Vinomofo

Andre Eikmeier sums up the Vinomofo philosophy in a refreshingly direct way: “To get good wines to real people, without all the bowties and BS.”

The founders of the business, who previously launched Australia’s first and largest online wine community qwoff.com.au, offer a small selection of handpicked wines to members every day, for what are described as ‘mofo prices.’

Vinomofo has made a conscious effort to appeal to a broad demographic and bring wine out of the intimidating strata of hard-core buffs.

As it states on its website: “We’re big wine geeks, but poor. We like good wine, and we like a good deal. Figure you might feel the same.”

“And we like to have a bit of fun – it’s wine, after all, not banking.”

Eikmeier says that online retail has shaken up the wine industry, allowing produce to be offered at a much lower price – and without the pretension.

He adds, however, that the biggest challenge so far has been convincing suppliers that the new business would not hurt their brand.

How do they get around this? “Relationships. It’s all about relationships. Build them, nurture them.”