Black-Owned Wine Company Notches Over $1M In Sales Following Mark Cuban Investment On ‘Shark Tank’

A Black-owned wine company has quadrupled their sales in just 11 months after an investment from Mark Cuban on Shark Tank.

Wondry, a Black-owned wine company founded by Whitney and Chaz Gates, appeared on the hit show Shark Tank in November 2022 and received a $225,000 investment from billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban. Since their appearance, the couple has quadrupled their sales, bringing in $1.1 million over the last 11 months, Yahoo Finance reported.

The Dallas, TX-based company offers a selection of 100% natural wines and sangrias which feature “organic berry, citrus, and exotic fruit extracts” for a luxury sipping experience and can now be found in over 400 stores nationwide. When the Gates’ appeared on Shark Tank, their brand had notched about $60,000 in profit, $250,000 in lifetime sales, and was available in only 50 stores; however, Cuban saw their potential in a landscape where so very few Black entrepreneurs had found success.

“When you’re a Black winemaker, you’re a rarity,” he said. “And as a rarity, their community looks up to them. And you compound that with them being successful and growing so quickly, they’re going to be encouraging entrepreneurs across the country.”

The Gates attributed a large part of their recent successes to Cuban’s introduction of their brand to Southern Glazer – a distribution company that aided their placement in restaurants, retailers, and airlines – and to their new 10,000 square-foot facility, which greatly expanded the brand’s production, CNBC reports.

“Before ‘Shark Tank,’ we were just a local Texas business,” said Whitney. “But after, we became a nationally recognized brand overnight.”

The couple-turned-CEOs returned to Shark Tank on a Nov. 3 episode to provide a follow-up to both Cuban and the other “sharks” on the growth of their business. The pair also used the moment to reveal the brand’s newest blend, “Creamy Chocolate Martini,” just in time for the holiday season.