Weekly Pickups: $20 Lambrusco + bakery-quality granola
+ the honey that ruins all other honey
Hello hello!
If you’re a brand in retail, you’ve likely faced this icky reality: up to 10% of your P&L is trapped in invalid fees and inefficient retail operations.
Up to 10%!!! That is massive, and could make or break your retail success. That’s why our friends at Glimpse help leading consumer brands unlock retail cashflow by automating critical finance workflows like revenue recovery via deduction management and accounting reconciliation.
Glimpse works with 200+ brands including IQ Bar, Sauz, Bero, and more—automating their retail deductions so they can stop manually chasing down spreadsheets and start focusing on actually growing their brands. This could be you, too!!
Now, let’s get into our pickups of the week →
Nate’s Pickup:
Lucci Lambrusco
This week, I got to meet the wonderful Ashley Graham at the launch event for her new brand, Lucci! Lucci an Italian sparkling Lambrusco literally crafted in Emilia-Romagna with award-winning winemakers. I mean sounds great right?? It is. This one felt special. There’s truly so much to love here for the product they’re building. Ashley exuded so much genuine passion for this product and it showed in the actual liquid in the bottle.
Quick Facts: Lucci is a modern, dry sparkling red wine co-founded by supermodel Ashley Graham and entrepreneur Danny Epstein. It’s crafted in Emilia-Romagna with award-winning winemakers and priced at $19.99. Ashley created Lucci out of a longtime personal love for Lambrusco, wanting to bring this italian staple to everyone across the US.
Reasons to love:
Accessible luxury done right. I love when brands come to market with the perfect mix of quality and price accessibility. Wine can be such a hit or miss, especially on the lower end—people want something that tastes great and looks great on the table, but not everyone can or wants to spend $50+ on a bottle. Lucci sits in that perfect sweet spot: $19.99, but it looks like a more premium brand. They’re not dumbing anything down for the consumer. At the launch, they really emphasized that they want Lucci to be everywhere—restaurants, bars, wine shops, liquor stores. This isn’t some exclusive, hard-to-find bottle. They truly want it to be accessible in every sense of the word, from price to availability.
A great celebrity brand. This is yet another example of a celebrity brand done right in my opinion. Ashley is actively and intently involved. Lucci was an invention of her own design, an idea born straight out of Ashley’s head. As she said at the launch event, “I call this the fourth child that my husband won’t let me have.” This is truly her (fourth) baby, and that’s exactly what I love to see.
It’s a good product. At the end of the day, taste is of the upmost importance. So thank god this tastes good! Sometimes a low price can scare people off, and beautiful branding can be deceiving. Not here. It’s clearly been crafted with the upmost care. Plus, I love anything sparkling….seltzer, wine, soda…sparkling is best IMO 🤷.
Where to buy: Online on Reserve Bar and Wine.com and Select Retailers
Jenna’s Pickup:
Michele’s Granola - Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Nook
I have been a fan of Michele’s Granola for years now, since I first discovered it in college at my local farmers market in Baltimore. I would circle around the little market multiple times—feigning interest in obscure gourds and aromatherapies—just to come back and snag another tablespoon-sized sample cup of this stuff in every flavor.
Truthfully, I don’t usually have much faith in a farmers market granola. They’re often some earnest soul’s best attempt at hiding the cardboard taste of raw oats… resulting in some slightly-toasty oats with syrup and nuts layered awkwardly on top. In my opinion, granola shouldn’t taste like a bunch of ingredients thrown together; it should taste like a marriage of all of the ingredients, seamlessly blended together—a baked good that was deconstructed. Michele’s NAILS that.
Michele started making her own granola at her home in Maryland 20 years ago, and to this day, it is still made in Maryland—by hand, from scratch. I promise you can taste the difference.
Quick Facts: Part of Michele’s newest Breakfast Nook line, the Cinnamon Roll Granola is made with organic whole grains, only 5g added sugar per serving, and simple, utterly delicious yet simple ingredients.
Reasons to love:
A literal cinnamon roll, but make it granola. This flavor is to die for. I am admittedly a cinnamon fiend, but I can’t imagine anyone not falling in love with this flavor. It genuinely tastes just like a cinnamon roll, featuring bright cinnamon, warm vanilla, creamy vegan white chocolate chips (but not too much to make it overwhelmingly sweet), and a delightful nuttiness from buckwheat groats, millet, and gluten-free oats. I could easily eat this bag in one sitting, but I am so bravely practicing restraint (and savoring every bite).
CLUSTERS. Oh boy, do I love a clustery granola! I love a nice big chunk of granola—not just sprinkled pieces of oats and nuts—and Michele’s delivers. The best part is that the texture remains crunchy, no matter the size of the chunk. Sometimes, larger clusters of granola are a little softer—this granola is consistent from chunky start to crumby finish (and yes, I do love some crumbs on the bottom as a yogurt topper).
Actually sustainable! To start, Michele’s bakery is entirely powered by wind and solar power. But they don’t stop there: Michele’s recycles or composts over 80% of its production materials, and composts 100% of our food waste. Even its case packaging is 100% recyclable. No greenwashing, here!!
Where to buy: In select retailers nationwide
✨ Special Guest ✨ Kiki Couchman, co-founder of Sourmilk
Kiki is the incredible co-founder behind Sourmilk, the hottest new organic, grass-fed, probiotic Greek-style yogurt. Sourmilk has taken over social media (largely thanks to Kiki and her co-founder Elan’s founder-led marketing) and is starting to take over NYC specialty grocery stores, too. If you haven’t yet tried Sourmilk, you are sorely missing out. And if you’re interested in trying it Kiki style, you’re going to want to read on… →
What is it? A delicious Manuka honey and I am now utterly addicted. The color! The flavor! It’s ruined all other honey for me. I now eat it with Sourmilk and chia seeds every single morning.
What about this product intrigued you? We love the team (shoutout Freya and Alice), and often demo Sourmilk with Manukora. We met them initially because my cofounder and I were on Freya’s podcast and then brought them in for a SoulCycle partnership. I am obsessed with the squeeze bottle format because it never gets stuck like other honeys.
Why do you love it? The flavor! It has such a rich flavor compared to other honeys plus Manuka honey generally has a ton of antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. AND it pairs fantastically with Sourmilk!!!!
In this week’s episode of The Curious Consumer…
Thanks for reading! Anything you think we should try for an upcoming edition of Express Checkout? Email us at hello@expresscheckout.co