Good little surprise of a wine

One thing that is a perk of owning your own distribution company is that you get to try a lot of wine. You also get to know lots of people that have great ideas of products that you have never tried. When I was placing an order with one of my suppliers, I took their word on how good a particular wine is. I didn't order much of it, just to be safe. Let it suffice to say that I will be ordering more of the 2008 Ardevol "Anjoli" wine from Priorat.

If you aren't familiar with Priorat, you should acquaint yourself. Located in eastern Spain, just a touch southwest of Barcelona, this is quickly becoming an area that produces some of the best wines Spain has to offer. It is located essentially up on a mountainous plateau, and is extremely hard to get to. The soil is really poor, and the grapes get sun-soaked, which results in really good, ripe, hearty wine.

This particular wine is made of 40% each of Garnacha and Cabernet Sauvignon, with the remaining 20% being split between merlot and syrah. The nose is that of wonderful cassis, blackberry, and perfume. After being open a while, some raspberry and raw meat notes come into the glass. Put another way, this is a kick-ass red that is well worth the $24.99 retail pricetag.

You can buy this gem of a wine at Lukas, Kayas, and Farmhaus. Buy it, drink it, enjoy it, repeat.

Cheers!

For Heaven's Sake, Support the Little Guys

If there is one thing that I have learned about this debacle with the name of my company, it's that big companies simply don't care about you. Seriously. They are more concerned with protecting their image than providing you with the service and quality that you deserve for your hard-earned cash. Instead of simply picking up the phone and calling me, they sent a letter that contained the following script:

"Your use of the same name creates confusion to the general public including wine customers throughout the world and improperly diverts customers to your company and website..."

Whoa! Throughout the world? I had no idea I was such a media magnate. Never mind the fact that my company only has three people in it. Never mind the fact that the "general public" rarely sees the name of the distributor that brings the wine they drink to the store or restaurant. Never mind the fact that they produce a product, and I provide a service.

That being said, look at other places you do business with. When was the last time you said "Man, I really just had a killer meal at Applebee's"? When was the last time you said "Wow, that person at Wal-Mart really went out of their way to get me the exact product I need"? How about "Dude, you wouldn't believe the folks at Jiffy Lube- they found three things wrong with my car, and just fixed them for free!"?

What I'm saying folks is this- support the little guys. You always have a choice. Support the restaurant, winery, mechanic, ice-cream shop, farmer's market, or deli that is independently owned. Remember that all of those small businesses you drive by on a daily basis were started by someone who had the guts to take a risk, borrow some money, and hang it all out there. You will meet some amazing people along the way as you talk to them about their businesses. Sure, it will cost you more, but you will be enriching your own life, as well as those who will really make an impact in this economy.

Off of my soapbox now.

Cheers.

Harsha Rules

On Monday, I announced that we would be calling the company "Savor Fine Wines". I was wrong. After looking into it, there are just too many companies out there with Savor in the title for us to be comfortable calling ourselves that. Not to mention, I guess there used to be a restaurant here in STL with that name, that wasn't very well received.

So, we are going with the safe play, and calling the company Harsha Wines, llc. Sorry to the kind young lady that thought she won the contest- we just won't be able to use the name you suggested. Find me around town, I'll buy you a beer or three.

So, even though the name isn't legally changed yet, feel free to follow us on twitter- @HarshaWines

Thank you again for reading my scribble.

Cheers,

Kyle

Onward and upward

I must say that the naming contest went splendidly well. I got tons of submissions via email, text, twitter, facebook, and phone calls. Here is a list of most of them:

Revelation (submitted by lots of people. Unfortunately, the same company also makes a wine called Revelation. No need to go through this again.)

Imbibe

Revel

Small Time Wines

Humble Wines

Pivotal Wines

Manifest

Essential Wines

Epiphan

Epinafia

Epiphanea

Mareh (Hebrew word for Theophany)

Burning Bush wines

Purah (Hebrew word for Wine Press)

Shamgar (I loved this one- the Mrs didn't. Shamgar was a guy that slew 600 philistines with an ox goad in the book of Judges)

Sip

Swirl

Harsha Wine Co (the safe bet)

....and several others.

However, I think we're going to go with a suggestion that fits our personality as a company-

Savor Fine Wine Company

What do you all think?

Contest- help us in our struggle against big business

Today has been interesting. This morning, I got a letter from a law firm stating that I have 14 days to "Cease and Desist" with any business use of the words "Epiphany Wines". You see, there is a big company out there- I won't name them- that bottles a wine using the same first word as my name. Evidently, they also own the trademark on the word "Epiphany". They feel that some customer somewhere in Missouri might get confused that my company (whom the general public rarely even hears the name of) is the same company that bottles the wine.

Never mind the fact that we are a wholesale distributor, and they are producing a wine label, and the two companies will never step on each other's toes.

So, I have a couple of choices- I can fight this, go to court, and most likely win. I can see if they will play nice in the sandbox, and ignore my lowly little three person operation. Or, I can change the name of the company. Frankly, I don't have the cash to spend on a lawsuit in Federal court, regardless of the fact that I would probably win because I'm not infringing on anyone's trademark. Because the winery in question is so big, I doubt they will play nice. So, I must change the name of my company.

Here's the contest- If you can email me a name for the new company by 6 PM on Sunday, and we end up using it, Jeff Stettner (owner of 33 wine bar, and champion of all things small business related) has said that he will give you a 12-bottle case of wine of his choosing (read: From My Company) for $1.

That's right folks- Name a Company, win wine for a buck.

My email is kyle@epiphanywines.com and I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

Peace.

"Wine Blocked" by Dick Vermeil

Mom, cover your eyes. In today's vernacular, there is the term "cock-blocked". This is when a guy is hitting on a girl, then someone else swoops in and ruins his chances. Well, yesterday I coined a new term- Wine Blocked.

I was at an account that I hadn't called on since working for my previous employer. The buyer was tied up with a customer for quite a while, which is understandable. While waiting, I got to talking to another wine rep that was at the store, and he told me that Dick Vermeil was about to come in to show his wines to the buyer. He knew that I was in a bit of a hurry, and said that I could go first.

When the buyer was done flirting, I mean working, with the customer, he and I started talking about the new company, and when I should come by. He then asked if I had wines with me to taste. Being the wicked good salesman that I am, of course I did. I answered in the affirmative, and leaned down to grab my bag and pull out samples. At precisely the moment I grabbed my wares, who should walk in the door but Superbowl XXXIV winning coach-now-wine guy, Dick Vermeil (I guess we all thought it was some other guy, or a joke). The buyer looked at me and said "Well, Dick's here. You can either hang out and wait until we are done, or come back another day."

I was "wine blocked"!!!

But it couldn't have happened by a nicer guy. Mr Vermeil was very pleasant, introduced himself to me, took my business card, and I walked out the door.

I have no idea if his wine is any good, but any guy whom has coached my KC Chiefs is okay in my book. Go buy a bottle, and report back to me.

I also want to give a shout out to my new blogger-friend Michelle. She writes Buttermilk Grosses Me Out, a great little food blog. My dad and I were sitting at Sanctuaria having delicious cocktails and tapas yesterday, and Michelle came up and introduced herself. Check her blog out, it's good!

Cheers, go drink some of my wines.

Let the craziness ensue...

Yesterday we held the Launch Party for Epiphany wines at Atomic Cowboy in the Grove. It was an amazing event! I really want to thank my family, friends, and customers for showing their support. I hope everyone had fun. I also want to acknowledge the following businesses for having people there.

Atomic Cowboy (of course)

33 wine bar

Niche

Robust

Sage

Copia

Farmhaus

Mom's Originals

STLWinegirl

STLHops.com

STLBites.com

Wine Chateau

Sasha's Wine Bar

Eclipse (had dinner there- amazing effort by Wes!)

Pinnacle Imports

Major Brands

Araka

Brasserie by Niche

Cafe Provencale

Ernesto's

...If I forgot to list your organization, I apologize- I'm tired. Please let me know, and I will amend the list.

Cheers, and have a great, hot, sweltering day!