A Lucid Wine Tasting Experience in Downtown Sacramento

Lucid makes nontraditional blends available to taste at winery or in shippable tasting kits. Photo by Anastasia Murphy
Lucid makes nontraditional blends available to taste at winery or in shippable tasting kits. Photo by Anastasia Murphy

Lucid Winery

When the pandemic forced people inside their homes, winemaker Kevin Luther decided to bring wine tasting direct to the consumer. The virtual sniff, swirl, and sip experience offered through Lucid Winery was among the first in the country, making it an overnight success.

Kevin Luther, winemaker. Photo by Anastasia Murphy
Kevin Luther, winemaker. Photo by Anastasia Murphy

“We shipped about $6 million worth of wine tasting kits over three years,” shares Luther. “We’re licensed to ship all across the country, so that’s what we’ve been doing.” That success was due in part to the creative pairing experiences on offer, such as with music, movies, and even kama sutra. 

The model has since been imitated by numerous other companies nationwide, and Lucid has seen its ecommerce decrease to less than 30 percent of peak sales. This decrease in web activity has allowed Luther and his team to focus on the business they’d originally planned to launch in March 2020. “I finally have time to produce enough wine to sell,” says Luther. “When we were making the tasting kits, it was going so fast that I couldn’t make enough to sell.”

Jerome Luther enjoys a wine slushy. Photo by Anastasia Murphy
Jerome Luther enjoys a wine slushy. Photo by Anastasia Murphy

Alongside his business partner and brother, Jerome, Luther produces wine made from grapes grown organically and nearby. In creating nontraditional blends like a hibiscus-in fused wine, botanical spirits, and wine-beer hybrids, their focus is on making wine accessible to everyone. “Wine can be viewed as old, stuffy, and wealthy,” says Luther.

“My brother and I grew up in south Sacramento below the poverty line. I wanted to make wine accessible to more people with a winery that serves delicious wines in an inviting space.”

Kevin Luther
Kevin Luther pours a giant glass of wine. Photo by Anastasia Murphy
Kevin Luther pours a giant glass of wine. Photo by Anastasia Murphy

The tasting room is filled with hundreds of plants and books and is flooded with natural light, making for a space that embodies what Luther wanted to evoke with the name of his business. “We were first called Voluptuary, which means one who admires and appreciates a sensory experience,” notes Luther. “But people couldn’t spell it so we transitioned it to Lucid, which inspires the same tone and ideas.” 

Appreciating a sensory experience and natural environment is only achieved by “slowing down and taking a breath,” explains Luther. Having studied wildlife and fish at UC Davis, Luther is a self-described “hard core environmentalist” who cares deeply about nature. And that’s why Lucid has prioritized becoming organically certified. “We get lumped in a lot with natural wine, and we are in some ways, but we’re more focused on being organic,” he says.

Kevin and Jerome having a little fun. Photo by Anastasia Murphy
Kevin and Jerome having a little fun. Photo by Anastasia Murphy

And that focus on the surrounding environment includes the people in it — the Lucid tasting room is available at no cost to nonprofits that need a space for events. “The Venn diagram of people who care and people who are good at business is small,” says Luther. “Lucid is both.”