Matthew Cain - Yellow + Blue Wines

Matthew Cain is the Founder and President of Yellow+Blue Wines, an Organic Wine company that imports from South America and Spain. Not only are the wines 100% Organic, but they are sold in TetraPaks, a universal packaging for liquid goods that need to remain fresh, such as juices and stocks. This packaging eliminates the expense and waste caused by using glass bottles for the wine, something that Cain found to be unnecessary with most wine drinkers consuming the wine soon after purchase, as opposed to years after the purchase. “Eighty percent of wine is drunk within a week. It doesn’t make sense to put nine liters of wine in a 40 pound box and ship it thousands of miles.” Cain stated that “in other countries people are using alternative packaging to bring down the cost of wine. It’s not just for poor wine but for good wine. Here in the US, it’s only been used as a gimmick.” Cain has worked in fine wine his entire life, in various countries, and says he has “no interest in bad wine.”
Instead of bottling the wine at the source, he has the wine transported in large “flexitanks” to Toronto, where the TetraPak materials are housed. The TetraPak packaging facility is certified organic to meet the standards of Yellow + Blue Wines. The wine sells for about $11 and the container holds about a third more wine than a standard bottle.
The process of growing, shipping, and packaging the wine already leaves about half the carbon footprint of traditional wines, but through carbon offsets and renewable energy credits from Renewable Choice Energy, Yellow + Blue Wines is carbon neutral. In addition to keeping it green, Y+B also contributes 1% of all its proceeds to www.kiva.org, an organization that helps entrepreneurs in developing countries.
Cain dedicates his company to “finding a 21st century solution to an outdated business model.” Blending a traditional process with modern practices is what makes Y+B a new, fresh take on wine. Matthew Cain took something old and made it new again, wine has always been around, but now it is current and growing with the times. He found a solution to what he and many others perceived to be a problem, and he didn’t have to create anything new in the process, all of the tools required were already in existence and he put them all to practical use.

References
Schnuer, Jenna. Entrepreneur Magazine. May 2011. May 2011 .
Shannon, Chiara. K&L Wine Merchants. 15 February 2011. May 2011 .
Y+B Wines. Y+B Wines. 2010. May 2011 .

Submitted by: Kathleen Maurer