After more than 20 years of friendship and travels together, Piedmont resident Jeanne-Marie Hebert and her former neighbor Jennifer Kimpe turned an idea dreamed up during the pandemic into a business reality. In 2024, the pair launched Rue de Rêve, an apéritif company rooted in their shared love of food and drink, design and travel.
Rue de Rêve celebrates the longstanding European apéritif tradition with California touches of all-natural ingredients and Sonoma-sourced wines. Full-sized bottles of their three apéritif offerings — Rue de Rêve Rosé, Blanc and Rouge — are available in local grocery stores (including Mulberry’s Market) and wine shops. Their online shop also offers exclusive holiday-ready minis and gift sets.
The business concept took shape on a road trip along the California coast during the COVID-19 pandemic, as Hebert and Kimpe simultaneously prepared for their kids to go off to college and enter new chapters of life.
“In our travels, we’ve always enjoyed the apéritif experience and realized that there’s a huge white space for it here in the U.S.,” Hebert said.
With Kimpe’s 20-plus years of experience as a marketing executive and Hebert’s background in operations as a co-owner of Bay Design & Build, they set out to create a product of their own. After three years of research and development, their first bottle Rue de Rêve Rosé was ready in January 2024.
“It’s something new and different, yet it retains the European history that’s been there for many, many generations,” Hebert said.
Made with organic wines, grape spirits (brandy), fruit and botanicals, Rue de Rêve’s apéritifs are “a little bit lighter and brighter and easier drinking than your traditional European apéritif,” Hebert said. Their goal is to create accessible, ready-to-enjoy apéritifs that can be poured straight over ice, spritzed with soda water or sparkling wine, or easily turned into cocktails with recipes on their website.
Hebert said that she and Kimpe have seen growing interest in new kinds of spirit experiences, including apéritifs. She noticed that people’s drinking habits shifted during the pandemic, with many seeking beverages that bring people together, feel more experiential and feature a lower alcohol content than traditional spirits.
“When [Kimpe] and I conceived of the project, I don’t think we realized we were hitting the right time for it,” Hebert said. “We’re discovering that this type of drink is really appealing to people right now.”
As the weather cools and the December holidays approach, Hebert has been especially drawn to Rue de Rêve Rouge, made with a base of carbonic Zinfandel (a lighter style of Zin) and fruit botanicals of orange, cardamom and gentian root.
“It’s got a little spice and a little bitter, but it makes a fabulous spritz if you add a little soda water or sparkling wine,” Hebert said. “It’s also fantastic straight over ice. Or you can swap it for red vermouth in any cocktail.”
Find Rue de Rêve online or in California restaurants and retail shops, including Mulberry’s Market, Vintage Wine in Elmwood and Corks & Crafts Bottleshop in San Leandro. Your purchase supports a business created by two friends who have built their lives, and now their company, alongside each other.
“We’ve watched each other’s families grow up … and just shared a big chunk of our lives together,” Hebert said. “Now we’re business partners, and that’s a whole new experience, but we wouldn’t be able to do it without one another.”