Former I Heart bods launch own wine business

By Lisa Riley

Published: 15 June, 2021

Two former senior members of Freixenet Copestick’s I Heart team have joined forces to launch their own mainstream wine brand.

The Beyond Wines start-up, founded earlier this year, is initially launching with two products under its Liquid Diamond brand; Prosecco DOC and Prosecco Rose 75cl (rrp: £12), with plans to add a Sauvignon Blanc and Pale Rose in the summer.

The wines would answer the demand for mid-priced wine with a “luxury feel for the Instagram generation", appealing to the “fashion conscious and social media savvy 18–35-year-old market", said the business.

Moving away from the traditional back labels, Liquid Diamond has instead focused on a language its target customer would understand — emojis, said co-founder Alex Green who launched the company with Matt Johnson, having worked together at Copestick Murray on the I Heart brand before it merged with Freixenet UK.

“This is not about dumbing down but it is about understanding what is important to our consumer,” said Green who’s CV includes buying roles at both Sainsbury’s and McColl’s.

“Using our own emoji language gives the reader the instant recognition of what the wine tastes and feels like, so that they can feel confident in their purchase decision and even impart that knowledge to their friends and family,” he said.

The duo told Harpers that when Copestick Murray merged with Freixenet they agreed it would be “a great idea” to create a new company focussed on the mainstream wine consumer, “creating brands and selling other producers' products into the UK that regular people actually want to drink”.

Focussed on “wellness, positivity and empowerment”, Green said Liquid Diamond had taken inspiration from healing crystals, using these as a key packaging feature.

“We know that most shoppers buy first with their eyes, and that they openly don’t know, and don’t want to know, much about wine. They expect it to taste great and because that is a prerequisite on supermarket shelves, they want it to look stunning too,” he said.

Johnson, who’s background has been in selling wine to specialist wine companies as part of Halewood and PLB, before which he ran various wine shops, added they had taken “huge” inspiration from their involvement with the I Heart brand for the launch.

“I Heart is a brand with a simple premise, giving consumers the level of confidence they need to buy wine they love, and is about empowering them to enjoy what they are drinking totally unashamedly.

“Liquid Diamond is based on the same principle, as we say to the customer ‘it's not our story, it’s yours'. We've taken trends that are the here and now from outside of wine, self care, wellness, crystals, and created something beautiful that the consumer will want to pick up, touch and ultimately buy. We will always over invest in wine quality so the consumer can be sure that they will love it, every time; again, this is shared DNA with the I Heart brand.

Liquid Diamond is available on Amazon now and in McColls nationwide at the end of this month, with plans to expand into supermarket retailers in “the very near future”.