In March, VINADA’s Founder Jess flew to Australia to visit many stores and meet with inspiring people from the industry as well as consumers.

To kick-off her stay in Australia, an industry-only tasting event was organized in collaboration with Australian distributor VinZero in Melbourne. At the event Jess met, among others with influencers Natalie Battaglia, creator of delicious @themindfulmocktail and Amy Armstrong @dry-but-wet, a non-alcoholic expert and a Sober Socialite in Australia. A special guest at the event was Sommeliers Australia President, Sarah Andrew. She talked about the wine tasting experience and the importance of embracing the No/Lo movement in hospitality.  

As a female-owned company, we of course couldn’t let International Women’s Day go unnoticed. In honors of International Women’s Day, Jess was invited by Van Nguyen, Business Owner of Sip & Enjoy, a non-alcoholic shop offering a large variety of non-alcoholic products. During the International Women’s Day Event, both Jess and Van spoke about starting up a business as a woman and female entrepreneurship within the alcohol-free industry. Furthermore Jess met with the owner of fawni, Stephanie McCarthy, who runs an online shop selling carefully curated boxes with delicious non-alcoholic refreshments combined with perfectly paired food. A unique business providing customers the ultimate non-alcoholic experience by inspiring them with recipes and ingredients in an all-in-one box.

It is not often that a Dutchie can explore the other side of the world, so Jess couldn’t leave Australia without paying a visit to Sydney. Right before hopping on the airplane, it was time to enjoy some VINADA bubbles. WHSmith sells VINADA at the airports in Australia, so it was a quick shopping trip at the airport. It keeps being impressive to see that VINADA is so widely available on the other side of the world.

We strongly believe that tasting is believing, so we did not only have a tasting event in Melbourne, but as well in Sydney. In Sydney, among other things, a tasting event was organized together with Irene Falcone, Founder of  SansDrinks. The event took place at the beautiful SansDrinks store in Westfield Warringah Mall, Sydney. It was of great value to meet with likeminded people and receive feedback from Australian consumers.

It is still amazing to see that VINADA is so widely available, even on the other side of the world. A true realization that hard works pays off and going for what you truly belief in can lead to beautiful things.

Cheers to That!