Champagne Rebel: Marvina Robinson Pops the Industry’s Bubble

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How can you not love champagne, you know? And it's just,

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it's a story itself. And I feel like anytime I enjoy it,

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whether I'm happy, sad, whether it's business, non-business, it's

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just something there for me. Like I keep a journal of all the bottles that

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I drink. I go back and I make marks so I can see which ones

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I've been drinking the most. I have some favorites and I just love the

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whole process. It's like nostalgia to me. Sit back

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and grab a glass. It's Wine Talks with

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Paul Kaye. Hey, welcome to Wine

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Talks with Paul Kaye, and we are in studio today in beautiful Southern California. Actually

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a little rainy today in Monrovia. About to have a conversation with Marvina Robinson

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of Stuyvesant B. Stuyvesant Champagne. Introductions in just a

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moment. Hey, have a listen to Stephanie Franklins—

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that's plural. They're both members of the Association of

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African American Vendors, and they both have a different plight in this industry.

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One of them is producing wine, or going to produce wine, in a little town

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called Shankleville, Texas. No one's ever done this before. An

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amazing story. She's calling back to her roots to

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go do this for her great-grandfather. As well, another Stephanie Franklin who

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just started a brand called Fly Wines while she's sitting around at a bar with

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a friend, decided that corporate America was no longer for her

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and bit off, uh, starting her own company. Not unlike Miss

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Marvina Robinson, who we'll talk to today. Hey, give me some good reviews

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and subscribe. That's how it's egotistical podcast to stay in

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business. We appreciate you listening today.

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Today we have Marvina Robinson from B. Stuyvesant.

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I want to say it like the French would say it. That's the problem.

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Right? B. Stuyvesant is how I pronounce it.

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Okay. B. Stuyvesant. It's named after my neighborhood, so I go off of that pronunciation.

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And this is, this is a champagne brand, which is an

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amazing story. We'll get into that in just a second. But you call yourself the

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CEO, CEO, chief bottle washer, whatever you call it, right? You're running the show.

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Yes, I am the founder and CEO of B. Styris and Champagne. And how long—

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Go ahead. I mean, we all know, you know, as entrepreneurs,

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we take on all these roles. But you were not always

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doing this, getting into this trade. You were in Wall Street, I think,

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right? Yes, I worked on Wall Street for 20 years.

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It was a great career for me. You know, I just began to change loves

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probably in the last 5 years. Champagne was my hobby

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and I would go back and forth to France to kind of like explore Champagne.

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I really wanted to know more about Champagne. I always believed you have to

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immerse yourself in the culture. So I just started doing that.

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And you can read as many things you want on Google, whatever

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classes you want to take, but it's nothing like being hands-on and in the culture

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to really learn and understand. And that's basically what I did.

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And long story short, we can get into the long later. I just decided to

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take a risk for myself and start Beast Iverson. And

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what people, some people may not realize is that this

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was not originally meant to be for retail. I was really

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opening up a small champagne bar to introduce a lot

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of grower champagne, which I find such, so beautiful. And that's when I was going

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back and forth to France. I would've searched these brands. And I still do.

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And I was going to import them over, which I still do. I

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import over small batches. I help people build, help clients

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build out their champagne portfolios. People are looking for something different.

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It's like still my hobby. And B. Styrocent was going to be the

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house brand of this small champagne bar.

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COVID came, had inventory, and

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it went into one store. From there, it just grew on its own and that

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is the business, became the business. And what I decided to do is, because I

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only launched with 2 cuvées, I decided that I actually now

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then wanted to

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actually

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build a full portfolio for the

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business. And that's basically what I've been doing over the past couple of years. Did

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you have any wine experience prior to this? I mean, like, you just

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used the word cuvée, which is certainly a wine term. But when you

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ventured into this, did you just start from scratch or you just had an

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appreciation for bubble tea? And so

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I would, I basically started,

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when I started going back and forth to France, I just started picking up the

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language and understanding it a little bit better. I call myself Dora the

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Explorer. When I want to learn something, I like go in my

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rabbit hole. So I just learn and I adapt it. Like I

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think, prior to launching the establishment, my wine

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knowledge wasn't, I wasn't

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like up to, I wasn't a big wine head. I always

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liked sparkling. So original story is how I really came to

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Champagne. My girlfriends and I, we would come, you know, in Brooklyn,

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hang on a stoop, and we went to different colleges. And what

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we would do was to catch up, we would get a bottle of Champagne,

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we'll share it. Couldn't really afford it, but we'll share a bottle. We had plastic

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cups and we'll just sit on the stoop talking, catch up. And then one time

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I remember one of my friends, we were in a store together, we were like,

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oh, we could get 3 bottles of these instead of versus 1 bottle. And

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unfortunately, that's exactly, that's how I started like,

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what is the difference between the two? And I'm like, okay,

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this brand versus this brand versus this brand. And lo and

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behold, I said, oh, this started sparking my interest, and slowly but

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surely, I actually decided to do the

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research. It's kind of interesting you said that because

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the story you just told is very similar to Tilar

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Mazio, who's the woman that wrote Widow Kliko, who's now—

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now it's a movie. I'm sure you're familiar with all of it. Yeah, I haven't

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seen it yet, but I've heard of it. Well, I did notice

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that at least so far, the picture they use of the woman they use as

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the actress is much better looking than the actual Widow Kliko.

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I know nothing about that. It says she's passed away. I

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guess I can say that. But no, the story's interesting 'cause there, it was

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friends getting together, sharing a glass of champagne, and then

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peeling back the story a little more, a little more, trying to figure out what

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this is all about. And then landed in, in her part, she

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actually started making wine, sparkling wine in Vancouver Island in Washington. But

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you know, it's kind of interesting that wine does that to you. that you're with

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your friends, that you're having a glass and all of a sudden— Yeah, it's just

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something amazing. I get this feeling like, first of all, I only

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drink champagne, right? I don't drink liquor. I only drink

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champagne. You go, girl. I don't drink the other sparkling

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stuff. I mean, unless I absolutely have to, if I'm like at an event

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or that's all they have, most of the time I'll forego it.

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Sometimes I'll just hold it and take a sip if I really feel like I

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need— I want to take a sip of something. So I have an

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expensive habit, as people say. But it's just, it's

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something so celebratory. I hope I said that right.

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Celebratory. That's my tongue twister. You got me stuttering. That's my tongue

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twister. What's the word? It's something such an amazing

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feeling to like open up a bottle of champagne, you know, grabbing a

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bottle, unwrapping the foil,

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twisting the wire cage. You know, we got 6 tourniquets. 6 twists to it.

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Having your thumb securing the cork, turning from the

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bottle, hearing that little psst sound, and then knowing

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that one bottle of champagne takes over a

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year to make, and some take significantly longer. So it's not

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produced where you can just go, like how soda can just go be pumped into

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a bottle. It's such a labor-intensive wine, and to

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appreciate it, you know, as it's poured, and why not?

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You know, that's a really interesting thought I just— that you just brought up because

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it's really important, particularly for listeners and people that are,

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you know, that are dabbling in wine, that want to learn about wine. You're— yes,

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I taught my son-in-laws the concept of Champagne and the

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value of that glass. And now you're right, it's costing me plenty to keep

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stocked in what I serve at the house. Mm-hmm. And

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it's an interesting thought because just the

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the mere— boy, we're both having trouble with the words today.

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The sheer aspect

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of making honest champagne, real champagne from the Champagne district

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with the proper riddling and the proper aging and the proper

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cuvée automatically qualifies the

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wine for what I call honest glass of wine, which is not

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played with, not doctored up, not the stuff you see on the shelf at the

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market that's got sugar and acid and all the things they add to it so

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that has a profile that's similar to the previous year's

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profile. Champagne is really by trade

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an honest glass of wine that reflects something, some

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time and someplace. Is that— was that the

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intriguing part of that for you? It is, because you think about like you

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have these— it starts with harvest season with, you know,

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handpicking the grapes, right? Then you go to your first press, then you go into

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your Second, your fermentation where you're going to get

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where the bubbles are organically made, not organically as

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far as like the process, but

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it's not— yes, I'm

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losing words all the time today. Yeah, it's kind of

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bizarre. It's just the whole process that I

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love about it. And you think

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about it, you have these primary 3 grapes, you know, Pinot Noir,

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Meunier, Chardonnay. And there's so many different brands of

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Champagne that can have these beautiful tasting profiles. And like,

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how can you not love Champagne? You know? And it's just,

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it's a story itself. And I feel like anytime I enjoy it,

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whether I'm happy, sad, or whether it's business, non-business,

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it's just something that for me, like I keep a journal of all the bottles

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that I drink. Wow, that's great. And

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I go back and I make marks so I can see which ones I've been

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drinking the most. I have some favorites and I just love the whole

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process. It's like nostalgia to me. My wife doesn't like

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champagne. Can you imagine that? She only— I can

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only get— and I try to stump her though. I did the other day. I

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stumped her with a Grenache from Spain because she won't drink Rhône

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varietals typically. She usually catches me trying to stump

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her. But she does not

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appreciate champagne. It's not grounds for divorce or anything. It's

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just, it's just a thing. What's your bottle of

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choice? Myself? Yes.

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You know, I try everything like you do. Right now in stock, I have

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a lot of Roederer 242, 243. I've got some,

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I've got some

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Limoux, Musodet Limoux. I've got some Taittinger,

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and mainly because when I have a guest

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as yourself, I make sure I bring the wines in. And so

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it's kind of interesting thought when I brought— when you made me think about Clovis

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Taittinger, he was on the show twice. And I suppose you're in the

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same thought process that Champagne is not

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generally accepted, as most people, for celebrations only.

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Yes, people, that's a myth, right? Because I guess it has like the

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sparkling bubbles. Like champagne could be for anything. Just like

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you can pair champagne for an entire 8-course, 10-course

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meal. And that's something that we're— that B.

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Styerson is moving forward to in 2025, where

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we're going to begin hosting champagne dinners

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where we show guests that you can pair A full

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dinner with all, nothing but Champagne. I

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think that's— I just went to one actually at the Getty

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Museum here, and it was incredible. And then the next

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week I went to a pairing of late harvest

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wines from the Niagara Falls area. So I mean, you could, if you do it

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right, you know, you can pair most wines with food, but Champagne

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is very versatile that way. Right. It is. And I wonder if the

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general public— how do you sense what the general public is thinking in

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the variety of styles that you can get? And then even

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among, let's say, Brut Rosés, there's so many

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different styles and character based on the maker.

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Do people recognize that? Your clients, are they coming to the table and say,

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wow, I'm starting to notice and I'm starting to understand the differences?

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No, I think a lot of— I

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think a lot of people come and they have these

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theories, and they're interesting

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theories. And I feel my role is to not shoot down their theories, but

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to open their eyes how to further evolve it or look at

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champagne. And it's just not about these stylists, it's

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about the overall champagne industry itself, the overall

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wine itself. And that's what

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I, you know, it depends on what they come with. If they say, I only

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drink this, and I'd just be like, well, you know, there's thousands of Champagne.

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You know, you shouldn't punish your palate just by only drinking this. Like,

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though I own a Champagne company, I drink a variety of

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Champagnes. Now, there's some that I will not drink 'cause I don't— my palate is

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not a friend of it. But there's so many that I love to

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explore. And that's my thing. Like,

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for myself, I go to different wine shops or when I'm traveling, I try

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to find rare bottles so that I can have them into my

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wine fridge, and I share them with my friends sometimes.

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Sometimes I just don't— I don't need to share with

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anybody. Yeah. I mean, how do you— it's a really interesting question,

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just sort of on the social side. You know, people come to the house

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and there's certain things that you don't open

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because you're not sure that the appreciation of the story or

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the history of that particular bottle is gonna be, you know, it's gonna register

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with anybody. So you bring out nice wines that you want people to enjoy, but

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you kind of wanna bring out that really special bottle. Yeah. And you're sort of

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like— I do that sometimes. I'm a hoster, so I host a lot

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at my house and I invite my friends over and we just,

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we just have a good time together. We're eating, we're drinking.

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I'm normally the champagne provider.

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And I bring out what I choose to bring out. And when I bring out

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a special bottle, I kind of tell them why that bottle is special.

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I try to, you know, I don't want to say educate my friends, but I

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try. I give them some guidance on champagne if they want it. You know, I

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don't force it down their throat. And sometimes when I'm hanging out, I'm like, I

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don't want to talk champagne. You know, I just want to hang out with my

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friends and just have a good time. Naturally, it comes out here and there,

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but it's more about like sitting amongst my friends

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and enjoying a good glass of wine. You know, it's an

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interesting thought. I was just at dinner last night with my brother-in-laws,

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and since you're in the industry, you know, the conversation tends to move that

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way. And what I've found over all these years is

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that, you know, I run with it. Again, try not to intimidate

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anybody with information and dole it out as people are interested,

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but It always comes back to a

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non-threatening conversation about wine in general, right?

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And so people want to talk about it and they want to hear the stories.

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And if you're not arrogant and spouting off soil types and things like that that

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they can't understand, but they have legitimate questions on what is so

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special or what it is. And there's a movie,

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maybe you've seen it, it's a French movie. It was on the plane the other

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day coming back from Montreal, and it was—

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Set in the 1800s, you know, just after Madame

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Clicquot was popular. And the concept

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was between a gentleman and a woman chef. But

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he says in the movie that wine is the

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intellectual part of a meal.

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And I thought that was so poignant because it really does

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stimulate the conversation. That's a really good conversation. And it's entertaining even more. Right. Right?

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It does. So when people— when you talk about champagne with your friends

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or even guests that have never dined with you before,

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do you feel like, A, the conversation goes that direction and B, you have to

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sort of throttle out what you're gonna say?

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It always goes that way. So when I'm out with my friends, I'm a very

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laid back, I'm an undercut person. So

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let's just say you and I were at dinner. I didn't know you. We're all

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at the same table, in the same room. I would not say, oh, I

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own, you know, what company I own, right? I'm just here

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having a good time or trying to have a good time. It would be my

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friends that would be like, oh, she owns this, you know, let's ask her this.

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And I'm like, sometimes I don't want that responsibility

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because sometimes I just want to have fun, right? You think about it as an

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entrepreneur, you work all day. Yeah. Your mind is always

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going. Bowling, going. You just, I just don't wear the

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hat as the CEO, right? Sometimes I'm shipping, you know, I'm

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packing, I'm, you know, tasting room, we do tastings. So it's

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a little bit of everything that you have to do. And sometimes you want to

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have that release. But going back to your original

283
00:17:25,329 --> 00:17:28,922
question, yes, like as the person who is a champagne

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enthusiast, that does lead a lot in conversations.

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And I agree, sometimes it can be a positive or

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negative conversation depending on who's on the other

287
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side of the conversation. And then you just— and for me now,

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sometimes if I'm really

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adamant or I know, if I feel like I want to take the

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conversation there, then I'll push the conversation more. But also, it's also

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about also reading the room. You might have other people in this space that might

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not be interested in this topic. So I always tell people, don't hog

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Don't hog the room. You know, other people are here. You know, this is a

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conversation that doesn't need to happen right now, or X, Y, and Z.

295
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For instance, I've told my friends, do not tell the

296
00:18:13,865 --> 00:18:17,697
somm if they're— if we call one over to give me

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the wine list and then tell them he's an expert, whatever that means. What

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00:18:21,492 --> 00:18:25,227
do you mean? That's the word they use, because that's when the somm rolls

299
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their eyes. Right. Right. They're like, oh my

300
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God, one of those guys. Which I'm not. You know, I

301
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don't choose not to talk about it. But

302
00:18:35,800 --> 00:18:39,174
certainly if it's time to talk about it, let's— I'm happy to do it.

303
00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:42,163
Like I said, it does provide conversation points.

304
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And if you're humble about it, it's a great

305
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conversation. People really want to know. I mean, they really want to learn if

306
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they're interested to hear the different stories that go with a different bottle.

307
00:18:55,342 --> 00:18:59,130
So when you started this idea, you just, you came up with

308
00:18:59,178 --> 00:19:02,725
it, you flew to France, you probably

309
00:19:02,869 --> 00:19:06,464
quickly indoctrinated the romantic side of wine, and

310
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:10,108
particularly in France in the Champagne district. What were some of the

311
00:19:10,108 --> 00:19:13,334
things that you didn't expect when you

312
00:19:13,863 --> 00:19:17,458
took on importing and/or, you know, branding?

313
00:19:17,972 --> 00:19:20,700
I didn't expect all the paperwork, right?

314
00:19:21,847 --> 00:19:25,448
I just wanted the fun part. The paperwork was a lot for me. It was

315
00:19:25,544 --> 00:19:29,096
very heavy. And you think about it, it's designing a

316
00:19:29,096 --> 00:19:32,811
bottle. Like, you think about, you have a cork,

317
00:19:33,118 --> 00:19:36,014
you have the wire cage, you have the foil, you

318
00:19:36,128 --> 00:19:39,706
have the cap, you have the label, you

319
00:19:39,706 --> 00:19:42,947
have all the contents in the label, and you have to go through COLA to

320
00:19:42,947 --> 00:19:46,599
get all your labels approved. The

321
00:19:46,599 --> 00:19:49,240
packaging, which is your box going to look like?

322
00:19:50,550 --> 00:19:54,015
When it gets here, like, how am I packing this? Like, what is it going

323
00:19:54,047 --> 00:19:57,432
in? What am I storing this in? Where's the warehouse? Is it

324
00:19:57,432 --> 00:20:01,089
temperature controlled? Those little tidbits I was

325
00:20:01,137 --> 00:20:04,743
not prepared for. Yeah. Right? And they always come up.

326
00:20:05,067 --> 00:20:08,834
And I look at it where I'm a problem solver

327
00:20:08,866 --> 00:20:12,442
for myself. I don't solve other people's problems, but I'll solve them for myself. Where

328
00:20:12,973 --> 00:20:16,744
as an entrepreneur starting this business, I own my business myself

329
00:20:16,744 --> 00:20:19,173
100%. I don't have any investors or loans or anything.

330
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I try to work on make sure I can keep my money in-house to grow

331
00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,845
the brand. So all the labels on our bottles I design myself in PowerPoint.

332
00:20:28,358 --> 00:20:32,045
I hire somebody from Upwork to do my CMYK files and then I

333
00:20:32,045 --> 00:20:35,458
send it to my print head, right? Wow. Same thing with our

334
00:20:35,490 --> 00:20:39,298
foils. You know, I'm also about clean lines. I don't need a whole

335
00:20:39,298 --> 00:20:42,764
bunch of scribbles, no fanciness. I want you to see the name and the brand.

336
00:20:43,379 --> 00:20:47,038
And that's it. I also didn't know

337
00:20:47,038 --> 00:20:50,413
how I really wanted to grow the brand. I just knew what I wanted. I

338
00:20:50,413 --> 00:20:53,788
knew the end product. I didn't know how it was going to grow.

339
00:20:54,414 --> 00:20:58,140
And I'm thankful that the brand grew itself on its

340
00:20:58,221 --> 00:21:01,948
own organically. I don't have a big PR team. I don't even have a

341
00:21:01,948 --> 00:21:04,054
PR team. I don't have a

342
00:21:06,043 --> 00:21:09,860
communications team. People organically find B. Styvesant and they

343
00:21:10,070 --> 00:21:13,820
organically grew to love B. Styvesant. Yeah. And the brand grew,

344
00:21:14,044 --> 00:21:17,796
right? So I'm thankful for all our followers on our Instagram page

345
00:21:17,796 --> 00:21:21,403
because those are the consumers, all of our customers hold the brand. So

346
00:21:21,579 --> 00:21:24,400
every time you buy a bottle, you give it as a gift, or you share

347
00:21:24,464 --> 00:21:28,168
it at a dinner, you're exposing somebody else to D. Silvestre, you

348
00:21:28,168 --> 00:21:31,999
know? So that's what I love about our brand. Like a lot of people ask

349
00:21:32,015 --> 00:21:35,301
me, oh, who do you pay? Who do you do this? Not in my budget.

350
00:21:36,151 --> 00:21:39,656
And it's important to me because You know,

351
00:21:40,471 --> 00:21:43,781
people believe in B. Thyrosin, right? Believe in the brand. We have an

352
00:21:43,879 --> 00:21:47,611
amazing product, and that's how we continue to

353
00:21:47,627 --> 00:21:51,349
grow. You know, you said a mouthful there. I mean,

354
00:21:51,397 --> 00:21:55,188
you touched on so many points of entrepreneurship, and I want

355
00:21:55,188 --> 00:21:58,995
to just peel some of them back. I mean, it's not for

356
00:21:58,995 --> 00:22:02,149
everybody. You got that right. It's not.

357
00:22:02,555 --> 00:22:05,248
Definitely not for the weak. And let me tell you, I don't know— And where

358
00:22:05,248 --> 00:22:08,790
did it come from for you? Oh yeah, I mean, I'm a hustler, you know,

359
00:22:08,806 --> 00:22:12,405
I'm a Brooklyn girl. So I have always had

360
00:22:15,342 --> 00:22:17,985
just go, just be like Mechie and just do it. I'll find a way to

361
00:22:17,985 --> 00:22:21,463
get it done. This is not my first business. This is my first

362
00:22:21,544 --> 00:22:24,845
business I'm really vested in. Wow. I used to own a

363
00:22:24,845 --> 00:22:28,499
cafe. I used to own an indoor cycling studio. And those were like open quote

364
00:22:28,548 --> 00:22:32,299
hobbies 'cause I was still working full-time, not putting my all into it.

365
00:22:33,632 --> 00:22:35,965
I'm just a go-getter, you know, and I like to,

366
00:22:37,261 --> 00:22:40,971
like, if I have a vision of things, I like to see it

367
00:22:40,971 --> 00:22:44,638
out to the final end product. And it's just part of

368
00:22:44,687 --> 00:22:48,350
my personality. I do have a dominant personality. I try

369
00:22:48,350 --> 00:22:52,044
not to, but it does come out here and there. And

370
00:22:52,189 --> 00:22:55,994
I always believe if you have a dream or something, like, don't just

371
00:22:55,994 --> 00:22:59,525
sit on it. Like, explore it. Explore it till it can't be explored anymore.

372
00:23:00,719 --> 00:23:04,076
That's a great philosophy. But it's, again, it's not only did you

373
00:23:04,911 --> 00:23:08,588
do that and you've already been in hospitality, it sounds like a couple more

374
00:23:08,588 --> 00:23:12,073
times, which is itself a brutal and difficult business to do. So you

375
00:23:12,764 --> 00:23:16,602
are not afraid. And I think that's an entrepreneurial spirit, is not to be afraid

376
00:23:17,197 --> 00:23:20,344
and not look at the headwinds first, but to challenge them when you, when you

377
00:23:20,344 --> 00:23:24,086
see them. Right. But then you picked alcohol, which carries a

378
00:23:24,086 --> 00:23:27,841
whole nother layer of bureaucracy and a whole layer of of headwinds to it as

379
00:23:27,873 --> 00:23:31,223
well. But it does take,

380
00:23:32,601 --> 00:23:36,254
I think, in the alcohol, the extra level of complication is

381
00:23:36,430 --> 00:23:39,908
where the passion drives you through to the endgame.

382
00:23:40,452 --> 00:23:43,705
If you don't have the passion to do this, I mean— Right. And

383
00:23:44,282 --> 00:23:47,679
being in the alcohol industry, wine industry, it's a lot, right? You have

384
00:23:47,679 --> 00:23:51,028
distribution, which is still a problem for me, but I figure it out

385
00:23:51,669 --> 00:23:55,500
very slowly. And when one doesn't work, you just

386
00:23:55,500 --> 00:23:59,110
got to be able to shift gears to get to the next.

387
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:03,580
I've learned that you can't harbor or sit on something or cry

388
00:24:03,580 --> 00:24:06,480
about something too long because what's going to happen? Nothing.

389
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:10,300
Nothing. You just got to get up and keep moving. I

390
00:24:10,300 --> 00:24:13,040
have up and down days and there's days that I have down and I'll take

391
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:15,800
a day where I'll say, you know what, today's my pity day or today's my

392
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:19,340
sad day, today's my cry day. Pull the covers over my head.

393
00:24:19,340 --> 00:24:22,971
Listen, I'm not great. I cry. But guess what? The next day I

394
00:24:23,100 --> 00:24:26,659
get up and I'd be like, let's go. You know, and I think about what's

395
00:24:26,723 --> 00:24:30,091
my next move. I don't live too far from my office and I

396
00:24:30,091 --> 00:24:33,939
drive, right? I hate driving. And then some days I like to get on the

397
00:24:33,939 --> 00:24:37,675
train. And while I'm on the train, I'm just thinking, I'm manifesting

398
00:24:37,707 --> 00:24:41,171
my day. Like, if I have a blocker the day before,

399
00:24:42,533 --> 00:24:46,061
I'm thinking about it like, okay, how am I going to take this off my

400
00:24:46,125 --> 00:24:49,797
to-do list? What am I going to do to get around it? And this is

401
00:24:49,829 --> 00:24:53,612
it. And 9 out of 10 times for me, like, I'll figure it out and

402
00:24:53,693 --> 00:24:56,328
it might have to be in steps, but I feel like I have a good

403
00:24:56,555 --> 00:25:00,262
close net of people where I will bounce ideas off and they give me

404
00:25:00,326 --> 00:25:03,864
good feedback, which is important. I think also as an entrepreneur, you should also have

405
00:25:03,977 --> 00:25:07,013
a good set of circle of people who's gonna give you the good, the bad,

406
00:25:07,030 --> 00:25:09,596
and ugly. Don't always praise you. Don't have yes people around you.

407
00:25:11,438 --> 00:25:14,717
And that works for me. But I would say like,

408
00:25:15,193 --> 00:25:18,761
You have to be able to move back and forth as an entrepreneur, as a

409
00:25:18,874 --> 00:25:22,201
business owner, or a leader in any industry you want to be, because

410
00:25:22,667 --> 00:25:26,424
there's always going to be a challenge, a roadblock, or some new law might

411
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,410
go into effect that's going to mess up your entire business. So you have to

412
00:25:29,442 --> 00:25:33,122
be able to shift quickly so that you're not standing on the outside looking

413
00:25:33,218 --> 00:25:36,295
in like, oh man, what happened? You know, it's kind of like

414
00:25:38,389 --> 00:25:42,205
recognizing even subtle opportunities to fix a problem or

415
00:25:42,356 --> 00:25:45,902
to grow. And I, in my career, I did this for

416
00:25:45,902 --> 00:25:49,558
35 years. I just sold the company last year. It was all 100% DTC.

417
00:25:49,831 --> 00:25:53,455
In fact, we invented the idea in the '70s, my father did. So

418
00:25:54,883 --> 00:25:58,058
I always had a conservative sort of friend or

419
00:25:58,411 --> 00:26:01,586
confidant, and I had a liberal one, not politically, but

420
00:26:01,875 --> 00:26:05,580
business-wise. Mm-hmm. And I would always use those 2

421
00:26:06,365 --> 00:26:10,201
to sort of come up with the framework of a decision. Right. And wherever

422
00:26:10,201 --> 00:26:13,077
I've done, for instance, when I was in school, when I was in the fraternity,

423
00:26:13,125 --> 00:26:16,853
I was the president. I had a very conservative treasurer,

424
00:26:17,367 --> 00:26:20,741
and I used to go to him for that right side, you know,

425
00:26:20,982 --> 00:26:24,662
no-risk decision. And I would go to the other guy for that, you

426
00:26:24,662 --> 00:26:28,052
know, pie-in-the-sky dreamer decision. And then I would massage that

427
00:26:28,052 --> 00:26:31,828
information. But you need to do that in this business, particularly with the wine

428
00:26:31,828 --> 00:26:35,524
trade, because sometimes you, on your train ride, you The

429
00:26:35,925 --> 00:26:39,457
problem that was bothering you 2 days ago becomes much clearer.

430
00:26:40,100 --> 00:26:43,873
Right. And also the solution shows up. And sometimes it's a

431
00:26:43,873 --> 00:26:46,779
pretty good solution. You know, it's like, wow, why didn't I think of this earlier?

432
00:26:47,004 --> 00:26:50,777
Exactly. That's happened to me numerous times. And I'm like, I hate to

433
00:26:50,777 --> 00:26:54,278
say it sometimes, but like, they'll all work out. It's a cliché statement,

434
00:26:54,470 --> 00:26:58,292
but it happens. No, it always will. The other thing

435
00:26:58,308 --> 00:27:02,043
you said while you were talking about it was, the brand building part

436
00:27:02,043 --> 00:27:05,015
and no PR team. And I find this a lot. I just got back from

437
00:27:05,015 --> 00:27:08,246
a tasting last week and I was talking to all the small boutique— there was

438
00:27:08,343 --> 00:27:12,022
mostly Napa vintners. And, you know, they're all crying

439
00:27:12,054 --> 00:27:15,168
the blues, really. Our industry's sort of in a tough spot.

440
00:27:16,519 --> 00:27:20,236
Champagne was taking a hit not too long ago. Mm-hmm. But

441
00:27:20,268 --> 00:27:24,002
Bordeaux's in a tough spot right now. And I think in general, consumption's down.

442
00:27:24,066 --> 00:27:27,486
There's this whole non-alcoholic movement, blah, blah, blah. Yes. But

443
00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:31,675
for you to grow a brand organically is

444
00:27:31,771 --> 00:27:35,431
pretty— that's a pretty tall order to— and I

445
00:27:35,479 --> 00:27:38,657
think it goes back to doing the right thing. And this is what I mean,

446
00:27:39,347 --> 00:27:42,396
again, having trouble with my words today, but

447
00:27:43,102 --> 00:27:46,890
there's a whole movement amongst sort of Gen Xers and millennials, and we have to

448
00:27:47,099 --> 00:27:50,533
innovate in our industry and we have to create this stuff. And it almost sounds

449
00:27:50,565 --> 00:27:54,339
like we're trying to dupe people into trying our wines or trying to

450
00:27:54,339 --> 00:27:57,890
do something by a package, by using a pouch or a can or a

451
00:27:58,260 --> 00:28:01,955
Tetra Pak or something, when the reality of it is what

452
00:28:01,971 --> 00:28:04,848
you're doing is exactly what's needed, which is this organic—

453
00:28:05,908 --> 00:28:09,732
it's slower, it's word of mouth, it's having that discussion,

454
00:28:10,070 --> 00:28:13,749
it's pouring the bottle, it's pouring that bottle, having them taste,

455
00:28:14,167 --> 00:28:17,092
telling the story with an earnest

456
00:28:20,629 --> 00:28:24,406
Objective to help people understand what

457
00:28:24,406 --> 00:28:28,198
a good glass of wine is? You feel that's the direction that it

458
00:28:28,198 --> 00:28:31,880
needs to be? Yes. That sounds

459
00:28:31,977 --> 00:28:35,611
perfect the way you said it. It is like organic

460
00:28:35,627 --> 00:28:39,102
and it's a slow but steady process, right? We spread out,

461
00:28:39,345 --> 00:28:43,000
we, you know, and for me, would I change it to

462
00:28:43,065 --> 00:28:46,616
be faster? Maybe, right? It's been a better

463
00:28:46,616 --> 00:28:50,014
space. But I will say this, I do not regret

464
00:28:50,526 --> 00:28:53,876
the way my business was formed and how every step that we've taken to get

465
00:28:53,924 --> 00:28:57,434
to where we are today. It has been a learning lesson. It has been a

466
00:28:57,434 --> 00:29:01,024
blessing. I have met so many wonderful people that have

467
00:29:01,040 --> 00:29:04,646
come from different countries to come visit me. I had people that came

468
00:29:04,646 --> 00:29:08,380
from Amsterdam. I had people that came from Japan, people that have

469
00:29:08,396 --> 00:29:12,179
come from Canada. Wow. Different states that come to visit us. Oh, I

470
00:29:12,179 --> 00:29:16,020
read about you in the paper and they, take the time to come and visit.

471
00:29:16,290 --> 00:29:19,830
So I'll tell you a quick story. So we just moved into a new space

472
00:29:19,830 --> 00:29:22,810
and we weren't taking any tastings because

473
00:29:22,810 --> 00:29:26,650
we're literally moving. We're still in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but we moved to

474
00:29:26,650 --> 00:29:29,790
different buildings. And I had a couple come

475
00:29:29,790 --> 00:29:33,540
in from Tennessee and they didn't make a reservation or whatever.

476
00:29:33,850 --> 00:29:37,510
I'm like, we're in the middle of moving and like we had moving gear, like

477
00:29:37,510 --> 00:29:41,350
literally. They're like, oh, we're just here for one more day from Tennessee. And I

478
00:29:41,350 --> 00:29:45,090
said, you know what, I'm gonna do the tasting. I said, just gimme like, let

479
00:29:45,090 --> 00:29:48,850
me find a setup where I can

480
00:29:48,850 --> 00:29:52,690
properly host you. 'Cause we have a large tasting

481
00:29:52,690 --> 00:29:56,450
table that seats 10 people, but we already took the table apart. So we

482
00:29:56,450 --> 00:29:59,710
took a desk, we moved it to the back, we put a nice white tablecloth

483
00:29:59,710 --> 00:30:02,950
on it. We already had bottles chilled and we just, I made an ambiance for

484
00:30:02,950 --> 00:30:06,230
them. And we literally just sat and we just talked about

485
00:30:06,230 --> 00:30:09,400
champagne, the tastings and everything. That was the best

486
00:30:09,689 --> 00:30:13,269
1.5 hours of my time because that day,

487
00:30:13,638 --> 00:30:17,442
you know, it made me appreciate my brand. And this

488
00:30:17,506 --> 00:30:20,492
is what I realized I love to do. Like, I want to sit and I

489
00:30:20,524 --> 00:30:23,879
want to talk about tastings. I want to talk about champagne.

490
00:30:24,328 --> 00:30:27,651
Of course, Naptier, I want to start with B Stylist and then step out of

491
00:30:27,827 --> 00:30:31,262
different champagnes and be like a little mini teacher of

492
00:30:31,294 --> 00:30:34,729
champagne. One of my goals is to be a teacher

493
00:30:35,050 --> 00:30:37,992
or a professor of champagne. So all I want to do is just teach about

494
00:30:37,992 --> 00:30:41,765
it. Isn't that the reward of

495
00:30:41,765 --> 00:30:45,167
what we do? When you have that commitment from a

496
00:30:45,167 --> 00:30:47,771
client who trusts you so much

497
00:30:49,357 --> 00:30:53,078
that when they go back to Tennessee and they're talking about

498
00:30:53,078 --> 00:30:56,350
their trip and who knows where they went on the entire trip, but

499
00:30:57,209 --> 00:31:00,662
you know that they're going to have the conversation with their friends about this woman

500
00:31:01,294 --> 00:31:04,830
who took their time. and opened champagne for us, even though she was in the

501
00:31:04,830 --> 00:31:08,501
middle of a move. And it ties

502
00:31:08,598 --> 00:31:11,948
right into this concept of experiential

503
00:31:12,060 --> 00:31:15,764
innovation. And this is my new word, you know. I like

504
00:31:15,828 --> 00:31:19,162
it. Because I'm tired of listening to these

505
00:31:19,435 --> 00:31:23,250
pundits, these kids that don't— haven't done

506
00:31:23,282 --> 00:31:27,050
this, haven't risked a penny, haven't sat in front of

507
00:31:28,462 --> 00:31:32,256
customers and heard what they had to say to develop

508
00:31:32,256 --> 00:31:35,905
your next strategy and to understand the value of this glass of

509
00:31:35,905 --> 00:31:39,456
wine. And we need to be innovative. And I

510
00:31:39,488 --> 00:31:43,001
think experiential innovation is really where it's at. And

511
00:31:43,597 --> 00:31:47,446
meaning that was innovative. I mean, it may not seem

512
00:31:47,462 --> 00:31:51,166
like it to you because you were moving, but you made an

513
00:31:51,166 --> 00:31:54,837
attempt. You set up a little booth, a little tasting table, and you got it

514
00:31:54,870 --> 00:31:58,608
done. And those people went back and told the story. And I

515
00:31:58,608 --> 00:32:02,425
was just in Bordeaux at Château Haut-Bailly, and they built this incredible

516
00:32:03,242 --> 00:32:06,818
new winery facility, which is entertaining

517
00:32:06,866 --> 00:32:10,570
amongst the concrete and wood barrels. And it's this

518
00:32:10,634 --> 00:32:14,098
beautiful facility, and it's for clients who want to

519
00:32:14,146 --> 00:32:17,882
experience Château Haut-Bailly. You show up and you're

520
00:32:17,930 --> 00:32:21,490
in this immersive environment that teaches people

521
00:32:21,618 --> 00:32:25,309
about Bordeaux. And so I think that's the course

522
00:32:25,309 --> 00:32:29,099
that this industry needs to take. And this patch, you can't see it

523
00:32:29,099 --> 00:32:32,824
here, this is called Les Amis du Vin. It was a group of wine

524
00:32:33,161 --> 00:32:36,549
enthusiasts in the '70s. There were 150 chapters in America.

525
00:32:36,870 --> 00:32:40,049
My dad had a chapter in his store, and that's what it was.

526
00:32:41,221 --> 00:32:44,304
They would show up at the store, they'd show up at a dinner. The women

527
00:32:44,336 --> 00:32:47,789
wore their minks, the guys wore their tuxes. Robert Mondavi would speak.

528
00:32:48,736 --> 00:32:52,428
And that's what wine was founded as in America, as this experience and

529
00:32:52,428 --> 00:32:55,445
this idea. And, you know, you can learn as much as you want to learn.

530
00:32:55,493 --> 00:32:59,282
You don't have to be an aficionado. Mm-hmm. But

531
00:32:59,651 --> 00:33:03,294
you have to be able to experience it. Right. I think, I

532
00:33:03,294 --> 00:33:06,938
think you're doing exactly the right thing at the right time to do this. Thank

533
00:33:06,938 --> 00:33:10,662
you. It is about experience. Like, I have a friend who we always say

534
00:33:10,742 --> 00:33:14,209
everything should be an experience, right? So when people come into

535
00:33:14,594 --> 00:33:18,150
my tasting room, I want them to have an experience. positive, but I want them

536
00:33:18,150 --> 00:33:21,520
to have an experience. I want them to leave like, wow, that was amazing.

537
00:33:22,230 --> 00:33:25,750
Or, wow, I learned something. Or, I just enjoyed myself

538
00:33:25,750 --> 00:33:29,490
today. Exactly. And that's the vibe that I want to create here in

539
00:33:29,490 --> 00:33:32,790
Brooklyn. You know, we get a lot of questions that come, oh, is this real

540
00:33:32,790 --> 00:33:36,090
champagne? Because it has to come from the Champagne region. I'm like, yes, this is

541
00:33:36,090 --> 00:33:39,470
real champagne. I'm aware of all of

542
00:33:39,470 --> 00:33:43,110
the— what's needed to be called champagne. I have

543
00:33:43,110 --> 00:33:46,900
some type of intellect and I tell people, you know, like, have a

544
00:33:46,964 --> 00:33:50,304
seat and just sit back and learn, you know? That's great. Or just enjoy your

545
00:33:50,320 --> 00:33:54,126
vibe and what's coming here at the tasting room or wherever I'm at

546
00:33:54,174 --> 00:33:57,065
speaking. There's a— I was up in

547
00:33:57,065 --> 00:34:00,694
Napa, I guess it was July when the

548
00:34:00,918 --> 00:34:04,018
Association of African American Vintners had their tasting.

549
00:34:04,772 --> 00:34:08,610
I promised Angela McCray I would come and I tasted

550
00:34:08,610 --> 00:34:12,062
every single wine that was there. And I enjoyed myself, had a great time, and

551
00:34:12,062 --> 00:34:15,851
had this amazing conversation with Phil Long, I think his name is. Yeah.

552
00:34:16,236 --> 00:34:19,752
And we, we grew up literally—

553
00:34:20,346 --> 00:34:23,926
he's one year younger than I am— 2 blocks from each other in Inglewood.

554
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,149
Okay. So he, he grew up on 82nd Street and I grew up on 84th

555
00:34:28,149 --> 00:34:31,745
Street. Okay. I mean, we were literally like a bike ride away from each other.

556
00:34:32,387 --> 00:34:36,160
So, so the conversation turned from wine to this, like, you know, Inglewood in

557
00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:39,783
the day. But I'm going to say it was

558
00:34:39,847 --> 00:34:43,614
early 2000s, probably some social issue was going on in America.

559
00:34:43,711 --> 00:34:47,269
And I contacted the AAAV

560
00:34:48,648 --> 00:34:51,389
to see if I could get some samples to put in the club.

561
00:34:52,351 --> 00:34:55,957
And there were 5 members at the time. And now there's

562
00:34:56,021 --> 00:34:59,516
200 plus. And you just earned some

563
00:34:59,548 --> 00:35:03,042
accolades from the group. Tell me about that. Right. So I just won a grant

564
00:35:03,154 --> 00:35:06,461
from Association, and I'm very thankful for it.

565
00:35:06,863 --> 00:35:10,331
When I first entered the industry, when we launched in

566
00:35:10,379 --> 00:35:14,088
2020, they were one of the groups that I actually reached out to, right?

567
00:35:14,233 --> 00:35:18,070
I was interested in knowing more about it. I was trying to find

568
00:35:18,102 --> 00:35:21,860
my peers in the wine industry, right? You think about it

569
00:35:21,860 --> 00:35:25,536
like some people and some wine professionals are very stuffy, very

570
00:35:25,874 --> 00:35:29,646
boxed in, or don't want to be, you know, assessed. And

571
00:35:29,662 --> 00:35:32,868
I was just trying to find my way to fit in because it's always good

572
00:35:32,868 --> 00:35:36,635
to have people to know in the industry. And I reached out

573
00:35:36,635 --> 00:35:40,450
to them and they did some amazing events. I know Wine Enthusiasts did

574
00:35:40,482 --> 00:35:43,993
some partnerships with them. And then I got to know some of the people

575
00:35:43,993 --> 00:35:47,487
within the actual association and it was cool.

576
00:35:48,176 --> 00:35:52,023
So I had, you know, I joined and then I filled out the

577
00:35:52,023 --> 00:35:54,876
paperwork, you know, went through the whole process and I won a grant. It's actually

578
00:35:54,892 --> 00:35:58,480
the first grant that I ever won. That's great. Because

579
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:02,160
grants are hard. You know, you gotta sit down

580
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:05,880
and fill out all that paperwork. And a lot of times

581
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:09,460
videos are required. And as an entrepreneur, sometimes

582
00:36:09,460 --> 00:36:12,160
I don't have time to do it all. So I

583
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:15,420
won't— I'll just be like, oh, I can't do this right now. I gotta wait

584
00:36:15,420 --> 00:36:18,060
to have a little bit more time, which is something that I have to work

585
00:36:18,060 --> 00:36:21,580
on for myself or have my staff begin to work

586
00:36:21,580 --> 00:36:24,400
on, start it so that I can, you know, finish and submit.

587
00:36:25,506 --> 00:36:29,076
But yeah, so it's a great association to be a part of. You

588
00:36:29,302 --> 00:36:32,193
meet a lot of the vintners, you meet a lot of people that's in the

589
00:36:32,274 --> 00:36:36,062
industry and people who just all want to learn. Unfortunately, I did miss the

590
00:36:36,062 --> 00:36:39,791
event that they did have that was back in France, but I look forward

591
00:36:39,791 --> 00:36:43,632
to the next major event to be there to see some people that I haven't

592
00:36:43,632 --> 00:36:47,397
met in person, which would be great.

593
00:36:48,496 --> 00:36:51,664
It was a really— it was very professional. It was at

594
00:36:52,138 --> 00:36:55,834
Next to Oxbow, Julia Child's old school. I forgot the name of it now. The

595
00:36:58,013 --> 00:37:01,530
cooking school took it over, but it was really well done. It was really

596
00:37:01,562 --> 00:37:05,306
interesting. And I'll tell you a funny story. There's a young girl, she's

597
00:37:05,403 --> 00:37:08,809
in Oakland, and I'm desperately seeking her name in my head, but

598
00:37:09,420 --> 00:37:12,791
she was making wine from flowers. You may know her. She is

599
00:37:13,211 --> 00:37:16,168
cute, bubbly girl. And I had her on the show and she's making wine from

600
00:37:16,201 --> 00:37:19,997
flowers. And I said, well, what do you, I mean, Seriously, what are

601
00:37:20,077 --> 00:37:22,994
you— what are your headwinds? She said, well, um,

602
00:37:24,003 --> 00:37:27,817
racism, sexism, and grape supremacy. I

603
00:37:27,817 --> 00:37:29,917
go, what does that mean? She said, well, I go into the liquor stores and

604
00:37:29,917 --> 00:37:32,449
the wine shops and I say I have wine from flowers, and they tell me

605
00:37:32,449 --> 00:37:36,006
they don't sell wine unless it's made from grapes. Okay. I thought, that's really—

606
00:37:36,118 --> 00:37:39,916
that's really funny. And not only am I impressed with her

607
00:37:40,686 --> 00:37:44,419
for producing wine like that, but she was able to get the

608
00:37:44,919 --> 00:37:48,585
ABC and the TTB to license a

609
00:37:48,714 --> 00:37:52,300
20-foot storage container as a winery. Now that took

610
00:37:52,364 --> 00:37:56,167
some entrepreneurship, right? It is. It is. It's a

611
00:37:56,215 --> 00:37:59,919
lot of things. I feel like for me as a small,

612
00:38:01,159 --> 00:38:04,878
smaller brand, I have freeway in how I grow

613
00:38:04,878 --> 00:38:06,769
my business and the things that we do.

614
00:38:08,460 --> 00:38:11,409
We're definitely, we have some good things coming in

615
00:38:11,409 --> 00:38:15,047
2025. I have one big major thing. I'll

616
00:38:15,047 --> 00:38:18,640
probably announce it a little bit closer. I have to get all the pieces together.

617
00:38:18,688 --> 00:38:20,960
I'm waiting for some more approvals. All right.

618
00:38:22,473 --> 00:38:25,972
And one thing we're doing is definitely kicking off the champagne

619
00:38:26,085 --> 00:38:29,262
dinners in March. And every month we're going to have them in a different

620
00:38:29,262 --> 00:38:32,958
state and then reopen our

621
00:38:32,958 --> 00:38:36,687
tasting room and just continue to share my bubbly

622
00:38:36,687 --> 00:38:40,400
knowledge. Well, the reason I brought it up was because

623
00:38:41,885 --> 00:38:45,626
There's, you know, there's— I've had a lot of women on

624
00:38:45,642 --> 00:38:48,484
the show. You know, there's something like

625
00:38:48,532 --> 00:38:52,209
25% of the population of women coming

626
00:38:52,225 --> 00:38:55,870
out of enology school. I just sent off a young girl who was an intern

627
00:38:55,918 --> 00:38:59,097
here at Wine of the Month Club too. She got accepted to Cornell

628
00:38:59,386 --> 00:39:02,148
Enology School. Oh, that's great. She probably is going to earn an

629
00:39:02,742 --> 00:39:06,499
internship this summer at Château Cheval Blanc. And

630
00:39:07,870 --> 00:39:11,487
And there's— but there's still a small percentage of women in the

631
00:39:11,842 --> 00:39:14,635
executive ranks of the wine and distilled spirits industry,

632
00:39:15,837 --> 00:39:19,464
as well as people of color. And here you are, a woman of color who's

633
00:39:19,464 --> 00:39:23,268
started a brand in a very, you know, very specific brand in a very specific

634
00:39:23,268 --> 00:39:26,352
part of the world. Have you— did you feel like you have

635
00:39:26,562 --> 00:39:30,131
experienced any sexism or racism

636
00:39:30,373 --> 00:39:34,156
along the way? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Really? In what part?

637
00:39:34,639 --> 00:39:36,810
In what part? The comments.

638
00:39:38,643 --> 00:39:42,341
When I was first starting, this will never go anywhere. It's

639
00:39:42,341 --> 00:39:45,337
dumb. You're not French. You're Black. You're a woman.

640
00:39:47,373 --> 00:39:50,857
Even sometimes you have people that send me interesting emails, you know,

641
00:39:51,390 --> 00:39:54,148
and it's okay, you know, because at the end of the day, I'm doing what

642
00:39:54,213 --> 00:39:56,939
I love. And if it bothers you that much, then that's your problem.

643
00:39:58,897 --> 00:40:02,028
And it's a lot to take it because sometimes on the wrong day, you know,

644
00:40:02,044 --> 00:40:05,801
like on the wrong day, it can really sting, right? Yeah. Some days

645
00:40:05,801 --> 00:40:08,547
you got to have your armor on and it just like, it's like pellets, it

646
00:40:08,547 --> 00:40:12,096
just pop off of you. But some days you're vulnerable, you know, like

647
00:40:12,545 --> 00:40:16,142
as a woman, you know, women are emotional and I'm emotional at some

648
00:40:16,174 --> 00:40:19,787
days and it'll just sting sometimes. And then sometimes, you know,

649
00:40:19,947 --> 00:40:23,688
you might want to respond or sometimes I have responded.

650
00:40:24,122 --> 00:40:26,932
Professionally. So I had this one guy

651
00:40:27,317 --> 00:40:29,999
and he said, this was

652
00:40:31,107 --> 00:40:34,366
when I first launched and we were in some virtual room and

653
00:40:34,864 --> 00:40:38,605
he accidentally sent me the message to me, you know, in the

654
00:40:38,669 --> 00:40:42,346
Zoom rooms. Yeah. And he said, this is the

655
00:40:42,410 --> 00:40:46,087
dumbest thing I've ever heard. She'll never go nowhere with

656
00:40:46,119 --> 00:40:49,459
this brand. It's just a hoax.

657
00:40:49,892 --> 00:40:53,433
for the peers that we were in. This is a Me Too— she even said

658
00:40:53,433 --> 00:40:56,414
this is a Me Too clinker or something like that.

659
00:40:58,028 --> 00:41:01,141
Wow. And I took that statement and

660
00:41:01,814 --> 00:41:05,595
when we got back to the rooms, you know how people say questions or whatever

661
00:41:05,595 --> 00:41:09,377
you could upload? So I screenshotted it, not uploading it. And I

662
00:41:09,377 --> 00:41:12,918
said, you know, I just want to reply to this publicly. I'm like,

663
00:41:13,831 --> 00:41:17,599
one, if you ever have something to say to me, We're all in the room.

664
00:41:17,711 --> 00:41:20,714
Don't send it to your friend. You can send it to me. And I said,

665
00:41:20,890 --> 00:41:24,599
too, you know, I'm pretty serious about what I'm doing. You know,

666
00:41:24,679 --> 00:41:28,243
like, I know what I'm doing. I'm not, you know, uneducated. I'm not

667
00:41:29,110 --> 00:41:32,241
stupid or anything. And I addressed him professionally, right?

668
00:41:33,734 --> 00:41:37,378
And the moderator of the group ended up apologizing to me,

669
00:41:37,667 --> 00:41:41,488
though he never apologized to me. Guess where I saw him at? I saw

670
00:41:41,536 --> 00:41:45,158
him at a couple years ago, at this British

671
00:41:45,222 --> 00:41:48,953
wine show. And he was one of the journalists there

672
00:41:49,950 --> 00:41:53,007
and who came to my table. And I had like a lot of people was

673
00:41:53,087 --> 00:41:56,338
at my table and he came to my table and I said, oh,

674
00:41:57,293 --> 00:42:00,447
I remember you. You remember me, right? I said, remember you said that this will

675
00:42:00,447 --> 00:42:04,037
never go anywhere? I said, well, let me taste you some of my portfolio of

676
00:42:04,037 --> 00:42:07,870
6. Come, you stand right here. And he was like, oh, you know,

677
00:42:07,902 --> 00:42:10,370
I think you just read it the wrong way. I said, no, I didn't. Well,

678
00:42:10,370 --> 00:42:14,110
I said, no, I didn't. It's pretty obvious.

679
00:42:14,570 --> 00:42:16,890
But he didn't want to do the tasting or anything, I guess, because he was

680
00:42:16,890 --> 00:42:19,330
more embarrassed. And more importantly, that I addressed it.

681
00:42:19,710 --> 00:42:23,250
Right. Wow. And if I have to do it again, I will address it

682
00:42:23,250 --> 00:42:26,890
again. Because, you know, when you say things like that, it's actually

683
00:42:26,890 --> 00:42:30,550
like wine. Like, is wine sexist? Does

684
00:42:30,550 --> 00:42:34,390
wine have a color? You know, it's like,

685
00:42:34,390 --> 00:42:37,730
why, you know, why wouldn't you just say, yeah, I'm sorry. Yeah, it was a

686
00:42:37,730 --> 00:42:40,030
mistake. And I'd love to taste the wines and see what you've done.

687
00:42:41,980 --> 00:42:45,735
Exactly. So, but— Well, that's, you know, you don't need the extra

688
00:42:45,735 --> 00:42:49,570
headwinds, but I'm sure it's real. You know, we know it's real, but

689
00:42:50,362 --> 00:42:53,800
sometimes that inspires. It does

690
00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:57,318
inspire because— Put your head down more. Right. And I still have that

691
00:42:57,318 --> 00:43:00,957
screenshot. I have it on my computer. So some days, on my lowest

692
00:43:00,957 --> 00:43:02,512
days, I'll look at it.

693
00:43:04,715 --> 00:43:08,098
But I say that the drive needs to come from within, right? because you don't

694
00:43:08,098 --> 00:43:11,648
have to prove anything to anybody else but yourself. That's it. And for

695
00:43:11,648 --> 00:43:15,214
me, I took a risk on myself leaving a very great career

696
00:43:15,487 --> 00:43:18,731
in finance, financially comfortable, to come to

697
00:43:19,277 --> 00:43:23,100
the side of entrepreneurship, not knowing anything

698
00:43:23,132 --> 00:43:26,071
as far as like, is revenue up, down, like what's gonna hit us?

699
00:43:27,051 --> 00:43:30,777
And I feel like I'm making my strides, right? The first 2 years of business,

700
00:43:30,922 --> 00:43:34,696
we had COVID pandemic, so Those business metrics are

701
00:43:34,696 --> 00:43:38,374
not the easiest. Then you have the 3rd year of business where you're still in

702
00:43:38,374 --> 00:43:42,132
a gray area. Consumers are now going out. So the

703
00:43:42,148 --> 00:43:45,585
marketing, the buying trends are changing and we're now in year 4.

704
00:43:46,758 --> 00:43:50,420
So I would say— Wow. Congratulations. Thank you. I'm

705
00:43:50,436 --> 00:43:54,033
weathering the storm. We're coming up into year 5 on

706
00:43:54,194 --> 00:43:57,310
February 12th. And

707
00:43:57,808 --> 00:44:01,421
I'm excited to see where B. Styerson grows in the next

708
00:44:01,421 --> 00:44:05,176
3 years. And when we are, and I'll be more excited when

709
00:44:05,192 --> 00:44:08,464
we hit our 10-year mark to be in the industry. And

710
00:44:09,298 --> 00:44:12,747
I am proud of myself to bring this brand to life, you know,

711
00:44:13,790 --> 00:44:16,982
and surviving it. You know, it's not easy. It's a roller coaster,

712
00:44:17,559 --> 00:44:21,296
but it's my roller coaster to ride the ride up and down

713
00:44:21,409 --> 00:44:25,018
because I believe in myself and I believe in my brand. And I

714
00:44:25,018 --> 00:44:28,402
now have consumers who are regular buyers of B.

715
00:44:28,466 --> 00:44:32,169
Styerson that look for our products for Whether it's everyday, not

716
00:44:32,233 --> 00:44:36,049
everyday consumption, we don't invite any alcoholics, but for having that household every

717
00:44:36,049 --> 00:44:39,621
day, for the holiday season, for gifting. Those things,

718
00:44:39,912 --> 00:44:42,957
you know, mean a lot to me. And then we are their go-to for those

719
00:44:43,054 --> 00:44:46,790
items. So I'm excited about that. You know, you've done something

720
00:44:46,790 --> 00:44:50,129
amazing and your 4 years is great. Did you have—

721
00:44:52,112 --> 00:44:55,738
was your e-commerce functioning during COVID yet or you just started?

722
00:44:56,110 --> 00:44:59,950
No, we were functioning. I made sure that was functioning. Because I mean, COVID

723
00:44:59,950 --> 00:45:03,650
was incredible for my company. Yeah, so I think that really helped us. I

724
00:45:03,650 --> 00:45:07,040
didn't have distribution for the first 2 years of business. I only did direct-to-consumer.

725
00:45:07,650 --> 00:45:09,840
So I only started distribution last year.

726
00:45:11,710 --> 00:45:15,270
Well, you know, it digs into the margins when you do that.

727
00:45:15,430 --> 00:45:19,030
So DTC is the way to go if you can do it. It's a lot

728
00:45:19,030 --> 00:45:22,730
of work though. You know, you think about like packaging, you think having staff,

729
00:45:24,174 --> 00:45:27,716
And you think about like peak time orders, it's a lot to

730
00:45:27,732 --> 00:45:31,307
manage. But I mean— Well, it's at

731
00:45:31,307 --> 00:45:35,010
least a 2-legged stool, if not a 3-legged stool, particularly on your

732
00:45:35,010 --> 00:45:38,489
side. Here at the Wine of the Month Club, it was

733
00:45:38,986 --> 00:45:42,688
memberships, gifts, and bottle sales that, you know, floated the boat.

734
00:45:43,314 --> 00:45:46,648
In your case, you know, you're gonna need distribution

735
00:45:47,017 --> 00:45:50,559
because it's, you know, there's less work to it, but the margins are less.

736
00:45:50,655 --> 00:45:53,797
People want it right away, right? And then the DTC, which gets you

737
00:45:54,535 --> 00:45:58,001
all the margins in the world, but takes more effort to get it. It does.

738
00:45:58,861 --> 00:46:02,673
So this organic marketing is— we were talking about a little bit before we

739
00:46:02,673 --> 00:46:06,422
started, but you don't have a PR firm. You

740
00:46:06,422 --> 00:46:09,577
don't have— you have a little team there, and then you guys are doing your

741
00:46:09,577 --> 00:46:11,729
own social, your own Instagram, your own Facebook,

742
00:46:13,958 --> 00:46:17,776
blogging. What are the things you— what prongs do you have facing the

743
00:46:17,776 --> 00:46:21,624
public to tell people about your brand? Social media. We

744
00:46:21,624 --> 00:46:24,981
have a really good— people that subscribe to our website. We're not

745
00:46:25,013 --> 00:46:28,741
scammers. I hate spam. So I send stuff out

746
00:46:28,741 --> 00:46:32,533
maybe 1 or 2 times a month. We make sure that it's enriching. We

747
00:46:32,533 --> 00:46:35,348
do tasting profiles in our newsletters.

748
00:46:36,670 --> 00:46:39,397
Around the holiday times, we might send out more because we like to do pairings.

749
00:46:40,730 --> 00:46:44,186
We have collaborations coming out. And then it also

750
00:46:44,251 --> 00:46:47,660
becomes word of mouth. You know, one person spreads to the other. Yeah.

751
00:46:48,082 --> 00:46:51,788
We have a presence here in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. People come

752
00:46:51,852 --> 00:46:55,686
in to do tastings. Supposed to have a reservation. We prefer

753
00:46:55,686 --> 00:46:59,167
if you have a reservation, but some people might pop in and if we're here

754
00:46:59,311 --> 00:47:01,878
and can accommodate, then I will accommodate.

755
00:47:02,102 --> 00:47:05,760
It's just word of mouth basically. And people find us

756
00:47:05,984 --> 00:47:09,754
doing research. You know, I'm fortunate that we've been landed in a

757
00:47:09,818 --> 00:47:13,572
lot of great articles. So we do have an online presence coming to,

758
00:47:13,732 --> 00:47:16,618
you know, when people want to Google us. A lot of articles pop up sort

759
00:47:16,618 --> 00:47:20,047
of shows that we've been around or what we can do. And

760
00:47:20,463 --> 00:47:23,876
that's it, you know? And then we're carried in a nice amount of

761
00:47:23,876 --> 00:47:27,449
stores where people are learning the brand and some stores that do

762
00:47:27,449 --> 00:47:31,278
tastings at or come in, meet the maker. And we have

763
00:47:31,278 --> 00:47:34,547
our own, like we do pop-ups in different states. Like I was just in

764
00:47:35,525 --> 00:47:38,521
LA 2 weeks ago. So we did pop-up in LA.

765
00:47:39,610 --> 00:47:43,071
We have a pop-up in Washington, DC coming up December 14th.

766
00:47:44,700 --> 00:47:47,937
Where in LA were you? LA? Yeah,

767
00:47:48,082 --> 00:47:51,852
what part? Downtown. Well, we could have, would

768
00:47:51,852 --> 00:47:55,371
have come and joined you. Oh yeah, I was there for 3 days.

769
00:47:55,921 --> 00:47:59,653
And who's the supplier here, the distributor in LA? We

770
00:48:00,076 --> 00:48:03,389
self-distribute in LA until January 1st, and we have a new

771
00:48:03,389 --> 00:48:07,129
distributor that's picked us up. Who's that?

772
00:48:07,533 --> 00:48:11,263
We're not announcing until January 1st. Oh, okay. I probably know them.

773
00:48:12,277 --> 00:48:16,098
Yes, you do know them. So they'll take

774
00:48:16,098 --> 00:48:19,377
over distribution there. And

775
00:48:19,972 --> 00:48:21,113
my goal for

776
00:48:21,113 --> 00:48:24,794
2025 is to

777
00:48:25,599 --> 00:48:29,304
get out to different states and do some of these tastings and dinners. So we

778
00:48:29,304 --> 00:48:32,993
have Houston up in March, and then we're

779
00:48:32,993 --> 00:48:36,800
planning to do a different state every month. for the whole 2025,

780
00:48:37,202 --> 00:48:41,050
excluding January, February. March, we have

781
00:48:41,050 --> 00:48:44,351
our big grand reopening of our tasting room,

782
00:48:44,770 --> 00:48:48,433
though we're open, but putting all the elements together, but it'll be in March.

783
00:48:49,092 --> 00:48:52,883
Our limited edition that's been out of stock for 2 years will finally be back

784
00:48:52,900 --> 00:48:56,458
in stock. So we wanna have that. That's gonna be our kick-off for, and then

785
00:48:56,652 --> 00:48:59,946
also introducing our newest cuvée, Eminence, which is

786
00:49:00,382 --> 00:49:04,133
being released in March. You know, they say that women are better at

787
00:49:04,133 --> 00:49:07,953
multitasking than men, and my wife would certainly

788
00:49:07,969 --> 00:49:11,621
agree with that. Because

789
00:49:11,894 --> 00:49:15,236
I mean, all those irons in the fire in our industry,

790
00:49:15,895 --> 00:49:19,510
each one of them requires a certain amount of commitment to get, you know, to

791
00:49:19,510 --> 00:49:22,985
the finish line because they all rot with headwinds. And you're doing it.

792
00:49:23,452 --> 00:49:26,592
We're out of time already, which is incredible. We have so much more to talk

793
00:49:26,592 --> 00:49:30,236
about. Yes. And so we're gonna do it again. And I hope if you come

794
00:49:30,252 --> 00:49:33,223
to LA, we're gonna have a chance to taste together. But I'm gonna ask you

795
00:49:33,223 --> 00:49:36,852
a question. This is a book. It's— since you're a Francophile now,

796
00:49:37,221 --> 00:49:40,818
as I am, this is a book called Wine Is the Best

797
00:49:40,834 --> 00:49:44,639
Medicine. Uh-huh. It's written by Dr. Murray. Uh-huh. This

798
00:49:44,784 --> 00:49:48,364
is from the '70s. And it's basically a whole bunch of human

799
00:49:49,183 --> 00:49:52,138
maladies and the curative wine

800
00:49:53,397 --> 00:49:57,221
And they're all French varietals. So this is a French guy. There's no Spanish or

801
00:49:57,494 --> 00:50:01,157
American wines that solve the problems of the human race.

802
00:50:01,929 --> 00:50:05,640
So I'm going to give you an ailment, and I'm going to give you 3

803
00:50:05,786 --> 00:50:09,307
choices to solve this problem. Now, just

804
00:50:09,517 --> 00:50:12,802
no pressure because no one ever gets it right. Nice. I mean,

805
00:50:13,300 --> 00:50:16,514
the number of people get it right is 33%, which is exactly the odds you

806
00:50:16,514 --> 00:50:20,209
would expect, except that much like a Master of

807
00:50:20,209 --> 00:50:23,092
Wine test or a Master Sommelier

808
00:50:23,870 --> 00:50:27,176
test, there should be an underlying reason why you chose this

809
00:50:27,273 --> 00:50:30,961
selection. So I'm going to give you

810
00:50:31,654 --> 00:50:35,136
the fever. Like if you have a fever, which I didn't have on my cold

811
00:50:35,136 --> 00:50:38,361
this time around, but let's say I had a fever. I could

812
00:50:38,393 --> 00:50:40,924
drink a

813
00:50:41,682 --> 00:50:45,374
Saint-Émilion Rouge, a young

814
00:50:45,471 --> 00:50:48,763
Beaujolais, or a dry brut Champagne.

815
00:50:50,069 --> 00:50:53,885
Which one should I take and why? And there's a dosage to this, by

816
00:50:53,885 --> 00:50:54,063
the way.

817
00:50:59,110 --> 00:51:02,123
Oh, which one should you take? Yeah. Which one should I take to solve my

818
00:51:02,123 --> 00:51:05,833
fever? I say— Saint-Émilion, Beaujolais, or dry champagne?

819
00:51:06,125 --> 00:51:09,832
I said you're going to take the dry brut champagne. You're going to take

820
00:51:09,913 --> 00:51:13,652
it because champagne is the answer for

821
00:51:13,700 --> 00:51:17,310
everything. It's a what? Champagne is the answer for everything.

822
00:51:18,152 --> 00:51:21,998
Yeah, okay. See, that's a good answer. Now I set you up,

823
00:51:22,095 --> 00:51:25,597
you know, I gave— that was a softball thing. Yeah, you're right, it is champagne.

824
00:51:27,388 --> 00:51:31,006
And the reason that Dr. Murray says is because these

825
00:51:31,103 --> 00:51:34,815
wines contain, among other things, 2 important elements for a feverish person:

826
00:51:34,993 --> 00:51:38,529
phosphorus, which is eminently stimulating, and sulfur

827
00:51:39,210 --> 00:51:42,939
in its sulfate of potassium form, Whose detoxifying

828
00:51:43,035 --> 00:51:46,768
action on the body has been established. So what dosage

829
00:51:46,816 --> 00:51:50,195
would you recommend now that you are in the know of this problem?

830
00:51:51,290 --> 00:51:54,903
What dosage? In

831
00:51:54,952 --> 00:51:58,146
what format do you mean in dosage? Do you mean like milliliters,

832
00:51:58,259 --> 00:52:01,989
glasses, what? Oh yeah, glasses, I suppose. Let's say a 5-ounce glass.

833
00:52:03,334 --> 00:52:07,141
I would say take a 5-ounce

834
00:52:07,141 --> 00:52:10,539
glass. For the first, then wait

835
00:52:10,976 --> 00:52:14,683
21 minutes, take another 5-ounce glass, then wait an hour and then take

836
00:52:14,700 --> 00:52:18,351
another glass. All right, so that's almost 2/3 of a bottle, 3/4 of a bottle.

837
00:52:18,416 --> 00:52:22,175
Well, here's the picture. See that big bottle there? Yeah, I said the

838
00:52:22,175 --> 00:52:25,966
whole bottle. See, I was getting there. You cut me off. I was getting there.

839
00:52:26,593 --> 00:52:29,319
You saw it. I was getting there. Yeah, you were there. You were very close.

840
00:52:29,529 --> 00:52:33,244
If you wore glasses, then we would've been done. I was there. You cut me

841
00:52:33,374 --> 00:52:36,260
off. Yeah, you didn't have it. Take the rest of the bottle. All right, we'll

842
00:52:36,260 --> 00:52:40,000
give you credit for that. That was fun. It's been a pleasure to, to hear

843
00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:43,780
your, your, your, your story and your path to this

844
00:52:43,780 --> 00:52:47,600
great industry. And, uh, looking forward to tasting the wines. I

845
00:52:47,600 --> 00:52:50,900
will find them and bring them into my riddle rack at home.

846
00:52:50,900 --> 00:52:54,240
Okay. And, uh, share them with my friends and tell the story as well. But

847
00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:57,760
it's been a pleasure to have you on. And, uh, thank you. I look forward

848
00:52:57,760 --> 00:53:01,440
to, to meeting you one day in person. Maybe we'll be in Shankville,

849
00:53:01,440 --> 00:53:05,100
Texas when she opens her winery there. I have to check that place out, but

850
00:53:05,100 --> 00:53:07,784
I'll actually back on the West Coast sooner. We're

851
00:53:08,832 --> 00:53:12,152
around. Yes. Thank you so much. My pleasure.