La Fête Uncorked: Donae Burston’s Journey from IT Consultant to Wine Industry Trailblazer

Donae Burston is the mastermind behind one of the most successful wine brands in the industry. He founded La Fête Wine Company in 2019, and since its launch, his wines can be found across retailers nationwide, including Delta Airlines flights. His journey of launching a successful wine company started with saying yes to a friend’s call for help.

Burston, who holds dual degrees in math and industrial engineering, was working as an IT consultant when, by chance, a friend working in drink promotions asked him to step in at a nightclub in Atlanta. This single request from a friend laid the groundwork for La Fête.

“I fell in love with the industry,” he tells The Buckeye Review. “For me, it was the perfect hybrid between the entertainment industry and corporate America.”

Soon after, he began distributing drink tickets at nightclubs before moving on to work for brands like Hennessy Cognac and Moët in Atlanta. He continued climbing the ladder, eventually securing a position with Heineken in White Plains, New York. However, he wasn’t passionate about the beer industry. Burston decided to return to spirits and found himself in Miami, working across various brands, mainly champagne brands such as Dom Pérignon.

“The education I received through those ten years of working with those brands was like no other,” he says. “It was like going to business school for luxury.”

After a decade of experience, he launched La Fête, which translates to “The Party.” His first product was rosé. Both the name and first product are fitting to Burston’s journey. He was first introduced to rosé during his 30th birthday celebration at Nikki Beach Club in Saint Tropez. Burston and his friends believed they were drinking White Zinfandel, but as it turns out, people around them were sipping rosé from the surrounding Provence region. Burston says La Fête is a party to which everyone is invited. 

“We’re still made in the classic Provence style, but we’re not the traditional sweet, fruit-forward rosé,” says Burston. “We see ourselves as the rosé wine for people that like red wine but don’t want to drink it all the time. We have much more structure, body, and emotional versatility […] that make it last longer in your mouth and give you a bit more profile than some of the other rosés out there.”

Burston’s success, however, didn’t come without a few hiccups. He says one challenge is the amount of capital needed upfront. Since wine is a part of the agricultural industry, he pays anywhere between six months and a year in advance for his products. Additionally, laws in the United States also create barriers.

“There’s a three-tier system where we can’t sell directly. You have to sell to a distributor, who then sells to a store. So it’s a lot of those challenges when you’re just getting into the industry that you don’t know,” he says.

Beyond the operational challenges, weather can also impact his product.

“We’ve had a couple of years with a late harvest because late season freezes and hail storms in April. This can destroy a crop,” says Burston.

Despite facing some challenges, Burston is making strides in an industry where few people share his background. According to Bloomberg, only 0.1% of the entire wine industry in the U.S. was Black-owned in 2020. 

He attributes his success to his nontraditional approach and keeping his plans to himself. He believed in his vision. 

“In the wine industry, we tend to repeat the way we were told to do things. We’re not very innovative in our train of thought. [For example,] we have sommeliers on our team, and we learn from them, but we found that they don’t appeal to the younger consumers in a way that’s appealing to them and approachable,” he says. 

In the spirit of La Fête, everyone is invited and encouraged to enjoy the brand as they wish – even if it means adding a few ice cubes to their glass. “We put ice cubes in our rosé. Why? Because in the south of France, they put ice cubes in it because they don’t have huge refrigeration units,” says Burston. “Our brand is meant to be fun.”

The fun isn’t stopping anytime soon. In addition to its popular rosé, Burston has introduced white and red wines. He plans to further expand the portfolio. “You’ll see a lot more activity and brand building around the white and red wines,” he says. “We feel like there’s a market in the future for Provence, France.”