Cameron Diaz & Katherine Power Discuss The Holidays With Avaline

Yes, Mariah Carey may in fact “own” Christmas with her forever beloved holiday music, but it can be argued that Cameron Diaz has also remained a face of this festive season for nearly two decades now, thanks to her ever-popular 2006 film, The Holiday. In the fan-favorite romantic comedy, Diaz plays Amanda Woods, a hardworking businesswoman in need of a break, who in one memorable scene during her vacation away, walks through a grocery store drinking straight from a bottle of wine in unadulterated enjoyment.

In reality, the longtime Hollywood star has kept much of her creative focus and interests lately around bringing a healthier and more transparent wine-indulging experience to our world, through her Avaline wine brand.

I sat down with Diaz and her co-founder Katherine Power to discuss their Avaline journey so far and to really get to know this dynamic business duo during our most merry time of year.

Jeff Conway: Cameron and Katherine, what is the origin of your friendship and how you crossed paths, and how you initially knew that this is a human that I feel like I could actually work with?

Katherine Power: We met through Cameron’s sister-in-law, Nicole Richie. They’re married to twin brothers [Benji & Joel Madden] and Nicole has been one of my best friends for 25+ years at this point. [Cameron and I] always sort of gravitated toward one another at gatherings, holidays, special events. We would end up in a cozy corner together, drinking our wine and just developed a friendship.

We were enjoying a glass of wine at Cameron’s house one afternoon and we sort of looked at each other, wondering like – Should we have another glass? It was like a Saturday afternoon at four o’clock. We said to each other – “God, we just don’t feel great anymore when we drink wine.” – or it’s so inconsistent. Sometimes, we’ll feel okay – sometimes, we won’t. What’s that about?

We’d never thought about this drink that we enjoy so much – What is actually in the bottle? We thought it’s just grapes, right? We turned the bottle around and we were reminded that wine is one of the only consumable products where you have no ingredient lists or nutritional facts. So, that just set us out on a journey to understand what goes into the winemaking process – what could be put in the bottle. Wine is something that’s governed by the TTB, not the FDA. So, as a wine company, you’re not required to disclose any information about what’s in the bottle – We do.

We were developing [Avaline] in 2019. We started to talk to different wine experts, wine shop purveyors, winemakers – anyone that we could find. We learned that there are over 70 ingredients that can be added throughout the winemaking process, from color concentrates to sweeteners, to fining agents that filter the wine, to ingredients that are preservatives. They don’t have to disclose that to us, right? So, when we learned this, we started seeking out cleaner wine. We would go and ask – “Do you have any organic wine? Do you have any natural wine?” – because we knew if something was organic or biodynamic, it had certain practices that basically eliminated the need for extra ingredients. And at that time, people looked at us like we were crazy. They were like – “It’s all organic – it’s just grapes.”

Cameron Diaz: I think they focus more on – which is very important to us, as well – are the winemakers, but the sort of specifications we were asking for, wasn’t the valuable information that they felt they had to have at hand for us.

Conway: I even love your tagline – “Wine With Nothing to Hide.” So, when did you actually launch Avaline?

Power: We launched it in, I believe, it was July of 2020. It was in the middle of the pandemic. When you launch a wine, historically, the practice has been to launch on-premise, like in restaurants or hotels and kind of build slowly word-of-mouth. Because hotels and restaurants were closed at that time, and we knew we had national reach with Cameron’s platform and just the sort of marketing strategy we were putting together, we went right to major retail chains. Given the pandemic and that everybody was on Zoom, it allowed us to have so many meetings that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. Normally, you would be able to fly to three or four key accounts, meet some people, but we were able to sit there and meet and talk to every single account, all of our distributor partners. That was truly meaningful to get the business off on the right foot.

Conway: I love that. So, Katherine and Cameron, I am curious – over these four years now, what have you enjoyed most about the evolution that you have had and the customer feedback that you have received? What has really stood out for you?

Diaz: I think that we’ve highlighted this category of winemaking. We didn’t invent it, right? The winemaking process that we do is just very minimal intervention – just enough sulfites to start, stop and fermentation end, and to stabilize it for this journey to the table, and to be able to drink beautiful wines. Being able to take an old world way of making wine and bring it forward – that was the conversations we were having with the winemakers that we were asking to be our partners in the very beginning of making Avaline. We said to them, “We just want you to do what you do. We want to highlight it. We want to talk about how beautiful the wine is that you make. We want to talk about what’s valuable to us – what isn’t in the glass, as much as what is in the glass. So, we’re going to highlight all of that.” I think that the conversation now, the fact that people are actually asking the question – What is in the bottle? – which was our initial question to start this entire journey, I think to me, it’s very gratifying that we’ve helped people ask that question for themselves.

We want them to know that when they see Avaline on the shelf, regardless of what varietal that is, that they know that the standard of which they are drinking is in-line with their standards.

Power: It’s been gratifying just to see how much the industry has shifted, as a result of us coming out so loud. Now, we have organic month at major grocery retailers and dedicated sections in wine stores for organic or biodynamic wines. We’ve started to see other adult beverages list their ingredients. That’s really exciting for us.

Conway: From the early talks that you both had when you were starting to make Avaline – what priorities did you have then that you have maintained firmly up until now?

Diaz: I mean, the standards that we set for ourselves for Avaline, we’ve never shifted from. It is the heart and soul of Avaline. Our brand is exactly what we say it is. Transparency is incredibly important to us. It is the basis of the whole brand. We’ve maintained that, and I think that without it, what’s the point? We’re just another wine brand.

Power: We’ve maintained organically grown grapes and under a hundred parts per million in sulfites, which we’re way under in most of our SKUs. We have maintained being a vegan wine. A lot of people don’t know that often wine is filtered with using animal byproducts, and that’s not disclosed. So if you’re a vegan, you might be drinking wine that’s come in contact with something like that. We’ve maintained being a vegan wine, and really, every value that we started out with, we’ve been able to maintain and we’ll continue to maintain.

Conway: So, is there anything that you have learned in business, Cameron and Katherine, through everything you have done, that you wish you would have known when you first started Avaline together? Was there a moment or a thing that you learned and gone through that would have been like – “You know what? It would have been real nice to have known that from the get-go?”

Power: It is actually what we didn’t know that really got us here, I think, because people were very specific about telling us how to build a wine brand in the beginning and we just threw all that out the window and said, “We’re going do it a different way.” Sometimes, I think that lack of knowledge and just ignorance in the industry can really create a disruptor.

Diaz: I think because we, Katherine and I, are both the kind of people who hear “no” and all we hear is “not this way – another way.” We go – “Okay, so you’re telling us that’s not how you do it. No, that’s not how YOU do it. We’ll figure it out. We know how we want to do it.”

Conway: What is most exciting to you about the liquor business today, and having Avaline on the market? What is it that you are seeing with trends and customer wants that feels like Avaline is the gold standard of what people are seeking?

Power: I think it’s just the modern approach to connecting with today’s consumer. The wine industry is a very old-fashioned business, run by a lot of the same people that have been running it for generations, and they’re the same families. I think we brought not only a fresh perspective in this “better for you” positioning, but also in the way that we speak to the consumer. Our bottles, if you look at them, they don’t talk about the terroir or the estate – they tell you in which kind of situation you might enjoy the bottle – with your best friend on a cool evening. We put the information that’s important to the customer, right on the front – organic grapes, no added sugars. So, I think that approach to the product positioning and just how we market and connect with the consumer. We’ve largely used a playbook in marketing that has come more from the beauty and apparel worlds because that’s what I did in the past. We’ve applied that to this industry, which I think has been very fresh and modern.

Conway: Cameron, what is it about Katherine that makes her not only a quality business partner, but a quality human that you actually enjoy interacting with?

Diaz: Anyone who knows Katherine, knows how solid of a friend and individual she is. She is so grounded and rooted in her values and who she is. You know what you’re getting when you sit in front of her, whether it’s with business or as a friend. That term “ride-or-die” – she is a ride-or-die. You just know you can always count on her. She’s just a solid human and she’s infinitely creative. Her brain is so unique and how it views the world and how it takes in information and how she puts it all back together. And then, her calculations of it or her feeling about how things should work comes uniquely to her through her lens and it’s always just so spot on.

Conway: Katherine, how about Cameron?

Power: That’s very kind and hard to follow. In addition to being an incredible friend, Cameron, when I met her – what I found so fascinating about her was her vast knowledge of almost everything. She has this curiosity that has driven her to learn and research about so many different things. I could call her and ask her about anything from like a reverse osmosis watering system to like the government of some other country and she would be able to tell me something about it. And then, she can make you an amazing dinner and she can make you laugh.

One thing that struck me recently, and I love how our partnership works, is that I realized as an entrepreneur – which is what I am – you’re always thinking about the next thing. You’re never really in the moment because your brain just doesn’t work that way. You’re constantly onto what’s next. And Cameron – and I don’t know if this comes from being an actor – but because you have to be a really good listener when you’re an actor, but she listens to everything and she is in the moment hearing it. She asks questions and goes deeper on things, where I might just move on. She’s like – “No, wait a second!” – and you’re like – “Wow, that’s a really good point that we almost just missed.” I think the combination of my kind of drive and then her specificity for detail and listening and really taking things in, in a thoughtful way, makes us really successful together.

Conway: Cameron, you are an actor, but what is it about the Avaline journey that you have had with Katherine that has been maybe more satisfying in ways, that your acting career alone just cannot do?

Diaz: Look, I’ve never written or directed or produced a film. I’ve just always been like an actor in the movie and somebody else’s vision, which has been very satisfying to me. I don’t want to direct a movie – that’s too big of a piece to bite off for me. But with this, Avaline was born out of a conversation that we had that led to another conversation to another conversation. Then, we added more people to the conversation. As we did that, we came up with this idea of what we wanted to create, and then we did. It’s very satisfying to go from the genesis – from the very first conversation about something and then just to build it and put it out into the world and have people enjoy it and to value it and bring it into their lives.

I think that Avaline is the kind of product that people are loyal to, you know? They say – “This now is my wine. This is what I drink.” I love that because that’s what we always wanted it to be. We just wanted it to be the wine that people could really rely on. So, it feels really good to be able to take it from the very beginning and flourish the way it has.

Conway: Katherine, you all have a holiday collection with Avaline available. Can you speak to that and what people can expect in bringing a little bit more “merry” to their lives this season?

Power: Well, we always do a curated holiday set because we feel like people are entertaining a lot and it’s always good to have wines for different palates. We have a Riesling this year, which we’ve never had. I think certain things are contrasting and tastes sweeter maybe than you’ve had before from us, and it’s from a different region. Last year, we did Italy – and this year, it’s really exciting to put out this Swiss Alps-themed collection, to see what people gravitate towards.

Diaz: It’s a great gift for people, as well, to send to people – family or friends. A collection of wines that they won’t likely get again in that collection. It’s just this one time of year that they get it.

Conway: Lastly, what do you want to say this holiday season to people that have found Avaline and have made it their household staple? What do you want to say to these people that have really loved the passion and the creation that you put into this?

Diaz: I’m just so thankful that they found it and that they are enjoying it, and so happy that we could be a part of their lives and help them celebrate or help them have a day where they just want to sit and have a beautiful glass of wine. It’s our pure pleasure and pride to be the founders, who were able to bring that to them.

Power: Yes, a big thank you and we hope they enjoy Avaline, not just on special occasions, but it’s really made for those everyday moments – those in-between moments, whether you’re taking a moment to yourself after you’ve put your child to bed or you’re doing your laundry. We’re so thankful for the customer and they get it, you know?

Diaz: Thanks for getting it!