Bringing Georgia to Your Glass: Mallory Tsipouria’s Journey Promoting Ancient Wines in the US

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I'm not trying to predict future, I'm trying to influence or make it future.

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So I have my vision. We want to cover entire state

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and the entire country, which is about 300 stores.

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I think that gives us the best vehicle to raise our

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brand awareness. Sit back and grab a glass.

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It's Wine Talks with Paul K.

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Hey, welcome to Wine Talks with Paul Kay and we are in studio today in

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beautiful Southern California about the conversation with Mallory Zippor.

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Know I just asked you and I get it wrong every. I do this all

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the time. Sipporia with the Georgian wine trade. Hey, have a listen

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to what's coming out soon. Next week I'm going to launch the

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Song of America which is legends dairy stories of people that have

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come to America under immigration and produce

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something. Whether it's financial success, political sex or social success,

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doesn't matter. Some crazy good stories are coming from the

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Song of America launching next week on May

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28th I think. But now while we're here, I'm going to read this from

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Chap GPT. It does really good job of doing some

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introductions, you know, so I just figured, so why not use it?

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Georgian wine has moved from obscure curiosity to one of the most compelling

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categories in the modern wine conversation. With 8,000 years of wine

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making history, ancient Kavari traditions, indigenous

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grape varieties, and growing traction in the US market,

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Georgia now sits at the crossroads of authenticity and global

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opportunity. Borea has become one of the

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leading voices bringing Georgian wine culture to American consumers

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through importing, education and advocacy.

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You know, this is a very close to

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my heart, why I'm glad you're here and welcome to the show. Thank you.

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Right now, as we're speaking in Armenia, one of the other caucus states

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is the Concord Mundia de Bruxelle. It's a big fancy international

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wine tasting. It's nothing necessarily to do with Armenian wines,

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but it's an international event. There's judges from all over the

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world, etc. Etc. In fact, I'm supposed to be there. I was

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in Ireland for two weeks and we're going to fly from Edinburgh

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to Yonan. But after two weeks of

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travel, man, that was just too hard. So you've been

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doing this for two years? Well,

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yes, but actually there's a little more to

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it. So in my other capacity, I've been involved in

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politics. When I left Georgia, it was still Soviet Union, 1990. So

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he was one of the student leaders fighting then against

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communists and against Russian domination. So when

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I came to the U.S. i worked. My first

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organization was center for democracy in the USSR in

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New York. But make long story short, I kept

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involved in politics. And in

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2011, I created a nonprofit called U.S. georgia

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Friendship association, which I'm president of.

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And through that work,

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I closely work with Congress. I have taken four congressional delegations

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to Georgia. Wow. And I've done most

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of the meetings for past 15 years between Georgian officials

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and U.S. congressmen and senators in Washington. And

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in 2018, I became honorary Council of

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Georgia, which is a diplomatic position, but through my

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work. So that's how I got involved with the wine

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business that I was helping Georgian wine companies

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to get out of Russian sphere of influence. Influence of Russian market,

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because market was very flat. Still is.

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And so I did first Georgian wine tasting in

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Congress several years ago. Wow. And

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it was very successful. We did a couple times a bunch of

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congressmen. So it was a real good event.

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But then I saw a lot more needed to be done

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and could have been done, but you had to do it as a business. So

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that's how initial idea came about. Well, let me stop you there for a second

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quickly. When. When was Georgian freedom?

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Armenia was 1991. When did Georgia break away from the same

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year? Because

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that picture there, my father and I, we had a wine in

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1988 which was Romanian, and

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we bought it under Soviet rule, which was a whole different type of

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transaction and a different reason for business back then.

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So why did you choose wine as this cultural expression of.

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Of Georgia to bring to America? Why not the food? Why not the D, why

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not the music? Well, first, as I mentioned, because

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I got involved initially helping Georgian companies.

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Second of all, wine is something special. So in.

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Since Georgia considered birthplace of wine, and every

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Georgian has a passion for wine one way or another. So I don't have

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extensive winemaking background. Several years ago

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I joined. Now my partner have a tiny part in it,

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but again, big wine because. Because

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it's very special to every Georgian. Well, so

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that's kind of a loaded question. And I do this. I

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preach this all over the place. I just got done with four episodes of a

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show I trademarked called the Back Label, which is the back stories

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of wine, of course. And I the other day I was at an event and

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I was telling a woman about this idea, and she goes, and her assistant was

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just then reading the back label of a bottle of wine at this event. I

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said, that's exactly what the show is about, is the story behind the

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labels. And so your story already is evolving.

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It's wine is one of the greatest expressions of

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culture, not only from the beverage,

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but from the soil, from the humanity of it all, from the history of

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it going on. Is that what drew you to this

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idea? Absolutely. And then

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in Georgia, there is a word, supra, which

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stands for like a feast. So and

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wine as an expression that brings people

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together, and then closeness

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creates, you know, kind of relationship, deepens it. And

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so that's very important to Georgian culture. Culture.

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And again, to share something. We talked tradition, deep

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tradition, old tradition to the US public.

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So that was my primary goal and still is,

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albeit as a business, but to. To raise the

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awareness. And still, as I started initially I

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mentioned that did the first Georgian wine tasting in Congress,

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I still have same goals to help others, because if I do

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well and raise awareness, it's like a high tide lifts them.

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So that is my kind of approach. And then

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what I'm doing about it or how I'm doing, that's a separate

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conversation, but yes. So wine is very special.

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You picked it up. You certainly picked good timing to start a business. Now,

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let's. Let's kind of peel that back a little bit. Wine,

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as romantic as we want it to be, and as culturally important

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as it is, and as culturally expressive as wine is,

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and it's. It's business, I mean, eventually

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it becomes consumerism. And you have to.

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The difference for me, see if you agree,

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wine is a product that you have to.

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Culturally, you have to. This. How am I going to put this?

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Its ultimate goal is to express the culture of the wine, where it was

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grown, when it was grown, who grew it. All the

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variables that go into a bottle of wine, an honest bottle of wine

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would tell us, this is from Georgia or Armenia or

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from Napa or from France. Right? Not the supermarket stuff.

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That's the reason that we. We expect for this to happen.

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That's what we want it to do. Right? How.

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How are you doing that? It's so slow

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to get those messages across in the US With a new brand, a new

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country, and a new, new grapes. It is. It is.

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And it is in a way, bad

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timing, because wine industry in a down cycle, right?

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Yes, you can say that, but despite

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that. So my strategy, my company strategy

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has been, for example, we are in tall

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wines. We are right now in 14 stores. We expect to get another

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dozen store literally, maybe by next month.

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And then we have taken advantage of that

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infrastructure that they offer, meaning the tasting opportunity.

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So although it's not easiest, it's not most glamorous way.

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But in about a little over eight months, we've done about

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300 tastings. Wow. And that's a lot of work

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that's reaching a lot of people. That's in store tastings. In store tastings,

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but that's 300. Only in tall wine store, though. Yeah.

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And outside tall wine, we've done more. So

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who's doing those? You? I'm involved,

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my son is involved. And I've got a little group that helping me.

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About four people, five people

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just hired the new one. So simultaneously, sometimes

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we do seven, eight stores a day. That's crazy. A lot of

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them, I do a lot of double shifts. For example, I

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come last 12 weeks every Friday to LA,

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do morning tasting, afternoon tasting, two different

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stores, and Saturday repeat the same, and then go

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back to Saturday work. Yeah. And

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so. But that's the approach that I believe in. There is some other thing. We

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got multilayer approach. But this is the best in terms of

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the grassroots and reach a lot of people. It takes time, a lot of

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patience, energy, resources. But that

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is the primary and the best way to reach people. And

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we already see great traction. I mean, some of the stores that

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we have done Most tastings got

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30, 40 case reorders per individual

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store. That's a pretty good number.

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And since I've gotten LA stores and since

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we start coming in and my crew is, you know, doing

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tastings, our numbers are rising in every store.

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Let me stop you there for a second. I spent

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hours standing at a booth selling memberships in

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my club back in the day. I mean, literally from 2000, 1988

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to 2007. I think in 2007 we did

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75 weekends. So that's, you know, one and a half a week. One and

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a half per weekend. I know what that takes. Friday, Saturday,

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Sunday, stand there all day saying the same thing over and over and over

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again. But at the same time, I think what you're doing

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is the right thing as you already stumbled across, which is creating some kind

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of experience for somebody that tastes your

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wine and has that relationship, that handshake

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relationship, which you can't duplicate online.

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That's right. And we get great

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traction during a lot of those tastings

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that interacting with new people, new

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clients. A lot of people walk by to say, hello, hi, Mel, and

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go to the section and grab wine. And we see that

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on regular basis. And again, when you see the

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fruits of your labor, that gives kind

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of more energy. But again, numbers speak for themselves.

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And talking with tall wine, in case of.

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By end of the year, we think we're gonna have entire state, which

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is 47 stores. My

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commitment is to do over thousand tasting

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just in state of California in, in a year

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annually. That's crazy. Yes, but you say crazy

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in Georgian.

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But then you mentioned other thing that there are other ways

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of course to advertise, but this

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looks like we agree is the best way, most effective way. And

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then other ways of advertising, then

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it reaches easier to some people because some of them already

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have seen the wine, have tasted wine. And when they see

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some other advertisement, it's like

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for example we are launching on Monday

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on a major billboard on San Isidro

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Tijuana border, which is one of the major border

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crossings in the world. Yeah, we're talking about

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millions of people basically I think through

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throughout 30 day period. So

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and, and it's not only the San Diego region, we're talking about Orange County,

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Louisiana that a lot of Mexican Americans go back and forth.

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So in that for example

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people having you know, the already tasted wine in tall wine stores

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and when they see on this major billboard that

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help further to, for them to become

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regular. That's, you know, if you go to marketing school, business school

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like I did that you know that's going to be one of the methodologies.

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Right. You've got the don't forget us methodology which, which is what this

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is a reminder that we're still out there. And it, that's sort of a

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shotgun approach. You know, who knows how many people that are. Those millions of

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people actually even care about wine or drink wine, let alone Georgian wine.

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But they've already had the experience somewhere else. And I

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think, I think your tasting methodology is

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the keenest idea. And that's because

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is a relationship being built like we said. But they buy the

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wine from Total Wine and they met you or they met your son or one

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of your operatives, they go home and they pour it for somebody and that

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person says oh, where did you get this? And the

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concept of social networking in general and the original concept of

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social networking before all the ads and Facebook was a different

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animal was if one person told 10 people and those 10 people

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told 10 people and those two. If you do that four times, they've told a

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hundred thousand people without you doing anything. Right. You

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just, you told one person, you shook their hand at the thing and

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they bought some wine and they told 10 people and they told. That's. That's the

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premise of it all. That's how it works. The

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problem today is I'm sure I'm telling you all this because the

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00:15:21,560 --> 00:15:25,320
interview is about you, but I want to just highlight this. There's

241
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no loyalty in social networking. None. Zero.

242
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Right. They're looking for the best deal, impulsive

243
00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:36,560
purchase. I saw this on Facebook or Net, you know, Instagram,

244
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whatever. They buy it. You may never hear from them again, and you can't afford

245
00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,000
to do that. You need somebody to wave your flag

246
00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,840
for you, and that's the person whose hand you shook. So I think the

247
00:15:47,840 --> 00:15:51,000
billboard idea is good because it's going to support the things you've been doing.

248
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So when you pour these wines at

249
00:15:55,270 --> 00:15:58,470
an event, what's the number one comment you get?

250
00:15:59,590 --> 00:16:03,110
I never heard of this before. Wow, this is really good. I've never tasted.

251
00:16:03,190 --> 00:16:06,830
What's the number one thing? The fact that they've never

252
00:16:06,830 --> 00:16:10,310
heard of the country of Georgia. It was a birthplace of wine. There's some

253
00:16:10,310 --> 00:16:13,790
Georgia. Wow. I didn't know he had wine in America. Some people don't know about

254
00:16:13,790 --> 00:16:17,510
the country itself, but the ones that do,

255
00:16:17,510 --> 00:16:21,110
very few of them know that it's a birthplace of wine and Georgia had

256
00:16:21,190 --> 00:16:24,700
made wine at all. So. And then,

257
00:16:25,180 --> 00:16:28,700
of course, we take advantage of uniqueness of our wines,

258
00:16:28,700 --> 00:16:32,460
uniqueness of our varietals. We highlight with, and

259
00:16:32,620 --> 00:16:36,460
I teach my crew to deliver

260
00:16:36,540 --> 00:16:39,580
those things kind of with a drive and a passion,

261
00:16:40,140 --> 00:16:43,020
and that way the people get excited, too.

262
00:16:43,660 --> 00:16:46,940
So, for example, such a tiny country has over 500

263
00:16:47,260 --> 00:16:51,060
unique indigenous varietals. And that's a nice

264
00:16:51,060 --> 00:16:54,810
surprise. It's kind of also educational. And

265
00:16:54,810 --> 00:16:58,530
they, in the end, thank us that they learned something new

266
00:16:58,530 --> 00:17:01,530
today and something important, something very interesting and cool.

267
00:17:02,730 --> 00:17:06,570
So. And then further, we explain about

268
00:17:06,570 --> 00:17:10,330
the wine region and some characteristics, but also we emphasize

269
00:17:10,890 --> 00:17:14,170
about cleanness and natural wines and minimal

270
00:17:14,170 --> 00:17:17,610
intervention. And that you have to take

271
00:17:17,610 --> 00:17:21,290
advantage of the fact that there were some wines had a very bad

272
00:17:21,290 --> 00:17:24,950
press about a lot of additives. And so. So

273
00:17:24,950 --> 00:17:28,470
then we give it the contrast that our wines are clean.

274
00:17:29,110 --> 00:17:31,590
So that catches their intention as well.

275
00:17:34,390 --> 00:17:38,190
And then we go into the specific. In the tall wine, we got

276
00:17:38,190 --> 00:17:41,950
the six in our lineup. And then we, of

277
00:17:41,950 --> 00:17:45,590
course, during the tasting, explain individually each

278
00:17:45,830 --> 00:17:49,510
of them. For example, Feveri wines, which stands for

279
00:17:49,510 --> 00:17:52,910
Clay Amphora, as you know, those are very

280
00:17:52,910 --> 00:17:56,620
popular. The stories kind of. And the process is fascinating for

281
00:17:56,930 --> 00:18:00,410
people. And to your point that then they become our

282
00:18:00,410 --> 00:18:04,170
ambassadors and then tell other people. And we already see

283
00:18:04,170 --> 00:18:07,810
that in action. People are coming in that they have tasted

284
00:18:07,810 --> 00:18:11,610
precisely with their friend that we sold the wine to, and

285
00:18:11,610 --> 00:18:15,290
they are looking for our wines already. And we see

286
00:18:15,290 --> 00:18:19,130
that increasing number. And a lot of

287
00:18:19,130 --> 00:18:22,770
people also like kind of our delivery in terms of

288
00:18:22,770 --> 00:18:26,610
that information and the fascinating process. Not Just the way

289
00:18:26,770 --> 00:18:29,790
Flora wines are made. We have for example,

290
00:18:30,030 --> 00:18:33,750
carbonic maturation wine, which is a French method. But

291
00:18:33,750 --> 00:18:37,310
it's a fascinating process when we describe that and

292
00:18:37,310 --> 00:18:40,950
people really like to hear about it and

293
00:18:40,950 --> 00:18:44,709
obviously they have to like the product in the end. But I think we

294
00:18:44,709 --> 00:18:47,070
got good combination. We got great product,

295
00:18:48,430 --> 00:18:52,270
we got great bottle presentation which is very distinct. I don't

296
00:18:52,270 --> 00:18:55,710
know if you've seen it already. It's a face of the

297
00:18:55,710 --> 00:18:58,590
farmer on a product on a bott.

298
00:19:00,730 --> 00:19:04,410
So and then another very key. And that was part of my

299
00:19:04,410 --> 00:19:08,210
strategy to keep everything under 20 bucks, which

300
00:19:08,210 --> 00:19:11,890
is a sweet spot, as you know, for the market. So you

301
00:19:11,890 --> 00:19:15,410
got high quality wines with a, you know, great

302
00:19:15,410 --> 00:19:18,570
history behind it with fascinating process of making it.

303
00:19:18,810 --> 00:19:22,530
Clean wines, natural wines, minimal intervention and under

304
00:19:22,530 --> 00:19:25,770
20 bucks. And that resonates. And

305
00:19:26,010 --> 00:19:29,650
people are such a pleasantly surprised, especially when they taste it and

306
00:19:29,650 --> 00:19:33,310
they sometimes do think we are joking or something. Really, these wines are

307
00:19:33,310 --> 00:19:36,710
under 20. I mean literally, we get those comments every

308
00:19:36,790 --> 00:19:40,590
single day. Especially in light of the lately we

309
00:19:40,590 --> 00:19:44,390
already had a bunch of European gold medals from every year

310
00:19:44,470 --> 00:19:48,230
big competitions like mundus vini, over 5,000 entrants.

311
00:19:48,550 --> 00:19:51,670
And now we started getting us recognition. For some reason

312
00:19:52,790 --> 00:19:55,670
corporates kind of ignore those European

313
00:19:56,470 --> 00:20:00,030
awards. But now heads are turning. We got

314
00:20:00,030 --> 00:20:03,710
four wines, 90 point James suckling, we got 91 point wine

315
00:20:03,710 --> 00:20:07,170
enthusiasts. Then latest was La International.

316
00:20:08,050 --> 00:20:11,530
We got a gold medal, double gold. And our sparkling

317
00:20:11,530 --> 00:20:14,610
wine just swept the Oscars, as they say.

318
00:20:15,010 --> 00:20:18,530
Won everything. Best of show, best of sparkling, best of class

319
00:20:18,530 --> 00:20:21,090
division, you name it. Let me stop you there for a second because those are,

320
00:20:21,570 --> 00:20:24,530
and those are really interesting accolades and yay

321
00:20:26,770 --> 00:20:30,610
to me, they're important. But only after

322
00:20:31,240 --> 00:20:35,040
the, the following, which is you've got 500 indigenous

323
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,400
varietals that most people can't pronounce. You've got

324
00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:41,560
regions that no one can pronounce. And you're coming from a country that no one's

325
00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:45,160
ever really heard of, particularly when it comes to wine. Right, that's right.

326
00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:48,520
That's, that's the obstacle first because

327
00:20:49,560 --> 00:20:52,800
you go in the supermarket change. Supermarket change. And it's great. You've been a total

328
00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,600
wine. But you know those companies, they're not going to give up shelf space

329
00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:00,480
right in their. They're, you know, illegally probably paying for that cell

330
00:21:00,480 --> 00:21:04,000
space because it's just very interesting to me that Snoop

331
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,600
Dogg's Cali Red is in the same damn spot right at eye

332
00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:11,160
level in the middle of the row, you know, at Ralph. So it's just, it's

333
00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,840
Not a coincidence. Right. Is it just

334
00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:18,600
a slow, persistent, passionate

335
00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:22,320
drive to continue to overcome those

336
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,160
headwinds that the marketplace puts in front of you?

337
00:21:25,800 --> 00:21:29,400
Absolutely. And you hit it right on ahead.

338
00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:32,920
That there are a lot of obstacles, especially when you're new.

339
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,800
The wines are from still unknown

340
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:40,680
little known region. And for example, in

341
00:21:40,680 --> 00:21:44,440
tall wine, one of the obstacles is to get into winery direct

342
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:48,080
program, which we are not. Their direct

343
00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:51,800
consumer stuff. They have that. No, no, it's a winery

344
00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:55,600
direct. It's a kind of relationship between you and the

345
00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,260
tall wine. Oh, I see. Okay. Ye. There's some percent, a certain

346
00:21:59,260 --> 00:22:02,260
percentage that they have to make certain margin.

347
00:22:02,820 --> 00:22:06,580
But that gives you some advantages whether it's a displaying and

348
00:22:06,580 --> 00:22:10,260
some. Some other details that I see without it you would not have

349
00:22:10,260 --> 00:22:13,779
right things even as simple as

350
00:22:13,860 --> 00:22:17,580
scheduling tasting reservations. Yeah, right. All that. That has

351
00:22:17,580 --> 00:22:21,220
been an obstacle. But what I have done when we face

352
00:22:21,300 --> 00:22:24,690
those obstacles from day one, I

353
00:22:24,690 --> 00:22:28,210
avoid the system or went

354
00:22:28,210 --> 00:22:31,410
directly to the store managers developed relationships

355
00:22:32,450 --> 00:22:36,090
and then when they see how consistent we are, show

356
00:22:36,090 --> 00:22:39,650
up. And everybody's comment they've never seen

357
00:22:40,610 --> 00:22:44,410
no company doing as hard as we

358
00:22:44,410 --> 00:22:48,250
do. If you're doing that many, you're doing it. Yes. And we got to

359
00:22:48,250 --> 00:22:51,420
the point that we are opening kind of more doors.

360
00:22:52,220 --> 00:22:55,740
But right now, as we speak, we expect any day we had the

361
00:22:56,380 --> 00:22:59,820
communication with corporates that we should be part of that program.

362
00:23:00,380 --> 00:23:03,820
Especially in light of their many companies and

363
00:23:03,820 --> 00:23:07,580
wines are part of that program. But most of them don't do much

364
00:23:07,580 --> 00:23:11,260
in terms of promoting and working as hard as we do.

365
00:23:11,740 --> 00:23:15,500
So with that program, I think we could deliver much better numbers for both

366
00:23:15,820 --> 00:23:18,780
parties involved. I think you've stumbled across the idea

367
00:23:20,310 --> 00:23:23,590
that and usually it's from

368
00:23:23,590 --> 00:23:27,230
importer to distributor that has this problem, but

369
00:23:27,230 --> 00:23:30,870
it would exist as well from distributor to retailer, which

370
00:23:30,870 --> 00:23:34,150
is they're not going to promote the brands for you.

371
00:23:34,869 --> 00:23:38,230
You know, in the old days of this trade in, in California,

372
00:23:38,710 --> 00:23:42,270
if you got a good distributor and they're out waving your flag, that was great.

373
00:23:42,270 --> 00:23:46,030
But now they don't do that anymore. So you have to bring them the brand

374
00:23:46,030 --> 00:23:49,830
and say, oh, by the way, this is in 14 total wine stores or this

375
00:23:51,090 --> 00:23:54,810
hundred placements. Will you handle the logistics for me? That's really what

376
00:23:54,810 --> 00:23:58,610
it comes. They really want you to promote it and that's what you're

377
00:23:58,610 --> 00:24:02,410
doing. Which is incredible because the, the, the frequency and the opportunities you're

378
00:24:02,410 --> 00:24:05,010
taking advantage of are critical in this industry.

379
00:24:06,850 --> 00:24:10,610
There was a guy here in la, his name was Stetson. You heard of him?

380
00:24:10,850 --> 00:24:14,650
No, I haven't seen him for a few years, but

381
00:24:14,650 --> 00:24:18,250
he was waving the flag of Georgian wines. And I could go through my database

382
00:24:18,250 --> 00:24:21,670
and show you what I tasted over the years. And

383
00:24:22,070 --> 00:24:25,590
then the Greek wine started coming in. I'm talking a few years ago,

384
00:24:26,230 --> 00:24:29,790
all biodynamic, organic again. You know,

385
00:24:29,790 --> 00:24:33,150
varietals you can't pronounce from islands they didn't know

386
00:24:33,150 --> 00:24:36,630
existed. And they got a little bit of traction.

387
00:24:37,750 --> 00:24:41,550
And I was telling you about this raw, raw event is put on by Isabelle

388
00:24:41,550 --> 00:24:45,390
Legeron and she. The last. That was the last time I tasted Georgia wines was

389
00:24:45,390 --> 00:24:49,230
a few months ago. And what I noticed that day was

390
00:24:49,790 --> 00:24:53,350
there were many, many wines, but two distinctively

391
00:24:53,350 --> 00:24:56,790
different styles. And I'm not sure it's the Kavari style, which is the

392
00:24:56,790 --> 00:24:59,550
amphora clay pot. I'm just for the listeners.

393
00:25:00,430 --> 00:25:04,270
But there is a rustic old school style and there was a

394
00:25:04,270 --> 00:25:08,030
new, modern, clean, crisp style. Does that exist today

395
00:25:08,030 --> 00:25:10,830
and what are people leaning towards?

396
00:25:11,950 --> 00:25:15,800
Yes, it still does exist. In terms of

397
00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:19,800
production, I think this quevory amphora style is about 10%.

398
00:25:20,280 --> 00:25:24,000
Oh, it's that much. It probably was 100% one time, right? Of

399
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:27,720
course, yeah. So. But

400
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,360
as far as the consumer,

401
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:36,600
they really like those quivery styles, those amphora styles, because

402
00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,440
that's something very distinct and different. And then

403
00:25:41,410 --> 00:25:44,930
we also have this interesting combination of the stainless

404
00:25:44,930 --> 00:25:48,690
steel and French oak where we take

405
00:25:48,690 --> 00:25:52,370
after the normal fermentation, take 30% and put in French oak for

406
00:25:52,610 --> 00:25:56,170
12 months, while 70% remaining stainless. And after 12 months we

407
00:25:56,170 --> 00:25:59,890
combine them back and again those are the process that people getting

408
00:25:59,890 --> 00:26:01,890
fascinated by. Was that post

409
00:26:03,410 --> 00:26:07,180
Soviet like for Armenian? Probably

410
00:26:07,180 --> 00:26:10,660
what I can reference that I know the most of it post Soviet rule

411
00:26:10,980 --> 00:26:14,180
because Armenia was relegated to brandy.

412
00:26:15,300 --> 00:26:18,420
But I think Georgia still had most of the wine trade.

413
00:26:19,300 --> 00:26:22,620
But was there big changes in technology and concept and

414
00:26:22,620 --> 00:26:26,460
marketing and approach to the wine world once the Soviets

415
00:26:26,460 --> 00:26:30,220
left? Absolutely. Because while Soviet Union we did not

416
00:26:30,220 --> 00:26:33,620
have access first of all to many markets

417
00:26:34,340 --> 00:26:37,460
and then Soviets the central authorities control

418
00:26:38,310 --> 00:26:41,510
everything pretty much and also dictate how

419
00:26:41,910 --> 00:26:45,270
things. I mean, there was a pressure on Georgian

420
00:26:45,270 --> 00:26:48,390
producers to produce that many numbers, which was very

421
00:26:48,630 --> 00:26:52,350
artificially high. And in order to produce it,

422
00:26:52,350 --> 00:26:55,790
they had to sacrifice the quality. And for

423
00:26:55,790 --> 00:26:59,550
farmers, there was an episode. Instead of

424
00:26:59,550 --> 00:27:02,630
doing that, they rather just eliminate the entire

425
00:27:03,110 --> 00:27:06,830
wineries. And so we went through all of this period, but

426
00:27:06,830 --> 00:27:10,410
yes, when Soviet Union dissolved and then all of a

427
00:27:10,410 --> 00:27:13,650
sudden we had access, easier access to not just market, but technology,

428
00:27:14,290 --> 00:27:18,130
the waterways and even the quivery wines benefited

429
00:27:18,210 --> 00:27:21,730
because of access to better labs Better technology.

430
00:27:22,850 --> 00:27:26,210
So that was just a better quality control

431
00:27:26,770 --> 00:27:30,530
all around. So everybody benefited from

432
00:27:30,530 --> 00:27:32,690
that. Do you think that's the direction?

433
00:27:35,900 --> 00:27:39,660
Georgia's a country, Armenia is a country, Greece and

434
00:27:39,660 --> 00:27:43,220
many other parts of the world. I mean there's. I don't think I've ever

435
00:27:43,220 --> 00:27:46,940
tasted a Croatian wine here in America through the distribution.

436
00:27:46,940 --> 00:27:50,420
And I tasted a hundred thousand wines in my career. Maybe I

437
00:27:50,420 --> 00:27:53,900
tasted two. But when I went to Croatia, the wines were

438
00:27:54,140 --> 00:27:57,860
phenomenal in my opinion. And I relied on the psalm of the restaurant

439
00:27:57,860 --> 00:28:00,620
to tell me, you know, what would be working with our meal.

440
00:28:02,720 --> 00:28:06,040
How do you differentiate yourself? How do you. I guess, I guess you're doing it.

441
00:28:06,040 --> 00:28:08,920
It's sort of a double edged sword, right. You're doing what you need to do

442
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:12,640
to differentiate yourself as, as the American pallet

443
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:18,000
have you felt has turned the corner on like accepting these

444
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:21,120
kinds of wines? Absolutely. Everybody who have

445
00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:25,680
tasted. Yes. So you just. How do you get

446
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,920
a taste that? Our thing is to reach a lot of people. And again, there

447
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:32,000
is no better way than we've chosen, which is the

448
00:28:33,580 --> 00:28:37,100
consumer tasting on regular basis. And you mentioned earlier

449
00:28:37,580 --> 00:28:41,260
over the weekend. No, we do it every day. We do it Mondays, Tuesdays,

450
00:28:41,260 --> 00:28:44,940
Wednesdays. We do it every single day of the week. And

451
00:28:45,740 --> 00:28:48,860
the ones they taste it, people really, really like it,

452
00:28:49,260 --> 00:28:52,780
really respond to it. And that's how our wines get a

453
00:28:53,020 --> 00:28:56,820
great traction. You know, the variables, the combinations

454
00:28:56,820 --> 00:29:00,060
of things you got to do to make people understand it, which includes the medals

455
00:29:00,060 --> 00:29:03,460
and the scorings, which they got to be submitted and you got to make sure

456
00:29:03,460 --> 00:29:06,760
you follow up on that. Sure. You're scheduling your tastings and you got to make

457
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:10,320
sure you have relationships with the distributors. You're distributing yourself, but the

458
00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:14,120
retailers. Did you expect all this? I mean, you were a politician.

459
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:17,960
This sounds like. No, no. To be honest with you, no.

460
00:29:18,440 --> 00:29:22,200
And there were some doubts when I started, what I

461
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:25,880
should have done, because I've got other companies, I've got and I've been successful.

462
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:30,720
I still have other business activities. So I did not have to

463
00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,160
do it as a business. But again I got involved and

464
00:29:34,480 --> 00:29:38,080
I kind of had the drive and passion for it. And

465
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,720
that still drives me today. Now, since I started

466
00:29:43,120 --> 00:29:45,680
then I faced some things that I did not expect.

467
00:29:46,720 --> 00:29:50,520
All these very serious difficulties, how the market is controlled and

468
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,440
how these big distributors conduct in business.

469
00:29:54,560 --> 00:29:58,200
But then I don't give up. I'm a person that

470
00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,850
doesn't take no for an answer. And many doors

471
00:30:01,850 --> 00:30:05,650
were shut or will not open. And I just, you know,

472
00:30:05,650 --> 00:30:09,490
do my homework, research, observe, design the strategy

473
00:30:09,490 --> 00:30:12,970
and come back and kick that door down. It's exciting.

474
00:30:13,370 --> 00:30:16,650
Yeah. So then I have that additional drive

475
00:30:17,210 --> 00:30:20,970
that because I was denied something like in the end I'm

476
00:30:20,970 --> 00:30:24,730
not going to be denied. So that's my approach. And again,

477
00:30:24,730 --> 00:30:28,250
I guess I'm lucky. But I took my time to find the right

478
00:30:28,250 --> 00:30:32,050
partner that everything had to click everything. All the boxes

479
00:30:32,050 --> 00:30:35,510
had to be checked in terms of quality, in terms of ethics,

480
00:30:35,750 --> 00:30:38,310
you name it and I've done that.

481
00:30:39,510 --> 00:30:42,630
And with that support with a high quality

482
00:30:42,950 --> 00:30:46,790
wines and then all the other changes I made on

483
00:30:46,790 --> 00:30:49,750
a presentation side, there was a lot of little things that

484
00:30:50,870 --> 00:30:54,510
I observed and decided needed to be

485
00:30:54,510 --> 00:30:58,350
changed. And we are kind of quick on our feet. But

486
00:30:58,350 --> 00:31:02,110
again and we are very aggressive in a good way,

487
00:31:02,590 --> 00:31:06,270
very ambitious in a good way. And we want to take this

488
00:31:06,270 --> 00:31:09,870
to a different level. And I must say with toll

489
00:31:09,870 --> 00:31:13,390
wine where the store is structured we can see the huge

490
00:31:13,390 --> 00:31:17,230
opportunities. But tall wine is not the only one. We are

491
00:31:17,230 --> 00:31:20,750
working multi layer approach. I also have

492
00:31:20,910 --> 00:31:24,750
two beside the sparkling wine, I have two actually the steel

493
00:31:24,750 --> 00:31:28,550
wines, meaning two brands. So

494
00:31:28,550 --> 00:31:31,590
which is basically same wine, just a different bottle presentation.

495
00:31:32,150 --> 00:31:35,830
So potentially for. For another big client, we have another

496
00:31:36,150 --> 00:31:39,830
brand ready and we are in the process of approaching

497
00:31:39,830 --> 00:31:43,510
them or already approach. And it's just a, you know, slow walk

498
00:31:44,150 --> 00:31:47,670
but. But again so we just

499
00:31:49,110 --> 00:31:52,950
very determined to. To take this

500
00:31:52,950 --> 00:31:56,390
to the next level. You know, you said earlier that

501
00:31:57,030 --> 00:31:58,070
high tide Flo

502
00:32:00,730 --> 00:32:04,450
is you think that support from the Armenian trade, from

503
00:32:04,450 --> 00:32:06,490
the Slovenian trade, from

504
00:32:08,330 --> 00:32:11,850
Croatia, Greece, whatever we were talking about that

505
00:32:12,490 --> 00:32:16,250
a general global awareness to the consumer

506
00:32:16,250 --> 00:32:19,410
of wines of non American or non

507
00:32:19,410 --> 00:32:23,050
traditionally regions is a good

508
00:32:23,050 --> 00:32:26,640
thing that everybody talks about everybody or is it the

509
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:30,200
competition between Armenia and Georgia being the first wine country.

510
00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:34,600
The argument that's ongoing argument.

511
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:38,040
It is a good thing. It is a good thing. More exposure to the

512
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:41,240
different product from different parts of the world. It's a good thing.

513
00:32:42,200 --> 00:32:45,560
And I think also we mentioned about some

514
00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:49,400
additives and some issues that exist in the

515
00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,920
wine industry. I think it's a good thing from that standpoint. Also

516
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:57,320
we see this trend. For example, there are some people that only would

517
00:32:57,460 --> 00:33:01,140
drink orange wines. And I see more and more of those people and

518
00:33:01,140 --> 00:33:04,820
they happen to like Georgian version of it.

519
00:33:04,820 --> 00:33:07,140
We call Amber, but it's orange in this market.

520
00:33:08,500 --> 00:33:12,300
But so that trend I think would force some other

521
00:33:12,300 --> 00:33:16,060
makers to improve their product and their

522
00:33:16,060 --> 00:33:19,900
quality because people are more and more health conscious and when

523
00:33:19,900 --> 00:33:21,780
they find out about additives

524
00:33:23,620 --> 00:33:27,370
as opposed to then we have great alternative

525
00:33:27,530 --> 00:33:30,570
who is. Which is great on a Palette with a great story

526
00:33:31,370 --> 00:33:35,010
and again, with, you know, cleanness of it. And that's what

527
00:33:35,010 --> 00:33:38,730
the, you know, is Georgia wines. You know, I had this.

528
00:33:38,730 --> 00:33:41,770
I love this. I love this conversation. And I mean, that's why I want to

529
00:33:41,770 --> 00:33:45,570
hear about the Georgian point of view. I had a conversation recently with a

530
00:33:45,570 --> 00:33:49,370
Burgundian and Bordelaise. They were always

531
00:33:49,530 --> 00:33:53,380
natural. Wine was always natural. Wasn't. You know, modern

532
00:33:53,380 --> 00:33:56,780
pesticides, insecticides, herbicides are rather contemporary things.

533
00:33:57,500 --> 00:34:01,180
We've destroyed our crops in America. Not only grapes with this stuff,

534
00:34:01,180 --> 00:34:04,980
but, you know, wheat and other grains. And now they're coming back,

535
00:34:04,980 --> 00:34:08,060
and we. And as a human species, we applaud ourselves.

536
00:34:08,780 --> 00:34:12,220
We destroyed it in the first place. And then we come around and we go,

537
00:34:12,220 --> 00:34:15,260
oh, look how great we are. We're fixing it. Well, it's like you shouldn't have

538
00:34:15,260 --> 00:34:18,950
done the first place. And then

539
00:34:18,950 --> 00:34:22,470
what happened was, in the wine trade, I'd sit here and somebody would bring me

540
00:34:22,470 --> 00:34:26,030
a wine. This is biodynamic. This is organic. And it tasted like

541
00:34:26,030 --> 00:34:29,270
Kombucha. It was horrible. And. And that wasn't.

542
00:34:29,670 --> 00:34:33,270
That's not an excuse to drink bad wine just because you think you're being natural.

543
00:34:34,710 --> 00:34:38,510
Has Georgian wines always. Whether were there ever additives?

544
00:34:38,510 --> 00:34:42,350
Were there ever insecticides, pesticides, or. Again, we're

545
00:34:42,350 --> 00:34:44,760
sort of regrouping and starting over again.

546
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,680
Well, no, there were no additives except

547
00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:53,360
some minimal sulfides. Yeah, but the additives, in

548
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,200
terms of the palette, the flavor

549
00:34:56,680 --> 00:35:00,519
defense, all that crap. None of that. None of that. It's never

550
00:35:00,519 --> 00:35:04,240
existed, really. Right. And I'm not familiar. I cannot speak about

551
00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:07,880
other companies, how they do it, but mostly Georgian wine,

552
00:35:07,880 --> 00:35:11,680
still clean, especially compared to many others in the

553
00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,290
market. That's interesting for the consumers. I just want to define

554
00:35:15,290 --> 00:35:19,090
orange wines, which I think are perfectly. I don't mean natural in

555
00:35:19,810 --> 00:35:23,490
their processing, but it's a natural idea to take a white

556
00:35:23,490 --> 00:35:27,130
grape and keep it on the skins and fermented, much like a red

557
00:35:27,130 --> 00:35:30,970
wine would be done. Why not? Why wouldn't you do that? Just to see

558
00:35:30,970 --> 00:35:34,450
how that wine is. But was Georgia wine

559
00:35:35,490 --> 00:35:39,090
sort of a leader in that, or that was a result of this

560
00:35:39,090 --> 00:35:42,850
contemporary movement towards orange wine? Wine. I

561
00:35:42,850 --> 00:35:46,690
would say it is a leader because we still make ancient

562
00:35:46,690 --> 00:35:50,010
ways. First of all, in that quavery, the amphora, clay

563
00:35:50,010 --> 00:35:53,730
amphora. And also you mentioned about the red wine. We do

564
00:35:53,730 --> 00:35:57,410
have a red wine, same thing, same method, which is red grape,

565
00:35:57,810 --> 00:36:01,290
and the skin contact, which is, by the way, very, very

566
00:36:01,290 --> 00:36:04,770
popular. And unlike. I must emphasize

567
00:36:04,770 --> 00:36:08,050
or point out one thing. Unlike orange wine,

568
00:36:08,290 --> 00:36:11,490
this red, similar version, similar method,

569
00:36:11,730 --> 00:36:14,990
doesn't have funkiness of the orange one.

570
00:36:15,630 --> 00:36:19,470
So because orange wine considered kind of acquired taste, some people

571
00:36:19,470 --> 00:36:23,150
love it, there is not much the middle or some people just

572
00:36:23,230 --> 00:36:26,750
don't like it or that's not for me. As opposed to

573
00:36:27,310 --> 00:36:30,430
that the red is more widely

574
00:36:31,150 --> 00:36:34,670
accepted. It's kind of. It's not as funky as

575
00:36:34,830 --> 00:36:38,390
on a palette. It's very well structured, very, very

576
00:36:38,390 --> 00:36:41,710
pleasant. So we have that too.

577
00:36:42,270 --> 00:36:44,700
And you don't have to have a

578
00:36:45,740 --> 00:36:49,380
Kari amphora Kadash in

579
00:36:49,380 --> 00:36:52,940
Armenia. They by themselves.

580
00:36:53,100 --> 00:36:55,100
This is interesting. I had this question down already.

581
00:36:57,260 --> 00:37:01,060
Those techniques create a different wine because of their oxygenation

582
00:37:01,060 --> 00:37:04,700
and because of the way the wine circulates in the, in the device.

583
00:37:05,100 --> 00:37:08,900
And what's interesting to me, we're. We're going back to those

584
00:37:08,900 --> 00:37:12,420
things in many modern, modern styles

585
00:37:12,500 --> 00:37:16,140
using a concrete egg, which is effectively a modern

586
00:37:16,140 --> 00:37:19,900
version of an amphora. As far as its technique though, it's a little

587
00:37:19,900 --> 00:37:23,060
less rustic. But I just find it interesting that

588
00:37:24,420 --> 00:37:27,780
history repeats itself and that's becoming now

589
00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:30,740
a thing. I wonder if that you think that's consumer driven,

590
00:37:31,860 --> 00:37:35,700
that that character is just a cyclical thing. At some point everybody loved it

591
00:37:35,700 --> 00:37:39,020
and then they got away from it. Just like Sancerre was unheard of until now.

592
00:37:39,020 --> 00:37:42,720
And everybody wants to. And then a few years no one will

593
00:37:42,720 --> 00:37:45,960
drink Sancerre again. Do you think that's the same

594
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:50,680
ups and ebbs and flows of the. Of wines made in those

595
00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:54,040
traditional styles? It's hard to say. It's consumer driven

596
00:37:54,520 --> 00:37:57,920
from the standpoint that when consumer

597
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,520
likes first of all the, the, the natural

598
00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:05,000
clean wines, healthy versions of the

599
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,840
wine and. And then the producers kind of

600
00:38:08,840 --> 00:38:12,520
cut and then started pushing and producing more of those

601
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:16,000
wines. There's also about the orange wines there.

602
00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:20,000
Of course there are some different approaches still,

603
00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:23,960
despite just a general skin contact. There are some

604
00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:27,520
companies, for example, either do not filter them or

605
00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:31,360
filter partially as opposed to, for example our company,

606
00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:35,040
our wines. We filter them well and completely.

607
00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:38,160
So there are other different factors that

608
00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:41,820
differentiates within the orange wine and skin contact

609
00:38:41,820 --> 00:38:45,420
wine. And that is important also. So I think our

610
00:38:45,500 --> 00:38:49,100
version is more widely accepted, has much better

611
00:38:49,100 --> 00:38:52,860
potential when it reaches to people that have not tasted them

612
00:38:52,860 --> 00:38:56,620
before. Because something unknown, something could be acquired taste. And when you take a

613
00:38:56,620 --> 00:39:00,460
bottle, you see some particles inside that normally for

614
00:39:00,460 --> 00:39:04,140
most people would be kind of no, no. So

615
00:39:04,940 --> 00:39:08,410
we don't have that issue. I just got done with a taste tasting for

616
00:39:08,410 --> 00:39:12,090
Louis Jadot barrel 2024 barrel

617
00:39:12,090 --> 00:39:15,930
tasting. And I took my son A lot to help me videotape it. He's a

618
00:39:15,930 --> 00:39:19,690
millennial. And they poured the samples he was able to

619
00:39:19,690 --> 00:39:23,530
taste with me. And his first question afterwards

620
00:39:23,530 --> 00:39:26,130
was, what was all that crap in the wine?

621
00:39:27,010 --> 00:39:30,650
And you know, I'm like, that's because it's a barrel sample. But that would

622
00:39:30,650 --> 00:39:34,300
be the same, the same objection you might get at pouring

623
00:39:34,620 --> 00:39:38,300
an unfiltered, unfined orange wine. Because a. It's

624
00:39:38,300 --> 00:39:40,940
orange and you can see right through it. I mean, the color is light enough.

625
00:39:40,940 --> 00:39:44,420
You see all the cloudiness. Have you, have you heard that when you pour these

626
00:39:44,420 --> 00:39:48,260
wines Again, not. Not with hot wines. Because

627
00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:51,900
our wines are very clear. Oh yes. But I have heard because when we

628
00:39:52,460 --> 00:39:56,220
did some joint tasting with other companies. Precisely. That

629
00:39:56,620 --> 00:40:00,230
have those that not filtered. Yes. So we heard

630
00:40:00,230 --> 00:40:03,830
those comments, observations, and in many

631
00:40:03,830 --> 00:40:07,630
cases even complain. There are some people because of

632
00:40:07,630 --> 00:40:11,190
it, just would not taste it at all. There are some that still would give

633
00:40:11,190 --> 00:40:14,670
it a try, but I think we feel

634
00:40:14,670 --> 00:40:18,350
comfortable with our version. And then also you were

635
00:40:18,350 --> 00:40:21,990
talking about the general acceptance from that

636
00:40:21,990 --> 00:40:25,710
area of the world. We have in

637
00:40:25,710 --> 00:40:29,550
our lineup one semi sweet, one wine. So

638
00:40:29,950 --> 00:40:33,750
in the semisweet, much to my surprise. So we had to have

639
00:40:33,750 --> 00:40:37,390
it in our portfolio. It was very popular in. Not just in Georgia, but

640
00:40:37,390 --> 00:40:40,990
in then Soviet Union, probably the. The most

641
00:40:40,990 --> 00:40:44,750
popular. So we had to have it right. But we got very serious dry

642
00:40:44,750 --> 00:40:48,510
wine lineup. And all of a sudden that semisweet

643
00:40:48,510 --> 00:40:52,190
became the best seller. Of course, I mean, it just flying off the shelf. I

644
00:40:52,190 --> 00:40:55,910
mean, there are many stores within 10 to two weeks of

645
00:40:55,910 --> 00:40:59,510
delivery, let's say in total while it's out. And a good

646
00:40:59,510 --> 00:41:03,230
thing that they let me do the interim orders, not

647
00:41:03,230 --> 00:41:05,990
to be out of the bestseller for two weeks.

648
00:41:07,590 --> 00:41:11,310
But the reason I started this conversation, also there is a

649
00:41:11,310 --> 00:41:14,470
comparison and most people that everybody actually who

650
00:41:15,190 --> 00:41:18,710
learns those facts, which I'm going to mention, and then

651
00:41:18,710 --> 00:41:22,550
taste it, all of a sudden converts and become the fan of that particular

652
00:41:22,630 --> 00:41:26,110
wine. So because of the sweet wine, much to my

653
00:41:26,110 --> 00:41:29,570
surprise, again is prob. The most popular,

654
00:41:29,650 --> 00:41:33,490
starting with Stella Rosas of the world. And so there's a lot of

655
00:41:33,490 --> 00:41:37,170
people with that palate. And so when we started

656
00:41:38,130 --> 00:41:41,890
introducing and tasting those wine, we emphasized that it's naturally

657
00:41:41,890 --> 00:41:45,090
semi sweet, no added sugars, no additives.

658
00:41:45,970 --> 00:41:49,330
And then when people taste it and they love the palate,

659
00:41:49,650 --> 00:41:53,250
and then they love the fact which we tell them that because of

660
00:41:53,250 --> 00:41:57,090
cleanness, probably won't give you kind of headache or a hangover, and

661
00:41:57,090 --> 00:42:00,370
they come back in droves, literally. I guess that'd be a hu

662
00:42:00,590 --> 00:42:04,190
motivation. You're not going to get a hangover from this. But what

663
00:42:04,350 --> 00:42:07,950
would you say semi sweet. What kind of sugar content is that? It's

664
00:42:08,110 --> 00:42:11,750
30 grams. Yeah, it must be above

665
00:42:11,750 --> 00:42:15,150
30 to be in that category. So it's kind of controlled.

666
00:42:15,870 --> 00:42:19,550
You see Appalachian of controlled origin. And

667
00:42:19,630 --> 00:42:23,310
it must be about a little above 30. You know, that's

668
00:42:23,310 --> 00:42:27,150
not, that's not a new thing. Most of the wines at

669
00:42:27,150 --> 00:42:30,670
the supermarket today are going to be. They're not going to call them semisweet, but

670
00:42:30,670 --> 00:42:34,350
they're certainly not going to be dry. The apothic reds and the Josh

671
00:42:34,510 --> 00:42:37,910
Cabernet, those things are all sugared up in some

672
00:42:37,910 --> 00:42:40,990
fashion. And even as an experienced taster,

673
00:42:41,550 --> 00:42:45,230
you could go through a whole tasting of dry wines and that one

674
00:42:45,230 --> 00:42:48,710
little semisweet or something that's just off dry just feels

675
00:42:48,710 --> 00:42:52,390
refreshing. And it even fools a proficient

676
00:42:52,390 --> 00:42:56,220
taster into thinking this is extraordinary married. But only because

677
00:42:56,220 --> 00:42:59,660
of the timing of it and it's refreshing status. There's nothing wrong with it. I'm

678
00:42:59,660 --> 00:43:02,980
not saying there's anything wrong with it, but I don't think that the

679
00:43:02,980 --> 00:43:06,780
consumer propensity toward a semi sweet wine or sweeter

680
00:43:06,780 --> 00:43:10,540
wine is unusual. It's been around forever. Look at white Zinfandel was, you

681
00:43:10,540 --> 00:43:14,060
know, that was a huge motivation factor of those

682
00:43:14,060 --> 00:43:17,660
wines in the 70s. And the, and the stuff in my dad's store,

683
00:43:17,900 --> 00:43:21,660
you know, Matuse Lancers, they all had a little sugar.

684
00:43:21,820 --> 00:43:25,580
So what's, what's in the horizon for you? We're. We're actually

685
00:43:25,580 --> 00:43:28,380
out of time which is unbelievable. But what's in the horizon?

686
00:43:30,220 --> 00:43:33,940
This industry is in flux right now. We really

687
00:43:33,940 --> 00:43:37,580
don't know the solutions. We don't know what the consumer is going to do.

688
00:43:38,140 --> 00:43:41,660
You can only rely on the. His. The history of wine that is obviously not

689
00:43:41,660 --> 00:43:45,340
going away ever. But it will eb and flow in its consumption.

690
00:43:46,540 --> 00:43:50,300
Are you trying to predict the future? You just pound away at the marketplace

691
00:43:50,300 --> 00:43:53,740
just to get. Get your foot in the door to. For the consumer to know.

692
00:43:53,820 --> 00:43:57,580
Well, I'm pounding away and I'm

693
00:43:57,580 --> 00:44:01,260
not trying to predict future. I'm trying to influence or make it future.

694
00:44:02,300 --> 00:44:06,100
So I have my vision already mentioned about the toll

695
00:44:06,100 --> 00:44:09,420
wine. We want to cover entire state and the entire

696
00:44:09,660 --> 00:44:13,340
country which is about 300 stores. I think that

697
00:44:13,340 --> 00:44:16,940
gives us the best vehicle to raise our brand awareness,

698
00:44:17,580 --> 00:44:19,740
get a great traction, raise our

699
00:44:20,760 --> 00:44:24,520
significantly and that in turn helps.

700
00:44:25,160 --> 00:44:28,520
I mentioned having other trademark other brand

701
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:32,680
and just that will help to go to

702
00:44:33,240 --> 00:44:37,000
other direction as well. Especially with the second brand. How about

703
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:40,760
some of the organic stores, Whole Foods, Mrs. Gooch's. Well, not Mrs. Gooch anymore,

704
00:44:40,760 --> 00:44:44,440
but Sprouts, stuff like that. We've had some

705
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:47,720
ongoing conversation with Sprouts and then a couple others.

706
00:44:48,680 --> 00:44:52,320
We are in the process again, I'm trying

707
00:44:52,320 --> 00:44:56,080
to be patient in terms of trying to find

708
00:44:56,080 --> 00:44:59,440
the right partner. We are in process of

709
00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:03,240
talking to some distributors. I'm trying to stay

710
00:45:03,240 --> 00:45:06,920
away from the big guys. We're still, of

711
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:09,600
course, unknown name.

712
00:45:11,360 --> 00:45:15,000
So I'm trying to find the right partner, kind of like a small to

713
00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:17,760
medium distributor statewide. And

714
00:45:18,480 --> 00:45:22,230
because we get great product in some restaurants that we are

715
00:45:22,230 --> 00:45:25,910
already, they, I mean, have already our wines. We do

716
00:45:25,910 --> 00:45:29,670
great. And there is a huge opportunity in a

717
00:45:29,670 --> 00:45:33,390
restaurant establishments. And for that we need a distributor. Because

718
00:45:33,630 --> 00:45:37,230
in my company, we self distribute it to the tall wine stores.

719
00:45:37,390 --> 00:45:41,030
And then if we go nationwide, especially under this winery direct

720
00:45:41,030 --> 00:45:44,190
program I mentioned, there is a hub distribution

721
00:45:44,350 --> 00:45:48,140
options. So we handle all of that. But

722
00:45:49,020 --> 00:45:51,900
it cannot handle hundreds of restaurants, which

723
00:45:52,620 --> 00:45:56,340
is our goal to be in those. You can go get a placement.

724
00:45:56,340 --> 00:45:59,700
And that's kind of what I was talking about earlier, that you come back to

725
00:45:59,700 --> 00:46:03,539
the wholesaler and you say, look, we've already got these places in your neighborhood in

726
00:46:03,539 --> 00:46:07,220
place. We just need you to continue to promote them

727
00:46:07,220 --> 00:46:10,980
inside. But with today's marketplace, if you talk to most

728
00:46:10,980 --> 00:46:14,780
restaurateurs, I talked to one the other day and it's

729
00:46:14,780 --> 00:46:18,130
a Middle Eastern store that a restaurant that does very well.

730
00:46:18,370 --> 00:46:20,930
His bottle sales are off 30, 40%.

731
00:46:21,970 --> 00:46:25,330
But here's an interesting thought, and I asked him, I go, what about your

732
00:46:25,570 --> 00:46:29,290
waiters? And he said, they don't know shit. And I go, well,

733
00:46:29,290 --> 00:46:32,050
maybe that's one of your problems. Maybe the education

734
00:46:34,050 --> 00:46:37,610
of your waiters from these things on your list would be a good idea. So

735
00:46:37,610 --> 00:46:40,930
people could ask the questions. And maybe that's one of the things

736
00:46:41,900 --> 00:46:45,140
that's good for Georgian wines is that there's a little mini seminar. You do it

737
00:46:45,140 --> 00:46:48,700
already at a total wine. Why don't you sit in front of a restaurant,

738
00:46:48,700 --> 00:46:52,500
tour with their staff and have that training and let them teach

739
00:46:52,500 --> 00:46:56,300
it. Very interesting that you bring this up. For example, there is a

740
00:46:57,420 --> 00:47:00,500
relatively new Georgian restaurant here in

741
00:47:00,500 --> 00:47:03,900
Pasadena on May 31st. We got a staff training.

742
00:47:04,620 --> 00:47:08,270
So I'm very, very enthused

743
00:47:08,270 --> 00:47:11,710
about or very focused about the training and the

744
00:47:11,710 --> 00:47:15,270
importance of it, whether it's a tall wine source or restaurant.

745
00:47:15,270 --> 00:47:18,470
But I totally agree with you. So we are talking about

746
00:47:19,030 --> 00:47:22,550
wheat. This company got 25 restaurants.

747
00:47:22,950 --> 00:47:26,710
So one of the things in my presentation, in my pitch I told them

748
00:47:26,710 --> 00:47:30,550
that we would do at least two staff tastings

749
00:47:30,550 --> 00:47:34,310
or training a year, at least two, because there is a lot of

750
00:47:34,310 --> 00:47:38,150
turnover waiters. And again, I

751
00:47:38,150 --> 00:47:41,570
totally agree with that point. Then

752
00:47:41,650 --> 00:47:45,450
with that training, with that information that the

753
00:47:45,450 --> 00:47:49,210
most don't have today about special wines, about

754
00:47:49,210 --> 00:47:52,850
the query wines, about the special birthplace of wine, cleanness of it,

755
00:47:53,170 --> 00:47:56,610
the different interesting methods of making it, I think

756
00:47:57,010 --> 00:48:00,810
that would go a long way to get additional traction. And

757
00:48:00,810 --> 00:48:04,490
again, to your earlier point, how one is the

758
00:48:04,490 --> 00:48:07,650
best advertiser that tells another and shares that wine,

759
00:48:08,290 --> 00:48:12,110
you know, with friends and neighbors, you name it. So

760
00:48:12,110 --> 00:48:15,870
in doing that in restaurant, which the staff training

761
00:48:15,870 --> 00:48:19,510
will translate much higher sale, much more people

762
00:48:19,510 --> 00:48:22,910
knowing your wine, and then having such a

763
00:48:22,910 --> 00:48:26,749
widely known company store like

764
00:48:26,749 --> 00:48:30,550
Total Wine, then it's a combination of, you can find those

765
00:48:30,550 --> 00:48:33,750
wines if you want, not just in a restaurant, but you can enjoy on your

766
00:48:33,750 --> 00:48:37,430
own time in those stores. So that's the connection we try

767
00:48:37,430 --> 00:48:41,270
to make. And with everybody, we make the same pitch. Even if we

768
00:48:41,270 --> 00:48:44,970
go nationwide in terms of restaurants, I mean, I'm literally

769
00:48:44,970 --> 00:48:48,730
already designing, for example, the Toll Wine in

770
00:48:48,730 --> 00:48:52,570
San Francisco. I don't have a single store in Orange County. I don't have

771
00:48:52,570 --> 00:48:56,090
a single store yet. I have in both places the people,

772
00:48:56,730 --> 00:49:00,370
people with good background, the taste ready for

773
00:49:00,370 --> 00:49:03,930
tasting. So and I would do that nationwide.

774
00:49:04,090 --> 00:49:07,650
I literally envision me having dozen or

775
00:49:07,650 --> 00:49:11,270
more, if necessary people just doing that on full time

776
00:49:11,270 --> 00:49:14,990
basis, just going store to store, restaurant to restaurant,

777
00:49:14,990 --> 00:49:18,710
state to state, city to city, just doing that. I

778
00:49:18,710 --> 00:49:21,430
think that's the best investment I can make

779
00:49:22,310 --> 00:49:25,270
to get the best traction, raise the, the

780
00:49:25,829 --> 00:49:29,630
brand name. So I think that's, think

781
00:49:29,630 --> 00:49:33,310
about it, particularly in today's environment, which restaurant touring

782
00:49:33,310 --> 00:49:36,830
is difficult at best anyway. And then you add

783
00:49:37,060 --> 00:49:39,860
to it a downturn in consumption. You had

784
00:49:40,740 --> 00:49:44,500
generational differences in, in pallets. And here you are

785
00:49:45,220 --> 00:49:48,580
doing some of their work for them, right? In the old days it would have

786
00:49:48,580 --> 00:49:52,100
been the psalm inside the store. Well, the psalm doesn't exist anymore in most restaurants.

787
00:49:52,100 --> 00:49:55,900
And if they do, they're also the general manager, they're also a chef. You

788
00:49:55,900 --> 00:49:59,740
know, they're not just one job. It just those, those jobs are

789
00:49:59,740 --> 00:50:03,380
gone. And here you are doing, doing their bidding for them, which is

790
00:50:03,380 --> 00:50:07,090
important because, because when that restaurant told me that

791
00:50:07,090 --> 00:50:10,250
the, the chefs, the, the waiters don't know anything, well that, you know, that's a

792
00:50:10,250 --> 00:50:13,570
huge issue. How are they going to inspire a client

793
00:50:13,970 --> 00:50:17,650
to try a Georgian wine or an Armenian wine or a French. It doesn't

794
00:50:17,650 --> 00:50:21,450
matter. Without inspiration behind it, which

795
00:50:21,450 --> 00:50:24,850
is knowledge, which is coming from people like you. Doing that,

796
00:50:25,970 --> 00:50:28,370
it sounds like you're on the right track, and it sounds like you're doing the

797
00:50:28,370 --> 00:50:32,080
right things. In this crazy, unknown world, world of the

798
00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:35,920
wine industry, there are shining stars, there are

799
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:39,680
things happening that are making. That are making headway, and this sounds like

800
00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:43,360
this is one of them. And I applaud you for that effort

801
00:50:43,360 --> 00:50:46,000
because it takes. That's what it takes. I mean, that's what we used to do.

802
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:49,120
Been a pleasure having you on the show and hearing what you're doing. I can't

803
00:50:49,120 --> 00:50:52,840
wait to taste the wines you brought. In fact, I'm headed down to a

804
00:50:52,840 --> 00:50:55,920
family reunion today, so probably take them down and

805
00:50:56,800 --> 00:51:00,560
explore the world of your wines. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you so much for

806
00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:04,340
having me. This was great experience for me and

807
00:51:04,340 --> 00:51:08,020
getting. Getting to know you. I also did research on you, so to

808
00:51:08,020 --> 00:51:11,860
speak. You didn't find the felonies. Did you understand?

809
00:51:11,860 --> 00:51:15,060
You bring a wealth of experience that. It's

810
00:51:15,060 --> 00:51:18,180
fascinating also. Thank you. Cheers. Thank you.