Grape Witches and U!
Making Pop-Up Natural Wine Bottle Shop Dreams Come True. Real life BFFs Krysta Oben and Nicole Campbell are the Grape Witches, and they have made it their mission to help people discover and learn more about natural and low intervention wine. Not only are they knowledgeable, but they talk and write about wine in a way that is relatable, honest, easy to understand, and fun. Their Instagram posts are informative and entertaining (they bring geotagging to a whole new level) and are often filled with great wine recommendations (#lcboandu). They recently celebrated their third anniversary and are hosting a Wedding Party on November 30 to celebrate. But wait! There’s more! They are also hosting a holiday pop-up Bottle Shop at Milk Glass (1247 Dundas St. West) from Tuesday, December 3rd to Sunday, December 8th, open from 12pm to 12am, featuring some of their favourite things including books, corkscrews, Zaltos (“the Olympic gymnasts of wine glasses”), and of course wine! There will be a rotating selection of wines from many of their favourite wine agents to taste, drink, and buy by the case.
Q&A with Nicole Campbell. My introduction to the Grape Witches was in February 2018 when I was hoping to have a natural wine tasting for my birthday. Nicole enthusiastically replied to my email, and a few months later she and Krysta made my bday dreams come true with a tasting of many nice wines and the stories behind each of them. I chatted with Nicole about what the Grape Witches are doing to help make it easier to find great wine, their upcoming natural wine bottle shop, and how the landscape of wine has shifted in Toronto.
How did you get into natural wine? I started working with well made, family-owned classic wines from around the world, eventually selling them to great restaurants across Canada with Lifford. Increasingly, I came to fall in love with the more weird and interesting parts of the portfolio. The more I learned and tasted, the more I gravitated to the energy that biodynamic wines seem to have. Through great festivals like RAW and La Dive, I got to taste and fall in love with producers like Gut Oggau, Frank Cornelissen, and Weingut Brand. I really came to embrace smaller, more ethically made things in my day to day life, like buying longer-lasting clothes and good groceries, and I knew like-minded people doing the same would love to know there is this same choice to be made in wine. It felt like a natural extension of this broader movement to consume more thoughtfully and support smaller, better-made suppliers when possible, but also because it tastes better.
Why did you and Krysta decide to organize a pop-up Bottle Shop? In every city we go, the natural wine store is one of our first stops. Great shops like Domaine LA, Kingston Wine Co., or more locally Kitsilano or Liberty in Vancouver, Vine Arts in Calgary, and Bishop's in Halifax are full of treasures we know and discover through the help of their knowledgable staff. If we could have a full time natural wine store in Toronto we would do it in a second! For now, we are delighted to open for a week at Milk Glass. We will have a rotating list of 30 natural wines from a big range of great agents available to see, try, buy a case of for home, or enjoy by the tasting pour, glass or bottle in store. All of our staff for the event are incredibly knowledgeable female somms we love like Adrienne Friesen, Lindsey King, Christina Veira, and Lauren Ho. All wine case prices will be the agent's wholesale price aka the price that restaurants also pay (Ontario is the only province where regular consumers can buy directly from agents at wholesale prices). Often at our parties the wines we feature can be out of stock by the time we host, but this will be our first party where literally everything is available for delivery or pick up as early as next day.
Can you tell us about some of the wines and agents you'll be featuring? We are stocking the shop with sparkling, white, rosé, orange, and red wines - all in stock and available to buy in store by the sip, glass or bottle, or to take home by the case. We are working with a huge range of our favourite agents to get the absolute most interesting wines including Cosecha, Le Sommelier, Context, Groupe Soleil, Le Caviste, Nicholas Pearce, Lifford, All The Right Grapes, Drink Better, and The Living Vine. We also adore some of the small agencies like newly launched Genuwine, but wanted to make sure there was enough wine in consignment stock for consumers to taste and also buy.
What are some of the changes you've noticed in Toronto's natural wine scene since the Grape Witches launched three years ago? It is hard to believe how different the wine scene has become! When we started it was really tough to find the wines we loved by the glass with some notable exceptions like Archive and Midfield. Today, the landscape of wine in Toronto has hugely shifted. Way more small producers we love are available and way more restaurants have great, experimental lists. Krysta opened Paris Paris and that helped change the landscape with over 20 great wines always by the glass and a huge bottle list half price in the day Monday to Thursday. There has been a huge influx of new spots since then and it seems more everyday. And we love seeing great bars like Two Faces in Guelph pop up, and more interesting Ontario producers come on the scene, plus great classic producers taking more chances (s/o Rosewood, Trail Estate and Hinterland).
I'm excited about the Grape Witches shelf talkers for the 49 Spadina Ave. LCBO location! Tell me more! Kari [the product consultant who is spearheading a test program to bring in more natural wines to that store] is a super cool woman we greatly admire who is bringing in consignment wine that is normally only available by the case. We're delighted to support her and this store in particular has really changed the game. We joked about putting a GW approved sticker to let people know which wines were natural producers that we loved, and to our surprise they said 'heck yes!'. We aren't affiliated with the LCBO, but we are excited to do this as a service to help people connect with producers we love and hopefully make the case for more of them in more stores. We are just designing and printing our stickers and will pop by next week to sticker up every bottle we would love to drink!
Thanks to Nicole for taking the time to answer my questions, and to the Grape Witches for helping make wine more approachable and funsies! If you’re looking for me from December 3-8, I’ll obviously be at their shop. Will you?