February 4, 2026 • 45 mins
Working in wine and traveling the world to visit wine regions and producers can be invigorating and exhausting. But that doesn’t Yannick Benjamin, a respected New York-based sommelier and co-founder of Beaupierre Wines & Spirits. What sets him apart is that manages this all from a wheelchair- with no limits. Paralyzed from a car accident in 2003, Benjamin advocates for individuals living with disabilities. He the cofounder of nonprofit Wine on Wheels and a para-athlete who races in marathons.
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The Connected Table is broadcast live Wednesdays at 2PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com).
The Connected Table Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-connected-table-live--1277037/support.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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(00:20):
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Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello and welcome to the Connected Table Live. We're your hosts,
Melanie Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple.
We love to travel the world to bring you the
amazing people we meet, the wine we drink, the foods
we eat, the places we visit to inspire you to
get out there and travel, eat, drink, explore and be
(01:02):
inspired with us. You know, we just got back from
a kind of a whirlwind trip to Turin and Milan.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It was a busy one.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
That was my first time in Turin in Milan.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
What about you, David, I've been a number of times before.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, but we hadn't been together, So that was nice
to be able to visit there with you and show
you a little bit of the stuff that I've seen before.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's always fun to be with you. So we were
there for Grandi Langhi, which was this giant and I
mean giant trade like wine fair to spotlight all the
wines at Piamont, which is a lot of wines. Because
Piamont has a vast region in northern Italy, it is
the highest concentration of doc and doc Ju wines anywhere
in Italy. There are so many ranges of wines and
(01:43):
there were sixty five hundred people, which because it was crowded,
Fortunately we got to hang out in the press area
and do some immersive tastings as well as meat with producers.
We didn't get to visit any wineries. David's photo is
from behind us is from one of his more prior visits.
But we hope to go and spend more time. But
one of the great things that we love about going
(02:04):
to these wine events is one we get to meet producers.
Two we get to expand our palettes. And for me,
having never been to Piamonte, I was able to taste
wines at kind of deep dive into different areas and
really continue my pala education. And the other thing we
love is catching up with friends in the business, and
(02:24):
we caught up with many good friends who were over there,
including our guests today, Janick Benjamin, Yonic Benjamin is in
the honor of being on like how Saturday Night Live
has like the five club, He's the three club because
we only have three guests who have been on our
show three times. Jaka, Penn, Kevin's really and now Yonic Benjamin,
(02:49):
and Yanick's story and life just keeps evolving, so that
when we saw him, I said, David, we always love
to have people on the show. We were at the
event with us, so we're getting a little talking about
the event, but also catching up. I said, you know,
I'd like to catch up with you on it because
so much has happened to him since we last had
(03:10):
him on in July of twenty twenty one, and it's
now February twenty twenty six that we need to catch up.
So he's joining us today from his home in New York,
and we're so excited to see him and welcome him
again to the Connected Table Live.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Good afternoon, Good to see you. Thank you so much
for having me on I. You know in sn now
they give out these jackets for the five timers.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You know, we're we're gonna come up. I have to
come up with something. We'll call it the connected table
hat trick.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Okay, we'll have to get maybe we'll get inspired for
Marty Garral while we're here. Exactly really really good. Well,
you know, it was good to see you in touring
and at Grande Langi. We were all moving around so fast.
And then we left there touring and went into Milan
in two days because I'd never been, and it's Olympic fever.
(04:02):
The Olympics are starting, which we can talk a little bit.
And we were watching you zip off here and there
you were in like the Valdosta and you were in
Meizza and I'm like, man, this guy gets around. How
do you do it, Yannick?
Speaker 5 (04:16):
How do I do it? I mean, I think it's
the passion of wanting to learn.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
I was very lucky that I had an incredible mentor,
especially during my time working at the Dues, a small
wine shop down in the West Village, and I worked
alongside this gentleman named Claude Dolgasser who had just been
around the world. He was incredibly well traveled, so well traveled,
and he was sort of my sage, you know, he
was my Socrates, and so he always taught me never
(04:44):
lose your curiosity. And I mean, being in this industry,
it's so infinite. I mean you're constantly learning.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
You think you know something, but the reality is the
more you see, the more you're here, the more you taste,
the less you know.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Couldn't agree more. And you know what's interesting though, for
our listeners who do and viewers now viewers who don't
know you, you do this with some challenges. You have
been in the business a very long time. So let's
take it back to how you got into wine and
then talk about that time in your life that changed
your life forever.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Yeah, you know, everything's full circle. Talking about Kevin Zareli
actually his men Tee was the wine director at Le
Cirk two thousand, which was a restaurant that was on
fifteenth in Madison Avenue at the Palace Hotel and it
was owned by Sera MAACIONI was a pretty legendary restaurant
and then it reopened at a new location in the
(05:37):
mid to late nineties.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Highly successful incredible wine program. And this is sort of
just at the boom of de Somolier here in New
York City and also in America. And Ralph Ferm who
was the wine director there, who was a long time
Somali at the Windows in the World, you know, I
was following him. And that's sort of how that kind
of trajectory of me getting into the industry at a
(06:00):
very young age of eighteen really started.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Wow wow, wow amazing. And it's great to have such mentors.
And so you were working where you were working at Cirqu,
you were where were you with things changed?
Speaker 6 (06:17):
Well, I worked at La Cirque, and then I worked
at for Lydia Bastianach at Feldia Restaurant, and then I
worked over at the Ritz Carlton Hotel with Gabrielle Kreuter.
And then at the age of twenty five, I had
a car accident and then I left me paralyzed from
the waist down. And so really talking about you know,
this very common word that we've heard a lot about
(06:38):
in the last few years, pivot. I had the pivot
for sure, and certainly working in hospitality and trying to
navigate those obstacles of being a full time wheelchair user
in an industry where you know, like I said, it's
it's it has its obstacles. You know, you're talking about stairs.
Space is always a very challenging situation. You're talking about
(07:00):
hot oil, fire, fast movie pace.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
We like everything, we try to navigate and we try
to work with what's given to us.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
You know, as a as a restaurant work veteran, I
can I can feel your pain in that respect, because
you know, restaurants are a they're a super busy place
and you really you have to have your wits about
you when you navigate through the dining room and whatnot.
But I can imagine in a wheelchair, it just it
ranks it up to a whole other level because you
need the space to be able to move around with
(07:32):
a wheelchair, which a lot of restaurants don't afford you.
And I think we'll get into talking about how you
worked with that with Contento a little bit later, But
it's a very it's a crazy situation to be able
to have to do that, and I really it must
applaud you for it.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well, you know, one of the things again we've because
we've shared your life, and we talked about the absolute
you know, the recovery, the mental and physical recovery you
had to go through. And then I mean you had
to reach deep into You've had to reach deep into
your spiritual depth many times. Okay, so let me just
say this. I say, Okay, you had the car accident
and you were paralyzed. And I hate I never say
(08:14):
that we're confined and disabled because you're not confined and
you're not disabled in my mind, because you get around
the world more than most people. I know people that
never get around the world because they just don't bother
making the effort. You get around the world. Yes, and
and you know, so for me, you're freer than anybody.
But you also and I think people need to understand
(08:37):
that you've had to face perceptions and challenges in terms
of just getting remaining employed and the first impressions and
then and I thought about I think I thought about
this a lot. Actually, the wine far crime belonging. A
lot of people don't understand because they're not in your
(09:00):
seat at the table, what the challenges are and how
to be more thoughtful about and and and commenting to
deal with it. What are some examples of how you've
managed to overcome the challenges and face them and overcome
them to help enlighten the people who will say, wow,
(09:21):
maybe we could do better.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Well.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
To quote the movie from the Shawshank Redemption, Uh, some
birds are not meant to be caged because their feathers
are too bright.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Right, And so I think that Listen.
Speaker 6 (09:35):
Obviously, not everybody has the privilege or maybe the resources
to be able to travel as I do on a wheelchair,
but I think, you know, there's a lot of research
that goes behind.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Behind it and then reaching out and explaining to people.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
So you it really starts with me, right, I need
to be able to reach over the.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Aisle explain.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
And I think people generally speaking are very receptive. But
it's not an overnight thing for sure. I mean I
was just reading something, you know, Aaron Judge. I think
the year that he hit, you know, the record breaking
year where he hit like over sixty six or sixty
seven home runs, I think he struck out three times
the amount of the home runs that So there's definitely
(10:24):
moments where you're going to try something and you're going
to fail. But I will be perfectly frank. I think
overall my experiences with people in the hospitality industry because
people that work in hospitality, whether it's in wine or
their chef or it doesn't, but in that sort of
whole spectrum, people are willing to listen and people are
(10:45):
just naturally generous, right, And so I think, yes, of course,
there aren't too many people with a visible disability such
as myself in the industry, but I am really grateful
to be surrounded by so many people. And now I've
kind of set a template.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
So when I reach out to winemakers out for example
Barolla or Bubbarescua or wherever I'm going, I think people
just kind of know now and we figure it out.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
You were a co founder of Wine on Wheels. It
was really forward to some maybe we want to tell us,
tell our listeners and follow us what that is and
what your goals and objectives are.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Absolutely for sure, thank you. So wheeling Forward was what
I started along with alex E La Gudin, who is
a dear friend who is also in a car accident,
and we met because we were in the same rehab center.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
And so then a few years later we said, well,
why don't we take our resources raise some money and help.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
All these other individuals that have a disability in our
community and kind of uplift them. And a lot of
that is through our events, to our seminars or our
tastings known as wine on Wheels, using wine, you know,
I'm basically, you know, a play on words, turning wine.
I'm turning wine into hope, right, And so that's what
we really do.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
And it's great because the concept of wine in itself, right,
it's something communal, it's something to bring people to the
table and to uplift and I think that's what we've
done and we continue to do so. And it's not
just people with disabilities of We've raised money.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
For a really wonderful community center known as Holy Trinity
Community Center here in New York City on eighty eighth
Street between First and Second and they're doing tremendous work.
And every Saturday they have a sit down dinner for
people that are food and secure and they're served and
they get to eat with dignity and respect. So there
are things like that that we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's great because I think right now, I think more
people need dignity, They need to fill a sense of place.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Completely agree with you, Melanieah, Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You're in New York right now. You live there, you're
a life learner, or you're born in New York. Your family,
we live there for a long time, you worked there
all you you opened a restaurant contento to rave Reviews,
a michal a nod incredible, and then you made a
PayPal and very public and honest assessment of closing and
(13:13):
wrote a very open letter in The New York Times
about it that resonated with a lot of people. Share
a little bit about that because you weathered. You weathered
the pandemic because it opened before the pandemic. And then god,
I'll never forget it was like every two minutes you
were closing down. The city was closing down and reopening,
and everybody's just like in a tizzy. What was that
(13:36):
like making a decision? And I want you to do
it this way. We have friends who've made the decision
to close businesses, whether it's a restaurant, whatever, and it's
never you know, I closed my first company. Take us
through why it was the right decision and what has
come out of it, because a lot of people go
through it. They don't they go through a lot of
emotional angst, and you did, I did. What was that process?
(14:00):
What took you out of it?
Speaker 5 (14:02):
Really? You know, both of my parents are in hospitality.
My uncles they're all French, and they came here seeking
a better life, like the classic immigrant story. And they
all worked at the famous Lui Law restaurants here in
New York City. And if you would have come to Contento,
you would have gone to the bathroom if you used
about them.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
There were a bunch of older vintage menus where my father,
my uncles worked at, including myself. It was, you know,
an opportunity to open up a small restaurant.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
We had this incredible deal.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
The rent was very low, and I said, well, let's
just cash in our chips and see how it goes.
I think what helped me was that I had very
realistic expectations.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
I was not expecting to make any kind of money.
As a matter of fact, I probably knew that even
if it was successful, I might be losing a little money.
But hopefully the long term goal was that if it became.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Successful, that maybe we can open up, you know, multiple units,
and maybe I can make a full time living from that.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
And so we signed the lease in twenty nineteen. It
took well over a year, you know, between getting Department
of Buildings approval for construction and you know, of course
the construction workers all these kind of delays, and we're
in New York City. The building that we were operating
the restaurant in was I think it was built in
eighteen ninety five. So every time you opened up something,
(15:26):
you found something and then you were responsible at the
It's just classic New York City story. And so then
finally we actually had on December one, twenty nineteen, we
had a preview tasting with some friends and family, and
we're like, we're going to open up sometime in like
late March early April of twenty twenty and then sure enough,
the city was shut down. I believe it was fourteenth
(15:48):
or fifteenth of March, so we were completely delayed. We
didn't get to open up the restaurant officially until June tenth,
twenty twenty one. And I guess we could have opened
up earlier, but as you said, before, people people were opening,
people were shutting down, opening, shutting down, and we knew
(16:09):
that because we were already in the red, that if
we opened up and we shut down again it was
going to be the end.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
So we kind of we we held steadfast, We you know,
held on, held on, held on, and we finally opened up.
And it was at the very beginning it was usually successful.
You know, we wouldn't we could never have imagined this small,
tiny restaurant really, you know, at the end of the
world as far as Manhattan goes. You know, we were
(16:36):
kind of like it's like kind of like this middle
of nowhere block and it was busy more than ever,
and it stayed like that for quite a while.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
But I always knew, you'd gone inside, that.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
That business model of us being a destination spot was
not sustainable.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
We needed more. Eventually, we would need a bit more
kind of walk in neighborhood support and and sometime in
really kind of in twenty twenty three, we definitely saw
the numbers drop, and we were a wine centric restaurant.
We also saw the numbers drop off a little bit
when it kep the wine sales, and it just became
(17:16):
really challenging on trying to figure out how to get
people to come.
Speaker 6 (17:20):
And we just had also challenges with the crime. I mean,
it was really hard. You know, a couple of incidences
where we had to get the police involved, and where
we had to get we actually had to hire for
a couple of months to full time security guards bouncers
that I used to work with back.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
In the nineties because I used to moonlight of the
bouncers at work in the front door, which is kind
of really crazy. It's not part of your budget when
you have a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
And they're expensive.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
They're expensive.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
And finally, like I to be honest with you, by
November of twenty twenty three, I mind you, I already
had a wine store, a small business owner, and I'm
working a full time job so I can continue to
have health health insurance because I certainly need health insurance
because of my situation of being a full time paraplegic. Yeah,
And finally, by like the end of November, like listen
(18:09):
to numbers are not making sense, and let's get out
of this before it even gets worse, and we go
to full debt and it just gets really ugly and
it just kind of manifested that way. And then by
I think our last day.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Of full operation was December twentieth around that time, and
that was it.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
You know, it's an amazing as you talk, I think
about New Orleans, because the New Orleans is similar. You
have to have a security guard in front of your
Ammalalds just announce the closing of a restaurant. You know,
people are fickle. There's you know, you're it's it's everywhere.
It's not just New York. And I want to underscore
that because we don't want to make people think that
New York is just a crime written place. But crime
(18:51):
is a problem everywhere. I mean, we go to the
drug stores now and everything's locked up. So yeah, God,
no mighty. You can't even get like Thailand all anymore
without getting permission. You were so honest about it in
the in the your up in the New York Times,
your opinion about you had one of the top rated.
Michelin naded every you achieved the dream contentto was a
(19:14):
resounding success in the public eye and in the professional
palette and everything. But the reality is everyone you can
have a highly successful restaurant to everyone's eye, and it
still will not necessarily be a financially successful because of
(19:35):
the odds these days of running a restaurant. And you
brought up an important but health insurance. You know a
lot of places don't provided right now with what's going
on in the United States without getting a politics people.
We were at a restaurant last night, a Mexican restaurant,
and there was a sign of the friends that please
be patient with us. We are very short staffed. Well
(19:56):
we know why they're short staff because a lot of
people have had disappeared. So it's a challenge. You're probably
glad you got out of it, but we're flecking back
on this incredible knowledge you have having worked so many
now areas of the industry is in wine as an
owner is designing a concept that is accessible. What are
(20:16):
you What would you advise to people who want to
get into the business and and do it right, but
also do it right in a way that they're not
going to lose their faith or their shirt for sure.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
I mean, I think the most important thing.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
I mean, obviously passion is really important, but you've got
to be pragmatic about it, and you've got to have
reasonable expectations. And if you think you're going to go
open up a business and you're you're gonna you know,
live a lavish lifestyle, and I don't think most people
do that, but I think you you've got to really
understand those first few years, it's gonna hurt in the
(20:49):
pocket and you better be prepared to to receive a
phone call at all hours of the day. You know,
Leaky pipes, uh, you know, you get a couple of
Hurricane Sandy's and your you know, your hole basement is flooded,
And there's just so many factors and so many variables
(21:09):
as an owner that you're responsible for your line cook
decides to call out sick or not, maybe it's beyond their.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Control as well. Who's going to fill in that for
that line cook?
Speaker 6 (21:19):
And those are the big challenges that that that we
are facing as an industry. And as I said, I
think the hardest part for me was we were a
restaurant that really focused on obviously good food and good hospitality,
but also inclusivity and all that kind of stuff. But
I always, I always felt that I was somewhat of
(21:39):
a hypocrite in anyways because I was not able to provide.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Adequate health insurance for individuals that were working in an
industry where you know, it's it's pretty pretty hazardous, right,
I mean, you know, you're there's a high likelihood of
you getting injured while you're on the job because you're running,
you're on your feet all day, and again you're you're
you're surrounded by sharp objects, and so that part is
just immensely challenging. On the other side, selfishly, it definitely
(22:08):
made me a better professional. I learned a lot, without
a doubt, I learned a lot about myself.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
And even though I was warned by great, great restaurants
heurs like Rita Game, who you.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
All know very well.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
Yes, and even though you think you you've talked to
everybody and you've been doing this forever, it's not the
same when you're actually the owner and you're you're responsible
for these individuals and for their lives for that matter.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Well said, wow, And it's so true. And Rita and Andre
went through there. You know so many of our friends
because we've all been in the business for so long.
We've seen their highs and their loves, their ups and down.
But everyone, every everyone, including Rita, lands somewhere and does Okay,
you have both here Wines and Spirits, which is a
lovely little store in Health's kitchen there where you live
and grew up. And I've been in there. I don't
(22:58):
know if you have for New Orleans but we love them.
We love this kind of store because it is manageable,
you know what I mean versus the big supermarket. What
do you look for when you for stocking the shelves
at both pier which you run with your wife Heidi?
Speaker 5 (23:14):
For sure, I know. I think one thing that we
try to do with most of the labels that we
carry in the store, and like you said, it's a
small store, so it's really a family owned store, is
the labels that you'll see most of them generally speaking,
we have some kind of connection with the winemaker. We
actually either visited the region or we've rubbed elbows with
(23:37):
the winemaker.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
We've had conversations with them, and we can actually tell
the story and we can actually validate them firsthand.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Kind of like this show. Yeah, that's how we pick
our gas. I mean we will not just like you know,
don't send us a press release on a bottle and expect
this to spend all the time doing a show, right exactly.
So you were just in to run with us and
then you went on. What were some of your impressions
over there? What are you excited about now?
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Well, first of all, I just want to say one
thing I've just like you.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
I've had the good fortune of being all over Italy,
but this is my first time really spending time in Torino,
in Turin, and I really just love the city.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
I have to say, it's magnificent. It's really a beautiful city.
So that's the one thing I'll start off.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
So whoever's listening to this, please check out tourent Amazing restaurants,
a great walking city, absolutely surrounded, you know, gorgeous. But
I went to visit the Valadiosta, which is just majestic,
and the wines are beautiful, and especially we've seen the
trend of kind of light fresh, vibrant reds and high
(24:41):
acid whites, and certainly look no further to the Valadeosta.
Great visits. We went to go visit Lacretz. We went
to visit another producer called Grogan. You can clearly see
sort of that French Swiss, you know, a bit of
that Germanic influence there, obviously still retaining that Italian sensibility.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
And I really and great food out there as well.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Then we want to go visit the Longen, which I've
been to a couple of times before and really spent
a lot of time with the winemakers out there, great
great wines. I just love, I mean, I love that
whole area. It's just it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
It is a beautiful area, and the wines are great.
You know.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Obviously it's home to Barolo and Barbarosco too, the great
red wines of Italy, but it's also home to Austi
and Barbera and so many of their different different white wines.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
And red wines that we all drink wines kind of
a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Of times we don't get a sense of place for them,
and so they're all in Piedmont.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I mean, Piedmont's a it's a huge, very bad region
and a very varied region.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
You go, you know, and you know, in our little
tasting area and our little we had this long list.
You know, there was no way in two days we're
going to get past any of it. Of course, I'd
be one to the Barolo, but I also because white
wines sell really well in New Orleans, I'm sure, but
there we wanted to dig into some of the little
indigenous white wines like Herba Lucea and Timoroso and we
(26:03):
just kind of were like wow, you know, and Rorero
and that was like a real fun fine, because most
people think of aside from Ussi, they think of you know,
the big baes, Barbara Dasti and Barolla and barber Esca.
But the wis were a wonderful experience.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
I completely agree.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
I think one category that's really underrated is it tying
white wines.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
I think they're food friendly. I think the price points
are always really generous and good, you know, considering all
the things that we've been through with Terras and they
remain to be really good. I think they're very food friendly.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
Timarosa, I don't think I've ever tasted as much as
I did because of the Grande Lane, so it kind
of really you know, obviously have had it many times before,
but to have it there side by side with multiple.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Producers really was enlightening. Aurita, Herba, Luce and of course Arna's.
I think they all showing really well for sure.
Speaker 6 (27:01):
I think that's what I came out of it, just
like you both, was how delicious the white wines from
delonging from pimont Are.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah, And I think to your point also they're very
food friendly. But they've also you know, one of the
things I love about Italian white wines is that they've
got great acidity, yeah, but they've also got they've also
got what I call viscosity. They've got a nice body
to them, so they stand up to food at the
same time, and it's a win win situation.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
Completely agreed, yep.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
And then when you were posting from Laclette, which I
met for the first time at the Opera Opera Vini
the Wine Spectator event in Italy, they were there and
I've never been about of all, thats a tiny little
Aaria doesn't have a lot of pr budget, I guess
because nobody but you posted from there. And we had
just had the wine in Milan because we were having
(27:51):
a dinner. So when we got to Milan after, which
is a fabulous city, it's just like a giant walking
museum outside and we didn't even go to the indoor museums.
I mean, has one of the largest Egyptian museums in Europe.
But we were seriously walking outside Google guying all the architecture.
But we uh, we went to this restaurant, so we
were in the move for seafood because I'm having issues
(28:12):
with me and with this piscal Nautilus is fabulous. We
had the likret there and it was like, wow, this
is so wonderful. And then the next restaurant we went to,
which ironic it's called Maria, not lent it to the
one in New York, same thing. We had another Valdost
and wine there.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
I mean, like like I said before, when it when
it comes to these uh, these Italian whites, but particularly
the Valdosta really just uh just beautiful and and and
the reds too, pretty huge human These are all kind
of local grapes from that region and again incredibly food friendly.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
But not only that, but these are reds that I
would drink, you.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Know, on the patio on ice just like almost like
boje Chetto for that matter. And I really just enjoyed
that aspect of these type of grapes and wines and
very well made, well executed.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And just you know, for we've not been but just
for our context, for our viewers and listeners, that of
Valdosta is literally a little corner in the northern part
of north western part of Italy, the borders Switzerland and France.
It's almost Switzerland. I'm looking at a map now and
I see Zarmont Chamany in Ballet. So you're going to
(29:29):
get that Fioca Swiss mines are so awesome and it's
I'm sure the skiing is awesome. Crazy. Now what is
really neat is we were in Milan and Olympics opening
ceremony is coming up in a few days and it
was like Olympic fever everywhere. Now, something that we haven't
shared with everybody is that you are practically a Paralympia.
(29:51):
I mean you were. You have competed in many mini
athlete athletic events. Talk to us about that and how
you do it.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
Yes, well, thank you for asking.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
I've done I don't know now, twelve New York City marathons,
a couple of Chicago Boston marathons.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
I should say.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
I've always enjoyed competition. I love participating in sports. And
I'm working out is like someone not having lunch or dinner, right,
It's just something that I need to do. It's just ingrained.
That's part of my life. It's so important.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Before you know, I definitely was motivated by trying to
beat my personal records and competing at a high level.
And life changes. You work for you know, you're working
so much, and so I now do it for enjoyment
but also.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
To raise money and awareness for my charities and all
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
And I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do
the New York City Marathon this year, but maybe next
year I will do it.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
It's nice to take a little break, but I always
love doing the New York City Marathon.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
To do it in my hometown city, I always like,
I see something that I've never seen before. So but
but it's it's just it's very gratifying and that's why
I do it. Especially Listen, we're in an industry where
we like to eat and drink good stuff and this
kind of keeps me balanced.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Yeah, well we're curious, are you Are you going to
follow the Olympics and the Paralympics and do you know
any of the share Olympics because that is really one
of the most exciting things ever. Is a Paralympics.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
Absolutely, oh for sure. I mean the stuff that they're
able to do, I mean all of them, by the way,
it's it's beautiful. I mean, it's it's hard to imagine
that all.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Of them are waiting every four years to be on
this major stage and they only have one chance to
get it right. So it's uh, I mean it's it's
it's amazing, and they are amazing.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
That discipline to be able to do that is really
kind of inspiring.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
It's a commitment, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
How do you find your discipline? Because you know what
we didn't mention is the last year you suffered a
pretty bad fracture. It was pretty bad, and you're very public,
but you're very public about the ups and downs of
your life, which is is inspirational because I think a
lot of people don't share and they're just miserable inside.
(32:12):
You actually wear your heart on your sleep. You had
a fall, you fail from your wheelchair, right.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
It was You know, it's funny because there are falls
where you know, maybe you break a bone, but then
there's and then that's that's the only thing you have
to deal with.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
But it was just such a catastrophic it just let
led into other things.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
Where I had to be under supervision and observation. I
should say, maybe when your spinal cord injured. When things
like that happen, sometimes you fall into the category of
automomic Di's or flexick.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
And so that means that because I.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
Don't feel below the waist wherever the point of injury
is trying to send signals.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
To my brain. And usually you have your if your.
Speaker 6 (32:56):
Spinal cord is intact, your brains sort of just kind
of reve regulating every thing. And obviously I didn't have that,
So now my heart and my whole body's working over time.
So it was just kind of an intense situation. Then
I had I had issues with my health insurance. It
was just it was a very bizarre, uh situation.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
But you know, fortunately I got out of it due
to my lovely wife, Heidi, and the support of my
friends and family, and I mean the incredible community. I
mean they all reached out, it was and supported. It
was unbelievable and I'm so grateful and I'm eternally grateful
and even more of a reason why I have to
continue to work to get back to others because everything
(33:34):
works full circle. And so yeah, that was my situation
last year. But here I am now talking to you both.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Your spiritual was off was incredible because every day you
posted your extrescise. You were exercising so much and I'm like, damn,
I got to get off my butt and start doing that.
And then you were and then you posted very inspirational messages.
And I think a lot of people right now, as
I said, are suffering in silence for whatever is digging
into them. And to have you say I'm gonna beat
(34:04):
this and really get out there was really really great,
really great. And like I said, you travel so much,
and I know it's it's you've got it down to
a system, because it's probably that wasn't easy, but you
do you know, do you travel on your own or
you have people with you when you go?
Speaker 5 (34:23):
No, I travel on my own for the most part.
I mean, if I mean, if I travel with somebody,
it's because we're traveling together. But I mean I I
do travel.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
I'm very lucky that I'm able to do that, that
I'm able to you know, and like I said, there.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Was some trial and error, but I do have it
down to a science.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
And I'm very grateful that I get to go see
parts of the world that a lot of people will
never get to see and smell and experience and I
get to do that. And it's like I said, even
being back in the long day and getting to hang
out with the you know, people like Mario Fontana and
Luca Corrado and Julia Negri and just and them sharing
(35:04):
their their personal passions.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
I mean that gosh. I mean in bringing it back
to New York and then sharing it to other people
who can't be there, it's an immense honor to do.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So we consider it an honor too when we're invited,
and we really take it when we travel, we take
it very seriously because we want to learn. You're all,
as you said, you're always learning always and there's new
people to me, and you want to bring it back
and share it with people who sause. I don't know
about you, John, I can do it, but I get
so frustrated when I go to a store, I go
(35:39):
somewhere and people just get the same thing. They don't
want to try anything different. They just you know, and
maybe because they don't know or they're intimidated or whatever.
And you know, I'm the one and David can avounchu this.
We were like literally at the drug store. We were
at Walgreens and the guy that was like had a
bottle I want to say which one was like, dude,
you can do better. I mean this is Ballgreens, so
(35:59):
you know what the electionists. But I was like, dude,
you could do better.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
And We actually do that a lot.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
I think we're wine aisle muses for a lot of
people we've never met him, We've never met them, and
we'll go up to them and say, you know, you
should try this one.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
I mean, is that your price point? We can we
can we can match that.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I was like, you know, there's not a lot of
pick from, but instead and I tell little story behind
that was it was actually a Josh Seller's wine, and
I wanted to say it was much better the way
it picked. And later he came to he was he
actually we were doing trick or treat. He came by.
He's like, oh, you're the one who told me about
the wine. You really like it. So do you do
(36:38):
you like to do educational perhaps? I mean, what do
you what do you want to see with your life now?
And we've done so many you've accomplished so much. What
do you want to see happened? Where do you think of?
Speaker 6 (36:48):
I mean, I'm enjoying the time of having to be
able to travel and to share those passions with other people.
I mean, I have a lovely wine store that my
wife is overseen, so that's really great. I think that
we all know that we're sort of we're facing challenges,
you know, a new era in the world of wine, right,
(37:10):
kind of figuring out how to navigate all that. I
am I losing sleepover it, absolutely not. We're in an
industry where it's it's been around since for eight thousand years, right,
And we went through a prohibition in this country from
nineteen nineteen to nineteen thirty three, and we overcame that too,
And so I think it's just we're just kind of
(37:33):
reconfiguring how we do things in the industry. And that's good,
and that's okay, and that's fine. I think there's some people,
some companies that might have over delivered and they went
by the metrics of COVID, which were a bit you know, yeah,
But I think overall, it's I think we're just maybe
(37:54):
kind of like getting rid of some of the fat.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah. You know, COVID was a COVID put everybody in
overdrive in a lot of ways. It created a lot
of TikTok stars that we don't care about. It created
a lot of excess product that nobody cares so it
cated a lot of because it cate a lot of
heavy drinking.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
My theory is one of the reasons people were drinking
less is they drank too much during COVID, so they
had to correct themselves because they all went to the
doctor and found out they had like fatty liver and
high cholesterol and they gained weight. And it's just a correction.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
It's a correction.
Speaker 6 (38:27):
And I think also people that are in the industry,
who who represent these wines, I think for a long
time we got really hung up on blind tasting in
the parlor tasting and getting too technical that we need
to get back to sort of the historical context, the
emotional aspects of wine, sharing the stories of Elena and
(38:50):
Luca Carrado and all of these incredible people and the
work that they do. And then a lot of them
are farmers and they're working hard and really creating that experience, right,
And I think if we can do that instead of yeah,
this is this amount of pH level and malolactic fermentation
and twenty percent you O and all that, but really
(39:10):
kind of making this sort of almost religious experience and
this moment of like stopping and enjoying every simple wine
and making that more of a cultural thing.
Speaker 5 (39:21):
And let's getting back to that, just.
Speaker 6 (39:22):
Like the ancient Greeks did in the Agora, where they
would have mine and they would talk and they would discuss,
and that's the etymology of the symposium, right, let's get
back to that.
Speaker 4 (39:33):
I couldn't believe, you know, you know, It's it's funny.
We had a we while we were all in Turino together.
I had we had a Melanie and I had a
conversation with somebody who said, you know, I've stopped publishing
my notes for people because nobody cares about what I
actually write, so.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
I am not going to publish my notes anymore.
Speaker 5 (39:49):
Yeah. Yeah, And we were like.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, that just says up a lot of time our computers,
you know. I mean, it's it's true that the story
and the people you and enjoy it with wine is
something you share with people, hopefully with food. The experience
and the and the texture and the it's you know,
the sensory experience and wine is what you want, not
(40:11):
the science of it.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
Correct. And that's why when I post on Instagram, I
talk less about well I just had this wonderful wine
and it was BlackBerry because he's current blah blah.
Speaker 6 (40:21):
But instead I want people to understand the feeling that
I got when I was helped by the by the
Alps exactly and the challenges they face as winemakers to
make this very unique uh product, this liquid geography, because
I do believe that with wine, it has this inate
ability to transport you to a certain time, to a
(40:42):
certain place. And that's what and and really it's certain
emotions as well, and I think that's.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
What really is is really unique about wine in itself.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
For sure, I couldn't agree with you more. I think
it's I think the wine industry and needs to stop
staring at its belly button and over analyzing and looking
at metrics and ROI and you know all that crap
and just get back to emotion.
Speaker 5 (41:06):
Yep. I completely agree with you for sure. I think
and and and it will. It's just like you said,
I think you use it right now. It's there's a
big correction happening. You know, you was it. You can't
make a crooked straight without a.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Ruler, you know. It's like that with everything. It's like
I remember when everybody was right. Now everybody's putting protein
and everything, and you have protein, this protein startups and
protein that that's going to correct too. No one's going
to care anymore. I mean it's just, you know, it's
like you get into overdrive and overkill.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
But you remember, I mean listen, I remember if you,
if you had anyone that was in the banking industry.
I mean, people were freaking out for a little bit
because of the whole gluten free movement, you know, and
people who were in pastries. But they're still around and
they're doing all right, and it just they just have
to correct themselves and figure out other options and that's it.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, yeah, and not over analyze everything to death. At
the end of the day. You know, you've got to
have more fun and more enjoyment and less over and
analysizing everything. Well, you know, so one of the next
wine and wheels programs and where can people learn more
about wine and wheels because.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Yeah, please, yeah, just go on to Instagram where Wine
on Wheels, NYC Wine on Wheels. The actual grant tasting
will be sometime in October six okay, yeah, yeah, October
twenty twenty sixth. Thank you. There'll be a big announcement
and then throughout the year. If you want to sign
up to our newsletter, just go on our website winowheels
dot org and sign up and you know, hopefully you'll
(42:36):
join us on one of our smaller seminars taste teams.
You name it.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Well, I think it's a great combination to you know,
experience great wine and learn about it and also support
an important area, which is you know, creating opportunities for
people that you know have some physical challenges and or
other challenges. As you said, you're also doing stuff with
food and security. So it's just you know a lot
of people are challenged now, so we want to reach out,
(43:01):
you know, help, But you have defined, you have defied
odds and challenges and like I said, you you you
somebody less Like we were friends that like we don't know.
They were like, we don't know how you do it.
You're always traveling, aren't you exhausted. I's like, well, we
actually have a friend a Shoe and you know he's
the one who inspires us not to not to get
tired and saying yeah, not to say go out there
(43:22):
and do it right, just do it.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
I mean it. I think traveling and being you know,
surrounded by different cultures and different languages. Also, there's something
exciting about being vulnerable and kind of putting yourself in
a a in that situation. It really challenges you in
the best possible way. It's very beautiful at the end
of the day.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Well, that's a great way. That's very inspiration because I
think we all have some type of vulnerability. Yes, whether
it's physical or emotional, mental, and it is you know,
I'm a big get out and step outside your comfort zone.
Speaker 5 (43:57):
So all the way on that, Melodie.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Well, Janic, I hope we get to see you again
on the road, you know, as we always say, and
when you live a nomad life, you go see you
down the road.
Speaker 5 (44:08):
Yes, indeed, it's always a pleasure to see you. You're
two of my favorite people. You're tremendous, great human beings.
And thank you for all that you do for our
industry because it's important work.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Well, we enjoy it. It's a labor of love and
we love you. So be well. Give your beautiful bride
Heidi a hug for us. Check out wine and Wheels
if you go to New York, check out both Pierre
Wines and Spirits and follow Yanick at Youanick Benjamin all right, yeah,
thank you, thanks everybody for joining us. You were Melanie
(44:41):
Young and David Ransom. We've been doing the show as
a labor of love for twelve of yours. Can you
believe it? The Connected Table Life. Follow us at the
Connected Table, check us out on YouTube over sixty five
podcast channels as we travel the world, hopefully lot and
learn to step outside your comfort zone, eat, drink, explore,
inspire with us and always and say she'll be curious.
(45:01):
Thank you,
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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(00:20):
for choosing W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello and welcome to the Connected Table Live. We're your hosts,
Melanie Young and David Ransom. You're insatiably curious culinary couple.
We love to travel the world to bring you the
amazing people we meet, the wine we drink, the foods
we eat, the places we visit to inspire you to
get out there and travel, eat, drink, explore and be
(01:02):
inspired with us. You know, we just got back from
a kind of a whirlwind trip to Turin and Milan.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
It was a busy one.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
That was my first time in Turin in Milan.
Speaker 3 (01:11):
What about you, David, I've been a number of times before.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Yeah, but we hadn't been together, So that was nice
to be able to visit there with you and show
you a little bit of the stuff that I've seen before.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
It's always fun to be with you. So we were
there for Grandi Langhi, which was this giant and I
mean giant trade like wine fair to spotlight all the
wines at Piamont, which is a lot of wines. Because
Piamont has a vast region in northern Italy, it is
the highest concentration of doc and doc Ju wines anywhere
in Italy. There are so many ranges of wines and
(01:43):
there were sixty five hundred people, which because it was crowded,
Fortunately we got to hang out in the press area
and do some immersive tastings as well as meat with producers.
We didn't get to visit any wineries. David's photo is
from behind us is from one of his more prior visits.
But we hope to go and spend more time. But
one of the great things that we love about going
(02:04):
to these wine events is one we get to meet producers.
Two we get to expand our palettes. And for me,
having never been to Piamonte, I was able to taste
wines at kind of deep dive into different areas and
really continue my pala education. And the other thing we
love is catching up with friends in the business, and
(02:24):
we caught up with many good friends who were over there,
including our guests today, Janick Benjamin, Yonic Benjamin is in
the honor of being on like how Saturday Night Live
has like the five club, He's the three club because
we only have three guests who have been on our
show three times. Jaka, Penn, Kevin's really and now Yonic Benjamin,
(02:49):
and Yanick's story and life just keeps evolving, so that
when we saw him, I said, David, we always love
to have people on the show. We were at the
event with us, so we're getting a little talking about
the event, but also catching up. I said, you know,
I'd like to catch up with you on it because
so much has happened to him since we last had
(03:10):
him on in July of twenty twenty one, and it's
now February twenty twenty six that we need to catch up.
So he's joining us today from his home in New York,
and we're so excited to see him and welcome him
again to the Connected Table Live.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Good afternoon, Good to see you. Thank you so much
for having me on I. You know in sn now
they give out these jackets for the five timers.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
You know, we're we're gonna come up. I have to
come up with something. We'll call it the connected table
hat trick.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Okay, we'll have to get maybe we'll get inspired for
Marty Garral while we're here. Exactly really really good. Well,
you know, it was good to see you in touring
and at Grande Langi. We were all moving around so fast.
And then we left there touring and went into Milan
in two days because I'd never been, and it's Olympic fever.
(04:02):
The Olympics are starting, which we can talk a little bit.
And we were watching you zip off here and there
you were in like the Valdosta and you were in
Meizza and I'm like, man, this guy gets around. How
do you do it, Yannick?
Speaker 5 (04:16):
How do I do it? I mean, I think it's
the passion of wanting to learn.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
I was very lucky that I had an incredible mentor,
especially during my time working at the Dues, a small
wine shop down in the West Village, and I worked
alongside this gentleman named Claude Dolgasser who had just been
around the world. He was incredibly well traveled, so well traveled,
and he was sort of my sage, you know, he
was my Socrates, and so he always taught me never
(04:44):
lose your curiosity. And I mean, being in this industry,
it's so infinite. I mean you're constantly learning.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
You think you know something, but the reality is the
more you see, the more you're here, the more you taste,
the less you know.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
Couldn't agree more. And you know what's interesting though, for
our listeners who do and viewers now viewers who don't
know you, you do this with some challenges. You have
been in the business a very long time. So let's
take it back to how you got into wine and
then talk about that time in your life that changed
your life forever.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Yeah, you know, everything's full circle. Talking about Kevin Zareli
actually his men Tee was the wine director at Le
Cirk two thousand, which was a restaurant that was on
fifteenth in Madison Avenue at the Palace Hotel and it
was owned by Sera MAACIONI was a pretty legendary restaurant
and then it reopened at a new location in the
(05:37):
mid to late nineties.
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Highly successful incredible wine program. And this is sort of
just at the boom of de Somolier here in New
York City and also in America. And Ralph Ferm who
was the wine director there, who was a long time
Somali at the Windows in the World, you know, I
was following him. And that's sort of how that kind
of trajectory of me getting into the industry at a
(06:00):
very young age of eighteen really started.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Wow wow, wow amazing. And it's great to have such mentors.
And so you were working where you were working at Cirqu,
you were where were you with things changed?
Speaker 6 (06:17):
Well, I worked at La Cirque, and then I worked
at for Lydia Bastianach at Feldia Restaurant, and then I
worked over at the Ritz Carlton Hotel with Gabrielle Kreuter.
And then at the age of twenty five, I had
a car accident and then I left me paralyzed from
the waist down. And so really talking about you know,
this very common word that we've heard a lot about
(06:38):
in the last few years, pivot. I had the pivot
for sure, and certainly working in hospitality and trying to
navigate those obstacles of being a full time wheelchair user
in an industry where you know, like I said, it's
it's it has its obstacles. You know, you're talking about stairs.
Space is always a very challenging situation. You're talking about
(07:00):
hot oil, fire, fast movie pace.
Speaker 5 (07:04):
We like everything, we try to navigate and we try
to work with what's given to us.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
You know, as a as a restaurant work veteran, I
can I can feel your pain in that respect, because
you know, restaurants are a they're a super busy place
and you really you have to have your wits about
you when you navigate through the dining room and whatnot.
But I can imagine in a wheelchair, it just it
ranks it up to a whole other level because you
need the space to be able to move around with
(07:32):
a wheelchair, which a lot of restaurants don't afford you.
And I think we'll get into talking about how you
worked with that with Contento a little bit later, But
it's a very it's a crazy situation to be able
to have to do that, and I really it must
applaud you for it.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Well, you know, one of the things again we've because
we've shared your life, and we talked about the absolute
you know, the recovery, the mental and physical recovery you
had to go through. And then I mean you had
to reach deep into You've had to reach deep into
your spiritual depth many times. Okay, so let me just
say this. I say, Okay, you had the car accident
and you were paralyzed. And I hate I never say
(08:14):
that we're confined and disabled because you're not confined and
you're not disabled in my mind, because you get around
the world more than most people. I know people that
never get around the world because they just don't bother
making the effort. You get around the world. Yes, and
and you know, so for me, you're freer than anybody.
But you also and I think people need to understand
(08:37):
that you've had to face perceptions and challenges in terms
of just getting remaining employed and the first impressions and
then and I thought about I think I thought about
this a lot. Actually, the wine far crime belonging. A
lot of people don't understand because they're not in your
(09:00):
seat at the table, what the challenges are and how
to be more thoughtful about and and and commenting to
deal with it. What are some examples of how you've
managed to overcome the challenges and face them and overcome
them to help enlighten the people who will say, wow,
(09:21):
maybe we could do better.
Speaker 5 (09:23):
Well.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
To quote the movie from the Shawshank Redemption, Uh, some
birds are not meant to be caged because their feathers
are too bright.
Speaker 5 (09:31):
Right, And so I think that Listen.
Speaker 6 (09:35):
Obviously, not everybody has the privilege or maybe the resources
to be able to travel as I do on a wheelchair,
but I think, you know, there's a lot of research
that goes behind.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
Behind it and then reaching out and explaining to people.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
So you it really starts with me, right, I need
to be able to reach over the.
Speaker 5 (09:57):
Aisle explain.
Speaker 6 (10:00):
And I think people generally speaking are very receptive. But
it's not an overnight thing for sure. I mean I
was just reading something, you know, Aaron Judge. I think
the year that he hit, you know, the record breaking
year where he hit like over sixty six or sixty
seven home runs, I think he struck out three times
the amount of the home runs that So there's definitely
(10:24):
moments where you're going to try something and you're going
to fail. But I will be perfectly frank. I think
overall my experiences with people in the hospitality industry because
people that work in hospitality, whether it's in wine or
their chef or it doesn't, but in that sort of
whole spectrum, people are willing to listen and people are
(10:45):
just naturally generous, right, And so I think, yes, of course,
there aren't too many people with a visible disability such
as myself in the industry, but I am really grateful
to be surrounded by so many people. And now I've
kind of set a template.
Speaker 5 (11:01):
So when I reach out to winemakers out for example
Barolla or Bubbarescua or wherever I'm going, I think people
just kind of know now and we figure it out.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
You were a co founder of Wine on Wheels. It
was really forward to some maybe we want to tell us,
tell our listeners and follow us what that is and
what your goals and objectives are.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
Absolutely for sure, thank you. So wheeling Forward was what
I started along with alex E La Gudin, who is
a dear friend who is also in a car accident,
and we met because we were in the same rehab center.
Speaker 6 (11:40):
And so then a few years later we said, well,
why don't we take our resources raise some money and help.
Speaker 5 (11:47):
All these other individuals that have a disability in our
community and kind of uplift them. And a lot of
that is through our events, to our seminars or our
tastings known as wine on Wheels, using wine, you know,
I'm basically, you know, a play on words, turning wine.
I'm turning wine into hope, right, And so that's what
we really do.
Speaker 6 (12:07):
And it's great because the concept of wine in itself, right,
it's something communal, it's something to bring people to the
table and to uplift and I think that's what we've
done and we continue to do so. And it's not
just people with disabilities of We've raised money.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
For a really wonderful community center known as Holy Trinity
Community Center here in New York City on eighty eighth
Street between First and Second and they're doing tremendous work.
And every Saturday they have a sit down dinner for
people that are food and secure and they're served and
they get to eat with dignity and respect. So there
are things like that that we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
That's great because I think right now, I think more
people need dignity, They need to fill a sense of place.
Speaker 5 (12:49):
Completely agree with you, Melanieah, Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
You're in New York right now. You live there, you're
a life learner, or you're born in New York. Your family,
we live there for a long time, you worked there
all you you opened a restaurant contento to rave Reviews,
a michal a nod incredible, and then you made a
PayPal and very public and honest assessment of closing and
(13:13):
wrote a very open letter in The New York Times
about it that resonated with a lot of people. Share
a little bit about that because you weathered. You weathered
the pandemic because it opened before the pandemic. And then god,
I'll never forget it was like every two minutes you
were closing down. The city was closing down and reopening,
and everybody's just like in a tizzy. What was that
(13:36):
like making a decision? And I want you to do
it this way. We have friends who've made the decision
to close businesses, whether it's a restaurant, whatever, and it's
never you know, I closed my first company. Take us
through why it was the right decision and what has
come out of it, because a lot of people go
through it. They don't they go through a lot of
emotional angst, and you did, I did. What was that process?
(14:00):
What took you out of it?
Speaker 5 (14:02):
Really? You know, both of my parents are in hospitality.
My uncles they're all French, and they came here seeking
a better life, like the classic immigrant story. And they
all worked at the famous Lui Law restaurants here in
New York City. And if you would have come to Contento,
you would have gone to the bathroom if you used
about them.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
There were a bunch of older vintage menus where my father,
my uncles worked at, including myself. It was, you know,
an opportunity to open up a small restaurant.
Speaker 5 (14:33):
We had this incredible deal.
Speaker 6 (14:36):
The rent was very low, and I said, well, let's
just cash in our chips and see how it goes.
I think what helped me was that I had very
realistic expectations.
Speaker 5 (14:46):
I was not expecting to make any kind of money.
As a matter of fact, I probably knew that even
if it was successful, I might be losing a little money.
But hopefully the long term goal was that if it became.
Speaker 6 (14:58):
Successful, that maybe we can open up, you know, multiple units,
and maybe I can make a full time living from that.
Speaker 5 (15:05):
And so we signed the lease in twenty nineteen. It
took well over a year, you know, between getting Department
of Buildings approval for construction and you know, of course
the construction workers all these kind of delays, and we're
in New York City. The building that we were operating
the restaurant in was I think it was built in
eighteen ninety five. So every time you opened up something,
(15:26):
you found something and then you were responsible at the
It's just classic New York City story. And so then
finally we actually had on December one, twenty nineteen, we
had a preview tasting with some friends and family, and
we're like, we're going to open up sometime in like
late March early April of twenty twenty and then sure enough,
the city was shut down. I believe it was fourteenth
(15:48):
or fifteenth of March, so we were completely delayed. We
didn't get to open up the restaurant officially until June tenth,
twenty twenty one. And I guess we could have opened
up earlier, but as you said, before, people people were opening,
people were shutting down, opening, shutting down, and we knew
(16:09):
that because we were already in the red, that if
we opened up and we shut down again it was
going to be the end.
Speaker 6 (16:16):
So we kind of we we held steadfast, We you know,
held on, held on, held on, and we finally opened up.
And it was at the very beginning it was usually successful.
You know, we wouldn't we could never have imagined this small,
tiny restaurant really, you know, at the end of the
world as far as Manhattan goes. You know, we were
(16:36):
kind of like it's like kind of like this middle
of nowhere block and it was busy more than ever,
and it stayed like that for quite a while.
Speaker 5 (16:46):
But I always knew, you'd gone inside, that.
Speaker 6 (16:49):
That business model of us being a destination spot was
not sustainable.
Speaker 5 (16:54):
We needed more. Eventually, we would need a bit more
kind of walk in neighborhood support and and sometime in
really kind of in twenty twenty three, we definitely saw
the numbers drop, and we were a wine centric restaurant.
We also saw the numbers drop off a little bit
when it kep the wine sales, and it just became
(17:16):
really challenging on trying to figure out how to get
people to come.
Speaker 6 (17:20):
And we just had also challenges with the crime. I mean,
it was really hard. You know, a couple of incidences
where we had to get the police involved, and where
we had to get we actually had to hire for
a couple of months to full time security guards bouncers
that I used to work with back.
Speaker 5 (17:37):
In the nineties because I used to moonlight of the
bouncers at work in the front door, which is kind
of really crazy. It's not part of your budget when
you have a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
And they're expensive.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
They're expensive.
Speaker 5 (17:48):
And finally, like I to be honest with you, by
November of twenty twenty three, I mind you, I already
had a wine store, a small business owner, and I'm
working a full time job so I can continue to
have health health insurance because I certainly need health insurance
because of my situation of being a full time paraplegic. Yeah,
And finally, by like the end of November, like listen
(18:09):
to numbers are not making sense, and let's get out
of this before it even gets worse, and we go
to full debt and it just gets really ugly and
it just kind of manifested that way. And then by
I think our last day.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
Of full operation was December twentieth around that time, and
that was it.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
You know, it's an amazing as you talk, I think
about New Orleans, because the New Orleans is similar. You
have to have a security guard in front of your
Ammalalds just announce the closing of a restaurant. You know,
people are fickle. There's you know, you're it's it's everywhere.
It's not just New York. And I want to underscore
that because we don't want to make people think that
New York is just a crime written place. But crime
(18:51):
is a problem everywhere. I mean, we go to the
drug stores now and everything's locked up. So yeah, God,
no mighty. You can't even get like Thailand all anymore
without getting permission. You were so honest about it in
the in the your up in the New York Times,
your opinion about you had one of the top rated.
Michelin naded every you achieved the dream contentto was a
(19:14):
resounding success in the public eye and in the professional
palette and everything. But the reality is everyone you can
have a highly successful restaurant to everyone's eye, and it
still will not necessarily be a financially successful because of
(19:35):
the odds these days of running a restaurant. And you
brought up an important but health insurance. You know a
lot of places don't provided right now with what's going
on in the United States without getting a politics people.
We were at a restaurant last night, a Mexican restaurant,
and there was a sign of the friends that please
be patient with us. We are very short staffed. Well
(19:56):
we know why they're short staff because a lot of
people have had disappeared. So it's a challenge. You're probably
glad you got out of it, but we're flecking back
on this incredible knowledge you have having worked so many
now areas of the industry is in wine as an
owner is designing a concept that is accessible. What are
(20:16):
you What would you advise to people who want to
get into the business and and do it right, but
also do it right in a way that they're not
going to lose their faith or their shirt for sure.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
I mean, I think the most important thing.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
I mean, obviously passion is really important, but you've got
to be pragmatic about it, and you've got to have
reasonable expectations. And if you think you're going to go
open up a business and you're you're gonna you know,
live a lavish lifestyle, and I don't think most people
do that, but I think you you've got to really
understand those first few years, it's gonna hurt in the
(20:49):
pocket and you better be prepared to to receive a
phone call at all hours of the day. You know,
Leaky pipes, uh, you know, you get a couple of
Hurricane Sandy's and your you know, your hole basement is flooded,
And there's just so many factors and so many variables
(21:09):
as an owner that you're responsible for your line cook
decides to call out sick or not, maybe it's beyond their.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
Control as well. Who's going to fill in that for
that line cook?
Speaker 6 (21:19):
And those are the big challenges that that that we
are facing as an industry. And as I said, I
think the hardest part for me was we were a
restaurant that really focused on obviously good food and good hospitality,
but also inclusivity and all that kind of stuff. But
I always, I always felt that I was somewhat of
(21:39):
a hypocrite in anyways because I was not able to provide.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
Adequate health insurance for individuals that were working in an
industry where you know, it's it's pretty pretty hazardous, right,
I mean, you know, you're there's a high likelihood of
you getting injured while you're on the job because you're running,
you're on your feet all day, and again you're you're
you're surrounded by sharp objects, and so that part is
just immensely challenging. On the other side, selfishly, it definitely
(22:08):
made me a better professional. I learned a lot, without
a doubt, I learned a lot about myself.
Speaker 6 (22:15):
And even though I was warned by great, great restaurants
heurs like Rita Game, who you.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
All know very well.
Speaker 6 (22:21):
Yes, and even though you think you you've talked to
everybody and you've been doing this forever, it's not the
same when you're actually the owner and you're you're responsible
for these individuals and for their lives for that matter.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Well said, wow, And it's so true. And Rita and Andre
went through there. You know so many of our friends
because we've all been in the business for so long.
We've seen their highs and their loves, their ups and down.
But everyone, every everyone, including Rita, lands somewhere and does Okay,
you have both here Wines and Spirits, which is a
lovely little store in Health's kitchen there where you live
and grew up. And I've been in there. I don't
(22:58):
know if you have for New Orleans but we love them.
We love this kind of store because it is manageable,
you know what I mean versus the big supermarket. What
do you look for when you for stocking the shelves
at both pier which you run with your wife Heidi?
Speaker 5 (23:14):
For sure, I know. I think one thing that we
try to do with most of the labels that we
carry in the store, and like you said, it's a
small store, so it's really a family owned store, is
the labels that you'll see most of them generally speaking,
we have some kind of connection with the winemaker. We
actually either visited the region or we've rubbed elbows with
(23:37):
the winemaker.
Speaker 6 (23:37):
We've had conversations with them, and we can actually tell
the story and we can actually validate them firsthand.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
Kind of like this show. Yeah, that's how we pick
our gas. I mean we will not just like you know,
don't send us a press release on a bottle and expect
this to spend all the time doing a show, right exactly.
So you were just in to run with us and
then you went on. What were some of your impressions
over there? What are you excited about now?
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Well, first of all, I just want to say one
thing I've just like you.
Speaker 6 (24:06):
I've had the good fortune of being all over Italy,
but this is my first time really spending time in Torino,
in Turin, and I really just love the city.
Speaker 5 (24:14):
I have to say, it's magnificent. It's really a beautiful city.
So that's the one thing I'll start off.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
So whoever's listening to this, please check out tourent Amazing restaurants,
a great walking city, absolutely surrounded, you know, gorgeous. But
I went to visit the Valadiosta, which is just majestic,
and the wines are beautiful, and especially we've seen the
trend of kind of light fresh, vibrant reds and high
(24:41):
acid whites, and certainly look no further to the Valadeosta.
Great visits. We went to go visit Lacretz. We went
to visit another producer called Grogan. You can clearly see
sort of that French Swiss, you know, a bit of
that Germanic influence there, obviously still retaining that Italian sensibility.
Speaker 5 (25:00):
And I really and great food out there as well.
Speaker 6 (25:05):
Then we want to go visit the Longen, which I've
been to a couple of times before and really spent
a lot of time with the winemakers out there, great
great wines. I just love, I mean, I love that
whole area. It's just it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
It is a beautiful area, and the wines are great.
You know.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
Obviously it's home to Barolo and Barbarosco too, the great
red wines of Italy, but it's also home to Austi
and Barbera and so many of their different different white wines.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
And red wines that we all drink wines kind of
a lot.
Speaker 4 (25:31):
Of times we don't get a sense of place for them,
and so they're all in Piedmont.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
I mean, Piedmont's a it's a huge, very bad region
and a very varied region.
Speaker 2 (25:39):
You go, you know, and you know, in our little
tasting area and our little we had this long list.
You know, there was no way in two days we're
going to get past any of it. Of course, I'd
be one to the Barolo, but I also because white
wines sell really well in New Orleans, I'm sure, but
there we wanted to dig into some of the little
indigenous white wines like Herba Lucea and Timoroso and we
(26:03):
just kind of were like wow, you know, and Rorero
and that was like a real fun fine, because most
people think of aside from Ussi, they think of you know,
the big baes, Barbara Dasti and Barolla and barber Esca.
But the wis were a wonderful experience.
Speaker 5 (26:21):
I completely agree.
Speaker 6 (26:22):
I think one category that's really underrated is it tying
white wines.
Speaker 5 (26:27):
I think they're food friendly. I think the price points
are always really generous and good, you know, considering all
the things that we've been through with Terras and they
remain to be really good. I think they're very food friendly.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
Timarosa, I don't think I've ever tasted as much as
I did because of the Grande Lane, so it kind
of really you know, obviously have had it many times before,
but to have it there side by side with multiple.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
Producers really was enlightening. Aurita, Herba, Luce and of course Arna's.
I think they all showing really well for sure.
Speaker 6 (27:01):
I think that's what I came out of it, just
like you both, was how delicious the white wines from
delonging from pimont Are.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Yeah, And I think to your point also they're very
food friendly. But they've also you know, one of the
things I love about Italian white wines is that they've
got great acidity, yeah, but they've also got they've also
got what I call viscosity. They've got a nice body
to them, so they stand up to food at the
same time, and it's a win win situation.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
Completely agreed, yep.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
And then when you were posting from Laclette, which I
met for the first time at the Opera Opera Vini
the Wine Spectator event in Italy, they were there and
I've never been about of all, thats a tiny little
Aaria doesn't have a lot of pr budget, I guess
because nobody but you posted from there. And we had
just had the wine in Milan because we were having
(27:51):
a dinner. So when we got to Milan after, which
is a fabulous city, it's just like a giant walking
museum outside and we didn't even go to the indoor museums.
I mean, has one of the largest Egyptian museums in Europe.
But we were seriously walking outside Google guying all the architecture.
But we uh, we went to this restaurant, so we
were in the move for seafood because I'm having issues
(28:12):
with me and with this piscal Nautilus is fabulous. We
had the likret there and it was like, wow, this
is so wonderful. And then the next restaurant we went to,
which ironic it's called Maria, not lent it to the
one in New York, same thing. We had another Valdost
and wine there.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 6 (28:31):
I mean, like like I said before, when it when
it comes to these uh, these Italian whites, but particularly
the Valdosta really just uh just beautiful and and and
the reds too, pretty huge human These are all kind
of local grapes from that region and again incredibly food friendly.
Speaker 5 (28:52):
But not only that, but these are reds that I
would drink, you.
Speaker 6 (28:55):
Know, on the patio on ice just like almost like
boje Chetto for that matter. And I really just enjoyed
that aspect of these type of grapes and wines and
very well made, well executed.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
And just you know, for we've not been but just
for our context, for our viewers and listeners, that of
Valdosta is literally a little corner in the northern part
of north western part of Italy, the borders Switzerland and France.
It's almost Switzerland. I'm looking at a map now and
I see Zarmont Chamany in Ballet. So you're going to
(29:29):
get that Fioca Swiss mines are so awesome and it's
I'm sure the skiing is awesome. Crazy. Now what is
really neat is we were in Milan and Olympics opening
ceremony is coming up in a few days and it
was like Olympic fever everywhere. Now, something that we haven't
shared with everybody is that you are practically a Paralympia.
(29:51):
I mean you were. You have competed in many mini
athlete athletic events. Talk to us about that and how
you do it.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
Yes, well, thank you for asking.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
I've done I don't know now, twelve New York City marathons,
a couple of Chicago Boston marathons.
Speaker 5 (30:10):
I should say.
Speaker 6 (30:13):
I've always enjoyed competition. I love participating in sports. And
I'm working out is like someone not having lunch or dinner, right,
It's just something that I need to do. It's just ingrained.
That's part of my life. It's so important.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Before you know, I definitely was motivated by trying to
beat my personal records and competing at a high level.
And life changes. You work for you know, you're working
so much, and so I now do it for enjoyment
but also.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
To raise money and awareness for my charities and all
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (30:47):
And I haven't decided yet if I'm going to do
the New York City Marathon this year, but maybe next
year I will do it.
Speaker 6 (30:53):
It's nice to take a little break, but I always
love doing the New York City Marathon.
Speaker 5 (30:57):
To do it in my hometown city, I always like,
I see something that I've never seen before. So but
but it's it's just it's very gratifying and that's why
I do it. Especially Listen, we're in an industry where
we like to eat and drink good stuff and this
kind of keeps me balanced.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Yeah, well we're curious, are you Are you going to
follow the Olympics and the Paralympics and do you know
any of the share Olympics because that is really one
of the most exciting things ever. Is a Paralympics.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
Absolutely, oh for sure. I mean the stuff that they're
able to do, I mean all of them, by the way,
it's it's beautiful. I mean, it's it's hard to imagine
that all.
Speaker 6 (31:34):
Of them are waiting every four years to be on
this major stage and they only have one chance to
get it right. So it's uh, I mean it's it's
it's amazing, and they are amazing.
Speaker 5 (31:44):
That discipline to be able to do that is really
kind of inspiring.
Speaker 3 (31:48):
It's a commitment, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (31:50):
How do you find your discipline? Because you know what
we didn't mention is the last year you suffered a
pretty bad fracture. It was pretty bad, and you're very public,
but you're very public about the ups and downs of
your life, which is is inspirational because I think a
lot of people don't share and they're just miserable inside.
(32:12):
You actually wear your heart on your sleep. You had
a fall, you fail from your wheelchair, right.
Speaker 5 (32:17):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (32:20):
It was You know, it's funny because there are falls
where you know, maybe you break a bone, but then
there's and then that's that's the only thing you have
to deal with.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
But it was just such a catastrophic it just let
led into other things.
Speaker 6 (32:35):
Where I had to be under supervision and observation. I
should say, maybe when your spinal cord injured. When things
like that happen, sometimes you fall into the category of
automomic Di's or flexick.
Speaker 5 (32:46):
And so that means that because I.
Speaker 6 (32:48):
Don't feel below the waist wherever the point of injury
is trying to send signals.
Speaker 5 (32:53):
To my brain. And usually you have your if your.
Speaker 6 (32:56):
Spinal cord is intact, your brains sort of just kind
of reve regulating every thing. And obviously I didn't have that,
So now my heart and my whole body's working over time.
So it was just kind of an intense situation. Then
I had I had issues with my health insurance. It
was just it was a very bizarre, uh situation.
Speaker 5 (33:14):
But you know, fortunately I got out of it due
to my lovely wife, Heidi, and the support of my
friends and family, and I mean the incredible community. I
mean they all reached out, it was and supported. It
was unbelievable and I'm so grateful and I'm eternally grateful
and even more of a reason why I have to
continue to work to get back to others because everything
(33:34):
works full circle. And so yeah, that was my situation
last year. But here I am now talking to you both.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
Your spiritual was off was incredible because every day you
posted your extrescise. You were exercising so much and I'm like, damn,
I got to get off my butt and start doing that.
And then you were and then you posted very inspirational messages.
And I think a lot of people right now, as
I said, are suffering in silence for whatever is digging
into them. And to have you say I'm gonna beat
(34:04):
this and really get out there was really really great,
really great. And like I said, you travel so much,
and I know it's it's you've got it down to
a system, because it's probably that wasn't easy, but you
do you know, do you travel on your own or
you have people with you when you go?
Speaker 5 (34:23):
No, I travel on my own for the most part.
I mean, if I mean, if I travel with somebody,
it's because we're traveling together. But I mean I I
do travel.
Speaker 6 (34:32):
I'm very lucky that I'm able to do that, that
I'm able to you know, and like I said, there.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
Was some trial and error, but I do have it
down to a science.
Speaker 6 (34:40):
And I'm very grateful that I get to go see
parts of the world that a lot of people will
never get to see and smell and experience and I
get to do that. And it's like I said, even
being back in the long day and getting to hang
out with the you know, people like Mario Fontana and
Luca Corrado and Julia Negri and just and them sharing
(35:04):
their their personal passions.
Speaker 5 (35:06):
I mean that gosh. I mean in bringing it back
to New York and then sharing it to other people
who can't be there, it's an immense honor to do.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
So we consider it an honor too when we're invited,
and we really take it when we travel, we take
it very seriously because we want to learn. You're all,
as you said, you're always learning always and there's new
people to me, and you want to bring it back
and share it with people who sause. I don't know
about you, John, I can do it, but I get
so frustrated when I go to a store, I go
(35:39):
somewhere and people just get the same thing. They don't
want to try anything different. They just you know, and
maybe because they don't know or they're intimidated or whatever.
And you know, I'm the one and David can avounchu this.
We were like literally at the drug store. We were
at Walgreens and the guy that was like had a
bottle I want to say which one was like, dude,
you can do better. I mean this is Ballgreens, so
(35:59):
you know what the electionists. But I was like, dude,
you could do better.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
And We actually do that a lot.
Speaker 4 (36:05):
I think we're wine aisle muses for a lot of
people we've never met him, We've never met them, and
we'll go up to them and say, you know, you
should try this one.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
I mean, is that your price point? We can we
can we can match that.
Speaker 2 (36:17):
I was like, you know, there's not a lot of
pick from, but instead and I tell little story behind
that was it was actually a Josh Seller's wine, and
I wanted to say it was much better the way
it picked. And later he came to he was he
actually we were doing trick or treat. He came by.
He's like, oh, you're the one who told me about
the wine. You really like it. So do you do
(36:38):
you like to do educational perhaps? I mean, what do
you what do you want to see with your life now?
And we've done so many you've accomplished so much. What
do you want to see happened? Where do you think of?
Speaker 6 (36:48):
I mean, I'm enjoying the time of having to be
able to travel and to share those passions with other people.
I mean, I have a lovely wine store that my
wife is overseen, so that's really great. I think that
we all know that we're sort of we're facing challenges,
you know, a new era in the world of wine, right,
(37:10):
kind of figuring out how to navigate all that. I
am I losing sleepover it, absolutely not. We're in an
industry where it's it's been around since for eight thousand years, right,
And we went through a prohibition in this country from
nineteen nineteen to nineteen thirty three, and we overcame that too,
And so I think it's just we're just kind of
(37:33):
reconfiguring how we do things in the industry. And that's good,
and that's okay, and that's fine. I think there's some people,
some companies that might have over delivered and they went
by the metrics of COVID, which were a bit you know, yeah,
But I think overall, it's I think we're just maybe
(37:54):
kind of like getting rid of some of the fat.
Speaker 2 (37:57):
Yeah. You know, COVID was a COVID put everybody in
overdrive in a lot of ways. It created a lot
of TikTok stars that we don't care about. It created
a lot of excess product that nobody cares so it
cated a lot of because it cate a lot of
heavy drinking.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
You know.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
My theory is one of the reasons people were drinking
less is they drank too much during COVID, so they
had to correct themselves because they all went to the
doctor and found out they had like fatty liver and
high cholesterol and they gained weight. And it's just a correction.
Speaker 5 (38:27):
It's a correction.
Speaker 6 (38:27):
And I think also people that are in the industry,
who who represent these wines, I think for a long
time we got really hung up on blind tasting in
the parlor tasting and getting too technical that we need
to get back to sort of the historical context, the
emotional aspects of wine, sharing the stories of Elena and
(38:50):
Luca Carrado and all of these incredible people and the
work that they do. And then a lot of them
are farmers and they're working hard and really creating that experience, right,
And I think if we can do that instead of yeah,
this is this amount of pH level and malolactic fermentation
and twenty percent you O and all that, but really
(39:10):
kind of making this sort of almost religious experience and
this moment of like stopping and enjoying every simple wine
and making that more of a cultural thing.
Speaker 5 (39:21):
And let's getting back to that, just.
Speaker 6 (39:22):
Like the ancient Greeks did in the Agora, where they
would have mine and they would talk and they would discuss,
and that's the etymology of the symposium, right, let's get
back to that.
Speaker 4 (39:33):
I couldn't believe, you know, you know, It's it's funny.
We had a we while we were all in Turino together.
I had we had a Melanie and I had a
conversation with somebody who said, you know, I've stopped publishing
my notes for people because nobody cares about what I
actually write, so.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
I am not going to publish my notes anymore.
Speaker 5 (39:49):
Yeah. Yeah, And we were like.
Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, that just says up a lot of time our computers,
you know. I mean, it's it's true that the story
and the people you and enjoy it with wine is
something you share with people, hopefully with food. The experience
and the and the texture and the it's you know,
the sensory experience and wine is what you want, not
(40:11):
the science of it.
Speaker 5 (40:13):
Correct. And that's why when I post on Instagram, I
talk less about well I just had this wonderful wine
and it was BlackBerry because he's current blah blah.
Speaker 6 (40:21):
But instead I want people to understand the feeling that
I got when I was helped by the by the
Alps exactly and the challenges they face as winemakers to
make this very unique uh product, this liquid geography, because
I do believe that with wine, it has this inate
ability to transport you to a certain time, to a
(40:42):
certain place. And that's what and and really it's certain
emotions as well, and I think that's.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
What really is is really unique about wine in itself.
Speaker 2 (40:52):
For sure, I couldn't agree with you more. I think
it's I think the wine industry and needs to stop
staring at its belly button and over analyzing and looking
at metrics and ROI and you know all that crap
and just get back to emotion.
Speaker 5 (41:06):
Yep. I completely agree with you for sure. I think
and and and it will. It's just like you said,
I think you use it right now. It's there's a
big correction happening. You know, you was it. You can't
make a crooked straight without a.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Ruler, you know. It's like that with everything. It's like
I remember when everybody was right. Now everybody's putting protein
and everything, and you have protein, this protein startups and
protein that that's going to correct too. No one's going
to care anymore. I mean it's just, you know, it's
like you get into overdrive and overkill.
Speaker 5 (41:39):
But you remember, I mean listen, I remember if you,
if you had anyone that was in the banking industry.
I mean, people were freaking out for a little bit
because of the whole gluten free movement, you know, and
people who were in pastries. But they're still around and
they're doing all right, and it just they just have
to correct themselves and figure out other options and that's it.
Speaker 2 (41:56):
Yeah, yeah, and not over analyze everything to death. At
the end of the day. You know, you've got to
have more fun and more enjoyment and less over and
analysizing everything. Well, you know, so one of the next
wine and wheels programs and where can people learn more
about wine and wheels because.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
Yeah, please, yeah, just go on to Instagram where Wine
on Wheels, NYC Wine on Wheels. The actual grant tasting
will be sometime in October six okay, yeah, yeah, October
twenty twenty sixth. Thank you. There'll be a big announcement
and then throughout the year. If you want to sign
up to our newsletter, just go on our website winowheels
dot org and sign up and you know, hopefully you'll
(42:36):
join us on one of our smaller seminars taste teams.
You name it.
Speaker 2 (42:40):
Well, I think it's a great combination to you know,
experience great wine and learn about it and also support
an important area, which is you know, creating opportunities for
people that you know have some physical challenges and or
other challenges. As you said, you're also doing stuff with
food and security. So it's just you know a lot
of people are challenged now, so we want to reach out,
(43:01):
you know, help, But you have defined, you have defied
odds and challenges and like I said, you you you
somebody less Like we were friends that like we don't know.
They were like, we don't know how you do it.
You're always traveling, aren't you exhausted. I's like, well, we
actually have a friend a Shoe and you know he's
the one who inspires us not to not to get
tired and saying yeah, not to say go out there
(43:22):
and do it right, just do it.
Speaker 5 (43:26):
I mean it. I think traveling and being you know,
surrounded by different cultures and different languages. Also, there's something
exciting about being vulnerable and kind of putting yourself in
a a in that situation. It really challenges you in
the best possible way. It's very beautiful at the end
of the day.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Well, that's a great way. That's very inspiration because I
think we all have some type of vulnerability. Yes, whether
it's physical or emotional, mental, and it is you know,
I'm a big get out and step outside your comfort zone.
Speaker 5 (43:57):
So all the way on that, Melodie.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Well, Janic, I hope we get to see you again
on the road, you know, as we always say, and
when you live a nomad life, you go see you
down the road.
Speaker 5 (44:08):
Yes, indeed, it's always a pleasure to see you. You're
two of my favorite people. You're tremendous, great human beings.
And thank you for all that you do for our
industry because it's important work.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
Well, we enjoy it. It's a labor of love and
we love you. So be well. Give your beautiful bride
Heidi a hug for us. Check out wine and Wheels
if you go to New York, check out both Pierre
Wines and Spirits and follow Yanick at Youanick Benjamin all right, yeah,
thank you, thanks everybody for joining us. You were Melanie
(44:41):
Young and David Ransom. We've been doing the show as
a labor of love for twelve of yours. Can you
believe it? The Connected Table Life. Follow us at the
Connected Table, check us out on YouTube over sixty five
podcast channels as we travel the world, hopefully lot and
learn to step outside your comfort zone, eat, drink, explore,
inspire with us and always and say she'll be curious.
(45:01):
Thank you,
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