Why 11-11 Winery's Sales Are Up

Ellie Anest, the co-founder and CEO of Eleven Eleven Winery, is having a good year. In an "expert editorial" in Wine Industry Advisor she ticks off the numbers:

• More than half of everyone who walks through doors joins the wine club.
• First time visitors are up 61% year-over-year.
• Average order value is up 31%.
• Club member purchases are up 117%.

Those are plainly the metrics of a successful winery. She believes they are not the metrics of an industry in freefall, (We agree, but no one says the wine industry is in freefall; but it is in deep trouble.) However, you can still be successful even if your industry is doing very poorly.

"The customers are still here," she says. We agree. At least part of the wine industry's problem is simple: There are a lot more wineries than there were 10 or 20 years ago, and a lot more land devoted to winegrapes.

The production number speak for themselves: in 2024, California produced 78% of all wine produced in the U.S. Ten years earlier it was 84%. Twenty years earlier, in 2004, California was responsible for producing 90% of all U.S. wine.

In 2004, total U.S. wine production was 646,942,412. Total it's 647,701,604 gallons, a 759,192 gallon, or 0.1%, increase. In 2024, there were about 11,450 wineries in the U.S. Back in 2004 there were just 4,700 domestic wineries. In other words, for every U.S. winery in 2004 there are now 2.54 wineries today.

In that sort of enviornment, a winemaker has to be clever to get customers. What is Eleven Eleven doing? "We do things differently," she says.

• "We pickup the phone."
• Most guests receive a handwritten note after their visit.
• "Our team will tell you they work with me, not for me," Anest says, adding, "and guests feel that the moment they arrive.
• "We’ve hosted sound bath tastings, wellness salons, and private dinners.
• "We’ve taken the winery to our members in Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Santa Fe.
• "This year, we’re bringing a sold-out group on a cruise through Greece and Turkey. None of this is in the traditional Napa playbook. All of it is working," Anest says.

Her philosophy, she says, is that alot of customers aren't "looking for a lesson. They’re looking for a place to belong. That’s not a trend. That’s a human constant — and it’s the most hopeful thing I know about this industry’s future."

The 70% of millennial and Gen Z consumers who rely on subscription purchasing aren't rejecting wine, Anest says. They're rejecting friction.