“Come in, spend time, and hear the stories behind the wine.”
Six months ago longtime friends Jack Nims and Derrell Webb finally started their dream job in a midtown Anchorage shopping strip. Inspired by a mutual love of specialty wines, they opened the boutique wine shop UnWINEd.
“We’ve always been lovers of good wine,” says Derrell.
UnWINEd’s classy but relaxed atmosphere invites shoppers to stop by and stay awhile, have a cup of coffee, sit in the armchairs and have a chat about wine. Inspired by the wines, the owners spend time explaining the different varietals to customers and helping them pair with food or special occasions.
“We wanted to put together a wine shop where people felt comfortable and could hang out,” says Derrell.
Most of the wines are from the Central California Coast with some wines from Washington and Oregon. For them, the West Coast equals quality wines. Jack believes that great wines can be found all over the world, but he doesn’t see the sense in chasing them down from across the globe when you have them in your own backyard.
“Our focus is mainly boutique wines from family-run operations which focus on fruit and product,” says Jack. Boutique wineries, where it is all about the quality and not about the quantity.
After the decision to start the wine boutique, Jack and Derrell went on a sourcing trip in California. They tasted 300 different bottles of wine to come up with the 100 bottles to sell.
Their focus is on wines of excellence. And they boast that there’s not a bad bottle in the store.
UnWINEd carries such wines as Carina Cellars. A vineyard owned by a California attorney with a passion for great wines, which produces around 2,000 bottles a years, a miniscule amount as compared to the giants like E. & J. Gallo Winery.
“A lot of these wines come from very small producers,” says Jack, which is why these wines are special. Most of the store’s wine inventory isn’t carried anywhere else in Alaska because wine production is limited and shipping to Alaska is expensive.
Though they are boutique wines, it’s not at a boutique cost.
“Price is just about what you’d pay in the tasting room,” says Jack.
Jack and Derrell have also made every effort to meet the winemakers and taste each bottle they sell. They pride themselves on knowing the stories behind the wines, like the bottle of Del Real they carry that spent four years in the barrel and three years in the bottle before it was even sold.
UnWINEd began its opening process around March 2011 and finally opened the doors this September. Wading through the State of Alaska alcohol permitting and licensing took sheer perseverance. Then Jack and Derrell and their wives, Robin Wade and Caren Webb, began renovating their midtown storefront with Robin designing the store’s comfortable and chic atmosphere.
Amber Wolf, Jack’s stepdaughter, came up with both the name and logo. She is the store manager and handles the business’s social media presence. Aside from one other employee, UnWINEd is a family run and operated business, each person adding his or her skills to the mix.
Wine sommelier, Joshua Potter, also helps run the shop, explain and sell the wines and works to close the gap between winemaker and customer through knowledge of the individual wines.
A store feature created by Robin that fosters a personal touch and helps market the wines is the Wine Basket Marketplace. This is a setup in the store where patrons can grab a gift basket, mix and match different crackers, cheeses and goodies and take it to the counter. The employees will then pair a wine with the food items and create a personal gift basket for patrons. Perfect for the upcoming holidays.
UnWINEd has also participated in a wedding show and is hosting a fundraiser for Junior Achievement in the empty shop next door on December 3.
“We are really excited about that,” says Jack. The fundraiser will allow UnWINEd to pour its products and offer a preview of the wines as well as benefit a local organization.
Customer word-of-mouth has been a powerful tool for UnWINEd’s steady business growth. Jack said that when customers enter the shop on a positive personal recommendation, they already have a good attitude about the store and are more willing to come back.
“We hope to be a part of the Anchorage landscape for a really long time,” says Jack. “We want to work with every customer to help folks connect with wine.”
Derrell adds, “We want people to come in, spend time and hear the stories behind the wine.”
Entrepreneur Advice
If you are thinking about opening a small business, Derrell suggests: “Do something you enjoy doing because you are going to live it.”
LOCATION: 751 E. 36 Ave., Suite 113, Anchorage
PHONE: 907-644-8463
ONLINE: unwinedalaska.com
Photos by Annette Potter / EntrepreneurAlaska.com
FULL DISCLOSURE: Sommelier Joshua Potter is husband of Annette Potter, editor of Entrepreneur Alaska. While it was convenient she knew these folks before Meghan featured them, we stand by the news value of this story as UnWINEd is newly opened and the owners are exactly the kind of entrepreneurs that inspired us to start this site. Submit your story ideas to Entrepreneur Alaska here.
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[...] Plus it’s a great time to check out they’re new gift basket marketplace we mentioned in our feature on these folks a couple weeks [...]