Dear Wine-O’s,
A huge part of levo and its evolution is faith. Faith in our levo family. Faith in our growers and the lovely Frenchmen that handcraft each oak barrel that currently resides in our tin cellar. Faith in our home, the Central Coast of California, its soil, climate, and people. I’ve always had faith in the Rhone Varietals, the exquisite flavors and emotions they evoke. Faith in the crazy artwork I plaster on each bottle, the wax seals, and juice that makes it inside. With all this faith, at some point, quiet confidence appears in your step, the path forward becomes more defined, and the vision becomes clear.
My direction was never based off a financial statement, a wholesale distributor, a designer, market research, the bank, wise words from a winery “marketeer,” or the temptation of a quick buck. The path I’ve chosen is much more abstract than that: like the tingling sensation of goosebumps and your hair standing on end, like your favorite song pulsing on the radio; it is a fleeting feeling, a notion, an emotion that I continuously try to shadow and hold as firmly as I can. It cannot be captured, measured, or directly understood. It is merely a gut feeling that I try to represent as honestly as possible.
“S0UL3D ØUT,” Levo’s newest sauce to hit the streets has a peculiar name, that some might even consider “strange.” Fine by us. The full story is in the paragraph below. If your sore eyeballs can’t handle another dry wine release letter save your eyesight and read the short story:
Soul > Money. Always for the love of it
I recently had a well-known distributor taste at our aluminum hut in Tin City. Naturally, I was pretty excited. I have never sold our wines wholesale or had an opportunity to share our wines with someone like this. I spent a great afternoon with this guy, tasting through barreled and bottled wines, geeking out on vineyards, producers, hitting it off in general, and having a grand ole time. When we finally said our good-byes, he told me he was very interested in our wines. He even told me he’d like to add them to his “portfolio.” Flattered I said, “Of course!” He says: All I’d need you to do is slap some “barcodes” on the wines. In the future, we’ll have to create more “uniform” branding “tactics” that will be “recognizable” on “store shelves” so “consumers” will get “familiar” with your brand “image.” He recommended we create “consistent labels” every year, and use “standard” bottle shapes that will fit on store shelves. Also, why are you hand waxing every bottle? Why don’t you use tin capsules? Much easier, cheaper, and we can get the wines to market “quicker.” You should consider “dropping your price point” by “getting creative” with your oak and fruit sourcing. Maybe you can find some better “value” sources, and we can hit lower “price points.”
Rewind to that “Fleeting Feeling” I referenced up north. Well, that train left the station. I’m sure my face resembled an atomic fireball candy, and this fellow managed to piss me off (which is pretty hard to do). If I carried out even a lick of this guy’s advice, I’d lose our project’s unique fingerprint, heart, and soul.
I told him we don’t make Coca Cola, we make wine, and I’m not interested.
After he left, I cranked my favorite album in the cellar, and suddenly that fleeting feeling came back again. “I’ll give him a barcode,” I thought to myself. So here they are, barcodes and all. It’s unfortunate these bottles won’t fit on “store shelves.”
Always for the love of it,
Bret
Album I cranked in Cellar: The War on Drugs – Lost in the Dream
Song: Burning
This Release includes bottles of:
ALL REDS
- Grenache: $49 / Bottle
- Syrah: $49 / Bottle
- Petite Sirah: $49 / Bottle
*Chardonnay is available as an add-on upon request: $39 / Bottle
Now for the IMPORTANT DATES:
- Please submit any changes regarding credit card, shipping address, change to will call, and add-ons no later than August 25th.
- We will be charging cards August 26th.
- Will call shipments will be available for pick up as of Tuesday, September 3rd. Please let us know ahead of time if you will be picking up that first week, so we have enough packed up!
- We will not be shipping East or West Coast until the week of November 4th (once the weather cools down)
We are so excited about this new release and all the goodness that comes with it. Our best yet.
Please send all inquiries or requests to info@levowine.com.
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