This Winery Wants to Change the Way You Buy Wine (Starting with Rosé)

Step into a wine shop and there are approximately seven billion rosés for you to choose from. But there’s got to be a better method than grabbing the prettiest label (our usual M.O.) and hoping the contents inside match.

There is, actually, and it’s called Empathy Wines. The new direct-to-consumer winery wants to change the way you buy your bottles. Think: really great quality wine without the eye-popping price tag. 

For Empathy, it’s about more than just giving you delicious wine—it’s about fixing a problem. That $40 bottle of Sancerre you just bought: Why was it so expensive, even though it tasted meh? Because it went through distributers and retailers who marked up the price. Empathy cuts out the middleman (kind of like Everlane, Glossier or Warby Parker), working straight from the source.

Even better, Empathy partners with small, sustainability-focused farmers from lesser-known wine regions in Northern California (like Lodi, Mendocino and Lake County) and is all about transparency. That means you get to know what you’re buying and where it came from, down to the people who grew the grapes. (The motto is “Empathy for the Farmer, Empathy for You.”)

That’s all great—but you’re still wondering about the rosé. We’d describe it as…the rosé you want to drink all year, but especially in the summer (by the grill, poolside—you know the deal). It smells like tropical fruit and tastes like a refreshing, zesty, floral glass of strawberries, grapefruit and watermelon. In a word: Yum.

Pricing starts at $81 for the minimum three bottles, and you can sign up for a monthly (or bimonthly) subscription if you want one less thing to worry about. 

Psst: If you enter the code “PUREWOW10” at checkout, you’ll get 10 percent off from now until May 18. And if you order by May 5, the rosé will arrive in time for Mother’s Day. (Wink, wink.) 

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