When Bump Cellars left its tasting room in downtown Sonoma earlier this year, Aaron Brown and Dan Marioni immediately jumped at the opportunity to lease the space.
Although rents on the city’s historic square have skyrocketed in recent years — up about 300 percent since 2012, according to the Sonoma Chamber of Commerce — small wine and cider producers had a plan.
“Sonoma is very cost-intensive, and small winemakers can’t afford to pay $10,000 a month to have a presence on the square,” said Brown, co-founder of the city’s Bardos Cider. “Instead of pointing fingers or feeling sorry for ourselves, we realized we had to think differently. We had to band together.”
This month, Brown, Marioni and winemaker Caleb Zielke opened Dos’ Bar, a communal tasting room for like-minded natural winemakers.
Although the City of Sonoma passed an ordinance in 2019 limiting the number of wine tasting establishments and wine bars in Sonoma Plaza to 25, Dos’ Bar’s seven residents count as one unit.
In addition to Marioni Wine and Caleb Leisure (not affiliated with Zielke), Dos’ Fres. Co will host North American Press, Las Vivas, Isa Wines and Etteilla Wines.
Marioni, a fifth-generation Sonoma winery owner, said the high cost of renting space at Sonoma Paza could pose “extreme risk” for a small winery.
He sees Dos’ Bar as an opportunity to reduce this burden while also providing business oversight.
“Without an independent manager, shared tasting rooms can cause tension between wineries and unnecessarily complicate operations. They can also be confusing for customers,” Marioni said. “At Dos’ Bar, we manage the space, the staff and the business. The wineries just have to pay their share of rent and management fees.”
Marioni believes tasting rooms are “essential” for small wineries that want to survive. Most do not have a winery where they can receive visitors, and selling wine online can be “precarious and time-consuming.”
“Over the last four years, our cost to produce a bottle of wine has almost doubled, while the profit margin on our distribution sales has dropped to virtually zero,” Marioni said. “Direct-to-consumer sales, such as our wine club, have become crucial, so having our own store to build that club and increase presence is invaluable.”
For many small wineries, wine clubs can be a lifeline for survival, providing guaranteed revenue several times a year. Unlike selling wine through distributors who pocket a portion of the profits, revenue from direct-to-consumer sales through wine clubs, the tasting room and the winery’s website goes directly to the winery.
For Jack Sporer, owner of Fres. Co Winery and Magnolia Wine Services in Sonoma, the decision to join Dos’ Bar was a no-brainer.
“I will probably make two to three times more selling my wine at Dos’ Bar than I would at wholesale or restaurants,” Sporer said. “Plus, I would never have the time to run a tasting room on my own. My wine or my relationships would suffer. This is a great way to get the benefits of a tasting room without risking too much.”
Sporer, whose income also depends heavily on his wine club, hopes Dos’ Bar will help increase awareness of his brand.
“I can’t stress enough how important it is to get my brand in front of people – and give them access to me,” he said. “Having a permanent place where people can find your wines and join your wine club is hugely important.”
Sporer adds that he might not feel comfortable sharing a tasting room with multiple wineries if he wasn’t so closely connected to the other winemakers.
“There’s a lot of trust involved in this particular business – you don’t want to show any favoritism to anyone,” he said. “But we all have a lot of respect for each other. It’s more about having fun and enjoying yourself with the people you love.”
Reach staff writer Sarah Doyle at 707-521-5478 or [email protected]. Follow Sarah on Instagram at @whiskymuse.
