Ten years behind us, many more to come.

Back in August 2014, we began to make our first commercial batches of wine.  At the time, we still didn’t know if what we were making was going to resonate with people, and we had two different plans for how we could make our new business work.  

The first one would allow us to build a small family business, where eventually we would find our own farm with a winery and tasting room.  Like most wineries in the world, we would sell most of our production directly from the cellar, catering to visitors and local people who would enjoy and serve local wines with pride.  

The second possibility would be to focus on exports.  Even before we got our commercial licenses, we believed what we were making was truly unique, and there would be a market for such an exotic product as fine fruit wines made from wild Nordic forest berries.

As those who followed our journey know, we ended up doing both.

Succeeding as a craft alcohol business is difficult.  The big, established companies have many advantages over small upstarts – name, reputation, locked-in selling channels and massive existing economies of scale in everything from production to logistics, basic business functions and sales.  This makes it impossible to compete with them directly.  Instead, we small producers focus on the niches in the marketplace, producing specialty products that do not address the existing mass market that big companies chase.  Initially, that can be enough.  When things are new and fresh, almost everyone you meet seems excited and eager to try what you are making.  Then times get tough, and people worry about spending their money on non-essentials.  Over the last five years it has been one thing after another: Covid, inflation, high energy and construction costs, the war and the resulting sluggish economy have taken their tolls.  We have watched sadly as ever-increasing numbers of craft breweries and distilleries have struggled and been forced to close.

So far, we have avoided that fate.  In large part we did it by leveraging the one advantage that small companies have over larger businesses: flexibility.  When the pandemic struck, the restaurants and travel businesses shut down, taking most of our sales with them.  So we focused on cellar sales to private buyers who wanted to support local businesses.  When things opened up again, we relied on Alko sales and renewed our relationships with restaurants.  This past year as the Finnish economy struggled, we strengthened our partnership with Finnair and focused on building exports, which are now a significant portion of our sales.  In 2024 we sent pallets of Finnish wines to Sweden, Switzerland and Singapore.  

Don’t get us wrong, 2024 was a challenging year, our overall sales dropped in our biggest channels.  It was encouraging to see that Alko and restaurants sales increased during the Christmas season after they had been sluggish throughout the year.  And while this was attributed to the economy, alcohol tax increases, and other external factors, other personal trials came into play.

A year ago, we wrote that we hoped to release some new products in 2024.  That didn’t happen. For the first time in David’s career, he was physically unable to work for several months when he suffered an accident that required surgery.  Fortunately for us, we had wonderful people who were able to help during this time of need.  Thank you Kirsi, Eira, Miia, Päivi, Susanna, Kari, Jah, Saara, Katya and Erkka for all your help.  Special thanks to Ainoa’s first student intern, Saimi, who stepped up to help with everything needed to be done and gained a deeper understanding of what it takes to run a small business as an Entrepreneur.  Another special thanks goes to Petri, whose hard work and experience enabled us to deliver all the wines ordered during the critical pre-Christmas rush.

We also want to thank every person who we met last year at an event, who visited us at the winery for a tasting, who brought home one of our bottles from Alko or Systembolaget, or who discovered us on Finnair or while dining at one of the fabulous restaurants serving our wines.  We hope you will continue to support us and other small local businesses.

Last but not least, huge thanks to our Board, suppliers, distributors, and partners, without you providing us with the best advice and ingredients for success, this would not be possible.

In 2025, we plan to continue to grow and adapt.  We hope to release those new products this year.  But while we do not know what the future will bring, one thing is always certain, change will happen.  We are ready and look forward to Ainoa’s next ten years, building on what we have already started.