Breaking Wine Barriers: Rita Rosa’s Journey from Nigeria to Bordeaux

1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:03,760
I think I say this to people in the wine industry every time.

2
00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,760
You don't know anything, and you know everything when it

3
00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:11,520
comes to wine. You know what you love, you know what makes

4
00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:13,600
your heart beat, you know what makes your.

5
00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,800
Mouth feel alive. When it comes

6
00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:19,600
to technical.

7
00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,280
Aspects, we get it wrong a lot. You know,

8
00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,840
sit back and grab a glass. It's Wine Talks

9
00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:33,460
with Paul. Kate. Hey,

10
00:00:33,460 --> 00:00:36,980
welcome to Wine Talks with Paul K. And we are in Southern California today about

11
00:00:36,980 --> 00:00:40,180
to have a conversation with Chenu. You know I'm going to say it wrong. Yeah,

12
00:00:40,180 --> 00:00:40,820
we just talk.

13
00:00:45,940 --> 00:00:48,660
So you can call me Rita, Danny. Yes, that's it. Thank you.

14
00:00:49,700 --> 00:00:53,420
Out in. She's in Nigeria right now, but she lives

15
00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:57,220
in Bordeaux and she's a. Wine export

16
00:00:57,750 --> 00:01:01,510
consultant as well as founder of many organizations in the wine trade. Welcome

17
00:01:01,510 --> 00:01:04,790
to the show. Thank you so much, Paul.

18
00:01:05,590 --> 00:01:09,270
I'm actually in Angola. I just came to Nigeria. I mean.

19
00:01:11,350 --> 00:01:15,190
What do I know? You know, that's. That's a part

20
00:01:15,190 --> 00:01:18,070
of the world I visited very often. You know, that's kind of interesting.

21
00:01:18,950 --> 00:01:22,710
Let's start with that. Yeah. You're from Nigeria, though. That's

22
00:01:22,710 --> 00:01:26,260
where you were born and raised. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And the native

23
00:01:26,260 --> 00:01:28,860
language of Nigeria is English, right? It's not French?

24
00:01:29,820 --> 00:01:33,420
Not. Not the native. Like, the common language

25
00:01:33,420 --> 00:01:37,260
is English. But Nigeria is a country

26
00:01:37,260 --> 00:01:40,780
of 350 languages, and we have three

27
00:01:40,780 --> 00:01:44,020
major languages, which is Yoruba, Igbo and

28
00:01:44,020 --> 00:01:47,740
Hausa. The west, most of the west

29
00:01:47,740 --> 00:01:51,370
speaks Yoruba. The east speaks Igbo and then not

30
00:01:51,370 --> 00:01:55,090
speaks ausa. So we have three major languages. Are they

31
00:01:55,090 --> 00:01:58,850
dialect? Are they dialect? Oh, no, these are

32
00:01:58,850 --> 00:02:02,650
languages. These are languages. They have no similarities at

33
00:02:02,650 --> 00:02:06,250
all. And it's a huge

34
00:02:06,250 --> 00:02:09,650
country. It's a country of 250 million people, counting.

35
00:02:11,010 --> 00:02:13,810
It has a land. It's huge.

36
00:02:14,770 --> 00:02:18,290
Like I tell people when they look at the African map, they should

37
00:02:18,770 --> 00:02:22,290
forget the map they see on paper because

38
00:02:22,290 --> 00:02:26,050
that's not a reflection of what Africa is. Nigeria alone

39
00:02:26,530 --> 00:02:29,650
is 2.5 the size of France.

40
00:02:30,290 --> 00:02:33,970
Wow. I thought, you know, aren't there some African nations that.

41
00:02:33,970 --> 00:02:37,490
That French is commonly spoke? Yes,

42
00:02:37,730 --> 00:02:41,570
our neighbors are actually francophone, like we call

43
00:02:41,570 --> 00:02:45,310
them. There is beneath Togo, Cote d'.

44
00:02:45,310 --> 00:02:48,030
Ivoire. They speak French, but we are.

45
00:02:50,270 --> 00:02:53,310
Colony, former colony of England.

46
00:02:54,430 --> 00:02:58,230
Ah, you can say I'm not used to the airports. Well, my bro, my father

47
00:02:58,230 --> 00:03:02,070
is from Cairo and so. Oh, he

48
00:03:02,070 --> 00:03:05,790
spoke French, but that was because. Was a second

49
00:03:05,790 --> 00:03:09,630
language Arabic. Do you speak Arabic there too, or no?

50
00:03:10,370 --> 00:03:14,090
Yes. No, we don't speak Arabic. I speak Arabic because I have A connection with

51
00:03:14,090 --> 00:03:17,450
Lebanon. But no, normally in

52
00:03:17,450 --> 00:03:21,090
Nigeria, maybe up in the north, they don't speak Arabic,

53
00:03:21,090 --> 00:03:24,410
but because they are Muslims, they do learn

54
00:03:24,410 --> 00:03:28,250
Arabic. So interesting. I have to get out there and see what's

55
00:03:28,250 --> 00:03:31,810
going on in that part of the world. Oh, you really do. It's amazing.

56
00:03:32,370 --> 00:03:36,050
Everybody that has been here. So that's

57
00:03:36,050 --> 00:03:39,720
where. That's what I love to do, and that's what I'm doing. Currently

58
00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,480
I have four of my wine producers.

59
00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,360
The tour of Nigeria twice, three times a

60
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,520
year with my wine producers from, From.

61
00:03:57,480 --> 00:04:01,280
From France and mostly from Italy and France because

62
00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,820
they have been really. Really working

63
00:04:04,900 --> 00:04:08,660
at being in the market and being present in the market. So

64
00:04:08,660 --> 00:04:12,020
we have a week, sometimes two.

65
00:04:12,180 --> 00:04:15,860
That's me being crazy. I have one full week of food,

66
00:04:16,020 --> 00:04:18,820
wine pairing, tastings, masterclasses.

67
00:04:21,140 --> 00:04:24,580
B2B meetings, you know, and then market

68
00:04:24,580 --> 00:04:28,020
visits. Because Nigeria is such a huge country

69
00:04:28,660 --> 00:04:32,500
and it's divided. So we have the lot. And the south, like

70
00:04:32,500 --> 00:04:36,140
I said, the south is a lot of Christians and

71
00:04:37,020 --> 00:04:40,860
the lifestyle and nightlife, there is

72
00:04:40,860 --> 00:04:43,740
something to behold. It can. It can

73
00:04:44,460 --> 00:04:47,820
definitely, you know, compete with New York and

74
00:04:47,980 --> 00:04:51,260
it never sleeps. Lagos is absolutely

75
00:04:51,900 --> 00:04:55,100
bonkers. We have 30 million people in Lagos.

76
00:04:55,740 --> 00:04:59,230
And yeah, it's a hump. It's a

77
00:04:59,230 --> 00:05:02,990
fabulous home. So tell me then, this is interesting, and

78
00:05:02,990 --> 00:05:06,670
this is why I thought Your resume on LinkedIn was interesting to hear about

79
00:05:07,230 --> 00:05:11,070
this idea of wine in Nigeria. And you're talking about

80
00:05:11,070 --> 00:05:14,910
pairings. Your list of accomplishments and the things you've been doing in

81
00:05:14,910 --> 00:05:18,110
this trade is extensive. Probably talk for hours. But.

82
00:05:20,510 --> 00:05:24,350
Are you importing Bordeaux or Tuscan wines

83
00:05:24,430 --> 00:05:28,070
into Nigeria or what's the primary function? Oh,

84
00:05:28,070 --> 00:05:31,790
God. Okay. So what I do. That's why I call my expert. I call

85
00:05:31,790 --> 00:05:35,630
myself an expert consultant. Because when it comes to

86
00:05:35,630 --> 00:05:38,630
wine, I have done importing in the past.

87
00:05:39,270 --> 00:05:42,790
Right. I had the first wine store with my late

88
00:05:42,790 --> 00:05:46,390
husband's family. The first wine store that you could

89
00:05:46,390 --> 00:05:49,750
actually call a proper wine store where you could go for

90
00:05:49,750 --> 00:05:53,550
tastings, you could come and we will have

91
00:05:53,550 --> 00:05:56,870
discussions about wine. And we had the best wines from

92
00:05:56,870 --> 00:05:59,990
Bordeaux. So it was strictly a wine store that.

93
00:06:01,670 --> 00:06:05,190
Had border wines. Champagne, cognac,

94
00:06:05,270 --> 00:06:07,830
Pinot, you know, a lot of things.

95
00:06:09,030 --> 00:06:12,550
It was in Ikoi, in Lagos. Okay.

96
00:06:12,790 --> 00:06:16,390
It was. This was. This is revolutionary for that area. I mean, I

97
00:06:16,630 --> 00:06:20,370
obviously. Oh, yeah. Wine consumption would not be associated

98
00:06:20,370 --> 00:06:24,010
with Africa in general. I mean, there's many other indigenous

99
00:06:24,010 --> 00:06:27,850
drinks, I'm sure. So this was kind of cutting edge for you to do this.

100
00:06:28,650 --> 00:06:32,330
Yeah. But, you know, it's. It's. You Know

101
00:06:32,330 --> 00:06:35,930
when people say that, I, I kind of say no, actually

102
00:06:36,890 --> 00:06:40,570
Nigerians have been drinking wine for quite a while. The thing

103
00:06:40,650 --> 00:06:44,230
is, because we're such a huge population

104
00:06:44,310 --> 00:06:47,830
and a huge beer drinking company

105
00:06:48,150 --> 00:06:51,950
country. After Dublin, we

106
00:06:51,950 --> 00:06:54,390
have the second second largest Guinness

107
00:06:55,590 --> 00:06:58,710
distillery in the world.

108
00:06:59,669 --> 00:07:03,510
We drink a lot of Guinness. We drink a lot of beer. So the,

109
00:07:03,510 --> 00:07:07,270
the. But imagine this is a population of 250 million people,

110
00:07:07,670 --> 00:07:11,170
right, if. Say

111
00:07:11,490 --> 00:07:14,530
60 million drink beer or 80 million drink beer.

112
00:07:15,410 --> 00:07:19,130
The other 80 million. Exactly. The other 80 million do not even

113
00:07:19,130 --> 00:07:22,210
drink. Then there's 90 million who drink.

114
00:07:23,410 --> 00:07:27,210
Right? Yeah. So it's, it's. Yeah, I think I got my

115
00:07:27,210 --> 00:07:30,530
Math Maths right. 160. 160. Yeah.

116
00:07:31,250 --> 00:07:34,850
So. It'S. It's a matter of

117
00:07:35,180 --> 00:07:38,860
the numbers, right? The numbers is what makes

118
00:07:38,860 --> 00:07:42,660
Nigeria so amazing. Because another thing is that we are

119
00:07:42,660 --> 00:07:45,340
not into tourism.

120
00:07:46,300 --> 00:07:50,140
Every product we bring into the country is consumed

121
00:07:50,140 --> 00:07:53,740
by Nigerians. Really? Right. Yes.

122
00:07:54,060 --> 00:07:57,860
It's. We're not like Kenya, we're not like Botswana. We're not

123
00:07:57,860 --> 00:08:01,660
like. A lot of Cote d' Ivoire is a good

124
00:08:01,660 --> 00:08:05,100
wine drinking country. The people drink wine,

125
00:08:06,220 --> 00:08:09,980
but they still have a lot of tourism. Nigeria hardly

126
00:08:09,980 --> 00:08:13,740
has any external tourism. We are our

127
00:08:13,740 --> 00:08:17,100
own tourists. As I speak to you, it's going to be

128
00:08:17,340 --> 00:08:20,860
dirty D E T T Y December

129
00:08:21,260 --> 00:08:24,860
in Nigeria where most of our

130
00:08:26,300 --> 00:08:29,820
fellow Nigerians will live in the US and the uk. Wherever

131
00:08:30,330 --> 00:08:34,130
in the world they are, they come back for Christmas and

132
00:08:34,130 --> 00:08:37,610
this is like. Yeah, it's.

133
00:08:38,330 --> 00:08:42,050
There's one thing you have to know. Christmas in Nigeria

134
00:08:42,050 --> 00:08:45,530
growing up is the time you see all your family.

135
00:08:46,570 --> 00:08:50,170
So we have re. That idea has been rebranded

136
00:08:50,170 --> 00:08:53,850
by, by the government and they are welcoming back.

137
00:08:53,930 --> 00:08:56,710
All our Nigerians make.

138
00:08:57,990 --> 00:09:01,110
I think every 10 person you see of black

139
00:09:01,510 --> 00:09:04,390
African descent, there is.

140
00:09:05,910 --> 00:09:09,190
At least three that are Nigerians.

141
00:09:09,670 --> 00:09:12,710
Like you can't go into a black community.

142
00:09:13,590 --> 00:09:16,950
Yeah, yeah, yeah. We are so much. How did you end up in

143
00:09:16,950 --> 00:09:20,710
Bordeaux then? How did you end up in Bordeaux and then. Was it

144
00:09:21,830 --> 00:09:25,430
wine first? Was it wine first and then Bordeaux or wine first?

145
00:09:25,430 --> 00:09:27,510
Before love, it was wine first.

146
00:09:29,510 --> 00:09:33,030
I went to Bordeaux actually. So we are really going

147
00:09:33,190 --> 00:09:35,990
up and down with our stories. But the fact is.

148
00:09:37,670 --> 00:09:41,430
I was in banking and I was married to a

149
00:09:41,430 --> 00:09:45,270
very lovely man who. They started

150
00:09:45,270 --> 00:09:47,910
importing wines and I.

151
00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,800
I was a banker. Okay. And if you know anything about black women.

152
00:09:54,720 --> 00:09:58,360
We love business, we love doing business, we love side

153
00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:02,040
gigs. And I was like getting

154
00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:05,440
married to you. So everything you sell, I'm going to be selling.

155
00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,560
Wow. So I started. Yeah, yeah. So I started doing

156
00:10:10,560 --> 00:10:13,680
that in the, in the bank. And

157
00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:18,400
of course, my, my colleagues were happy. Oh

158
00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,240
my God, we can get wine directly. But I tasted the

159
00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:25,720
wines and I didn't like it. Remember, we like

160
00:10:25,720 --> 00:10:28,840
bargains. Okay. And I said, okay,

161
00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:33,160
I'm gonna, I have to try whether, you know, you gotta try your

162
00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,440
own products, you know, before you sell. And I didn't like

163
00:10:37,440 --> 00:10:41,200
it. I. I was, I was lucky enough to

164
00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:45,000
have been introduced to wise by my uncle, who is an

165
00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:48,840
archbishop. He still, he told me not to say this anymore, but you

166
00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:52,200
know, I tasted wine the first time through him

167
00:10:52,520 --> 00:10:56,360
and it was a Tuscany like he was in Rome. So I tasted

168
00:10:56,360 --> 00:11:00,200
some really good. I tasted some really good wines

169
00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:03,960
and I loved it, you know, and I

170
00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,480
was telling my late husband there that, babe, these wines,

171
00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,420
they are not putting it. And he was saying, yeah, but you know, the price,

172
00:11:11,420 --> 00:11:14,900
we need to keep the price. I'm like, yeah, but I'm sure

173
00:11:15,380 --> 00:11:19,220
for the same price we can get something equally good.

174
00:11:20,180 --> 00:11:23,980
You know, that's interesting. So that started my. Yeah, that started my

175
00:11:23,980 --> 00:11:27,620
forage into the wine world. Well, let me ask you a question real fast.

176
00:11:27,780 --> 00:11:31,380
Yes. Your uncle was an archbishop. Was a Catholic archbishop.

177
00:11:32,100 --> 00:11:35,860
Yes, I am a Catholic. I don't know if you know this trivia question or

178
00:11:35,860 --> 00:11:39,220
not, but it's my favorite trivia question. I ask it all the time when I'm

179
00:11:39,220 --> 00:11:42,820
giving a speech. And that is the number one per

180
00:11:42,820 --> 00:11:46,500
capita consumption country of consumption of wine.

181
00:11:46,500 --> 00:11:49,620
Per capita. So the number one. Which is like

182
00:11:50,260 --> 00:11:54,020
nine times the per capita consumption of wine than the number two

183
00:11:54,020 --> 00:11:57,460
country. What do you think the number one wine drinking country in the world is?

184
00:11:58,580 --> 00:12:01,940
It should be Italy. No, it's the Vatican.

185
00:12:06,580 --> 00:12:10,340
So. So you can tell your uncle it's okay. If he's still around, you

186
00:12:10,340 --> 00:12:11,220
can tell him. We understand.

187
00:12:15,820 --> 00:12:19,100
You were. We were just in Rome and we were watching the

188
00:12:19,100 --> 00:12:22,220
canonization of an Armenian archbishop from

189
00:12:22,220 --> 00:12:25,900
1915 who was martyred. Wow. During World War I.

190
00:12:26,220 --> 00:12:29,340
And so we had to. We got to sit right up there with the Pope

191
00:12:29,500 --> 00:12:33,180
and he walked right in front of us. Yeah, it was kind of interesting. Wow.

192
00:12:33,660 --> 00:12:36,860
Quite an honor. I'm not. Are you Catholic? We're not.

193
00:12:37,660 --> 00:12:41,450
We're evangelicals. Why were you there? We had friends

194
00:12:41,450 --> 00:12:45,050
that are an Armenian Catholic church in California

195
00:12:45,770 --> 00:12:49,530
and they asked us. Okay. Anyway, so I thought that was a fun

196
00:12:49,530 --> 00:12:52,970
anecdotal side note about that. So you're in Bordeaux

197
00:12:53,210 --> 00:12:57,010
and you are. I mean the way you listen, your bio

198
00:12:57,010 --> 00:13:00,250
here that you are a consultant, export consultant.

199
00:13:00,650 --> 00:13:04,170
And the first Nigerian owned and

200
00:13:04,170 --> 00:13:07,880
female owned business of its type is that an important. Is that

201
00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:11,640
an important distinction in Nigeria to be female owned? I mean, I know

202
00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,160
in America. Oh, yeah, Particularly the wine trader. Very important

203
00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,880
subject. I mean, seriously, Paul, you know, the

204
00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,640
wine business is mostly male dominated.

205
00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:26,600
And can you imagine me with my

206
00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,280
melanin, walking into a room of.

207
00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,260
60 white men. And telling

208
00:13:35,260 --> 00:13:38,900
them, I know what I'm talking about when it comes to wines.

209
00:13:39,380 --> 00:13:43,180
I wish I'd been there. Tastes. Oh, God, it was fun, like

210
00:13:43,180 --> 00:13:46,860
taking a glass of wine and actually like, you know, going through the

211
00:13:46,860 --> 00:13:50,500
whole process and saying, oh, I don't like this. I like this. You could

212
00:13:50,500 --> 00:13:54,220
see the eyes practically tearing into me, like, who the hell

213
00:13:54,220 --> 00:13:57,940
is this? What is she doing here? Well,

214
00:13:57,940 --> 00:14:01,780
you know, I. I've had some interesting women on this show and black women as

215
00:14:01,780 --> 00:14:05,580
well. I grew up. I was born in a black neighborhood in

216
00:14:05,580 --> 00:14:09,340
Los Angeles and grew nice elementary school there. But I had.

217
00:14:09,420 --> 00:14:13,260
I've also had the first woman who ever spoke

218
00:14:13,260 --> 00:14:16,980
with the Napa Valley Vin Association. Her name was Joanne dupuis. She's

219
00:14:16,980 --> 00:14:20,540
like 98 now, but she was the first 60s to speak.

220
00:14:20,780 --> 00:14:24,260
But I've also been to the association of African American. Did you say Theodora

221
00:14:24,260 --> 00:14:28,000
Lee? Excuse me? Did you say Theodore

222
00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:30,160
Ali? No, her name was Joanne Dupuis.

223
00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,880
You can get away with it. But then I also,

224
00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:50,720
you know, visited and went to the association of African American

225
00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,530
Vintners and tasted, I don't know, probably 100 wines

226
00:14:54,530 --> 00:14:58,370
that they're tasting. And they're. They're excellent. So a lot of movement

227
00:14:58,450 --> 00:15:01,810
has happened in both female and African American

228
00:15:01,890 --> 00:15:05,650
participation in the wine trade. Yes. I think it's fascinating

229
00:15:05,650 --> 00:15:08,850
that you're able to do that, this, in that part of the world.

230
00:15:09,250 --> 00:15:13,050
It just seems. Exactly. I think that was. I think that was

231
00:15:13,050 --> 00:15:16,890
a shock for them because I would not claim to be anything else

232
00:15:16,890 --> 00:15:20,220
than Nigerian. And I'm very proud of my

233
00:15:20,780 --> 00:15:24,220
lineage. I'm very proud of being a Nigerian woman.

234
00:15:24,780 --> 00:15:28,540
And. I keep telling people, no matter how many

235
00:15:28,540 --> 00:15:32,380
passports I hold, I'm a Nigerian. That's the first thing you hear about

236
00:15:32,380 --> 00:15:35,940
me. That's the first note you hear from me when I

237
00:15:35,940 --> 00:15:39,580
speak. I'm very intentional about

238
00:15:40,140 --> 00:15:43,900
being proud of who I am. I'm very intentional about.

239
00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:49,520
Visibility and also people acknowledging that I'm

240
00:15:49,520 --> 00:15:51,760
not going to change. For who? For anybody.

241
00:15:53,280 --> 00:15:56,760
And so moving to a place like Bordeaux, I did my wine studies in

242
00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:59,680
Bordeaux, did my WSET exams there.

243
00:16:00,479 --> 00:16:04,320
I did a Col d'. Ovar. And during those

244
00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:08,200
times, I remember the first time I went into the

245
00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,120
room, I told this to my friend Jane and she was like.

246
00:16:12,810 --> 00:16:16,570
My. My former professor, he's a friend now. It was so funny. I walked

247
00:16:16,570 --> 00:16:18,490
into the room, and he looked at me like.

248
00:16:22,010 --> 00:16:25,450
She lost, you know, I'm like, hi, guys. And

249
00:16:26,010 --> 00:16:29,570
I have to tell, I am this boisterous person. I don't change in the

250
00:16:29,570 --> 00:16:32,970
class. I jump. I make noise. I am. I

251
00:16:34,250 --> 00:16:38,010
think I might have a bit of adhd, but it's fun one.

252
00:16:38,410 --> 00:16:41,930
And I'm like, hey, guys, listen, let's have fun.

253
00:16:42,010 --> 00:16:45,050
And I was like, guy, come on, bring the wines. Let's taste.

254
00:16:46,730 --> 00:16:50,330
When you walk in the room, don't they? Oh, yeah, sure do.

255
00:16:50,570 --> 00:16:54,090
Yeah. Everybody. Everybody knows you're here. So

256
00:16:55,210 --> 00:16:59,010
it's very intentional, though, because I keep telling people, I say to

257
00:16:59,010 --> 00:17:02,770
friends of mine, listen, if I'm a bit too much, I'm sorry. I

258
00:17:02,770 --> 00:17:06,570
can't help it. It's just who I am. And I

259
00:17:06,570 --> 00:17:10,250
would try. No apologies. I cannot

260
00:17:10,250 --> 00:17:13,530
tone down. No, no, no, this is what I'm saying. I said, you just have

261
00:17:13,530 --> 00:17:16,250
to deal with me. That's it. If you want to be with me, you have

262
00:17:16,250 --> 00:17:20,050
to deal with me. And, you know, walking into a room like that,

263
00:17:20,689 --> 00:17:24,370
and. And he looks at me, and I'm

264
00:17:24,370 --> 00:17:27,930
sure he was like. Because I was already in the wine trade, and I learned

265
00:17:27,930 --> 00:17:31,650
wine by tasting. Like, I didn't go to any school at

266
00:17:31,650 --> 00:17:34,530
this moment. I was reading Jancy's book.

267
00:17:35,590 --> 00:17:39,230
That was the first wine book I had. My husband,

268
00:17:39,230 --> 00:17:43,030
now he bought it for me as a gift. It was

269
00:17:43,350 --> 00:17:47,030
me drinking wine every day, having people come to the wine

270
00:17:47,030 --> 00:17:50,670
store. This is in 2008. Fast

271
00:17:50,670 --> 00:17:54,390
forward. I moved back to Nigeria after my

272
00:17:54,390 --> 00:17:58,150
husband, my first husband died. And

273
00:17:58,150 --> 00:18:01,630
I just reinvented myself because I really

274
00:18:01,630 --> 00:18:05,140
loved wine. And I had this opportunity to be in a space

275
00:18:05,940 --> 00:18:09,660
where I had wine everywhere. Like, I could taste

276
00:18:09,660 --> 00:18:13,380
anything I wanted. And I was so happy.

277
00:18:14,900 --> 00:18:18,579
It gave me courage. I

278
00:18:18,579 --> 00:18:22,420
have two beautiful daughters. And at that point,

279
00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:24,740
it was. It was really difficult.

280
00:18:26,260 --> 00:18:30,100
But the wine store gave me something else to look at, you know, to

281
00:18:30,100 --> 00:18:33,780
look up to, like there was something else to do. And I'm

282
00:18:33,780 --> 00:18:37,240
a. A social butterfly. I need people around me. I feed on

283
00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,920
people's energy like they feed on mine.

284
00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:44,720
So having that kind of environment every

285
00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:48,240
evening, you can't imagine. I was. I. I

286
00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:51,920
dealt with my grief through the wine store. Why do you.

287
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,440
Why do you think that is? I mean, you're a banker. It's

288
00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:57,920
numbers. It's rather rote. It's meetings.

289
00:18:59,600 --> 00:19:02,480
I'm sure corporate Nigeria was full of

290
00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:07,160
males as well, but why do you think Wine

291
00:19:07,160 --> 00:19:10,960
does that. Why does wine connect people like that?

292
00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:14,640
What is your theory on that? Why does it soothe your

293
00:19:15,120 --> 00:19:15,600
pain?

294
00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:23,040
So it's. I think I say this to people in the wine

295
00:19:23,040 --> 00:19:26,890
industry every time you don't blow anything. And you

296
00:19:26,890 --> 00:19:30,530
know everything when it comes to wine. You know what you

297
00:19:30,530 --> 00:19:34,010
love, you know what makes your heartbeat, you know what makes your.

298
00:19:34,410 --> 00:19:37,930
Your. Your. Your mouth feel alive.

299
00:19:38,490 --> 00:19:42,250
You know, then when it comes to technical.

300
00:19:44,490 --> 00:19:48,010
Aspects, we get it wrong a lot. You know,

301
00:19:48,330 --> 00:19:51,690
so wine, everybody becomes equal.

302
00:19:52,320 --> 00:19:56,040
So one of the things I tell my guests when they're coming, I have guests

303
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:59,720
who are commissioners, ministers, whatever. I tell them,

304
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,040
once you get to the door, you drop your.

305
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:07,120
Whatever you think you. Your. Your reputation,

306
00:20:07,759 --> 00:20:10,000
your. Your wonderful

307
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,080
ministership, your presidency, I don't care.

308
00:20:14,400 --> 00:20:17,680
Drop it outside the door, drop it out.

309
00:20:18,280 --> 00:20:21,080
And it really made so much difference because

310
00:20:22,120 --> 00:20:25,960
we were all connecting as humans, as individuals

311
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,080
who had. Some people had such strong opinions

312
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,879
about Zinfandel, which I wasn't selling, and

313
00:20:33,879 --> 00:20:37,600
they were telling me, you have to sell Zinfandel. While some

314
00:20:37,600 --> 00:20:41,040
people were mellow people, some people were carbonate

315
00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,860
Soviet people, some people anti. At that moment,

316
00:20:44,860 --> 00:20:48,700
we all just become human beings. We don't

317
00:20:48,700 --> 00:20:52,500
care your status, we don't care where you come from. We just have

318
00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:56,180
a conversation as human beings over this

319
00:20:56,180 --> 00:20:59,260
elixir which brings all of us joy,

320
00:20:59,820 --> 00:21:03,540
you know, And I think. I don't want to interrupt you, but I think that

321
00:21:03,540 --> 00:21:07,020
is the indefinable part of this. And you said something

322
00:21:07,100 --> 00:21:10,560
interesting I want to use. Makes your mouth feel. Feel alive.

323
00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:14,480
And that's. That. It's. And that's that complexity that,

324
00:21:15,120 --> 00:21:18,720
that inter. That intellectual curiosity that

325
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,200
occurs when you taste a proper wine, an honest wine, that. That

326
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,360
expresses a time and a place exactly

327
00:21:26,160 --> 00:21:29,760
as. As Florence Catillard said in an interview,

328
00:21:30,160 --> 00:21:32,880
welcome to humanity. You know, I thought that. Wow.

329
00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:39,650
I think. I think that's. That's it. Florence. I was. I

330
00:21:39,650 --> 00:21:43,490
saw her in. In Naper, and she was like, when are you

331
00:21:43,490 --> 00:21:46,730
coming to the chateau? I was like, I'll see you in.

332
00:21:47,770 --> 00:21:51,130
You saw her and you saw her at the. The winery, in

333
00:21:52,250 --> 00:21:56,090
the. No. At the cwi. The recently

334
00:21:56,250 --> 00:21:59,930
concluded. No. GWI Global

335
00:21:59,930 --> 00:22:03,500
Wine. Markets. Yeah.

336
00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:07,300
By the guys from the California Wine Institute.

337
00:22:07,700 --> 00:22:11,300
And she came for Jansen's, I think, the first day

338
00:22:11,300 --> 00:22:14,740
talk or the last day, the second day. So

339
00:22:15,140 --> 00:22:18,900
I think. It really brings out

340
00:22:18,900 --> 00:22:22,100
the humanity in us just having a glass of wine.

341
00:22:22,740 --> 00:22:26,460
And I think that's why wine drinking,

342
00:22:26,460 --> 00:22:30,180
for me, education is so important, because if you're

343
00:22:30,180 --> 00:22:33,900
drinking wine. And you

344
00:22:33,900 --> 00:22:37,260
say, I want to get high. I feel sorry for you

345
00:22:37,660 --> 00:22:41,420
because that's absolutely the opposite of what wine does.

346
00:22:42,300 --> 00:22:45,940
Wine gives you a sense of peace, a sense

347
00:22:45,940 --> 00:22:49,780
of belonging, especially when you're

348
00:22:49,780 --> 00:22:53,580
drinking with friends. And I love to

349
00:22:53,580 --> 00:22:56,860
have a discussion, and wine always brings out discussion. Have you

350
00:22:56,860 --> 00:23:00,590
noticed people always talk more? People are

351
00:23:00,590 --> 00:23:03,270
more engaging. They are more.

352
00:23:05,590 --> 00:23:08,790
You know, there's more eyes like this.

353
00:23:09,190 --> 00:23:12,950
There's eye to eye contact. This is one of the

354
00:23:12,950 --> 00:23:16,630
things I love about being in France. Like when we give a toast, like, as

355
00:23:16,630 --> 00:23:20,390
you look at my eyes, you know, it's so much fun when

356
00:23:20,390 --> 00:23:23,590
people do that. And I tell people, this is what

357
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,840
wine does. It sees into your heart. You can see the person.

358
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,760
I mean, it's, it's. It really is indefinable. And you, I

359
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,160
always say this. You're talking about Guinness and beard drinkers in

360
00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:38,840
Nigeria. Yeah, it doesn't do the same thing. Jack Daniels

361
00:23:38,840 --> 00:23:42,440
doesn't do the same thing. Wine does it. Oh, how did

362
00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:45,120
you become friends with Jane Anson?

363
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,160
I'm trying to get her on the show. She said she'd come on, but I

364
00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:53,890
haven't had her on the show yet. Well, as soon

365
00:23:53,890 --> 00:23:57,610
as she's free, I'm sure she'll be able to. She'll make it because she is.

366
00:23:58,730 --> 00:24:02,250
Okay, so. And this is what I say to people,

367
00:24:02,410 --> 00:24:05,370
why it's important to have.

368
00:24:06,890 --> 00:24:10,690
People in your corner. Some people you don't even know in your corner are

369
00:24:10,690 --> 00:24:14,010
in your corner. Right, Jane? Jane

370
00:24:14,250 --> 00:24:18,020
was still with Decanter when we met. And she

371
00:24:18,260 --> 00:24:22,100
had called me like, we have common friends. We've met each other

372
00:24:22,180 --> 00:24:25,820
in social events. But at that moment, I

373
00:24:25,820 --> 00:24:29,060
wasn't really talking much about my business or anything

374
00:24:29,380 --> 00:24:32,820
because I was trying to build it. Because I have to let you know,

375
00:24:32,980 --> 00:24:36,820
when I went to Bordeaux, I got remarried

376
00:24:37,380 --> 00:24:40,980
and I went to Bordeaux with so much confidence

377
00:24:41,700 --> 00:24:44,990
and my capabilities and what I've done in

378
00:24:44,990 --> 00:24:48,790
Nigeria, because top nigger and

379
00:24:48,790 --> 00:24:52,110
I had told them, hey, guys, I am moving to

380
00:24:52,110 --> 00:24:55,830
Bordeaux. And they were like, yay.

381
00:24:56,470 --> 00:25:00,310
Go. Come, come, come. We're happy to see you. We want to.

382
00:25:00,790 --> 00:25:03,630
I told them, but, you know, when I come, I would need a job. I

383
00:25:03,630 --> 00:25:07,110
want to. I want to go into the wine trade properly. I want to.

384
00:25:08,150 --> 00:25:10,630
And there was a lot of positive, yeah, yeah, yeah.

385
00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:13,640
But when I got to Bordeaux.

386
00:25:16,360 --> 00:25:18,840
Radio silence. Really?

387
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:22,840
Why do you think that was? Why do you think that was like that? Just

388
00:25:22,840 --> 00:25:25,320
because you're a black woman from Nigeria? Well,

389
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,800
no, it's just simple. You. You cease to become

390
00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:33,600
useful. Like in Nigeria,

391
00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:36,760
I was the one choosing the wise for the wine for the,

392
00:25:37,700 --> 00:25:41,300
for the wine store. I was the one, I was the manager on the floor.

393
00:25:41,940 --> 00:25:45,140
Right. I was the one suggesting wines to people.

394
00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:49,300
And I think my. I outlived my head.

395
00:25:52,420 --> 00:25:56,260
I was no longer so useful. Do you feel.

396
00:25:56,340 --> 00:26:00,100
Did you feel alone at that point? Because such. Well, there's a couple

397
00:26:00,100 --> 00:26:03,880
things. I wasn't just alone. I was depressed. I

398
00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:07,120
have never been. I am this person in the morning

399
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,960
till night. I am always smiling, I'm always laughing.

400
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,400
The first time in my life I ever felt

401
00:26:14,400 --> 00:26:18,120
depressed was in Bordeaux. Wow. In my

402
00:26:18,120 --> 00:26:21,960
life, in my whole life, even when I lost my dad,

403
00:26:21,960 --> 00:26:25,120
I lost my husband, I had never felt

404
00:26:25,120 --> 00:26:28,880
depression. And I did. And because

405
00:26:28,880 --> 00:26:32,360
why you felt useless or. Because Bordeaux, such a giant

406
00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:35,980
swath of land and there's so many important moving parts, it's hard to understand

407
00:26:35,980 --> 00:26:39,580
at all. What. So, so like I said, I like to be in my

408
00:26:39,580 --> 00:26:43,340
pond. I felt, I thought Bordeaux was my pond.

409
00:26:44,140 --> 00:26:47,500
I thought. I told my husband I wanted to move to Bordeaux.

410
00:26:47,660 --> 00:26:51,420
Right. He, he. He was happy with us staying in

411
00:26:51,420 --> 00:26:55,100
Paris. He's French. And he was like, oh, we have

412
00:26:55,100 --> 00:26:58,860
a home close to the Lua in the Loire. And I

413
00:26:58,860 --> 00:27:02,590
was like, now the only way you can get me to move

414
00:27:02,590 --> 00:27:06,390
from Nigeria was Bo. And he knew

415
00:27:06,390 --> 00:27:10,150
it and he did it and we moved. And with confidence,

416
00:27:10,550 --> 00:27:14,350
I said, okay, man, you can go now. I'm in my place, I'll take

417
00:27:14,350 --> 00:27:18,110
care of everything. And for. For three to

418
00:27:18,110 --> 00:27:21,030
six months, I was proven wrong.

419
00:27:22,070 --> 00:27:25,190
And that really shook me. I'm a very. I'm a.

420
00:27:26,790 --> 00:27:29,860
No know. Let me just stop you there for a second. There's a. I just

421
00:27:29,860 --> 00:27:33,020
had a podcast yesterday with this gentleman. Yeah.

422
00:27:33,660 --> 00:27:37,260
And he wrote this book, it's called A Season

423
00:27:37,260 --> 00:27:40,780
for that. And he, he's American, he's a. He's a

424
00:27:41,340 --> 00:27:44,860
tax accountant. And he picked up his family

425
00:27:44,940 --> 00:27:48,620
and moved them to Oak, a little tiny village

426
00:27:48,620 --> 00:27:51,900
in. Outside the Provence, in the Roan. And

427
00:27:53,270 --> 00:27:56,950
he experienced the same thing. You know, he arrived and of course he's a French

428
00:27:56,950 --> 00:28:00,470
speaking American, which is unusual. And it took.

429
00:28:00,870 --> 00:28:04,670
It took months to adjust and not feel like an outsider. How

430
00:28:04,670 --> 00:28:07,190
long did it take you to feel like you were part of the program in

431
00:28:07,190 --> 00:28:10,990
Bordeaux? No, you would never feel like part of the

432
00:28:10,990 --> 00:28:13,830
program. I just created my own village.

433
00:28:15,430 --> 00:28:19,030
I just created my own village. I don't want to. I don't want to be

434
00:28:19,110 --> 00:28:22,740
like I am known in Bordeaux. I have very, very good

435
00:28:22,740 --> 00:28:26,340
friends, very good support system in Bordeaux. But I will

436
00:28:26,340 --> 00:28:28,260
never be.

437
00:28:30,100 --> 00:28:32,100
That. I will.

438
00:28:34,260 --> 00:28:38,059
Right now, I don't even want to. Be you bring you.

439
00:28:38,059 --> 00:28:41,500
Then your job in Nigeria is to bring Bordeaux and

440
00:28:41,500 --> 00:28:44,820
Tuscan wines to as an exporter or just to consult

441
00:28:45,060 --> 00:28:48,660
with those winers. American wines, Tuscany wines from

442
00:28:48,660 --> 00:28:52,020
whole of Italy is not just Tuscan wines from Sicily, from

443
00:28:52,020 --> 00:28:55,440
Puga, from piedm, wines from

444
00:28:55,440 --> 00:28:59,080
Portugal, wines from South Africa. What I

445
00:28:59,080 --> 00:29:02,440
do is connect them to the right

446
00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:05,920
importance. Like now in Angola, in Rwanda.

447
00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:10,200
I have some contacts in the past. And what I do is

448
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,680
go mix them, find out what they need

449
00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,160
and see where we can work together. And then I get

450
00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,660
my wineries, we put a

451
00:29:21,660 --> 00:29:24,380
portfolio together with prices

452
00:29:25,340 --> 00:29:28,900
and what they need, and then we

453
00:29:28,900 --> 00:29:32,540
propose to them. And once we do that, and when we get

454
00:29:33,340 --> 00:29:36,620
orders from them, my job now is to make sure that the

455
00:29:36,620 --> 00:29:40,340
communication continues. I

456
00:29:40,340 --> 00:29:42,380
propose budgets,

457
00:29:43,580 --> 00:29:46,220
plans, masterclasses,

458
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:51,360
visits to the market. Because one

459
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,080
of the things that was lacking when we were importing wine in Nigeria

460
00:29:55,080 --> 00:29:58,640
was this. I was selling Cheval Blanc, I was selling

461
00:29:58,640 --> 00:30:02,080
Chateau Margot, I was selling Chateau au

462
00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,680
Brion, Cabo and the rest, but they never

463
00:30:05,680 --> 00:30:09,360
came to. They usually stop. Those

464
00:30:09,360 --> 00:30:12,520
usually stop, but they never came to Nigeria.

465
00:30:13,190 --> 00:30:16,950
They never did. Like it wasn't an important enough market

466
00:30:16,950 --> 00:30:20,470
for them. Now I can tell you

467
00:30:20,950 --> 00:30:22,710
that we have events.

468
00:30:24,550 --> 00:30:26,630
From Cheval Blanc.

469
00:30:28,230 --> 00:30:31,870
All the big, the great names, all of them now want to come to

470
00:30:31,870 --> 00:30:35,550
Nigeria. And because now there's traceability, you know, with the

471
00:30:35,550 --> 00:30:39,380
Negro, sometimes they don't even know where the wine is going to. We have

472
00:30:39,380 --> 00:30:42,660
most of the wines going. To the

473
00:30:42,660 --> 00:30:45,620
francophone countries. They were actually coming to Nigeria. But

474
00:30:46,420 --> 00:30:49,060
the wine producers do not know where their wines are.

475
00:30:50,020 --> 00:30:53,340
You know, that's interesting. I can tell them where their wines are. Let me stop

476
00:30:53,340 --> 00:30:56,740
you there for a second. Because worldwide, there's a, you know,

477
00:30:56,740 --> 00:31:00,340
consumption issue. There's neo prohibitions, there's. There's,

478
00:31:00,420 --> 00:31:02,900
you know, packaging things going on and there's.

479
00:31:04,350 --> 00:31:07,910
But in America, you know, this. This job that you're doing now,

480
00:31:07,910 --> 00:31:11,670
bridging wineries with distributors and suppliers would be

481
00:31:11,670 --> 00:31:15,430
very difficult. Particularly in California, it's gotten very difficult. There's been

482
00:31:15,430 --> 00:31:19,230
a consolidation of distributors. I have two or three Armenian

483
00:31:19,230 --> 00:31:23,030
wineries, since I. My heritage is Armenian, Trying to get into

484
00:31:23,030 --> 00:31:26,670
the California market. And even with all my connections,

485
00:31:27,310 --> 00:31:31,120
nobody's taking on new brands. But is that

486
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,920
because Nigeria sort of an emerging market for wine

487
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:38,440
brands to come to, or is it pretty established and we're just bringing the best

488
00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:41,960
we can? It's because we're more adventurous.

489
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,400
We are not stuck in our ways. We have very young people

490
00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,640
coming up. We have very like.

491
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,920
They are interested. You should See the wine pairing and tastings? I

492
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,340
do, yeah. People, we are one of the

493
00:31:57,340 --> 00:32:01,180
youngest population in the world, really.

494
00:32:01,180 --> 00:32:04,700
And they are well traveled, well educated

495
00:32:05,500 --> 00:32:09,260
and they want to know, they want to try things. And

496
00:32:09,260 --> 00:32:13,020
when you have people who are not, I don't

497
00:32:13,020 --> 00:32:16,700
want to, you know, not going to throw shades at anybody. We're talking

498
00:32:16,700 --> 00:32:20,540
about people who say, oh, if it's not Emilio, I will

499
00:32:20,540 --> 00:32:23,980
not drink it. If it's not, blah, blah, blah. We don't do that.

500
00:32:24,930 --> 00:32:28,210
We're ready to try anything. And that is why

501
00:32:28,610 --> 00:32:30,690
the market is growing the way it is.

502
00:32:32,130 --> 00:32:34,050
Because there are people of different.

503
00:32:36,210 --> 00:32:39,650
Age brackets, pockets size,

504
00:32:40,370 --> 00:32:44,090
you know, and they're trying everything. And once they see something

505
00:32:44,090 --> 00:32:47,410
they like, like they're not stuck.

506
00:32:48,530 --> 00:32:52,230
We don't get me wrong, okay, we love brownies. Nigerians,

507
00:32:52,230 --> 00:32:55,790
if you know about Nigerians, we love the big brand. But I'm now

508
00:32:55,790 --> 00:32:59,230
talking of, in general, they must have the big brand.

509
00:32:59,470 --> 00:33:02,510
But we're talking about everyday drinking. They are open

510
00:33:03,230 --> 00:33:06,510
and if they taste something they like, they're going to buy it.

511
00:33:08,030 --> 00:33:11,750
They're going to buy it. From a, from a growth standpoint, from a

512
00:33:11,750 --> 00:33:15,550
revenue growth for the industry, from a case number of case growth,

513
00:33:15,950 --> 00:33:19,800
things are on the upswing in Nigeria. Nigeria is

514
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,000
already a 450 million dollar business.

515
00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:27,440
Wow. In Nigeria, the growth is going to

516
00:33:27,440 --> 00:33:29,960
continue because we are not.

517
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:36,120
Stuck up with the young people in Nigeria. They still

518
00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:39,720
enjoy their lives. We're not, you know, we're not

519
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:43,640
pulling back. And even the ones who do not

520
00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:47,430
drink, they have friends who drink. They enjoy hanging out with their

521
00:33:47,430 --> 00:33:49,790
friends. So it's not.

522
00:33:52,190 --> 00:33:55,990
We're very social. We do keep our phone. We love our phones. Don't get

523
00:33:55,990 --> 00:33:59,550
me wrong, because I think that's one of the biggest problems that

524
00:33:59,870 --> 00:34:02,670
the wine industry has to deal with is the phones.

525
00:34:03,550 --> 00:34:06,510
You know, although you see them, they're. Like,

526
00:34:07,390 --> 00:34:11,190
I hate them. I know. So when do you have the time to

527
00:34:11,190 --> 00:34:14,280
interact and have a glass of wine? Well, that's one reason.

528
00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:18,320
That's one reason. I mean, I wake up every morning, my wife's, you know, two

529
00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,600
in the morning, she's on her phone. But the other reason I don't like them

530
00:34:21,600 --> 00:34:25,440
is that people use them to. Look

531
00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,080
at pricing and look at what other people said about wines. And they use Vivino.

532
00:34:29,080 --> 00:34:32,600
Yeah. Oh my God. But let me. I'm gonna.

533
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:37,640
It's the worst. They come into my, they came into my wine shop and they'd

534
00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,880
bring the thing out or we go to dinner and somebody, I bring a, I

535
00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:43,920
bring a Grand Cru Burgundy. To dinner, and they. They take a picture of it

536
00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:47,240
and they'll look on their phones like, what are you doing? Just enjoy the wine.

537
00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:51,880
So let me. I. I want to switch gears on you a little bit.

538
00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:56,120
Yes, I've had. I've had Tim Hanai, who's this crazy.

539
00:34:56,200 --> 00:35:00,040
I mean, you said you're adhd. My wife would swear I'm adhd.

540
00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,240
This guy got on my podcast. He says I'm adhd. I'm

541
00:35:05,240 --> 00:35:08,790
bipolar, and I'm a recovering alcoholic. And I'm a master of

542
00:35:08,790 --> 00:35:12,230
wine. And he's a master of wine. His name was Tim. Yeah, Tim

543
00:35:12,230 --> 00:35:15,070
Hanai. Nice. And he would argue

544
00:35:16,270 --> 00:35:20,110
with you about the functionality and.

545
00:35:20,110 --> 00:35:23,550
Or the legitimacy of food pairing

546
00:35:23,710 --> 00:35:27,390
and wine. And you do a food pairing event in Paris.

547
00:35:27,390 --> 00:35:31,150
It looks like I do food pairing in Vaux

548
00:35:31,150 --> 00:35:34,460
Paris. Sweetly. Nigeria, like I do.

549
00:35:34,780 --> 00:35:38,540
Tell me about that process. What do you. What do you do? So let me

550
00:35:38,540 --> 00:35:42,380
tell you truthfully, I am not one. I'm not a stickler

551
00:35:42,380 --> 00:35:46,140
for rules. I don't care what you

552
00:35:46,140 --> 00:35:49,260
taste with your wine. I just try to find

553
00:35:49,900 --> 00:35:53,740
something that we. You would enjoy with that wine.

554
00:35:54,140 --> 00:35:57,980
I'm not trying to tell you, oh, if it's not red meat with this,

555
00:35:58,230 --> 00:36:01,790
I don't believe in that. That's why I did the food and wine

556
00:36:01,790 --> 00:36:05,590
pairing, African food. Because believe me, when. When I started

557
00:36:05,590 --> 00:36:09,350
with the wine. This is 2000 in Nigeria. They will tell

558
00:36:09,350 --> 00:36:13,070
you it has to be steak with red wine. It has to be

559
00:36:13,070 --> 00:36:16,750
fish. I didn't believe in that. That was why I started

560
00:36:16,750 --> 00:36:20,470
doing my kind of food and wine pairing. And if

561
00:36:20,470 --> 00:36:23,430
you ever have the opportunity to come to one of my events,

562
00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:28,000
I am herb. I wreck all the meats. I don't

563
00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:30,160
care what I'm coming.

564
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:35,720
I hope so. I'm gonna have one in vin

565
00:36:35,720 --> 00:36:38,960
Expo, hopefully in February. So I don't care.

566
00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,640
Yeah, I just. I just give

567
00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:47,200
me something that tastes good with the wine. I don't care about the color.

568
00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:50,780
I want something that really tastes good to you.

569
00:36:51,340 --> 00:36:55,020
And sometimes it might taste good to me, but it doesn't taste good

570
00:36:55,020 --> 00:36:58,460
to you. And I am not telling you. I am

571
00:36:59,900 --> 00:37:03,700
correct. I'm not telling you. Oh, if you don't do it my way,

572
00:37:03,700 --> 00:37:07,460
that. That's the highway. It doesn't work that way. It's one of the

573
00:37:07,460 --> 00:37:10,460
first things I say during my tasting. I tell people, listen,

574
00:37:11,820 --> 00:37:15,620
this is always trial. You have your

575
00:37:15,620 --> 00:37:18,610
right to your own opinion. You, whatever you think,

576
00:37:19,490 --> 00:37:22,930
if I give you maybe chicken wings today

577
00:37:23,170 --> 00:37:27,010
and you didn't like it, try gytoki wings tomorrow. That's what I have. I'll

578
00:37:27,010 --> 00:37:30,690
try with. Yeah, just do you. And I just

579
00:37:30,690 --> 00:37:34,250
want people to engage in not

580
00:37:34,250 --> 00:37:38,050
being stuck in a box, because that's one of the things that is

581
00:37:38,530 --> 00:37:41,810
very detrimental in the French wine industry.

582
00:37:42,530 --> 00:37:45,330
You know, they put you in a box and they want you to stay there.

583
00:37:45,380 --> 00:37:48,730
You and I can't be put in a box. Like, I would explode.

584
00:37:49,050 --> 00:37:52,490
So I tell people when we do the tasting, just

585
00:37:53,050 --> 00:37:56,650
enjoy it. Go

586
00:37:56,650 --> 00:38:00,090
take burgers, fish fingers, whatever makes you

587
00:38:00,090 --> 00:38:03,810
happy. Try it with as many wines as you like, and then choose

588
00:38:03,810 --> 00:38:07,570
what you want. It's an interesting thought because, you know,

589
00:38:07,570 --> 00:38:10,650
a lot of people talk about, well, you know, it goes together, grows together and

590
00:38:10,650 --> 00:38:14,050
all that kind of stuff. And then. But then you have. You have places like

591
00:38:14,050 --> 00:38:17,690
Africa. I'm sure indigenous African food has got a

592
00:38:18,010 --> 00:38:20,330
variety of spice character and is probably

593
00:38:21,530 --> 00:38:24,930
exotic that way. And Armenian food is not

594
00:38:24,930 --> 00:38:28,490
Armenian food. Like, up until recently when yet Ivan

595
00:38:28,490 --> 00:38:32,250
has become a little more cultural. Was the same stuff always.

596
00:38:33,130 --> 00:38:36,610
I know Armenian food because I grew up, like I told you. My latest one

597
00:38:36,610 --> 00:38:39,970
was Lebanese, and I did not live far from the

598
00:38:39,970 --> 00:38:43,680
Armenian quarters and all that area. We used to go there

599
00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:47,360
for dinners. And it's the same thing. Like,

600
00:38:47,440 --> 00:38:50,840
this is the food. Well, the thing about African cuisine and

601
00:38:50,840 --> 00:38:54,320
Nigerian cuisine especially is that we have

602
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,960
these young chefs.

603
00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:03,360
I have one. She's amazing. She's from Togo, Albene.

604
00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,360
Her name is Kafui. She does most of my dinners, and

605
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:11,030
she wakes up in the middle of the night and sends me a message, oh,

606
00:39:11,030 --> 00:39:13,830
my God, I just found something crazy to do with plantains.

607
00:39:14,630 --> 00:39:18,070
Wow. And I'm like, hit me with it. Let me ask you that question,

608
00:39:19,110 --> 00:39:22,950
because it's an important question, particularly with indigenous cuisine. I mean, Armenian wines,

609
00:39:23,030 --> 00:39:26,430
which is Adani grape and Voskahat and Kangun, and these crazy

610
00:39:26,430 --> 00:39:29,030
varietals do seem to be,

611
00:39:30,070 --> 00:39:33,510
you know, compatible with the Armenian indigenous cuisine.

612
00:39:33,830 --> 00:39:37,590
But not every country has indigenous wines. But let me ask this. Is it

613
00:39:37,590 --> 00:39:41,230
possible with your friend, your chef friend and I

614
00:39:41,230 --> 00:39:43,190
have very, very limited.

615
00:39:45,030 --> 00:39:48,310
Exposure to modernization

616
00:39:48,870 --> 00:39:51,990
of these cuisines like Armenian wine.

617
00:39:52,150 --> 00:39:55,710
Mediterranean food, like Armenian food or Lebanese is very hard to

618
00:39:55,710 --> 00:39:58,950
modernize. Can you modernize African food?

619
00:39:59,590 --> 00:40:02,790
You can modernize everything, even Lebanese food.

620
00:40:03,190 --> 00:40:06,620
I have a chef. He is first

621
00:40:06,620 --> 00:40:10,300
carrying from. He's Lebanese. And what we're trying to

622
00:40:10,300 --> 00:40:12,780
do is actually to.

623
00:40:14,220 --> 00:40:17,980
When we say modernize, we're not trying to remove

624
00:40:18,460 --> 00:40:22,060
the essence of the food. We're just trying to add

625
00:40:22,140 --> 00:40:25,740
something to it or remove something from it that we feel

626
00:40:25,900 --> 00:40:29,740
is overpowering and maybe Making the food less

627
00:40:31,020 --> 00:40:34,750
easy for other people of. Who are not

628
00:40:34,750 --> 00:40:38,470
from that origin. Right. And for African cuisine, we have done

629
00:40:38,470 --> 00:40:41,590
a lot of modernization. We make.

630
00:40:43,430 --> 00:40:46,590
Ravioli from cassava, the

631
00:40:46,590 --> 00:40:50,230
manioc. Yes, that's good. We make. Yeah, yeah.

632
00:40:50,310 --> 00:40:53,950
We make pasta from yam flour. So

633
00:40:53,950 --> 00:40:57,750
it's indigenous products. But instead of us

634
00:40:57,750 --> 00:41:01,560
just cutting it the way we used to, we're using it

635
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,080
to make something else. And because of the texture,

636
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:09,400
it does work differently with the wine. Yes.

637
00:41:10,280 --> 00:41:13,600
Like people. I remember there's something called a

638
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:16,920
wedding. It is a vegetable. Very

639
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:20,680
slippery. And snails.

640
00:41:21,000 --> 00:41:24,680
Nigerian snails. Yeah, yeah. It's kind of like. It's a

641
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:28,450
beautiful. Oh, we. We have it in

642
00:41:28,450 --> 00:41:29,410
Lebanon too.

643
00:41:32,130 --> 00:41:35,490
Oh, what's the. What's the name? It's like the bagel.

644
00:41:37,890 --> 00:41:41,730
It's a beautiful vegetable. We eat it in Lebanon too,

645
00:41:41,970 --> 00:41:45,410
but they don't blend it while in Africa. It's blended

646
00:41:45,890 --> 00:41:49,690
so that it has a slippery essence. And we used it

647
00:41:49,690 --> 00:41:53,460
in Italy. No, no, no. It's a leaf. Is a

648
00:41:53,460 --> 00:41:57,220
pure leaf. What's a leaf? I'll send you the name. It's

649
00:41:57,220 --> 00:42:01,060
really lovely. I can't remember the name right now because I have

650
00:42:01,060 --> 00:42:04,620
beautiful music playing in my background, which I love music a lot.

651
00:42:04,940 --> 00:42:08,780
So I'm in between the two. But I'm going to say to you.

652
00:42:08,780 --> 00:42:12,260
And this, when cooked the

653
00:42:12,260 --> 00:42:15,740
Lebanese way is with chicken and the broth.

654
00:42:15,740 --> 00:42:19,020
Chicken broth, right. What. In African way,

655
00:42:19,570 --> 00:42:22,530
it's cooked and blended and then

656
00:42:22,930 --> 00:42:26,130
mixed with tomato sauce, with

657
00:42:26,850 --> 00:42:30,650
stock, meat, whatever, and eaten with pounded

658
00:42:30,650 --> 00:42:34,450
yam. That is. I don't know if you know the. Do you know the

659
00:42:34,450 --> 00:42:38,290
yam? Yeah, of course. As a tuber. Okay. So we

660
00:42:38,290 --> 00:42:42,130
blend it and this is like one of the most interesting traditional

661
00:42:42,130 --> 00:42:45,660
food in Nigeria. And

662
00:42:45,660 --> 00:42:49,100
nobody believed they were eating it at the dinner

663
00:42:49,260 --> 00:42:53,060
because it looked so different. It tasted so

664
00:42:53,060 --> 00:42:56,420
different. We either reduce or reduce the

665
00:42:56,420 --> 00:42:59,980
spice. And it was just

666
00:43:00,300 --> 00:43:02,060
one. We had a reversal.

667
00:43:03,900 --> 00:43:07,620
It's not Malahea, is it? No. Or

668
00:43:07,620 --> 00:43:11,020
piperine. Jeveladier.

669
00:43:11,700 --> 00:43:15,260
Now I. I wish I had my. This is where Google

670
00:43:15,260 --> 00:43:16,100
works. Very good.

671
00:43:20,020 --> 00:43:22,580
So let me ask you that if you're going to be in Paris and you're

672
00:43:22,580 --> 00:43:26,300
going to be pairing food. And of course, I've done a lot of chefs

673
00:43:26,300 --> 00:43:30,020
on this show. My daughter is actually a French trained boulanger. She. She.

674
00:43:30,020 --> 00:43:33,700
Oh, wow. She went to school outside of Isanjo

675
00:43:34,020 --> 00:43:37,740
in Is. But you know, there's something

676
00:43:37,740 --> 00:43:41,120
very fascinating about the evolution of food,

677
00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:44,920
particularly in Europe. Americans have just kind of caught up to this

678
00:43:44,920 --> 00:43:48,720
idea of. So she comes to. She comes

679
00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:51,960
and you do these food pairings in Paris say Vin Expo,

680
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:56,200
and. Yeah. Are they French influenced at this point,

681
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,280
or are they just modern cuisine she's trying to produce?

682
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,440
No, no, not at all. Because they're actually.

683
00:44:06,910 --> 00:44:09,630
The food and the wines are not French wines.

684
00:44:11,230 --> 00:44:14,990
No, French wines. Not only French wines. We have.

685
00:44:15,470 --> 00:44:19,230
So when I do this dinner, I have like 10 of my wine producers.

686
00:44:19,310 --> 00:44:22,830
I select them with the wines according to their wines

687
00:44:23,070 --> 00:44:26,870
and the food. We want to pair, and we have 10 of them, people tasting

688
00:44:26,870 --> 00:44:30,590
their whole range of wines, and then we choose from those wines

689
00:44:30,750 --> 00:44:34,280
we. What we use for the dinner, you see. So

690
00:44:35,560 --> 00:44:37,880
it's actually more African.

691
00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,440
That's the word. Yeah. It's more African.

692
00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:47,480
Centered because the importers, the people that I invite

693
00:44:47,800 --> 00:44:50,440
are actually African importers.

694
00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:55,920
To the dinner and then the wine producers, of course, and

695
00:44:55,920 --> 00:44:59,340
the. General reception is probably incredible. Are there any

696
00:44:59,340 --> 00:45:02,940
African. Are there any African indigenous grapes at all?

697
00:45:04,780 --> 00:45:08,420
Well. I will be

698
00:45:08,420 --> 00:45:12,220
honest with you. I have a friend right now,

699
00:45:12,220 --> 00:45:13,340
her name is.

700
00:45:16,140 --> 00:45:19,940
This is actually the wine producer for Springfontaine. Her name

701
00:45:19,940 --> 00:45:22,860
is Jeanne. She grew up in Burgundy

702
00:45:23,580 --> 00:45:27,090
and she is growing some

703
00:45:27,090 --> 00:45:30,770
grapes in Togo. I have another friend growing grapes

704
00:45:30,770 --> 00:45:33,730
in Cote d'. Ivoire. But for African

705
00:45:34,290 --> 00:45:38,090
indigenous grapes, I do not know that

706
00:45:38,090 --> 00:45:41,930
we have any. I mean, America, Africa was. No,

707
00:45:41,930 --> 00:45:44,930
no, no. I do not think we have any. Most of what we have

708
00:45:45,410 --> 00:45:49,170
are. We're brought in. In South Africa, like,

709
00:45:49,170 --> 00:45:52,860
you know, and then even in Uganda.

710
00:45:53,260 --> 00:45:56,780
No, we don't. We don't. I think Africa

711
00:45:56,860 --> 00:45:59,980
has more staunch grapes and I mean, fruits.

712
00:46:01,260 --> 00:46:04,700
Very, very. Coffee has. Africa.

713
00:46:05,420 --> 00:46:08,620
We have amazing coffee, amazing tea,

714
00:46:09,660 --> 00:46:13,460
chocolate, cocoa, of course, which is one of the things we were

715
00:46:13,460 --> 00:46:15,260
talking about while we were here, because.

716
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,760
Africans have decided, I think, I'm very proud to say

717
00:46:20,760 --> 00:46:24,480
a lot of African countries have

718
00:46:24,640 --> 00:46:28,240
now understood that the things we were giving away,

719
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:32,720
making millions to European countries, are things we could

720
00:46:32,720 --> 00:46:36,240
make here. So we have chocolate factories now. We have

721
00:46:36,240 --> 00:46:38,640
roasteries, we have coffee.

722
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:44,280
Farms and tea farms that are perfect

723
00:46:44,280 --> 00:46:48,040
in our countries. We were

724
00:46:48,040 --> 00:46:51,880
making them and sending them out has. We're. We're

725
00:46:51,880 --> 00:46:55,720
out of time, actually, if you can believe this. But. I

726
00:46:55,720 --> 00:46:59,400
did want to ask you because. Because the

727
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:03,160
African marketplace is so unique and different than the rest

728
00:47:03,160 --> 00:47:06,880
of the world. And it seems to be, you know, in its infancy.

729
00:47:07,600 --> 00:47:11,040
You know, if you look at the Chinese and the Japanese market, the Japanese were

730
00:47:11,040 --> 00:47:14,590
well ahead of the Chinese in there. Consumption of wine and their

731
00:47:14,590 --> 00:47:18,030
understanding of luxury items and luxury goods. Yeah. The

732
00:47:18,030 --> 00:47:20,870
Chinese now, you know, are starting to understand wine.

733
00:47:22,310 --> 00:47:25,750
Have. Has there been any effect then that you've noticed

734
00:47:25,910 --> 00:47:29,270
between, as you abridge Bordeaux and other parts of

735
00:47:29,509 --> 00:47:32,390
the world, wine wise to the African market.

736
00:47:34,310 --> 00:47:38,110
A decline because everybody's crying the blues. 20% off. I

737
00:47:38,110 --> 00:47:41,670
had a wine, a restaurant recently that told me their bottle sales were off

738
00:47:41,670 --> 00:47:45,020
30%. Is it affected? Has this

739
00:47:45,100 --> 00:47:47,820
marketplace affected the Nigerian marketplace?

740
00:47:49,340 --> 00:47:52,820
Paul, I don't want to give that information because it's causing me too much

741
00:47:52,820 --> 00:47:55,900
trauma. A lot of people are. Now,

742
00:47:57,020 --> 00:48:00,580
I certainly don't want to raise any trauma in your life, you know. No, no,

743
00:48:00,580 --> 00:48:01,980
no. Honestly.

744
00:48:04,540 --> 00:48:05,980
I had this conversation.

745
00:48:08,390 --> 00:48:12,030
And somebody said to me, oh, chichi, you are the one. You're the reason why

746
00:48:12,030 --> 00:48:15,750
they are hounding us now. And I'm like, I'm so sorry,

747
00:48:16,070 --> 00:48:19,750
because I am really proud of Africa. I'm really proud of the steps

748
00:48:20,150 --> 00:48:23,750
and the moves we've made in the past right

749
00:48:23,750 --> 00:48:26,870
now and what I see is going to happen in the future.

750
00:48:28,150 --> 00:48:31,870
The kind of. So what

751
00:48:31,870 --> 00:48:35,480
I have with Jane was a birth to

752
00:48:35,480 --> 00:48:39,200
that. You know, you asked me about how I got to know

753
00:48:39,200 --> 00:48:42,000
Jay was Because she came to interview me,

754
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:46,560
right? Yes. About my story

755
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:50,440
and how I wasn't gonna call it a success story

756
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:54,080
then, but how I managed with

757
00:48:54,240 --> 00:48:57,840
all the difficulties, with all the roadblocks and,

758
00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:02,720
you know, space that Bordeaux wine

759
00:49:02,720 --> 00:49:06,360
is. How did I manage to lift my head above

760
00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:09,000
it all and create something

761
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:14,200
which I can tell you truthfully, was not reported

762
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:18,160
the way she wrote it. Right. And she got upset

763
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,720
about that, and she called me and said, babe, I'm so sorry. I don't know.

764
00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:25,450
This is not what I section. And

765
00:49:25,450 --> 00:49:29,010
I'm like, it's okay. The fact is that you even mentioned my

766
00:49:29,010 --> 00:49:32,770
name. Do you know what I mean? You even mentioned my name.

767
00:49:33,170 --> 00:49:36,610
Any pressure? Exactly. I said, you even mentioned my name.

768
00:49:36,850 --> 00:49:40,490
So let them run with the story the way they want. I'm okay.

769
00:49:40,490 --> 00:49:44,090
I'm fine. And that was an opening to a lot of things.

770
00:49:44,090 --> 00:49:46,610
So she's one of my dearest friends. Not because.

771
00:49:48,530 --> 00:49:52,290
Like, ask anybody. I don't know people's names. I don't care about your name.

772
00:49:52,290 --> 00:49:55,240
I don't even want to know which winery you represent.

773
00:49:55,880 --> 00:49:58,600
I like to know people, who they are.

774
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:03,720
First of all. I've drank

775
00:50:03,720 --> 00:50:07,240
every wine you can imagine. I just want to know you, and if I

776
00:50:07,240 --> 00:50:11,000
connect with you, we would do great together. So that was

777
00:50:11,000 --> 00:50:14,720
why we came up together at the Porto Mentor Week, because

778
00:50:14,720 --> 00:50:18,200
she was like, oh, this cannot just continue. We,

779
00:50:18,520 --> 00:50:22,180
you know, we need to do something. I'm like, yeah,

780
00:50:22,180 --> 00:50:26,020
I want to do something, but I don't have the

781
00:50:26,020 --> 00:50:29,180
name. I Don't.

782
00:50:29,740 --> 00:50:33,220
There's something about this industry like, that. There's a certain amount of

783
00:50:33,220 --> 00:50:36,820
camaraderie. You don't need to tell. You don't need to tell somebody.

784
00:50:36,820 --> 00:50:40,300
You. You know, you're at Chateau Margaux or Chateau Cheval Blanc.

785
00:50:41,100 --> 00:50:44,580
You know, I interviewed Veronique Sanders from

786
00:50:44,580 --> 00:50:48,430
Chateau Bailly. Yeah. She's lovely. I

787
00:50:48,430 --> 00:50:52,270
love her. And she was in America last week, and. And, you know, when she

788
00:50:52,270 --> 00:50:55,990
saw me, it was this huge hug and smile and it. And so

789
00:50:55,990 --> 00:50:59,270
there's a certain camaraderie, and I think you're taking. Not taking advantage of that. I

790
00:50:59,270 --> 00:51:02,870
think you're. You understand that. And it.

791
00:51:03,750 --> 00:51:06,830
I don't. I don't know sure why that is. I. I've done a lot of

792
00:51:06,830 --> 00:51:10,190
things in my career. I sold a lot of things in a lot of businesses,

793
00:51:10,190 --> 00:51:13,990
and I. Nothing is like this one. And I thank my dad every day

794
00:51:13,990 --> 00:51:17,190
for. For getting me involved with it. Nice.

795
00:51:17,670 --> 00:51:20,310
You know. Now your friends call you chichi.

796
00:51:21,110 --> 00:51:24,150
Yes. See, I picked up on that.

797
00:51:24,950 --> 00:51:28,710
Well done. So everywhere I go and somebody just called

798
00:51:28,710 --> 00:51:32,070
me chichi, I'm like, excuse me. Yeah. Are we friends?

799
00:51:32,710 --> 00:51:36,310
I do it intentionally because, like, get to know my name first.

800
00:51:36,470 --> 00:51:40,230
Yes. Before you think you can call me chichi. Right. And

801
00:51:41,590 --> 00:51:45,430
Jane always laughs about this. She's like, don't call her Gigi. You're

802
00:51:45,430 --> 00:51:49,070
not her friends. Careful. That's funny. And I will. I will.

803
00:51:49,070 --> 00:51:52,870
I will. You are. I have people

804
00:51:52,870 --> 00:51:56,550
call me my. My nickname that I've never met, you know, And I'm like, I'm

805
00:51:56,550 --> 00:52:00,310
okay with it. No, I'm not. I'm not.

806
00:52:00,710 --> 00:52:03,910
I'm not your friend. Don't call me. Don't call me by my nickname.

807
00:52:03,990 --> 00:52:07,710
Nicknames are for people. I really feel, you know, when

808
00:52:07,710 --> 00:52:11,300
they call me, I feel the warmth. And they are

809
00:52:11,300 --> 00:52:15,100
calling me. You know, some people, they call you not because they want to

810
00:52:15,100 --> 00:52:18,140
call you Gigi. It's because they are lazy to call your full names.

811
00:52:18,940 --> 00:52:22,740
I don't like that, because I will call your full name. I am happy to

812
00:52:22,740 --> 00:52:26,340
call. I will practice your name. Oh, you're gonna say Callum

813
00:52:26,340 --> 00:52:29,340
Carrion. 12 letters. Yes. Callum Karian.

814
00:52:31,180 --> 00:52:34,780
I was. I looked at your name. It's very. For me, it's very important.

815
00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:39,040
Uh, but one of the things I would like to say before we leave is

816
00:52:40,320 --> 00:52:43,360
with everything I've done in my life about having been a mom

817
00:52:43,840 --> 00:52:47,480
and having a wonderful family, the

818
00:52:47,480 --> 00:52:51,280
Bordeaux mentor week. It's my passion. It is what

819
00:52:51,280 --> 00:52:54,840
makes me happy, being able to

820
00:52:54,840 --> 00:52:58,480
help young people who

821
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:02,480
are dreaming of Bordeaux Bordeaux is like a dreamland. You think oh it's

822
00:53:02,480 --> 00:53:05,900
candy store. Yeah. But when you get there the shock hits you

823
00:53:06,220 --> 00:53:09,820
because you will not be let in. And if you don't have

824
00:53:09,900 --> 00:53:12,300
somebody like Jay and me.

825
00:53:13,980 --> 00:53:16,700
We found that out the hardware

826
00:53:17,820 --> 00:53:21,620
and if you don't have them. It'S going

827
00:53:21,620 --> 00:53:25,260
to be tough. It's going to be tough. So that's why for Ross Border

828
00:53:25,260 --> 00:53:28,980
Mental week is it's now become like our baby and

829
00:53:28,980 --> 00:53:32,620
we have lots of babies all around the world and we're so proud of that

830
00:53:33,500 --> 00:53:37,140
and we're just grateful that we were able to you

831
00:53:37,140 --> 00:53:40,620
know, take that, take that step

832
00:53:40,780 --> 00:53:44,380
and try and integrate the bottle

833
00:53:44,380 --> 00:53:47,860
wine industry and the future. Because these

834
00:53:47,860 --> 00:53:50,940
guys, a lot of them are from India, Kenya,

835
00:53:50,940 --> 00:53:54,220
Nigeria, South Africa, China,

836
00:53:54,860 --> 00:53:58,460
Brazil. These are the up and coming countries. These are the people

837
00:53:58,830 --> 00:54:01,550
who will keep the wine world alive.

838
00:54:02,590 --> 00:54:06,070
A lot of the old gods are going to go, so

839
00:54:06,070 --> 00:54:09,470
where's the next step? Who are we catering to?

840
00:54:10,190 --> 00:54:13,550
You're right. So we have to think about that. We have to think about that.

841
00:54:13,710 --> 00:54:17,030
I think that's very noble and I think you're, I think introduction,

842
00:54:17,030 --> 00:54:20,790
introducing the younger generations to what wine really is and

843
00:54:20,790 --> 00:54:24,350
what it means to humanity is so important because

844
00:54:25,440 --> 00:54:29,040
you know they've already there was the Gen Z years. Now I, I'll say I've

845
00:54:29,040 --> 00:54:32,880
done my part because my, my son in law drinks all my champagne because I've

846
00:54:32,880 --> 00:54:36,440
taught him about champagne so that's not good. But oh my

847
00:54:36,440 --> 00:54:40,000
17 year old, he's 17 and she

848
00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:43,800
can like he doesn't drink but

849
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,640
she is such a good taster. That's great. I

850
00:54:47,640 --> 00:54:51,480
am so I feel like yes, one out of one. My

851
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:55,330
oldest doesn't like alcohol but my youngest

852
00:54:55,330 --> 00:54:59,170
is like pro when it comes to how

853
00:54:59,170 --> 00:55:02,370
to taste it and I am so proud of her because

854
00:55:03,330 --> 00:55:07,010
I look at her sometimes and I'm like at her age I

855
00:55:07,010 --> 00:55:10,770
didn't even think about what the taste is. So I have done a

856
00:55:10,770 --> 00:55:14,530
good job. So tap mommy. Keep up the good work and

857
00:55:14,610 --> 00:55:18,410
such an honor to hear your story today and I hope that we get to

858
00:55:18,410 --> 00:55:21,610
do this again and I hope we run into each other either in Napa with

859
00:55:21,610 --> 00:55:24,520
the Franciard or we're in Paris at having.

860
00:55:26,030 --> 00:55:27,070
Are you coming to Paris?

861
00:55:30,190 --> 00:55:32,190
Paris is my preferred.

862
00:55:33,870 --> 00:55:37,470
I'll go to Paris any day for any time. If I can stay

863
00:55:37,950 --> 00:55:41,150
two nights in the Paris on the way to somewhere else I do it,

864
00:55:41,550 --> 00:55:45,390
I love it and my wife does too. So I didn't,

865
00:55:45,470 --> 00:55:49,230
I didn't think about Vine Expo but that'd be great. We went and we went

866
00:55:49,230 --> 00:55:52,930
to Vinexpo when I was in Bordeaux, but I guess. Yeah, I

867
00:55:52,930 --> 00:55:56,730
know. I will keep you posted on

868
00:55:56,730 --> 00:56:00,570
that. I'm gonna be there. Let me know. I

869
00:56:00,570 --> 00:56:03,970
would love, love to see you. I'm judging in

870
00:56:03,970 --> 00:56:07,369
Armenia in May because they have landed the Concour

871
00:56:07,369 --> 00:56:10,370
Mondial de Bruxe. And so

872
00:56:11,010 --> 00:56:14,330
I think what I'm gonna do is swing through Paris. I think I'll swing through

873
00:56:14,330 --> 00:56:17,010
Paris then. Really? Yeah.

874
00:56:18,880 --> 00:56:20,800
In. In. In Armenia.

875
00:56:22,400 --> 00:56:26,120
Yeah. Pretty interesting. Wow. So that is

876
00:56:26,120 --> 00:56:27,680
amazing. Well done.

877
00:56:30,320 --> 00:56:33,600
Gorgeous. You know, downtown Yerevan is pretty.

878
00:56:34,160 --> 00:56:37,040
Pretty cool. And I. And I went out to the vineyards. I'm going to send

879
00:56:37,040 --> 00:56:40,600
you a link to a show I made as a fundraiser for the TV station

880
00:56:40,600 --> 00:56:44,130
there. I went and interviewed five winemakers in there. Nice.

881
00:56:45,330 --> 00:56:48,970
Wow. Really good. The footage is really good. But we were down. I

882
00:56:48,970 --> 00:56:52,090
mean, one of the interviews I did, the woman says, you know, we're in sniper

883
00:56:52,090 --> 00:56:55,890
distance from where we're standing here. I'm like, oh, great. Oh,

884
00:56:55,890 --> 00:56:58,130
my God. Yeah, I was a little. No way.