A Humble Restart

From penniless to grapes aplenty The story behind the google results

If you do some research online, you’ll find that The Traveling Vineyard declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in April 2010. It’s no secret.

That’s when I took every penny of my personal savings and made a plan to buy the company. Yes, in the middle of the Great Recession. My wife was skeptical, as you might imagine. “I’ve never seen destiny present itself so clearly in my life,” I told her. “I have to do this. I know I can make it work.”

I had a good reason for my faith in the company.

The concept behind free home wine tasting and Traveling Vineyard had been my idea in 2001 when I worked for Geerlings & Wade, a leader in the direct marketing of quality wine. If the home party concept could work for plastic storage containers and cooking utensils, why not wine?

I tested the idea with a dozen people and it took off. By 2005, Traveling Vineyard had thousands of independent consultants, who work from home hosting more than 100,000 home tasting events a year in 26 states. After decades in various sales, marketing and management positions, I had finally fallen in love with a business.

Just when the Traveling Vineyard model had built momentum, a leadership change in the parent company triggered some strategic decisions with which I disagreed, particularly a decision to make changes to the programs we created that supported the self-employed independent wine consultants, our Wine Guides. The Guides form the heart and soul of the business model. How could I be expected to tell these wine enthusiasts about program impacts to them that I completely disagreed with?

That’s when I left Traveling Vineyard and spent five years doing other things – until I heard about the bankruptcy filing. I persuaded my wife, presented my case to dozens of friends and investors, emptied my savings accounts (yes, all of them), and made a run at it. I knew that if our Wine Guides received the support they needed to be successful, the company would get back on its feet.

A Humble Restart

From penniless to grapes aplenty The story behind the google results

I had a good reason for my faith in the company.

It works. We're happily proving that every day.

Kim Aliczi

Ready to sip, savor
and change your world?

Ready to find a wine guide?Ready to schedule your free wine tasting?

Thanks!

A Humble Restart

From penniless to grapes aplenty The story behind the google results

I had a good reason for my faith in the company.

It works. We're happily proving that every day.

Kim Aliczi

Ready to sip, savor and change your world?

Ready to find a wine guide?Ready to schedule your free wine tasting?

Thanks!

Ready to sip, savor
and change your world?