You're good. Do we need to turn the lights down
to maybe 25 % or something? Usually 50%. 50 %?
Yeah. Let's get a little mood lighting going
on. All right. Were these lights up here last
time? I don't remember. It's been a while. No,
I don't think they were. I don't think they were
at all. All right. Well, I'm waiting to get in
the zone here with the lights. It's giving me
that warm, fuzzy feeling. All right, well, look,
it's the, God bless, it's the first week of September.
We are. It's actually Labor Day yesterday. Yes,
it was. We had a pretty fun, oh, look at that.
I did that immediately, and Chris started, like,
getting closer to me. Yeah, I saw that. I feel
so much more comfortable. I saw that. Yeah. He's
like, give me a little pull on the mic here.
Just a little pull? Yeah, there you go. Okay.
There you go. All right. Well, it's the first
week of September. It's a Tuesday podcast, and
we have a special guest. She's been here before,
and she brought her husband this time, so I think
she needed protection, right? Maybe. We were
a little overbearing, maybe. I don't know. This
is the first couple guests we've ever had. Oh,
that's true. Hey. You guys are breaking new barriers
for us. Thank you for that. Yeah. All right,
well, check us out on Instagram. Check us out
on Facebook. It's dudeslikeus -podcast. Or check
us out for the dudeslikeus -woodcraft if you
want some of the swag we got to offer. RSS .com.
We're on everything. You just got to look us
up. It's got to be dudeslikeus and podcast. And
you got to be careful when you enter that in
because if you enter that in wrong, you could
be knee deep in something nefarious you don't
want to be. Well, dudeslikeus, I'm Sean. I'm
Paul. I am Jeff. I'm Heather. I'm Chris. All
right. And it's the first half. This one's kind
of different. We are introducing, last time Heather
was on here, we had a great time. It ended up
in kind of a, I don't know if it was a train
wreck. I was a train wreck, but it was a lot
of fun. You brought what, three bottles and then
a bottle of Vixen, right? Yes, yeah. So we had
three bottles on top of the Vixen. Wow. And I
think we sampled the - Bourbon, yeah. We sampled
the Infinity bottle. Oh, God. But we also aren't
used to having a lot of samples of wine, and
our bodies weren't accustomed to that. So, yeah,
it kind of caught us off guard, I think. It caught
me off guard. But it was great. That's why I
brought Chris, so he could carry you home if
we needed to. There we go. Good. I hope you've
been working out. I have been. Just for that.
Just for that. Throw me on your shoulder. All
right. Well, Heather, bring us in with your experience
here. You were here last time. You brought the
bottles. You did a lot of research and a lot
of prep and touched maybe 10 % of what we really
wanted to talk about. This time, what is your
goal here today? So really, honestly, we're going
to talk a little bit about Napa and the wine
styles of Napa and kind of like the fads that
they're going through right now. And that's kind
of just left it open. There are so many segues
that we can take or maybe a train or a bus, you
know, whatever. Sure. Well, I want to talk to
you about one of the wines we had last time,
Amici. My wife and a couple of other friends
went to their class at Total Wine. And we were
talking to, I can't remember the gentleman's
name. He had an odd name. But he was given the
class. And he was one of the, I guess he's fairly
high up. I don't know. But he said that if we
wanted to do a tour, we'd have to give him a
call and stuff like that. Was it John Harris?
No. It was Cy. Cy, yes. And he was awesome. He
was great. No, that says CEO, not site. So you
said a tour of Amici? Amici, yeah, because I
think you even mentioned that, that it's a private
vineyard. And my son and his fiancée are getting
married out there in Napa Valley next June. Jeez,
time is flying. It is flying. And I think we're
going to try to reach out to him because he gave
us a business card to see if we can actually
do that. Yeah, and I can also hook you up with
him because I can let him know that y 'all know
me. They'll give you VIP service. Outstanding.
Nice. And we're giving him a shout out right
here. Right here on the podcast. There you go.
And that was an excellent wine, by the way. It
was really good. I've got a funny story about
their wine. So we had our crawfish boil. I think
I invited y 'all and y 'all didn't come because
y 'all don't like me, but it's okay. Was that
the one that was just happened? I don't know.
No, it wasn't your birthday. No, I invited. Yeah.
And then you were like, I'm going to go to the
hospital instead. I'm like, you do not know how
to party. No, we had a crawfish boil. And I think,
yeah, that's when one of my coworkers came over
and I was like, hey, just go grab something out
of the wine fridge. And I didn't give him parameters,
which, you know, when you have a wine cellar
like ours, you should probably throw some parameters
on there. But he's in the business. I'm like,
sure. He's another wine manager at a three -lettered
store that I work at, not a four -letter store.
And so he goes and he grabs a bottle and it is
a Cab Franc, Tocalone, Amici, single vineyard
and impossible to get. Oh, no. And as he walks
by, Chris is like, you better pour me a glass.
And I didn't know that because I'm outside entertaining
and having a great time. And he pours the glasses
for everybody that hands me the bottle. And I'm
like, oh. Yeah, the damage is already done. It
is already. You can't get the bottle again. I
was like, sigh, sigh. Can I get more? Yeah. And
then my husband's like, I didn't get a glass.
And I was like, fudge again. So you two didn't
get a glass. Everyone else did not get a glass.
Well, it goes quick when you're having a party,
right? How many glasses come? There are like
eight people out there. So eight people. How
many come out of a bottle? Generally speaking,
five to six glasses. Eight was a stretch, but
my husband got zero of the eight. I evenly dispersed
six glasses from this bottle. You did a great
job. We met Kim at the Total Wine. Kim had a
bottle of Amici in front of her, and we were
kind of boasting a little bit. Oh, we had Heather
Liner talking about Amici. She was like, oh,
I know Heather. Me and Kim are really good friends.
The people at Amici are amazing, and so I always
try to promote them. because they're just really,
they're great people. So, yeah. They have great
product too. Yeah. I, um, I got, uh, some more
certifications since the last time I talked to
y 'all. So, um, well, when we run a party hard,
we, uh, spend about $6 ,000 and pay for a certification.
Woo. So I have now W set level two and I got,
I, I grad, I passed with distinction, which not
everybody does. And I had to get reimbursed or
funded from your three letter store. If, if I
tried to get them to pay for it. Yes. But, um,
And they don't operate in the speed that I go
at. So I've already signed up for the three.
So it might be on next year's budget. I made
an appointment to ask to get the money for the
level three, but the appointment hasn't happened
yet. And I went ahead and signed up, but we'll
see. Maybe the appointment will happen before
I graduate from the level three. Well, that's
exciting. So let's just, you know, just talking
about your career path. where you are, what happens
if you decide to step it up? Is where you're
at still a great place to be? So there's lots
of choices. So I'm in school for knowledge and
vitification. So fancy talk for making some wine.
And we are making our first batch of wine next
year. My husband has volunteered himself to help
me make the wine. His name is not going on the
bottle. Are you going to be the official grape
stomper? He will be my cellar rat. That's what
he'll be. That's what they call him. He's going
to be the clog soaker. That's cool, though. No,
he's going to help me make it. So I had talked,
I think, about Morisoli a little bit when I was
on last. But Morisoli. is a vineyard person.
He owns a vineyard. His family goes way back
into Napa. They're like the best vineyard in
Rutherford for that Rutherford dust. And Chris
Morrisoli, just salt of the earth. He's a volunteer
fireman, and he's also a fighter jet pilot. Helicopter
pilot. Helicopter. They look the same. Chris,
if you're listening, I'm so sorry. I can't tell
the difference between large vehicles. And so
he does that. And apparently he's Napa Valley's
most eligible bachelor. I'm married, so I'm good.
But no, he's a great guy and he's going to let
me buy his grapes. So next year I'm going to
fly to. Paso and spend some time in Paso, then
I'm going to fly over to Napa and then drive
a refrigerated truck back full of grapes. Because
I told him I was going to make a five -gallon
barrel of wine, and he said, no, you're not.
Go big or go home. He said, you're making a full
barrel. I was like, yes, sir. So full barrel
of wine coming in 2028. How many pounds of grapes
does that take? I don't know. Apparently a whole
truckload. Is it more than a bushel? It's definitely
more than a bushel. There's going to be these
giant grape buckets because he's like, yeah,
you're going to get my grapes. And I was like,
oh, we're going to need those. Is it enough to
fit in a garage? It's going to be. So chances
are, I think, I don't know how many. So when
you're doing this, and so I helped out with Amici.
I did this in a larger format. They weren't making
a barrel, right? They were making many. So I
don't know how many of the grapes were winning
per barrel. Mr. Producer just put up 1 ,000 pounds
of grapes to make one barrel of wine. Holy shnikey.
60 -gallon wine. Yeah, so you're prepped for
this. Where are these grapes going, and how do
you store them, and how long will they keep?
How do you press them? So I've got two different
wineries that I can try to work something out
with. So to be determined, but I am going to
contact y 'all's friends who makes bourbon, but
also, do you remember, their son makes wine.
Correct. So I'm going to see if maybe they'll
rent their... Is that the 1845? Correct, 1845,
yes. Shout out to them. Yay, hi. So I'm going
to talk to them. I can also talk to, there's
a winery in Salina, Eden Hill. I'm going to talk
to them as well. We're going to see who will
negotiate a good price for me because I'm not
going to sell the wine. It's going to be for
practices. So you'll be essentially kind of,
I don't know, is it kind of like the blendery?
Or is it more like rare character? No, she's
making her own stuff. She's making her own stuff.
From start to finish. From scratch. So you're
like Rebecca Creek. Sure. With someone else's
distillate. Well, no, she's going to make her
own. So she's buying the grains. But you're not
growing the grapes, right? I am not growing the
grapes. I am buying the grapes. I do not have
time to start a vineyard. So there's that. Put
that on your list, Chris. Oh, it is. It's on
the list. Yeah. And as far as like where we'll
take this, I don't know. I mean, I love my three
-letter grocery store and being the beer and
wine manager there. And we definitely, our store
and DFW, we have, we're in McKinney and we have
created probably the, we're growing as like one
of the top high -end wine stores for them because
of the clientele that I bring in with my knowledge.
And that's not to sound braggy. It's just like
people like to talk to people that know stuff.
Yes. And so anyways, so we're doing pretty good.
But I just don't know, other than being a wine
buyer for that company, I don't know. that I
don't want to be a regional manager where I'm
helping other people. I like working with the
customer. I like telling people about wine and
helping them learn about wine. So I just don't
see myself growing in that way. So the only other
way would be wine buyer. And if that doesn't
work out, it's cool. We'll just buy a vineyard
like in Spain. Or Portugal. Very nice. You know
what's super exciting about... Chris, do you
need a piece of paper? Yeah, you got a lot to
write down here. We talk about it all the time.
We can also send you the recording of the podcast.
It'll be out there forever. But you know, the
exciting thing about this opportunity with the
grapes is it's a kind of... I don't want to say
it's no pressure, but it's a low pressure...
situation like you said you're you're not on
the hook for making any money on this there's
nobody expecting you to make money on this that
they get a cut of right this is that that might
actually be better but no you see what i'm saying
it's kind of like a low pressure hobby type but
you know taking it seriously of course right
right yeah but uh again yeah you've been gifted
gifted the grapes i am buying the grapes you're
buying okay all right so there is so there is
a little bit of pressure there's yeah and the
i've got a i've got a purchase the truck, well,
rent the truck that's refrigerated and the bins
that the grapes go in, that one's going to be
challenging because I have to rent them. But
how do I get them back to them after I've driven
them across the country? Chris will drive them
back. We've got some logistic work to do. And
I've got to get a winery that'll agree to letting
me do this. And then there's a lot of work that
goes in daily with your wine. And it's not a
lot of like just sitting in a tank like people
think. So I'm going to have to also see if I
can work out a rotating schedule. where i'm not
there every day and if i am then it's definitely
i'm gonna selena eden hill please help so what
is the what is the the mature uh the what's the
maturation timeline to to get this not just the
timeline to get it but from they're putting the
barrels yeah i mean what are we looking at five
years ten years no so we're gonna go next year
for next harvest and buy the grapes next harvest
so that's next year and then it will be ready
to drink by 2028 That's pretty quick. Two year
life cycle. I think two years in the barrel and
then we'll go through the bottling process. Two,
two and a half years. There's no way to monetize
that? There's no way to sell this? You have to
have a license to sell it. Or have the winery
sell it on your behalf or something like that?
Probably, but I mean, honestly, that would be
probably more work than it's worth. And also,
I'm using Napa grapes and I'm making it in Texas.
And I refuse to call it a Texas wine. There's
a lot of wineries out there in Texas that do
that and they use other people's grapes. And
I'm like... That's not Texas wine. I'm making
a California wine. It just happens to be made
in Texas. But I can't put California on it. So
I think I'm just going to do a bottle party and
maybe some hopes and dreams and prayers. I don't
know. We'll see. And call it Texafornia. So you're
going to have some wines that people are like,
wow, this is a... I mean, how old can a wine
get? 20, 30, 50, 100 years? Well, we just drank
a wine when we were in Germany that was a 1979
Wurztraminer. The oldest bottle of wine, I want
to say, is from, gosh, I think it's from 1700,
if I remember correctly. They can last a long
time. Yeah. I don't know that I want to drink
that bottle. I was going to say, do they know
it's still good? Like it won't kill you or it
won't taste good? It tastes like vinegar maybe?
I think it depends. I mean, that bottle's in
Europe. So it's been kept in like a cold cellar
and like cellars there are like damp and dark
and cool. But I really feel like most wines,
they're ready to drink in five to 50 years to
sum it up. That's interesting. So what is about
yours? Mine's going to be drunk immediately because
we're just going to invite a bunch of friends
over, and then it'll be just a party. That'll
be so fun. Yeah, y 'all will decline because
you'll be doing something else that's more fun,
like the hospital. We talked about this when
this was going on, when you invited us. There's
stuff going on all the time, but we want to encourage
you to continue to invite us because we do want
to show up. Oh, no, I know. We'd love to get
with you guys and have fun because we're wild
and crazy kind of guys. No, we like to get out
there. and do stuff. We're fun. We like to have
fun with each other. Sometimes the timing doesn't
work out or some of us have to go to the hospital
or something stupid like that. I'm highly allergic
to crawfish. Really? No. I was going to say it's
always a potluck. I don't like them though. Yeah,
it's a potluck because I won't eat them. He knows
I haven't tried them. He knows. You asked that
question because you know I haven't tried them.
Nasty. I'll eat them. Nasty. They're a challenge.
I like them. You got to eat like a thousand of
them. That's a community event. You can stand
around a table and you sit there and you suck
on them. I need to stop being a five -year -old.
You lost me at suck on them. Please do another
one and I promise I'll be there. I won't be a
five -year -old. We'll probably have other parties
that are more fun than that. But no, it's a potluck.
So there's a lot of really good food. And my
world infamous seven -layer dip that nobody knows
about except for my family and friends is going
to be there. And it's fantastic. Seven -layer
dip sounds great. And Chris, what do you bring
to the table? I'm the one that makes the crawfish.
Oh, there you go. I'm the Cajun. Are you really?
Yeah. Oh, very nice. What's your background?
Cajun? Born and raised just outside of New Orleans.
Most of my family still lives down there minus
my parents and my... My siblings, we live up
here in Dallas. So do you have a real thick Cajun
accent before you moved up here? I did not, actually.
A lot of people, when we first moved up here,
thought I was from the Bronx. Really? Yeah, I
guess because I had a bad lisp, and so there
was a combination of a little bit of Cajun in
that, and people were like, are y 'all from the
Bronx? And my mom's like, no, we're from Louisiana.
Yeah, it couldn't be further from what it actually
is, right? Right, right. Crazy. So is that a
bad lisp? I don't think that's the reason. I'm
just telling you that's what it was. It took
me a long time to get my language right. And
then I was only here four years, joined the Army,
was stationed in Seattle four years. I don't
know. Something happened where there's just...
If you talk to my dad, you'll hear... It's just
his dad. It's not his mom. His dad has it. And
when we went to Baton Rouge to drive to rescue
my cat, I've told you all about her, my $25 ,000
rescue cat. And we drove... She's now on my debit
card. I love her so much. Anyways, when we drove...
She's still alive? Yes. I hope so. It's my ROI.
Minus her eight teats and eight mammary glands.
They've all been removed. She's going to the
cryo after this. I'm going to have this damn
cat bronzed. no, she's never dying. Okay. So
anyways, we drive there and I get back and I
tell his dad, I'm like, everybody in Baton Rouge
sounds just like you. And he's like, what educated?
And I was like, Sure. That's what I was going
to say. Does it sound like the coach from Adam
Sandler's Waterboy? It's hard to describe. It's
not quite that bad, but there's a draw to it.
But it's not a normal draw. It's a very weird
one. Sorry if you're from Baton Rouge, but you
know if you know. But that is also the only place
I've had my credit card information stolen. So
there you go. So are they pretty hardcore out
there, like eating gator? Oh, 100%. So they're
like authentic Cajuns. Yeah. Gator, you know,
you got frog legs, so that's a big one. I had
to tell Heather what gig and frogs really meant.
That is the saddest story ever. Of what? Frog
legs? Gig and frogs. There's a song that says
gig and frogs. I had to tell her what gig and
frogs actually meant. Okay, what is it? Save
a horse, ride a cowboy? A gig and a frog, you're
cutting the legs out. While they're alive. You
grab them, and you have a little tool, and you
just gig them. You cut their legs off like that,
and then the legs go in a little pouch, and then
the frog lays there and just dies. It becomes
owl food. It becomes food. It's very sad. They
call it gig and frog. So you have a pouch. Is
it like a little satchel? Yeah, like a little
satchel. With open wounds. With open wounds,
yeah. Oozing. What would constitute a... good
meal like how many legs would you have to consume
it would be quite a few yeah it would be quite
a few have you ever had frog legs yeah i've had
a couple times i actually had one within the
last six months i ordered them just because you
know what i know i don't have them they're really
good but i you know and look i'm gonna bring
up something you guys don't like but it also
has something to do with the oil that you you
boil them in or fry them in right a hundred percent
yeah so i don't know every time i've had them
the oil was it they tasted they didn't taste
great all the um breaded And you were expecting...
Well, I mean, the meat itself is... I'm going
to use the word gamey. Okay. You know, it's because
gamey, it's kind of... It's lean, it's bitter,
you know, and I'm not against that, but it's
just all that breaded stuff on top of it was
saturated with stuff that just didn't taste good.
Yeah. Interesting. Sounds terrible. So how is
it normally prepared? Is it... Everything's breaded
down there. I was going to say, it's all breaded.
You ever saute them? No. No. Is it like bubblegum
shrimp where you can make 15 ,000 different versions
of it? They're usually just everything is pretty
much breaded down there. And deep fried. Deep
fried. Literally the words I said to you when
we went down there is like, why is everything
battered and deep fried? Because it makes it
taste great. Because it's all reptiles we're
eating. Right. It's to keep you thinking about
what you're eating. Because otherwise you won't
eat it. Yeah. To be fair, you know, I don't know
if y 'all know this, but Louisiana is trying
to kill everybody in the United States. So I
don't know if y 'all read the article, but they
can't get it right. their oysters are killing
people. For real? Which is sad. Yes, they've
killed two people. And like, I don't know, 57
people or something have been hospitalized. And
listen, I love me some raw oyster. But if you're
going to try to kill me, Florida, not Florida,
Louisiana, I'm going to have to. I mean, you
might as well say Florida. So what's the story?
They're harvesting them? They're preparing them
incorrectly? No, they're prepared. So they get
them in brackish water, which is as good as it
sounds. And so that's where the flesh eating.
Amoeba? Amoeba. Oh, yeah. Flash -eating bacteria.
There you go. Yeah, flash. Oh, yeah, them. Those.
Those things right there. They like to eat you
from the inside out. But they're doing something.
They must be doing something wrong. Oyster is
a filter, right? So it's in the brackish water
is saltwater and freshwater mixed. And they're
not supposed to be harvesting them from there?
Well, that's just where they are. Bacteria is
in the freshwater. So I think it's the freshwater.
So when it's. The oysters that are filtered on
that shit, all those bacteria stay inside the
oyster. Yeah, I get it. So when you eat it. No,
I totally get that. But, I mean, are they being
criticized for taking the oysters from there
instead of somewhere else in their coastline?
No, no. That's where they're supposed to be taken
from. I'm just mad that they're trying to kill
me. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, there's a rule. You're
not supposed to eat oysters if there's an R.
In the month or something like that? No, you
only eat them when there's an R. Yeah, with hearts.
Is that what it is? With hearts, yeah. But I
think you should not do it towards the end of
the summer like people are doing when they're
not supposed to because there's no R in August.
Can't they bread them and deep fry them? That's
exactly the problem. They're not deep frying
them or they wouldn't be sick at all. There are
fried oysters. In fact, we had some canned oysters.
Remember that? I never ate them. You didn't eat
them? I have never had an oyster in my life.
How do you know they're not good? I didn't say
they weren't good. I just know now that I don't
eat them because Heather said they'll kill me.
Thank you. Only raw ones. It doesn't matter.
You still validate it. I will eat two or three
dozen of that. I've had raw oysters. This kind
of scares me away from eating them sometimes.
Well, sushi gives you worms sometimes, so there's
that. That'll send you down, though. All the
models are doing it. I traveled for work to Alabama,
and I did three tours there. Every time I'd go
there, I'd go to Acme Seafood. I don't know if
you've heard of Acme Seafood restaurant. No,
I haven't heard of it. Just like Acme from Coyote
Y. ACME. It is. They have all these. They're
not fried. God bless. They bake. Baked oysters.
Oysters, Rockefeller. They have just a myriad
of different flavors you can have. Man, I remember
Larry Cuvion. He's been on our guest a few times
for the podcast. He and I sat there and ordered
just endless plates. They were so good. And I
know it wasn't healthy for you, but they were
so freaking good because they'd come out, the
plates all hot. Like butter. What is their restaurant?
Papa. Is it Papa Do's? Papa Do's. They have the
baked ones there that are like three different
flavors that are super tasty. There you go. There
it is. That's who I think of is Papa Do's. Yeah.
Those plates were good. I'm telling you. They
were expensive, but I didn't care. When in Rome,
you got to enjoy it. And I did. There is definitely
a unique, when it comes to food from Louisiana,
they've got to be. known for that but but let
me ask you so like when you ever go back to visit
your family in in new orleans he doesn't go you
you never go i i have your family the last couple
of times I've been there is to go fishing on
the coast with my, my dad and my brother. I haven't.
And I, and my uncle came down one time. I haven't
seen my family in, in that area and probably
15 to 16 years, something like that. Is there
a rift going on or you can't find them? Maybe
you try to go find them and they're, it's, it's
just, it feels like there's always something
else. Like, you know, it's like, I'm going to
go next year. I'm going to go, I'm going to go
next year. I'm going to do it next year. And
then next year comes and it's like, yeah, I'm
not coming this year. And then it, and that 15,
16 years later, you're like, Oh, yeah. Well,
it flies by. I'm running out of time. I get that.
But I was going to ask you, what's your favorite
thing to do when you go back? What can you do
there that you can't do anywhere else? But it
sounds like fishing you can do pretty much anywhere.
Yeah, we go to Kokodri when we go fishing. And
one of the things I like doing there, that's
where all the shrimp boats come in and out. Okay.
And so you can go buy the live shrimp directly
off the boat. Nice. Yeah, just give them cash
and they'll... give you a ton of it so fresh
as fresh can be they're still alive like you're
taking them back to the cabin and boiling them
right there so and you can't understand a word
the guy says nice do you ever see that guy on
youtube uh he actually the cagey guy frying shit
up and he's drinking a beer throwing stuff behind
him yeah i don't remember that guy's name but
he's got the thick accent he's wherever he cooks
it looks good I mean, whatever he's doing. Isn't
that his recipe that you used on our shrimp last
time? Yep. He's a genius when it comes to that
stuff. Yeah. The shrimp I've cooked and I've
always struggled with the skin sticking to the
shrimp. And he finally gave me a life hack. I
watched his video the other day and he said,
you can't put the seasoning in. It makes it stick
to the shrimp. He said, don't boil it without
seasoning, just boiling water and lemon. And
I did it. And voila. It was just falling. It
just fell out. You season it after the fact?
Yep. After you sit, you cool it down. It's maybe
room temperature water, and then you add the
seasoning, and then you let it sit. But at that
point, the shell's already coming off of the
shrimp. Great. It's amazing. I was like, this
guy's a genius. That is cool. I mean, what can
you not find on YouTube, right? Yeah, and I'm
sure he seems like he's doing pretty well. Well,
he has his seasonings, I see, in the store. So
he's doing really well. I bet they sell them
at a three -letter grocery store. Could be. Probably.
Probably. He's fun to watch, too. He is. He's
entertaining. He's got the really thick Cajun
accent. Is he the one that you told us to bring
up? Because we were talking about Cajun accents.
This was the old guy that used to be on PBS back
in the day. Oh, yeah. The old guy. Oh, a different
guy. I can't remember the guy's name. He's dead
now, but he had a cooking show. He was Cajun.
Yeah, we were trying to mimic the Cajun accent.
Justin Wilson. None of us could do it. No, it's
hard to do. And then so we brought up somebody
on YouTube and tried to hear what the accent
is. Oh, yeah, this guy. Yeah, this guy here.
Okay. Yeah, he was the Cajun cook. Or New Orleans
Cajun, yeah. Yeah. Why does he look like Colonel
Sanders? I don't know. Maybe it's the same guy.
He's got the bow tie. He has the bow tie. Well,
isn't Colonel Sanders from South? It's Kentucky.
He was. It's Kentucky fried chicken, right? Is
Kentucky considered south? No audio. No audio.
I'm still confused that we're not south. We're
considered southwest. And I'm like, but we're
in the center. Is that a thing? It is a thing.
We're southwest now? Yes. Yeah. I think we always
were. They never consider us part of. We're like
central. Yeah. We've never been part of the south.
We're southwest. I've never really considered
us. Southwest is Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada.
Nevada, maybe? Maybe they're just looking at
like El Paso. You know, we're nothing. We're
Texas. We're not a South or North or whatever.
We're Texas. How about that? Well, I know the
company I work for, they just brought us into
the West division. So we're now technically West.
Well, for your company. I don't know how I feel
about that. So Heather, what's your background?
What's your background? Where'd you grow up?
Oh, here. I'm a local girl through and through,
through and through. I have, I have lived out
of Texas for a year and a half of my life. And
I, it was in Florida for high school. And I was
like, I am getting back out of here because it's
just, there's there. Texas is friendly and not
quite as crazy. Sorry, Penny, as my family, my
family is pretty sane, but like Floridians, they're
kind of crazy. Like they're like all the people
of Walmart moved to Florida. that they're still
here at the park. It's all the New Jersey -ites
and New York people that moved down there. I
was going to say, who in Florida is from Florida
now, right? Yeah. I mean, Texas is actually turning
the same way, right? Yeah, you can also say they're
from Texas. Yeah. I'll tell you my experience
with going to Minnesota, Alabama, is those in
Louisiana. Minnesota? Did I say Minnesota? Alabama.
Mississippi. Mississippi, yeah. Starting with
an M. I realized I was the asshole. You know,
because everyone was so nice to me all the way
over there. You know, every stop you had, everyone's
like all nice and just people you wouldn't expect.
Southern hospitality. You know, and then I was
like, God. It's like Cracker Barrel. I'm the
asshole. I just like started doing, you know,
the people here in Dallas. I guess maybe it's
the, I don't know about the experience of Florida.
Maybe it is all the, how long ago was that? I
was in high school. Oh, so it was like 10 years
ago. Yeah, a couple years. A couple years ago.
Yeah, you know, I think the reality is There
are nice people and there are not so nice people
everywhere. But definitely in general trends,
East Coast, they're short tempered, you know,
short tempered, you know, don't like the. I tell
you what, when I was walking around in New York
City, I was like all excited. And in Chicago,
I'm like trying to make eye contact with everybody
because that's what you do in Texas. Can't do
that. No one looks at each other. Nope. No one.
And if you do find yourself, you know, kind of
relatively alone with somebody cross passing
you and you say good morning, they look at you
like. Or in line at the grocery store, they're
like, are you trying to take my wallet? Right?
Yeah. They were kind of like, what? Why are you
talking to me? Yeah. Why are you talking to me?
I'm like, dude, what's up with that? Texas in
general, they'll say good morning. They'll say,
you know, they'll be friendly. But I don't know.
Well, it's a lifestyle. You know, you're taught
to do that. Your family, your parents, while
growing up, you get on the subway, you stay in
your lane. I mean, shoot, they are so to themselves
on these subways that there could be a rape going
on and they stay in the box, you know? I mean,
that's kind of extreme, but it's the truth. Yeah,
you're right. They stay in their lane for sure.
But it's too bad. It takes, you know, what was
the last name? Penny, that guy. Daniel Penny.
Daniel Penny. You know, someone to stand up.
Anyways, I don't want to go south down that rabbit
hole, but it's crazy. Yeah, well, you know, there's
people that just, they stay themselves. I don't
know. I'm kind of very outgoing. I say stuff
that I shouldn't say all the time to people that
I don't even know. That's fair. Yes, you do.
I do. Yeah. No. What do you call that? Texan?
Overshare? In Norway, they would say, that's
so Texas. It's true. They say that. Apparently
in Norway, they say that. Oh, really? They say,
that's so Texas? When it's really crazy, we had
a couple people from Norway when we were in Germany,
and they said... They said, honest to God, that
is a saying there. When something is absolutely
crazy, they say that's so Texas and Norway. They
also, so I went on this trip. Oh, that's happened
too since I last talked to y 'all. So there's
a intro to Master of Wine program. Master of
Wine is the hardest thing to get in the entire
world. And that's what I'm going after. And so
I was one of 22 people selected to go to Germany.
And there's only one other Texan there. And she's
a journalist, a huge journalist in wine. Like
she covers all the magazines. And so it's me
and her and then everybody else from pretty much
all the other countries. And everybody pretty
much had this attitude of I hate Texas. But I
was like, I will win them over. And so I did.
But it's so funny because I think Mr. Norway,
we won't say his name, but I think that he was
like the slowest to come around. And then I think
after he got to know me a little bit, here's
the Texas story for you. Okay, so we're in line.
at um at one of these so that there's the vdp
in germany and that's where there's this either
it's kind of the people that make the best of
the best wine laws okay so there's the wine laws
of germany and then there's the vdp and they're
like the If you want to be anybody, you want
to be part of the VDP. Anyways, long story short,
we're at this conference where we get to taste
all of these fine German wines from all over
Germany, which is just like the West side, because
that's the only place that really has grown.
And then we're, so it's like thousands upon thousands
of wines and all of this stuff. And so I meet
a guy in line and I'm from Texas, so I'm talking
and he's from California. And I think actually
originally New York, but he moved to California
and he's also Asian American. So So we start
talking and hit it off. And we're like, super
duper high, cool, fun. We're having a great time.
Well, he sees me at this event. And all of us
that are part of this master of wine are doing
this blind tasting. And we've decided to go to
this pop -up wine bar. And we're going to buy
a bottle. And we're going to hide the bottle.
We're going to let everybody taste it. And we're
all going to guess what it is. It was the most
fun I've ever had. Also probably the most expensive
table I've ever seen of people that just randomly
bought wines. But bottle two was bought. And
I think by bottle three, this guy from California
finds me and he's like, hey, could I join in?
I'll buy a bottle. And I was like, okay, cool.
So he goes and he does the tasting and then he
walks away. And then Mr. Norway comes up and
he's like, so what's up with that? And I was
like, you remember how you said everybody in
Texas and like the United States, they just kind
of like random. talk to people in line and it's
really weird and in Norway they don't do that
and he's like yeah and I'm like I met him in
line and so anyways he comes yeah but then he
comes in and he starts bringing wine bottles
when he's you know and so he's like oh this is
actually kind of cool and I was like right because
hospitality is neat okay anyways that's my Germany
story one of that's a good one also uh we hiked
the world's deadliest vineyard and my husband
was like I didn't expect it to be that deadly
and I was like yeah like lots of people die there
and uh because No, it's no, no, no Cajun oysters.
No, it's just, it's a, it's a very steep path
with no railing. And so it's very easy. Like
at points, you're just hanging onto a cliff with
like little, like hanging onto like little rods
that they've put in there. And, um, and he's
still alive. So that is proof that love is a
choice. And I did not kill him and push him off
a cliff. So if he's ever found murdered, you
can't blame me because I had the perfect alibi
opportunities. I kept distance like a lot of
distance. This is in Germany. Yeah, Calmont Clutter
Stag. And literally people have... About 70 years.
Up to 60 % slope on there, it says. Yeah, which
sounds like it's not that big of a deal. When
you're staring at it, it's a pretty big deal.
But the problem is that there's... Well, the
ground is like it just falls apart as you're
walking on it some places. But there's no...
There's no railing ever. So you just tumble to
your death. I'm really surprised that, I mean,
usually Europe is, they over -regulate, right?
I'm really surprised that Germany hasn't made
them do this or that. They were all about nature
is nature, and if you die, you're stupid. Survival
of the fittest. She's into Darwinism, right?
Yeah, pretty much. Darwin should wear the correct
shoes. Right, which I didn't. I wore new shoes,
and I tripped like three times and almost died.
But it's okay. It went great. It was great. Other
than its claim to fame as being the most dangerous
vineyard to get to. Why is it so, what's so great
about it? It's overlooking the mausoleum. It's
probably one of the most stunning views in the
entire world. It's just, it's phenomenal. Like
our pictures that we have from there are just
like, they're breathtaking. Worth dying for.
Yeah, worth dying for. All right. Took a picture
with a flag. What other interesting vineyards
have you seen? Oh God. I mean, Prerat was the
best. We were able to go over and see Ferrer
Bobet in Prerat. So that was really nice. Where
is that now? So about two hours from Barcelona.
It's also on a mountain. They're really tiny,
tiny little villages. There's not even like really
a city nearby. And it rains maybe three times
a year. It's the hardest place in the world to
grow grapes. And they do it anyway. And that's
where I want to grow grapes. Right there. Wow.
It's so pretty. But we, you know, I also really
thought it was pretty. We went to Nadal, which
was in Corponaut, which is about an hour from
Barcelona. And that was stunning. I love David
Arthur. David Arthur is, their vineyard's stunning.
That's in Napa and on Pritchard Hill. Then, I
mean, Amici is fun to visit, but they're not
really a vineyard. They are a winery and then
they get their grapes from vineyards. Toccolone,
Bextoffer Toccolone is like a really cool vineyard
to go to. And there's nothing cooler than going
to Bextoffer. There's several Bextoffer vineyards
that I've been to. And one of them is across
from Opus One. And so while we were there, there
was an Opus One porta potty. So I took a picture
of it. I mean, I was like, I've seen the opus
one port -a -potty. I think Marisol is probably
my favorite. Marisol is amazing. That's that
guy we're telling about you. So he's in Rutherford
and he's really cool. Like their vineyard is
pretty fantastic. They've got like one of the
oldest Zinfandel plots on their land than anybody
else. So that was really, really neat to see
that. Rutherford. Rutherford. Rutherford, yes.
Rutherford. And this is near Napa or in Napa?
In Napa. In Napa. Yeah, so Napa is like the big
AVA, but you have like sub -AVAs, so it's in
Rutherford. Interesting. Like Calistoga and Oakville
and all those. Yep. See, I know nothing. I know
nothing about Carneros. Well, you will in Napa.
Are you going next year? We'll see. We'll see.
That's when we're supposed to go to Europe, not
before or after that. When are y 'all going?
What month is this? It's in June. June. Middle
of June. I'm going in September. Yeah, middle
of June. Yeah, but that would be a wonderful
trip. And yes, we are trying to figure out how
to make that work with the other trip we got
going on. So, yeah. Anyway. Oh, it's right by
Cake Bread. I've been to Cake Bread. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. She harvests early, so she missed the fires.
Just so y 'all know. Yeah. You can buy a 2020
Cake Bread. It's safe. That is one big bonus
about being into wines is that wineries, vineyards.
all beautiful like you know what i mean it's
all part of the the whole experience of wine
it is it's extremely romantic i think working
in it will sober you up really quickly if you're
not made for it because i did harvest with somebody
else and at first she's like yes i love this
i want to do this and was like i'm going to probably
apply to be an intern and then like two weeks
later she's like yeah i don't know what i was
thinking i'll never do that again Right. And
I was like, I could do it forever. I mean, you,
you got like 10 to 12 hour days. You're freezing
cold half the time because it's really cold at
night before the sun comes up and you're covered
in water. So, and it's a lot of hard work and
you risk your life at some of these wineries.
So I'm not super glamorous there, but I mean,
I do it in a heartbeat, but there's so much culture
and festivals and, and you know, it's a lifestyle.
Yeah. Yeah. It's cool. I agree. Sign me up. Can
I go tomorrow? I'm just going to leave. That's
a yes, right? I won't stop you. We were talking
about like when I go and I do a harvest, I'll
have to go for seven to nine months. Like where
would we go? And so I think I'm leaning towards
Spain, but I wouldn't mind doing California.
It's just hard to find like the right spot because
you want to learn all the winemaking techniques
that you want to learn. So I'm leaning towards
Corbinot because you can have red wine, white
wine, rosé, and sparkling all in one place. And
you can learn the differences and all that kind
of stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It'd be pretty cool. Have
we talked about the bottle we're drinking right
now? No. We have not. Can we do that? Let's discuss
it. Is now a good time to do that? So this is
Oren Swift is the name of the label. So Oren
Swift is, they're known for a lot of their wines,
high alcohol percentage, bold wines. Um, the
winemaker is actually Dave Finney. So Dave Finney
made the prisoner and, um, sold the prisoner.
Um, he's still the winemaker for Oren Swift and
I believe not for the prisoner. So, uh, Gallo
now owns Oren Swift, but Oren Swift. What is
the prisoner? Um, the prisoner. So if you were
a wine drinker, you'd be like, oh, it's the prisoner.
It's, it's like a 40. 40 ish dollar bottle of
wine that everybody thinks like hung the moon.
And I, I have nothing against like the prisoner.
I think it's, it's fine. If you want to do a
fun wine, it's a fun wine. Um, but yeah, so he
did that. He sold it, um, started Orin Swift
and, um, he has, um, I can't remember. I think
I wrote it down. Are they still making The Prisoner?
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, it wasn't
like a one -release thing. Yeah, you can buy
it. I see it at the store. But I think Dave Finney
still makes the Orin Swift, even though he sold
it to Gallo. So this is the Papillon, and Papillon
is across the knuckles of these hands that are
on the bottle. That's actually the farmer's hands
that farms the grapes. Okay. And I don't know
if it— Hold on. Slow down for us. Okay, slowing
down. Papillon. Papillon is the name of the bottle
of wine. Is it related to the movie? Have you
ever seen the movie Papillon with Dustin Hoffman?
You're talking to me, so you know I haven't seen
it. I had to watch like three movies after our
last one. Papillon is actually an extremely good
movie. It's kind of depressing, but it's a French
guy, Dustin Hoffman. He gets busted for something.
He gets thrown on a prison island. And it's his
life on the prison island and his attempt to
try to get off of the island. It has nothing
to do with wine? No, it does not at all. But
the name. But the name. That's why I was like,
is it related to that? I don't know. So I do
know that Oren Swift plays heavily with art.
He loves art. So like a lot of his bottles are
more risque. He's got an actual mummy on one
of his bottles. He's got a, I think it's an Indian
head nickel on one of his bottles, a mercury
head. And then he's got, He's got the machete.
Machete has one model every year, and they're
generally female. And there'll be 12 photos done,
and each bottle in your case will have one of
those photos, but they're more risque. So people
are all like, if you pull it up, it's a machete
by Orin Swift. Okay, so I made the mistake of
thinking that what they name the bottle has,
that it always has something to do with... their
winery or their vineyard or their something,
but not at all. No, he's just, he's very artsy
and likes the art stuff. Yeah, so like, you know,
you've got 12 different models with this model
and some, you know, I don't even know if she's
wearing clothes in all of them. That's Tanya,
right? But it doesn't show. Tanya, the girl from
Here I Go Again? I don't know. Tanya Katane?
The white snake? Yeah, isn't that the white snake
video? Well, she has an afro. Tanya Katane had
red hair. Oh, okay. Well, I was close. Yeah.
So anyways, so he plays on. The funny part about
this and the reason I brought this is this kind
of segues into what I wanted to hopefully talk
to your listeners to about, which is that this
is his Bordeaux style blend. Okay. So what's
funny about it is it's not Bordeaux at all. It's
just using the five main grapes of Bordeaux,
which is super cool. I mean, you pay homage to
the grapes that they use, but it's that true,
big, bold Napa style. So Napa's got like two
styles, right? Which we can discuss in a second.
I think we should taste the wine because it's
been sitting here for a while and I really want
to taste it. Yeah, mine's almost gone. I was
going to say, were we not supposed to be tasting
it all along? Chris, you're late. Mine's gone.
Because mine is almost all gone. Well, Chris,
we'll hook you up with an infinity bottle sample.
Perfect. Okay, well, let's start with Kristen's.
This is already empty. Oh, wow. What did you
think about this one, sir? First, let me say
that I think she took this class. I absolutely
did not. Oh, she swapped it? I'm pretty sure.
Do we need to go back over the footage and see
if she swapped it? You should definitely do that.
If there's a playback version, I wouldn't mind
the playback. Just make you look guilty. So what
did you think of it? I think it was really good.
I'm usually not a huge bold red wine drinker.
So that's a hurt. We were very different in our
preferences. In everything. Okay. But for me,
this was still good. This was still good. I like
the... It was fleeting. It didn't stick on my
mouth. Sometimes I'll drink a red wine, and it's
like for a while, I'm like, oh, that's nasty.
I need to go drink something else, right? Right.
This wasn't that. Got to clear your palate type
of thing. This was really smooth, and the finish
was nice. I agree with that. Yeah, the finish
was good, but it wasn't where the shit sticks
to your tongue. It's kind of bitter, the tannins,
or whatever you want to call it. Yeah, it wasn't
thick at all. Yeah, it was really, really very
fruity to me, flavorful, floral, I think, in
there. Yeah. I got a lot of leather. And caramel.
Caramelized leather. Some stone fruit. Yeah.
No, I taste some, I don't know, stone fruit,
but I taste, there's definitely fruity in there,
a little blueberry action. Oh, it's very fruity.
You know, it's got that little sour. bite on
there that just makes it perfect i am enjoying
this price on this around 100 bucks huh yeah
yeah so like in texas around here if you're gonna
buy it you're usually gonna find it for around
85 a bottle plus tax but it is a it's a spectacular
wine i think for for a bold nap of wine it's
a fun one to have i mean the artwork's great
it's 14 .5 alcohol so it's good that we split
it amongst six of us so um yeah and i i mean
i really do love how they blended the grapes
together. I'm a big fan of Cab, but I'm also
a huge fan of Cab Franc, which is kind of peppery.
But they still have the fruitiness with that
Merlot. It softens up the tannins. And so they
really did a great job. And Dave Finney is known
to just be really good at making these wines
and really making something a little bit different,
but always in that very bold, high alcohol percentage.
So if you ever want somebody that's like, or
if you meet somebody and you're talking to them,
they're like, I really want a Pinot Noir with
a high percentage of alcohol. It's going to mess
me up. Like, one, why are you drinking Pinot?
But, oh, well. But, no, they make a Pinot. Did
you point it to the friends of your boxes? Yeah,
no. They have the Pinot Noir, and even his Pinot
Noir, everything's high alcohol with them. So
Dave Finney really likes it. And Oren Swift was
named after his parents. So Oren is his father's
middle name, and Swift was his mother's maiden
name. And he's extremely eccentric and drops
the F -bomb like there's no tomorrow. So if you
ever watch him on YouTube, you'll be like, wow,
he says the F -word a lot. And if you're drinking
and you make it a shots game, you're probably
just going to be wasted. There you go. I like
this idea already. Go ahead. I was going to say
regarding the bottles themselves. Yeah, yeah.
So the shape. So first of all, there's a couple
questions, and I'm going to go through the questions
real quick. So I know like Bordeaux bottles,
from what I understood, Bordeaux bottles are
very specific in the shape what they are, and
I think they consist of seven different grapes
in there. Next question. underneath the bottle
you have different and this is true with some
of the bourbons too they're sometimes they're
just a huge sometimes they're flat what's the
story on that so and then the third question
is what about the shape of this bottle what why
is it in that shape and is it for a reason so
okay the bottle questions and okay so like yes
bordeaux has different bottle sizes, but they're
all typically tall and more narrow, but not quite
as tall and narrow as like maybe some of the
other ones you'll see in like maybe Italy or
something. But yeah, they tend to be a very specific
size. Every person that makes wine gets to kind
of choose their bottle, but in Bordeaux, there's
like rules. regarding everything labels and all
kinds of stuff and like what grapes they're allowed
to use and if they use certain grapes they can't
put that it's from their region necessarily if
they're not supposed to be growing grapes from
that area so then they have to like make it a
bigger region like there's all these rules so
um yeah they're Bordeaux is one of those ones
that are like I want to become a winemaker nobody's
like let's start in Bordeaux that would be easy
um so that's kind of the the style and the size
of those bottles in California anything goes
if you want it you got it like an Ariana Grande
song. So literally you could do anything. In
terms of the bottle too? With everything. Everything.
Well, how you label it, it has to be a certain
percentage. If you're going to label it as like,
this is a cap, right? Then it's got to be like
a certain percentage. So generally speaking,
85%. But as far as bottling techniques go, that's
totally up. Or the shape of the bottle. Yeah,
the shape, whatever they want to do. anything
goes i will say you'll find the wider bottles
in california they want the the heavier wider
bottles which is a bitch when you're trying to
ship stuff but um which speak from experience
because there is a suitcase that holds 12 bottles
of wine but it goes over the weight limit when
it's california wine because of those dang bottles
so um and then the indention hold on So if I'm
a sommelier and I'm holding your bottle at the
table, I can literally, if I'm bringing it up,
I can literally sit here and talk about the wine
and I can hold it with my thumb inside this indention
as I talk to you about the wine and not disturb
the label. Because the label's always got to
be facing the person, right? Interesting. So
that's kind of why the indention's there. What
about the transfer of heat from your hand to
the bottle? So there's more transfer to the glass
than to the bottle. They're not super worried
that within the time that it takes you to serve
and talk about a wine, the wine's going to get
warm. And there is serving temperatures that
are perfect for every wine, but it's more your
glass. Right now, the audience cannot see, or
maybe they can't, who knows. Hi. Okay, so this
is a stemless glass. And so we were talking to
my now ex -brother -in -law. Hi, Greg. So he
talked about like it was gay to use the stem.
Well, the stem is protecting your wine unless
you really, like if you want it to open up and
you're okay with like a warmer wine, like I'm
okay with that. If it's Italian or if it's French,
I can sit here and I can hug on it, right? Because
it's going to open up some more. It's going to
aerate a little bit more. That's fine. If I'm
drinking a chilled white wine or a rosé or a
champagne, I don't want it to get warm, right?
So you're going to hold it from the little stem
on the glass. You don't want to hold it right
here. So generally speaking, if you want a cold
wine, you're not going to use a stemless. glass.
Well, you just don't have your pinky out when
you're holding stuff. That's for tea. Then you're
not gay. Well, I'd like to be happy. You know,
I guess when you think about all this, the best
strategy is just to drink it so fast that a cold
one won't get warm and a warm one won't get cold.
That's exactly what I was doing. I think you're
supposed to savor. Yeah, the speed of consumption
saves you from all of these things that you have
to stress about. Now I will say that the thing
I did want to talk about is like the, the Bordeaux
style that you do see some more of the Bordeaux
style of cabs in Napa, like cake bread. That's
one. She does early harvest. Um, and, and you'll
like, even, even with more solely wines, cause
it's a vineyard, but they also have their own
wine club. We remember what? 220, 219. Sorry,
Chris. I don't remember the number. He wrote,
he put it on the coin and sent it to us. I should
know. Um, anyways, uh, but. There are people
that are making the bigger, bolder styles and
that's going to be something like this or there's
so many out there that you can buy and it's just
high alcohol, bold fruit. You can drink it now.
You can cellar it because it's got acidity and
it's got all this stuff in it that's going to
make it cellar. But they're meant to be easy
to drink now. Like I can think of like Russell
Bevan and his wines and there's just so many.
But then you have like Amici and they're like,
you know, you can let this sit for a while. You
know, you can savor it a little bit. It's not
so bold and in your face. It's just yummy. Right.
And then same thing with like cake bread. When
you have a cake bread wine or or groth or greach,
some of those can be a little bit less bold.
And people are like, oh, I don't know that I
like this. It's not a typical cab from California.
And I'm like, well, it is. There's just two different
styles. So that's pretty much it. If they do
have that big and bold, though, they're generally
picking their fruit later in the year. And that's
getting more sugar in the grape, which means
the alcohol will go up and it'll be more bold.
So a couple times you've mentioned in California
they can do whatever they want. During the class
I took, they mentioned Mega Purple. Yeah. There's
not really hard proof, but I think some folks
have sent off to lab and they've done some tests
for a few of these wineries and they're actually
using Mega Purple. What does that mean? What's
Mega Purple? So it's a coloring agent to make
your wine look this color. Oh, no. That's not
good. Grape concentrate. Yeah. It's also very
sweet, isn't it? Yeah. There's a little sugar
in it. Okay. So the one that gets accused of
this the most is Caymus. Caymus gets accused
of this all the time. And I have not. met the
founding father, literally, of the Wagner family.
But meeting with the people that run one of his
sons, and so there's different kids. There's
two boys and one girl, and they all make wine.
And the Wagner style is longer hanging fruit,
so that the alcohol gets higher, the sugar is
higher, it's more bold. And they swear, if you
talk to anybody in the Wagner family, they swear
that this is not used. I work in the wine industry
on the retail side. So to me, Whether it's used
or not is not as important as do people like
the wine. And so when people ask me what does
Caymus 50 anniversary taste like, I'm like, it
tastes like 49 and 48 and 47 because it's a consistent
product. It's a little bit of a blend. It's a
Cabernet, but there's still a little blending
that's used. And they consistently create a product
that tastes the same year after year. And that's
what people want, right? So do they use the dye,
the forbidden purple? I don't know. They haven't
researched it. So I don't know. The other one
I heard was the Miami, the Pinot Noir is lots.
There's a lot of sugar in it. I think it's like
22 or 22 or 23 grams of sugar. It was. Yeah,
it was more than a soda. Yeah, it was a lot.
Yeah. So when people call me a dry wine, I'm
like, OK, well. Oh, so really. So dry wine has
more sugar. No, it doesn't. People just call
me. Some people call me a dry wine. Technically,
it is. It's not a sweet wine. It just has a lot
of sugar in it. To me, it's sweet. I don't drink
wine like that. Jeff mentioned the Mega Purple
stuff, but where are they getting the Mega Purple
product? I mean, they got a bottle up there that
says, hi, I'm Mega Purple. I mean, are they getting
this from Costco? I mean, it's just like a byproduct
of a collective. Grape? I have not gotten into
winemaking enough to tell you where makeup purple
comes from. I've never studied it. It sounds
like they're cheating. I mean, they could be
if they being whoever might be using it, but
I really don't know. I've never read anything.
Or is it something that's just kind of what they
use now? No, it's definitely not what they use.
I could tell you a number of the wineries and
wine owners that I've met that they definitely
do not use it. I was there with Amici. I saw
everything that they put in their wine. It's
all natural stuff. I was going to say, somebody
who puts that much heart and soul into their
product, I would be really surprised. What I
read, it's these companies. No, not the up -and
-comers. The big companies who are selling millions
and millions and millions of bottles. All they
care about is volume. And they want a consistent
flavor. And that's how they do it. They want
it to match every single bottle. When you do
a million bottles, they want it to all taste
the same. Right. And do it fast. And all they
care about is volume and price. And margin. After
the fires of 2020, there was a big, like, there
was a thing that you could, there was two different
chemicals you could put in your wine to make
the flavor of the fire go away. And so people
were using that. And so that's another big one
is like, when was this grape harvested? Oh, man.
That year. I'm kind of curious to see what that
tastes like. A smoky Cabernet? It's not as...
It's not as glamorous. It tastes like burnt grape.
This is cigar. This is cigar wine. It tastes
manipulated. I happen to know a few that do that.
I'm not going to say it on air just because,
you know, I don't know what's going to happen
with my career further on down the line. Who
knows? I might interview for some of them. I
don't know. But I will tell you that people do
use it. And when you taste it, you're like, okay,
yeah, that's it. I mean, I am trained my nose
and my taste buds. Like, that's all I do. I'm
in a wine tasting group. If my kids cook something
at 2 o 'clock in the morning, I am up all night
and I'll never go back to sleep because I just
can't get the smell out of my nose. And so, yeah,
but I think even the untrained smeller would
smell it. Well, I got to tell you, I thoroughly
enjoy, I would love to, I mean, we're not, we
got until time left on the podcast, but I mean,
I really enjoy this. I mean, this is something
that, and you talked about just doing the first
half. I mean, if this is something you can do
in the future, maybe two months down the road,
I'd love to introduce a bottle every other month.
and just talk about it talk about the whomever
it is and and maybe talk about uh you know classes
that you're taking somewhere yeah that would
be super cool and a babysitter so that you're
taking but classes that you're you're giving
yeah yeah no absolutely and i will say that um
And we'll be doing some out -of -store events
soon for the three -letter grocery store that
I work for. Do they have a showroom there where
they display and have classes? No, it would be
off -site. It would be VIP list only kind of
thing. Not sponsored technically by the three
-letter group? No, not sponsored by them. So
just because I'm me, I do what I want. They're
what I want. That's so Texas. Yeah. That is so
Texas. I subscribe to that. Let me ask you some
real basic retail questions you probably get
all the time. Because the reality is, you know,
we're neck deep in the grapes and the process
and all that kind of stuff. Most people know
a fraction. Yeah. And when you go to Total Wine,
there's like a half a... billion bottles of every
type right right so somebody walks in and they're
like you know i have some friends that drink
wine help me here right and they have no idea
what they drink they have no idea what a good
bottle should cost they have no they really have
no give us give us like the the bare minimum
pointers for the ignorant wine purchaser people
i mean there's probably A typical wine that people
would enjoy. The price range probably needs to
be within blah and blah. I mean, what do you
go on to help these people? That's such a broad
question. It is a broad question. But you probably
get it a lot. Yeah, and I start with price point.
That's always the most important. I'm like, okay,
well, have you seen them drink red wine or white
wine? If they were like, I don't know. I'm like,
okay, well, what price point? If they say $100,
automatically I'm thinking a $50 bottle of red
and a $50 bottle of white, right? Because it's
going to meet down the middle. Yeah, but how
do they even give you? They probably go, I think
I want a decent wine. How much is a decent wine?
$20? $40? So you always start by asking them
how much they want to spend. Because the goal
is to keep. in their budget. People are generally
speaking, they will give me a number. If they
don't, it'll be something broad like the normal
amount. And I'm like, okay, well, what would
you like to spend? Because if you give me any
number, I'm going to give you the best bottle
in that price point. I'm not going to try to
upsell you. So just give me a number. And then
they're generally very willing to give a number.
But, you know, it just, it really depends. I'll
ask what the occasion is for. Like if it's a
celebration, it might, they probably need a champagne,
right? And if it's, you know, they're having,
they're going to a dinner party, well, then it's
probably going to be a Cabernet. And if it's
in the summer, then it's probably going to be
like a Rose or something like that or Sauvignon
Blanc or, you know. so it's always just going
to depend. And if they're like, I want the best
bottle I could possibly ever have in my entire
life for $30. And I'm like, okay, top tier Sauvignon
Blanc. I mean, you can still have a really nice
bottle. It's just not going to be a red. Like,
I'm not going to give you, $30 is a really hard
price point, I think, to get a nice, nice bottle
of red because red is, it sells higher price
point, right? So. So what is a price point you
would never go below to advise to somebody? Because
there's a ton of 10, 12, $15 wines. No, no. Okay.
So I will say, You can get wines at that price
point, but you need to look at Spain, and you
need to look at maybe Italy, and you need to
look at a different region than Napa. I've heard
the same thing because the wine industry is highly
regulated over there. The U .S., there are no
really regulated. They can put whatever the hell
they want in that bottle. Right, and charge whatever
they want. And they don't have to say what's
in that bottle. I mean, the FDA does like regulate
what goes in it. Like they can't put like poison
in it. But you don't have to label it. Yeah,
they don't have to label it. I mean, they could
add the mega purple or something else as long
as the FDA approves it. They don't have to tell
you that. Correct. Yes. They just have to put
the FDA warning of you're pregnant. You should
probably not drink this. Surgeon General. That's
what it is. Surgeon General. But over in Italy,
they have the regions and the codes and all that
stuff. And you have to meet certain criteria.
In order to get those coats. Right. So like IGT
is like, maybe don't go there, but if you're,
you know, like DOC, DOCG, like that's in Italy,
that's going to be great. You're going to get
a great wine. And there are some in there, you
know, and Spain is, Spain is a beautiful country
to get wine out of because you can go anywhere
and get an inexpensive bottle of wine. It's going
to be fantastic. But, you know, it's harder to
do in America because real estate, first of all,
is higher than some of the properties that you're
dealing with now. I mean, obviously in some of
the places in Europe like Bordeaux things like
that we're not talking about that we're talking
about like smaller smaller areas of smaller countries
and so when you deal with like Napa you're paying
so much but you can go to Paso and you can get
some decent wines for $30 in Paso so like if
you told me hey I want you know this great wine
$30 or under you know and I want it to be a cab
then I would probably say hey try textbook which
is a great Cabernet out of Paso Robles. So that's
a fun one. If you wanted a really good red wine,
but you didn't care what it was, I would probably
try to walk you over and get you a Rioja. You
can get a really nice Rioja. You can get a...
Freaking 2004 Rioja that is so, okay, tertiary.
Let's talk about that real quick. So you get
your primary flavors. You're like, hmm, candy,
hmm, this, this, this, right? It's like boysenberry.
I taste some blackberry. I taste some blueberry.
I taste some oaky, like buttery flavors or whatever.
Tertiary means flavors it's picked from sitting
in a bottle and it starts to pick up candied
fruit, ginger, things like that. They get that
from being in the bottle. In the bottle and just
sitting there in time and just like, hey. I'm
ready. And then you're like, no, you're not ready
yet. So like later on down the road. Is that
part of the maturation process where perhaps
it's turning to vinegar? Nope. No, it's not going
to turn to vinegar. Really well wine is not going
to do that unless it's exposed to like heat.
So where's that flavor coming from? So every
bottle, it's got like a little bit of air and
then the bottles are sitting on their sides,
right? So some air is just a little bit of air
is just in there and it's just maturing. And
so like if you got a Rioja. 2004 Rioja, you can
get one of those for $60 and you're going to
taste a phenomenal wine. That's a great gift
or dinner party wine right there, right? But
a lot of people are like, no, it's got to be,
I really want a bottle of Vouv. You're like,
oh, okay. When we have our get togethers, you
know, my wife, go get some wine for random people.
So I'll go and I'll pick up 10 bottles of random
shit. And, you know, I don't know what I'm getting
really. So when I go to, You know, I spoke with
those folks out there. How much do you want to
spend? Well, you know, I want to spend about
$150 for about 10 bottles, you know, and then
just pick me out, split down the middle. Right.
You know, pick, you know, maybe one or two Pinot
Noirs or, you know, Cabernet, Merlot, whatever.
I don't know a whole lot about Chardonnays, Pinot
Grigios. That's not really my wheelhouse because
the only time I've really ever really enjoyed
those was when I was slamming them. Oh, okay.
You don't enjoy them that way. So you never tasted
it. You know, I mean, I worked at the Four Seasons
Resort, and they had a lot of wine tastings,
and I never got into it. But I found that they
give you a quick buzz if you drink them fast.
A lot of alcoholic drinks, too. Yeah, but they
were so refreshing because they're cold. So it's
a little different. When you slam the warmer
red wines, it's just different. It is. Again,
I'm super excited that you came out and you gave
us another shot. And it is perfect that we talked
about one. Yeah, I think so. I think the three
was off the frickin' hook. Yeah. And Chris, I
really want you to jump on the... the, uh, the
infinity bottle. You guys got to like chuck out
of here. You got time for, to stay. We can stay
for a second. Um, but can I, can I say, do we
have, you got as much time as you want. Okay.
So real quick, we were talking earlier about
how everything is so Texas and we brought it
back. I just, there's one other thing I have
to touch on before I have to get out. Cause I
have to get it out of my system and I just want
to talk about. how Tesla should not be in Texas.
I agree with this. And I want to emphasize, I
just, the car itself and everybody who drives
one. And I want to say, if you drive a cyber
truck, you're even the worst version of that
person. And it's not anything to do with Elon
Musk. I could care less what you think about
him because I'm not a political person. So I'm
like, whatever, I don't care. What I do care
about is how you can't drive ever. You don't
know where you're going ever. You don't use your
blinker ever. I hate them all. And I'm a loving
person, but I hate Tesla drivers. There we go.
Especially with the stickers on there, the student
driver. That's even the worst. It's like announcing,
not only am I a dipshit for driving this, but
I'm a dipshit. Yeah. I can't. Now I can't drive.
Now I got a license to not drive. That's like
one of the worst things ever. I just feel like
they should give the person behind them like
a little remote control so that you could move
them out of your way and then just be like, all
right, bye. You know, because they're just, they're
always. Change lanes off to the side. Right.
Or in a ditch, you know, whatever. I just, I
can't with them and I don't like them and they're
everywhere and they have taken over everywhere
and everywhere I go. And they've got a Wi -Fi
footprint. We should be able to track them using
our, in -car app and just say, hey, this person
drives horribly. I drive all day and I deal with
them here in Frisco. I think Tesla is probably
the most numerous car in Frisco at this point.
There's so many of them. They're in Salina as
well. I'm not saying 100 % of the drivers are
like that, but a high majority of the drivers
of Tesla are either slow, they don't change lanes
correctly, or they just don't know what they're
doing. Or they're on their phone. I've told these
guys. Because I'm up high and I can look. Yep.
It's the adults on the phones. Yeah. Not the
kids. Yep. The teenagers driving their car are
driving their car because they're paying attention.
The adults are on their phones texting. what
they're driving with their knees and they're
texting and shit like that. I just have a request.
So if you listen to this and you drive a Tesla
Cybertruck, if you drove backwards, I could actually
drive over you. You'd be helping both of us out
because I drive a lifted Jeep and it would be
like nothing. You're like a shoehorn. I just
go flying over you. Like a ramp. Oh my God, it'd
be so great. I could drive like I want to. I
know the speed limit and I go the speed limit
or above, not under. But it's got to be worse
in California. Aren't there even more Teslas
in California? How? How could there be any more
than there are in our neighborhoods? I think
there's nothing but Teslas in California. Oh
my God, I don't know. Are they in Europe? I do
have a question. So can you Google, who all was
it that lost power? Was it Italy and Spain that
lost power for like a day or more or whatever?
Did the Teslas go down? I'm sure they did. Did
they? Yeah, if they didn't get charged overnight.
Okay, so it's a hazard to people's health to
drive these, but I'm just saying a couple of
power outages and we'd be out. We wouldn't have
to worry about them anymore. Well, that's kind
of the thing. When you see these hurricanes come
into town and they wipe out the electrical power
for a week, two weeks, you're like, well, you
want us to evacuate. You want us to leave, but
I can't. I can make it 100 miles and then I'm
dead on the side of the road. We had one that
his phone updated. He goes to my gym that I teach
at and at five and six in the morning when nobody's
awake. Anyways, he comes in there and he's freaking
out because his phone needs this update and it's
about to die, but he can't get into his Tesla
without his phone. And I'm like. Okay, come on.
You know what wouldn't happen if you had a normal
vehicle? You'd have a freaking key. Like, oh
my God. For real, it doesn't come with a key?
It has to. It has a card that you can use as
a key, but they don't carry it in there. It's
outside of your phone. His excuse was it's in
his wallet, and his wallet's in his car. And
I was like, well, that doesn't seem like that's
the smartest decision you've made. I'm not ready
for all that technology. I'm just not. I mean,
come on. I think it just ramps us up and sets
us up for fail. There's a lot of failure points
along that line. There really are. I've seen
iRobot. I know how this ends. I think I said
that last episode, too. So the Teslas are going
to kill us all. Yeah, Will Smith. Yes. Take my
Tesla out of your mouth. The car is going to
become alive. Like Carrie. Who's the car that
comes alive and kills everybody? It's not Carrie.
It's Christine. I always get it wrong. I thought
it was like Bumblebee from Transformers. That
was cool. All right. Well, did you get it all
out? I got it out. I feel better. Thank you.
It was because of the trip coming up. Coit. One
lane. So was the one lane shut down because somebody?
Didn't charge their vehicle? It wasn't shut down.
It was just going really slow because this person
thought that the 55 was really 35. I don't know.
Why do they drive so slow? I don't know. They're
not in a hurry to get home. That's what it is.
They are the fastest cars on the road. I know.
There is literally not a car that can go faster.
They've even done drag races with these cars.
They are lightning fast. And I've never actually
seen... any of them drive that way they don't
think there are inhibitors on them i mean it's
the driver like you see muscle cars and they're
like and it goes as fast as they can as loud
as they can and i've never tesla's like they
would blow them out of the water and i've never
seen one drive that way you think there'd be
one person who'd be like yeah i'm gonna take
my tesla and i'm gonna rag you guys they don't
ever it's strange all right well there you have
it I think we all got it out of our system. It's
like therapy. A beautiful bottle of wine. Yeah,
thank you. Yeah, thanks. This was a treat. Do
you have any shout -outs for your workout group?
I will say to my High Rocks gals, hello, hello.
I know they're going to be listening. And I will
say also, if you want to follow me, I am ThatSom
from Texas. That, S -O -M -M, from Texas. Awesome.
There you go. And Chris, pleasure meeting you.
Thanks for coming on the podcast as well. Yeah,
thanks for having me. Yeah, we'll have to give
you a big boy cup next time. Yeah, or she just
doesn't drink mine next time. Get your own bottle.
We'll keep a closer eye on that next time. All
right, well, it's the first half of the Dudes
Like Us podcast, September 2nd. Check us out,
if you haven't heard, to Facebook or Instagram,
Dudes Like Us. And also, you're on Instagram.
What is it again? ThatSongFromTexas. ThatSongFromTexas.
Well, Dudes Like Us, I'm Sean. I'm Paul. I'm
Jeff. I'm Heather. And I'm Chris. We'll see you
guys next, in a couple minutes.