Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Rivera.
Hi Christopher, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
16 years ago, I took an entry-level job at a winery in Northern California and have been working my way up since. I’m first-get with parents from Michoacan, MX so that played into why I was never exposed to wine let alone winemaking. I really got into the process of making wine so I moved to Lodi, CA to work while I attended U.C. Davis and decided to make wine my full-time career/passion.
I launched Seis Soles Wine co. in 2020 because I saw that many Latinos, we’re curious about wine and wine culture but often expressed that they didn’t feel welcome in wine spaces. This didn’t surprise me, and I began to realize that I could be part of a change that makes wine less exclusive and demystifies the steps that it takes to go from being curious about wine to becoming a wine fan. I launched Seis Soles as a side job and now I work on my brand full-time.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
Funding to be blunt. I took what savings I had to make my first vintage and used every penny from those sales to make my second vintage. Now as I complete my third vintage, I’m ready to build up and get better at making wine accessible in Latino spaces. What do you do as a first-gen person with no assets and no financial backing? The days of a bank loaning money to a person with a solid plan are long gone and it seems you have to have money to borrow money. I’m ready to scale and putting my first pitch deck together but I wonder how we can bridge that gap from idea to seed money for people of color starting a business with no assets.
The fun struggles come from taking it upon myself to go find Latinos that are new to wine. That has meant traveling all over CA to pour wine at pop-ups, fancy resorts, backyards, car shows, and birthday parties for 5 yr. olds. I’ve loved every minute of it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Seis Soles wIne Co.?
I make and sell wine under my own brand where I’m the sole employee. My labels and wine styles are heavily influenced by my ever-evolving understanding of the relationship between wine and Latinos living in California. That means that my wines focus heavily on flavor profiles that I think work best in a community with a rich cuisine but limited wine experience. I’m making wine for Latinos instead of making stuffy boring wine and hoping I can convince Latinos to like that.
I do this by currently having 5 wines available for purchase online at 6soles.com that are all blends. I have a crisp but approachable white blend, a semi-sweet rose, and 3 red blends for different occasions. I make blends because, like a chef with a spice rack, I can craft my wines while controlling quality. Every wine tells you exactly which grape varieties I used so we can use that as a conversation starter. Are you new to wine?-I have a wine for you. Are you experienced already and appreciate finer wines?- I have several options for that.
Is there any advice you’d like to share with our readers who might just be starting out?
Make sure you take advantage of publicly funded entities that are meant to help guide you. Local agencies associated with the Small Business Administration, Small Business Development Center, and local non-profits focusing on local economic development. These folks want you to succeed and have resources you may not know are available to you. I know how to make wine but everything else involved a learning curve. Creating a legal entity, licensing, tax help, and profit and loss tracking would have been easier if I had found these resources earlier.
Pricing:
- White Blend $19
- Rose $19
- Red Blend $23
- Grand Reserva $35
- SolTIerra $65
Contact Info:
- Website: www.6soles.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/6solesvino/?hl=en
