ATHLEISURE MAG #83 NOV ISSUE | UPLIFTING THROUGH VINES Jen Pelka

When it comes to celebrating a major moment or the fact that you just got through the day, sparkling wine and Champagne is our go-to. There's something about opening the bottle the act of pouring it for yourself or others. Just in time for the holiday season, we caught up Jen Pelka who knows a thing or two about this beverage. We chatted with her to find out how she found her way into food and her path to this bubbly beverage. She shares how she came about launching her much talked about The Riddler which had locations in San Francisco and NY locations and her latest venture, Une Femme. We dig into how this wine empowers, collaborates with others and gives back to charities that benefit women. She also gives us some tips on how we can pair these wines with dishes and how we can purchase them when gift ing it to others as a gift or a thank you for inviting us to dinner.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We have been fans of yours for awhile now as The Riddler was such a great spot to go to! So being able to talk to you about Une Femme Wines as well as The Riddler is perfect!

JEN PELKA: Oh thank you! Which one did you go to the one in San Francisco or the one in NY?

AM: The West Village. I remember that I had been following The Riddler’s IG ac count for awhile and the time, you only had the San Francisco location. But I kept following it because I knew if a location opened up in NY, I’d be there. When you opened it here, I want to say that I was there in the first 6 weeks. The concept and the vibe was so fun!

JP: I’m excited to talk with you and I’m so glad that you enjoyed The Riddler and we know that there were many who liked it and we all hope that it will come back one day.

AM: Before we delve into Une Femme Wines, when did you fall in love with food and what point in your journey did it take you to focusing on wines and champagnes?

JP: I’m really lucky that I grew up in a family that really loved food, restaurants and entertaining. My parents were both home cooks and also my dad’s family was really in the restaurant business so they had diners and delis his whole life growing up. My grandfather was actual ly the chef of the Ocean County NJ Jail and would come home after work in his whites. He would always have cream puffs or bananas – the two things that would go bad so those are always fun traditions that we had as a family. We always had food around, we always had entertaining around.

So, when I went to college, one of the things that I wanted to do when I graduated was basically to start a restau rant and my parents said, ”you’re crazy, move to NY and get a real job.” That’s what I did but as soon as I was there, I fell in love with restaurants and chefs. It was really at the beginning of chefs coming out into the dining room and being in their whites and I was really lucky. I was at the bar of the restaurant Schiller’s, there was a chef that was down the bar on one of his night’s off and out of his whites reading this book called The Perfectionist: Life and Death in Haute Cuisine, which was about a chef that had 3 Michelin chef stars and lost his star and committed suicide. So we started talking about this book that he was reading and it turned out that he was a chef at the restaurant Daniel on the UES. I had heard that you could work as a stagiaire – essentially an intern and I asked him if I could come in and intern for him. So from Schiller’s to the follow ing weekend I starting stagiairing and I ended up working at Daniel every Sat for a year and a half. I had a job at a hedge fund and I learned so much working in that kitchen. I worked on almost every position on the line with amazing chefs and eventually lobbied to become Daniel Boulud’s research assistant. So that is where it all really began. So it’s in my blood, in my family, but it all really got ignited in 2004/2005 at restaurant Dan iel.

AM: That is amazing. I love a good Boulud restaurant and such a great story. So how did that turn into you getting into the wine industry?

JP: I have always loved champagne and sparkling wines. Actually, Schiller’s was the restaurant that my friends and I went to in our 20s and we would always drink Prosecco there. We didn’t understand the difference between Prosecco and Champagne, but we just knew that drinking something bubbly is always really fun and celebratory. Once I was at Daniel, I started learning about traditional Champagnes and then I ended up taking on a job later at the Gilt Groupe, the shopping site. We launched a website called Gilt Taste which was an online food and bev erage gourmet site essentially. There, we did a ton of sales with all of the Moet Hennessey Champagnes so Veuve Clicquot, Dom Perignon, Krug etc and that’s where I really started to learn about Champagne by going to the Veuve Clicquot headquar ters, doing tastings with them and learn ing and understanding their wines. It was also about really understanding the Cham pagne making process. I wouldn’t say that I’m a wine aficionado, but I am definitely a Champagne lover and when it comes to Champagnes and wines in particular, that’s where I really focus and where I have a huge amount of passion.

AM: Such a great story. I love that you turned something that you enjoyed and just spread out and learned as you went along. You have created a safe space for people to understand that information that they need to get which I think is awe some.

JP: Well I think that that was so much of the spirit of what we did at The Riddler. I wanted to create a place, a destination especially for women where they could open up a great bottle of wine, have a re ally good time and drink really really beautiful wines but not to take the experience of the educational components too se riously. Our team took the development of the wine list very seriously. We treated

the wines with a tremendous amount of respect, but for a typical night out, you just want to pop a bottle and have a re ally good time. It’s our job to curate a re ally good list and guaranteeing that every guest was going to open something really special and have a really beautiful wine experience. We were not the kind of place that you were given a long list of attributes and education about the wines unless you wanted it. I think that any wine drinker can enjoy really beautiful delicious wines without having to go into the really serious sides of things.

AM: I know whether it was with my friends or if I was being asked by agencies where I wanted to go if we wanted to just hang out over drinks and have some nibbles, The Riddler was always my go-to suggestion! You felt sophisticated being there knowing you’re in this environment and you didn’t feel intimidated and you could enjoy it. It was kind of like, my boyfriend loved a good cigar bar and you could find him at The Carnegie Club, I liked my bubbly and I had The Riddler. I also loved that you had women made wines there. What was the process like in terms of finding the great wines that you featured there?

JP: Well, the reason why we had women made wines was that all of our investors in both locations were women. So 33 in vestors in San Francisco and 40 in NY, all women. Many were first time investors some big and some small, but that was really important to me to get together a really great community of women in support of the bars. When you’re look ing at a Champagne list with hundreds of Champagnes by the bottle, it’s pret ty intimidating. So we tried to find ways into the menu for those that were new to Champagne or exploring a new style of Champagne. For us, we thought it would be really cool to feature women made wines and it turns out that those wines would always outsell every oth er style of wine on the list. Those were always the most popular. You get 2 girl friends together who are out for the

night and they’re choosing between 100s of wines, of course they are going to pick a wine made by women.

So how we found them was just by doing a huge amount of research, working with distributors, sales people and everybody that had access to Champagne lists and Champagne producers’ wines. We also just proactively asked for women made wines and I see more and more restaurants, retailers, wine shops, websites, etc having a big focus now on diversity, inclu sion, interesting voices, interesting producers and we were happy to be part of that 5 years ago. It’s exciting to see that continuing to build.

AM: I would agree with that. I started to notice various places that do highlight that and I always think that there was a place that actually did that before it was a trend. But it’s good to have inclusion no matter how it happens.

JP: Absolutely.

AM: It definitely made me excited to support that initiative. Even though I didn’t know the maker/producer, you were happy that your dollar was supporting her.

JP: Totally, totally. I think you know, I talk to so many people, women especially who just have come to realize that one of the ways that we can make significant change and to bring about equity is by voting with our wallet. I try whenever possible to buy sustainable products and products that give back and I try to learn about the founders of the companies that I am buying products from. It’s not possible for every single thing that we buy to know the provenance, but when you can get curious about it, it’s great. It doesn’t even necessarily mean that you’re spend ing more – your dollars are going to some thing that that you believe in.

AM: I’m a big believer that when people understand the process and who is behind certain things, that’s where the connection comes in. Like you could leave what-

ever company and go to the next one, I know that if I hear your name, you have a focus that’s in a very specific area that I want to support and that’s important to me. I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t stalked The Riddler account for awhile and then finally going to the loca tion in NY.

As the Co-Founder of Athleisure Media, I also believe that you need to bring those voices forward.

When you created Une Femme, what was the thought behind this and tell me about this brand.

JP: It really started as our house wine at The Riddler. We found that so many women were buying women made wines that guests would ask us, “how do I know when I go into a retail store or that I’m looking at a wine list, that it is being made by women?” So I thought, why isn’t there a brand for this? So I launched Une Femme as an opportunity to highlight women winemakers whose wine style we already loved and to put them all under one brand. The first wine that we launched was a really beautiful organic grower-producer Champagne from a 5th generation wine producer called Gonet-Medeville, a husband and wife team and we really love their style of wine. It’s elegant and really luxuri ous wines. They were always wines that when we opened them for friends, they were always surprised and delighted. You may not have heard of the producer, but the wines speak for themselves. So that was the first partnership that we launched and then after, we started looking at the sales at The Riddler and we noticed that the top selling wine was whatever was the most affordable sparkling rosé by the glass. I couldn’t find a sparkling rosé wine in California made by a woman wine maker that I was in love with. So I reached out to a woman who is a great wine producer, Samantha Sheehan – she makes POE and Ultra Violet as well as Mommenpop Vermouths. I said, Sam let's make a rosé together. She

agreed and the next one we made was The Callie.

AM: Just got that one! I’ll be enjoying that this weekend, it’s been a very busy 2 weeks, but it will be me and The Callie!

JP: Awww that’s great! I love it! So that wine is a delicious, dry, sparkling rosé predominantly Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It’s really meant to be an approachable, crowd pleasing, delicious high quality sparkling rosé representative of California wine making. That was the wine that real ly took off for us. We have since launched a sparkling white wine called The Betty for Betty White. I love that wine. It’s a very dry, very elegant, very nuanced sparkling white wine Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as well. I think that it’s pretty close to rivaling Champagne, you can never truly rival Champagne, but I think that for the price point, it really punches above its weight. I’m so proud of that wine. So for us, Une Femme is all about women made wine makers. All of our wines are made by women wine makers and they give back to charities that benefit women. Our key partners are The Breast Cancer Research Fund and Dress for Success. Both of which are incredibly important to us and that we are really proud to give back to. It’s just been so fun to see the reception to these wines and to the brand and we’re just growing nonstop right now.

AM: That’s so great to hear. So you work with women owned producers in Cham pagne, Napa and Sonoma – do you think that you will expand to other regions that have women owned producers?

JP: Absolutely, we have been talking a lot about the potential of launching a Pro secco, the potential of launching a Cava, there’s a lot happening right now in the UK in what they’re calling British Fizz which is sparkling wines from the UK and we’re also interested in other areas in the US –North Fork in NY and on up the coast of the West Coast. I think that we will pretty much stick with sparkling wines because it is a passion of ours and we know that

so many of our customers love sparkling wines. I think it’s really fun to be able to taste sparkling wines from different regions side by side. Honestly, it’s just what I love!

AM: I love that just by default, your brand is about empowerment, collaboration and giving back. I think that that’s a message that transcends no matter what vertical you work in. Why is it important to have those 3 things which are massive pillars to your brand?

JP: You know, for me, collaboration and support, all of these pieces are just what has gotten me to where I am in my ca reer now. One of the things that I think is so powerful about women is that I think for a long time there was this per ception of the mean girl or women being really competitive against each oth er and I just really feel that that isn’t true anymore. The women that I see succeed are the ones that are helping each oth er out and are teaming up with collabo rative projects and are giving back and that’s who people want to support. I’ve just been incredibly lucky throughout my career to work with amazing women and it’s just so naturally what I lean towards and what I gravitate to is team ing up with women that are doing cool stuff. I will tell you that there is nothing more powerful than female customers who are advocating for something that they love. You get a gaggle of women together talking about something and it’s incredibly powerful.

AM: Especially when you have all of these women come together, we’re more than just one thing and for myself, I Co-founded this magazine, I’m also a fashion stylist and when you start talking over sparkling wine, all of these ideas come out and it gets done. You don’t even think about the red tape that you had to get through – it’s just people sitting down, talking, being vulnerable sharing whatever and moving forward and bringing something together that is bigger than themselves which is really beautiful.

JP: That’s so true! We’ve come a long way these last couple of years. The last cou ple of years has been so challenging, but I think that through all of the muck, a lot of progress has been made. We still have a lot of work to do.

AM: I think that when you have something so horrific that continues to happen in various ways, you start realizing that you can’t just be in your own corner anymore. You need to do something or just change the perspective. It has been challenging, but I have seen some really beautiful things that have come out. If we were all doing the things that we were doing before, we would be annoyed about what’s going on, but the need to do something else wouldn’t be there so it’s amazing.

Tell me about the Hall of Femme and why was it important to honor women in this way?

JP: So the Hall of Femme is kind of an awards program that we launched in which we decided to honor 365 women a year – a years worth of women that have shattered glass ceilings. The way that you’re selected is that you’re nominated in your community or someone on our team. We have a section on our website where you can nominate women to be included. Every month we honor 30 women from across the country in every possible vertical of business, philanthropy or politics that have shattered the glass ceiling in some way. I believe that you don’t have to be the first person in the world or in history to do something that shatters the glass ceiling. You can be the first woman in your family, your neighborhood, your block or at your college. For each of these women, we spotlight them on our website, across social media and then we also send them this incredible gift which is a crate of sparkling wine from Une Femme and there’s a sheet of stunt glass on the top and they get a hammer and they shatter the glass!

AM: That’s awesome!

JP: It’s amazing, it’s incredible and it gives

me goose bumps every single time I watch a woman shatter these glass ceilings. It’s always very emotional. I’ve seen women do it when they were pregnant, I’ve seen them do it with their kids in frame, I’ve seen them do it with their partners and their friends or their team. It’s really such an important com memorative moment to just showcase all of the progress that so many wom en have made in their own worlds and in their own communities. We’re called Une Femme because we believe it only takes 1 woman to shatter another glass ceiling. There are limitless glass ceilings still above us and I think that we should each have our own personal mission to identify what is that glass ceiling that we want to shatter and to go after it.

AM: I did not know about the crate!

JP: Oh yeah!

AM: Wow, just hearing you say it and thinking about having that moment of knowing, yes I did do that. That’s really nice.

JP: It’s incredible. We have had a lot of people ask us if we will sell these boxes because what a cool thing to send to someone as a gift. So we’re working on trying to figure out how to make that happen. But as of right now, it’s essen tially an award that you can be nominat ed for and it’s been an amazing experience connecting with these 365 women and they are a big part of our communi ty. We reach out to them regularly and collaborate with them and it’s amazing to just be able to showcase some cool stuff that all of these women have done.

AM: With the holiday season upon us, we always love knowing about pairings. Looking at The Callie for example, what are 3 dishes or 3 kinds of snacks that people can enjoy with it?

JP: Great question! I think that The Cal lie is really great for brunch. Some of my favorite brunch pairings would be a soft

scramble egg with for me – crème fraic he and a little caviar and salmon roe –even some lox. That to me is the ultimate brunch opportunity. I also love this wine with tacos – I know that sounds kind of funny!

AM: I love rosé with tacos!

JP: Me too! So a breakfast taco with a fried egg, avocado and some crema would be delicious. I also think about things on the brunch side like a lemon ricotta pancake with blueberries or something like that which would be so good.

But when it comes to the evening, espe cially holidays, I’m always thinking caviar and potato chips.

AM: Oh yes!

JP: That was our classic go-to dish at The Riddler. It’s the easiest thing to do when you’re at a dinner party or for a holiday party. Just get a bowl of potato chips, caviar and crème fraiche – boom! You don’t have to buy crazy expensive caviar, but that’s always a fun one. It’s interest ing that some of the classic Champagne pairings are always things that are fried! French fries are like a #1 best pairing. I know that some people think that that is so crazy. But trust me, next time you’re out at a restaurant. Get fries and a bottle of Champagne – of course a bottle of Une Femme and they are just made for each other. Another one is classic fried chicken. My husband and I sometimes when we are feeling fancy will do a staycation and stay at a beautiful fancy hotel and order room service. We always get chicken fin gers and Champagne and let me tell you, it’s so fun and so delicious!

AM: I love that! I love a good Korean Fried Chicken and Champagne. Those two together –

JP: The best! I think that that is so much of what we would always talk about at The Riddler – the high-low. You don’t always have to do the Champagne with caviar.

You should do it and you should be drinking it with the kinds of food that you would normally be eating anyway. I actually think that anything that you would think to drink a beer with, you can substitute Champagne or sparkling wine with. They have a lot of similar characteristics. They’re both fizzy, they’re both cold, they have great acidity and they’re a great compliment to anything that has that need to have something thirst quenching with it.

AM: Sometimes you just want something that's high-low. I believe in that concept when I style people and I also believe it when it comes to food. There’s something so satisfying about those flavors coming together and it’s also about normalizing that everyday is a special occasion, especially with all the stuff that we have been through.

JP: You know it! Absolutely. I totally be lieve that that’s true and I think that it is so important to cheers to yourself and your friends. Everyday should be a spe cial occasion. On the high-low styling, we actually talk as a team about a great amazing outfit, one of my favorites ever is a great pair of Levi’s, a great blazer, a pair of Louboutin’s and a red lip with a great handbag!

AM: Yes!

JP: And so that high-low, I’m always thinking of. We are the red lip to the out fit or to the meal. Like you should be able to do something really really el evated as a final touch on an outfit or a meal, but it doesn’t all need to be fancy. In fact, it’s better when you’ve got the jeans and the white tee with the blazer and the Loubi’s.

AM: It also reflects your personal style as opposed to buying everything off of the mannequin.

JP: Right – absolutely!

AM: What are things that people should think about when they are gifting this holiday season when it comes to wines? Do you have any tips as there are those that haven’t done it before and they get nervous or if they are bringing over a bottle as a thank you for having them over for dinner – what should they be thinking about?

JP: I think that the first thing is that you should go to a store that you like that have a team of people who work there who are not snobs and are nice and that you trust them. You should go in and be honest about your price point – say that you’re looking for a bottle that is $20, $30, $50 or $70. Then proactively tell them that you are looking for a women made wine or a wine made by a BIPOC founder or an LGBTQ founder. The peo ple who work in wine shops love those kinds of assignments and it also encour ages them to stock their shelves with more diverse suppliers. I think that you should always think about your guests in mind or gift recipient in mind. What to you do you think that person represents and try to find a wine that pairs with that.

We have all of our wines available for direct shipping across the country with really good gift packs that are launching by the time that this will air, they will be live. They are super super beautiful and they are a great gift. So that is always fun if you are sending something across the country. But it’s also important to shop local and to find wines that I think speak to your personal values.

IG @jenpelka

@unefemmewines

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 56, 60 TDavis | PG 59 Hale | PG 63, 64 Jordan Wise |