Our Crowdfunding Campaign
Whilst you may know about our plans to delve into the world of wine, it is finally time to turn thought into action. Over the past few months, we have visited almost every sustainable wine domain in the Netherlands, had great discussions with winegrowers, organised tasting sessions, set up a webshop for sustainable Dutch wines and founded the Est 968 foundation for the redistribution of our profits.
Now, we will begin a crowdfunding campaign to take the next step towards realising a sustainable wine bar. Before doing so, we wanted to check in with friends and family to see if there is enough support for this. That is why we want to ask you the simple question: do you want to become a co-investor in Est 968 wine bar?
Our plans
Est 968 will be a new wine bar in The Hague where we are taking the wine market back to its roots – where the focus is on pure products which elevate smaller producers with the most positive climate impact possible. Our foundation already offers a platform for natural and local wine growers from The Netherlands and the nearby region to sell their wine; now it is time to open a physical location.
In this way, we want to bring together our community to enjoy a good glass of natural wine while having a positive impact – something we believe must be possible. The profit we make with the wine bar will be reinvested in or donated to good causes, such as planting trees on exhausted farmland, making wine production more sustainable and supporting other social societal projects and initiatives.
Location
After having visited many natural wine bars in The Hague, Amsterdam and having had discussions with wine growers in the Netherlands as well as suppliers, entrepreneurs and wine lovers in all three cities, we concluded that The Hague is most in need for our wine bar. Our preferred location will be in the city center, in the Amare Building, which is the new cultural center of the residential city.
Our target group are the locals, the international sector in The Hague, young professionals and civil servants, but of course also the occasional city tourist. Amare is a stone’s throw from where our target audiences work and live, and is surrounded by like-minded organisations; it’s part of the Central Innovation District of The Hague and is brimming with artisanal coffee shops and restaurants.The building oozes the ambiance we are going for, and we will decorate our bar stylish and modern, but also fully circular and cost-effective.
Wines
Our selection will be concentrated on Dutch wines, but also include natural wines from neighbouring countries Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and to a lesser extent France. All within a 700 kilometer radius. An example of the domains we work with is Domain Aldenborgh: a vineyard located on the south flank of the Boerenberg in Eys in Zuid-Limburg. The domain is run by wine grower Peter and his son Chris, a microbiologist.
They created a nature-inclusive working method that avoids the use of any chemical and even bio-organic spraying agents and place great emphasis on improving biodiversity and activity, both overground and underground through highly innovative ways of working. The result is an incredible taste of natural, unfiltered, unclarified wines produced by a sustainable and even regenerative form of viticulture. We can’t wait to share with you this special taste experience and tell you more about the other interesting wine domains in our selection. However, first some more work needs to be done.
Become one of our investors
To open our bar in The Hague, we need a target amount of €100,000 and we think it would fit our concept well to do this via grassroots funding channels, via the community. Therefore, we have decided to start crowdfunding via crowdfunding platform CrowdAboutNow.
We are looking for about 200 people who invest an average of €500. Or 100 people who can invest €1000. More or less is also possible of course! Importantly, the funding is a loan, therefore, you will receive your money back in a maximum of 10 years with an annual interest of 2%. After the start-up phase of our project, the first two years, the repayment starts. Of course, this is also a great opportunity for us to expand our community, and to involve you as an investor in our development. That is why we will also organise fun extras for investors, such as excursions to the vineyards and exclusive tastings.
The success of a crowdfunding campaign is often down to a flying start in the first two weeks. That’s why we are already collecting pledges from our friends and family before the campaign starts. Are you willing to participate? If so, what amount would you be willing to loan? Please let us know by filling in this form.
Or join our pre-sale
Not looking to invest but still want to contribute? We’d also be happy to have you involved in our pre-sale. This means that you deposit a certain amount and receive a selection of wines in return. That way, we can look forward to seeing you at 968. To receive a presale voucher, please select one of the voucher options in the shop and simply pay by ideal or credit card. The voucher will function as your personal Est968 card, every time you visit our wine bar we will deduct your order from the card. Would you be willing to participate with more than €1000? Then you will receive your own engraved glass which will always be available for you in the bar – a wall of fame of our very first community members.
It would be great if you would help us and become part of this community! That way we can all make sure that enjoying wine and sustainable environmental impacts can go hand in hand.
We hope to welcome you as one of our partners! Any questions? Do reach out to info[@]est968.nl
All the best,
