ONYX Wine
Story by Linda Persigehl // Photography by Bill Sitzmann
When ONYX Automotive customers visit the luxury car dealership to pick up their new vehicle, they’re presented a souvenir of their buying experience—handcrafted, elegant bottle of reserve Cabernet, beautifully etched with the ONYX Automotive logo.
The wine also serves as a thank-you gift for their patronage, and the bottle—a work of art on its own—can be displayed and enjoyed for years.
ONYX General Manager Scott Sutton said the dealership began giving away the custom wine bottles to customers about a year ago.
“We used to give out apparel and other branded stuff for the [auto] manufacturers we carry, but we wanted to do something different, and just for building our brand,” he said. “Our marketing director, Tom Coleman, brought this idea to us, and we did some research and found Mano’s. We had a conversation with their team about the investment we needed to make, and decided it could work.”
Mano’s Inc. is the Midwest’s premier provider of customizable wine bottles. The company creates deep-etched and hand-painted bottles in custom designs at its facility in Kansas City. Its company website said a minimum of 25 skilled artists touch each bottle they create. The bottles are then filled with its reserve red wine, corked, and shipped directly to corporate clients in all 50 states. Most of Mano’s wines come from fine vineyards along the central California coast, including Monterey, Lodi, and Sonoma county.
RENSENHOUSE SAID THE COMPANY PROVIDES CUSTOM BOTTLES TO 20 TO 30 AUTO DEALERSHIPS ACROSS THE U.S. CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANIES, PROFESSIONAL SPORTS TEAMS (INCLUDING THE WORLD CHAMPION LOS ANGELES RAMS), AND INVESTMENT FIRMS (SUCH AS BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY) ARE ALSO CLIENTS.
Sutton said a wine gift makes sense for their company. “ONYX has been a sponsor of the Nebraska Balloon & Wine Festival in Elkhorn for the last several years. And just from a demographics standpoint, a lot of luxury car buyers are wine lovers.”
Corporate clients can be as creative as they like when designing their bottles, said Mano CEO Kyle Rensenhouse. “They might want a bottle that’s city-specific, with the city name or skyline etched on it, or their company name and logo, or some might include just a car model or brand logo. Companies might add some thank-you messaging on a label as well. We create a mock-up of the bottle, then tweak the custom design.”
Rensenhouse said the company provides custom bottles to 20 to 30 auto dealerships across the U.S. Cryptocurrency companies, professional sports teams (including the World Champion Los Angeles Rams), and investment firms (such as Berkshire Hathaway) are also clients.
“The bottles are a thank-you the client can see and feel,” Rensenhouse added. “And they’re a piece of art that lasts. Some [people] may not even open the bottle and drink it, but just put it on display. Even if they do [drink it], it’s still a beautiful keepsake.”
Sutton said the ONYX salesperson typically presents a gift bottle to the customer right after the new owner has had an introductory walk-through on their new vehicle.
The wine keepsake has been received very favorably by his clients, he said, enthusiastically.
“I’ve had a ton of positive feedback from customers. They say the wine is good, but the bottle is the showstopper. The presentation is beautiful. It’s a unique gift, and people remember it.”
Visit onyxautomotive.com for more information.
