium wine experience…yet no one seems to care.

It was when I recognized this tension, WONDRY Wine Co. was re-born.

With WONDRY we intend to disrupt traditional wine thinking. From our uniquely designed bottles to our organic fruit infusions to our heightened alcohol content, we exist to re-imagine the wine experience.

We don’t just sell wine – we sell an immersive escape that engages all senses & unifies all wine drinkers alike.

What should our readers know about your business?
Since wine was created, there’s been little to no evolution in varietal assortment. We’ve been largely limited to your standard Chardonnays, Cabernets, Pinots – or some close iteration or blend of these traditional wine types. Meanwhile, you’ve got the spirits, beer, seltzer & cider industries who have continually invested in innovation to address unique consumer tastes. We recognize consumers crave diverse flavor options & an alcohol experience that delivers a relaxing escape.. That is why we created WONDRY – a collection of fruit-forward wines that blur the lines between a premium wine and a craft cocktail. All of our wines are aged in small batches and spiked with organic, fragrant fruits. We use only natural, premium ingredients to deliver balanced, full body flavor & elevated alcohol content.

We separate ourselves by not selling wine. We sell an immersive beverage escape that engages all of your senses. From our uniquely designed bottles to our organic fruit infusions to our heightened alcohol content, we exist to re-imagine the wine experience. We fully intend to disrupt conventional wine thinking, so we differentiate by doing the exact opposite of our competition & cueing in on the unique needs of consumers who have been overlooked by the traditional wine industry.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If it was a week-long trip, we would be sure to spend ample time in each of our favorite parts of town:

– Uptown: this is where we (Whitney & Chaz) met & lived our single years in the city. Perfect neighborhood for a scenic walk around Turtle Creek, bar hopping on/around McKinney & grabbing a bite in West Village

– AT&T Discovery District: the mini Time Square vibes make this area a must-visit for good food/drinks & vibrant outdoor ambiance

– Deep Ellum: boasting Wynwood (Miami) vibes, Deep Ellum has it all – colorful scenery, art/culture, bars/restaurants, people watching, retail shopping

– Lower Greenville: we LOVE this neighborhood for it’s lively, diverse dining & nightlife. Amazing area to visit day or night.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would like to dedicate our shout out to every one of our North Texas supporters. Whether you’ve bought one bottle of WONDRY or 12 or simply just spread the word about our small business, we appreciate you. We wouldn’t be where we are without you!

Website: wondrywine.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wondrywine/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wondrywine