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Wine Talks with Paul K.
Wine Talks with Paul K.
All you knew about wine is about to bust wide open….we are going to talk about what really happens in the wine business and I’m taking no prisoners... I am your host Paul Kalemkiarian and as the 2nd generation owner of the Original Wine of the Month Club, I sold 17,000,000 bottles of wine and tasted somewhere north of 100,000 wines. And what I learned is that wine is about the story; the story can't be that I bought this wine on the internet for 5 bucks. Join me as we peel back the real stories behind the wine you are tasting. How can Groupon sell 12 bottles for $60 and the wines be good? How do you start a winery anyway and lose money? And is a screwcap really better than a cork? Sometimes I have to pick a wine at the store by the label and the price...and I get screwed. Subscribe now and prepare to be enlightened.
Oct. 8, 2026

From Bordeaux to Napa: Is Tradition Holding Wine Back? Ask Justine Tesseron of Cht. Pontet-Canet

Pick a defacto wine region of the world...one that speaks of history and pedigee; the region with which every enophile begins their jpourney: Did you say Bordeaux?

And would you think that there is history packed into Chateau Pontet-Canet? I suppose, when you consider that for the past 300 years, there have only been 3 families to care for it's vineayards; seems like history and pedigree to me!

When Justine Tesseron walks into a room, Bordeaux’s old guard can be forgiven for bracing themselves. She represents both legacy and provocation: the fifth growth estate of Pontet-Canet, once bound by the almost sacred rules of tradition, is now a launch pad for some of Bordeaux’s most radical experimentation. In a region where change is often whispered, Justine Tesseron speaks aloud about biodynamics, the tension between authenticity and marketing, and why clinging to the past can sometimes strangle the future. The audacity is refreshing—and controversial. After all, in Bordeaux, some see “innovation” as a dirty word, a risk to centuries of carefully tended reputation. But Justine Tesseron’s vision is clear: without evolution, even historic vineyards risk irrelevance.

What happens when a centuries-old château dares to reject the safety of the norm? Justine Tesseron and her family didn’t just convert Pontet-Canet to biodynamic farming—they did it quietly, driven by the pursuit of better, more honest wine rather than a marketing story. And if you think Bordeaux would reward that courage, think again—adopting horses instead of tractors, stopping irrigation in Napa, and refusing to slap “biodynamic” on the label hasn’t always sat well with the establishment. Paul K pulls no punches, probing the fine line between innovation and heresy, business survival and romantic nostalgia. Is Bordeaux in crisis, or is “crisis” a lazy scapegoat for resisting change? For Justine Tesseron, it’s just another challenge to rise above.

Throughout this episode, you’ll discover that the Pontet-Canet approach isn’t just about vineyards—it’s about challenging every assumption, from how wines are classified and aged, to how hospitality should be woven into the fabric of great estates. Justine Tesseron’s candid admissions about mistakes, learning curves, and the endless tension between nature and commerce provoke an uncomfortable question for every wine lover: does tradition serve the wine, or does the wine serve tradition?

You will learn:

  • Why Pontet-Canet’s move to biodynamics was rooted in taste and authenticity, not marketing hype.

  • The unspoken risks of pioneering change in Bordeaux’s conservative winemaking culture.

  • How climate change is forcing continuous adaptation—even for the most hallowed vineyards.

  • Why Justine Tesseron rejects “crisis” as the right word for Bordeaux’s challenges, and what she believes the region can—and must—do next.

  • The conflicting philosophies of oak versus concrete aging, and how they reframe what “Bordeaux” tastes like.

  • How the intersection of business, family, and legacy shapes the future of wine, from the cellars of Pauillac to the hills of Napa.

If you thought the world of classified growths was set in stone, this episode will change your mind—and might even raise your glass a little higher, as you ponder just what the next chapter for Bordeaux should look like.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/iE5Po7GBPJY

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What I think Ponte Cana is like is

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every vintage tells a story. Every

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vintage has its own

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identity. So even on, you know,

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on challenging years, I think Ponte

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Cana people are happy to open a good

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bottle of wine. Sit back and grab a glass.

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It's Wine Talks with Paul Kaye.

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

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beautiful Southern California. We're gonna have a conversation with

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Justine Tasseron. Yes. Of

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Château Pontet. You know, why, why am I stumbling

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over this? It's so ridiculous. Pontet-Canet. I'm gonna read what

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ChatGPT wrote quickly just to get started here. It says,

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classified as a 5th growth in 1855, Château Pontet-Canet Cannet

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entered the Tesseron family in 1975. Since then, this

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Pauillac estate has challenged Bordeaux tradition, embracing biodynamic

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farming while honoring its historic vineyards. My guest,

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Justine Tesseron, brings the next generation's

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perspective to that balancing act. We'll explore family

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legacy, the courage to change, and the tension between the romance of

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château life and the business of wine. Justine,

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welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Paul. Hi. Glad to have you

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here. Very happy to be here. At the end of this trip, though, this has

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been a long trip. You've been out on the road. Yeah, I've been here for

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about a week. Yes. And that's my last day

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today. So I'm happy to end this trip with you. Yes. Well, thank

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you. It's kind of the, you know, a week seems like we're going to go

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to Armenia. I told you that to do some filming

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and then we're going to stop in Paris. And I'm like, how long am I

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going to be in Paris? Well, 4 days is not enough. You know, 7 days

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is probably too long after 7 days in Armenia. So, I think we'll be

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there 4 or 5 days, which I could live there. I mean, I could

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live in Paris. Yes. Yeah, it's a nice, uh, that's a nice city. My

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wife, you know, she's given me now a 90-day

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window to try. I'm like bucking for a

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year. But anyway, I get 90-day windows. You know, there's

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something interesting about your history, and I read a lot about Château Pontet-Canet.

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And this idea of biodynamic farming is

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embracing— there's what's-his-name's book right there.

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You can see that I've not opened it, but— That's nice.

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I've been wanting to learn about it. Why did

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this family, your family, get involved with biodynamic

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farming? The idea

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arrived when My father,

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you know, was tasting some of the biodynamic wines,

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and he always thought something were different in those

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wines. Yeah. Like feeling a good energy,

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more— the wines were more expressive.

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And he thought, like, my grandfather had the

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best idea about acquiring this place

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because the terroir is very beautiful.

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on a terrace. Mm-hmm.

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And it's well planted. We didn't change that much

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the grapes by at all. We let the vines like this.

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And in the classification of 1855, we've been

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classified a 5th growth. And I think

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in the mind of my father, It always stayed somewhere,

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and he thought we could do better. So,

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he— I was not yet involved at that time, but

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in 2004, he decided to go in

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this direction, to improve the quality of the wines.

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Mm-hmm. And we started— at the beginning, we

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started on the Merlot, so which we present about

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30% of the blend.

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And then from year 1, we were

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tasting, as we do every year during harvest, we were tasting

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the vats to see the evolution, and the Merlot were tasting different.

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Different in a good way. Yeah, and that's interesting because in

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America, when they started, and you obviously, you have a Napa Valley winery,

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so you're familiar with this, but standing on the other side of this wall

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tasting wines every Tuesday and watching the

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biodynamic movement occur in America.

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Those wines were not good. They were not palatable wines.

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Yes, yes, yes. They tasted like hay and they tasted like dirt.

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And I didn't understand this because wouldn't you think that

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you're the previous owners of the château, let's say the

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1865 area, Wouldn't that have been at

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least organic? Yes. If not biodynamic. At

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that time, nobody were using chemicals.

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It didn't exist. So it's a— I think it's an old,

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you know, it's old methods. It's an old method. And why did we

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lose that method? What? And here we are making beautiful wine. I would say

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it's back to the roots, back to, you know, what nature

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gives us. And it's true that, you

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know, when the very few people who were producing

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organic or biodynamic wines, sometimes

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it was too— the wines were weird.

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Very strange. And even the approach sometimes could be

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difficult to understand, very technical.

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And we do it.

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It's part today, it's really part of our

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philosophy. But at the same time, we did

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change many things. And I think we have

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to stay, you know, where we are

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and to make people understand that what we are doing

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is real and not crazy. Well,

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it's not that. You know, I don't want to interrupt you, but

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not only that, because it seemed back 10, 15

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years ago that the biodynamic movement was more founded on a

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marketing idea, like, we're gonna, uh, we're gonna be biodynamic

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and we're gonna appeal to the new generation, when the reality is your

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grandfather sensed a life in these wines when he

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tasted them. Yes, my father. Your father. So this is

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a movement in a Probably took, you said 2004, you started with the

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Merlot. Now we're in 2026.

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It takes probably a little bit of time to understand what

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biodynamic farming is going to do to that grape to maintain the brand

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value of Château Pontet-Canet. Yeah, sure. And

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it takes time. And still today, after

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20, a bit more than 20 years, we are still learning a lot.

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And we, with climate change, you know, with

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all this evolution, we, I think we, we always learn. Yeah.

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And, and we, we have to adapt things. So I

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mentioned we, we did change many things at the same time.

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We, we are working, uh, half of the vineyard with

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horses. Um, we change, um,

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we change the, the the aging process as

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well. So at least

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biodynamic is at the heart of our

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philosophy, but Ponte Cana is

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more like a global vision. Yeah.

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And it's at least the result we have in the glass

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is a combination of different things

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and not only Biodynamic. Biodynamic, I think,

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was helpful to get better fruit. And

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if we have better fruits, then it's easier to

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make a better wine, I guess. How about that? I'm not

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sure everybody understands the idea that good fruit makes good wine. But do you

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think it— is it more challenging now that— well, you're a little settled

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in on this, but of course, we're always learning, like you said. Is it more

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challenging and is it more risky to be by the Napa,

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particularly in Bordeaux, and being the first classified growth to do this?

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I think so. It's

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challenging, but it's challenging for everybody.

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We, you know, the Médoc area is between the river on one side and the

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ocean on the other side. So the weather could be very

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humid. And in some years, it can rain

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more than others. So we, by

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working with our methods, we have to anticipate

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more. And as all the

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spray we use are contact

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treatments, every time it's raining, it's gone. So we have to do—

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to protect the vines again. Wow. So it's a

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lot of anticipation because we have to

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help the vines to feel strong enough and resist better better

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against disease. And, uh,

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and on the other hand, some years are very hot and

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dry. We don't get any rain at all, like '26, for example. Mm-hmm.

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So we really have to adapt from one year to

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another. And, um, and yes, and

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the, the, the— it's challenging, of course, but

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for that, we, we did adapt as

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well the way of working.

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We created a room dedicated to

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biodynamic, for example, which allows us to be much more

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efficient and reactive. And I really think

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the key is being reactive. And so how

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does it— how did— the

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one thing about marketing wine, which is

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difficult at best is you have to

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look maybe a minimum 5 years down the road to

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hopefully understand what the marketplace is gonna do. 'Cause we need to sell, we need

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to sell some wine. Sure. Of course. And I think this, I think the biodynamic

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movement is very important. I think of all the industries in all the world,

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you know, wine would be the most suitable and most

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conducive to organic and biodynamic farming and

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sustainable. farming, right? That's an important part of it. But what's

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that? And that's the romantic side of this. How did the market, how did the

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market respond to Ponnay-Canté,

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um,

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to this movement? Did they— was it— did you say, hey, we're doing this now?

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No. Or you just did it because you wanted to— you wanted the wines to

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be as expressive as possible? Exactly. That's a Option 2. Yeah,

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right. We, uh, no, we, we, um, when we

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converted the vineyard, it was not for marketing

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points. And, and we didn't even talk

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about it at the beginning, really, because we, we wanted,

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you know, we, when you, when you, when you try something,

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you never know how it will happen in the future. So

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we, we did our experimentation, we

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applied for the certification, um,

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And at the beginning, it was even not written

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on the label. Oh, really? And still

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today, we only have the organic

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logo, but it's not written it's biodynamic. We have

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the certification since the vintage 2010,

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but we don't put it on the label because we don't want to

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do it as marketing.

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Then we, as it's part of our philosophy, we

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talk about it, obviously, but we don't sell it like

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this. And

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people know about it. People

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read about us and they know about

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our philosophy, but we don't

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communicate as we do it for— Not as much. I'm glad

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to hear that. We do it for the quality of the wine.

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Now, this question is a tough question because I don't know if there

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is an answer. It's like, what is the end goal? Is the end goal,

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when we use all these different methods, in your case, biodynamic farming, organic farming,

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I mean, it's fascinating to hear that there's horses drawing the

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plows, et cetera, that harvest. Is it during harvest you use the horses? They

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do. They do. They do. And there was a special kind of horse,

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right? Yes. It's a special breed of

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horse. Yeah, we use a Percheron. Yeah, Percheron.

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And Trécontois. It's a French breed. Is it a working horse,

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I guess? Yes, yes, yes. They are very

208
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strong horses and

209
00:13:28,198 --> 00:13:30,716
not that tall, but strong

210
00:13:32,048 --> 00:13:35,868
and calm. So I wouldn't— We need to have calm horses. I wouldn't place

211
00:13:35,981 --> 00:13:39,797
a bet at Longchamp on one of those horses. No, I

212
00:13:39,845 --> 00:13:42,937
guess not. No, no, we don't do this kind of horses.

213
00:13:45,112 --> 00:13:48,905
Because I've had people sit where you're sitting and say,

214
00:13:49,612 --> 00:13:53,389
well, one day, classified growth Bordeaux will be in a can or

215
00:13:53,389 --> 00:13:57,210
it'll be in a box. And I refuse to accept this

216
00:13:57,339 --> 00:14:01,098
kind of non-romantic part of the business, but it's business. We need

217
00:14:01,130 --> 00:14:04,865
to sell stuff. And there's this idea that there's a crisis in

218
00:14:04,865 --> 00:14:08,628
Bordeaux. even when I did research, the word crisis was

219
00:14:08,661 --> 00:14:12,241
used. But I think about this and I say,

220
00:14:13,081 --> 00:14:16,912
yeah, consumption's down, but it's like, what, 4, 5%

221
00:14:16,977 --> 00:14:20,566
or something? Is this traumatic or is there a little bit of a

222
00:14:20,680 --> 00:14:23,643
pinch going on in the general Bordeaux region? Are we just

223
00:14:24,323 --> 00:14:27,368
going through a regular ebb and flow and just— Yes.

224
00:14:28,226 --> 00:14:31,762
I think we are. Crisis, yes. Everybody's talking

225
00:14:31,794 --> 00:14:35,444
about crisis, but we— I didn't like the word crisis. Me neither.

226
00:14:35,525 --> 00:14:38,637
But no, We

227
00:14:38,637 --> 00:14:42,324
have to be dynamic, and

228
00:14:42,420 --> 00:14:46,155
we have to be on the market to explain

229
00:14:46,187 --> 00:14:49,922
what we are doing, to open bottles, and to share. Wine is

230
00:14:50,018 --> 00:14:53,689
to share. That's right. So I think, yes, consumption has

231
00:14:55,004 --> 00:14:58,482
been down for a little, but people are still drinking

232
00:14:58,594 --> 00:15:01,897
wine, and what they like is to drink good wine. So

233
00:15:02,458 --> 00:15:05,359
we— How about that? We try to do our best.

234
00:15:06,385 --> 00:15:09,719
We try to do our best, and yes, and people—

235
00:15:10,152 --> 00:15:13,565
We are lucky people like our wines. And,

236
00:15:14,382 --> 00:15:17,972
you know, what I think Pontet-Canet is

237
00:15:18,084 --> 00:15:21,897
like is every vintage tells

238
00:15:21,994 --> 00:15:25,807
a story. Every vintage has its

239
00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:29,749
own identity. Mm-hmm. So even on,

240
00:15:30,967 --> 00:15:34,156
you know, on challenging years, I think

241
00:15:34,188 --> 00:15:38,009
Pontet-Canet people are happy to open a good

242
00:15:38,041 --> 00:15:41,847
bottle of wine. And this is part

243
00:15:41,912 --> 00:15:45,685
of the dream of Bordeaux. This is my

244
00:15:45,701 --> 00:15:48,972
thought, and particularly in wines of the caliber of

245
00:15:49,971 --> 00:15:50,873
Poney Cantet,

246
00:15:54,900 --> 00:15:58,318
that there really is no such thing as a bad vintage,

247
00:15:58,382 --> 00:16:02,155
because if the wine is expressive of the vintage and is doing

248
00:16:02,252 --> 00:16:06,034
its job, You pick the grapes, you manage the grapes,

249
00:16:06,066 --> 00:16:09,176
you manage the weather, you manage the terroir, and then you made a wine from

250
00:16:09,208 --> 00:16:12,878
that. That is not a bad vintage, just different vintage. Different, of

251
00:16:12,911 --> 00:16:16,565
course. But it's expressive of that vintage. And sometimes these

252
00:16:16,678 --> 00:16:20,188
quote unquote bad vintages come around to some pretty interesting wines, right?

253
00:16:20,284 --> 00:16:23,875
Later on in their lives. But it's same.

254
00:16:24,372 --> 00:16:28,107
There are some amazing vintage where the wines

255
00:16:28,283 --> 00:16:32,115
could last, could be aged for decades. And we also need

256
00:16:32,131 --> 00:16:35,769
wines which are easier to drink, You know, that you,

257
00:16:36,218 --> 00:16:40,063
you can open with, I don't know, with a, with a

258
00:16:40,079 --> 00:16:43,764
burger or, you know, with, with a pizza.

259
00:16:43,924 --> 00:16:47,305
Changing cuisines. I told this story last night at a dinner

260
00:16:47,850 --> 00:16:51,631
that when I arrived in Paris the first time in 1979, there was

261
00:16:51,631 --> 00:16:55,284
this long line out of McDonald's on the Champs-Élysées. Yeah.

262
00:16:55,444 --> 00:16:59,033
And I couldn't understand that because right next door was a boulangerie

263
00:16:59,209 --> 00:17:02,638
with beautiful ham sandwiches, you know? And I thought, how, how could you eat this

264
00:17:02,975 --> 00:17:06,780
American burger, but now we have wines to go with it, right? But

265
00:17:06,924 --> 00:17:10,410
I think that's just part of, you know, the evolution of

266
00:17:10,442 --> 00:17:14,248
humanity and what they're eating and the way lifestyle is. And, you know, you compare

267
00:17:14,538 --> 00:17:17,782
the way we live today to even 20 years ago or 50 years ago, you

268
00:17:17,782 --> 00:17:21,251
know, wine should keep up with that. I don't think packaging

269
00:17:21,846 --> 00:17:25,492
is the crux of this. I think expression of the terroir

270
00:17:25,556 --> 00:17:29,314
and what people are drinking is more important. I agree. I agree.

271
00:17:29,395 --> 00:17:32,804
And, you know, we, once again, we need a We need

272
00:17:33,418 --> 00:17:37,038
wine for every occasion. So, you know, we— Do you think then

273
00:17:37,232 --> 00:17:41,063
with, you know, I was putting some thought into this about social networking

274
00:17:41,176 --> 00:17:44,475
and digital marketing, which is when I ran the Wine of the Month Club, we

275
00:17:44,555 --> 00:17:48,331
were prolific digital marketers. I mean, that's what we did.

276
00:17:48,508 --> 00:17:51,657
We sold wine, which was a great product, but, you know, our job was to

277
00:17:51,721 --> 00:17:54,365
get to people and get the stories in their hands.

278
00:17:55,890 --> 00:17:59,470
Are the stories still relevant? Are the stories of Bordeaux still relevant? Here you have

279
00:18:01,030 --> 00:18:04,735
3 families in what, a century or 3 centuries? 3 centuries. Yeah.

280
00:18:05,170 --> 00:18:08,472
That's an incredible story. And for me,

281
00:18:08,923 --> 00:18:12,477
that is the terroir. Are these pertinent stories? Are they

282
00:18:12,493 --> 00:18:14,953
important stories now? I think so. I think

283
00:18:16,255 --> 00:18:19,697
Bordeaux is historical. So Bordeaux

284
00:18:19,714 --> 00:18:23,295
has different

285
00:18:23,295 --> 00:18:26,339
stories, different families

286
00:18:27,178 --> 00:18:29,569
between owners, between negotiants. So

287
00:18:29,569 --> 00:18:32,501
it's It's—

288
00:18:33,673 --> 00:18:36,948
I think Bordeaux is quite dreamy, and

289
00:18:37,446 --> 00:18:40,690
Bordeaux has always— has never produced

290
00:18:41,300 --> 00:18:44,977
wines with that quality. Mm-hmm. Bordeaux, you can—

291
00:18:45,892 --> 00:18:49,023
with Bordeaux, you can go back in the old

292
00:18:49,023 --> 00:18:52,539
vintages, and you can really enjoy those bottles still

293
00:18:52,620 --> 00:18:56,265
today. So, you know, we— and at the same

294
00:18:56,329 --> 00:18:59,137
time, Bordeaux has evolved.

295
00:19:00,170 --> 00:19:03,966
And today you can drink Bordeaux even in the

296
00:19:03,966 --> 00:19:07,813
young age. We, for

297
00:19:07,813 --> 00:19:11,235
now, I have a lot of pleasure to open

298
00:19:11,235 --> 00:19:15,043
bottles like '17, for example, which are young, but, you

299
00:19:15,043 --> 00:19:18,457
know, they are just wines that you open and you have,

300
00:19:19,053 --> 00:19:21,534
you really enjoy these kind of bottles. For sure.

301
00:19:24,434 --> 00:19:28,235
I think that part of the business is critical to get to understand. And

302
00:19:28,252 --> 00:19:32,069
I, right now, the way I feel with your wines and other Bordeaux wines I've

303
00:19:32,069 --> 00:19:35,803
tasted, you know, the deuxième étiquette kind of thing, which is not

304
00:19:35,916 --> 00:19:39,521
really anymore the second label. It's more of another brand. Another label.

305
00:19:39,715 --> 00:19:43,332
Right. I think the value coming outta Bordeaux is

306
00:19:43,381 --> 00:19:46,913
incredible for the price of those kinds of wines and the

307
00:19:46,978 --> 00:19:50,349
chance to taste the history and be part of that history.

308
00:19:50,972 --> 00:19:54,572
for a nominal amount of money. I mean, you're in Napa Valley.

309
00:19:55,653 --> 00:19:59,365
It's not that easy to do that there, right? Yeah, it's

310
00:19:59,365 --> 00:20:02,884
different. It's different. Why did that happen? What brought—

311
00:20:03,400 --> 00:20:07,128
and I don't— I can't even pronounce it. Pimerol. Pimerol.

312
00:20:07,192 --> 00:20:10,602
Yes, Pimerol. As you can tell with my linguistics

313
00:20:11,588 --> 00:20:15,431
that— You're doing great. But what was the

314
00:20:15,431 --> 00:20:19,118
attraction to come to Napa Valley? The idea came

315
00:20:19,313 --> 00:20:21,002
a few years ago. We wanted to

316
00:20:24,478 --> 00:20:28,059
to have a new challenge, to have a new baby in the family.

317
00:20:28,958 --> 00:20:31,447
And we looked at another

318
00:20:32,186 --> 00:20:35,847
vineyard, and we found this place in

319
00:20:35,879 --> 00:20:39,589
Napa, which is up in the hills. So we really wanted to have

320
00:20:40,761 --> 00:20:44,438
a vineyard on the hills to be able to

321
00:20:44,470 --> 00:20:48,164
get some freshness in the wine. Yeah.

322
00:20:48,308 --> 00:20:50,251
And we found this vineyard in Monte Vida,

323
00:20:50,956 --> 00:20:53,021
which is

324
00:20:53,457 --> 00:20:56,684
west side of the Napa.

325
00:20:58,443 --> 00:21:02,165
And it used to be owned by Robin Williams, the

326
00:21:02,165 --> 00:21:05,595
comedian. You're kidding? Yes. And the name is coming from his—

327
00:21:05,933 --> 00:21:09,749
from the middle name of his children. I didn't read that in any of

328
00:21:09,749 --> 00:21:13,575
the dossiers here. That's so interesting. So we bought that place

329
00:21:13,834 --> 00:21:17,586
about 10 years ago, in 2016. So let's, let's

330
00:21:17,635 --> 00:21:21,374
talk about these 2 cultures. I mean, Napa is entirely different than,

331
00:21:21,872 --> 00:21:25,435
than Bordeaux. And I had Florence Cathiard on the show. I did a

332
00:21:25,740 --> 00:21:29,415
podcast up there at Cathiard. And there's

333
00:21:29,496 --> 00:21:33,139
many, many French châteaux up there.

334
00:21:34,166 --> 00:21:37,938
Monsieur Jean-Noël Fourmeaux, mon ami. Okay.

335
00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:42,191
I mean, I bought wine from him in 1980-something, you know, interesting story.

336
00:21:42,914 --> 00:21:46,687
But lifestyle is completely different. And the

337
00:21:46,768 --> 00:21:50,220
concept of wine in America is completely different. How have you

338
00:21:50,220 --> 00:21:54,010
adapted to that? Have you just absorbed it, worked with it? Are you taking

339
00:21:54,010 --> 00:21:56,739
that French tradition to the Napa Valley?

340
00:21:57,109 --> 00:22:00,304
It's very interesting to have both

341
00:22:00,497 --> 00:22:04,335
visions. And at the same time, there

342
00:22:04,335 --> 00:22:08,012
are lots of similarities between both. And

343
00:22:08,108 --> 00:22:11,519
that's why we wanted to be in Napa instead of,

344
00:22:12,213 --> 00:22:15,826
I don't know, any other wine region. Yeah. Because Napa has the same

345
00:22:15,939 --> 00:22:19,343
grapes, Payetol, as we do have in Bordeaux. So for us,

346
00:22:19,424 --> 00:22:23,156
it was easier to go in places like this that we know

347
00:22:23,332 --> 00:22:26,902
how to, you know, how to do.

348
00:22:28,656 --> 00:22:32,492
And yes, we— there are

349
00:22:32,492 --> 00:22:35,659
things that— the challenges are different.

350
00:22:36,559 --> 00:22:39,517
Obviously, the climate is not the same. The terroir is not the same.

351
00:22:42,422 --> 00:22:45,687
So we had to learn that.

352
00:22:49,078 --> 00:22:52,727
And we— the

353
00:22:52,775 --> 00:22:56,007
culture is different. Totally different.

354
00:22:56,795 --> 00:22:59,930
But we learned

355
00:23:00,512 --> 00:23:04,295
and we adapt ourselves. We decided to,

356
00:23:04,651 --> 00:23:08,283
regarding our vineyard, so we are, I told you, up in the hills in

357
00:23:08,299 --> 00:23:11,277
Montvidere. So it's a small vineyard of 10 hectares.

358
00:23:11,880 --> 00:23:15,681
18 acres that we

359
00:23:15,681 --> 00:23:19,012
decided to work with the same philosophy as Pontet-Canet,

360
00:23:19,885 --> 00:23:23,635
meaning that we converted to biodynamic as well.

361
00:23:25,274 --> 00:23:28,954
And it was irrigated before, but we stopped. Wow. When

362
00:23:29,050 --> 00:23:31,384
we arrived there, we stopped the irrigation. So it's

363
00:23:31,384 --> 00:23:34,252
100% dry farming. Wow.

364
00:23:35,589 --> 00:23:38,635
And it's funny because at least the vines were quite resilient.

365
00:23:40,034 --> 00:23:43,450
Because we are in Montvidéur, because of the soils, because

366
00:23:44,429 --> 00:23:48,150
of the age of the vines as well. Today,

367
00:23:48,214 --> 00:23:51,695
the vines are around 35 years old. So

368
00:23:51,823 --> 00:23:54,775
it's quite, the roots are quite

369
00:23:55,416 --> 00:23:59,202
implanted and— Well, and I think that's a lot. I mean, without

370
00:23:59,202 --> 00:24:01,431
getting too wine geeky stuff,

371
00:24:02,795 --> 00:24:06,548
converting to dry farming would take some time and it takes the vines an understanding

372
00:24:06,564 --> 00:24:10,201
that they gotta dig deeper to get their water and their nutrients. Sure. So,

373
00:24:10,640 --> 00:24:14,191
but I think that's an important, a really important

374
00:24:14,191 --> 00:24:17,895
feature of what you're doing because Napa needs to get

375
00:24:17,895 --> 00:24:21,180
away and is getting away from this opulent, fruit-forward,

376
00:24:21,518 --> 00:24:24,595
over-extracted style that it, that, that has, you know,

377
00:24:25,143 --> 00:24:28,511
choked it a little bit. And now if you bring Bordeaux-making

378
00:24:28,608 --> 00:24:32,178
philosophy and, 'cause for me, finding

379
00:24:32,277 --> 00:24:36,104
terroir differences in Napa, it was, is particularly on the valley floor

380
00:24:36,154 --> 00:24:39,772
is tough. Yes. Right? Now, Véder and Howl Mountain and Stag's Leap,

381
00:24:40,014 --> 00:24:43,826
those will produce something more interesting. But

382
00:24:44,036 --> 00:24:47,749
I think that's great that you're doing that. Yes. We really

383
00:24:47,765 --> 00:24:51,516
wanted to, once again, to produce wine with some freshness where

384
00:24:51,516 --> 00:24:55,226
you feel the fruit. And that's why also we

385
00:24:55,226 --> 00:24:58,453
changed a bit the way of making the wine there.

386
00:24:59,470 --> 00:25:02,988
And we do, regarding the aging

387
00:25:03,117 --> 00:25:06,360
process, we do age about half of the production in concrete.

388
00:25:07,637 --> 00:25:11,411
instead of 100% in oak to be

389
00:25:11,411 --> 00:25:14,815
able to have less this

390
00:25:15,264 --> 00:25:18,813
oaky taste. And

391
00:25:18,813 --> 00:25:22,602
it's so helpful to feel the fruit, to

392
00:25:22,650 --> 00:25:25,653
feel the freshness. Let me taste some wine here. Yes, you feel the terroir, you

393
00:25:25,653 --> 00:25:29,442
know? I don't need this stuff. You picked an interesting time

394
00:25:29,490 --> 00:25:33,310
though. You suffered through fires. I just thought of this. You suffered through fires. 2

395
00:25:33,326 --> 00:25:36,963
years in Napa, and they were up in that area, were they

396
00:25:36,963 --> 00:25:40,488
not? And then Bordeaux now suffering through some

397
00:25:40,536 --> 00:25:43,916
fires. These kinds of setbacks can be

398
00:25:43,916 --> 00:25:47,681
catastrophic. Were you affected by them? No, no, no,

399
00:25:47,697 --> 00:25:50,725
not at all. The fires, we had the fires in Bordeaux

400
00:25:51,831 --> 00:25:55,580
end of July, but it was very far from

401
00:25:55,612 --> 00:25:59,457
the vineyard, and the wind were not going into our

402
00:25:59,457 --> 00:26:02,885
direction, so it was, we didn't get any smoke.

403
00:26:03,623 --> 00:26:07,312
around the vineyards area. Because I was thinking your grandfather

404
00:26:07,312 --> 00:26:10,568
bought the château in Bordeaux in

405
00:26:10,664 --> 00:26:14,514
1975. That was not a great decade for

406
00:26:14,755 --> 00:26:18,075
Bordeaux. No, but it's part of the history. Maybe at a good price or something.

407
00:26:18,123 --> 00:26:21,475
That's why maybe he was able to buy it. Maybe you got a really

408
00:26:21,571 --> 00:26:23,929
good price. But it's funny because

409
00:26:25,100 --> 00:26:28,725
originally, before the wine, we are cognac producers.

410
00:26:28,918 --> 00:26:32,721
My family is coming from cognac. I saw that.

411
00:26:33,460 --> 00:26:36,720
Is it still there? Yeah, it's still in the family. We do,

412
00:26:37,459 --> 00:26:41,201
and we produce a cognac under our

413
00:26:41,233 --> 00:26:44,926
family name, Tesseron Cognac. So let's talk about that for a

414
00:26:44,926 --> 00:26:47,705
second, because cognac, I adore

415
00:26:48,395 --> 00:26:52,073
cognac. I mean, I love cognac. And but it's

416
00:26:52,089 --> 00:26:55,927
not, you know, cognac, port, fortified wines, even late harvest

417
00:26:55,927 --> 00:26:59,163
wines, certainly less popular. Yes, true.

418
00:26:59,243 --> 00:27:01,878
Worldwide than they were. And

419
00:27:03,446 --> 00:27:06,744
has it affected your brand at all, or just you're not

420
00:27:07,148 --> 00:27:10,708
that big that you don't have to worry about too much? Yeah, like, you know,

421
00:27:10,725 --> 00:27:14,512
like everything, I think it's suffering for a little bit, but there

422
00:27:14,512 --> 00:27:18,192
are still people drinking a lot of cognac, and we try

423
00:27:18,304 --> 00:27:21,391
to be dynamic as well, to do a

424
00:27:21,857 --> 00:27:23,996
special limited edition,

425
00:27:26,330 --> 00:27:28,027
to— we try to attract the new generation by,

426
00:27:30,076 --> 00:27:33,833
by producing younger cognac for making

427
00:27:33,945 --> 00:27:37,125
cocktails, for example. But originally, I mean,

428
00:27:37,237 --> 00:27:40,818
the, let's say, the DNA of

429
00:27:40,914 --> 00:27:44,141
our brand is to produce very old cognac.

430
00:27:44,768 --> 00:27:47,642
So we are known for producing

431
00:27:48,461 --> 00:27:52,186
high-end, special cognac, but we

432
00:27:52,314 --> 00:27:56,007
did, you know, we did, we have to adapt. I do

433
00:27:56,023 --> 00:27:59,332
make— I do make a— I'm very well known in my

434
00:27:59,332 --> 00:28:02,865
neighborhood for a drink called the

435
00:28:02,865 --> 00:28:05,306
Vieux Cray, which is

436
00:28:05,418 --> 00:28:09,096
cognac-based. Yes. And I think

437
00:28:09,096 --> 00:28:11,409
vermouth and bourbon.

438
00:28:12,308 --> 00:28:15,873
Okay. It's rather strong. It's a rather strong drink.

439
00:28:17,287 --> 00:28:21,093
You know, we have my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law in

440
00:28:21,157 --> 00:28:24,851
Bordeaux right now. They're going to stop at Château Bailly tomorrow. They're going to head

441
00:28:24,851 --> 00:28:28,590
to Troplong Troplong Mondot and, and Saint-Émilion

442
00:28:28,622 --> 00:28:32,153
because I told them they had to see, um, Hôtel

443
00:28:32,153 --> 00:28:35,812
Pavillon. Yeah. And hang out in the city. And I brought that up because

444
00:28:37,048 --> 00:28:40,225
the classification of— on the Right Bank is—

445
00:28:40,674 --> 00:28:44,430
includes a hospitality component. And I,

446
00:28:44,654 --> 00:28:48,458
I can say the, the last— we've been to Bordeaux many times since, but

447
00:28:48,506 --> 00:28:51,667
in 1993 when we went to Bordeaux for the first time, um,

448
00:28:52,438 --> 00:28:55,522
there was no such thing, right? There are no tasting rooms. Yes. They're all appointments

449
00:28:55,570 --> 00:28:59,313
only. And Napa, you know, Napa,

450
00:28:59,586 --> 00:29:03,312
you walked into or you bought into the idea of hospitality at Napa

451
00:29:03,312 --> 00:29:06,991
Valley. That's what it's about, right? That's tourism. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's so different. I

452
00:29:06,991 --> 00:29:10,348
think we have to learn a lot from, from Napa. You know,

453
00:29:10,428 --> 00:29:14,203
tourism is important. But I think now Bordeaux

454
00:29:14,203 --> 00:29:17,801
has changed and Bordeaux is more, is more, is

455
00:29:17,897 --> 00:29:21,722
more open. You think that's true? I just came back. I told you, I

456
00:29:21,771 --> 00:29:24,744
just came back from Napa,

457
00:29:25,612 --> 00:29:29,117
and I love the way of how they

458
00:29:29,310 --> 00:29:32,462
host people. I mean, it's just

459
00:29:32,462 --> 00:29:35,650
incredible how the hospitality

460
00:29:35,683 --> 00:29:38,587
has been made. And I think

461
00:29:40,524 --> 00:29:43,493
we have to learn from that. And we just—

462
00:29:44,628 --> 00:29:48,151
Ourselves at Pimoré, we just opened a tasting

463
00:29:48,248 --> 00:29:51,985
lounge to be able to receive— Okay, now we're talking about progress.

464
00:29:52,050 --> 00:29:55,331
To receive people and host

465
00:29:55,331 --> 00:29:58,660
for tastings. Well, here's my opinion of this.

466
00:30:00,730 --> 00:30:03,939
The congestion at the supermarket, as a supermarché, it's

467
00:30:04,777 --> 00:30:08,180
wine after wine after wine. And how do you possibly differentiate yourself,

468
00:30:09,850 --> 00:30:13,553
particularly when you're battling the price, right? And, you know,

469
00:30:13,633 --> 00:30:17,165
winemaking— people are going to the wine shop. If you go to a wine shop,

470
00:30:17,261 --> 00:30:21,034
then you have the opinion of the wine shop owner, what they've

471
00:30:21,034 --> 00:30:23,795
tasted, what they lead you to based on what you drink. When you walk into

472
00:30:23,843 --> 00:30:27,343
the market, you have no chance, right? Yeah. It's just price and

473
00:30:28,001 --> 00:30:31,436
label, except for hospitality,

474
00:30:31,693 --> 00:30:35,305
where if you are entertaining and you have people coming in, that moment that they

475
00:30:35,305 --> 00:30:38,451
have a wine at your tasting lounge,

476
00:30:39,397 --> 00:30:42,941
they'll remember it forever. Yeah. And I really think that the

477
00:30:42,941 --> 00:30:46,772
experience of wine— Experience is the most important. Is going backwards. It's going back in

478
00:30:46,788 --> 00:30:49,835
time. I think, you know, people like,

479
00:30:50,652 --> 00:30:54,500
especially now, people like to get to feel,

480
00:30:54,628 --> 00:30:57,098
to have an experience. They remember.

481
00:30:58,172 --> 00:31:01,939
People who are coming to visit us, they come and they

482
00:31:02,020 --> 00:31:05,435
visit many different places, different wineries.

483
00:31:06,092 --> 00:31:08,803
They really get an interest. on that, but

484
00:31:10,103 --> 00:31:13,893
they, they want to live a different experience regarding where

485
00:31:13,893 --> 00:31:17,714
they are going. How many, how many do you think of those people

486
00:31:18,951 --> 00:31:22,692
are really knowledgeable that really, like, wanna study

487
00:31:22,885 --> 00:31:26,626
the wine, or just people that wanna have a relaxing

488
00:31:26,642 --> 00:31:30,415
experience and tell the story when they get home to their friends? We

489
00:31:30,415 --> 00:31:34,241
went to a château and Isn't that most of

490
00:31:34,257 --> 00:31:38,018
them? Say it again? Isn't that most of the people that come there?

491
00:31:38,066 --> 00:31:41,795
They're not wine— Yeah, I think so, because we

492
00:31:41,859 --> 00:31:45,406
understood that and we try to make them

493
00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,108
having the best experience.

494
00:31:49,586 --> 00:31:52,148
So we bring people to the vineyard,

495
00:31:54,807 --> 00:31:57,680
we show them most of the things,

496
00:31:58,587 --> 00:32:02,297
we organize a tasting in the cellar, we

497
00:32:02,297 --> 00:32:03,301
also always come to,

498
00:32:06,344 --> 00:32:09,791
We try to come and say hello if we are at the

499
00:32:09,791 --> 00:32:13,110
property between my brother, my father, and myself. That's so valuable.

500
00:32:13,863 --> 00:32:17,487
You know, we try to bring something different. We

501
00:32:17,487 --> 00:32:21,014
were at Cheval Blanc, and we were entertained there. It was

502
00:32:21,014 --> 00:32:24,846
incredible. But a gentleman came down who was visiting. He

503
00:32:24,846 --> 00:32:27,460
was a French NBA player, Michael

504
00:32:27,893 --> 00:32:31,676
Pietrus. Pietrus, yes. And so he was visiting the

505
00:32:31,676 --> 00:32:35,350
château, and he came to say hi. I cannot tell you that

506
00:32:35,366 --> 00:32:38,322
every time I see my friends who I took on this trip, which was 12

507
00:32:38,338 --> 00:32:41,968
people, very hard to do. Yes, I guess.

508
00:32:43,140 --> 00:32:46,368
That they recall that experience. And if it was you as the

509
00:32:46,674 --> 00:32:50,480
propriétaire, same thing would've happened. They would've said, wow, they

510
00:32:50,544 --> 00:32:53,821
came and visited us. And I think even though that's one bottle at a time

511
00:32:53,821 --> 00:32:57,499
almost, I think that's where wine needs to be. But

512
00:32:57,531 --> 00:33:01,208
people remember that. So it's very important. So, the one thing about the

513
00:33:01,208 --> 00:33:05,010
Saint-Émilion classification is it does include that. And we know that Angelus,

514
00:33:05,058 --> 00:33:08,700
Cheval Blanc, and Figeac, I think, left the

515
00:33:09,085 --> 00:33:12,278
consortium because of the hospitality

516
00:33:12,278 --> 00:33:15,920
requirements. But at the same time, do you think that

517
00:33:15,984 --> 00:33:19,642
the Left Bank, that the class— it'll never change, I know that.

518
00:33:20,380 --> 00:33:24,070
But do you think that there's a component, a

519
00:33:24,070 --> 00:33:27,831
requirement one day that that's the case or no? Things have to really change.

520
00:33:28,347 --> 00:33:32,105
It's hard to say. I don't think it will change

521
00:33:32,621 --> 00:33:35,247
because, plus, it has been made, as you know, in

522
00:33:35,247 --> 00:33:38,816
1855. Monsieur

523
00:33:38,816 --> 00:33:42,647
Napoléon Bonaparte III, no? Hmm? It was Napoléon

524
00:33:42,663 --> 00:33:46,191
Bonaparte III. Yes. But we—

525
00:33:47,518 --> 00:33:51,240
it's hard to say. I hope it will not

526
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:54,802
change. Yeah. And people know

527
00:33:54,995 --> 00:33:57,942
that, you know, some of the châteaux are first, second,

528
00:33:58,538 --> 00:34:02,178
etc. We've been classified as fifth growth, and I

529
00:34:02,242 --> 00:34:05,876
think people know that in terms of quality, we are

530
00:34:07,629 --> 00:34:10,009
probably better if there is a new classification.

531
00:34:11,390 --> 00:34:15,222
But, you know, every time we see it in a— every time there

532
00:34:15,222 --> 00:34:18,956
is a new classification, there are You know, people are

533
00:34:18,988 --> 00:34:22,483
always complaining. So— I read

534
00:34:22,691 --> 00:34:26,394
the book Empress Eugénie. Yes. Do you

535
00:34:26,394 --> 00:34:29,087
know this? No, I don't know this. Well, it's a great book. She just came

536
00:34:29,087 --> 00:34:32,550
out. Yeah. The couple that wrote

537
00:34:32,935 --> 00:34:36,205
Wine and War. Okay. She did the research on Eugénie, which

538
00:34:36,718 --> 00:34:39,940
she had a lot to do with the classification of 1855. Yeah, sure. I'm sure.

539
00:34:39,988 --> 00:34:43,579
Right. So next time we come to Paris, which is November, I want to do

540
00:34:43,611 --> 00:34:47,329
a sort of not a walking tour, but sort of a tour of her influence

541
00:34:48,082 --> 00:34:50,966
in Paris, because apparently it was quite dramatic.

542
00:34:51,687 --> 00:34:55,533
That'd be really interesting to do. Well, you know, we're almost out of time here,

543
00:34:55,549 --> 00:34:58,401
but I got a couple of things that we have to do. Yes. One is,

544
00:34:59,539 --> 00:35:02,984
since you're here from Bordeaux, this is a book

545
00:35:04,025 --> 00:35:07,679
called Wine Is the Best Medicine. Dr. Murray,

546
00:35:07,791 --> 00:35:11,510
who's a real MD, real doctor, and a homeopathic doctor. So,

547
00:35:11,558 --> 00:35:15,346
he wrote a book about human maladies, things that could happen

548
00:35:15,346 --> 00:35:19,007
to us, and what wine best cures

549
00:35:19,039 --> 00:35:22,619
that, or at least symptomatically. I don't know

550
00:35:22,667 --> 00:35:26,423
this book. I've never heard about

551
00:35:26,423 --> 00:35:30,228
it. Just to caution you, I'm going

552
00:35:30,228 --> 00:35:33,968
to give you 3 answers to the question, and everybody, most

553
00:35:33,968 --> 00:35:37,660
people, 2/3 of the people get it wrong because, you know, no one thinks like

554
00:35:37,660 --> 00:35:41,264
the doctor. But more importantly is the reason that

555
00:35:41,523 --> 00:35:45,363
you chose this answer when I give you the choices. And then he

556
00:35:45,427 --> 00:35:49,107
also has a dosage here. Like how much of this wine should you drink

557
00:35:49,461 --> 00:35:53,303
if you have a problem? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. So we're gonna

558
00:35:53,303 --> 00:35:54,243
go with anemia.

559
00:35:58,070 --> 00:36:01,465
You know, the blood thinning. Oh, yes. Okay. Should you have

560
00:36:02,888 --> 00:36:06,549
a dry champagne A Graves' or a

561
00:36:06,549 --> 00:36:10,349
young Beaujolais to treat your anemia? And

562
00:36:10,446 --> 00:36:11,545
why is the question.

563
00:36:15,798 --> 00:36:18,786
I would say a Champagne. Why?

564
00:36:22,339 --> 00:36:25,991
Champagne, because I think, you know, bubbles

565
00:36:26,105 --> 00:36:28,627
make you feel always happy.

566
00:36:30,988 --> 00:36:34,488
So when you have a disease, Let's enjoy

567
00:36:34,616 --> 00:36:37,395
life. That's a good— see, that's a good reason.

568
00:36:37,749 --> 00:36:41,524
Champagne has that effect. We

569
00:36:41,524 --> 00:36:45,299
were talking about the Taittinger family. Clovis would tell you, I think you should drink

570
00:36:45,299 --> 00:36:49,122
champagne every day, which I agree with. I love champagne too. I agree with that.

571
00:36:49,797 --> 00:36:53,620
Well, you were wrong. I was sure I was

572
00:36:53,716 --> 00:36:57,508
wrong. I kind of set you up because it was a Graves. Okay. You know,

573
00:36:57,524 --> 00:37:00,929
something from the South, I think. And here's why. Why? So, doctor says,

574
00:37:01,604 --> 00:37:05,123
Anemia, or a pathological decrease in the number of red blood cells,

575
00:37:05,139 --> 00:37:08,979
manifests itself in a variety of disorders, among which are constant

576
00:37:08,979 --> 00:37:12,770
fatigue, vertigo, and lack of general tone. It is therefore

577
00:37:12,770 --> 00:37:16,402
advisable, independent of other treatment

578
00:37:16,450 --> 00:37:20,081
proper for this type of disease, to give the patient a supplementary

579
00:37:20,081 --> 00:37:23,792
amount of iron. Okay. Did you know GROV has more

580
00:37:23,857 --> 00:37:27,391
iron? So, because of the iron content,

581
00:37:27,632 --> 00:37:31,362
The wine produces this type of wine that's cultivated on pure

582
00:37:31,411 --> 00:37:35,141
sand containing iron particles in a soluble form. How

583
00:37:35,173 --> 00:37:38,729
interesting is that? Interesting. Yes. And then it

584
00:37:38,745 --> 00:37:42,516
says, what would be your typical dosage, do you think, of this?

585
00:37:45,089 --> 00:37:48,811
Hmm. I don't know, 2 glasses per day? Well, you're close. It's

586
00:37:48,811 --> 00:37:52,613
2 glasses per meal. Per meal. Who doesn't do that anyway? Don't we do that

587
00:37:52,613 --> 00:37:56,370
anyway? So, in terms of— I love it. That's

588
00:37:56,370 --> 00:37:59,050
a great book. You know, we have a couple minutes. I'd like to taste this.

589
00:37:59,050 --> 00:38:02,230
Yeah, please. And this is, um, what vintage is this?

590
00:38:02,230 --> 00:38:06,050
Um, it's 2012. Oh, 2012. Well, look, the

591
00:38:06,050 --> 00:38:09,770
color's great. And so this is, uh,

592
00:38:09,770 --> 00:38:11,850
2012 Pontet-Canet. So that was,

593
00:38:13,290 --> 00:38:16,970
um, for me, you know, it's, um, for '11

594
00:38:16,970 --> 00:38:20,770
and '12, it was difficult because they arrived after '09 and '10, which

595
00:38:20,770 --> 00:38:23,030
were so famous in Bordeaux. Yes. And at that time,

596
00:38:24,983 --> 00:38:28,182
time when they released, nobody wanted to hear about them.

597
00:38:28,925 --> 00:38:32,738
But after 10 years, people are really looking into this kind

598
00:38:32,738 --> 00:38:36,034
of wine because they are just so expressive,

599
00:38:36,660 --> 00:38:40,018
very aromatic wines, very open.

600
00:38:40,436 --> 00:38:43,315
Yeah. There's a ton going on in this wine.

601
00:38:44,477 --> 00:38:48,190
And for us, 2012 was the first

602
00:38:48,190 --> 00:38:52,024
year we started to use

603
00:38:52,503 --> 00:38:55,961
small concrete amphoras. for the aging process.

604
00:38:56,814 --> 00:39:00,615
So from that vintage, all

605
00:39:01,856 --> 00:39:04,752
of the wines has about 30, 35%

606
00:39:06,572 --> 00:39:09,906
going into concrete for aging. The rest is still going in oak,

607
00:39:10,770 --> 00:39:14,031
but it brings more

608
00:39:14,096 --> 00:39:16,393
purity of fruit, more freshness.

609
00:39:18,113 --> 00:39:21,504
I do like that. I think one of the Napa

610
00:39:22,203 --> 00:39:25,696
problems is too much oak. It's very interesting because

611
00:39:26,529 --> 00:39:29,334
you probably haven't had Armenian wines yet, but

612
00:39:30,439 --> 00:39:34,173
because of the freedom came in Armenia in 1991, that the

613
00:39:34,221 --> 00:39:37,667
technology for winemaking was arrested for all the

614
00:39:37,667 --> 00:39:41,400
Soviet era. And so now, and what's their first inclination?

615
00:39:41,993 --> 00:39:45,647
Oak. We need to oak everything. And so, because

616
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:49,510
that's what you do, you should do, or they think they should do. And so,

617
00:39:50,343 --> 00:39:54,046
the indigenous grape of Armenia is called Areni. In

618
00:39:54,094 --> 00:39:57,573
fact, you might know Areni Global, the wine think tank

619
00:39:58,487 --> 00:40:01,629
out of the Rhône, but it doesn't like oak,

620
00:40:02,414 --> 00:40:06,005
in my professional opinion. It does much better in

621
00:40:06,101 --> 00:40:09,804
concrete, and they should be using eggs and amphora,

622
00:40:09,884 --> 00:40:13,731
not oak, in my opinion. Yes. Well, it depends.

623
00:40:13,811 --> 00:40:17,370
We need oak to sometimes soften the

624
00:40:17,482 --> 00:40:20,520
tannins, to bring some different different aromas to the wine.

625
00:40:21,221 --> 00:40:24,858
But we, I mean, we have, it's a question of balance.

626
00:40:26,162 --> 00:40:29,296
We, if it's, if it's too

627
00:40:29,923 --> 00:40:33,458
oaky, it's like too much makeup. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, you don't,

628
00:40:34,101 --> 00:40:37,610
you don't feel the terroir, you don't feel the expression of the

629
00:40:37,658 --> 00:40:40,927
fruits. So it's, yeah, I think it's important to,

630
00:40:41,690 --> 00:40:45,232
to find the right, the right balance. There's a wonderful

631
00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,586
acidity to this wine still. Yes, I love that wine now. And then

632
00:40:49,683 --> 00:40:53,136
there's a cedar component. The complexity is

633
00:40:53,168 --> 00:40:56,653
amazing. Whoops. We know they're crystal,

634
00:40:57,201 --> 00:41:00,316
don't we? Cheers, Paul, by the way. This is great. Cheers.

635
00:41:00,913 --> 00:41:04,431
Yeah, I never thought of this. Thank you for being on the show and spending

636
00:41:04,447 --> 00:41:07,674
the time with me today. I know you got to travel tonight, so it's going

637
00:41:07,690 --> 00:41:10,518
to be a long flight back. Happy to be here. It's a nice

638
00:41:11,343 --> 00:41:15,168
Nice studio. Thank you. Do you, do you, are you

639
00:41:15,184 --> 00:41:18,736
at Wine Paris? Do you have a booth there? We are. Okay, so I'll be

640
00:41:18,736 --> 00:41:21,803
seeing you there. We are, uh, we have, um, we have a booth for the,

641
00:41:22,062 --> 00:41:25,865
for the cognac. So we are there every year,

642
00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:30,235
every year, every, every fair. But not the— No.

643
00:41:30,607 --> 00:41:34,426
Well, we do, uh, but we are represented

644
00:41:34,426 --> 00:41:37,765
by the negotiants. Oh yeah. Okay. So Bordeaux. So we don't have any booth for

645
00:41:37,765 --> 00:41:40,374
the, for the wine. But are you in that Bordeaux tasting area, which is incredible?

646
00:41:40,424 --> 00:41:43,641
No, we are not. Are you kidding?

647
00:41:44,572 --> 00:41:47,929
We are not. No, we are not part of the UGC.

648
00:41:48,266 --> 00:41:52,040
Yeah. Oh, I see. Okay. So we are not

649
00:41:52,056 --> 00:41:55,894
participating into this tasting. Are you

650
00:41:55,894 --> 00:41:59,282
going there? I told my wife we're going there. We went,

651
00:42:00,567 --> 00:42:04,389
as we wrap this up, but my daughter lives with me with her 3 grandchildren,

652
00:42:04,421 --> 00:42:08,179
my 3 grandchildren, because they were displaced by the fires here in Southern California.

653
00:42:08,837 --> 00:42:12,470
So they've been living with us for 18 months. So it's, you know, if I

654
00:42:12,470 --> 00:42:15,990
can get my wife out of the house, and usually she's not very good about

655
00:42:15,990 --> 00:42:19,830
like one week notice, especially to travel to Europe. I said, hey, why

656
00:42:19,830 --> 00:42:23,510
don't we go to Paris for the week? Paris is good. Paris is a— And

657
00:42:23,510 --> 00:42:25,970
she's like, yeah, I think I'd like to do that. So we were there for

658
00:42:25,970 --> 00:42:29,650
the week. I did a couple podcasts. I want to do

659
00:42:29,650 --> 00:42:32,290
that again. So I think it's going to be an annual trip for a little

660
00:42:32,290 --> 00:42:35,950
while. That's great. Yeah. Good idea. And we'll come jump on the

661
00:42:35,950 --> 00:42:39,428
TV, TGV or TVG? TGV. Down and

662
00:42:39,686 --> 00:42:43,223
jump in the Bordeaux and come see you. Cheers. Cheers.

663
00:42:43,481 --> 00:42:44,709
Thank you, Paul. Thank you.