After years of strolling up & down wine aisles trying to look fancy & choosing wines based on which one had the cutest bottle, was in our price range & *hoping* it didn't taste like ass, and always being semi disappointed, we decided to do something about it. 

We've all been 18 and if you're in Australia that means Passion Pop & goon bags. Don't choke on your $5 turmeric latte - we know you. And we know you went through this coming of age tradition. Then you get older & suddenly ordering a vodka cranberry at Sunday lunch doesn't quite seem right... the adults (real adults, like your parents) keep suggesting sophisticated varietals (also wtf is a varietal) of vino til you cave & settle on a bearable but still semi friendly moscato. 

You drink moscato for the next few years before you realise... holy shit this stuff is sweet. It doesn't feel right to buy Passion Pop anymore cause... #adulting but also you have no f*cking clue what anything else is and all those labels look so damn scary & serious. Also... bills. So... it better be cheap. 

Enter Wine Not the Brand ®

Established because literally... wine not... 

Katharina Cser was over picking semi decent wine with boring or cheap looking labels. She wanted something that just... got her. WHY THE F*CK ARE THERE NO CUTE LABELS?! would run through her head every day she went to grab that week-end prep bottle. It almost felt wrong to be buying wine on a Tuesday, or when she knew it was just for her to sip on while preparing stats & reports for her business in a tshirt and no pants. She decided to build a brand that was for us. One that spoke to us millennials. Someone that understood us, encouraged us, cheered for us, helped us think positive but most of all... didn't make us feel bad. 

We spent the next 3 years running polls, doing research, testing wine (hard gig), scraping together funds to pay for grapes, bottles, labels, boxes (we partnered with the beautiful folk at Wangarang who employ people with disabilities for all our labels & boxes so know every bottle was lovingly wrapped for you), trademarks, attorneys, warehousing, transport (the list goes on for about ever...) and being totally f*cked over by the industry (seriously you do not want to approach a seasoned wine professional & ask them which is the most drinkable wine then refuse to spit after tasting). Every time we wanted to throw it in the f*ck-it-bucket it was YOU guys that kept us going, telling us this was too good of a brand to give up.

So here we are - Wine Not the Brand ®. In all our messy glory. Doing our f*cking best to bring you the best damn wine you've ever had that will make you feel GOOD. Because you are awesome. And we believe in you. In us. In our ability to have it all. To find the fun in life, work smarter, take care of our world, each other and most importantly - ourselves. It's all about balance.

Wine Not the Brand ® is a feel good brand. It is about bringing to light the conversations, feelings, habits and challenges we have and openly sharing & discussing them with each other... over a bottle of wine. We hope that the mini blogs on the back of our labels will inspire you to cheer for yourself, reach out to that friend, believe change is coming or just let your hair down & have fun. 

With such a negative stigma around drinking we felt it was time for a positive light in all the darkness. 

We hope that next time you feel down, our labels will give you a positive perspective on life & change your vibe so that your glass of wine becomes something that drives you to be better, do better & feel better, and not give up, instead of something you reach for when you've lost hope. 

If you have label ideas you can email us at hello@winenothebrand.com with the subject title LABEL IDEA. 

Katharina Cser (aka Kata) was tagged one too many times in wine related memes on Facebook, met a wine consultant on tinder, and decided f*ck it - and built a wine company.  Truly. The idea was built on paper serviettes, nights out, and an absolute naive assumption that this would be easy. Kata is a gen y taurus, hungarian, and younger sibling of two, who went to an all girls private school in Canberra, worked on average 3 jobs at any one time, and wanted to be a business psychologist when she grew up. Or a professional hip hop dancer. 

She entered the business world at the age of 21 after her father was diagnosed with cancer & she decided she needed a second income (outside of the HR public service job she had at the time) to be able to take care of him. She joined a network marketing business where she learned the basics of networking, business systems, client care, and the importance of branding, authenticity & human connection. Known for preferring bars to board rooms when conducting business, Kata built a reputation within her industry as a millennial to follow & one who never held back when she had something to say. 

A self professed authenticity ambassador, Kata has coached women over the last 8 years in human connection, business, communication, finding their "thing", and learning how to build a second income through online consumable sales. From 2015-2018 she openly shared her skills through her network marketing consulting company known for bringing womens inner badass to the surface & learning how to build in any company within network marketing without being weird and salesy. 

Unusually, Kata has absolutely no background in wine, except for drinking a sh*tload of it. She doesn't come from a wine making family, nor is she funded, mentored or guided by a history in wine. She doesn't own a vineyard, has no prior connections to wine making and is quite literally - us. Just a girl who got over not having her needs met, and deciding to do something about it. 

Admitting to learning on the job, Kata has been able to put this company together piece by piece through endless research, and often asking for help, suggestions & advice from her personal instagram & facebook following. This brand truly is a passion project - and has been moved forward day by day by a volunteer army of friends, supporters and incredible men and women all over the world that want to see Wine Not the Brand ® succeed. 

Kata's mission is to see Wine Not the Brand ® as the brand we all look to when we want to encourage fun, positivity, love, light & balance. A brand we can all relate to, all trust, and all want to share with the people we love most. Combining psychology with wine - a fun label to giggle at, and feel deeply understood at the same time. 

We're big believers in anything done with love is something done well.

When we learned about Wangarang, a not-for-profit Australian Disability Enterprise based in Orange who provide a range of jobs and training for more than 125 people with a disability, many of whom would otherwise be unable to work, we hauled our wine from Canberra to Orange and back - 3 times - to support this incredible community. 

We realise it may not be the loudest way we can contribute to this world but it's a start. Thank you to the team at Wangarang for labeling and boxing our first collection with such care. 

We hope this is the beginning of a beautiful long term relationship.

We highly recommend choosing Wangarang so check out their website & give the team a buzz with any questions!

With her wine-loving antics and witty repartee, we're obsessed.

Tash is a singer, improviser, cabaret performer, MC and….. balloon twister! Known for her ballsy voice, dynamic energy and an uncanny ability to rap on command, Tash “is a phenomenal performer, charismatic and courageous” - Theatre People.

But we love her because she too was ostracised for her love of wine, and she too, chooses bottles by the label and price. Hello soul sister.

Tash has performed to sold-out audiences at Perth Fringe World, Adelaide
Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, Melbourne Cabaret Festival, Ballarat Cabaret Festival, Brisbane Wonderland Festival and Melbourne International Comedy
Festival. As a guest entertainer with P&O Australia Tash also gets to perform
her own shows to audiences across the world.

And, lucky for us, the audiences in 2020 get to watch her drink Wine Not the Brand as we become her first ever wine sponsor - yaaaasss queen! 

With her matchless brand of comedy-cabaret and incredible vocals, Tash is badass and totally gets what it's like to try be an adult nowdays which she displays with her outrageous behaviour fuelled by a glass (or 10) of wine infused honesty.

"Tash is extremely captivating and will immerse you in her world" - Beat Magazine

“Mistress of Ceremonies, Tash York, had the requisite charm, strong voice and personality to get the audience excited” - Weekend Notes

“The universe doesn’t know it yet, but York really is one of the best cabaret artists in the business. One worthy of the biggest stages in the world.” - What Did She Think

"With a divine voice you could never tire of and a charismatic, commanding personality, York is a true talent audiences are lucky to experience" - Theatre People.

“York is one of Melbourne’s greatest cabaret artists.” – We Know Melbourne

Catch Tash on her WINEFULNESS tour (Perth & Adelaide)  in 2020, and tell her we sent you!

Here's what you can expect from our gal: ADULTING