We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Venecia Loper. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Venecia below.

Venecia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

Going from Idea to Execution

I always had a passion for entertaining at home; theme parties, girls night in, you name it. I was also a collector of decorative wine glasses, wine bottle holders and incorporated them with my parties. One year, my childhood girlfriend returned to Delaware from Europe. She expanded my palate to some of her favorite wines from Germany, Spain, Italy, and other surrounding countries through her travels while living in Europe.

Afterwards, I fell more in love with wine and engaged myself in more wine festivals, hosting dinner parties and wine tastings. In addition, I would buy wine accessories to create an experience for my guests!

I wanted to be in the wine industry in some way, but didn’t know how. I found my niche selling wine accessories with Vinosoree Wine Accessories in 2018. In the process of researching the wine industry, I pursued an education and received an Intermediated Wine Certification from the International Sommelier Guild at the end of 2019.

At this point, I fell in love with the process of making wine, but how do I get the experience in wine making? I researched again and found The Grape Finale in New Jersey. They provided a unique opportunity for customers to have hands on experience in making wine. This was very challenging, as the entire wine making process was during the pandemic, but private and small group settings provided me with the experience I needed.

Also in 2020, I built an environment to start making wine at home and enjoyed the hobby very much, but was it really a hobby or my new calling… I spent all of 2020 and into 2021 making wine from home and sharing with family and friends. I would name the wines after salutations or words of endearment with fun label designs. It was from this process that Venecia Green Cellars began.

April 2021, I found out my grandmother made homemade wines, I knew the path was paved out for me. My dream was to have a tasting room, but quickly found out funding to start a tasting room would be costly. I pivoted my ideal of having a tasting room, modified by business plan and reached out to the custom crush winery I researched. It was at that time I purchased two barrels (2019 Proprietary Red Blend & 2021 Pinot Grigio) which started my journey of Evernette Wines.

May 2021 my birthday month, I started the birthday celebration with a trip to Napa, California! The day was planned for a blend session for the 2019 Proprietary Red Blend. Two girlfriends traveled with me and contributed to the final decision of the red blend wine.

At the end of May, I visited family in Buffalo to celebrate my great aunt Earle birthday (Evernette’s younger sister). During this time the family reminisced about old times in Virginia. I asked my family questions about my grandmother on what types of wine she made and how she made them. After they filled me up with stories, right then and there, I decided to name the 2019 Proprietary Red Blend after my grandmother, Lissy (nickname).

Within the next couple months, working closely with J.Janae Design Co. on the wine label, branding, logo and the romantic copy for the back label. In addition, I selected the packaging, such as, bottle type, cork branding and capsule color with the winery.

Once everything was finalized in August, the months of September and October started with bottling of Lissy 2019 Proprietary Red Blend and the start of the Evernette Wines website. In search of a photographer I met Shakria Hunt of Shakria Hunt Creative Studio where she produced photographs of headshots for me.

Also in October, I met India Sage a brand communication strategist. She and her team worked wonders taking the brand and marketing strategy to a new level, which continued into November with the collaboration with Shakira Hunt and Alexander J creating a wonderful scene for the lifestyle and product photo shoot.

Continuing into November, we launched Evernette Wines website, kicked off our holiday launch special for Thanksgiving and into December for the holidays. While working on the launch of Evernette Wines I continued hosting events, private tastings and collaborating with other creatives.

In January 2022, instead of traveling to Napa, California for the Pinot Grigio blend session, the winery crafted and sent four samples based on my wine profile. I invited my girlfriends over for a tasting, prepared complementary food pairings. A perfect girls night in! By using the five S’s (see, swirl, sniff, sip and savor) we were sure sample B was the winner! Once the decision was made unanimously, we opened the blind envelope to see the results of our selection.

Spending summers as a child in Aylett, Virginia I remembered distinct smells and wanted to capture them in a bottle and sample B was it, the 2021 Pinot Grigio was my reminiscing moments in a bottle.

The label design captured a modern/contemporary look, with clean lines and showcase the brand colors and logo. The romance copy, which is the back label information, is where I continued the reminiscing moments of Evernette, my grandmother. Our 2021 Pinot Grigio launched in May 2022 right before my 50th birthday.

To date, I’m blessed with opportunities to participate in large events, private tastings, teaching my craft that I love and sharing my story.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

While our wines are available to all palates, our focus are wine drinkers who want to explore or expand their palate. For example, our 2021 Pinot Grigio is crafted to challenge wine drinkers who lean towards sweet or semi-sweet wines and are willing to experience a dry wine with some residual sugar but also benefit less acidity.

Same for our 2019 Lissy Proprietary Red Blend, it is a composition of four grape varietals, making this wine a fun experience to explore identifying the aromas and flavors with or without food pairing.

What sets our brand apart, I have a story to tell about my history. About my love for wine/wine making and finding out a connection with my grandmother and wine. It’s rooted in love, culture and tradition. I tell a story with each release, taking our customers on a journey as our brand mature.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

April 2021, I found out my grandmother made homemade wines, I knew the path was paved out for me. My dream was to have a tasting room, but quickly found out funding to start a tasting room would be costly. I pivoted my ideal of having a tasting room, modified by business plan and reached out to the custom crush winery I researched. It was at that time I purchased two barrels (2019 Proprietary Red Blend & 2021 Pinot Grigio) which started my journey of Evernette Wines.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The lesson I had to unlearn was being too independent. I grew up with a military dad, so what I learned as an adolescent was, no one else is going to do it for you, you have to do it yourself. My dad taught my sister and I many things and never saw my dad ask for help. It was like watching a superhero. It led me to stick to this notion. In my opinion asking for help would seem like a burden or a sign I couldn’t do the task.

Life presents stressful situations and often times I would refuse to ask for help and because I refused to ask for help I struggled. I had to allow myself to be vulnerable, check myself when I have life stressors, and allow others to help and ask for help.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://evernettewines.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evernettewines/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evernettewines

Image Credits
Photographer: Shakira Hunt Creative Studio Branding: India Sage (India Sage Media Agency)