Last Updated on May 27, 2026 by nimbletoad

Kristin Harris, the co-founder and winemaker of Cote of Paint. She is redefining how modern audiences connect with wine by blending gaming culture, digital communities, and creative storytelling. Moving beyond traditional wine marketing, their approach focuses on authenticity, subcultures, and community-driven experiences, positioning Cote of Paint as a forward-looking brand in the evolving wine industry.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• Kristin shares her unconventional path into wine and the story behind Cote of Paint
• Why traditional wine marketing no longer connects with today’s consumers
• What building a successful wine brand in 2026 really requires
• How niche positioning and digital strategy unlock new wine audiences
• Why experience-driven brands outperform product-focused ones
• The biggest mistake in direct-to-consumer wine sales
• How tasting rooms are being reinvented for modern consumers
• What the future of wine looks like through subcultures and brand diversity

In this episode with Kristin Harris

In this episode of Legends Behind the Craft, Drew Thomas Hendricks sits down with Kristin Harris, co-founder of Cote of Paint, to explore how gaming culture, storytelling, and community-driven branding are reshaping the wine industry. Kristin breaks down why traditional wine marketing and legacy messaging no longer work, and what modern wine brands must do to connect with today’s audiences.

From niche positioning and DTC wine strategy to reinventing tasting rooms and building experience-first brands, this conversation dives into the future of wine branding in 2026. A must-listen for anyone interested in wine marketing, brand storytelling, and the evolution of the wine industry.

Resources Mentioned in this episode

• Drew Thomas Hendricks on LinkedIn
• Barrels Ahead
• Kristin Harris Luis on LinkedIn
• Cote of Paint
• Cote of Paint Wine
• Benny Boy Brewing
• Blood Of Gods Annual Merrymaking
• Female Founders Night
• Final Girl Wine
• Tank Garage Winery
• Caduceus Cellars & Merkin Vineyards
• Foxen Vineyard

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Barrels Ahead.

Barrels Ahead is a wine and craft marketing agency that propels organic growth by using a powerful combination of content development, Search Engine Optimization, and paid search.

At Barrels Ahead, we know that your business is unique. That’s why we work with you to create a one-of-a-kind marketing strategy that highlights your authenticity, tells your story, and makes your business stand out from your competitors.

Our team at Barrels Ahead helps you leverage your knowledge so you can enjoy the results and revenue your business deserves.

So, what are you waiting for? Unlock your results today!

To learn more, visit barrelsahead.com or email us at hello@barrelsahead.com to schedule a strategy call.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:16] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Welcome to the latest episode of Legends Behind The Craft. I am Drew Hendricks, and today we have a really special guest on the show. Kristin Harris is here. She’s the founder, maker and rule breaker behind Cote of Paint, which is an indie wine brand.

It’s built around community play and bringing wine back to its social roots. It was inspired by game nights, highbrow, low bowel dinner tables, and indie creatives. Her mission is simple. Have fun, drink great wine, and level up your wine game. Welcome to the show, Kristen.

[00:00:48] Kristin Harris: Thank you for having me.

[00:00:50] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So, Kristen, I can tell right from the first part of your website, you’ve got the pinball machine and you’ve got a wine bottle on the cup holder. I mean that.

I can’t think of a clearer brand expression. Why don’t you tell the listeners a little bit about yourself, a little bit about the motivation for the brand? Yeah. And what sets you apart?

[00:01:06] Kristin Harris: Yeah, so I grew up playing video games. I was the only girl in my family for a while, and so all the boys were a little bit older, and so I was just, if I wanted to socialize, I had to kind of sometimes do what they were doing, which at the time, Sega was out.

Nintendo NES was out. All those games were, were a thing. And so, I just, I, I partook and I always had a blast whether or not I was just watching or playing and, you know, I was, I got into wine just kind of by chance. I was supposed to go to medical school and then just fell in love with a part-time job, which turned into full-time and really it just became, and that was in 2015 and then kind of, I started making the first vintage of wine was in 2018 and then come 2020 in Santa Barbara County.

You know, being a person of color, woman, black woman specifically, and, and just 2020 felt like, kind of an oh shit moment of I suddenly felt like I was, because I went into the wine industry being, I had, I came in kind of going, this is great. I was a little bit naive. I had no idea how to sell wine, wine culture.

I had no frame of reference for any of it. So I came in really blind to understanding what was kind of, you know, the target audiences and the demographic, and starting to finally notice over years that the, I didn’t necessarily feel like I was the target audience essentially. So when 2020 hit, just kind of reevaluating, okay, how do I show up with this wine that I’m making? And I was, I felt pressured to go the more traditional route of selling it based off of terroir, AVA, all of that, which is great. And I, you know, it’s, those are great talking points, but I was noticing then that culture shift with consumers.

That it just, it wasn’t hitting the same way. It wasn’t landing, it wasn’t landing with especially some of the younger, the younger audiences they were. And, and so I really just kind of said, “Well, what, how do I even wanna show up with my wine brand? What feels comfortable for me?” Because I didn’t necessarily feel like playing the same game, so to speak.

It just wasn’t as even creatively interesting. And so, I started Cote of Paint in terms of, I just said, I wanna throw a Cote of Paint onto the industry, and that’s where the name came from. And then I just said, “Well, let’s just, you know, let’s just lean into the cheeky and have a paint can as a logo.” And the paint can is inspired by an indie video game.

And I just, you know, I still was a little hesitant to go to lean fully into it until probably about a couple years ago. And after I had that first, that wine event at the arcade in peasants DELI and arcade in Solvang, and I just went, this is, this is the brand. This is it.

[00:04:19] Drew Thomas Hendricks: When you first started, you were, you said you were afraid to lean into the

[00:04:22] Kristin Harris: Mm-hmm.

[00:04:22] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Branding Cote of Paint. What was your initial direction?

[00:04:26] Kristin Harris: It was just leaning, the messaging specifically was trying to lean into, you know, how the vines were farmed and, and and the kind of waxing poetic nature of, of the wine industry. And it kind of that inclination to be accepted by the industry.

Like, I think to some extent there’s a disconnect because we wanna, we wanna talk to kind of anybody and everybody, but sometimes I feel like brands are just really talking to other brands or other industry folk. And so I just, I really was, I started off doing that, with that kind of similar messaging and it just wasn’t inspiring.

I found it. It was, I just found it a little boring.

[00:05:13] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah.

[00:05:13] Kristin Harris: And I, I already stand out and, yeah.

[00:05:16] Drew Thomas Hendricks: That playbook’s been played. I don’t know if it’s played out, but it’s that playbook is the tried and true playbook. And you still keep homage to that. I mean, I love the play on words for those people that are listening and not viewing.

Cote of paint is spelled COTE, which is like a reference to the hillsides in, in France.

[00:05:34] Kristin Harris: Right. The brand was always meant to be even the kind of the bottle aesthetics. Which I have a bottle here, but it’s, you know, the bottle aesthetics were kind of meant to be a modernized version of, just kind of what was of, kind of the traditional wine labels.

[00:05:54] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah.

[00:05:55] Kristin Harris: Maybe brighter colors, small, tiny, fine print that you don’t kind of know necessarily what it means. And then. But just kind of adding a little bit more vibrancy to it.

[00:06:03] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh, sure.

[00:06:03] Kristin Harris: So that was really the, yeah. And definitely an homage to old, but kind of bringing it into the modern world.

[00:06:09] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Can definitely see it.

I love it. So evolving from like the tried and true playbook and years have gone by. What does it mean to build a wine brand in 2026? Now that you’ve kind of learned where you were and know where you’re going.

[00:06:23] Kristin Harris: I think it’s really about the origin story.

And whether the origin story and how it connects with a community.

[00:06:34] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Hmm.

[00:06:35] Kristin Harris: That’s really what I think building a brand in 2026. It’s not necessarily about Appalachian or land ownership. Which almost feels like a slap in the face, especially if you’re trying to sell to younger audiences. Land ownership is kind of not in anyone’s mind in terms of, you know, that was kind of the, the boomer and older generation, that was their, that was their dream,and that we don’t necessarily, the younger generations don’t necessarily share that same dream. So how do you, a new, a brand now kind of needs to speak to what is relatable for, kind of the newer audience that’s, that should be ushered in to wine.

[00:07:17] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Sure, sure. No, that makes a lot of sense. I mean, got, selling the experience, selling the, selling the lifestyle.

How are you going about positioning that and where is your, where are you finding your sweet spot? I mean, we, we know we know gaming, and we already described that, but there’s,

[00:07:32] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:07:33] Drew Thomas Hendricks: There’s a way. There’s a ways to do it right. And you’re doing it right.

[00:07:36] Kristin Harris: Yeah, definitely.

It’s just, it’s I, because it’s so niche. I do, you know, feel like sometimes I am maybe shooting myself in the foot because it does take a little bit more work in terms of finding placements and all of that. But it’s definitely just trying to go where the consumers are. It’s, it’s gonna take a lot of digital marketing efforts too to kind of even get the brands seen, across the swath of the internet in the right, in, on the right in, you know, in the right laptops and phones. And it’s the events and things like that, that I wanna do, need to be in those more casual environments where people are just kind of naturally already socializing.

And, you know, there’s a lot of, I just recently relocated to Seattle and I think they do a great job of, in terms of bars and experiences where there’s already, there’s a lot of board games, there’s a lot of, there’s, you can find places where there’s pinball machines. You can find, you know, it’s not necessarily marketed as an arcade.

But the environment is meant to take the pressure off of it being a wine bar per se. So it’s places like that. And also just being strategic about partnerships and things like that. I, once, I’m actually in the middle of rebuilding my website to be a little bit more, a little bit more expressive. And so there’s even gonna be a little video game, attached to it. So that will even kind of help with those, of getting those partnerships and things like that. So.

[00:09:07] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Intrigued. Can you give us a sneak of what this video game?

[00:09:11] Kristin Harris: No, we’re, so it’s in like the early draft of top secret.

Yeah. It’s not a, it’s not a revolutionary game. It’s very, it’s gonna be very similar to what has been, what has, what we’ve kind of are familiar with in terms of little tabletop games, so.

[00:09:27] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh, no, I think that’s be great. Yeah, that’s, yeah. I mean, having marketed wine and, you know, the Santa Barbara area, LA area…

How do you see these demographics is different? You already mentioned about the, the culture within these wine bars.

Where are you finding success as far as like reaching your audiences?

[00:09:46] Kristin Harris: Yeah, I, because the brand is so disruptive in nature and kind of, and niche. It actually really thrives in non-traditional wine markets.

So, I can’t necessarily, I don’t think that showing up to, you know, Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara County, things like that to try to sell are, it’s not gonna land in the same way. And so I found that Seattle has been great.LA, there’s some spots in LA that have been, that have been great, even kind of fine dining restaurants that are kind of disruptive within their own little, kind of establishment.

They like co they like bringing in Cote of Paint. I was just recently out in Boston for an event and that the consumers are there as well. They were completely, I played Uno.

[00:10:37] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh, wow.

[00:10:37] Kristin Harris: At my wine table, I just had Uno. I said, “If you wanna taste some wine and you wanna play a hand, go ahead.” And it was, it was a hit. People loved it. And so I think just going to places where wine culture isn’t kind of, it doesn’t already have like its kind of claws in is where Paint’s really gonna thrive.

[00:10:56] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I see the, the going forward with the wine industry, maybe even taking a, a cue from the beer industry.

[00:11:02] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:11:02] Drew Thomas Hendricks: There so many breweries, especially down where I am in Carlsbad. They must have 42 different breweries.

[00:11:08] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:11:09] Drew Thomas Hendricks: 1 78. And they’re all selling IPA, they’re all selling the same. I mean, I,

[00:11:14] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:11:14] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I’m giving ’em too little credit, but they’re all selling the same IPA. Differences. And the only ones that are succeeding are the ones that have built a subculture around that beer.

And people go there, yes, to drink the beer. Yes. ’cause they like the beer, but they’re not going there because it’s an award winning beer. They’re going there for the experience.

[00:11:32] Kristin Harris: Yeah, exactly.

[00:11:33] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Where you go to like a wine tasting room. Especially in Napa, a lot of them all look the same. They look like the owner’s vision of what they think a winery was like.

[00:11:43] Kristin Harris: Right, exactly. Yeah. And so, yeah, I love, I do drink beer and that was, I, I genuinely love kind of the beer experience and just the, the marketing and the playfulness and the puns. I mean, it’s just, it’s so fun to see what beer culture comes up with, it’s kind of endless. And that’s what I, that’s what I envision. That’s how, at least I want to, how I want to do wine is just kind of this endless kind of opportunity to just have fun.

[00:12:14] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Let’s talk about what, I mean, we kind of mentioned it about just relying on the age old playbook, but I mean it, as far as reinventing DTC, we know that, I mean we spent all last year talking about how people aren’t drinking as much, and we’re you know, at all the symposium and all the conferences, everybody was just kind of cry, crying in their glass about how we’re losing. Yeah. Whereas this year is a little more upbeat ’cause people are trying to find different reasons or different ways to do it. What do you think the wineries or just in general, are still getting wrong about direct to consumer marketing?

[00:12:45] Kristin Harris: I think it’s a, a, a fear of being creative.

Or thinking outside the box. It’s, there’s still, I mean, like I said, I kind of fell into that trap when I first launched the brand because it, it, there’s this underlying current of, well, it’s not the industry standard. It’s not what’s been done.

It’s not what’s being currently done. It’s not how it’s been done. And so I think that there’s just a, a fear of doing something different and not having the industry. The support of the industry. And I think the mindset for me, what shifted was kind of going, “Okay, I have to really just focus on getting the consumer support, not the industries.”

Because that’s who’s, you know, really buying the wine. It’s not that I, it, of course it would be great to be loved and adored by your peers. I, you know. But it’s, I know that what the brand is, is speaking to a very different audience. And so I think it’s just really, I think brands are just a, still a little too afraid to kind of still play within the same, they’re trying to be creative within the same, the confines of this. Of existing culture and I just, I think you have to go outside of it.

[00:14:03] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I completely agree. I mean, if you try to do something halfway, you might as well just not do it.

[00:14:08] Kristin Harris: Right.

[00:14:08] Drew Thomas Hendricks: We’ll just stay in that pure play lane. Yeah. I mean, and those that try to do the experiences, you can’t, people will see right through a half thought out experience.

I mean, they’ll just see if it’s just your trying too hard.

[00:14:22] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:14:22] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So talking about experiences, and I know, you know, you’re, you’re growing your brand and this is a conversation I have a lot about what I think wineries are doing wrong and that they’re not catering to the, I mean, and these are for wineries that have tasting rooms and they have, they’re trying to really promote their, their wine clubs and their tastings and in-person direct to consumer sales. And this is something that I think a lot of the breweries are getting right, because people only have a limited amount of free time.

And, and when they do have free time, they want, they do it with a group and they do it with their families. And not everyone really enjoys sitting down with six little sips of wine and

[00:14:59] Kristin Harris: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:59] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Have that be the afternoon. Right. And the winery, most wineries don’t cater to that larger group. What about the people that come in that kind of like wine, but just want to hang out? Or what about people that maybe don’t drink wine and want to hang out? Right. So a lot of these wine drinkers, they either reserve that experience for when it’s just themselves, or they, choose a different venue that’s more group appropriate and more evolved.

[00:15:26] Kristin Harris: I mean, there’s times where I, you know, I, in my head, I, I wanna go wine tasting, but at the same time, I don’t want to feel the rigidity of kind of getting, getting the tiny pores or having to sit and listen to, you know, I wanna hear about the wine and how it was made and, you know, but it also doesn’t need to be, I don’t wanna be inundated with the monologue.

And I think a lot of tasting rooms are still leaning into that. And I think, I guess what I, my personal experience, like I said, when I got into wine, I didn’t know how to sell it. I didn’t know what wine culture was like. I just kind of was winging it. And so when I was working in the tasting room, I was just really taking the opportunity to connect with people and I didn’t know, I had really no technique.

It evolved as kind of over time and kind of how to kind of weave in the brand story, but also making it about their experience. And it was just, it took years of just kind of trial and error. “Oh crap. I shouldn’t have said that. That didn’t really work or land as well.” And it was just being a little bit more thoughtful and intentional about how I showed up in the tasting room.

And what kind of experience that I was providing them. It felt like I, I know that the consumers that, you know, would, that would come back. The frequent kind of customer, they always just felt like we knew, you know, we knew their name. They knew it was, we knew what wine they liked. It was, it felt like kind of their cheers spot.

So I think that people want someplace that feels familiar, that feels like they can come and bring, you know, their whole squad. And not have to, you know, feel the pressure to have to go through this whole educational experience.

[00:17:10] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I love it. Feel like you’re in your, your cheers, bar.

I mean, you want to go where people, you feel comfortable. You feel. And I guess there’s, there’s different versions. That’s one of the reasons why I have such a hard time going to Napa. You really can’t get food in any of the wineries. And you can’t get a glass of wine. I mean, that kind of makes it a very rigid, a very rigid day.

You could plan a really nice lunch but if you’re not in that core, like education and you’re not really trying to, like, sometimes you just wanna go wine tasting and not evaluate everything to, to the very smallest detail. You just wanna, you just wanna drink it.

[00:17:46] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:17:47] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So that’s why we tend to gravitate more towards Santa Barbara or Paso.

When we’re going out with our large, with our friends in our groups and we have like a, you know weekend getaway.

[00:17:57] Kristin Harris: Yeah. I think Tank Garage is doing a great job. I think they’re in Callisto. Yeah. They do a great job all the time with their marketing. Yeah. People are definitely starting to do it.

It’s not, you know, I, I don’t necessarily wanna go on any interview and make it sound like, because I’m choosing to kind of lean into the cheekiness and, and video or, you know, gaming culture thing that I’m toting, that I’m doing the most disruptive thing that’s ever been done in wine. I certainly do not want to, I’m not claiming that in any way.

There’s definitely brands that are doing it well and that, that, yeah, like to your point too, that that Santa Barbara County and certain regions, they feel a little bit more welcoming to those more casual environments.

[00:18:43] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I don’t remember the name. I was up there, it was about a year ago in, in Solvang.

There’s one winery. It’s like, almost they, they play like heavy metal and punk rock. It’s right, right on the main drag there. Everything’s black. Everything’s like goth. I can think of one winery. I,

[00:18:59] Kristin Harris: Is it woman owned?

[00:19:00] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I don’t remember. We popped in and I was completely surprised. I hadn’t seen anything quite as unique.

[00:19:07] Kristin Harris: I know that there’s,

[00:19:09] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Right on the, on the east side of town.

[00:19:11] Kristin Harris: There’s Final Girl Wine. I think she’s in Final Girl Wine. She’s in Solvang and she is got a little, I don’t know if, I don’t know if it’s metal and punk, but she’s kinda inspired by the horror and so it’s a little bit darker. And it’s Gloomier.

[00:19:23] Drew Thomas Hendricks: That’s the one.

[00:19:23] Kristin Harris: Yeah. Yeah. It’s Final Girl Wines. Yeah.

[00:19:25] Drew Thomas Hendricks: When we, we were in, it was like all death metal.

[00:19:29] Kristin Harris: Yeah. Love it.

[00:19:31] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I mean, this is fantastic. That’s a good example by pushing the edge. Right? So now if you could like, close your eyes, blink and you disrupted the wine industry, what would we be seeing?

You changed the entire wine industry. It’s now following this vision.

[00:19:48] Kristin Harris: I think that’s so hard to tell. It’s so, it’s.

[00:19:54] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I threw you a loop there.

[00:19:56] Kristin Harris: Huh?

[00:19:57] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I threw you a loop on that one.

[00:19:58] Kristin Harris: I know.

[00:19:59] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I mean, is it, does it, is it, is it breaking down the wine industry into all these subcultures where everybody just finds their place? Or is it bringing, democratization across the wine industry so it seems accessible or a hybrid of both?

[00:20:13] Kristin Harris: I think probably a little bit of both, but I actually, I think what would be nice to see is, you know, I don’t think we need to throw the baby out with the bath water kind of a thing. I don’t think we need to nuke every single, you know, tasting room that, or, or a, you know, winery that likes to lean into their Appalachian and terroir and things like that. I think there should just be a little bit more brand diversity within the industry’s ecosystem so you can, you know, there are a set of brands that are a little bit lighter in tone and messaging that can kind of help bring in consumers. And then there’s almost kind of like steps and, and you kind of can usher people into, you know, thegeekier stuff. And the stuff that might cost a little bit more once they, you know, we don’t ever wanna alienate somebody just off of price alone. So, you know, how do we, how do you kind of like from an in, within the industry create kind of a, a consumer journey within the industry?

I think that’s really where it needs to go.

[00:21:16] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I like that idea. Like, don’t just take someone straight to the most, intellectual, esoteric part of the wine industry. You gotta kind of grow into that. Feed its own type, just like a bookstore. You, you gotta have, you’re gonna work your way back to the philosophy section.

You’re not gonna, if that’s not your you’re not gonna go straight back there.

[00:21:36] Kristin Harris: Right.

[00:21:37] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Shifting for a second. What are you doing to, either address or ignore the current trend towards sober curious, low alcohol, no alcohol, and the fact that a lot of Gen Zs are not really drinking as much?

[00:21:51] Kristin Harris: I like that that option is there. For sure. I lean in into, into it myself. I just went out to go play bingo and had an NA Um, so I definitely don’t have, I don’t really have a strong opinion in that. I think I like, I love the fact that the options are there. And I don’t think, I genuinely don’t think that that’s necessarily what’s ruining the industry.

The wine industry specifically. There’s a lot of Gen Z. You know, gen Zs are still in the earlier part of their careers. They’re not making that much money. They’re, you know, it’s not, I don’t think we should be necessarily blaming a generation.

[00:22:32] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh.

[00:22:33] Kristin Harris: I also

[00:22:34] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Generalized too.

[00:22:35] Kristin Harris: Huh?

[00:22:36] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It’s, I mean, it’s really the psychographic profile of the generation, which is not so age driven, but yeah.

That new psychographic profile away from drinking more towards, you know, cannabis and alternative methods of getting where you need to be.

[00:22:52] Kristin Harris: Right. And I think that there’s too, a little bit of, I think we always tend to, when the, when there’s a problem, I think it’s humans just in general, we tend to blame something external.

[00:23:05] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Uhhuh.

[00:23:06] Kristin Harris: And I think with the wine industry, if there’s culture shifting happening, if there’s culture shifting, shifting, happening externally, that means that we kind of need to reflect inward and figure out how can we shift to adapt to that culture that’s changing on the outside of us.

So to blame external factors instead of kind of figuring out how can we adapt and how can we reflect our own, you know, adapt our own brand identities, maybe flesh out our b branding identities more. Focus in on our, you know, I think that’s, I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing.

[00:23:44] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Yeah.

[00:23:45] Kristin Harris: As terms of evolution for the, for where we’re going.

[00:23:49] Drew Thomas Hendricks: For the general wine in for. For sure. And as a boutique wine brand, you’re really, that’s not a problem you need to solve or it’s really.

[00:23:57] Kristin Harris: No.

[00:23:58] Drew Thomas Hendricks: It’s what, where I’m concerned is some of these larger, huge wine brands suddenly need, are following this me too and

[00:24:06] Kristin Harris: Mm-hmm.

[00:24:06] Drew Thomas Hendricks: They have to compete with seltzer, they have to compete with alcohol. They have to keep compete with that, and they’re entering a completely different space to try the market share.

[00:24:17] Kristin Harris: Right.

[00:24:18] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Is it important for them to do that or is it, should they just stay in their land? They we’re a wine producer, we’re not.

[00:24:24] Kristin Harris: Hmm.

[00:24:25] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Or we’re a beverage producer and now we create a non-alcohol or alcohol wine.

[00:24:30] Kristin Harris: Yeah. I mean, there is some good business to it, right? But at, at the same time, it’s also, that’s gonna become saturated, right? Just like wine is very saturated. It’s really just trying to, in business, there’s always that, well what’s, what’s the market need and what can, what product can we produce that fulfills the market? But wine is, I feel like wine is so different, and beverage is so kind of, it’s things like that are also subjective.

And so I just think, yeah, if you, there is to some extent, some truth in, if you’re gonna be a winery, try to keep that ecosystem going and shift to adapt to, like I was saying, the, the new consumer. I’m not gonna plant my flag in that statement necessarily, but that’s, you know,I think it’s just maybe a slightly easier way to adapt to the external culture is to just kind of create the new product.

[00:25:23] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I agree. We’re having some challenges right now just trying to help some wineries market low alcohol wines.

There’s a no alcohol wine. You know what the angle is on that, and then there’s wine. But then the road, it’s like semi-healthy. Or se se for the semi-active person.

[00:25:41] Kristin Harris: Right? Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[00:25:44] Drew Thomas Hendricks: You’re not gonna run a marathon, but you may wanna like, hike two, three miles and have a nice low off all wine.

[00:25:50] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:25:50] Drew Thomas Hendricks: So there, there is some challenges, but I’m getting down in the weeds on that. Let’s, you know, I really wanna get back to subcultures and like it, you’re, you’ve got the gaming, you’ve got the fun.

How are you bringing, are you targeting the subcultures and bringing ’em to wine or are you targeting wine drinkers that are in that subculture?

[00:26:09] Kristin Harris: A little bit of both. I went to, there’s a festival, that’s been happening out in Walla Walla called Blood of Gods.

And it’s a, it’s a very cool wine festival, but it’s the, it’s really bringing in kind of metal culture. Then kind of saying, it’s also a wine festival. So you have kind of these artisans and artists, and you have people who are super into metal music and all of this. And then you say, “Okay, wine brand show up here.”

[00:26:36] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh, awesome.

And that I know nothing about metal music, but I was pouring, I was pouring, helping some friends pour for Fox and Winery and last year and it was just incredible to see that true meeting of, in the middle it’s saying you’re invited. We showed up. And here we are. And it was, I think, to most people, you would look at somebody who’s deep into metal culture.

As somebody who’s not knowledgeable in wine, and I guarantee you, I talked to several people who knew their shit about wine. And there was also people who felt more comfortable to engage and talk, ask questions about wine. So it was a little bit of both happening in the same room and it was just, it was just so cool.

So I think that there’s, for Cote of Paint, there’s that opportunity to go into those kind of. Directly into those spaces where there’s board and video game culture happening.

And then also kind of, you know, inviting them, inviting them over specifically to kind of where I’m at.

Oh, that’s so fantastic.

And how did you find that? How did you find that event? Or not? Not how did you find the event?

[00:27:43] Kristin Harris: Yeah.

[00:27:44] Drew Thomas Hendricks: What were your experience of the event?

[00:27:46] Kristin Harris: What was my experience? I, I thought it was fantastic. I mean, it was, it was just, so that was kind of the, for me, thething that kind of lit the light bulb up for me and I went, “Oh, okay. It can actually be done.”

And I can go, I can lean a little bit heavier into, into the logo, into the into that ident, into that kind of gaming, gaming identity. So yeah, it was just, it was, it was incredibly fun to, to be a part of it. And I’m actually gonna be pouring at it this year. I think it’s July 18th.

So if anybody

[00:28:24] Drew Thomas Hendricks: That sounds

[00:28:24] Kristin Harris: Wants to go to Walla Walla,

[00:28:26] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I’m be looking it up. That sounds, that sounds fantastic.

[00:28:29] Kristin Harris: Yeah. And Walla Walla is one of those you have to be very, it’s a wine region. You have to be intentional to get to, but it’s, it’s great. It, they’ve got great stuff.

[00:28:36] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Last time I was there, I guess we flew into Spokane and drove south.

And then another time we flew into Portland and drove east.

[00:28:44] Kristin Harris: Yeah. And that’s a beautiful drive from Portland. It’s long, but coming in from Portland along the gorge, it’s like, oh my

[00:28:51] Drew Thomas Hendricks: God. Oh, oh, I I love that. I was thinking of the, of subcultures and, and kind of a, not, not metal so much, but

[00:28:57] Kristin Harris: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:58] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Maynard from tool and his winery Caduceus, and then he’s got his second label, Merck and Cellars. And there’s a very heavy music influence in Jerome, Arizona. Yeah. And that draws, I mean, that draws wine drinkers and tool fans alike into this like area that’s really just fun.

And, and really you can tell the authenticity. I mean, Merkin’s got its cheekiness with its name. And the food’s great. And I mean, he really is, uses that as the same expression as his music.

[00:29:30] Kristin Harris: Right. And see that’s kind of, you know, that’s where kind of falling into landing someplace where.

Traditional wine culture doesn’t kind of already have its have its claws. That’s, it’s a totally kind of unconventional market.

[00:29:45] Drew Thomas Hendricks: I love the gaming culture. Well, Kristin, as we’re kind of wrapping down, what else would you like people to know about?

[00:29:51] Kristin Harris: Oh gosh. I am stay in tuned for the website.

I’m literally in the early phases of, of the the draft process. But it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be fun. And yeah, I’m gonna be pouring at the Blood of Gods and Walla Walla this year. And what else do I have? I have, I’ll be, if you are in LA and wanna go to the female founders night at Benny Boy Brewing, I’ll be on the Female Founders Night panel, and that’s June 3rd.

And then, yeah, I’m starting to get more placements in Seattle, so hopefully start getting some popups and partnerships with the new websites. So.

[00:30:33] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Oh, that’s, that’s fantastic. And then, yeah. And your website is coteofpaintwine.com.

Cote of Paint. And we’ll have, we’ll have the links in the show notes here so people will be able to find it.

And then where can people find you on social?

[00:30:46] Kristin Harris: Yeah, it’s the same, at Cote of Paint Wine.

[00:30:49] Drew Thomas Hendricks: And then for

[00:30:50] Kristin Harris: Instagram and,

[00:30:51] Drew Thomas Hendricks: And they can buy the wine online and

[00:30:53] Kristin Harris: Yeah, I pretty much ship, I can pretty much ship to all states minus the handful that are, that are hardcore sticklers. But yeah, I can direct to consumer ship to pretty much anywhere and and yeah, it’s been great.

[00:31:07] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Fantastic. Kristin, this has been a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:31:11] Kristin Harris: Thank you so much, Drew.

[00:31:12] Drew Thomas Hendricks: Bye-bye.

[00:31:13] Kristin Harris: Bye.