Jake Kloberdanz didn’t grow up dreaming of vineyards or vintage bottles. His early life revolved around soda wars, Coke versus Pepsi, and the art of branding. “I’ve always been fascinated by how people connect with brands and how marketing resonates with them,” he recalls. That curiosity about human behavior and its ties to business would later fuel his journey to build ONEHOPE Wine.
Founded in 2007, ONEHOPE was born from a collision of ambition, empathy, and practicality. Kloberdanz and six co-founders, all former colleagues at Gallo Wine, saw a gap in the market: wine that stood for something beyond itself.
“Seeing a simple pink ribbon on yogurt made me think, ‘What if we built a wine brand that gives back to multiple causes?’” Kloberdanz explains. They started small, often pitching the concept to skeptical store managers, stacking shelves, and hustling to carve out shelf space.
But turning a charitable idea into a respected wine brand wasn’t easy. Early on, they faced perceptions that a mission-driven company might skimp on quality. “When there’s a charitable component, people assume the wines aren’t very good, so we focused on A+ packaging and quality from day one,” says Kloberdanz. That strategy worked. By 2019, ONEHOPE had climbed into the ranks of the top 200 wineries by volume, a rare feat for a company without deep family or conglomerate backing.
Yet, scaling the business wasn’t just about numbers. It was about forming key partnerships and achieving milestones that redefined the brand’s path. Michael Mondavi, a renowned wine industry leader, and Robert Mondavi Jr., a celebrated winemaker and grandson of the iconic vintner Robert Mondavi, brought both credibility and expertise to the table. In 2014, the company took a leap by purchasing a vineyard adjacent to Napa’s Tokalon Vineyard, a move that gave it access to world-class soil and cemented its place among the most iconic wine brands and respected winemakers in Napa.
Even as they scaled, the mission stayed central: share wine, give hope. ONEHOPE events serve as both wine tastings and fundraisers, allowing customers to choose causes they care about or contribute to the ONEHOPE Foundation. “We use gatherings around wine as a way to raise money and awareness,” says Kloberdanz. The foundation focuses on solving poverty, providing clean water, and funding education. To date, it has donated over $11 million, and this holiday season alone, it underwrote the distribution of $3 million in school supplies, with a goal of surpassing $10 million in 2025.
The numbers are impressive, but the real impact lies in the people and moments touched by ONEHOPE. “Our purpose is to nourish the future, so we’ve put a lot of focus on breaking the cycle of poverty recently leaning into children’s education in a bigger way by building schools globally and funding school supplies domestically,” Kloberdanz says.
In an industry steeped in tradition, ONEHOPE is carving its own path. The company’s vision is summed up simply: “to build the most innovative, iconic, and impactful wine brand of this generation.” And while wine lovers serve themselves a glass, they serve the causes they care most about.
