A Winery That Keeps It Real

If you visit Clever Girl Winery in downtown Easton, your server won’t refer to wines as “assets” rather than drinks, sniff a wine cork endlessly, or use a French or Italian phrase when a simple explanation in English would do. That’s just not part of owner Don Andreas’ vibe. The Northampton Community College (NCC) wine specialist program graduate strives for “fun over fancy” at his winery.    

The sound of disco music often fills the tasting room, which features a wine list of 20 selections, all priced at $25 and below. The descriptions are simple and without pretension. Take the Randi, for example: “Our super fun, semi-sweet glitter wine! It’s like wine with jazz hands!” 

It’s a sharp contrast to what Andreas encountered when he visited wineries to educate himself.  

“If you read these descriptions, they’re like, ‘Notes of crushed red roses.’ I don’t know what crushed red roses taste like,” he says. “It made no sense to me. I’m an expert at what I like, and I feel everyone is an expert at what they like.” 

Not everyone has a sophisticated palate — including himself, says Andreas. In fact, he adds, when a customer comments that they’re not a wine expert, he quickly interjects, “Neither am I.” 

From Hobby to Business 

Andreas’ winemaking adventures began when his wife encouraged him to get a hobby to fill the void created by their child's graduation from high school. The couple visited wineries on weekends, and Andreas bought a home winemaking kit. Encouraged by the results, he purchased additional equipment to expand his efforts.  

Andreas eventually decided that he needed more knowledge to make quality wine. He enrolled in NCC’s seven-course wine specialist certificate in 2018, a non-credit program that was offered through community education at the college. Since then, the program has been discontinued, but non-credit courses are still offered in food and beverage at the college, including globally recognized WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) courses. 

“I had juice in production here at my house, and I was learning stuff in classes at local wineries,” Andreas says. “I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Can I do this now?’ I didn’t realize that was an option for me." 

Seeing how the host wineries operated behind the scenes was eye-opening, he adds. 

Toward the end of the program, Andreas hosted a dozen classmates for a wine tasting. Their overwhelmingly positive feedback helped him believe he could turn his hobby into a business. He received another big boost to his confidence when he submitted seven wines to an amateur competition and won a gold, a silver, and two bronze medals. 

A Dream Delayed, Not Denied  

Andreas used personal savings to purchase fermentation tanks, a filtration system, and other equipment needed to scale up. He planned to sell wine at festivals and other events for a couple of years, and if all went well, he’d take the next step of opening a tasting room. Andreas incorporated his new business, obtained a liquor license, and secured his first festival bookings for March 2020. 

Then COVID-19 crushed his plans. Not only were festivals canceled, but without the zoning permission to sell wine from home, Andreas missed out on the boom wineries enjoyed when liquor stores were shut down along with other businesses. 

Eager to keep pursuing his dream, Andreas accelerated his plans when Pennsylvania allowed restaurants to reopen even as large outdoor gatherings were still forbidden. He found a location to rent in downtown Bangor that included a pizza oven. Clever Girl opened on Labor Day weekend that year, baking frozen pizza and offering it for $1.50 per slice so the business could sell wine. 

“We were busy to start,” Andreas says. “People were ready to get out of the house.”  

As his business prospered, Andreas reduced his hours at his job to part-time before eventually leaving altogether to focus on Clever Girl. He bought 12 acres in Plainfield Township to move his business there, but he had to abandon that plan and take a loss because he couldn’t get zoning approval. 

“That just took a lot of wind out of my sails,” he recalls. “I spent a whole lot of time, finances, and effort into something that never came to be.” 

Community at the Core 

Fortunately, opportunity knocked again when Andreas learned about available space at The Commodore in Easton. He moved Clever Girl there in August 2024, enjoying more visibility and sales but also a threefold increase in rent. 

Andreas credits much of his success to the relationships he’s forged. 

“It’s humbling that so many people like what I do, care about me, and want me to succeed,” he says. 

That includes former NCC classmates, many of whom became customers and friends.  

“I would definitely recommend taking wine courses at NCC,” says Andreas, who once taught them. “In addition to learning about wine, you make a whole new group of friends who have similar interests.”