THE BOOZY BACKSTORY Christine Sismondo

Photo credit: supplied

Spring barley on Robert Milne’s farm in Co. Wexford, Ireland, bound for Waterford Distillery.

Photo credit: supplied

Grace O’Reilly, Waterford Distillery agronomist

WHEN I VISITED IRELAND’S WATERFORD DISTILLERY THIS FALL, THE FIRST PERSON I MET WAS GRACE O’REILLY — THE HOUSE AGRONOMIST.

I’ve been to more than my fair share of distilleries, but this was a first for me; I’ve never even heard of a farmer on staff. Sure, you meet people who buy the grain and know a lot about agriculture, but O’Reilly, a fifth-generation farmer from County Meath (north of Dublin), isn’t just there to test the grains for proteins. Her role is to work with the (roughly) 100 independent farmers the distillery sources from and help them grow the best barley possible. And if their grain makes the cut, they’ll get a special reward — not only will they be paid a premium for the barley, the farmers’ names will go on the bottle.

This might sound like a gimmick. It’s not. At our first pub in Waterford, before we met O’Reilly, the bartender at Tully’s asked us which farm we wanted our whisky from. All

Reynier, who owned Scotland’s Bruichladdich distillery from 2000 to 2012, is often credited for the re-invention of Islay whisky (with the help of master distiller Jim McEwan, of course) with small-batch expressions, minimal use of peat and bold ideas, some of which surely grew out of his experience in the family trade as a wine merchant. When Bruichladdich was sold to Remy Cointreau in 2012 (despite Reynier’s objections) he left the company, taking two copper stills with him. Both stills now live in Waterford, where, for the past six years, Reynier has been working on making the world’s most “profound” single malt.

I’m not sure about profound, but I can say that this delicious whisky revived my flagging interest in a category that often feels like it’s lost its way, thanks in part to the emphasis and reliance on oak for so much of the flavour.

So, can Reynier reprise his success on Islay and re-invent the single malt? I think he might already have.

her bottles were single-farm expressions. And, you know what? They do all taste distinct.

Which is the very point Mark Reynier, Waterford’s founder and owner, is trying to make with his “barley-forward” whisky. Waterford is firmly committed to moving this noble Irish grain back to the centre of the story, as well as change the conversation about whisky so that it includes words like “microclimate” and, of course, “terroir.”

That’s a real 180 degree turn. For years now, we’ve talked about casks, yeasts and, in some cases, peat, as the primary drivers of flavour in brown liquor. To many, grain is mainly seen as the fuel to be converted into alcohol.

“Well, that’s really the whole problem, isn’t it?” says O’Reilly, as we drive north of Waterford to visit a barley farm. “When Mark first came here and told us what he wanted to do, I thought he was nuts. Once we started to understand the project, though, it all made perfect sense.”

Christine Sismondo, PhD, is an historian and the author of America Walks into a Bar: A Spirited History of Taverns and Saloons, Speakeasies and Grog Shops; Mondo Cocktail: A Shaken and Stirred History; and, most recently, Canadian Spirits: The Essential Cross-Country Guide to Distilleries, Their Spirits and Where to Imbibe Them (with Stephen Beaumont). Sismondo also acts as Canada’s Academy Chair for The World’s Best 50 Bars and as a judge for the World Gin Awards. Christine lives in Toronto and is working on a new book about cocktails and art. Her cocktail of choice is a Pisco Sour.

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Alessandro Masnaghetti: The mind behind the maps

by Michaela Morris

Photo credit: supplied

Alessandro Masnaghetti and producer Barbara Sandrone look at a section of one of Masnaghetti’s Barolo vineyard maps

Wine acquires its context through people, time and place, and there is currently no one more adept at giving context to place than Alessandro Masnaghetti.

Bricco di Nizza, located about 2 km northwest from Nizza Monferrato

“A map is an instrument, a medium,” says Masnaghetti, whose name has become synonymous with maps. Through his company Enogea, he has drafted and published detailed maps of some of Italy’s most prestigious denominations and his accompanying commentary takes the viewer on a journey through the vineyards with him. They have become essential tools for wine professionals and are equally venerated by serious aficionados. The most celebrated are those of Barolo - so detailed that he has compiled not just one but two books that consider the region’s vineyards from every angle. The maps convey the natural features of terroir like soil, temperature, steepness and aspect of slope as well as which grape is planted where and ownership of each parcel.

The man behind the maps is just as multifaceted as the maps themselves, and as fascinating as the regions he charts. Before assuming that Masnaghetti was born with wine running through his veins, consider that he is originally from Milan. A hub of industry and finance, this northern Italian city is far more famous for fashion than wine. “My father drank really terrible wine. It was a spritzy red, acidic and bitter with green tannins.”

While this may have delayed his appreciation for wine, Masnaghetti muses that his father’s career as a technical draughtsman influenced his post-secondary pursuits. He studied nuclear engineering at Milan’s prestigious Polytechnic University, earning his degree circa the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Soon after, Italy passed an anti-nuclear referendum. Without a job in his field, Masnaghetti worked briefly as a general engineer, but his heart wasn’t in it.

He was, however, a budding epicurean. “I don’t really know how this passion was born. My family wasn’t interested in gastronomy at all.” He does recall amusing himself as a young boy by peering in the window of a pastry shop watching the bakers at work. As he grew up, dining out became a hobby. On a lark, he submitted some of his personal restaurant reviews to I Ristoranti di Veronelli, Italy’s counterpart to France’s Michelin restaurant guide. It was founded by the late, great Luigi Veronelli, one of Italy’s most renowned and influential food and wine critics.

“I didn’t expect a reply, and above all, I didn’t expect one from the boss.” Not only did Veronelli write to thank him, he invited Masnaghetti to lunch. When he arrived, Veronelli introduced him to Fattoria Zerbina’s Cristina Geminiani, who later became Masnaghetti’s wife. “We always say that it was Veronelli who introduced us, even though we had met a few days earlier at a wine tasting.”

Veronelli also asked Masnaghetti to write for his wine guide, which he did until 1996. He went on to become the first editor of the Guida Vini dell’Espresso and eventually created his own newsletter, Ex Vinis. “From the time I started working for Veronelli in 1990 until 2015, my principal activity was as a wine taster. The new generation knows me as a cartographer, and no one remembers that I was a wine taster – of many wines.” In the golden era of L’Espresso, he was tasting 15,000 to 18,000 wines a year.

Masnaghetti supplemented his practical experience with courses on viticulture and oenology at the University of Bordeaux, sharpening his critical perspective. “When you visit wineries, you collect a lot of information, which can be contrasting. One of the best ways to put everything in order is to produce a map.” Spoken like a trained engineer.

The first wine region he mapped was Barbaresco in 1994. It was based on legal land parcels rather than actual vineyards. Alas, Masnaghetti was ahead of his time and his early maps were slow to sell. Still, he persevered, using whatever pictures were available, visiting each region to verify and draw in vineyards one by one. This painstaking work set him apart. “My point scores weren’t as high as other journalists but the fact that I had this detailed knowledge of the territory helped me earn credibility with the producers.” He also made a point of visiting every winery within a zone, regardless of its repute. “I dedicate the same time and the same importance to each one. I did this as a wine taster and when I became a cartographer, it became even more important for me.”

As satellite imagery improved through the mid-2000s, so did the precision of Masnaghetti’s maps. However, they were still slow to catch on. “Today everyone talks about crus and vineyards, but even just 10 years ago it was difficult for many producers to

Photo credit: supplied

Bussia Soprana farm estate

understand the value of these maps.” Starting with Barbaresco and Barolo was natural as esteemed vineyards have long been recognized in the Langhe. Masnaghetti soon followed with Valpolicella, where the tradition of crus is also well-entrenched.

In selecting which regions to document, Masnaghetti balances his predilections with the economic reality. “Selling a book on Barolo or a map of Chianti Classico is easy - one of Taurasi, less so but the quantity of work would be identical.” As for Chianti Classico, it was in obvious need of a map, according to Masnaghetti. “The zone is extremely varied and complicated; it was too intriguing not to make a map.” In the same breath, he derived satisfaction from Montepulciano, which he describes as a more homogenous area. “Sometimes simple work is more useful and beautiful than complicated work that you don’t succeed in translating.”

He has also ventured beyond Italy, partnering with Vinous’ Antonio Galloni to create maps for Napa and Sonoma - the latter due out at the end of 2021. He speaks fondly of the estates’ enthusiasm and willingness to collaborate while noting that geographical records of California lack the detail found in Italy. “This makes it more difficult to talk about the territory but at the same time, it makes the challenge more fun.”

It is clear that each project has been uniquely gratifying on several levels. Masnaghetti expresses affection for the wines of Bolgheri and their connection to Bordeaux as well as admiration for the geology, describing it as intuitive to explain and understand. “It is very ‘engineered’ but it is also a fantastic place. Even when you go in winter, as soon as the clouds disappear, there is a distinct perfume…”

Sadly, fragrances have yet to be captured by maps. Nevertheless, Masnaghetti has found a way to transport the viewer to the region of Barolo through his Barolo MGA 360 site. “When you see a map of a hill you can only imagine you are there, but when you see a photo taken with a drone that you can move, you are no longer just a spectator.” He recently launched a similar series for Chianti Classico and Barbaresco, which should be unveiled within the year.

The beauty of this new generation of maps is their ability to convey the landscape, which has become Masnaghetti’s great objective. “Rarely does the landscape have a direct influence on the style of the wine but it does explain a lot.” A change in landscape, such as different vegetation suggests a change in soil or microclimate, and it is these factors that contribute to shaping the wine.

Masnaghetti illustrates his point using the villages of Barolo. He describes the hills of La Morra as softer and rounder than those of Serralunga, which are much steeper. The visual difference is obvious to anyone who casts an eye on the landscape. According to Masnaghetti, the key to this difference is the soil: in Serralunga, there is more sand, thus more erosion resulting in steeper slopes, whereas in La Morra there is more clay and therefore less erosion yielding softer hills. “It gives me a lot of satisfaction when I explain this to people, and I see in their eyes that they understand. It is the passage from simply tasting a wine to putting it in a context.”

The depth of Masnaghetti’s work would not be possible without a genuine love of wine itself. He is a fan of Champagne - but it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. “It’s a beverage of relaxation.” His tastes are classic. He drinks Nebbiolo, Bordeaux - and Sangiovese when he wants something aged. “It gives the most satisfaction of Italian wines when old. You can try wines from the ‘70s and ‘80s that are still in great shape,” he declares, while admitting that he doesn’t have a particular affinity for wines that have been aged. Masnaghetti believes that if the wine is good, it should be drunk. “For me, there doesn’t exist a special occasion for wine. I open a bottle when I want it.” At the table he prizes quality over quantity. “I prefer one bottle, maybe two that are very good rather than the great confusion in your head of what you drank.”

As always with Masnaghetti, it is a sense of order that prevails.

Michaela Morris is an international wine writer, educator and speaker based in Vancouver, Canada. She has worked in various capacities of the industry for 25 years. Besides holding the Wine & Spirit Education Trust Diploma, Michaela is an Italian Wine Expert certified through Vinitaly International Academy (VIA) and leads seminars on Italian wine around the globe. Not surprisingly, her go-to cocktail is a negroni.

The Real Wolf of Wine:

Collecting Infinity Stones

Quench editor-in-chief Gurvinder Bhatia sat down for a Zoom with Jermaine Stone - aka the wolf of wine, aka the czar of vibes, aka young Thanos, to chat about all things wine and hip hop. In a broad ranging discussion, they talked about bringing the two together, changing the traditional perceptions about both, elitism, inclusivity, starting people off with the good stuff, and doing it for the intention, not the attention.

As a young hip-hop fan discovering wine in Brooklyn, Jermaine Stone, the founder of Cru Luv, a New York-based wine branding and marketing firm, definitely did not feel seen.

They didn’t know how to speak to me as a consumer. They didn’t represent people of color, they didn’t represent young people. That’s one of the reasons why I founded Cru Luv which is a creative agency dedicated to blending the best elements of wine and hip-hop in the most authentic and organic way we can.

That quest for authenticity started young. The first memories that Stone has of hip-hop was of rapping freestyle into instrumentals on the karaoke machine with his brother.

So I could always memorize the flow, and being able to flow on a beat in itself, which is, you know, that’s a skill. My brother and I, we started freestyling one day, I was probably about 12, and it had to be my first time, and I wasn’t bad. I wasn’t good, but I wasn’t bad. And my brother was horrible. So, him being the older one, he just kind of turned into nurture mode and he nurtured me into becoming an artist at a young age.

Stone’s taste in hip-hop reflected those of a young listener in the early ‘90s.

Let’s see. Wu Tang. Lots of Wu Tang Clan, lots of Notorious B.I.G. I was into anyone who was an East Coast artist, but there were also people like (West Coast rapper) Snoop Dogg who really inspired me. I was a big fan of Onyx. So, I’d say ‘92 - ‘94, those were the glory days for me, when I was really into it, towards the end of my high school, early college years. I was aggressively going after a record deal.

You know at that time, hip hop was really different, the music industry was really different. You couldn’t just throw your music online and promote it, you had to get it to different labels and hope that they listened to your demo.

My brother and I would always go and hang out in front of record labels, and that’s how we got to meet a ton of people. I ended up on one of those trips meeting LL Cool J, and he had heard me rap. LL’s people got my contact info and were really good about following up. I talked with them a bunch, and they’d signed me up for some battles, but nothing ever worked out with that. So I was really active in the underground scene trying to make a name for myself, but the love went away after I got deeper into the music business. The business of music kind of turned me off. And at that time, coincidentally, I was working my way up in the wine industry, so I just completely transitioned and started focusing on wine.

Stone shares his thoughts on the commercialization of hip-hop and wine.

They weren’t reflecting what the people really felt. It didn’t sound like it did in the basements in the Bronx that it came up in. But don’t get me wrong, it was awesome, it was just that it was

the most palatable version of hip hop for everyone on a wide scale. It just lacked authenticity. It continued to grow and, you know, grew into something different. I wanted to make sure that wine culture kept its soul and hip hop kept its soul, so as wine and hip hop culture grew, and I knew it was coming, but I felt like if people that weren’t really entrenched in the culture grabbed on to it, it was going to turn into a novelty. I had to do what I had to do to jump out there, put some skin in the game and blow things up to what you see now. The only exposure I had to wine at that time was Sorrel. It’s a drink that they make during the holidays in the Caribbean, and my mom would put in Manischewitz wine, you know, the Concord grape. And so every once in a while when she was making this I’d dip my finger in the wine and taste it. But growing up, that was my only exposure to wine and seeing it on TV, obviously. Champagne in clubs and things like that, but at that time I didn’t associate Champagne with wine because of the way that it was exposed and marketed to us. I kind of connected it more with spirits.

What changed his experience with wine?

My reverence for wine grew when I started working on the wine auction side of things at Zachys (Wine Auctions) in the shipping department. My friend told me he was working at a liquor warehouse and they were still hiring, so I popped in my application. I didn’t even know pensive. I was shipping $16,000 bottles of Petrus, you know, just seeing things like that as a young man, it interests you, and having the opportunity to drink some of these, you feel like you’re a king or something like that. It just elevates your selfworth, and that was what attracted me to wine and got me super interested.

Photo credit: supplied Photo credit: supplied

Working in the warehouse and seeing the reverence with which some bottles were treated was intriguing to the budding wine maven, but it was when he began tasting seriously that things opened up.

I was probably in the industry for about seven years already before I even thought of it as something that reflected my personal lifestyle, and it was a bottle of, I want to say 1998 Leflaive, I forget exactly which one, but I remember the producer, and it was the first time that I got it, the first time that I totally just understood. Wow, this is what everyone’s been going crazy over this whole time.

Photo credit: supplied

that it was a wine storage facility. So, my first job was technically with New York Fine Wine Storage – they supported Zachy’s wine auctions fulfillment - unpacking boxes of wine, checking the descriptions to make sure that I’m shipping the right thing and sending it out. But I noticed that the auction bottles were always treated differently, like people carrying it in extra carefully. The bottles were dusty, the wooden cases looked like they were found at the bottom of an ocean sometimes. So it just interested me. And you hear about how older wines are always more ex-

He’d been in the industry for several years when he began thinking that this was going to be a career, but that he was also running in one spot.

I felt like I was approaching a ceiling. When you haven’t seen anyone that looks like you in a position much higher than you, you unintentionally write it off. I assumed that the highest I could go was like a logistics manager. I didn’t think that I could become an auction director at any company. Yeah, I thought there was a ceiling so

I assumed that, after I hit a certain point in my career, I would just open a logistics company. But I was hired by Wally’s (Auctions) to become a founding director, and that was at about nine and a half years in. That opened me up to realize like, you still have a much longer way to go here. There, they were tapping into my entrepreneurial spirit, and because we were working with them in a startup phase, that interested me in a completely different way. I always assumed that I would be an entrepreneur. Getting those training wheels, and working with the Wally’s family like that, that was big for me.

As a person of color, Stone experienced some ignorance from customers not used to seeing an African American in his position.

That’s kind of where you experience some ignorance, you know, asking ‘why? How did you start doing this, what are you doing here?’ Like, you’re not asking my white counterpart that. I walk in as a manager with a white assistant, and they will talk to the white assistant and think I’m the help. Things like that happened a lot, but internally from the industry I’ve definitely been brought along. I feel like people have always felt that I was in a unique space and were kind of interested and wanting to get to know about it. I feel like I’ve been pretty well received. There’s some ignorance here and there with some customers, and every once in a while misunderstandings from people making assumptions.

Wine and music are both art forms with parallels, especially in that they both elicit emotions. Stone has various methods for bringing the two together.

One is the vibe. You think about the vibe that you will enjoy a particular varietal in and the vibe you will enjoy a specific song in. You might be just getting your evening started and you think about what you’re drinking in that situation, something maybe high acid, light and refreshing. If you’re in a more somber mood and chill, having a conversation, maybe something a bit more full-bodied and more complex that’s going to provoke conversation. And it’s the same thing with music and moods. You can also look at it in terms of the type of people that are connected. The whole thing behind passion vs. patience. Winemakers and people who make music have to have both and I realized that there was a similar mindset.

When I first started connecting wine and music I wanted to try to connect with people, you know, go to influencers in wine and influencers in music and show that these people are connecting together so that people that see themselves in these influencers, they can feel connected and say ‘hey, I can do that too.’ The same way that I mentioned I didn’t see anyone that looked like me and spoke like me, and that deterred me from thinking that it was even a possibility. I wanted to create those possibilities in people’s minds by showing them people that looked like them and spoke like them enjoying wine in a very honest and enthusiastic way. But also I wanted to show that the wine community appreciates and is receiving these people well. It helps make it more inviting. They don’t know that there are cool people like you and I that exist. I wanted to expose the fun side of wine.

That didn’t mean that it wasn’t difficult for Stone, at least initially.

I’ve had people say ‘this is not going to work, focus on something else like selling wine to people that are already buying it. It will be a lot easier.’ Other people have said ‘good on you for fighting the good fight’ in the most sarcastic way. But other people are like ‘wow this is really cool, thank you for doing this.’ And you know the people that see themselves in me, and the guests on our show, are from all different walks of life. That’s what inspires me just seeing how well received it’s been.

Stone speaks to elitism in wine.

It’s a top down thing from the wine industry, and when I say top down I think of the winemaker at the top, you know, it all starts with the winemaker and gets misconstrued in the middle where people think wine is this elitist thing, and it can only be enjoyed by the elites, but it started with the hard working farmers that are busting their ass every day. So when I think about that I think about the mentality of the winemakers that I’m seeing, which is a much more modern, cool and much more inclusive approach. That mentality is out there when they’re creating the wines, but also in the marketing. Wine labels, the names of the wines, they’re trying to attract a different

type of wine drinker now. There was a point in the wine industry where they started trying to clean up some of the super racist, super sexist shit. And people are owning that shit and trying to clean it up. And I’m seeing that from the top down, which is very inspiring.

Stone believes that getting diversity at the decision making level is when we’ll actually start to see real change as opposed to tokenism.

It’s exactly what we need. The people that are making the decisions have to understand the people that are drinking the wine. I noticed when going door to door with the brands that I work with, I’d speak to different store owners, and they’d say, ‘Oh, my people don’t drink that, my crowd doesn’t drink that,’ you don’t even look like the people that you’re selling this wine to so how do you know? It’s crazy. The people that are making the decisions don’t truly understand the audience that they’re selling to, so the more that that happens, and it’s happening a lot more because of a ton more younger entrepreneurs, I think you’re going to see a lot more understanding in the coming years.

Photo credit: supplied

On food and its connection to making wine and hip hop more accessible.

No one’s sitting down and writing a bunch of tasting notes for a meal, it’s like ‘this is just delicious.’ No, I agree. I think that it’s happening, I see it happening, honestly with the decline in white tablecloth service restaurants. I also think restaurant culture is getting a lot younger. I was actually inspired by a restaurant here in New York called Charlie Bird. Yeah, I love that place, all they play is hip-hop, but they have one of the best wine lists in New York City. And amazing food, so it was just so elevated. That’s one of the places that let me see that the world is ready for this. But I think the food, you know guys like the Ghetto Gastro (New York based collective of chefs and food enthusiasts) are out there doing similar things to what we’re trying to do for wine. So, I see it happening.

Stone recently returned from Italy and discusses his experience and pulling influences from different cultures.

In Italy, wine culture and food culture are truly one and the same. It’s like you don’t have a meal without wine, that’s just how it is. So I take that and I think about initiatives that I have like Tasting Notes from the Streets, which is a wine and food pairing show, but it’s really a show about the culture behind the food and wine is really a character on that show. Like, this is how you can apply wine to this part of your culinary life. But I pulled different things from different places, like I just love French wine. I definitely celebrate French wine a lot, and there’s just so much history there.

What is the next step to continue the evolution for Stone and Cru Luv.

Right now we want to grow and develop our video content. It’s all about reaching the people. And I know that my crowd really digs into that great looking video content. We want to continue to find different ways to connect wine and hip hop. I think the next big step is in media, and events surrounding the media that we are doing. Tasting Notes From the Streets is a video and event series. The show is about my friend Terrence and I traveling around New York City, pairing our favorite foods from the hood with the best wine from all over the world. The first episode we’re pairing German Pinot Noir with Jamaican beef patties and it’s amazing. Two weeks later, there was an event where you could link with us, and drink German Pinot Noir and eat Jamaican beef patties. We want to do much more of that, find ways to not just create the conversation, but create the activation.

Stone sees more and more young people getting into the industry and doing things differently as the older generation’s power starts to wane.

What I’m finding with this generation is everyone wants to be heard. Everyone has something to say, and they want their opinion out there, so I think there’s going to be a lot more of that. You want to put that beacon out to say ‘hey, I’m one

of you, and I want to find you so we can drink and enjoy wine together.’ The wine social media community is only going to grow, and that’s going to encourage more bloggers and more content creators. That’s what I see happening.

With so much information readily available, Stone suggests ways to sift through the noise and find information that is useful and credible.

I try to look for genuine people. I have this saying, ‘do it for the intention, not the attention.’ And whenever I see someone that’s doing something for the attention, they’re just making a novelty out of themselves. That’s when I’m just like, ‘okay, we don’t need to watch that video.’ Not to say that everything needs to be super serious, but pay attention to what you’re doing, take the time. I’ve seen people spouting out incorrect knowledge and it just shows the amount of attention that they pay to their craft and what they’re putting out. The safe bet is the best bet, you know, go with people that put the energy and time into creating good solid content. Keep your eye out for people that are paying attention to what they’re doing and are putting out quality content. That’s how I sift through the madness.

On the industry’s counter-intuitive strategy of mass marketing low quality sugar-laden wines to the average consumer vs. encouraging them to drink better, and that doesn’t mean more expensive, but just drink better quality and ultimately the entire industry will benefit.

There’s a guy I interviewed, Marquis Williams from Highly Recommended (a wine club in NYC). He’s on a similar mission to me where he’s trying to give better wine to his community. And he actually said ‘start people off with the good stuff.’ You know, why start them off with crap if you know it’s crap. I’m like, that makes total sense. That’s how I started out, I started out in wine auctions drinking high quality wine so, give people the opportunity to taste great wine

Photo credit: supplied

He has connected with an impressive list of people, but Stone still has a long list of those he would like to interview.

We pride ourselves on interviewing the diversity of people that are connected through this beverage. We’re still trying to get the Jay Z interview, fingers crossed, he hasn’t answered my calls yet, but, I would love to interview Big Daddy Kane because I know he’s a serious wine drinker and he knows this stuff. I’d love to interview Lebron, and I don’t think he’s too far away, man, if he knew Wine & Hip Hop existed, he would want to get on the show.

So what’s up next for Stone?

We’re a bit behind because we planned on doubling down on events in 2020. Obviously that went out the window and we transitioned into doing digital events and that helped the business grow a lot. I think Cru Luv is going to be the next LVMH having a variety of different high end products focused at a certain demographic and we’ll be known for quality. But we will be innovators and game changers. The amount of shows that I have in my mind I don’t have time for, you know, I see us definitely going to more network driven things, like right now on the wine show, which is a really cool show that’s on the Sundance Network here in the US. I can totally see us branching out doing a lot more media, a lot more events and putting out more new brands.

We worked with Raekwon from Wu Tang, when he created Licataa. We helped him source the wine, but we also helped with the creation of the brand. But that’s how I see us working. There might be some things that are not celebrity driven at all, and simply culturally driven, and figuring out how to connect the culture of where I come from, with where the wine may be from. I love imported stuff so I can totally see importing a lot more wines. I definitely think we’ll be working with someone from Germany, at some point, as well as wine from Portugal. I definitely have some affinity for port wine. But we definitely have a long way to go.

And what do Stone’s friends from his hip-hop days think of his venture?

They love it, they think this is so cool. Those are the guys that keep connecting me with all the artists that I’m interviewing. So they’re all about it and they see the need for this as well.