Hello California Winemakers!

We believe California wine means as much to Californians as Huntington Beach, the Golden Gate Bridge, Yosemite, Hollywood, redwood & sequoia trees, Disneyland, and our mountains and deserts... California wine is the home team. We hope that you can help us prove that.

It is the California Wine Exchange's mission to only sell 100% California wine. Whether you blend it, buy the grapes and make them yours, or if the wine is your baby from vine to glass...The California Wine Exchange wants to hear from you! Please see our "Commitments" to winemakers below.

The California Wine Exchange's mission is to be something more than just four walls and roof with fermented grape juice inside.

Without boring you, spouting off mission statements or company values, there is something important we are indeed trying to do.

We understand that some of you don't need restaurants & retail, nor outside sales to successfully run your business; and CWE doesn't have to have your particular wine to successfully run our business. Good for both of us. So what's to talk about?

We don't want you to let the California Wine Exchange sell your wine because "there is money to be made" - put that aside. We want you to let the California Wine Exchange sell your wine because YOUR wine has something to say about California... about your AVA... and about you as a winemaker. At CWE, we put tastings first - not bottle sales; so even just a case of something that you would normally sell only to a club member, in our venue, would act as a "force multiplier" to speak volumes about your wine, and your region... to new audiences.

Los Angeles and California will have the world's attention over the next couple of years, and we don't have to tell you that the wine industry in general could use a little audacity at this moment. Our location (511 W. 11th St., 90015) is just a block & a half from Crypto Arena and the Los Angeles Convention Center; people from all over the U.S. and the world will be among the foot traffic passing by our front door...

We would be honored if you would like to be a part of our efforts to illuminate a deeper understanding of what California wine is all about.

Please feel free to email us with any questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Mark & Bee Prior

Owners

The California Wine Exchange

Makes These Commitments

To California Winemakers...

The California Wine Exchange [CWE] will sell California wine ONLY.

Though not our intention to make a statement about our wine compared to that from around the world (enough was said in 1976), our business philosophy is to focus on the "home team." We will not sell French wine, nor Italian, no German, no Australian - no imported wine whatsoever!

Big or small, the important thing to us is that you are 100% Californian.

90% of our inventory will come from craft & artisan winemakers and family-run wineries.

Now nothing against those who shalt not be named here, but there is a generation of wine consumers who need to be educated that exceptional California wine is being produced by winemakers they never heard of - that great wine exists without a national marketing budget.

We want to educate wine consumers that, with over 6,000 winemakers in the Golden State alone, what they see on the shelves at the grocery store or Total Wine is just the "tip of the iceberg" when it comes what California offers.

We will provide you opportunities for you to meet with our guests.

We plan to have tastings everyday, based on varying themes including, but not limited to: Paso Cab vs Napa Cab, Women in Wine, Pinot Noir & Chardonnay, Winemakers of Color, Sonoma Coast vs St Rita Hills, and Bio-dynamics & Sustainablity.

Within these themed nights, we can provide an opportunity for you to come in either on your own and talk our guests through your portfolio... OR you can choose to take part in a panel discussion with a deus of your peers - comparing & contrasting characteristics of your AVA and your own philosophies in winemaking.

Through this type of educational programming, we're looking to create an exceptional wine tasting experience.

We will not discount your wine.

The California Wine Exchange will make every effort to sell your wine for at least what you price it yourselves to the general public. We will not attempt to generally sell it even at the price that you sell it to your members. We will not run a "sale" with your wine. We value your wine, and we want to show our guests the value of your wine.

If we put your wine on our shelves, you have our word that we will give it honest support. Aside from the need to "move" the last bottle or two for inventory purposes, please understand (and we believe everyone does) that not all wines can be all things to all people.

We do ask of winemakers... please do not put us in an awkward situation in which your wine is available at one of our nearby competitors, and that competitor is discounting your wine - then we'll discuss a plan with you accordingly.

Boutique & micro wineries matter to us.

We will make space and time available for smaller or exceptional rookie winemakers who need a hand, getting a little exposure - whenever possible.

We're just starting out ourselves...so we get it.

To incorporate a football analogy, we like to think about how legendary NFL quarterback Tom Brady was merely a 6th round pick in his draft class; and even then, he didn't get to play a professional football game until the quarterback in front of him was injured.

We're hoping to show off the next "Heidi Barrett" or "Paul Hobbs" before they even realize it themselves that they're that good.

Everyone is welcome to be on Wine TV!

Our plan is to have our TVs play a loop of HD video vignettes & photos of California vineyards, wine country, and the winemaking process - think MTV... back when it actually played music videos.

We invite ALL vintners & winemakers, free of charge, to upload a "private" video or slideshow to YouTube, and email us the link. Even if you are not selling us your wine, we know that our guests would love to see the beauty of your vineyard, winery, or watch your team during the winemaking process!

Though we will have several TVs throughout our location, and despite the fact we are just a block & a half from where the Lakers play...we will NOT be showing any sports on our TV sets! So from open to close inside the California Wine Exchange, we will be broadcasting nothing but wine country.

Just remember to credit your video or slideshow in the bottom left corner of the video - just like MTV used to do.

By the time our guests walk out our doors, we want them to be planning in their minds their next visit to wine country... perhaps in your corner of the Golden State!