From One Barrel of Gewurztraminer to over 600 Cases of Wine in 7 Years - Everyday Wine Podcast Episode 01

Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Wine Podcast. Today we’ll be sitting down with Miguel Lepe, the owner and winemaker of Lepe Cellars who has been making wine in Monterey County for over 10 years. Lepe Cellars is a winery that focuses on making wine from Monterey grapes, and they recently opened their tasting room in downtown Carmel by the Sea. Lepe Cellars wines are characterized by their balanced, right fruit, and food friendly wines. 

In this episode, Miguel shares with us how his relationship with wines began and his experience in creating and building a wine brand in Monterey County. Make sure to stay tuned until the end to know his top 3 wine picks and food pairings! 

 

[00:00 - 04:31] Opening Segment 

  • I introduce our guest for today

  • Miguel talks about how he fell in love with wine

[04:31 - 15:42] Getting to Know About Lepe Cellars

  • Miguel shares about how Lepe Cellars started

  • The concept behind the tasting room at Carmel by the Sea 

  • Monterey County as a great location for wines

  • Miguel talks about his wine portfolio

  • Working with small boutique vineyards

    1. Exploring new vineyards

    2. Always open to learning 

  • Creating unique and great quality wines

  •  Join my wine club and connect with other wine lovers! 

  • See link below

[15:43 - 24:46] Building a Good Wine Brand

  • The importance of sharing your story and engaging with customers 

  • Why Miguel is passionate about wine 

  • Wines and food

  • The future of wine for Miguel 

  • Separating personal taste and the market’s preference 

  • Finding opportunities to give back through wine

[24:47 - 31:00] Wine Picks for the Month

  • Miguel shares his top 3 picks

  • Food pairings for the 3 wines

  • Favorite book about wine

  • Favorite wine for fun

  • Favorite pairing 

  • Final words 



Tweetable Quotes:

“Wine quality definitely starts in the vineyard.” - Miguel Lepe 

“Building that connection between the customer and the brand I think really helps in terms of establishing yourself, building a reputation, and your brand's reputation.” - Miguel Lepe 

“Regardless of what industry you're in, what your background is, food and wine just has a way of just connecting people together.” - Miguel Lepe 



Connect with Miguel on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or checkout his website at www.lepecellars.com/.

 

Let’s continue the Everyday Wine Conversations and connect with me through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or feel free to shoot me an email at kris@krislevy.co. You can also check out my website at ​www.​klevywineco.com.

 

TELL US WHAT YOU THINK! LEAVE A REVIEW + help us get the word out there! Share this podcast to someone who wants to join the wine conversations. Go ahead and take a screenshot, share this to your stories, and tag me on Instagram! 

 

JOIN THE CLUB through this link and handpick wines every month, from up and coming wineries, winemaker owned brands and wineries with unique stories while supporting those wineries directly. You can also join our Facebook Group to connect with other wine lovers, get special tips and tricks, and take your wine knowledge to a whole new level.

Introduction

You’re listening to the Everyday Wine Podcast where we take an everyday approach to the complex and fascinating world of wine. Tune in every week to hear top stories from up and coming winemakers, sommelier, tastemakers and learn how you can create a great experience for you and your friends around wine. We’re going to have some fun, and so will you. This is Everyday Wine, and this is your host, Kris Levy.

Kris Levy 00:32

Hey, everybody, Kris Levy back here again. And today we’ve got Miguel Lepe, of Lepe Cellars who is the owner and winemaker of Lepe Cellars. He has been making wine in Monterey County for over 10 years Lepe Cellars is a winery that focuses on making wine from Monterey grapes. And they recently opened their tasting room in downtown Carmel by the Sea. Lepe Cellars wines are characterized by their balance, right fruit and food friendly wines. So thanks so much for hopping on. Today we go I’ve really been looking forward to this really excited to have you and more importantly, really excited to be able to feature your wines in Kris’s Wine Club this month. So welcome to the show.

Miguel Lepe 01:09

Hey, well, thank you so much for having me really excited to share my wines and sharing my story and get to know all of you.


Kris Levy 01:15

Yeah. Is there anything I missed on your bio, anything that you want to add about either your experience in wine so far, your winemaking style or Lepe Cellars?


Miguel Lepe 01:24

Man really, I think you pretty much nailed it. But just a quick background about where I began was, I guess I got my start here in Monterey in terms of my actual brand, but I worked all over California and South America. So you know, again, a lot of experience before starting my own brand about seven years ago.


Kris Levy 01:42

Yeah, that’s awesome in mostly kind of dig more into that. So kind of guess turning back the clock a little bit, what first got you into wine, you know, not as a winemaker. But you know, enjoying wine, you know, wanting to learn more about wine, what made you kind of make that leap.


Miguel Lepe 01:58

So what really got me interested in wine was taking tours around the vineyards during the harvest. This was when I first started, I took it up in your production class, and we got to take these field trips to the local wineries or Monterey. And that’s where I saw production for the very first time, I had no clue what any of that was, you know, I just saw the crews out on the vineyard picking saw the cellar crews crushing the grapes do stemming, they’re doing a punch downs pump overs. I remember this, you know, smelling the brand new French oak barrels, and just the smells of fermentation just is what really got me, you know, more interested. And it just kept pulling me further and further. And I just want to learn more about it. Mainly because I love working with my hands really just in just that kind of type of person. I love being outdoors. I love being outside, like I love gardening and I love crafting things. And so I think all of this like seeing it from a wine production standpoint just kind of really drew me in. So I actually found out you could major in wine production to become a winemaker. And so when I found that out, I completely changed my entire career. Because before I was just going to do business, general business, I had no idea what else to do with my life, but figured you could have a good career. And no, you know, I can pretty much live anywhere in the world. But this one class literally changed my entire career path. And so I was really happy to take that leap forward and just focus the rest of my life on making wine. I became really passionate about this industry. And so I wanted to work for all the top producers all the well known producers, so I just kept bouncing around and just trying to learn as much as I can. And I love that I love getting my hands dirty. I love pushing the grapes, I love working with the barrels, and just really crafting something that grew out on the vine and you know, seeing that from every step of the process from the buy all the way to the bottle, you’re never gonna stop learning every year you learn something new every day, learn something new, you’re gonna learn something new from other winemakers, other people in the industry. So that’s what I love about it is just you’re always learning.



Kris Levy 04:19

Yeah. And you clearly took what you had been learning and you decided to take a chance take a risk. So what was kind of the impetus for starting my Lepe Cellars? And how did that come about?



Miguel Lepe 04:30

You know, initially, I started with a small batch of Gewurztraminer, just one barrel. And that was actually before I had plans to start a brand I just, I just wanted to make mine and and just have given my own twist to it. And then the next year I made a little more, I made Chardonnay and that was only two barrels. And again, it was just kind of for fun. And then the following year, it’s like okay, let’s make a wine. Let’;s actually go through the process of creating a brand, an LLC trying to get your wine into some local wine shops, restaurants and start kind of like building up your brand your reputation. I kind of had a little push to get that going. Because I was a young guy I was 25 when all this was happening, and I had no idea that I was ever going to have my own brand, my own business, my own logo that goes out. Figgy cellars, Peter fig is the one that kind of pushed me to you know, keep moving forward, like actually grow this, you know, he allowed me to use his winery, this facility, all of his equipment just kind of helped me continue to grow. And it was because of him that I was able to kickstart my brand but bestsellers, which unofficially started in 2013. Legally 2015 is on we actually started. But yeah, it’s been growing every year ever since that first batch, it's been doubling. And we have about 600 cases of mixed between petite verdot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, Sirah, then we’ll be adding on some more varieties this year, like Merlot. So yeah, it’s growing every year. And it’s been doing very well.


Kris Levy 06:14

Yeah, yeah, no, it clearly has. And it’s definitely been fun to watch your brand grow, especially in the last year, it seems like things have really, really taken off for you. And I think one of those things was getting to open up your own tasting room in Carmel by the sea. I think that was just amazing. So walk us through that. How did you kind of come up with the concept for your tasting room and what made you want to pull the trigger in and open up shop.


Miguel Lepe 06:38

That’s being in the right place at the right time when this happened. When I heard that the previous tasting room that occupy that space was moving out, I immediately just went in and spoke to the landlord. And I happen to know the landlord, because I make his own personal batch of wine, or have that connection with. And so when I went to go talk to him about possibly moving in, and he’s like, Yeah, that’d be a great fit for the both of us. And as I make his personal line, I’m a small brand, you know, it just made sense. So, you know, we started talking about how soon I can move, and he said, as soon as you’re ready to go, like, it’s all yours, you know, he’s gonna save it for me, even if it took a few months. But it was pretty much turnkey, I started talking, it was in late January. And by the end of February, I was already going through the entire process, you know, the legal aspect of it from the city and ABC. And we spent just about a month or two, just kind of setting it up getting it ready POS system inventory, wine club, setting everything up. And mid April, we were ready to go. We had our grand opening, and it was a huge hit. And so we’re very fortunate to have that location because we are on a very excellent Street, a busy street surrounded by other great wineries, excellent restaurants, amazing shops. So we’re in a great spot to, you know, we’re very fortunate to be in that location. I think Carmel by the sea does a great job of kind of bringing together all these different elements of not just Carmel and you know, Monterey, but kind of Monterey County in general.


Kris

I’d love to kind of, you know, a lot of our listeners, they probably haven’t been to Monterey. Maybe they’ve tasted in Monterey once before. But what makes Monterey, and what makes Monterey fruit and Monterey grapes, unique?


Miguel Lepe

Monterey grapes, and how’s that come out? And the style is one that you’ll find in the area. So I think Monterey is definitely a very unique region in comparison to any other region. And in California, for sure people don’t realize is how huge is the County. It’s a huge region and there’s so many microclimates, generally speaking, and most people would think Monterey as Pinot Noir and Chardonnay is like the lighter style wines, but what they don’t realize is it’s actually really hot here. You know, you get more inland, or, you know, especially where I get my red grapes from which are closer down to Paso Robles and it gets hot down there. You know, we’re growing Cabernet, Petite Verdot, all those bigger, bolder reds. Just because it is Paso Robles climate, even though you’re in the Monterey County you know, most of Monterey County is not coastal all most of the vineyards are inland, or it’s a lot hotter, warmer, sunnier, we still get the cooling effect from the ocean for Monterey Bay is kind of coming down and seen as Valley. And that does help, you know, retain that really good acidity that you need for structure and balance and why but we’re also we also have enough heat days where we can reach those get those ripe flavors and our styles. So I think that’s what makes Monterey really unique is the different microclimates you can have anywhere from really hard to really cool and everything in between. So we can grow pretty much any style or any variety of grapes out here.


Kris Levy 09:58

Yeah. I’ve really enjoyed seeing your portfolio grow and expand and seeing the different wines that you’ve added over the past year or two. So what have you focused on the past? I know you talked a little bit about you know, you started out with Gewürztraminer and yeah ensure and everything but you know recently would you add to the portfolio and how did you go about sourcing those grapes and what makes you in your opinion a good vineyard to get grapes from?


Miguel Lepe 10:24

Well, I like working with small boutique vineyards so some of the vineyards that I work with I’ll take everything out of the pros on there. So for example the petite verdot and the merlot that I’ll be making out just be taking the whole thing it’s so there’s very small boutique, they’re very focused on quality and I think that the vineyard does speaks for itself that’s kind of my flagship wine and people have been really enjoyed it and you won’t find that specific petite verdot in anywhere else. So yeah, I like to explore new vineyards, I’m always adding something new to the lineup always have my my most popular wines like petite verot and chardonnay. But I’ll always be kind of exploring and see what else is out there. I think that’s just the winemaker, me I like to dabble in different styles, different methods, I like to pick other winemakers brains and see what they’re doing. You know, just like I said before, like they’re always learning. So that’s something to look forward to is that we’ll always have new wines available. So and the one that we just released recently was our SLH, Pinot Noir from McIntyre’s estate vineyard, still young wine but very, very popular. It’s been tasting very well has a really, really nice, bright acidity, really bright, fresh, free, like raspberry cherries just kind of has that kind of profile. So it’s really luscious. It’s rich, it does have minimal oak on it, but people have been loving, it’s been designed pretty well.

Kris Levy 11:52

Yeah, I first got exposed to SLH or Santa Lucia Higlands Pinot Noir when I first moved here to Monterey a few years back and really didn’t understand kind of what the region was constituted of. And you know, what made that or that fruit? They’re different than others. What is it? You know, how does Santa Lucia Islands Pinot Noir, especially in you know, of course, they’ve got good Chardonnay there. But what makes their fruit so unique and different than a lot of other places that Pinot Noir comes from?

Miguel Lepe 12:25

That’s SLH in particular, elevation also gets a little cooler as you get further inland, you guys might get some degree days. So it’s actually you need balance between kind of reach those perfect days in a row. And I think that’s what escalates really has, that we do have a cooling effect in the morning from the ocean breeze kind of blowing through. But again, late morning that’s on its outshining like right now it’s shining, it’s actually really warming. So yeah, I think that’s what makes really, really unique in terms of having that balance between heat and cold.

Kris Levy 13:03

Yeah, definitely talking about uniqueness. You know, I think there’s a healthy discussion and debate about you know, what makes a wine not just unique, but really a great wine, you know, good value and you’re able to produce a great product. Some people would say it starts in the vineyard, some people would say it’s the winemaker and his approach in the barrel room. And some people would say it’s the oak or some people will say it’s aging the wine, what makes you know, a good wine, in your opinion out of the process? And how do you incorporate that into how you make your wines.

Miguel Lepe 13:35

It definitely starts in the vineyard. I think anyone knows you got to start with high quality grapes. Yeah, there are things that you can do in the winery in terms of your your cooperage that use a type of oak having a good mixture of different cooperage, you know, different toast levels, just kind of adds to your spice rack, you know, when it comes time to blending, you definitely want to barrel select, because each is gonna taste is very different. So you might not want to add it all together. You might want to be a little bit this a little bit of that. And yeah, there’s some tricks that winemakers can use you know, maybe you want to do a hot fermentation and again, Mark extraction, maybe you want to do a colder fermentation for last extraction, which is what I did for my pinot I didn’t want it to be overly extracted I wanted this to be are delicate and show off more the bright fresh fruits just to kind of have a different twist on slh pinot so yeah, there’s a lot of things I can do. But definitely the the quality starts in the vineyard.

Kris Levy 14:34

Yeah. And continuing with that. What do you think makes a good wine brand? I mean, obviously, you need you need a good product, right? You need a good bottle of wine, but a lot of people you and I both know this, a lot of people go to wine store and they buy wine based off the label. And how do you go about differentiating yourself from the rest of the market, building a good brand with a good story and creating something that you know hopefully allows you to reach new people.

Miguel Lepe 15:42

Right. It’s a tricky question, I think you build a good brand. Oh, yeah, like I said, you got to have a good product, you have to enjoy the wine. I think what really helps, too, is just engage with your customers engage with your followers, your guests, anybody, you know, you want to get out there, you want to share your story. They want people to know what you’re doing, you know, they want to know, especially I think nowadays people want to know how their, you know, their wines are made, they’re really curious. So sharing all that information with them. And building that connection between the customer and the brand, I think really helps in terms of establishing yourself building a reputation and your brand’s reputation, and just kind of really focusing on getting out there and just, you know, engaging with whoever you can talk about your brand, talking about what you’re doing, what your mission is, what your passion is. And you know, just like we are today Why? Why am I passionate about what I do? Why do I continue doing what I’m doing? You know, I want to share my story. And I think I think that’s what people want to hear too is, you know, say the one says a glass of wine, but they also want to talk to the producer, the winemaker or the owner.

Kris Levy 16:49

Yeah, definitely. And I think a big part of that, too, is how wine brings people together, especially around food. So what do you I guess? How do you envision your wines being used with food and kind of those sorts of environments create an atmosphere where people can really gather?

Miguel Lepe 17:07

Well, I like to make food friendly wines for sure. So in balance, you know, right acidity, but it’s all set out with riper flavors, you know, just kind of, you know, fulfill that entire, like the full spectrum of just the wines profile from start to finish, well rounded, and also like having variety. So you know, I have right now seven different wines, but we’ll be adding more. So there’s always going to be a wine for every occasion. So yeah, that’s kind of what my focus is make those food friendly wines. And right now, we’re just selling through the tasting room. So we’re not in too many places. Right now. We’re hoping to expand our portfolio where we can be in more restaurants, maybe do winemaker dinners, more food events, we will be increasing our our events in the tasting room. So hopefully we can bring in caterers and do food pairings. I think our wines will show very well and also provide a lot of different variety.

Kris Levy 18:03

Yeah, that’s the one thing I will say I really appreciate about your portfolio is, you know, you’ve got you say, yeah, seven wines. Now I see there’s wines with more wines in than wines with less ones than that. But I think with those 6 or 7 or 8 wines you got, you really have a diverse portfolio that can kind of pair with different, you know, events or different foods or you know, different moments. And then I really respect that in a wine brand or a winemaker, when you have kind of a portfolio that can do that.

Miguel Lepe 18:32

Yeah, for sure. And each wine is different, you know, due to anything, it’s all it’s a variety, its own style. So yeah, they’re all very unique in their own way.

Kris Levy 18:42

Definitely looking out into the future. Where do you see the market going? You know, as far as wine and the consumer and types of wines, people are gonna be interested in, you know, formats. What’s kind of your your market outlook for the next two to three years,

Miguel Lepe 18:56

I think people are looking for, at least from what I’ve seen is not overly extracted wine. So stepping away from the high alcohol heavy. Oh, I think they want something a little leaner a little brighter, so that they can enjoy during any occasion. So I think that’s where the markets going. At least that’s what I’ve noticed. That works out great for me too, because I enjoy that style as well.

Kris Levy 19:22

Yeah, I was asked about that because I think a lot of winemakers sometimes have a challenge separating their tastes and their likes from that of their their ions or their customers. How do you kind of balance those two things when when you become a winemaker?

Miguel Lepe 19:36

Yeah, that does get tricky and at some point, you have to hire staff. I spent most of my days at the winery, making wine and just overseeing the production and but before I used to do it all I used to in the day, I’d go haul cases to whoever I’m selling wine to, and I do all my own marketing and my sales and now with the tasting room had to hire staff to do that, and especially twice in sales and marketing, you know, and they’ve been doing amazing and a great job. So luckily, I’m very fortunate to have a very, very good team that can take on the task. I’m not so good. You know, you definitely have to understand where your weaknesses are, and, you know, hire the right people to kind of make up for that.

Kris Levy 20:20

Yeah, talking about that. I think one of the cool things that y’all have done in the past year, were supporting nonprofits, what are some of the initiatives that y’all have done with nonprofits and using wine sales to help support some of those organizations?

Miguel Lepe 20:36

Yeah, so were always trying to do what we can to give back. I’ve had a lot of help myself, just, you know, being a young winemaker just trying to make it and I understand what that feels like. And I’m very thankful for all the help that I’ve done, because I could not have done this alone. So many people are the sellers. What it means is wineries facility for growers giving me free, great Florida, or somebody is always helping me out. And so that’s why I’ve always wanted to do something where I can give back. So one of the things that I did, this past year was created another brand called unity through wines. And the idea behind their wine is wine, United States all agreements, regardless of what industry you’re in, what your background is, food, and wine just has a way of just connecting people together. And I want to be able to do that I want people to feel like, we can all be part of something great, we can all help each other out, you know, to be successful and move forward with our lives. If you’re passionate about a specific industry career. And what we do with the through wine is and it’s going to change every year. But this year, we’ve actually chosen the organization called Color of Change, and they fight against any sort of racial injustice, you do find that in the wine industry, it is white dominated, there’s a lot of barriers, most of the people in the vineyards, so at least probably in more than 90%. They’re all Mexican or Hispanic of some sort, but they have a barrier, they’re very skilled people that they won’t be able to move forward, they won’t be able to grow in that career, they’re going to be stuck picking grapes. And so I want to be able to provide an outlet for them, I broke the barrier. So no, I’m already I can help them achieve their goal. If they’re passionate about what they’re doing, then that’s what I want to do, I want to be able to give back to them. Because those people aren’t helping me. They’re the ones picking grapes. So I want to do something, help them to know I can’t do this industry without that will walk out the door one day, who’s gonna pick my grapes, it’s hard work, it’s really tough work. And I think they’re under appreciated. You know, people don’t understand how hard it is to be out in the vineyard, or to do any of that kind of work. So I want to be able to offer something where they can get their foot in the door, be able to continue to grow. And so yeah, we every year, we change the organization that we donate to.

Kris Levy 23:24

That’s awesome. I applaud you for you know, picking the cause that you’re passionate about and find a way to, to give back especially with your business and wine that’s really important. So I guess kind of onto the fun stuff. So talking about wine, talking about your new releases, and talking about wines that are gonna be featured this month in Kris’s Wine Club. I would love to run through the three wines we’ve got picked out this month and kind of talk about each of them real quick and give people a few tasting notes as they hopefully enjoy their wines when they get to taste them.

Miguel Lepe 24:00

Yeah, so the three wines that we have just released. Our vermentino are 2020 vermentino, from Cedar lane vineyard and Arroyo Secco. And that’s a really fun wine. It’s super bright, energetic, just a lot of stone fruit characters mineral tones. Yeah, it’s just a really bright refreshing wine. It’s a great starter for sure. And that one’s been a huge hit, especially during the summer months. Then the other wines that we have mentioned before the SLH Pinot Noir for McIntyre’s Estates that’ll be a different style than probably what you mostly probably while you’re familiar with SLH, I was just trying to do something a little different compared to the other wineries just to have a different take on what SLH is capable of. So like I said, it was cold fermentation so more of that bright fresh red fruit cherries very mouthwatering, really delicious and still very lush at the same time. Then, our other one is our 2019 Syrah. That’s here in a real estate goes well And that has about 25% new French oak, the very classics Syrah nice, rich velvety texture, but still not the city to kind of balance the those darker flavors out. But Stacy an excellent right now that said, plenty of bottle aging. And that’s definitely one to change a glass of.

Kris Levy 25:22

Yeah, no, I was really excited to see your new releases, and especially excited to get kind of a first chance to get those out to our customers. And so, you know, I think not a lot of people are going to be familiar with with vermentino. Can you kind of go into that for a brief moment and talk about vermentino where it comes from and what made you decide to choose it.

Miguel Lepe 25:45

So vermentino is an Italian variety. And it’s kind of made in that same style. It’s generally that bright acidity refreshing, nice summer sipper, that’s all the vermentino that I’ve ever had have been long that style, a lot of minerality as well. I think that’s what makes vermentino super unique is the minerality. You know, it’s kind of hard to find that in your most common varieties. But the reason why I chose it was simply because every year I like to do something meal and I know the growers and they’re excellent growers, I work with them in the past. And when I heard that they had vermentino, I thought you know what, I’m going to give it a shot, I want to see what vermentino can do. And so I did and I’ve been very happy with it really excited with the style that it turned out to be. So we’ll definitely be adding that one to the lineup as well.

Kris Levy 26:34

Yeah, I love it. I can't wait to try each of these wines. And as far as the food goes, what are your favorite pairing for each of these wines?

Miguel Lepe 26:44

For the vermentino. I love the vj with it, just the classics of each and nothing crazy, just very traditional. And even just Guac and chips with sea salt sprinkled on top. You know like the simple stuff. It tastes really good with the vermentino I think the minerality and the saltiness every matino is known for it really matches well with that. For the Pinot because of its brighter style, Roast Chicken is really nice. I’ve done that a couple times already. And it’s just very excellent, nice roasted like juicy chicken, just simple, you know, some basic herbs on top, so that then for the Syrah, a little oak here for sure, but it’s only 25%. And that isn’t overwhelming. You know, reds or any sort of a steak would do well with it. But just kind of when it comes to steaks or any sort of dark meats, I like to be more minimalist, you know, just sprinkle of salt and pepper is all you need, really. And I think that’s a good pairing.

Kris Levy 27:46

This are all the love your take on wine and love talking about what’s coming down the pipe, kind of move along with things long and try wrap up here real quick.


Just a few quick questions. What is your favorite book on wine or wine book, if you will?

Miguel Lepe 28:01

Other than my nerdy winemaking books? I actually like wine folly, just because they have good general descriptions and information about pretty much any variety out there. Great food, pairing ideas, just a lot of like general information, which is really nice. So yeah, I’d say wine folly for sure.

Kris Levy 28:22

What is your favorite wine to drink for fun?

Miguel Lepe 28:28

For fun. It’s a tough one. You know, I’m always exploring Petite Verdot just you don’t see it often hard to find. There’s a few producers around here. But I’m always curious to see what other people are doing when I first made Petite Verdot for the same reason just to try something new in wine. And I really fell in love with it. And now it’s my flagship, you know, so I definitely want to specialize them deeper down. So I’m always trying to see what everyone else is doing.


Kris Levy 28:56

Last question, what’s your go to paring or a favorite for anything can be wine and food? Could be a wine we’ve already talked about or just anything in general?

Miguel Lepe 29:09

I just like the classics charcuterie board and nice balanced glass of wine. Really, you know, I like charcuterie just because there’s a mixture of different stuff. So you know, I like to have variety.


Kris Levy 29:21

Yeah, that’s great. Well, thanks so much for coming on. today. We go. Like I said, super excited to get your wines out this month to each of our members and excited to watch your brand grow and get some of those new wines released out and 2021 and beyond.


Miguel Lepe 29:38

Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to share my story and and to be part of your wine club and for all of you to try my wines.


Kris Levy 29:46

Yeah, what’s the best way for people to connect with you follow you or just learn more about what they buy your wine?


Miguel Lepe 29:53

You can definitely check us out on Instagram @lepecellars and then we also have more information on our website and lepecellars.com.


Kris Levy 30:03

Great. Yeah, we’ll definitely put those in the show notes for everybody so that way they can connect with you and learn more about your brand. Perfect. Well, thank you so much. Thanks for y’all have a good one.



A Word from our Sponsors:

If you're ready to get to handpick wines every month, from up and coming wineries, wine maker owned brands and wineries with unique stories while supporting those wineries directly, then you need to join Kris's Wine Club, which you can find at vinoshares.com/clubs. Get ready to take your Wine Experience online and become a wine hero. Just join our Facebook group, Everyday Wine where you can connect with other wine lovers get special tips and tricks and take your wine knowledge to a whole new level.



Final Thoughts

You've been listening to Everyday Wine with Kris Levy. Taking an everyday approach to the complex and fascinating world of wine. We hope you've enjoyed the show. We know we had fun, it's our passion to focus on how wine and food bring people together in everyday settings. Make sure to like, rate and review the show. And we'll be back soon. But in the meantime, keep up with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @TheRealKrisLevy. We'll see you next time. But remember, there's always time for a glass of wine.

Let’s Connect