A dating site for wine lovers? It's on its way

A dating site for wine lovers? It’s on its way

By S. Irene Virbila

June 14, 2013 12 AM PT

First came Eater Dating, which seemed like some kind of joke when I heard about it, but is definitely real. Now comes VineaLove, a dating site for wine lovers, from Frenchwoman Françoise Pauly and her 25-year-old daughter Roxane Brooke.

A former wine journalist and professional who now runs a wine job search site Vinea.Jobs, Pauly came up with the idea just two months ago. Doing some research, she found “dating sites for people who like pets, or heavy metal music, or computers. And not one for wine. And I was astonished.”

This woman knows how to move on a good idea. VineaLove launches on Sunday at Vinexpo, the international food and wine fair in Bordeaux, France. “We’ll be there with 20,000 fliers and iPads to sign up people in real time,” she says.

The site is not just French, but international and will feature content in many languages, including English. “The more people I talked with in the wine industry,” she says, “the more I became convinced it was a good project. I was dreaming of having an international platform for wine lovers and so we decided to make it also a social network and professional network as well.”

To that end, she’s recruited 10 “wine ambassadors” to promote the site on social media and by holding wine events where members can meet. The idea is to have a presence in every wine-consuming country around the world. In the U.S., the ambassador is Raphaelle Pasquier, a wine educator who is setting up a wine school in New York.

In a phone call this morning, Pauly explained how the site works. “When you fill in your profile, you have to state whether you’re looking for love, friendship or business and whether you are single or in a relationship.” The form also asks you to list your favorite wines, wine regions, wine bars and wine shops, etc. Who knows? Maybe you can find someone to share your obsession with orange wine or obscure sherries. Or indigenous grapes that begin with the letter z.

She stresses that the site is not just for dating. “Wine people love above all to talk about wine and exchange experiences and to meet people and drink wine with them. That’s what the platform is meant to be, really.” The site will also include a blog and a forum. The idea is that if you’re in Tokyo or Marseilles or even Los Angeles, you can find suggestions for a good wine bar and maybe find someone who wants to go out for a glass of wine.

Quick! The first thousand members get free membership for six months. Normally, the cost will be $15 to $20, depending on the country. As of this morning, she had over a hundred applicants, and a couple dozen more forms to input. Email [email protected] for a free subscription form or check the VineaLove USA Facebook page for more details.

There, Pauly writes, “I believe that life is too short to #1 drink bad wine and #2 drink it in bad company!“

Amen.

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Twitter.com/sirenevirbila