The Why Of The 6000 Project
When people ask us how we are, we are quick to reply, “we are okay!” But frankly, dig a bit deeper, and you’ll find that no one is truly doing that well.
Five months into this Covid-19 world, while the wine trade is discussing “clean wine,” many smaller winemakers are trying to avoid the worst - bankruptcy. In our province of Treviso, Italy, local newspaper headlines forecast that almost 200 wineries will go bankrupt. Our aim is not to be among those 200.
I remember when we were into our 4th week of lockdown in late March. We were worried about the long-term economical and psychological effects of growing anxiety and uncertainty. Travels for wine tastings got all canceled, already booked tastings at the winery got canceled, global logistics took a hit as borders closed, and orders weren’t picked up due to lack of shipping containers. Emails after emails of only bad news, just like the one coming from a US importer who couldn’t take his previously placed order because his business was also going under with COVID.
In this entirely new situation, nobody knew what to do. I remember thinking that I wished my grandparents were alive so I could ask for their suggestions. They lived through WWII and the uncertain times that followed for decades to come. I longed to listen to their wisdom just once more. I would have asked them, “What should we do now?”
Small wineries don’t stand a chance when big-name importers try to beat down wines’ prices because they know there’s surplus. I was so desperate for something concrete.
After countless sleepless nights, it finally clicked. A rush of adrenaline ran through my body as I was walking up and down suckering the vines. And then I looked at our stock. I knew what to do. We did have something concrete. We had our wine.
The 6000 bottles of unlabeled Prosecco bottles sitting here at the winery, a pre-COVID order that got canceled during the lockdown, turned out to be the only sure thing we can count on right now. These bottles are physically here. And we need to sell them.
This was the starting point for The 6000 Project, a project we launched to try to get us through 2020 while creating space for creativity to shine. Because these bottles don’t have a front label, we saw an opportunity to do something different and start a creative competition to design a new limited-edition label for this year; a label that represents the hardness and harshness of 2020 but also the joys of kissing it goodbye.
This is what The 6000 Project is about. It’s the certainty of a small family-owned winery that is trying to avoid bankruptcy. It’s a creative outlet to keep us moving forward because creativity fuels innovation, which then feeds progress. None of this would be possible without the support and engagement of the creative world.
Incredible designers from around the world picked up the challenge, and we have received 74 artwork submissions that are now open to the public to vote. You can browse the brilliant designs in our Design Gallery. Which one will be featured on our limited edition 2020 Prosecco? We decided early that we are leaving it up to you! To cast your vote, you just need to register to receive the password a link to the page where you can cast your vote for the designs that you love.
Pre-orders are also open. For orders of two cases, shipping is for free to all countries in the EU, UK, and Switzerland. For the US, we can ship to 34 states, and we recommend group-buying 5 or 10 cases at which the price/bottle (shipping, and customs clearance included) is € 24 and €21 respectively – a fair price for vineyard-to-door delivery across the Atlantic. We also found that businesses are buying these bottles as their Christmas corporate gift. If you’re interested, please consider pre-ordering some of these limited-edition bottles on the Pre-Order Wine page.
We all need some comfort and joy instead of thinking of the pandemic, politics, the cracking economy, social unrest, and the impact of all of this on our kids. In addition to the crazy of them following classes from home. We like to think of giving this year a beautiful send-off with the idea of joyful moments with family and friends.
We don’t know how 2020 will end. But we know we will need bubbles to celebrate closing the door on it. We want to transform this unfortunate situation into one that represents happiness for many of us. That moment of joy is the end of 2020. We believe every single person in this world is looking forward to that moment, and we have the right bottles to pop for those who enjoy wine directly from a small producer.
Thank you for reading, for your support, and for your participation.
Reka & Pier
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A longer version was published on The Buyer on July 27, 2020