It appears to be true that writing about the closest things, a good friend and a wine one enjoys most often, makes one serious. After all, wine is serious business.
The stern looks may also be the result of the present moment, the Easter, and it's nature. I have never been particularly keen on cross hanging. Actually I find it's popularity depressing, even though I can see that as a form of sport it can be an extreme, maybe even the ultimate addiction, and therefore a great rush - almost like wine.

Things appearing so austere in nature, Dürer seems to be the only possible judge of taste. After all, he does have the stern looks that could make you take him as Luther, but at the same time he represents the same Renaissance as his wine loving, Italian contemporaries. Fortunately, digging through endless and dusty shelves of the old achives, I've finally found a long-lost letter by Dürer to his Bulgarian friend and collegue. So, let's allow the master of the unerring line to continue instead of letting my subjective glooms ruin the objective joys of wine:

"Dearest Stara Zagora,
From the old and out-lived you've once again given life to the breath of new times and spirits. In your latest work you painted the marriage of Cabernet Sauvignon, the hero with a strong and stately structure, with the leanient and soft Merlot. You've dipped your decisive brush into the deepest of reds and added hints of brown to the edges of your strokes. And again your touch is both as unyielding as an oak and as nimble as these times. In the moments of depression I stare and admire the soft and joyous strength of your painting, sniff the plentiful scents in these fruits of the earth, and feel my rigorous, northern expression becoming livelier.
Your brother in the new art and spirit,
Albrecht Dürer

P.S. I know you feel bad about the art market and your work being sold with such low prices, but feel assured that the true believers will have your name on their lips even after some older masters have been forgotten."