Meet Joshua Montoya of Vin On Rose

Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Montoya.

Hi Joshua, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I began my career in restaurants, but I always knew I wanted to open a shop. When the lease on an old neighborhood liquor store became available, I partnered with my friend, Simon, to take it over the space and transform it into a bodega. Over the next four years, I discovered that my favorite part of the job was curating the wines for our customers. I particularly fell in love with organic and natural wines and knew this passion would drive all my future endeavors. In 2019, I opened Vin On Rose, a natural wine shop with epicurean cheese, charcuterie, gourmet crackers, olives, seasoned nuts, exotic chocolates, and all indispensable wine pairings flourishes. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We opened our doors in February 2019, and just as we were building our wine club and regular clientele, Covid struck, and our business, like countless others, was forced to shut. After several months, we began operating as a service window, a pedestrian drive-thru, in which we would serve one customer at a time at our Dutch door entrance. Thanks to the loyalty and tireless patience of our incredible patrons, we managed to pull through the darkest times of the pandemic. Even several years later, our customers will often reminisce about the “window” days, grateful that we were open and nostalgic for the wine pics we brought to the Dutch door sill. 

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Our shop is a family comprised a small group of incredible individuals united by mutual respect and a love of natural wine. We have no titles and no hierarchy in the shop. Everyone is involved in the tastings, selection, and curation of wine and all elements of the shop. We rely on each other to educate and inspire each other, and the result has been nothing short of remarkable. 

Any big plans?
Our plans for the future are to continue to support honest, organic farmers and natural winemakers and to provide our patrons and wine club members with only the best examples of such wines. We are excited to foster and build our community with more events with winemakers, specialty tastings, and wine classes. We remain committed to supporting small businesses and local vendors and have begun selling local artists’ work on consignment. We are very grateful to Venice for supporting us through our first five years and look forward to serving the community for many years to come. 

Contact Info:

• Instagram: VinOnRose