Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Epona stemless wine glasses for sale! Check this out:

Wine friends, I bought 144 wine glasses and had them monogrammed with Epona's name and logo. 15 oz stemless glasses. $5 each.

I bought 144, in order to get the volume discount price of $4 each, and I used 72 of them at the recent Farm Party. Trying to sell the other 72 of them. I'm marking them up just $1 each.

Dishwasher safe. I chose this size and shape because I like this one. A stemless glass is a bit trendy now, and it's less likely to tip over, making it good for outdoor use (and indoor use).

Please contact me at kenton.erwin@gmail.com , to get yours! And THANK YOU for helping me with some indirect marketing.

Thanks,
Kenton


Monday, June 17, 2019

Sobering thoughts (pardon the pun) on Millenials' wine consumption

There are reasons to think that wine consumption will slowly decline in the US, according to this article by Rob McMillan.

Crushing student loans are keeping Millennials from owning homes at the same rate as Boomers when they were that age. This means that Millennials don't/won't have as many wine cellars to fill as Boomers do. And, because premium hard liquor is a bit cheaper than premium wine, thrifty Millennials tend to drink the hard stuff instead. And the anti-alcohol movement is momentarily succeeding in vilifying all alcohol, using bad science to dispute the long-proved notion that moderate wine consumption has health benefits.

All this, coupled with the aging of the Boomers, will tend to reduce wine consumption in the US. Wineries need to be careful about expanding, and lower-cost premium wines may win out over wines that are clearly-overpriced.  Epona (both the winery and the virtual wine shop) focuses on making/finding good wines at lower prices, and so we hope we're well-positioned for these trends. Three Epona wines just won Double Gold, Silver, and Silver at the state's-best Seattle Wine Awards. And of course we're one of the most-sustainable "Green" wineries in the country, with modern grape varieties that are grown organically and never need spray or netting, that don't see fruit having to be trucked over the mountains, to get wine to consumers. And we are 100% powered by solar energy. You just cant get more "Green" than that!


Sunday, June 9, 2019

A sad day-Robert Parker retires

Read about it here.

Parker was any lawyer's success story-he had a passion for wine and used it to "escape" the stressful, and often-unrewarding legal profession. He popularized the 100 point rating scale, and the concept that critics must be neutral and honest.  He was one of my idols in wine reviewing. I came to understand later (perhaps as his own taste preferences changed) that his high rankings didn't correlate well to wines I liked, but that is not a knock on him--we all must use our own perceptions to honestly state what we think. Everyone's palate and preferences are different.

Kudos to Robert Parker!


Wine and Your Health: Getting Real

 Here are two articles on wine and our health: 1. First article : Grapes are a superfood that lower bad chloresterol. Many of their healthy ...