All about the nose: wine startup raises $2 million

Banjo Harris Plane's palate and nose are highly sought after.

The former sommelier at top restaurant Attica and owner of Bar Liberty knows what he's talking about when it comes to wine and on Tuesday he secured $2 million in funding for his startup, The Wine Gallery.

The Wine Gallery hopes to take Harris Plane's skills to a broader audience by using technology to select wines tailored to customers tastes.

Harris Plane, 34 started the business with Tom Walenkamp, 33 and Humberto Moreira, 32 and the trio boot-strapped initially using about $70,000 in savings.

The Wine Gallery gives customers an initial wine palate quiz and then uses customer ratings and feedback to select wines tailored to customers' tastes.

"The whole basis of the mission of the company is opening up the world of wine to a broader section of the wine drinking market," Walenkamp says. "We want to be the largest pure play wine online retailer in the Australian market. We hope to achieve this vision by creating the very best experience we can by using technology in a way the industry hasn’t thought about." Read more
Cara Waters - Brisbane Times - 18 Sep 2018