Local Flavor: Mom Juice Wine

Mom Juice Wine co-founder Macie Mincey’s career began like many good Charlotte success stories. She worked for Wells Fargo for nine years, first in retail banking, then in business banking, before she made the leap to entrepreneurship. Her financial background certainly helped as she launched her own company, but another realization from her banking days inspired her foray into winemaking: She was intimidated by wine. Whenever she attended business dinners or entertained clients, she wasn’t sure what to order.

“I wasn’t taught about wine, so I ordered malbec every time,” Mincey says. “I wouldn’t try anything else. It’s why I wanted to bring a different buyer to the table in the winemaking process. I am our consumer.”

Today, the 32-year-old has an 11-month-old daughter and is stepmother to 17-year-old boy/girl twins and a 21-year-old son. “Being a mom, it was important to have ingredient transparency. People have to know what they’re putting in their body,” she says. “We wanted to be the better-for-you wine, and you can’t do that if you don’t control the winemaking process.”

Mincey and her Denver, Colorado-based business partner, Kristin Taylor, began developing Mom Juice as the pandemic hit, so they did a lot of taste-testing over Zoom with winemakers in Napa. Once travel restrictions lifted, they made several trips to Northern California to learn even more.

Co-founders Kristin Taylor and Macie Mincey

“We wanted our wine to have just eight ingredients, as opposed to, like, 50,” Mincey says. “We started learning about chemicals approved to be in wine, and the list is loooooong. Did you know a lot of wines use fish bladder?” (I call a timeout to Google this, and it’s true:  Isinglass, derived from fish bladders, is primarily used to improve the color and clarity of white wines.) “The way around that is to use tartar. It just costs a tiny bit more to not use fish bladder. But it does make you wonder, How much wine have I been drinking with that?” 

Mincey and Taylor surveyed 3,500 moms to learn that their target customers wanted their vino to have less sugar, fun labels, and a price point between $20 and $25. Their first varietal was a pinot grigio, but they found the 16% ABV a bit too high. So they surveyed the market again and replaced it with a lower-ABV sauvignon blanc. For customers who wanted sweet wine, they developed a strawberry-forward rosé. “It tricks the mind into thinking it’s getting something relatively sweet,” Mincey says. “It’s also a good intro into the wine world when all they were drinking was rosé or riesling.”

They did some more market research and learned moms make 85% of household purchases, yet many products (like wine) are prominently displayed for this demographic only around Mother’s Day. Mincey and Taylor wanted to change that. They also saw another group that the wine industry seemed to be missing: millennials and Gen Z.

It’s why their brand is cheeky and relatable to moms. Their website includes “bougie talking points” for each bottle and tasting notes like, “Pairs well with popcorn and hidden bedside table candy bars.” They’ve also got the Sip Sumthin’ Blog with stories about “Getting Lit in North Coast California’s Wine Country.”

This leads us to an inevitable question: With the name “Mom Juice,” does Mincey ever worry about perpetuating a toxic “mommy wine culture”? “In no way do we promote irresponsible drinking,” she says. “Do you ever hear anyone telling dads not to have a beer? My husband has a beer while he walks around with the baby carrier, and nobody says a thing.” She says they get asked all the time if they’ll do a Dad Juice, and the answer is a hard no. “This is just for us. We’re at a time when moms really deserve something special just for themselves.”

Their next rollout is a nonalcoholic label for pregnant moms—or anyone who doesn’t want a buzz with every glass. “We want to serve all the moms who want to drink wine on a Tuesday. It’s important to service the full cycle of motherhood,” she says. “Just because you’re pregnant or nursing doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be invited to wine night.”

In March, Mom Juice Wine launched in Target stores across North Carolina and Colorado. In Charlotte, it’s available in a number of bottle shops, as well as Rhino Market & Deli, the Kimpton Tryon Park Hotel, and Angeline’s.

Mincey and Taylor continue to develop new varietals, too. “Our new red blend is my favorite—I have to send myself an invoice,” Mincey laughs. “I am that Tuesday-night wine drinker. I don’t need a special occasion to celebrate all of the hats I wear at home. That’s true Mom Juice fashion. It pairs well with whatever’s left on your child’s plate.”

TAYLOR BOWLER is the lifestyle editor.