Navigating Napa and Beyond: Wine Adventures with Paul Kalemkiarian

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Yes, I am the guy that sold 17 million

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bottles of wine direct to the consumer as well as along the way,

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tasted 100,000 wines. Can you imagine that? I would bet there

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are very few people in the country that have tasted 100,000 wines.

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Why would I say that? What about those psalms? What about the master of wines

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who tasted the wines and they had to go through the testing. Yes, they've tasted

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a lot of wines. But the discipline to taste a hundred thousand wines

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wasn't about tasting a hundred thousand wines. Just the mathematics

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worked out that way. Because for 35 years, imagine that,

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35 straight years, unless I was sick

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or out of the country, I was in the tasting room on

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Tuesday morning at 9 o' clock period. And I moved. The company probably

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a half a dozen times along this path always had a tasting room.

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The salespeople knew where to go, they knew how to line up, they knew how

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to make appointments online. And they could bring a

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bottle or a case. Some would bring two cases. And then in

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between appointments, in case there was a gap and they were able to sign

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up for 15 minutes, I had

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walls of samples that were sent to me from all over the world,

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as well as all over California, all over the states. And not only did I

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have samples sent to me by distributors and wholesalers and

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the wineries, I. I had samples sent to me by my competitors,

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the guys I fought against. And guess what?

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There were one time I got three cases of samples from one of my competitors.

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Three cases. And the business was starting to go south at that point. Anyway,

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this was pre Covid. The writing was on the wall. There was so much competition

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on the Internet and it was just more difficult, it took more

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effort to get the same dollar of sale. So they were sending out samples

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on wines they were long on. Can you imagine the 36

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samples? There was one. And they're all white wines.

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There was one wine that I thought made the grade

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at the club, at the Wine of the Month club at the time. 1.

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Because I truly wanted to represent

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something of value, A and B, something

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that represented a place and a time. And that's what wine is

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about. So to taste a hundred thousand wines, it takes

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30. It tooks. It takes. It took 35

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years every Tuesday. And I'm going to say then on the

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average, probably 45 Tuesdays a year instead of the 52.

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That's how religious I was in doing this. And that was only because

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my father said in 1988, When I bought the company from

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him, don't we taste on Tuesdays Now, I knew

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that A, I worked for him for a little bit, but B, at the

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Wine of the Month Club, shop at the wine shop at Palos Veres Estates, what

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was called then Palace Freddy's Wines and Spirits. Every Tuesday

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night, I would set up a tasting with the doctors that supported

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my father's pharmacies. They were the privileged group

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to taste wine with him on Tuesday night. And they had this makeshift loft that

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we made out of plywood and a staircase, and

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they would go upstairs in brown bag and use the Davis scoring system and they

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would rate the wine. So that's how it started. And this isn't a commercial for

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the Wine of the Month Club. It's a, it's a, it's sort of a commercial

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for what it takes to learn about wine. If you want to, you don't

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have to. You can just enjoy what you want to enjoy, and that's

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perfectly fine. I would suggest learning how to read a label. And I had

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this question the other day when I posted on Instagram, this long

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wall, this huge wallet at the market with every

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bottle literally had a yellow shelf talker. Now, in the old days, you

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put a shelf talker up and that was so that, you know, there was something

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drawn attention to that particular bottle of wine. Now, literally every,

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every bottle had a shelf talker. Many of them were just prices,

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but some were ratings and things. And so you really can't make a decision.

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And if you've never been to the market before, that market before,

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it's very difficult to, to decide. Even

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after 100,000 wines. The only reference I have

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to pick a wine at the market if I've not tasted it, which is the,

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really the linchpin of all this. And you, if you've tasted it before, obviously you

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know what it tastes like and whether you would buy it again. But if you

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can understand the label, if you can understand the branding name and sort of the

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cycle that goes through to make a brand, if you can understand

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how the region is depicted on the label and how the grapes

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are depicted on the label, you can have an educated guess. And

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that's still the best you get. In my case, because I've

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tasted so many brands, you know, I've got a little better

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inkling. But if I'm just looking at a shelf of all the wines I've never

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tasted before, or a brand I've never tasted before, which has happened,

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I can only go by what my instinct says about the region, about the

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grape and about the vintage. If I know a little bit about the maker,

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you know, Great. Now this happened before in my son in law in New York,

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who is quite an enophile, loves wine, loves peculiar

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districts. Took me to a wine shop on the

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Hudson river in New York and I thought I'd prance in there and act

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like a big shot. If there were 200 SKUs, maybe 300 SKUs, it was a

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small shop. If I recognized two of the labels, that would have been a lot.

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So at that point I have to just fall back on my, on my instincts

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and look at the nuances of a particular region or a particular grape

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grown in a particular area. So what do you think happens with a place like

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Armenia? What do you think happens to a place like Armenia when not

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only are they trying to educate the world of

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the grapes grown in Armenia, actually the regions of Armenia

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has regions just like the Napa Valley would have region sub regions or France has

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regions of wine. Armenia has them as well. And so the pitch is right

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now that wine was founded, developed,

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invented. What's the word you want to use in Armenia? And that's

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kind of based on the fact they found the

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6,100-year-old winery with a pair of shoes.

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Well, actually one of the shoes, the guy walked out limping, I guess, or hopping.

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So, and that's okay because I've also heard arguments that the

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caucus region, Georgia, Armenia is where it started.

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We can't prove that, but it stands to reason Noah landed the

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ark on Mount Ararat and planted grapes. So I mean, there

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could be some biblical, historical and or

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practical evidence that supports the idea that wine started

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in Armenia or at least the Caucasus. But great, how

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do you tell that story and what does that mean to you as a

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consumer? If you taste it once, if you have

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one Armenian wine, because of that story, you heard the story and now you want

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to try a wine and it happens to be not a great example. You're

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probably not going to try it again until somebody leads you down the

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path of the correct vintage and correct grape to taste.

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So Armenia has a task. It's got to educate the world on

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not only the regions of Armenia and what differences they might

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have, which would be the same as Rutherford versus Oakville versus Howell

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Mountain. But they also have to educate the world on grape varietals that no

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one's ever heard of. Adani Voskahat

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Kangun so the intellectual part of the wine world, which you're

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not necessarily participating in, in the sense of

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understanding Armenian wines,

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has this argument going on. And in fact, I'm working on A TV show out

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of Armenia. And the point was made to me, hey, this information in

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this. In this trailer is getting old. I'm like, no, it's not. Because the

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conversation we had a year ago is the same conversation we're having

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today about promoting and bringing Armenian wines to the world. And

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so I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but you can imagine

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developing a brand in the world of wine with all the

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competition is very difficult. Throw

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in the mix that there's a whole new region that no one's ever heard of

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and a whole list of grapes that no one's ever heard of. Article came out

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last week about a wine buyer at a

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major, major chain of supermarkets in Los Angeles

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or California that had been taking bribes

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to put the wines on the shelf or floor stack them. Now, that in some

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industries is okay. It's legal to do. Not to say bribes, but

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it's legal to pay for a spot on the shelf.

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I think when you're selling toothpaste or laundry soap or things like that,

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you can actually buy your way onto the shelf. It's

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why when you go to the supermarket, that Newman's Own salad dressing

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and Craft and Wishbone are eye level. But that is illegal in

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the wine trade. So this person got busted for taking luxury

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bags and Rolexes and trips and. And, you know,

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deliberate, deliberately mislabeling

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the line item in the expense report for the salesperson that got them

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or got him or her these things. And it could be

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a lot of trouble because it is against the law in. In liquor not only

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to bribe, but it's also against the law to buy

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shelf space. And in fact, there is. There are lots of stories

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of this that's. That have occurred over the years. You know, sometimes you walk into

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the store and you look at the shelf and it's right at eye level, and

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you kind of go, wonder how that got there. Theoretically, it's against law for it

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to automatically be there, but that's. That's. That's what it is. It's a

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cutthroat business. It's tough out there. And if you're trying to bring new wines into

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the marketplace or new of grape varietals

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like Ottomy, you're going to have a. A tough time. We just got back from

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Napa. Great trip. Now everybody asks, what are you doing when you go to Napa?

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You got any places to go? You know, any wine? You got any wines? You

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want to taste the wine? I don't taste. I don't usually taste Wine.

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When I go to Napa, I visit friends, I visit relationships in the industry.

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The relationships are very deep in this industry. People understand each other who

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go through the mechanizations to make wine. And as

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I brought up before, it takes nothing but passion

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to do this because it's slow one time a year, and

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it takes a lot of work and the margins are

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lousy. You've discussed this before. And so there's a little bit of a

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fraternity amongst buyers and sellers in the wine trade

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from the wholesale and the retail side. So we. But I'll tell you where we

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do go. We like to stay at the Yontville Estate, or the Estate at

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Yonville. It's also called the Vintage Estate.

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Very cute hotel. It was just purchased a few years ago by a.

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An Orange county developer. And he's done some really great things. It's the

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first time we've stayed there since they did the remodel, so to speak. And

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the food and the. The service, the rooms were

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great. It's called the Vintage Estate or the Estate at Yountville.

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And you'll. You'll love it there.

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We like to go to a handful of restaurants that we always must go to

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when we go there. One of them is called RH or Restoration

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Hardware. Yes, the same exact company that makes

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furniture and sells it. In fact, they have a furniture showroom connected to the

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restaurant in Yountville. It's just. It's just fun to be inside of it. The

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food is always excellent. I, you know, I'm not crazy about the wine list because

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it's kind of a corporate wine list, but it's interesting enough and

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you can have. There's no cocktails there, but the food there is incredible. And

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you must make a reservation because usually walk ins aren't.

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Aren't available the time slots. The other restaurant we used to like to

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go to is Bodega, which used to be Mike Chiarello's restaurant. The chef

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that suddenly passed away last year. We don't go there anymore. We heard bad rumors

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about the way it was taken over and the family was leveraged out of the

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deal. And so we decided not to go there anymore.

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So we went with the McPherson family, who owns the

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Promise Winery, which is about four miles off the Silverado Trail.

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Incredible location. And we had dinner with them at the Goose and

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Gander, which has always got very solid food, very quality food. This is St

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Helena, which is the sort of the mid city of the Valley. And we always

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enjoy it there. And if you have a chance to make an appointment with the

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Promise or join their club to make an appointment. It's

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really worth it. They have an incredible list of wines they make there. It's an

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experience. They raise Iberian hogs, they make their own

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prosciutto, they have their own hen house and they make their own

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eggs. So it's, it's really quite an experience. It's

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called the Promise Winery and it's like I said, about 10 minute drive

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off of the Silverado Trail headed into the hills, one of the other locations we

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like. In fact, we met with Tracy Mason of

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Tular Vodka and she met us at the

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Villagio estate, which is the sister hotel of the

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Hotel Yonville. And we met for a glass of wine and the Alpha Omega

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was pouring that night. Alpha Omega is right on Highway 29. Excellent

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wines. Fortunately there were not too many people there that night so we got a

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chance to taste a lot of the wines. But we met with Tracy who's just

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launched this vodka which is really cool, called Tular T U L

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A R. It's vodka made from, I guess she called it

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B grade fruit. Fruit that's normally tossed, doesn't make it to the

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markets. Very good palatable fruit, but doesn't look good. And

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so she's, she saves, literally saves

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from the recycling bin 25 pounds of

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stone fruit per bottle. Isn't that crazy?

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It's triple distilled. It's incredibly smooth. I'm going to make a

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couple of drinks with it tonight. But, but look for that she just

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got the right from the government, et cetera, et cetera, to launch the brand

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about a week ago. So you'll see it around called Tular T U

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L A R. One of the other restaurants that we really like. We

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don't get to it all the time we're there. But this is really for locals

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only. It's called Cooks. It's a very narrow small

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restaurant in St. Helena. It is the. I mean

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that was one of the highlight meals of the few days we were there and

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we went for lunch no less. But wow, what quality food.

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And the chef is always hanging around. Mrs. Chef is always hanging

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around. I was had a chance to talk to them. I did engage them a

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little bit. Probably put them on the show in the near future. And right up,

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right off of the street, off the parallel street which is Adams street

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or Oak street, is a little complex

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with a coffee house and then a couple of doors, little industrial doors.

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And one of them is, that is Grounded Wine Company in Chris

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Phelps Wines. Grounded Wine Company. You've seen their brands many

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places. Radio, what's it called? Radio

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Silence. The other one is Grounded

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Wine. The other one's called Space Age Rose. He's got quite a few brands. That's

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from the son Josh Phelps and his wines are in a lot

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of places. And then his father's wines are called Advivum

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and they are super, super complex

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quality brand of wine, very small production,

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300 cases of vintage sort of. Sort of thing. And so we had a chance

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to sit with Chris and I'm going to republish his. His podcast

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soon. It's just really interesting and having made wine

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in Bordeaux, France at. At

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Petrus on the left on the right bank

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and then came to America for Christian Moex and worked at Dominus, which is

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incredible location here in the Napa Valley or there in the Napa Valley.

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And then he's now makes his own wine. And I

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it's just my favorite boutique brand. And why do I

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say that? Because one, it's a departure from

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opulent fruit forward, even partially residual

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sugared Napa Valley style that's come of age

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in the supermarkets. But it's got that touch of

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complexity that comes from the Bordeaux

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style that know how of making

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wine that gives it that identification and it comes

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from his techniques and it's really quite good. We

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bought a couple cases actually that it's not cheap, I'll tell you that much.

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So that's. That was the main tasting schedule and then

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I had a chance to drive to. If you haven't been here,

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you should go. This is in downtown Napa. Napa has

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changed quite a bit, particularly since the

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earthquake. A lot of foot traffic, a lot of great stores, sitting

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rooms. But one I had never been to and one I just noticed

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because we were doing a podcast is the Robert Mondavi

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Tower. They call it the Tower. A pretty facility,

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spacious facility, can accommodate a lot of tastings.

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And I left with a bottle of Cabernet that I opened last night and it

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was very good. And so this is a wonderful location. You.

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It's right off of the main drag in Napa,

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downtown Napa. If you get a chance to go there for a tasting, you should.

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But I had a chance to interview Tony Biaggi

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and that podcast is coming out soon. Tony Biaggi is the winemaker

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at Tocalon. I always got it wrong. To Cologne. To Cologne. To

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Cologne. Wines that run 500,

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$800 a bottle kind of wines. But probably one of the most

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prestigious vineyards in California,

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if not the most prestigious and tony had some great insight

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into what was happening there, what their. What their future looks like and how

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they handle vintage varieties of vintages and

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how they handle the different. The climate changes that's happening here in Napa.

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But really amazing stuff. And so that podcast is coming out

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soon. The Robin Mondavi tasting room in

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downtown Napa. So that was the week, you know, we had a. We had a

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really good time. We had really good food. We enjoyed ourselves. Walked to.

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Oh, yeah, I didn't bring this up. If you stay at the Yonville.

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Stay at Yonville and you walk to get coffee in the morning, which is our

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favorite little walk, you go to the Honor Market, which is a gas station.

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It's kind of very European that way, right? You get your coffee at the gas

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station and really good. And we enjoy this

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walk. And then it's also on the way there is the RH restaurant.

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And I'll just give you this little anecdotal story, because I didn't know anything about

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this guy. Unless you've heard of

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Captain Planet. Heard of this guy? Captain Planet. I don't know, some kind of superhero.

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Anyway, we're walking up to. To the restaurant, the RH

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restaurant, and there's two minivans. Clearly they had people in them

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prior. Parked right in front of the French Laundry. Yes, you walk by the

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French Laundry to get to the Restoration Hardware restaurant and the Honor Market. And so

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this is probably a really expensive group of.

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For the restaurant. You know, inside. What I'm trying to say, the number

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of people that this car could take, which it looks like it was about 15.

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You know, when you talk about RH, I mean, the French laundry is about

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700 a person or 400 a person, 450.

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It could easily creep to 700 with wine. So it was a rather

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voluminous bill there from this one

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car. And so anyway, the driver was this

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young woman, and she's. She looks at me and I gave her some

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sarcastic comment, like I usually do something about the price of the

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value of the. Of the food ticket of this car. And she goes. She

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goes, aren't you all Captain Planet? And I said, man, I'll take that as a

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compliment. She was, yeah, you better. My wife's like, oh, my

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gosh, are you kidding me? So I was going around telling the story about

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Captain Planet, and if you want to look him up, go ahead. It's

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a superhero, of course. And the guy's cut, he's got short hair and he's

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cut, and that's what I'm trying to tell you. You know what I'm saying? Anyway,

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that's today's story. And look for Tony

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Biaggi coming up soon. And some notables that we're going to be releasing soon. Had

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some great guests coming up and we did that

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trip in Annapolis and more of those coming. So stay safe out

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there in the wine world. And check me out at

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paulomclub.com or our

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Instagram at Paul Callum Carrion or YouTube

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@Winetalkspodcast. Cheers.