visit us or go virtual?

We are a virtual winery and a real (physical) winery. We make all of the wines we sell, at our winery in Sacramento California, from locally grown organic grapes, and have two tasting rooms here in town.

But we are in many ways a virtual winery first. In the last year, we have hosted virtual wine tastings with over 40,000 people enjoying our wines in the comfort of their home, office, or really anywhere!

From our start, our goal has been to create a winery for everyone, not just traditional wine drinkers. E-commerce and virtual wine tasting is just one more way we allow everyone to enjoy our wines!

After launching his brands in 2019, Winemaker Kevin Luther finally quit his “day job” running wineries for other people. He rented a single roller door in an industrial lot in urban Sacramento, CA, his hometown and put his entire life savings into launching his brand from side project to proper business. The launch party for the new winery was set for March 28th, 2020.

On March 24th, the stay-at-home order for COVID was issued locally. On the verge of losing everything, Kevin & his brother Jerome (who runs the shipping department) called an “all team meeting” which meant the two of them sat down over a six pack of beer.

Kevin pulled out his list of 100+ ways to sell his wine. One idea was to make a “wine 6-pack” and another was to make wine tasting virtual. Combining these two ideas, Kevin quickly pivoted and announced that in lieu of a launch party, he and Jerome would deliver mini wine tasting 5-packs around Sacramento by bicycle, and would go Live to do a virtual wine tasting on Facebook & Youtube. The first 100 kits sold out in 24 hours after his social media post.

From there, the hockey-stick growth curve kicked in. By the third virtual tasting, over 30,000 people had watched their live videos. Interest in the kits & tastings blew up, and corporate interest in private Zoom tastings took off as well. Now, Kevin & his staff host 20 or more virtual group tastings weekly for everything from the general public, private events such as weddings & baby showers, non-profit fundraisers, team-building, staff happy hours, conferences, and VIP events.

Two Brands, One Winery

We are an urban- industrial micro-winery based in Sacramento, CA. Our wines are made in small batches by Winemaker Kevin Luther using organically grown grapes from local small farms. All of our wines are naturally & organically produced. For every bottle sold, we donate to local charities.

Voluptuary is our line of Reserve wines, while Lucid is our crowd-pleasing #1 best selling wines.

There are many smaller differences between the brands; Voluptuary tends to be more European in style, expressive of grape variety, vintage and terroir, and appeals to sommeliers and chefs more. Lucid tends to be more American in style, fruit-forward and simply delicious wines.

Winemaker Kevin Luther was drawn to winemaking due to its confluence of his passions for nature, agriculture, and craftsmanship.

Kevin Luther was born & raised in Sacramento California (where Voluptuary & Lucid Wines are made). He grew up amongst woodworkers (the family craft), farmers, gardeners & environmentalists (the family passions). When he discovered winemaking, he found a craft that combined his many influences, and fell in love

After earning his degree in Viticulture & Enology from the renowned UC Davis program, Kevin apprenticed around the world throughout his 20s to master the craft. He then returned to California and spent ten years building startups into successful wineries for other people, while also returning to school and obtaining a degree in Wine Business and a WSET diploma while launching his wine consulting business.

Finally, Kevin decided it was time to launch his own winery, and started Voluptuary Wines to focus on his passion for organic & experimental small-batch winemaking. After his first release quickly sold out, Kevin launched the sister brand Lucid Wines to bring his wine to a crowd-pleasing style.

Voluptuary & Lucid Wines are organically & naturally grown & produced.

We are often asked what this means. This means first of all that our wines are made from organically grown grapes, farmed under the same standards as any organic fruit or vegetable you might buy from a Farmer’s Market or health food store.

The wines are then fermented by indigenous (wild) & organic yeast. This means that our wines have no GMO yeast.

Our wines are then aged in oak barrels and other woods (cherry wood, maple, hickory, mesquite), blended and bottled.

All of our wines list the ingredients on the back: organically grown grapes, fermented by natural & organic yeast, aged in wood. Wine made simply, in the way it has been made since humans first discovered how to make wine!

These natural techniques express beautiful, natural flavors. We embrace the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (the admiration of the beauty of transience, aging, and imperfection) and the French concept of jolie-laide (unconventional beauty). Which is to say, embracing the natural beauty of a thing as it is. It's the anti-photoshopping, anti-Instagramming movement of the wine world.

Our organic & natural wines are sterile filtered and produced with impeccable craftsmanship, meaning that they are shelf-stable and will age beautifully.

Our wines mature and are ready to drink at a younger age than most mainstream wines. Therefore you can drink our wines immediately upon release and they will be at their peak. Our wines can age and will continue to evolve wonderfully for 3-5 years if you prefer aged characteristics in your wine. But we do find that most people prefer to drink the wines right away, perhaps squirrel away a bottle or two to age for the sake of comparison, and then come back and buy more :)

A Philosophical Note About Organic & Natural Wines

The natural & organic wine world is a little different from mainstream wines. We embrace the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi (the admiration of the beauty of transience, aging, and imperfection) and the French concept of jolie-laide (unconventional beauty). Which is to say, embracing the natural beauty of a thing as it is. It's the anti-photoshopping, anti-Instagramming movement of the wine world.

Our flagship product, our wine tasting kits, include 5 mini bottles of wine. Think of it like a wine 6-pack, variety pack style.

We offer a range of sizes. Our 50mL (2oz) size give you just under half a glass of wine of each of the 5 wines, and roughly 1/3 of a bottle of wine all told, and is our most popular for people wanting to do a tasting.

Our 100mL (4oz) size gives you just under a full glass of wine of each of the 5 wines, roughly 2/3 of a bottle of wine all told, and is our most popular size for more avid drinkers or if you are enjoying the wine with food, friends or just want a full glass of each!

Our 187mL (6.5oz) size gives you a quarter bottle of wine of each wine, and is the perfect size for our sparkling wine kit.

Whichever size you choose, our miniature wines are the perfect single-serving wine bottles, the wine tasting pack!

Give us a call or email us! (916) 384-0076 or jenna@lucidwinery.com