Photo via NakedWines.com
Photo via NakedWines.com

Need some help stocking up on some holiday cheer?

NakedWines.com takes the crowdfunding approach to support the independent wine market. Winemakers are invested in by you, the “angel,” and in return, you get dibs on scoring delicious wines at wholesale prices, delivered to your door.

Here’s how it works:

You “invest” $40 per month in NakedWines as an “angel,” which goes toward your next purchase. The company then invests that money in top winemakers around the world who make wine exclusively for NakedWines.com.

By funding the winemakers directly, you allow them to focus on making wine and take the problem of distribution and marketing off their hands, so your wine is less expensive. Angel investors save, on average, about 40 to 60 percent per bottle.

Angels also get a free bottle of wine every month.

The site also functions as a social site, allowing users to follow their favorite winemakers and leave reviews.

Since launching in 2008, the Napa, Calif.-based crowdfunding site has funded more than 130 independent winemakers worldwide with over $38 million, and has nearly 100,000 investors.

Photo via NakedWines
Photo via NakedWines

Pacific Northwest winemakers are starting to get their due on the site as well. The first Washington winemaker is Katy Michaud, who made wine at Covey Run in the Columbia Valley.

Michaud is the first winemaker to be funded outside California on the site. According to a NakedWines’ release, she made over $500,000 via the site to develop her own brand.

Additionally, NakedWines just announced they’ve added another PNW winemaker to the list. Scott Kelley, who spent two decades in California’s top vineyards, including Estancia and Robert Mondavi, will start making wines in Oregon. He’s raised more than $1 million on the site to start his own winemaking label in the Willamette Valley.

The good news? If you take the survey now, you get a $20 voucher. The not-awesome news? There’s a waitlist to become an investor. However, if you put your name on the waitlist, which they say is about 31 days, you will get three free bottles of angel-funded wines in your basket.

“Our winemakers plan on releasing more than 20 wines over the next few weeks so folks who join the waitlist today can expect to become Angels in 4-6 weeks,” NakedWines told us via email, which may or may not make it in time for Dec. 25, but it would make one heck of a nice gift for someone to enjoy throughout 2016.

See how it works below:

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