Joe Wehinger (nicknamed Joe Winger) has written for over 20 years about the business of lifestyle and entertainment. Joe is an entertainment producer, media entrepreneur, public speaker, and C-level consultant who owns businesses in entertainment, lifestyle, tourism and publishing. He is an award-winning filmmaker, published author, member of the Directors Guild of America, International Food Travel Wine Authors Association, WSET Level 2 Wine student, WSET Level 2 Cocktail student, member of the LA Wine Writers. Email to: Joe@FlavRReport.com
Big Apple gets to celebrate flavor and elegance from French Bloom Sparkling Wine.
You want to celebrate. You want to “pop the cork”, enjoy the flavor, but you don’t want the after-effects. The drunkenness. Certainly not the hangover. And women? Of course there needs to be ways to elegantly celebrate even (and especially) during pregnancy. Imagine a pregnant-friendly wine?
It’s a situation that should have been solved already. But now it has and with style. It’s a subtle, elegant, flavorful answer.
French Bloom Re-Invents the Game
Now everyone can share “moments of pleasure” as their website mentions. French Bloom’s organic de-alcoholized chardonnay and pinot noir, alcohol-free French sparkling cuvées combine French tradition with innovation.
French Bloom Co-Founders Maggie Frerejean – Taittinger and Constance Jablonski
The Team Behind French Bloom
Maggie Frerejean – Taittinger and Constance Jablonski bring different and complementary skill sets. Equally important, they bring the desire for the vision and the motivation for innovation.
Through their innovative and female-founded brand, French Bloom gives an alternative and inviting drink to those wanting to celebrate elegantly and differently, making the most of the precious moments shared with friends and family.
If the names sound familiar, Constance is a globally-working fashion model you’ve seen representing Estée Lauder and countless luxury brands.
Maggie is director of the Michelin Guide and married to Rodolphe Frerejean-Taittinger, chief executive of Champagne Frerejean Freres.
Carl Héline, the former head of Champagne Krug, joined French Bloom.
Let’s Taste French Bloom
Le Rosé
Pale pink in the glass. Rose petals, freshly picked red currant, raspberry aromas on the nose. Indulgent white peach notes on the palate. Elegant. The organic French grapes give a nice acidity. Well-balanced complexity of minerality and freshness. Tartness and a rounded balance on the finish.
Certified Vegan- Organic- Halal
0.0% Alcohol
Pregnant-friendly
Low Calorie
Sulfite-Free
No preservatives
No sugar added, 4,2g/ 100ml
A blend of de-alcoholized organic French Chardonnay and Pinot Noir wines, organic grape juice, Gensac spring water and natural organic flavors such as lemon.
Le Blanc
Organic French Bubbly, 0.0% Alcohol
Medium golden amber in the glass. Minerality and pear aromas on the nose, that just keep opening and opening. Pear, banana, melon, white flowers. An explosion of complexity on the palate. As the flavors open, Granny Smith apple, spicy citrus. A full-bodied mouth with a luxurious, zesty finish that keeps going.
De-alcoholized organic wine, organic grape juice, French sparkling Gensac spring water, organic lemon juice, organic natural flavors.
Jøyus non-alcoholic wines are making big moves in the beverage industry. Not just for #SoberOctober, but its award-winning tastes help you celebrate all year-long,
Jøyus non-alcoholic wines not only taste like wine, but great wine. With the industry awards to prove it.
Recently I sat down with Jøyus leader Jessica Selander.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. You can find the full, un-edited conversation on our YouTube page.
Can you give us a personal story, maybe that includes the celebration of wine, if you have one?
Jessica Selander: The story is very personal and the funny thing is I get so nervous before talking about things because when I started Joyus, I did not originally [think about] doing things like this, being so face forward.
I thought I would create a product that I was really excited about. Eventually I came to realize, how do I do that without telling the “why did I do it?”
The whole reason that Joyus exists and it influences everything I do is because I’m sober. I quit drinking alcohol 17 years ago now, which just feels like a fantastical amount of time.
For me, it’s been very rewarding. I’m very glad about it. But it was definitely something that was really hard and very personal. It wasn’t something I shared about publicly. So that’s also why this is a journey of getting comfortable talking about my sobriety, my recovery.
I like the taste of wine. I like beautiful glasses. I like the smell of wine. I love the community and people; and hanging out and celebrating. It literally says ’let’s celebrate’ on our bottles. How great sparkling is for summer, but sparkling is such a happy thing.
You know what I mean? Something good happens in your life and people are like, let’s celebrate. Let’s pop some bottles. New Year’s Eve is such a beautiful idea of let’s start over. Whatever happened last year, whatever terrible things went down, there’s a brand new year.
It’s a new idea that we can celebrate either that past year that was good or celebrate the potential of a new year. That’s going to be better and that’s sparkling.
And for me, I didn’t have any options.
I started Joyus nine years ago. People ask me how long the company’s been around and we launched about two years ago. So it took me a very long time to figure it out, to save up the money to do it because as you can imagine, nine years ago, people thought it was crazy.
They’re like, ‘That’s a terrible idea. Nobody wants that’. And I’m like ’I want it’.
Having quit drinking, I had a lot of friends that also didn’t drink. I had a lot of people in my life too, who were just light drinkers – could give or take alcohol. Then I have two kids and there’s a huge percent of the population that quits drinking for nine months [because they’re pregnant], sometimes even longer.
You can get into medications, you’re not supposed to drink on it. Anxiety medication, not supposed to drink on it. Heart medication, cancer treatments. There’s a lot of medical stuff too, that you could go down the list.
So I get a lot of people now who are like, ‘Oh, it’s not alcoholic. It’s trending.’ And that’s a thing now.
Early on in my sobriety, I actually used to drink a lot of soda pop out of glass bottles, and then eventually discovered non alcoholic beer.
Non alcoholic beer is definitely having a really cool movement right now. There’s so many different options for non alcoholic beer, but the beer has always been around.
I was like, this exists and it tastes like beer. What’s up with non-alcoholic wine?
There was one sparkling [non-alcoholic wine] in the entire country and that’s all you could find. There was one white and there was one red and that was it.
For me these options were really sweet. They were very affordable, which is nice, but they didn’t have the complete experience that I was going for. I wanted non alcoholic wine that tastes like wine.
I wanted something that I could bring to a gathering and bring to a get together and have it feel appropriate and look appropriate and just look like everybody else’s [alcoholic] bottles. Smell like everyone else’s bottles that you just wouldn’t even know that it was non alcoholic until you saw it on the label. And that’s what I did.
So after trying to find it for forever, eventually I was like, I’m going to do it myself. And I had no idea that this whole sober curious, non alcoholic world would take off like it has at exactly the right time.
So part of me is very frustrated that it took so long. But part of that too, it was like saving up the money to start the company.
This is a bootstrap company. I like making my own decisions. A side effect after getting to this point is I’m 100% in control of all the decisions, which also means that I can control the quality because [it] is incredibly expensive to make.
Let’s talk about your sober story. What it means to you, how you got there, what your mission is, how that helps others.
Jessica Selander: So for me, I can’t drink alcohol. What happens when I put alcohol in my body is that I make decisions I don’t want to be making.
I tried a lot of things. I tried cutting back and it didn’t work. I tried replacing [the drinks and that didn’t work].
My life became pretty chaotic.
I stopped drinking and once I get my life in order, then everything will be fine. I can drink again.
Then after not drinking for a period of time, I was like, Oh, you know what? There’s actually something to this and it’s something deeper and it’s probably the best thing I ever did, honestly, in my life.
I would not be the person I am today on the inside if I had kept drinking.
I have a wonderful spouse and I’ve got amazing kids and I’m able to be a parent and be a person and do that clear eyed and there’s a lot of my upbringing was not the most positive.
Sober curious, it’s a hashtag now.
I’m not saying alcohol shouldn’t exist. I’m not that kind of person whatsoever.
On a personal level it is so exciting to see other brands pop up. The first time I tried non-alcoholic tequila, it blew my mind. It was amazing. The spirits are interesting because some people build it up from science and some people are de-alkalizing; taking the alcohol out.
So that’s the really interesting thing about this. Normally spirits are completely separate from wine, which are very separate from beer, but in non-alcoholic, we’re all in the same swimming pool and everybody’s doing it differently and everybody’s got their own take and you can try one non-alcoholic whiskey and it’s incredibly different from another one.
Community not competition is one of our core values. Normalizing non drinking is a big one. It’s not necessarily replacing alcohol either. I’ve talked to people in the wine industry who are very offended by the idea of non alcoholic wine. I’m like no, it’s backwards. You’ve got it backwards. Non-alcoholic wine is a love letter to wine. You love wine so much that you still want to have it. You just can’t have this one piece that’s in it [the alcohol], but I want everything else.
I want to cheers that glass with other people. I want to drink that red with a really strong stinky cheese. I want to pop that celebratory cork. I want to Rose all day. I just can’t.
I think that wine is very important culturally. It’s so interesting historically. The process is this fascinating mix of art and science. I love everything about it. Getting deeper and deeper into it too, because I want Joyus to be around for forever and I want to make the best possible non-alcoholic wine.
There’s so much stuff to perfect that I could spend the next 50 years just working on non-alcoholic red – period.
You mentioned you’re seeing other competitors in the marketplace. How many different ways are there to make non-alcoholic wine? Are some ways higher quality than others?
Jessica Selander: I can give tips. Our wine is a dealcoholized or alcohol removed wine, which means it’s gone through the whole winemaking process.
It’s aged, it’s fermented, and then we have removed the alcohol from it. Our bottles also say it’s non alcoholic. Sometimes you’ll see a bottle in the store and it just says non alcoholic on it. It doesn’t say dealcoholized or alcohol removed. They’re interchangeable. That means it wasn’t fermented.
So if you’re looking for a wine that is really going to taste like wine or have that fermented taste, look for dealcoholized or alcohol removed.
[Look at the label on the bottle] look for dealcoholized or alcohol removed, because it could say that it’s a non alcoholic red or a non-alcoholic grape [varietal] and it might just be a juice, that hasn’t been fermented or ages but comes in a wine bottle.
What are your goals in the present moment and in the near future to help your company continue to be a leader in the industry?
Jessica Selander: I think goals are accessibility. Normalizing sober drinking. Making [non-alcoholic bottles] easy to find. We do ship off our website, which is great. We’re shipping from Seattle. We ship everything ourselves. If you’re out East, it’s going to take four or five days to get to you.
Also starting to talk to restaurants, getting into more restaurants is a big one. I’ve had anniversary dinners with my spouse and I’m drinking an Arnold Palmer.
I’m calling restaurants and I’m calling grocery stores and they’re still really skeptical that it can be good and that people want it.
Do you think it’s just audience reaching out? Is there a tipping point?
Jessica Selander: Yes, that really helps having people being in a restaurant and saying, “Hey, what do you have that’s an alcoholic?” Because restaurants are saying nobody’s asking for it.
Here I am double digit sober and I had never gone into a restaurant and asked for it.
I would look at the [menu’s] non alcoholic section, which is always juice, soda pop, iced tea and stuff. If it’s not on the menu, I would never ask them for anything. Here I am for over a decade, not telling them that I want this thing. So we started doing more education on social media and online.
If you walk into a restaurant, ask them “What do you have that’s not alcoholic?”
Just pregnant people alone. There’s a large percentage of the population.
Is there science that says a pregnant woman can drink this and have zero concerns?
Jessica Selander: Yes. So this is super interesting. In the United States we’re the most strict in terms of alcohol. If you go to the UK, they have different, actually higher limits for how much alcohol can be in something. The US’s rules come from prohibition when you can’t sell, make, transport alcohol.
The government said once it gets under 0.5%, it’s not alcohol anymore. So that’s where that number comes from and sometimes people see it and say, “Oh, there’s a little bit of alcohol in this.”
There was a study done in Germany where they tested a lot of grocery store items. What they found was there’s a lot of stuff in our grocery stores that had a little bit of alcohol in it. Very ripe bananas, which we feed to toddlers have some alcohol in them. Orange juice is another one.
American hamburger buns. But it also makes sense, bread, yeast and we have more sugar in our products, right? Bread actually has more alcohol than people realize.
Let’s talk about your wine’s flavors and aromas and the winemaking process to get there.
Jessica Selander: I knew what I wanted and I was incredibly picky about it.
We launched with the sparkling white and the sparkling Rose’ and people were asking for a Rose’ with no bubbles.
I thought it would be easy. It was not easy.
Stills are very different from sparkling. I’m a balance of “I know what I want. I’m going for this thing and very focused”, but then I’m also balanced with listening. So we do a lot of focus groups. I do want feedback. I do want opinions.
We were working on it. Everyone’s saying it’s good, it’s great. But I didn’t think it was good enough. We were supposed to launch it in summer and I pushed everything back. Back to the drawing board.
What if we did this? What if that? Talking to people, reading science and chemistry books
Was it like working for the right blend?
Jessica Selander: It’s tweaking so many different things and pieces in the blend. But it doesn’t always work out. If you tweak a blend, sometimes other notes will come forward that you’re not expecting, or sometimes you’ve diminished things that you didn’t intend to diminish.
The still Rose is a great example, it didn’t have that click and so I just kept working on it. And that’s the one that won Double Gold and Best in Class in the San Francisco International Wine Competition, which is one of the biggest and oldest blind tastings in the world and the biggest and oldest blind tasting in the U.S.
Can you share any details and lessons you learned taking on the world of winemaking?
Jessica Selander: There’s so many things. We’re not just making wine. We’re wholesale, we’re distributing, we’re direct to consumer. We have so many different facets.
I could talk for hours about how our wines are very low in sugar and they don’t have the alcohol in them. So our [bottles] probably freeze easier than anything else on the market. So shipping during the winter.
I’ve had conversations with other non alcoholic people too. Everybody’s doing it differently and that’s the hard part too, where I feel like there’s a solution for every problem.
We’ve gotten better and better at winter shipping, but it’s not quite there yet. Figuring out what can we ship in that’s going to have thermal protection, but isn’t going to contribute a ton of garbage. We’ve got the most eco-friendly, innovative winter shippers. They’re made of corn.
They’re expensive as hell, but it’s better than styrofoam. We have to keep everything under 50 pounds for UPS and 12 bottles of sparkling is 51 pounds in these corn shippers.
That thermal protection is still not enough, so we added heat packs.
Let’s talk about your wines.
Jessica Selander: We have four varietals. We’ve got our sparkling white, a sparkling Rosé. Still Rosé, a Cabernet Sauvignon. I love our red a lot. The reds are hard. They’re the most complicated; red wine has the highest alcohol content to begin with.
What flavor notes should we be looking for?
Jessica Selander: It’s definitely an American Cab. More fruit forward. It’s not grape juice. It’s fermented, it’s aged in American oak so you’ll get some green-ness to, like forest floor. The longer it’s been open the more tasting notes you’ll get. I like it more and more throughout the week because the fruit notes settle down. Black currant, cherry, some leather
The still rosé, watermelon, a nice floral to it.
Sparkling rosé. Slightly floral. Some orange blossom to it. Blackberry, but some people say raspberry. Some people say strawberry. They’re very summery
I think sometimes tasting notes feel in excess because we all taste things very differently.
Our audience is foodies. Let’s talk a little bit about some of your favorite meals that you think would pair that your favorite pairings with your wines
Jessica Selander: I bake. I come from a big family, so I can pretty much cook anything.
I heard someone say one time that baking was more science. And cooking was more art and I do agree with that.
Let’s talk about the wine competitions. How you see them, what the experience has been like, and of course, what their results have been.
Jessica Selander: I did not know that competition was as big of a deal as it is [which was a blessing]. So what happened was I was beating my head against the wall being like, “They taste like wine!” And my brother said, nobody believes you. You have to enter them into wine competitions. You need to prove to them in their own landscape that you belong there.
So, here’s this competition. The first one, the sparkling rosé won gold and sparkling white won bronze.
Then I looked deeper into what the competition was [and realized it was the acclaimed San Francisco International Wine Competition & World Spirits Competition ]. It was a blessing because I think I would have been scared to do it. Then [next year] I do it with the Still Rose and the Cab. Then hearing back, you’ve got the highest a non-alcoholic has ever gotten and you’re Still Rose is the best non-alcoholic wine of any varietal entered from all over the world.
I was only wondering if it was even going to place, and here it ends up winning the best.
I was at a grocery store [today] I’ve been trying to get into for two years where the head buyer won’t even try it. So it’s [frustrating] but the more of these awards that we stack up, at some point in time they have to not ignore it. They’ll be like, Oh, this is a real thing.
We haven’t [hit that goal], it’s not normalized yet. We’re in over 300 stores and in almost in every state.
If you want more non-alcoholic near you at a restaurant and grocery store, what are the step-by-step, simple direction
Jessica Selander: This is super easy for people.
So if there’s a grocery store or a local market that you shop at already, you just go into the wine department and say, “Hey, what non-alcoholic wine do you have?” And let them know you want it. Verbally say it
It’s the same thing in restaurants. I do it myself now too, where I get the menu and I’m not seeing what the stuff on it. And I just ask and say, Hey, what non alcoholic stuff do you have?”
Tell us how we can learn more about Joyus. Shopping and following on social media.
And on the website, there is this Find Joyus store finder map. So you can look on there and find us closest to you and working hard to add new stores pretty much weekly and email, email us. There’s a contact form on the website. Email. If you’re like, Hey, there’s a store by me. I want them to carry you. Email us. And we will call them and we will try, we’ll do our best and we’ll call them again three months later and we’ll call them again.
Eila Wines Shows off the best of Oregon’s Vintage with Intense, Complex Taste
Oregon’s Willamette Valley continues to impress with their small allotment, high quality wines. Is Eila Wines a daily drink? Having tasted through their current portfolio, they’re more for a special night.
These wines are for memories and savoring. You don’t want to rush the experience.
Eila Wines Process
According to their website, their winemaking uses varying amounts of whole cluster during fermentation with ambient yeast, minimizing extraction.
Harvesting dates are chosen to retain acidity/freshness balanced with phenolic ripeness and maintaining moderate alcohol levels.
Then the wine is fermented in small batches and aged in a low impact mixture of new and neutral French oak barrels.
2021 Chardonnay Eila Wines
2021 Chardonnay Eila Wines
An excellent example of why Willamette Chardonnay’s are gaining national popularity.
Grapes are sourced from Von Oehsen Vineyard in the Eola-Amity AVA at an elevation of 400-500’. Harvested in early September 2021. Crushed then pressed, fermented in barrels. Stored on lees with minimal battonage. 42% new oak from a Damy puncheon.
Medium gold in the glass. Light and delicate on the nose. Lemon, peach, orange blossoms. Crisp citrus, orange blossom, dried fruit flavors.
With only 109 cases produced, this is a special bottle. If it’s still available, buy it immediately and hold onto it for a special night.
2021 Indigo Pinot Noir Eila Wines
2021 Indigo Pinot Noir Eila Wines
Complex is too simple of a word for this bottle. It delights in throwing you twists and turns; and taking your mouth for a ride.
Grapes sourced from Witness Tree Vineyard in the Eola-Amity AVA at 500’ elevation. Harvested early September 2021. Fermented using 38% whole cluster. Aged in 40% new oak oak.
Deep ruby in the glass. Medium body with blackberry, black currant on the nose. White pepper, licorice, dried herbs, A multi-dimensional flavors, while still being light on the tannins.
This bottle deserves to breathe. Seriously. Open it, decant it, savor it. But whatever you do, don’t rush it. Let it be a marathon and your mouth will thank you.
The winery itself describes it as “a richer, darker wine” and they’re not wrong.
Sourced from Prophet Vineyard in Eola-Amity AVA at a 440-600’ elevation. Harvested mid- September 2021. Fermented using 25% whole cluster. Aged with 20% new oak.
It transformed from a kitten to a tiger after giving it substantial breathing time. Deep ruby in the glass. Medium body. Blackberry, blueberry, raspberry on the nose. Velvety pleasures in the mouth. Bell pepper, dried spice. A sultry finish. Highly enjoyable.
With only 120 cases produced, I would stand in a long line just to taste this wine again.
2021 Violet Pinot Noir Eila Wines
2021 Violet Pinot Noir Eila Wines
A unique wine, unique flavor, for a unique palette.
Grapes sourced from Le Cadeau vineyard at 600-700’ elevation in the Chehalem Mountains AVA. Harvested mid-September 2021. Fermented using 27% whole cluster. Aged with 25% new oak.
Medium ruby in the glass. Red currant and cranberry on the nose. Heavy cranberry on the palette. An elegant wine with tart acidity. The tart acidity wasn’t my favorite choice. I admire how it kept opening. I struggled to find a food pairing and found it bold on its own. I always enjoy tasting unique wines. Perhaps I’d like it more next time.
Incredible Bordeaux wines from Chateau Haut Grelot leads the way with Julien Bonneau
Today Chateau Haut Grelot’s Julien Bonneau visited to talk Bordeaux winemaking, their legendary wine region, his family’s pioneering legacy, his favorite food and wine pairings.
Chateau Haut Grelot’s Julien Bonneau
Can you tell us a little bit about what inspires you about the wine business? Maybe a memory or wine celebration.
Julien: As you imagine in Bordeaux, or even in France, most of the wine business is a family business. It’s very father and a son or daughter. There’s always this kind of takeover.
Chateau Haut Grelot’s Bonneau Family
I grew up with my father and he was always into wine, tasting wine. ’Oh, you should smell the wine and making me discover the wine from when I was a very young child. And so I didn’t want to take over the company.
I didn’t wanna take over the story about the wine, but I had one weakness: I love wine actually. I like wine very much, so it was very hard to say no.
Chateau Haut Grelot
I don’t want to take over. But I like wine anyway. I went to business school. I went to New Zealand and England to learn the wine trade. It was a very nice experience.
Then I came back to the wine business and started again to make wine, to discover the wine business through the company. That was probably my first step. When you start taking a foot in the wine business, then you never go back.
Obviously, it’s a passion to grow and grow because making wine is like growing a child. You start from the vineyard and then you go to making wine and then to age the wine in barrels. Then you put it in a bottle just to show your wine to your customers.
Chateau Haut Grelot’s Julien Bonneau
Looking at your winery’s history. 1920, 1927 was a big year for your vineyard. 1975 was a big year for your father.
Can you tell us a little bit about the background of the vineyard? Up to the more modern technology your vineyard has pioneered.
I’m the fourth generation in my family’s wine business. So my grandfather used to have cows for breeding. Vineyards, asparagus, as well. So it was just a culture after the war.
My father started in 1978 and he focused on the wine business.
He wanted to make and grow quality wine. Very tasty wine. [His goal] changed a lot of things about the process of winemaking to develop very aromatic, long aging. So we started to make a range of wine: white wine, rosé, a bit sparkling as well.
He went to see the customer directly in the north of France, in Europe. He tried to sell directly and not through negociants. That’s the main story because in AOC Blaye which is north of Bordeaux on the right bank of the river, negociants were necessary through the distribution to sell the wine.
The big challenge was, ‘No. You don’t want to pay more for my wine, I’m going directly to the customer. I don’t want to go and to carry on sitting through a negotiation because you don’t trust me on quality wine and you don’t pay more for the wine. So we’ll stop sending to negociants. And go directly to the customer, private customers, wine shop, restaurant, wine importers.’
That was 1984 and 1985. It was a very different direction. It changed a lot compared to what happened in Bordeaux at that time. We started to control our distribution. From that time, he developed a lot of quality wine, he invested in new vineyards, bigger and bigger, and also buying some barrels and new equipment to make very good quality wine.
He loves saying ‘I was the first in 1990 to make green harvesting.’ Green harvesting is cutting some grapes in August. So one month earlier than the harvest to remove a bit of quantity and to make better quality. So he removed grapes in the vineyard to produce better concentration on the grapes left on the field.
That was his focus, it was an improvement in quality wine. From that time, we carried on. What I changed is, I make more wines, different wines, different quality wines. But still focusing on quality wine. I do more than 30 wines – different quality, colors, and winemaking process.
Let’s talk about your region, and how those elements inform the wines that you’re making?
Julien: We are located in AOC Blaye, north of Bordeaux, one hour driving up.
On the right bank of the river. So opposite to Saint-Estèphe, you have AOC Saint-Estèphe, you cross the river, the main river, and you are in AOC Blaye.
Where we are located we are mostly very gravelly. We have two types of terroir. For the red grapes Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec.
Gravelly soil to help have early harvesting and early maturation for nice harvesting. The second is more on clay soil, for the Sauvignon Blanc for the Semillon and Muscadet to make more powerful wine. Two very distinguished terroirs.
The climate is very moderate, oceanic influence but also very warm during the summer. We are very hot right now. It’s a very hot summer so that’s helped a lot to have very ripe grapes.
North of Bordeaux is quite hilly so it helps to have very nice exposure to the sun. For us, it’s very important to have ripe grapes. So we need to look for the sun and remove the leaves in front of the grapes. It helps to keep the freshness in the wine and still have very ripe grapes.
Let’s talk about your winemaking process.
AOC Bordeaux or AOC Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux, we have very strict rules. We need to have the vineyard on a hill. You need to respect 6,000 bottles per hectare of production.
Then we have nine months of winemaking before bottling it. So for us we make one year, even sometimes two years after, focusing more on quality wine.
AOC rules are just a basis. We try to make higher quality by aging and also to decrease the quantity of grapes per hectare to focus on sun contact for the grapes to have very ripe and very juicy grapes before harvesting. So we are very much challenging and controlling this aspect.
For example, in September, I walk every day, all my vineyards, just to check on the quality.
We try to get the aroma window. According to the evolution of the aroma on a grape, on a palate, we say ‘the window is there’, so we need to get it. It’s not only analysis from a laboratory, but it’s mostly from the palette. ‘How’s it taste?’
It’s the same as when you cook, you taste your sauce all the time.
Let’s talk about your wines. Can you talk us through some of the wines that you have?
Première Cuvée Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux
Première Cuvée Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux
Ruby red in the glass. Lovely nose with red berries, vanilla and spicy flavors. Very drinkable. Fruit forward with medium body. Well-balanced with long and aromatic finish
Château Haut Grelot Sauvignon Blanc Côtes de Blaye 2022
Château Haut Grelot Sauvignon Blanc Côtes de Blaye 2022
Classic Bordeaux blend: 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Sémillon & 5% Muscadelle. Floral, crisp, elegant. Exotic fruit on the nose with grapefruit and wild herbs. Generous citrus on the palate. Full body, almost velvety with a decadent finish.
Perfect to pair with seafood, chicken, fresh salads and cheese boards.
Pin Franc Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux, red wine
Pin Franc Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux
Big gush of red fruit, red currant, raspberry, blueberry on the nose. Big body, well-balance. Very muscular with silky and structured tannins. A long finish.
Enjoy as an aperitif or pair with game, pigeon, lamb, turkey, or as a dessert with chocolate.
Chemin de l’Estuaire Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux
Chemin de l’Estuaire Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux
Powerful, bold, muscular. 100% cabernet sauvignon. A v ery special bottle, aged for 16 months in small oak barrels. A lush, velvety mouthfeel with medium tannin and a long, vanilla finish.
Boir Pour Voir 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux, Orange Wine
Boir Pour Voir 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux
100% Sauvignon Gris
On the nose, citrus and orange zest aromas. Light body, light tannin. A tart bitterness on the palette with medium finish. Enjoy as an aperitif, or pairs with hard cheeses and desserts.
Julien: We have a wide range of wine. But I’m going to start with…
[Première Cuvée Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux, red wine]
Which is very fruity wine. This one is more classic Bordeaux style.
For the white is [Château Haut Grelot Sauvignon Blanc Côtes de Blaye 2022].
For 90% and very fruity, juicy, very aromatic fruit, grapefruit, and also passion fruit and it’s very easy drinking very easy drinking, very crisp.
The red is 70% of Merlot, 30% of Cabernet sauvignon. Wine aging on the lees a bit just to bring a bit of fatness. Strawberry character.
Both wines are very drinkable. Don’t need to age too much. Lovely with sushi, seafood, tuna, all fish. It works pretty well with meat. So that’s my two first classic range of Bordeaux style.
Then I have Parfum, which is 100% Malbec. [Chemin de l’Estuaire Red 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux]. Fruity, easy drinking, not too heavy as Argentina wines or Malbec wine. It’s more of a freshness and very licorice character.
The Cabernet Sauvignon is aged in barrels for one year, very select grapes.
We make a very good balance between the fruit from the Cabernet and the barrels. From aging typical from wine. That’s two different wines which is this one a bit more on the liquorized fruit freshness side, and this one is very elegant.
Lastly is orange wine. Bois Pauvoir, which is a sauvignon grape. [Boir Pour Voir 2020, Blaye Côtes-de-Bordeaux]
The story of this wine was Bois Pauvoir. It’s orange wine. I never made it before, but I wanted to make a wine which says let’s try to see how it’s going. And that means in French, “let’s try, you will see.”
Going back to cooking, what are some of your favorite things to eat with these bottles?
Julien: I’ll say for Sauvignon Blanc, this one is lovely with tuna. Rare tuna. Even tataki tuna. It has a very fresh character, very nice acidity and it’s very well matched with tuna.
This is one who can match pretty much with many things, but if you like pasta with tomato. Easy drinking freshness. Very drinkable. Not too heavy and you have acidity in a tomato with pasta and that keeps your freshness.
It pairs well with game. I like pigeon with a side of onions. Even lamb is very nice. It works pretty well with white meat. You can say beef as well. Roasted beef on a barbecue with carrots and peppers.
That’s very long, which is very a bit unusual, but it’s lovely with cheese. Even with fish in tomato sauce. Sea bass or grilled octopus. Yeah, it could be a very nice match.
How can we find more about you and your wines?
It would be fantastic to go on Instagram and follow us and follow our story about how we try to develop in the U.S. You can also visit our website to learn more.
Winemaker Malek Amrani’s The Vice Wine is about as personal of a brand as it gets. Each batch is crafted from single grape varietals sourced from hand selected Napa Valley vineyards that best express the grape varietal and the region.
Passionate labor, sustainable farming, a long expertise of the wine industry and a current understanding of the consumer’s wine trend.
The Vice Wine’s Winemaker Malek Amrani
Today I sat down with The Vice Wine’s Malek Amrani for a conversation about luxury sales, Napa Valley’s legendary grapes, following your passion and inspirations and the future of wine for the next generation.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. The full conversation can be found on our YouTube channel.
I just want people to understand how busy you are sharing your wines with the world. Can you share a little bit about your average calendar week?
Sure, thank you. First of all, thank you so much for having me today. I just literally just walked in three minutes ago I was in Miami. So I landed in San Francisco a couple hours ago and just got in here So speaking about travel, a lot of what we do is travel because you can make the best wine in the world, but it’s really the ability to go out and sell it that makes us successful or not.
It all comes down to sales. On average, for me, for the last eight years, I average about five, six nights a month at home. A lot of my time has been spent on the road. Although this year I’m trying to shift gears a little bit and spend more time here in Napa Valley and less time on the road.
Got it. So what inspired you to get into the world of wine? Any memorable celebrations?
What inspired me to get into wine was my love for it. I was fortunate enough to start tasting wine at an early age with my father. And I graduated high school at 16 in Casablanca, Morocco.
Went to Senegal, West Africa for med school. I did a year there and realized that it wasn’t for me. And speaking of celebration, I really wanted to do something that was quite celebratory on a daily basis and fun. I moved to New York and the first six months in New York I really just tried to survive and bounced around and did all types of jobs.
But then I quickly realized that I needed to get my hands on wine and not have to pay for it and then meet people as well, because I was new to New York and I had no friends, no family. So I wanted to meet people. I realized that working in the wine industry, wine bars, and restaurants would be ideal to fulfill the two needs that I had at the time.
I dove into the wine industry early on at the age of 18. And between 18 and 21, I worked in the restaurant world a lot. I was working 2-3 jobs consistently. I was fortunate that when I was 21, I got a job in distribution representing Diageo and Moet Hennessy Brands in Manhattan to on-premise accounts, basically restaurants, bars, hotels, and whatnot.
And during that time, I also got inspired to start importing small batch boutique wines to New York and selling them too, selling them to people I knew and make a name for myself in the industry through imports as well, beyond the territory that I had at my first job.
Then in my mid twenties, I was doing it. I realized I had done it all in the wine business, except to make wine. The wine region that I’ve always been a big fan of was Napa Valley. So I looked for a brand that kind of was a solution to what I was looking for one, a Napa Valley winery that made wine for that everyday occasion that I can afford accessibly and to a winery that made more than the classic three or four varietals: Cabernet, Sauvignon Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and there aren’t many really.
And lastly a winery that kind of broke down Napa Valley to the sub regions that there are because Napa has such a very diverse terroir and sub regions, 16 in total today. Wow. So I couldn’t find one. So I decided to make one, start one, create one.
You worked at the biggest wine company in the world. How did you go about getting that job?
And then what kind of lessons did you learn while being there?
It was out of luck. I was a buyer for a restaurant on Park Avenue in Manhattan. And I was talking to my sales rep. I asked him if he liked his job and I really didn’t think about applying or anything. He thought that I was interested in a similar position and out of luck, they had open positions and he spoke to my first manager at the company and she called me and she asked me to meet with her.
I honestly didn’t know what she wanted to meet about. I thought she wanted to meet about the restaurant where I was working; and work on some program or something. And in less than 48 hours, I had a job. So I was quite lucky.
But how intense and how it is working at Moet Hennessy or LVMH is a big umbrella.
It’s the number one luxury company in the world. They certainly do a lot of things, they are number one for a reason. And at the same time, I was with the sister company that also owns part of the Moet Hennessy Diageo. Diageo is the biggest liquor supplier in the world and at the time they had wine as well.
So in a way it is easier to walk in anywhere and say I have Johnny Walker or Veuve in my portfolio. But at the same time, from a sales perspective, it was very not aggressive, but very goal-driven. And I found myself that out of 116 months of employment, I was a top quarter performer for 112.
So it was extremely competitive and I wanted to be the best at what I did. All the time. A lot of it really has to do with building relationships and working harder than the competition and doing a lot of things right and never promising something and not delivering.
Is there a major lesson that you learned while working at that global luxury company that has helped the Vice wines?
Yes, I think, many things. My first, probably my most important lesson was to intertwine your personal life and your professional life in this industry. You can’t really separate them and be successful at it. I think it’s just making it work. It is a fun industry, we do go out a lot and get to enjoy a glass of wine during the day or two or three.
At the same time it is work and finding the balance between the personal and the professional and making one feed the other in a sense. It’s one of the biggest advantages that one can do to succeed in this industry.
I think you fulfilled two fantasies that a whole lot of wine people dream about doing. One being rockstar salesman at these amazing companies. The other becoming a winemaker.
Any advice for someone who wants to be who you were a few years ago?
Advice? Yeah, absolutely. One, it takes time. You have to be patient; and persistent and consistent.
To build relationships and establish and build a territory and build certain sales revenue. It doesn’t happen overnight. You first gotta establish relationships and relationships come down to trust. The second thing is it really comes down to being patient and consistent.
Outlasting the competition because there’s such a huge turnover in the industry. So if you trust the process that if you stick around long enough and do certain things right for a long time, people will turn over in the industry and there will be opportunities that will pop up left and right and they will be yours for you to capture.
Personally, one of the things that really made me successful, and a lot of people may not do it, is that for 10 years in Manhattan, I commuted on a motorcycle 12 months a year. The subway was fast, but I never wanted to miss a phone call.
When the average salesperson is probably seeing 5, 6, 7 accounts a day, I was seeing consistently 15 to 20. So I was able to have a bigger territory and see my clients on the regular without appointments. I was on a motorcycle. I was the guy just going to show up and just say hello and I was in and out, just checking on you, see if you need anything versus I have to make an appointment, find parking, all that kind of stuff.
The work ethic definitely, 15 in a day is a very deliberate choice with time and energy.
Your wines are called “Vice”. Was there a “Vice moment” where you knew it was time to move on and become a winemaker?
That moment probably lasted a couple of years. There was a lot of self questioning and self doubt on the daily because I had, at one point, two very successful businesses.
One, I worked my job on a W-2 and the other one, my own business, my imports business. And I was doing pretty well at the time in my mid twenties and, within three, four years, I may have paid a little bit over a million dollars in taxes. How do you let all this go and jump into the vice and, basically not have a revenue?
Especially in the beginning stages, it took me a couple of years to really decide what to do but The Vice, the idea started in 2013.
Winemaker Malek Amrani
We really became a business in 2016. And I let everything go for The Vice in 2018. It took some time. At one point I was having three businesses happening all at once, and it was very stressful.
So that “Vice Moment, it wasn’t like sudden. It wasn’t quick. It was a long vice moment.
Tell us about the regions that The Vice grapes are sourced in and equally important, how the heck did you get grape sourced from these in-demand areas?
So I chose Napa Valley because Napa, one, is their vice to me, hence the name of the Vice Wine, name of the brand. My vice is wine, but their vice is Napa. And I’ve always been a huge fan of Napa.
And Napa is the apex of the American wine industry is what set the tone for us, what opened, it’s what really led this American wine revolution in a sense. It all started really with Napa back in, in the 60s and 70s. So I wanted to shoot for the top because of that aspect.
And also, it’s just part of the American dream. As an immigrant, there is nowhere on the planet, I can’t imagine myself going to France, Italy, or Spain, and walking right into their top wine region and say, I’m going to do what I do today. I have no doubt I wouldn’t be welcomed.
Napa did just the opposite and welcomed me and gave me an opportunity, not just as a wine region, but as a community.
The second thing, how I got into having access to these grapes, a lot of it is street work. Putting in the time, coming a lot to Napa and hanging out at a lot of places where winemakers hang out for lunch or dinner and talking to the bartenders and doing my due diligence and investigating on my own and really networking and knocking on doors. Not being afraid to knock on doors and introduce myself to people and tell them about what my plans are and see if they’re willing to sell me some grapes.
In this industry, when you buy, when you contract to somebody, you pay a little bit of what the grapes are worth when you first pick the grapes and then the rest within time in the new year or so.
A lot of what I’ve done in the beginning was pre paying. So I pre paid for the grapes while they were still hanging on the vines. It’s almost like buying the fish while it’s still swimming in the ocean. So in that sense, they owed me versus I was at the mercy of a lot of the growers to sell me grapes. They already had the money, they already got paid.
So they had to work with me in a sense and again, being honest, not being late on payments and having good relationships with the growers goes a very long way.
Can you share your Napa Dream with us that you put on your bottles and let us know what that means to your family?
Yeah, so I’m sipping right now batch number 100, the Napa Dream. So we make our wines in batches. Every single wine, and I made a little bit over 130 wines to date. Every single wine has a number.
It started with number one, which was a Chardonnay 2013 vintage. And when I first started The Vice, I had this long term vision, but I didn’t envision myself to be here today with batch number 100. So batch number 100 is an homage to batch number 1.
I named it The Vice and not my last name. As you see, most of the wine industry, it’s someone’s name on the label. I didn’t want to do that. The Vice to me is what wine is: a Vice. Napa is my vice. So it’s very personal.
But at the same time, the craft beer industry really had a boom in 2008 – 2020. What made it really successful were the names. Craft beer has some really wild names. You look at the name and packaging, and it’s what probably draws you to open the can, you buy it and try it.
At the time in 2013, there weren’t many un-conservative names in the wine business. It was still very conservative names and people’s last names. There was 19 crimes and there was The Prisoner.
I thought The Vice would be a very good name, One, because it meant something to me and Two, it’s very edgy and it’s borderline bad.
It’s not bad. It’s not bad unless you do too much of it. That’s what vices are. If you overdo it, then they become bad. They become addictions, a lot of things, and it’s an easy name to remember.
I’m going to assume almost every wine lover knows Napa Valley. Touch a little bit on the region of Napa, the soil your vineyards are using, and how that influences your aromas and your tastes as we actually get into the bottles themselves.
When people talk about Napa Valley, most of the time we talk about how this perfect Mediterranean climate that we have here, its location about 35 miles east of the Pacific Ocean, the Bay, San Pablo Bay, which is an extension of San Francisco Bay, the microclimate.
We talk a lot about the microclimate, but one thing that I think makes Napa the best wine region in the world, in my opinion, is that Napa has half of the world’s recognized soil.
It’s a paradise for someone who is really into soil because there’s so much diversity here. More than anywhere else when it comes to soil diversity, we make wine from 14 out of 16 sub regions of Napa, but within the same AVA. Within the same sub region, we have different soils.
So a lot of the wines that we make are single vineyard wine You do get to taste the purity of the terroir from a specific soil type. It’s something honestly that we can talk about for days and it’s fun for most people.
Going a little deeper in that for a moment.
We picture you in Manhattan, probably very well-dressed at that old job. Now you’re working a farm. What was it like the first time you stepped onto that vineyard.
What that experience was like for you?
For me, honestly, I always felt that my calling was to be in the countryside. Although while Napa is the countryside, it’s like the Hamptons of the West. It’s still probably the most expensive agricultural land in the world.
It’s very beautiful. But being in touch with nature and being a little isolated from the hustle and bustle of civilization, which is usually in the cities. I find a balance when I’m here in Napa because I do travel a lot. I’m on the road and I’m back to the cities trying to sell wine across the U S and also across the world.
Vineyard life, farm life, it’s my balance. It’s my happy place being in the vineyard. I’m sure you can’t picture me, but I do wear a lot now. I never thought I would ever be wearing cowboy hats a lot. But I do wear them because it covers my head pretty well from the sun.
Walk us through your favorite wines. Let’s talk about aromas and flavors and color and what you love about them so much.
First thing, I don’t have favorites. All my batches are equal to me. Every single batch has a story; is a labor of love. But the wine of the moment right now is my orange wine.
So I started making orange wines in 2020. Orange wine is the oldest winemaking style in the world. Five, six thousand years ago, when they started fermenting grapes to my knowledge, they were white wine grapes.
Today, all white wine, we take the varietals, we press or break the skin of the grape and capture the juice immediately, discard the skin. Orange wine is basically pretending to make red wine with white wine grapes. So there’s skin contact.
So we basically ferment the juice out of the grapes with their own skins and what you get in return, you get some type of orange hue in the wine. The wine I’m opening right now is my Orange of Gewurztraminer and it’s called Brooklynites because that’s where I got the inspiration out of Brooklyn. And we’re doing really well with it. It’s just been very successful for us. It’s up and coming.
This wine, Orange Wine, reminds me of Rosé of 15 years ago when Rosé just started to make a comeback or just started to grow in sales and popularity.
I also feel like with orange wine, I feel like it’s a generational thing.
If you look at Sauvignon Blanc, for example one of the top white wine varieties right now, 20 years ago, no one was really drinking Sauvignon Blanc, but it was really the Gen X that made it popular.
Same thing with Rosé I feel like Orange is just at its infancy stages right now, and it’s having it’s moment. Driven by millennials and Gen Z’s also Gen X and boomers when they see it on a wine list and they see it in the store, they get curious, maybe a little embarrassed that they haven’t had an orange wine.
They’ve been drinking wine for decades already. So there is a little sense of curiosity when it comes to orange. So it’s doing really well for us. It’s 3,000 case production right now. Our total production of The Vice is 27,000.
And Gewurztraminer, the varietal means spicy. I won’t call it spicy. I’ll call it flamboyant. Because it just pops out of the glass with so much roses, lychee, peach, apricot.
It’s a really pretty varietal and this orange wine of Gewürztraminer is certainly a treat. Very well said.
The 2020 Chardonnay. The mouthfeel, the balance, when you were creating it, how did you decide what it was going to be like?
It is an homage to batch number one, Chardonnay.
So I really wanted to create something almost like there’s a legacy and a celebration for reaching that milestone of making a hundred wines. I wanted to go back to very traditional winemaking. The birthplace perhaps of Chardonnay is Burgundy. And in Burgundy, a hundred years ago, they were not bottling every single year.
They bottled when they needed to. They had good vintages, bad vintages. So it wasn’t this cycle.
Now, the majority of the industry doesn’t age Chardonnay for more than 12 months in oak. Most people have a misunderstanding of oak and malolactic fermentation in wine.
I hear it all the time, people saying, I hate oaky chardonnays because they’re too buttery, too oaky. There’s two different things. Oaky and buttery are two different things. So the malolactic fermentation, the conversion of malic acid into lactic acid, is what gives you that creaminess in Chardonnay.
And predominantly, all red wines go through it. But in white wines, Chardonnay is the only one that goes through malo. And it is a style that’s fading. It’s boomers who love the buttery Chardonnays.
But when it comes to oak you really don’t find anybody aging Chardonnay for 30 months.
It’s a little bit crazy to do, but this was my vision as a celebration. And the funny thing is that I just came back from Miami and the joke, everybody that tasted it. They’re like, wow, what a delicious wine and how did you get the idea? And I was like the joke here in the cellar in Napa was when I was making this wine, everybody here was like, who’s going to drink this wine?
And the joke was Florida will drink it because they love big oaky Chardonnay. But the reality now in the valley and other markets too. The younger consumer is actually loving this wine because it doesn’t have much malolactic fermentation. Only 25% of the wine went through malo. So there is a little kiss of butter.
Almost like buttered popcorn, but without being too buttery, without having greasy hands. And then the oak flavor here is just amazing. Because it just pops with butterscotch and vanilla and full spices and it’s a super long finish. You take a sip and five minutes later, it’s still sitting in your palate which is quite unique for a Chardonnay.
You had a vision before you produced the bottle. How close to reality did it become, and what were the challenges to get it there?
To explain that I have to give you the background. Everything I do is not out of just because I decide to.
Everything I do is it backed by the marketplace. Most winemakers, they have an idea, they go apply it. I have so many ideas. All my ideas actually are based on creating demand that’s already in the marketplace or about to be. So a lot of what I do is research and development.
I’m not going to wait to get a market watch article last year to tell me that this varietal or this segment is trendy. I’m seeing it live in the marketplace. I’m seeing it live with the consumer. I am doing tastings in stores. I’m doing tastings at restaurants, hosting dinners, and seeing what the consumer wants.
So I’m seeing it before the rest of the industry. Everything I do is based on where the trend is going before it even becomes a trend. And it is a gamble because not everything comes to fruition. But that’s the basis of what I do is based on the wine enthusiasts, people that drink wine, their interests and what they want to have in the, what they wanna see.
Let’s talk about your Pinot Noir.
This is my house Pinot Noir. We call it the house because this is what I envision to be the house Pinot, basically a Pinot Noir that you open and whether you drink a glass or finish the bottle. If you drink a glass, you can put the cork back on it and it will be good for at least four or five days.
All our wines are made in a traditional style and they’re exposed early on to oxygen. So they’re oxygen resistant compared to conventional wines. When you open the wine; conventional wine by the second or third day, they already flatten out and turn into vinegar cooking wine. The Pinot Noir here is for the everyday occasion and it doesn’t require any food, although this pairs well with everything.
This is the only red I’ll probably pair with any type of fish. It really is a very good wine on its own. Doesn’t really require food. I make a lot of big Cabernets and big heavy varietals like Petite Syrah and certain Malbecs. Very good. You drink a glass and you start begging for food because some wines really require that.
The House Pinot is my go to wine for that everyday, anytime occasion. It is from Carneros, so it’s Southern Napa, and it’s made in a traditional Burgundian style.
What makes this wine actually unique is that a huge amount of of Pinot Noirs now in California are laced with something else to be a varietal on the label, like Pinot Noir or Cabernet. All you have to be is 75% to 85% based on the county. So there is a lot of blending and we’ve seen a lot during the past few years.
The emergence of jammy Pinot’s. It’s all cut with something big and heavy. Pinot is supposed to be lean. A beautiful aromatic varietal with high acidity. It’s supposed to age really well. So we’re going back to that traditional burgundy style.
The wine next to it is a red wine blend.
We make 14 different cabs, so many different red wine varietals. All these wines I make are 100% single varietal. I don’t like to blend. I just love to showcase the true expression of the varietal from the terroir that it comes from of Napa Valley.
I made this wine and I called it Millennial. This is batch number 96 Millennial. And this wine is a blend of different varietals. It’s like a world blend almost. It’s 63% Petite Syrah, 22% Malbec. 8% Tempranillo, Spanish varietal, 7% Primitivo, an Italian varietal, and 1% Charbonneau which is a very rare varietal that we have here in Napa. So multiple varietals, I called it the Millennial because, I found that the millennial consumer is looking more for a style when it comes to a red wine, something that’s medium body, fruit forward, softer tannins. And they’re not really much into what vintage is it, what’s the region, what’s the AVA, they are still very price conscious.
So the retail price for is $29. It’s our least expensive red wine that we make. And it’s a really mouthful of a wine. It’s very juicy. It’s like lava cake in a glass. Although it’s dry, it’s got no residual sugar. It’s still so fruit forward. And there are so many flavors from lava cake to blueberry compote to raspberry jam.
We did not put anything. No vintage, no AVA, no nothing. We just wanted to focus on the blend itself and, that’s a red wine, it tells you exactly who it’s made for.
I’m not sure if you see yourself as a foodie. Any food pairings that you recommend with your wines?
Yeah, I certainly consider myself a foodie. Half of my time alive is spent going from one restaurant to another. Granted, I don’t eat at each one of them all the time, but I do try to eat a small dish everywhere I go and try different things, different cuisines, and I love, as someone that was born in Morocco, I love flavor.
Maybe part of my success in winemaking has to do with my palate. And my taste for my open mind, the taste for food also, and being willing to try different flavors.
When you say Napa, people think Cabernet right away. No one would ever think of orange wine first. Maybe not anytime soon, hopefully one day, but as of now, everybody thinks Cabernet. And. Cabernet to me or some red, big red varietals I think the best friend for our big wines.
My favorite pairing right now is this orange wine. I find myself drinking a lot of Orange lately. And this orange gewurztraminer, favorite companion to Southeast Asian cuisines like Thai, Vietnamese does really well with it. I’ll say Indian cuisine with curries and or even Middle Eastern cuisines. The orange gewurztraminer does really well with them.
I really like to keep it simple. I love to cook with a lot of herbs and spices.
You don’t want to overwhelm it. You don’t want to ruin the taste. You want to enjoy it by keeping actually the food that goes with it simple. Just 1, 2, 3, 4 herbs or spices just to enhance the dish. and bring out the flavors of the wine.
Talking about the Vice team, you have a world class CMO and you have a genuine superhero. Can you talk a little bit about your team?
We met in 2008. We actually worked together and we’ve been together now since 2008. We’ve been married 10 years. Tori is my partner, but life partner and business partner, of course.
Her background is fashion. So she was a creative director at her last job. And she went to Parsons in New York for fashion. Her entire life she knew she wanted to be in fashion.
I wouldn’t be here today, The Vice would not exist if it wasn’t for Tori. She was crucial, especially for the creation of The Vice, the label, the marketing aspects of it. And today she’s 100% on board with The Vice. She has no other job. She’s the CMO of The Vice.
My assistant winemaker; he’s the joy of every day life. His name is Bruce Wayne and he’s an eight year old Tibetan Terrier. He’s got a better nose than any of us. He loves to be in the cellar because of the cool temperature. And as I said probably in the beginning, intertwining personal and the professional. Having him around most of the day when I’m here in the Valley, or just having him come with me, he’s a very good boy. It certainly adds a lot of happiness to what we do and it, it helps with the craft of The Vice.
You mentioned that Tori has a fashion background. What was the transition from fashion to to wine like?
Her transition was similar to mine. It was more of a hobby, part time fashion project and part time helping The Vice. And then last year, we had a baby, our first baby. After she went back to work after her maternity leave, she realized that she wanted to focus on the baby a little bit and also full time on The Vice.
Where do you see The Vice in 5 years? What can we look forward to?
Thank you for asking. The vision since day one was to be an international brand. Today we are in four international markets and 14 states in the U. S. But this secret fantasy that I’ve had since day one about creating The Vice was for the French to drink The Vice.
The French don’t drink American wine. In fact, if you are from Burgundy, you probably don’t even drink Bordeaux, or you don’t drink Sancerre, or you don’t drink Provence. They’re into their own wine regions.
Globally where we will be 5, 10, 20 years, I don’t like to really put deadlines and time limits because the passage of time does things that, it’s very subjective.
The last three years were great for our business. If anything, it spurred us to grow more than we expected. Our long term goal with The Vice is to leave a legacy in the valley and for the brand to inspire the next generation of people to be the voice for a fresh voice in Napa.
From a sales perspective, we are at 27,000 cases. We want to be at 100,000 cases. We want to be in a million cases. But most importantly, we want to maintain the quality and the integrity of the wine that we make.
Younger audiences are booking for healthier wines
There is a lot of formula wine. Wine that has probably 30 ingredients you and I can’t pronounce because it’s not FDA regulated and you know they make it taste consistent year after year and there’s a lot of chemistry that goes into it.
Our wines are very simple. There are two ingredients, grapes and a little bit of CO2 to maintain stability. So long term for us is to continue to be a true craft wine, real wine that’s good for you if you drink it in moderation.
How can we shop your wines? How can we find you?
Thank you for asking how you can help. I see myself as an ambassador of Napa Valley, so I encourage you to please discover Napa and keep it as the leading wine region in the world. We are a one stop shop for Napa Valley. We have the most diverse portfolio of Napa Valley wines at a great price point.
Please check us out, www.TheVice.com. Please follow us. Please don’t hesitate to reach out. Fun fact is that our corks have my phone number on them. You can text me, call me, DM me, FaceTime me. If I’m not in an awkward situation, I’ll pick up. But I’m very accessible. I’d love to I’d love to hear from you.
I’d love to answer your questions. I’d love to help you discover the wine industry, but specifically Napa. I’d love to help you not only discover it and enjoy it as well.
That is incredible. So thank you. I really appreciate your time.
NYFW Spring/Summer 2024 is Revealed! Fashion lovers get excited. You can find the full schedule and details below.
It’s almost autumn in New York and what does that mean? It’s time for the annual New York Fashion Week (NYFW).
Fashion is cyclical, so what does that mean this year? We’ll see plenty of new ideas debuted, but we’ll also see many returns. Returns of old favorite designers bringing refreshed favorites. We’ll also see new designers finding fun ways to revisit traditional idea.
One thing is for sure, there will be plenty to talk about and plenty of hits (and misses). But those during swings it was makes the setting so exciting. And no one knows until it hits the spotlights.
New York Fashion Week Highlights
Peter Do’s debut show as creative director of Helmut Lang will formally kick off the American Collections on Friday, September 8.
Raul Lopez, the 2022 CFDA Fashion Awards winner for Accessories Designer of the Year, will close the week with the LUAR show on the evening of Wednesday, September 13, 2023.
Ralph Lauren makes his comeback to the New York runway.
Jonathan Cohen and 3.1 Phillip Lim also return to the week.
First-time additions to the schedule include Advisry, Chan Chit Lo, FFORME, Grace Ling and Sho Konishi.
NYFW Spring/Summer 2024 Show Schedule*
Friday, September 8th
9 a.m. – Cinq à Cept (by appointment)
10:30 a.m. – A. Potts (presentation)
10:30 a.m. – Kent Anthony (presentation)
10:30 a.m. – Terry Singh (presentation)
10:30 a.m. – Clara Son (presentation)
10:30 a.m. – B | M | C (presentation)
12 p.m. – Mirror Palais (runway)
2 p.m. – Helmut Lang (runway)
4:30 p.m. – Sebastian AMI (presentation)
4:30 p.m. – The Salting (presentation)
4:30 p.m. – SKYCO (presentation)
4:30 p.m. – Raleigh Workshop (presentation)
5 p.m. – Prabal Gurung (runway)
6 p.m. – Collina Strada (runway)
9 p.m. – Private Policy (runway)
All-day appointments: Kobi Halperin, Bugatchi, Et Ochs, Hérve Léger
Saturday, September 9th
10 a.m. – Theory (runway)
11 a.m. – Bevza (runway)
12 p.m. – Proenza Schouler (runway)
1 p.m. – Sami Miro Vintage (runway)
2 p.m. – TIBI (runway)
4 p.m. – PATBO (by appointment)
4 p.m. – Alice + Olivia by Stacey Bendet (presentation)
7 p.m. – Khaite (runway)
8 p.m. – Eckhaus Latta
All-Day Appointments: Chan Chit Lo, Nicholas Raefski
The Legend Returns for NYFW. Ralph Lauren Hosts His First New York Fashion Week Show in 4 Years.
Ralph Lauren is known as a master of style and character; and this year he returns to hosting a runway in Manhattan for New York Fashion Week.
According to Women’s Wear Daily, the 83-yr old American master of style plans to debut a new womenswear line at his show on the evening of September 8.
In 2019, Lauren’s last appearance at NYFW, he held a show in a decadent ballroom on Wall Street rebranded as “Ralph’s Club”. Since then, he’s held off-calendar events in NYC and Los Angeles.
NYFW: Ralph Lauren Hosts His First New York Fashion Week Show in 4 Years
His shows often attract A-listers such as John Legend, Jennifer Lopez, Diane Keaton, Jessica Chastain.
Lauren’s American return has also ignited his International spotlight. The designer touched down in Milan earlier this summer with “Dolce Vita” his Purple Label collection at magnificent Palazzo Ralph Lauren in Via San Barnaba.
To say the least, anticipation is very high for what he’ll debut this September at NYFW
Peter Do from Helmut Lang will Open New York Fashion Week.
Helmut Lang’s new creative director Peter Do will show his first collection to launch the Spring/Summer 2024 edition of New York Fashion Week on Sept. 8, according to the CFDA’s preliminary schedule.
Do became a fashion favorite for his work at the head of Helmut Lang in May. His much-anticipated debut hopes to refresh the brand, after a major restructuring
”New York Fashion Week is an integral part of New York City’s vibrant culture and sense of constant evolution and discovery,” said CFDA chief executive Steven Kolb. “This season’s official New York Fashion Week schedule plays to this sentiment and will once again showcase the best of American fashion, both emerging and established.”
Returning after a few seasons away, Jonathan Cohen and Phillip Lim will also stage NYFW comebacks.
Other returning brands include regulars such as: Altuzarra, Brandon Maxwell, Gabriela Hearst, Jason Wu, Carolina Herrera, Proenza Schouler and Michael Kors.
New additions to the schedule are Advisry, Chan Chit Lo, FFORME, Grace Ling and Sho Konishi. The CFDA/Vogue Fashion fund finalists — including Colin LoCasio, Kim Shui and Who Decides War — will host collection showcases throughout the week.
Coach will show on Sept. 7, before the week’s official kick-off.
For nearly 30 years Oregon Wine Le Cadeau Vineyard has been producing amazing wines, cultivating a loyal audience and earning worldwide attention for their grapes and wine rosters.
Founders Deb and Tom Mortimer
The founders, Deb and Tom Mortimer, will tell you the secret to great wine isn’t a secret at all. It’s actually quite obvious and staring everyone in the face. It’s the grapes. Respecting the grapes and carefully protecting and supporting their process; it’s the difference between mediocre wine and the excellent wine that they strive to produce year after year.
They grew from six acres to sixteen, and planted Pommard, Dijon clones 667, 777, 113, and 115, Mariafeld (a Swiss Pinot Noir clone) starting on the south slope of Parrett Mountain, in the Chehalem Mountains AVA.
From the beginning, Le Cadeau’s location produced noticeable magic. Vibrant aromatics. Intense fruit forward flavors with glimmers of spice and earthiness usually not often found in young Pinot Noir wines.
Le Cadeau Vineyard
Find Le Cadeau Vineyard on the southern tip of Parrett Mountain near Newberg, Oregon, in the Chehalem Mountains AVA.
Oregon Wine’s Le Cadeau Vineyard
The 16-acre vineyard benefits from high-elevation (610’ – 725’) developed and planted with one focus – growing distinct and complex Pinot Noir.
The vineyard delivers based on a combination of soils: Jory, Nekia, and Witzel soil (a very shallow, broken basalt). On the East side, a cross between Jory and Willakenzie.
One of the wines tasted today, Merci Pinot Noir – comes from an assortment of new plantings of heirloom clones, including Mt. Eden, Calera, Swan and Jackson.
Oregon Wine Le Cadeau Vineyard Wines
2018 Merci Reserve Pinot Noir
2018 Merci Reserve Pinot Noir
From Winemaker Jim Sanders, it’s a blessing in the bottle, or as they’ve said a ‘Merci’ thank you. After a taste, with a grin on your face you might say the same as you pour your second sip.
Ruby in the glass. Red currant, red plum, blue berry, peach, orange peel on the nose. White pepper, vanilla, boysenberry. Nice, velvety medium body with medium tannin and a very pleasant finish. Perfectly paired with lamb, turkey, roasted chicken.
Blanc de Noir 2017
Winemaker Steve Ryan and his team produced a classic representation of Blanc de Noir, minimizing skin contact, fermenting in both Stainless steel and French oak.
The result is a very drinkable potion. Subtle apricot with pronounced pear on the nose. Green apple, lemon zest, pasty and flirty touch of cherry on the finish. Pair it with garden salad, light appetizers, even a light chicken dish.
Le Cadeau Wine Club
Wine club membership has three level: Platinum, Gold, Silver with tiers that include discounts per shipment, access to limited releases, invites to events and parties, and complimentary tastings at the Dundee location.
Located on Highway 99W in Dundee, just 45 minutes from Portland and 30 minutes away from their vineyard, off-site tasting room is inside The Dundee hotel.
Newberg Oregon’s Vino Vasai Pours World-Class Pinot Noir, Super Tuscan with Unique Tasting Experience – Wine Review
Potter’s Vineyard and Vino Vasai Wines offers a small lot collection of high quality wines and a memorable visit.
When you go wine tasting, what kind of experience do you want? Rushed? Crowded? In, out and onto the next place?
In some of the most popular wine regions in California and in Oregon, a visit can feel more like you’re walking through a theme park than being invited to enjoy a living, breathing winery.
Vino Vasai is a little (or a lot) different in many ways. For one, they really want you to have a calm, romantic, delicious experience.
They go out of their way to make it happen. How? They stagger their appointments, deliberately plan out the timing, they want conversations. They foster an environment that encourages visitors to ask questions, lots of questions. Really sharing about their world, their team and their wine.
As a result, you end up with a memorable, world-class wine experience. And we haven’t even gotten to talking about the actual wine yet.
The winery intentionally limits production, producing less than 1,000 cases annually. Varietals include estate Pinot Noir, and sourced Chardonnay, Cabernet, Merlot, Sangiovese, and Syrah from single vineyard estates in Washington.
The winery goal is “to offer the very best tasting experience in Oregon”.
We’ll Always Remember Italy
Bill and Sandy Sanchez are the winemakers and owners. Bill is an example of the mix of art and science – leveraging 30 years as a PhD Nutritionist and 15 years as a professional Potter. – a common combination seen behind successful wineries.
Owners and winemakers Bill and Sandy Sanchez
Sandy brings her Italian heritage and a lifetime of passion for Italian cuisine.
Back in 2011, they were on a visit to Italy, falling deep in love with art, Michelangelo’s work and Italian cuisine.
With Italy on their mind, just a year later they met Vineyard Proprietor Laura Volkman and struck up a dynamic partnership. Bill wanted to learn everything there was to know about Pinot Noir – from farm to bottle. Laura was happy to mentor him and ended up selling her estate to him a year later.
The rest is bottled history.
Vino Vasai Family
Potters Vineyard, translated in Italian to Vinao Vasai, is a family (some biological, some not) passionate for good food, good wine, good art and who want to make an intimate product that actually makes a personal impact.
Assistant Winemaker Consultant Art Roberts joined the team exactly for that reason, to be part of a family-run winery that makes incredible, affordable small-lot wines.
Keeping with the family vibe, Sandy (tasting room and wine club manager), and Gretchen (customer service specialist). Daughter Melinda and son Eric help with harvest, tasting room, and digital support.
The family does tractor work, vineyard management, and grape sampling along with help from several friends. The family and wine club pick fruit for their Rose’ each year. Potter’s Vineyard is truly a “Grower-Producer”.
The Vino Vasai Region
The Sanchez’s purchased their 3.5-acre estate vineyard in 2012 from Laura Volkman. Laura planted the vineyard in 2001. She sold and partnered with Bill and Sandy on the 1,000 steps of growing and making premium Oregon Pinot Noir.
They were attracted to the artisan feel of the tasting room Laura created and have since transformed it into a Clay Art Gallery. Customers visit and taste wine in a fine art gallery and vineyard setting.
The wine is made in a cooperative studio of several winemakers. Bill & Sandy make all the wine themselves, sort fruit by hand, do all the punch downs and make all decisions from primary fermentation through barrel aging in French Oak. Wines are kept separated to create Reserve, Barrel Select and House labels and are bottled one to two years after harvest.
The vineyard is certified LIVE, Salmon Safe, and Bee Safe Farming with a focus on immune health.
This is a special bottle. Let’s start with the grapes. Pommard and Dijon 777 planted at 700 feet elevation in the newly established Laurelwood District, a sub-AVA of the Chehalem Mountains and Willamette Valley AVA’s. What does this tell us? Lots of cool, wetweather creating that well-known Willamette Valley elegance.
The grapes were picked at peak ripeness during a small window of perfect timing in an otherwise very fickle harvest season. As a result: lower alcohol, great acidity, complex flavors.
They chose lees aging in new French Oak to create a very classic Oregon Pinot Noir.
Deep ruby in the glass. Pronounced black cherry on the nose. Black plum, white pepper. Medium body, medium tannin, with a long finish.
With only 98 cases produced, good luck getting your hands on this bottle. But if you can, do it.
Vino Vasai Super Tuscan 2020 Columbia
Vino Vasai Super Tuscan 2020 Columbia
When a trip to Italy inspires a bottle, everyone wants to have a taste. Their goal was to share “a taste of Italy.”
The blend is 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 33% Sangiovese and 12% Merlot
This Super Tuscan is grown in high elevation vineyard sites in the Rattlesnake Hills AVA ofWashington State.
Warm days, cool nights help the grapes ripen with complex flavorsand great acidity. Aged in neutral barrelsfor 18 months.
Deep ruby in the glass. Fresh red cherry and red currant on the nose. Medium body, velvety tannins, black cherry and blueberry notes. Silky mouthfeel and a medium finish that holds on just long enough, playfully inviting you for the next sip.
Pairs well with any traditional Italian dishes – think lasagna, sausage, spicy meats, meat pizza. Very Tuscan, indeed
Vino Vasai Wine Club
The Wine Club has 2 tiers: B Club and M Club
Both offer discounts, specials, members only access, invitations and more.
Visitors are encouraged to stroll through the vines and enjoy the hilltop view of Parrett Mountain to the East, The Oregon Coast Range to the West, and Dundee Hills to the South.
The wines are available direct from the tasting room, online at www.pottersvineyard.com or in a few local wine shops near the vineyard.
Tastings are By Appointment Only at 11am, 12:30pm, 2pm and 3:30pm.