„Drinking Wine With Style.“
Ramona brings a fresh breeze into the wine world with her unique wine experiences and products. She is a self-made entrepreneur and designed award wining outdoor wine glasses as well as other wine accessoires. In Berlin you have the possibility to attend one of her unique events about romanian grapes and wines.
Making „Wine“-Lifes better
Young entrepreneur Ramona tells us about her business idea „Pointer Wine Glasses“ for picnics and outdoor Wine-Events
- You have developed special products for drinking wine in nature, e.g. „Pointer Wine Glass“. How did that happen?
One beautiful spring evening in 2014 while I was enjoying some wine outdoors, I spilled some of the precious liquid in the grass and I thought how cool it would be to have a glass that sticks to the ground and does not tip over. The next day I checked on the internet if such a product already existed and I discovered to my surprise that it did not. I decided to prototype such a glass and this is how it all started.
2. What kind of people did you have in mind when you created the Pointer wine glass?
I imagined that I was not the only person wishing to drink wine outdoors from proper wine glasses and not from plastic cups or straight from the bottle. As I started promoting the glasses, the response was very positive from the beginning and I started selling internationally quite quickly, initially to friends around the globe and soon afterward through an international crowdfunding campaign.
3. How did it then go from idea to production, how did you come up with the design?
The first 300 glasses I made myself, in my living room in Amsterdam, after my working hours in the architecture studio. I was buying glasses and removing their feet with a saw. The next step was to attach metal pipe pieces and tent pegs to the glasses. I was also making myself the carrying boxes for 2 glasses and I was sleeping very little.
4. What was your first confirmation as a young entrepreneur that you are on the right track?
One week after having the idea of Pointer Wine Glass, I won a car as a prize in a competition where I participated with the product, so first successes came quite fast.
5. And how did you then go into industrial production and find production facilities?
It was in 2015 that I decided to do a crowdfunding campaign in order to finance the shift to a partially automatized production. I simplified the design and started looking for small factories in Romania that could help me with the different components. Through thorough research and word of mouth, I succeeded in finding the right suppliers and I have been working with them ever since.
All about Wine
- Where does your passion for wine come from? – I was born in Romania in a family of teachers and hobby winemakers. I spent a lot of time in the vineyard and in the cellar and I became fascinated by the grape universe from an early age.
- And why did you specialize in romanian wines? – At the time I didn’t realise the potential of Romanian wines, but as the years passed and I gained experience with international varieties, I became more and more interested in the grape varieties from my home country.
- Your live-motto? –Today is today. Tomorrow is tomorrow.
- When or how did your fascination with wine start? –My love for wine started in the vineyard of my grandfather. He taught me how to care for the vines and make wine. Spending so much time amongst the wine barrels, I developed a passion (and a good palate) and I kept on tasting wine during my travels. It was when I designed the Pointer Wine Glass that I realized this dormant passion needed reactivation and therefore I did the WSET Level 1 and Level 2 certifications and I am currently studying hard for Level 3.
- How do you like to drink your wine? – I enjoy nothing more than drinking wine outdoors, in the park, or on the beach. I truly believe that we all build our own luxury and mine is when I sit on a blanket with friends or with my husband and watch the sunset with a glass of wine in my hand.
- Which wine trend you do not like at all? – I cannot say there is any wine trend that I completely dislike. I enjoy natural wines because they remind me a lot of the wines my grandfather used to make. I am totally enjoying the alcohol-free wine wave and I believe it was really high time for qualitative alternatives to wine. Lastly, after decades of not being a fan of sweet wines, I am discovering their diversity and advantages in food pairings through my education.
- How did you come up with the idea of wine picnics? – I used to live and work as an architect in Amsterdam. I always brought my stemware to the park after work to enjoy some wine from my grandfather. I was very inspired to spend my free time like that as Dutch people were always enjoying being outside when the weather allowed it. The parks were always full of people and life and it was just a wonderful way to spend my free time and discover the city.
- Wine trends: Which current hype is total nonsense in your eyes? – I am not a big fan of canned wine for 2 different reasons: 1 – a can is less environmentally friendly than a bottle and 2 – even though a can is practical, the idea of drinking directly from it is not appealing to me at all. I fully understand the need for smaller wine packaging (not everybody can share the bottle with someone else or carry around a half-empty bottle or worse, throw the wine away) and this could be easily achieved if more producers would invest in 0.375 ml bottles. It might come at a higher cost, but the impact on the environment and the overall wine experience might be worth it.
- Your tip to all hobby wine experts: With what trick or wine know-how do I impress everyone? – I am a big fan of having some sort of knowledge of wines and grapes from countries that are less known for their wine production. There is always a high chance you will know more about that region than the others and you will actually be able to share your discoveries and spread some new trends.
- What is the biggest sin in wine tasting? – Some would say spitting, but I am a big fan of doing so in order to enjoy as many different wines as possible without exceeding the alcohol limit. I would rather say adding water to wine is an absolute NO GO for me.
- What has been your greatest success so far or your great experience of happiness in the wine sector? – There were many moments that brought extreme joy and I find it difficult to choose one. Reaching the crowdfunding goal of 15.000 EUR was for me the best confirmation I am on the right track and soon after that I received the Red Dot Design Award which felt quite special. But maybe the biggest joy I had was when in October 2021 I finally quit my job to focus 100% on my business.
- What is your secret pleasure vice? – Being surrounded by people is an extreme source of energy for me. I have always enjoyed long talks with my friends and family and chatting with merchants at the market or random people during traveling. This was 100% confirmed when I started offering wine tastings and I realized how much joy came from interactions and the exchange of opinions during the events.
- If you weren’t a sommelier and an entrepreneur, you would be… – I would probably still design bags or, why not, go back to architecture or interior design. I love having more options and the ability to jump from one topic to another. For the time being, I feel I have found the ideal job for me, but I would not reject the possibility of making another career change at some point.
