Actress and wellness author Cameron Diaz is so health conscious that she knows every ingredient in everything she puts in and on her body. Or so she thought. One day, while drinking wine in her backyard with entrepreneur Katherine Power (of Who What Wear and Versed Skincare fame), the women realized that they had never thought to question what wines are made of.
Their journey to answer this question began in April 2018, as they immersed themselves into the wine world to learn everything they could about the industry: from farming to winemaking to distribution and retail. Diaz found it an eye-opening learning experience. “I enjoyed wine for many-a-year and never questioned it,” she says. “Not once. I actually figured it was the most responsible alcohol choice because it was made with fermented grapes! But I had no idea of the process. One of the first conversations Katherine and I had about making a cleaner wine was ‘what are we going to add to it?’ We soon learned it wasn't what you added, it's what you didn't add.”
It inspired them to launch Avaline and release their own white and rosé wines: clean, delicious, vegan-friendly, made with organic grapes and free of common additives like sugars, colors and concentrates. With ingredients and nutritional values clearly listed on each Avaline label, the co-founders bring a new standard of transparency to the wine industry.
“We learned most wine is not made with organic grapes and that it can be manipulated with over 70 additives,” says Power. “This completely changed the way we thought about it. When we started asking for clean or organic wines in grocery stores, hotels and restaurants, all we got were eye-rolls. One of our main goals is to increase the prevalence of clean wine in the market, making it available where our consumer is already shopping.”
First, Power and Diaz decided on the styles of wine they both enjoyed and wanted to make: a crisp and clean rosé and a mineral-driven, dry white. After research, they identified winemakers in France and Spain who owned vineyards and could produce these styles organically at the scale necessary for Avaline to make clean wine widely accessible. All of Avaline’s grapes are grown with low-to-no irrigation in certified-organic vineyards, to ensure that they’re farmed without chemical pesticides. During production, Avaline’s winemakers use as few ingredients as possible.
“We’re on a mission to raise the standard of what goes into a bottle so you can enjoy a glass of Avaline without thinking twice,” says Diaz. “When we know what’s in our glass, we can let the wine work its magic -- transforming meals, sparking love, and bringing us closer to those we care about.”
