October 11, 2023 • 48 mins
In this episode of the Vint Podcast, Billy Galanko chats with Jermaine Stone to discuss his new show "Street Somm." Created in conjunction with Tastemade and Constellation brands, Jermaine crisscrosses the country, visiting different cities, getting to know each one through the eyes of a local host and the local food.
Before diving into his new show, Billy and Jermaine discuss his upbringing in the Bronx, NY, his love of hip hop, and his start in wine. Jermaine shares how it is his mission to combine his love of hip-hop and culture with the world of wine and, in so doing, share both with more people. Jermaine's passion has led him to create the Wine and Hip Hop podcast, Cru Luv Selections, become the "Wolf of Wine," and how that has all led to "Street Somm."
Watch Street Somm: Link
Jermaine's Instagram: @RealWolfofWine
Jermaine's Wine & Hip Hop Podcast
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The Vint Wine Podcast is a production of the Vint Marketplace, your source for the highest quality stock of fine wines and rare whiskies. Visit www.vintmarketplace.com.
To learn more about Vint and the Vint Marketplace, visit us at Vintmarketplace.com or email Billy Galanko at Billy@vintmarketplace.com.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to the Vint Podcast, where we bring
you interviews and stories fromaround the world of wine and
spirits, from winemakers andcritics to sommeliers and master
distillers.
We'll explore the people andbusinesses who are instrumental
in shaping the future of today'sfood and drinks culture.
Enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Vint Podcast.
My name is Billy and you maynotice Brady is not doing the
intro.
He is actually in Las Vegasthis week and not able to join
the recording and he was alsonot available for the interview.
You guys get a whole episode ofJust Me, but we have a really
exciting episode for younonetheless.
(00:43):
We have an interview withGermaine Stone, who has a
fascinating wine background, wasactually a guest that was
recommended by my mom months ago.
You guys will hear the storyabout that.
This team reached out to usbecause he's coming out with a
new wine and food show calledStreetsome in conjunction with
Taste Made and ConstellationBrands.
But we'll get into that alittle bit more.
(01:05):
Towards the end of this introhere before the interview, I'll
give you guys more details onwho he is and a little bit more
about his background.
Before we dive in, we can giveyou guys our standard fun wine
updates.
First, I've been traveling overthe past five days as well.
I was in Montreal, in Vermont,which we've teased this.
He was recently in Vermont aswell, but it was my first time,
(01:27):
both in Montreal and going downto Stowe, and it was really
interesting.
I was blown away by the foodscene in Montreal.
We actually didn't spend thatmuch time on the food and wine
scene there, but we went to anamazing little place, if you
guys are in the area, called LeVend Papillon.
It was part of this other likebroader wine group of well-known
restaurants that were prettycool.
(01:49):
We went there and it was justlike a little great French theme
.
That's in Montreal, soeverything is both in French and
English, but the wine list wasamazing.
It was just a great vibe.
It almost felt like you're in aParis little bistro wine bar.
It was an amazing little spotthere and we went to a bunch of
other interesting spots.
The bouncing around the townwas just full of like different
(02:11):
pockets of personality that Iwasn't expecting, so that was
really exciting.
And then we made it down toVermont.
We finally got to try some ofour buddy David Keck Master
Somalia, david Keck's wines thathe makes down there and
fortunately he was traveling andthe tasting room wasn't open,
but I was able to track somedown to try.
And again, it was reallyinteresting to see the dynamic
(02:34):
offerings of the wine, both inrestaurants, wine and spirits
actually wine both locally grownand imported as well throughout
Vermont.
I think one I had I was.
We were actually in a smalltown called Woodstock, which I
thought we were actuallyvisiting, the place where the
concert was.
Turns out that was in New York.
(02:54):
Please don't judge me.
Turns out I was the only onewho thought Woodstock could have
been in Vermont.
But we went to a cool littleshop there and they had Patti
Green and also oh, it's escapingme, but another excellent
Oregon producer just availablein this wine shop, mixed in with
all of these other different,different wines.
So it was really cool to seethe thought and care that even
(03:14):
in some of these small towns inVermont a lot of quality wines
were available.
And speaking of that, the onethat I was most impressed with.
We made a little stop it wasjust south of Stowe it's also
just outside of Montpelier to alittle place called the local I
think the website is the localVT, so if you search that you'll
be able to find the wine shop.
And it was.
(03:35):
It was really cool.
I was able to speak with theproprietor there, jack.
He was, he was really nice andI but prior to even speaking
with him, I just walked aroundthe wine shop.
I was actually looking forDavid's wines, which which I
found a couple of bottles, whichwas awesome.
I ended up buying one of themand then, but as I was going
around, there were wines fromall over the world with a really
(03:55):
diverse selection, fromBeaujolais to fortified or sweet
wines from places like SouthAfrica.
There was an excellent Baroloand Piedmontese selection in
general, but every region hadreally thoughtfully picked out
bottles of really interestingproducers as well.
It wasn't just a mainstreamsmattering.
So I highly recommend, ifyou're in the area, jack also
let me know they do tastings.
(04:16):
He showed me this really cooltasting room.
So if you're you're in the areawhether it be like Stowe and
you want to pop down orMontpelier definitely stop by
and see if they're doing anytastings, cause it looked like a
really cool tasting room andthe wines were a great, great,
highly curated selection.
I can't recommend it more basedon my my experience there.
So go say hi to Jack at thelocal VT in Vermont.
(04:39):
After you go visit Jack inVermont, then you should drink
some sherry.
Yes, that is the what we aredrinking.
This week I found a bar that hadan extensive sherry in Vermouth
lists extensive by normalrestaurant standards.
So that was.
We went there and my fiance gota sherry.
I ended up with anotherfortified wine it was it wasn't
(05:02):
necessarily a wine, it was acocktail and I asked them to
pick out something they thoughtwas interesting based on certain
parameters, and they ended uppicking out something strange.
But I was happy to have thesherry and the waitress was very
proud of their sherry list andasking us if places in LA had
had as large of a sherry list,saying that they were some of
the largest in Montreal.
So that got me kind ofpontificating to my fiance about
(05:24):
how sherry is underrated andhow it should have more of a
following and with that I wantedto share.
Have that be the one of theweek this week.
I want everybody to.
If you have any preconceivednotions, some people think
sherry is only sweet.
I just want everybody to thinkabout there's so many different
styles of sherry and dry sherryalone there's there's four
styles, including like Fino,fino slash Manzanilla.
(05:45):
That was basically a very likedry white wine that can almost
be used with with any meal.
It's perfect with, like almostall foods.
There's Oloroso, which is niceand full bodied and nutty and it
almost, almost caramelly on thenose but it's also dry.
So it worked really well and,bridget and it beats where I
grew up they would always haveit with she-crab soup.
There's a Montiados and PaloCortados that are still both dry
(06:08):
, that also have a little bit ofelements of both the the Fino
and the Oloroso, and of courseeverybody is more familiar with
the sweetened sherry, the creamsherry, the pale cream, medium
cream.
These are actually wines thatare dry wines to begin with,
whether the Fino or the Oloroso,and then they're sweetened with
a sweetening agent.
(06:29):
Typically, another sherry winecalled PX, which is a wine
that's basically Pedro Meniz, isa grape.
They'll grow it, it'll get veryripe.
They'll either leave it on thevine a long time or they'll pick
it when it's ripe and then dryit out on mats and it creates a
really almost like syrupy sweetwine.
A lot of people even put thaton ice cream.
But then they use that verysweet wine to mix with either
(06:50):
Oloroso or with Oloroso tocreate the medium and cream
sherry.
And then the pale creams areactually made with, with a
different kind of sweeteningagent that doesn't have as much
character really.
But so there you go.
So you have some dry sherry's,you have the sweetened ones.
There are sweet sherry's beyondeven just Pedro Meniz that are
made naturally.
They're harder to find.
They're made from a grapecalled Moscatel, but anyway,
(07:13):
we'll get into a full sherryepisode down the line.
I got myself a little excitedthere.
But for today let's get to ourinterview with Germain Stone.
Germain has such an interestingstory.
He grew up in the Bronx.
He wanted to be a rapper.
He ended up working atdifferent auction houses and he
ended up starting out helpingwith boxes and packing and then
he worked his way up and becamevery involved in heading up,
(07:37):
even like a director ofoperations.
So he basically climbed theladder, fell like up up into
wine, if you want to say fall.
Basically, he started learningmore and more about wine through
just work, while still alsomaintaining his love of hip hop
and all of that type of stuff aswell.
So what this let him do is hebasically built this really
(07:58):
prestigious career in wine.
He ended up moving to LA afterNew York and helping Wallies
start their auction programWallies is a very well-known
fine wine shop out here in LosAngeles and then he ended up
continuing just to basicallyevolve all everything that he's
been doing and continue tocreate new wine focused projects
(08:19):
.
He has this wine podcast,basically just called hip hop
and wine or wine and hip hopSorry, sorry, jeremy, I got it
backwards Wine and hip hop.
He started crew love wine,which is basically a marketing
agency or a marketing group thatbasically allows, helps, advise
people on how to bring wine andhip hop culture together and
(08:40):
basically he's been basicallypromoting wine in such a unique
way that he ended up connectingwith TasteMade and Constellation
Brands to come out with thisnew series called StreetSum,
which is what I referencedearlier, and it's basically him
going around the countryinteracting with different chefs
and people who are reallyintegrated into the food world
(09:01):
in different cities and bringingwine along with him to share
along in the journey.
So he pairs wines that go wellwith the food that he's being
introduced to.
But he's basically helping yousee a side of the city that you
may not have seen otherwisethrough these chef's eyes,
through these chef's point ofview, and I've watched the first
three episodes of New York andSavannah in San Francisco and
(09:22):
they're just, they're reallyunique.
I've seen food shows on all ofall those cities maybe not
Savannah actually, and it was.
It was a really interestingtake.
His personality is infectious.
So you can check them outStreetSum on either YouTube or
the TasteMade website, and Idefinitely recommend it.
The episodes will keep comingout the rest of the season.
(09:42):
I can't remember how manyepisodes there are, but there's
three out right now, so you canbasically catch up a little bit
and then you can be stayingtuned for the rest of the
episodes.
But without further ado, hereis Jermaine Stone.
Hi, jermaine, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Ah, thank you for having me.
Man pleasure's on mine.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, I'm not sure if your team let you know, but so
I first thought about having youon the podcast.
In a really interesting way, mymom sends to basically cut out
newspaper articles.
She lives in Virginia, I livein California now, so rather
than sending me links to news,she'll just cut them out.
So every time I see her shegives me a envelope of
newspapers and current eventsback in the day the current
(10:32):
events homework, pretty much.
So one day one of them she waslike there's this really
interesting guy in New York whowas like a sommelier and is
doing all this cool stuff.
So it was you and my mom waslike this guy looks really cool.
He said I'm on the podcast, soI carry that clipping around for
months until your team reachedout to that coming on.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So that's so funny, man.
Well, mom knows best.
You know what they say.
Yeah, so that was.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
That was crazy.
She was very happy to hear thatit worked out.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So that's awesome man Well can you?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
we gave a little bit of a background earlier, but can
you just share with everybody,kind of like, who you are and
how you got into the world ofwine and how you started your
journey?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Grew up in the Bronx, new York,definitely a product of my
environment.
Got into hip hop when I wasyounger and wrapped all
throughout my teenage yearsright up until I was a college
age.
And you know, at the time myparents were really on me about
having a plan B other than justrap.
(11:34):
So I said, screw it, I go toschool and literally just to
shut them up.
Honestly, you know.
I love my parents but that isultimately why I did it.
But my dad's the kind of personwhere if he's paying for school
, he's pulling the strings, andI don't really like my strings
pulled.
So I decided to go to school atnight and work during the day
(11:55):
and understanding I'd writtenout like five year plan about
what I wanted to do and how Iwas going to do it as my plan B,
because if I'm doing something,I am going to do it well.
So I did truly write out whatmy plan was and it was a cool
five year plan about,interestingly enough, holding a
catering hall.
That is originally what Iwanted to do.
(12:16):
And so I said in order to dothat, okay, I'm going to need to
go to business schools likequalify for a loan, and I'll
need a.
I need experience.
So let me just find any officejob I could find.
At that time is tough to you.
Can't get an office job withouthaving experience.
So I said, screw it, I'll takeany job I can find and work my
(12:36):
way from the bottom to just workin an office.
And it just so happened that thejob I found which fit those
daytime hours I wanted was at awine storage facility which was
the fulfillment house for a wineauction house and that's
Zachy's up in Westchester.
And who knew that job wouldchange my life?
(12:58):
But I took this job stillthinking that rap was my plan A
and although I was in love withhip hop, I fell out of love with
the hip hop business and feltin love with the wine business
during that time when I wasworking in the warehouse.
So my first job was shippingclerk, simply to do packing
boxes and just being in thatenvironment, being around a
(13:22):
completely different elementfrom what I grew up in in the
Bronx like really interested me.
But not only that, my deep lovefor hip hop also made me feel
like I belonged and feltcomfortable in this audience
because so much of the stuff Iwas around and the stuff that I
was experiencing were the thingsthat rappers talked about in
(13:42):
their records.
I had Biggie talking aboutsaying S car go, my car goes,
one of 60.
I'd be now in restaurantseating S car go.
Or when he talks about being inrestaurants with me and the
lens and violins, I'd be inrestaurants when they play any
types of instruments.
So it felt okay.
I grew up into the lifestylethat these rappers are talking
(14:04):
about and allowed me to feelcomfortable.
But separately being in wineauction is a really interesting
business because it's sorelationship based.
Rapples come very fast and youwork with a really small set of
clients so you end up becomingfriends with everybody and you
would think a young black dudefrom the Bronx will fail out of
(14:26):
place or be a little bitostracized.
But really what I found was somany people were interested by
my background because in thatspace they didn't get the
opportunity to hang out withdudes like me, one or two even
finding that guys like me wereapproaching.
So it was always like acultural revolving door where
they would teach me about wineand wine culture and vice versa,
(14:47):
but separately I was hangingout with millionaire collectors,
best wine makers all over theworld, and that's how I grew up.
Throughout that time in wineauction started out packing
boxes.
My last job was auctiondirector and after I left wine
auction I went on to begin myown consulting business, which
(15:09):
was crew love selections, when Istarted out actually servicing
those same types of auctionclients.
My, my, my background in wineauction was in business
operations, so that's why theycalled me the wolf of wine.
I was.
I was like a fixer.
I'm like the wolf from PulpFiction, not not the wolf Wall
Street.
Well, from yeah, yeah.
I was a fixer.
(15:29):
When you ran into a situationyou don't know how to solve.
I was a dude that you wouldcall after my time in wine
auction.
I just went on consulting inthat same capacity, but one.
I always had friends in bothspaces.
I never lost contact with allthe people I grew up with and so
many of my friends I grew upwith rapping went on to pursue
(15:51):
professional careers and becomelike professional rappers and
DJs.
And Well, I always had thatconnection with that culture and
I would still show up to thestudio, hang out with my friends
Seized up, and I always wantedto find a way to bridge those
worlds.
I thought my friends are buyingexpensive bottles in the club.
Why wouldn't they buy anexpensive bottle in the store?
(16:11):
And it's probably, it is likelybetter quality and you can
enjoy it the way that you wantto enjoy it.
So I wanted to find a way tobring that world together as a
consultant, but I knew I neededto do that slowly.
So I started my podcast forreally two reasons one, to
introduce wine culture to a newaudience.
But two, really to stay infront of my consulting clients
(16:35):
as an independent consultantcoming from wine auction.
It's a super high-end businessand it's expensive to market
yourself in that space.
I'm not a wine auction.
I'm not at those auctions, I'mnot at the expensive dinners
anymore, so how would I bringthat audience to me?
So I started wine and hip-hoppodcast, which we're on every
(16:56):
episode, blend my favorite,pardon me.
On every episode I would sitwith different influencers from
either the wine industry or thehip-hop world.
I would have them pick a songor a bottle of wine that was
special to them and I would picka pairing that would and which
we would discuss on the show.
So I discussed my reason forthe pairing, they discussed
(17:18):
their reason why that particularthing was special to them.
So every episode we could havean organic conversation about
wine and hip-hop.
And the thing is I just need tostay in front of my clients
Timelines.
That was what the podcast wasreally about and I knew that if
I was sitting because of theirrelationships with me, I knew
that they had some interest inhip-hop.
And if I was sitting with DaveEast with a bottle of 90s
(17:44):
Bordeaux, they're gonna be like,oh wow, this guy's drinking it.
They're gonna look at theBordeaux but be interested by
the fact I'm doing with therapper.
Furthermore, the Dave East fanswill see that and, wow, dave
East is drinking wine and nowBegin to feel like they're a
part of this more so people haveto see you can't hit the
baskets that you can't see.
(18:05):
So once you see something beingenjoyed in the way that you
enjoy it, you'll, you'll step in.
So that was my start to wineand hip-hop podcast and it's
interesting because I startedthat to further my fine wine
consulting, but really it's.
It's ultimately brought mealmost completely out of that.
Now I'm a hundred percent doingcontent and hosting events and
(18:29):
still doing some some consulting, but in a much broader capacity
.
So it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Nice, do you think?
Speaking of content morebroadly, do you think so?
Like platforms with the rise ofInstagram and I guess even like
tick-tock to some extent, likepeople are able to see, like
behind the curtain, like evenwith a lot of NBA guys are
showing off, like the bottlesthat they're drinking, like at
home, and it relax thatatmosphere.
Do you think that's encouragingsome of this as well?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Oh, oh, absolutely Absolutely.
When you think about it, wineand food right now really is a
cultural courage.
It's like the the person whoknows about the wine, that's the
friend you want to invite outto brunch or invite out to
dinner, the person who knowswhat restaurants to go to.
It is cultural currency and Ithink that the artists and
(19:13):
basketball players and everyonethat's that's bringing that on
understands that wine now reallyfits into that part culture.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I love that.
I love that idea of culturalcurrency.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna telleverybody that's what I bring
the party.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I try.
I got money, I got culturalcurrency, get up.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
That's awesome.
Well, alright, so then you, youstarted your podcast.
You also did a lot of work onthe West Coast, like it wallies
and helping start some stuffthere in Los Angeles.
Yeah, that's, that was awesome.
So how did this?
Also, this brings us to what wereally want to talk about today
, which is your, your new series.
You're doing with taste made aswell as in with Constellation
Street, saw me tell us.
(19:57):
Tell us more about that.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, yeah.
It's so funny because, withinthat Consulting space,
constellation was interestingone of the companies I was
consulting for and I've beenworking with them since 2020, so
it's beautiful to see that herein 2023.
We were able to Bring thisrelationship even to a much
further place in a biggerplatform.
But it's interesting becausethis is really where those two
(20:22):
things intersected and andbranched up, because within
itself, it's just amazing.
To be working with such suchhuge companies like
Constellation has been amazingand and really sure, a little
bit more about Constellation.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I think our audience is familiar but, like maybe
throughout some of the brandsthat some people might know
early, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Essentially, this was a collaboration with
Constellation and taste matesfoot to create this studio, to
make original content aroundthese great brands they have.
So we're using brands likeRobert Mendovi winery, the
prisoner, kim Crawford, naomi,these are Ruffino.
These are everyday brands thatyou're gonna see, and an amazing
(21:02):
piece about that is that thisreally allows a show to be
Relatable and attainable.
These are wines that areavailable in your market, like
sometimes you can go to tendifferent restaurants on one
street and you'll find 20different wine list.
It can be fickle.
So if we want to, if we want tobring people in and we want to
(21:22):
make it approachable andattainable, the wine has to be
attainable as well.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
So it's just amazing to work with great partners like
Well, so so like the show iscalled streets on, so what?
What is the premise?
You're going to these differentcities in your yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I mean it's funny cuz it really is who I am.
I'm like a street song, quite ait's funny.
So, I'm a street song, I'm atraveling summer.
Yeah, I go city to city linkingup with different chefs in each
spot, and they Ultimatelyintroduced me to the city
through food.
They take me on, they each takeme on like different amazing
(21:59):
culinary journeys, but not justintroduced me to the food, I
also really get to know them and, honestly, throughout this
whole season, I got to knowmyself a little bit more.
It was interesting, but yeah,it's, getting to see each city
in that way and Getting to knowthe city through food has just
been so fun and it really is ashow where you'll walk away Not
(22:21):
just more culturally rich, butsmarter with regard to wine,
because we we got a great wayabout this, like weaving the
wine info in there and andMaking it wine is, is really
just another character in theshow.
It's called street song, butit's not a show about wine.
It's about culture, people, andwine is another character on
(22:41):
the show.
Nice.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I love that, all right, so are you it.
Is it also weaving in some ofyour your love of like hip-hop
and music as well?
Is that like in the as anelement?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Oh, oh most definitely, most definitely,
everywhere I walk there's gonnabe a little bit of hip-hop
dripping in the room.
That's, that's.
That's also the fun part.
I think that for Someone likeme to be introducing people into
wine, it just it gives things awhole different perspective,
because hip-hop so much isAmerican culture.
(23:12):
Like when you look outside ofthe world and you say this
person's dressed like anAmerican, they probably got on a
basketball jersey or somethinglike that.
It's just, ultimately, I thinkthat American culture has really
been significantly influencedby hip.
With me, like talk every place,even I, even actually there's
(23:34):
an episode coming up in a fewweeks where, actually, rap in
one of the I was actuallyrapping in the studio.
I have Bun B from UGK.
We did a long parent in thestudio, so hip-hop is is all
over that show.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Nice, yeah, like I, I love the idea.
I don't think anybody's reallydone anything like that in the
US.
There was one episode ofsomething that action Bronson
did in Paris where it wassimilar vibe, where he wasn't
focusing on the wine as much, itwas like introducing to the
chefs and the people, and I waslike, oh, why don't more people?
Somebody should do this, likein the US.
And yeah, now you're on top ofit.
(24:13):
Sure, are you going to?
So, yeah, walk us through likea general idea of an episode.
Are you going to like thesechefs and like they're sitting
down and they're cooking yourfood and you're like trying to
bring wine Around, or is it liketrying to feel like how would
you pair this, like weird thing,with this cool wine or with the
clay?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
See, just like me, the wine just shows up.
Really, each episode I get inand I link up with my, my host,
and we talk a little bit.
They'll usually take me out toa spot, get a little bite to eat
, get, get, get the palate wet,and then we would just head out.
Usually we hit about threedifferent spots each episode and
(24:55):
in each different locationthere's always just some amazing
dish that that each differentchef is introducing me to for
each location and and I'llalways have a pairing for it.
You'll see, you'll have a fewopportunities to learn on each
episode.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Nice, did you get to pick the destinations or were
you hamstring into where youneeded to go?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
No, I was a part of it.
I was a part of it.
There were a lot ofconversations about where we
were going to go.
But you throw your hat outthere and you hope.
But it's a big team of people.
I was very, very happy with thedestinations we found Nice.
Well, tell you what I wassurprised by Savannah, though I
have to say.
When I saw Savannah on the list, I was like okay, I didn't
(25:39):
really know and actually it'sthe episode that's coming out
tonight.
I'm not sure when this episodeis coming out, but today is the
second and it will be outtonight.
But yeah, savannah was anamazing surprise and one of the
best food cities I've been to inmy life.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Really, I feel like I keep hearing that from
different people.
Is it more just like thequality or the breadth of the
food, like what was it thatstood out to you the most?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
You know what it is.
It's definitely Southern food.
You are in the South, you'regetting shrimp and grits, but
it's Southern food evolved.
There's a lot of fusion stuffgoing on there that are that
derive from classic Southerndishes.
So it's just, and that's thething.
I did not see that coming.
(26:23):
You hear Savannah and George.
You think one thing, you thinkthe history, but it's incredibly
diverse and the food is just isa melting, super progressive
and cool city.
I'm excited for people to watchthat episode.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Cool, have you?
So this is kind of like takinga step to the side, but I would
love to hear more about, likesome of the mentors that you've
had in your life and then, nowthat you're, you have the
podcast and you have a show likethis, are you finding yourself
mentoring like the nextgeneration of folks trying to
get into wine or trying tofigure out a way we to learn
rather than just falling into it?
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It's interesting man.
A lot of my mentors really livein the wine business.
I had so many great people thatfostered me along and my
interestingly enough, my brotheris not in wine but he has
absolute and still is my numberone kind of consigliere.
He knows nothing about wine butdefinitely assisting a lot of
(27:20):
my decision making.
My dad also is a guy raisingJamaica in the 70s.
Living education came here tothe United States, made it
something amazing for us, sowe've been through a lot of
struggles.
I saw him struggle, but I alsosaw him build an amazing
business on his own, so it gaveme the courage to be an
(27:41):
entrepreneur.
One of the things that Iremember him saying to himself
when he first started thebusiness was like if I could
just hustle up enough to pay myrent, then I know I could figure
it out from there.
And I remember telling myselfthe same thing when I jumped off
and started my own business.
These are people that were.
And he's just like incrediblysmart, Like he's a never say die
person, Like he always figuresout a way.
(28:02):
I definitely took a laugh fromhim as well.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So have you seen a lot of that's awesome.
So have you seen, like withyour crew, love and before even
just going down, like thisstreet, sam and your podcast,
have you found people kind oflike reaching out in a way, or I
guess what has surprised youalong the way?
Have there been more folks,less folks, or is it like a
different somebody like I'vechanged careers because of you.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yeah, it's so interesting.
Actually, one more person I gotto give the flowers man.
Andre Mack.
Andre Mack is the man, he'ssomebody I knew forever.
I remember when I was in YNORXand still he was just leaving
Perse, and we knew each other onFacebook and we linked up.
We were like, oh yeah, it's theother black guy, because there
(28:51):
was nobody outside in the smallNYC space here, but I remember
just him talking to me, coach mealong when I started to do some
media stuff.
Even like now, I could hit himup one, two, three.
He'll give me advice ondifferent things, but he was
someone that was a majorinspiration and told me how to
move in this side of businesswhen it was really different.
(29:13):
But to your question aboutother people reaching out, I
mean it's amazing to see thisstuff happen, because now I've
been in the side of it since2016 doing content, trying to
reach people, and I've seenpeople that I've started out in
their wine journey.
I remember in 2018, I did anInstagram live with Germany for
(29:42):
about re-sling and I was talkingabout re-sling is not just one
thing it's different.
It's sweetness and did like awine and hip hop comparison.
I said re-sling is Drake becauseit has so many different styles
you get sweet Drake, you getdry Drake, he's bugging ass
stuff.
So it was a fun thing.
But then a guy reached out tome and he has just continued his
(30:06):
journey literally since then.
Re-sling was what brought himin and to the point where now,
here in 2023, I was in Portugala few months ago and just ran
into him.
He was out there studying wineand getting into it.
This is a guy, so it's amazingto see that I could have created
a passion so rich in thisperson that they would dedicate
(30:28):
their vacation and go to anothercountry just for that and.
I'm going to bump into him andeverybody's going to Portugal
right now.
For summary, I mean I'm goingto get at the fireplace.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It is a hot destination.
Where were you in?
Portugal.
I have to ask.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
I was in Porto.
Yeah, I was in Porto, man, thatwas a fun, fun trip.
Had a little two hour ride upthe Duro River, went through a
dam for the first time in mylife, which was damn scary, let
me tell you.
I felt like I was going intoBatman's cave.
It was so weird, like websiteclothes, but yes, if you've
(31:10):
never been in a dam people.
I advise it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Nice.
Well, I have two things now thedam and then also go to the
Duro, because I've done thesouth of Portugal and Madeira,
but never Porto.
So it's like high on my list,yeah, man.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Porto was fun.
And the food yo, the seafoodout there.
I had barnacles for the firsttime.
Oh, there's meat inside ofthose.
Yo, they look like dinosaurfeet.
It's so weird, but it isdelicious.
It tastes like shrimp.
It tastes like evolved shrimp.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Nice Well, I'm sure I mean a lot of seafood is.
If you just had to eat withyour eyes, you probably wouldn't
eat it, but it's alwaysdelicious.
Yeah, no, they are gross tolook at.
Delicious.
Nice Well mentioning on Mac hewas.
He was nice enough to join uson the podcast a while back as
well and it was it's interestinghis take on on things and also,
(32:06):
like I used to work in a mediaback in the day and so Gary was
obviously an early mover interms of wine media and then
he's close with with Andre andit's kind of interesting to see
how how these folks basicallyand I guess people like yourself
too it's like being yourauthentic self through wine is
now a cool and everybody's likeoh, that's so great.
But then like they've beendoing it for so long before it
(32:28):
was like that was accepted, Likeit used to be ostracized, Like
what is it like now, with thatbeing like the hip thing and
wine is just everybody, you knowwhat.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
It's fun.
It's fun because I'll go towine tasting sometimes and this
is, there's no BS.
This is absolutely happened.
Camo pants, construction, tim'shoodie.
And it starts out with peoplelooking a little weird, but then
by the end of it you starttalking to people you know the
(32:58):
US is so fun, it's, it's it.
I always had fun to changepeople's mind.
To be able to see people'sminds change.
Right, there is great.
And separately, I mean, whodoesn't like to see the haters
wrong?
That's always a little fun andbut.
But at the end of the day, ifsomeone was hating before, the
best thing you could do is treatthem with grace and bring them
(33:19):
along.
So that's how I do it, but yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Have you?
We we tend that we always haveto ask people about like the
quote unquote, like natural winemovement and stuff in general,
depending on what he is, butlike an admin, though, that here
in Los Angeles there's a bunchof these natural wine bars and
you see such a diverse like mixof folks coming in and drinking
wine more and I've seen a lot ofthem transition on to what I
call traditional wines.
Have you seen that at all inrecent years?
(33:45):
Help expand the wine scene.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Most definitely, most definitely, for positive and
negative reasons.
I think that there have been alot of people that come into
natural wine and say, oh, I'mgoing to drink natural wine
because it's healthier.
It's just like you got to likefor me and I was probably a
little bit of a slow adapterbecause of the side of coming
(34:09):
from wine auction and I fell inlove with wine through all the
old world wines.
But I love I feel like the wholenatural wine movement has,
because it's such a free, it isa younger audience that brought
it in so it came in with a wholedifferent energy to start shots
.
My friends out there West SideWine knows they got that new
(34:30):
offhand wine bar and they're allabout natural wine.
So I just it's.
I feel like that side of it hasactually pushed to bring wine
to a younger space overall andmake wine more culturally
relevant overall.
It's, I'm all for it.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yeah, it's been really interesting to see.
From my perspective, I've seenit being like almost like a
little bit of a bridge to themore older world or traditional
styles, because there will belike the crazy label natural
wine stuff, but then they'llalso have these old world things
that people are like what thisis natural wine?
It's like, well, yeah, theyjust, they've always made it
well.
And then Exactly.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
So that was the thing I felt like there was this kind
of like mentality about oh, ifyou drink naturally, if you're
not drinking natural wines likepeople turn their nose into
people nowadays when they seethem eating McDonald's, come on,
but I think that it felt likethat a little bit at one point,
(35:35):
but it's leveled out, it'sleveled out.
I like to see where wine is now, where people are just looking
for something different.
I think that people are in awhole different space of
exploring new varieties thatthey've never tried, exploring
wines from different areas thatthey've never tried.
So we're in a whole differentplace now.
We're in an exploratory phaseof wine, so we should use that
(35:57):
to our advantage.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I got into wine, I was actually working in
advertising in New York, like Iwas saying, and then I just
started reading about it.
I was like 27 when I reallytook it seriously and so I
always read about these obscurevarieties and I'm always like I
would look around and be likewhy isn't everybody like these
sound great.
Why aren't people drinkingthese?
The fun part about it that isthe fun part.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Have some fun with it , try something different.
But no, I think that now is thetime and people are coming out
of the woodwork tryinginteresting stuff Not all of us,
good, but look, man, I love tobe surprised.
There's so many.
And, honestly, your palatechanges over the years too.
(36:38):
My palate still changes, stillevolving, so I've been drinking
now for almost 20 years.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
And that's the funny part I guess you've experienced
this too.
When you start interacting withcollectors, when their palate
changes, it's like oh, now Ihave hundreds of thousands, if
not million, dollars of this oneregion.
I'm done with that.
Just what are you going to do?
Speaker 3 (37:02):
Selling at auction.
Hit me up, I got people for youNice.
All right.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
So circling back a little bit, I guess.
So you started your kind ofgrand crew love advising or
consulting.
How did that lead you toeventually partnering with
Constellation, and what were youdoing with them prior to
starting Streets?
And then I do have to ask, well, again, when we'll get there
(37:30):
Streets on all the cities you goto, because I know they're
listed, but I think we shouldget on them.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Yeah, definitely I was doing.
Really, I was the guy you call,put it to you that way and in
that regard, you try to servicepeople in whatever capacity they
need you.
Now, at the time I was justwanting enthusiasts 40 under 40.
(37:56):
And Constellation does a lot ofreally cool diversity
initiatives within their teameducating the company on new
aspects of diversity, teachingpeople different ways, different
ways to think, speaking with alot of things with like sales
team having different ways ofapproaching one overall.
So I do a lot of talks withthem.
(38:18):
They had a group called Ascendwhich did a really cool thing
for a Black History Month andthat was when the relationship
started.
So it went from doing a coupleof talks at Black History Month
to speaking at the NationalSales Meeting and doing fun
online activities with the group.
(38:39):
So I was actually doing somewine and food pairing things and
showing different ways to lookat stuff.
I was just a fun dude thatwould come around and introduce
them to a different side of wineevery once in a while.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Cool.
So, as working with and I'msure you visited, a number of
the Constellation producers, andmaybe even through people like
Andre, have you cut any bug atall to want to try to make wine,
or are you just girly on theenjoying and sharing side?
Speaker 3 (39:08):
I have so much respect for wine makers that I
know I couldn't be good.
No, I mean, I've done thingslike help to blend and before
and stuff like that.
But being a wine maker is hardand you have to be extremely
passionate about it.
I remember when I was growingup I wanted to be a basketball
player and I got on.
You couldn't tell me I wasn'tgoing to the NBA.
(39:30):
I was that guy fourth grade,fifth grade, junior high, get to
high school, got on the JV teamand about a week in I was like
I'm not doing this anymore, I'mgoing to rap because I just
hated going to practice, so Irealized I didn't love it enough
.
And you have to know you canenjoy something, but if you do
(39:53):
not love it enough, just do itfor fun.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I think that's great advice.
All right, so on the streets,Sam.
So what are your routes?
Yeah, where are all the citiesyou hit?
And give us a little bit of yes.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Yeah, I hit a bunch of fun cities.
I was in.
Of course we started off in New.
York, then Savannah, SanFrancisco, Chicago, Houston and
Miami.
So we really go on a journey,we go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
So is there a specific wine or a set of wines?
Is there a theme, I guess, foreach city?
Or how do you decide on whatthe or is it based on what the
chef wants?
Speaker 3 (40:34):
There's a bit of a story for each city, because
each city has I mean, citieshave a ton of characters, but
each city has its littlesomething.
So, for example, in Chicago thetheme was around art, because
there's a very rich artist scenein Chicago which I actually had
no idea about Prior to filmingstreets.
(40:57):
My only understanding of theChicago art scene was the museum
scene in Ferris Bueh and thebean that was it.
I didn't even tie the bean toart, it was just Ferris Bueh.
It was in a museum, that was it.
That was all I knew.
And what?
Jenny Vea is an amazing artist.
She brought me through the city, had a lot of fun, great food
(41:20):
and great art, but no, it was avery, very good show, very good
show.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Nice, nice, and then with San Francisco and, I guess,
new York, were you hitting moreof the Not the stereotypical
but the classic wine spots, orwere you trying to do more off
the beaten path?
A little bit, oh definitely NYC.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
I was very happy.
We popped it off on all levels.
We hit 11 Madison Park Wow,amazing, amazing establishment.
Did a great food pairing there.
But we also had, just like someshakshuka from a little Jewish
spot in Brooklyn, had a spicyfried chicken, oh nice, right in
Brooklyn.
(42:00):
So some really, really coolstuff.
But I mean we're everywhere OnSavannah, we having a seafood
boil in the chef's backyard Withhis neighbors coming over.
We do it in Houston, we in thestudio with Bun B eating fried
lobsters.
So we do it's.
(42:20):
With this show we want to tellpeople understand wine has no
boundaries.
The only boundary that wine hasis you.
You are the only limiter.
And guess what?
It's not going to go too farand it's not going to be too
reserved because it's you.
Enjoy how you want it, bring iteverywhere that you want it to
(42:40):
be, pair it with the foods thatyou like.
The crux for the show is aboutbreaking the conventional rules
of how you thought you'd need toapproach wine and building new
ones from scratch Nice.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
So are you guys like?
You're showing people you candrink it.
You don't have to drink it outof a wine glass, for example, or
you don't have to be all fancyabout it.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, nah, we don't do any street corners, but I
mean we do, we do some stemless.
We have had some stemless andthe show going crazy.
But I do still try to make surethat we pay respect to our
culture.
Ultimately, everything is therefor a particular reason.
It's just making sure that it'sa reason that sits well with
(43:24):
you.
Yeah, we do stemless.
Of course the stem is on aglass to not throw a temperature
of the wine.
But sometimes the risk to workthat sometimes you're not as
pressed, sometimes you throw itback a little bit fast.
So don't don't press rules.
Do whatever you do it fits you.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, that's my main thing.
Only, everybody expects me tobe particular about it.
The only thing I really careabout is the temperature.
You were saying it can justdrastically improve your
drinking experience.
If your white wine is not warmor whatever the red is, it's
just right how it's supposed tobe.
You're going to like it more.
I'm just trying to help you,exactly.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
Exactly so.
Things exist for reasons,however, just make sure they
apply for you.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yeah Well, we always have to ask what are you so?
You're saying how yourinterests are changing.
What are you personally intodrinking right now?
Is there anything that's likethis top of mind, or one of your
favorite wines, regents, let's?
Speaker 3 (44:25):
see, what am I drinking, interestingly enough,
and this is where sometimes I'llhave cray rings for wine and
I'll taste a specific style,regional varietal, but I mean,
merceau is my favorite style inmy favorite area, so I love
white burgundy.
I'll drink that all day, everyday.
(44:45):
But lately I've been cravingsome champagne.
I woke up yesterday cravingchampagne.
I need whoever's out there,please believe.
Next time you see me and wedrank in, it might be with some
champagne.
That's what I'm all right now.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Nice, nice.
Those are two things thatcertainly you can never get
wrong with.
I don't think anybody's everExactly.
Oh yeah, cool.
Thanks so much for joining us.
We're getting in the wrap upperiod almost close to time, so
do you want to say, like, howoften do these episodes come out
?
Is it weekly?
I know they started, I guess,on the 25th of September.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Yep, Yep.
So start of September 5th, wedrop in every Monday at 7 pm on
TasteMade.
Make sure you stream that man.
I'm so proud of that show.
It feels great and I gotrecognized the other day
randomly at a party, which meansthat people are watching it and
liking it.
I hope everyone goes out andenjoys it.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
Awesome.
Well, I have one more questionI have to ask what after this?
What's next?
What's next for you, man?
Speaker 3 (45:50):
hopefully season two.
There's a lot happening.
I'm actually heading to Franceon Thursday.
I'm going to be hosting a hugeevent at Clos De Bouchot.
Oh wow, mike D from the BeastieBoys is DJ and he backing me up
.
When I was in Houston in thestudio on Street Sound, I did.
I spent some bars.
I got linked up with amulti-planet producer in there
(46:13):
and they asked so people willget to see me rap on the show.
But it sparked a bug and so Iam dropping a little five song
EP which would be out this fall.
It might be out before the endof the month, who knows?
Who knows how I'm feeling.
But yeah, doing a bunch ofstuff.
I'm all over the place.
People can probably catch me atsome events, and definitely
(46:34):
every Monday at 7 pm on FaceBankStreet Sound.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
What are your social handles?
As well, people want to followyour journeys.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
Yeah, at Real Wolf of Wine on Instagram or at Wine
and Hip Hop Show.
I'm one of those.
I really have a lot of fun onInstagram so people get an
opportunity to roll with me.
There's always going to be somedope music, so you can bet that
I try to throw some funny stuffin there.
He wants to know why.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much forjoining.
It was great to have you andeverybody.
Yeah, I'm really excited to gocheck out all the videos.
Street Song yeah, pretty pumpedSweet man, you're going to join
me.
Speaker 3 (47:13):
Thank you for having me on man, appreciate it All
right.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
That was our interview with Jermaine Stone.
Definitely everybody go checkout Street Song and, without
further ado, I guess that's theend of this episode, so stay
tuned for another interview nextweek, as well as Brady being
back in the virtual studio.
I will see everyone next week,cheers.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
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(48:03):
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(48:25):
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All prospective investorsshould consult a legal, tax or
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You're listening to the Vint Podcast, where we bring
you interviews and stories fromaround the world of wine and
spirits, from winemakers andcritics to sommeliers and master
distillers.
We'll explore the people andbusinesses who are instrumental
in shaping the future of today'sfood and drinks culture.
Enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the
Vint Podcast.
My name is Billy and you maynotice Brady is not doing the
intro.
He is actually in Las Vegasthis week and not able to join
the recording and he was alsonot available for the interview.
You guys get a whole episode ofJust Me, but we have a really
exciting episode for younonetheless.
(00:43):
We have an interview withGermaine Stone, who has a
fascinating wine background, wasactually a guest that was
recommended by my mom months ago.
You guys will hear the storyabout that.
This team reached out to usbecause he's coming out with a
new wine and food show calledStreetsome in conjunction with
Taste Made and ConstellationBrands.
But we'll get into that alittle bit more.
(01:05):
Towards the end of this introhere before the interview, I'll
give you guys more details onwho he is and a little bit more
about his background.
Before we dive in, we can giveyou guys our standard fun wine
updates.
First, I've been traveling overthe past five days as well.
I was in Montreal, in Vermont,which we've teased this.
He was recently in Vermont aswell, but it was my first time,
(01:27):
both in Montreal and going downto Stowe, and it was really
interesting.
I was blown away by the foodscene in Montreal.
We actually didn't spend thatmuch time on the food and wine
scene there, but we went to anamazing little place, if you
guys are in the area, called LeVend Papillon.
It was part of this other likebroader wine group of well-known
restaurants that were prettycool.
(01:49):
We went there and it was justlike a little great French theme
.
That's in Montreal, soeverything is both in French and
English, but the wine list wasamazing.
It was just a great vibe.
It almost felt like you're in aParis little bistro wine bar.
It was an amazing little spotthere and we went to a bunch of
other interesting spots.
The bouncing around the townwas just full of like different
(02:11):
pockets of personality that Iwasn't expecting, so that was
really exciting.
And then we made it down toVermont.
We finally got to try some ofour buddy David Keck Master
Somalia, david Keck's wines thathe makes down there and
fortunately he was traveling andthe tasting room wasn't open,
but I was able to track somedown to try.
And again, it was reallyinteresting to see the dynamic
(02:34):
offerings of the wine, both inrestaurants, wine and spirits
actually wine both locally grownand imported as well throughout
Vermont.
I think one I had I was.
We were actually in a smalltown called Woodstock, which I
thought we were actuallyvisiting, the place where the
concert was.
Turns out that was in New York.
(02:54):
Please don't judge me.
Turns out I was the only onewho thought Woodstock could have
been in Vermont.
But we went to a cool littleshop there and they had Patti
Green and also oh, it's escapingme, but another excellent
Oregon producer just availablein this wine shop, mixed in with
all of these other different,different wines.
So it was really cool to seethe thought and care that even
(03:14):
in some of these small towns inVermont a lot of quality wines
were available.
And speaking of that, the onethat I was most impressed with.
We made a little stop it wasjust south of Stowe it's also
just outside of Montpelier to alittle place called the local I
think the website is the localVT, so if you search that you'll
be able to find the wine shop.
And it was.
(03:35):
It was really cool.
I was able to speak with theproprietor there, jack.
He was, he was really nice andI but prior to even speaking
with him, I just walked aroundthe wine shop.
I was actually looking forDavid's wines, which which I
found a couple of bottles, whichwas awesome.
I ended up buying one of themand then, but as I was going
around, there were wines fromall over the world with a really
(03:55):
diverse selection, fromBeaujolais to fortified or sweet
wines from places like SouthAfrica.
There was an excellent Baroloand Piedmontese selection in
general, but every region hadreally thoughtfully picked out
bottles of really interestingproducers as well.
It wasn't just a mainstreamsmattering.
So I highly recommend, ifyou're in the area, jack also
let me know they do tastings.
(04:16):
He showed me this really cooltasting room.
So if you're you're in the areawhether it be like Stowe and
you want to pop down orMontpelier definitely stop by
and see if they're doing anytastings, cause it looked like a
really cool tasting room andthe wines were a great, great,
highly curated selection.
I can't recommend it more basedon my my experience there.
So go say hi to Jack at thelocal VT in Vermont.
(04:39):
After you go visit Jack inVermont, then you should drink
some sherry.
Yes, that is the what we aredrinking.
This week I found a bar that hadan extensive sherry in Vermouth
lists extensive by normalrestaurant standards.
So that was.
We went there and my fiance gota sherry.
I ended up with anotherfortified wine it was it wasn't
(05:02):
necessarily a wine, it was acocktail and I asked them to
pick out something they thoughtwas interesting based on certain
parameters, and they ended uppicking out something strange.
But I was happy to have thesherry and the waitress was very
proud of their sherry list andasking us if places in LA had
had as large of a sherry list,saying that they were some of
the largest in Montreal.
So that got me kind ofpontificating to my fiance about
(05:24):
how sherry is underrated andhow it should have more of a
following and with that I wantedto share.
Have that be the one of theweek this week.
I want everybody to.
If you have any preconceivednotions, some people think
sherry is only sweet.
I just want everybody to thinkabout there's so many different
styles of sherry and dry sherryalone there's there's four
styles, including like Fino,fino slash Manzanilla.
(05:45):
That was basically a very likedry white wine that can almost
be used with with any meal.
It's perfect with, like almostall foods.
There's Oloroso, which is niceand full bodied and nutty and it
almost, almost caramelly on thenose but it's also dry.
So it worked really well and,bridget and it beats where I
grew up they would always haveit with she-crab soup.
There's a Montiados and PaloCortados that are still both dry
(06:08):
, that also have a little bit ofelements of both the the Fino
and the Oloroso, and of courseeverybody is more familiar with
the sweetened sherry, the creamsherry, the pale cream, medium
cream.
These are actually wines thatare dry wines to begin with,
whether the Fino or the Oloroso,and then they're sweetened with
a sweetening agent.
(06:29):
Typically, another sherry winecalled PX, which is a wine
that's basically Pedro Meniz, isa grape.
They'll grow it, it'll get veryripe.
They'll either leave it on thevine a long time or they'll pick
it when it's ripe and then dryit out on mats and it creates a
really almost like syrupy sweetwine.
A lot of people even put thaton ice cream.
But then they use that verysweet wine to mix with either
(06:50):
Oloroso or with Oloroso tocreate the medium and cream
sherry.
And then the pale creams areactually made with, with a
different kind of sweeteningagent that doesn't have as much
character really.
But so there you go.
So you have some dry sherry's,you have the sweetened ones.
There are sweet sherry's beyondeven just Pedro Meniz that are
made naturally.
They're harder to find.
They're made from a grapecalled Moscatel, but anyway,
(07:13):
we'll get into a full sherryepisode down the line.
I got myself a little excitedthere.
But for today let's get to ourinterview with Germain Stone.
Germain has such an interestingstory.
He grew up in the Bronx.
He wanted to be a rapper.
He ended up working atdifferent auction houses and he
ended up starting out helpingwith boxes and packing and then
he worked his way up and becamevery involved in heading up,
(07:37):
even like a director ofoperations.
So he basically climbed theladder, fell like up up into
wine, if you want to say fall.
Basically, he started learningmore and more about wine through
just work, while still alsomaintaining his love of hip hop
and all of that type of stuff aswell.
So what this let him do is hebasically built this really
(07:58):
prestigious career in wine.
He ended up moving to LA afterNew York and helping Wallies
start their auction programWallies is a very well-known
fine wine shop out here in LosAngeles and then he ended up
continuing just to basicallyevolve all everything that he's
been doing and continue tocreate new wine focused projects
(08:19):
.
He has this wine podcast,basically just called hip hop
and wine or wine and hip hopSorry, sorry, jeremy, I got it
backwards Wine and hip hop.
He started crew love wine,which is basically a marketing
agency or a marketing group thatbasically allows, helps, advise
people on how to bring wine andhip hop culture together and
(08:40):
basically he's been basicallypromoting wine in such a unique
way that he ended up connectingwith TasteMade and Constellation
Brands to come out with thisnew series called StreetSum,
which is what I referencedearlier, and it's basically him
going around the countryinteracting with different chefs
and people who are reallyintegrated into the food world
(09:01):
in different cities and bringingwine along with him to share
along in the journey.
So he pairs wines that go wellwith the food that he's being
introduced to.
But he's basically helping yousee a side of the city that you
may not have seen otherwisethrough these chef's eyes,
through these chef's point ofview, and I've watched the first
three episodes of New York andSavannah in San Francisco and
(09:22):
they're just, they're reallyunique.
I've seen food shows on all ofall those cities maybe not
Savannah actually, and it was.
It was a really interestingtake.
His personality is infectious.
So you can check them outStreetSum on either YouTube or
the TasteMade website, and Idefinitely recommend it.
The episodes will keep comingout the rest of the season.
(09:42):
I can't remember how manyepisodes there are, but there's
three out right now, so you canbasically catch up a little bit
and then you can be stayingtuned for the rest of the
episodes.
But without further ado, hereis Jermaine Stone.
Hi, jermaine, thank you so muchfor joining us today.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
Ah, thank you for having me.
Man pleasure's on mine.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Yeah, I'm not sure if your team let you know, but so
I first thought about having youon the podcast.
In a really interesting way, mymom sends to basically cut out
newspaper articles.
She lives in Virginia, I livein California now, so rather
than sending me links to news,she'll just cut them out.
So every time I see her shegives me a envelope of
newspapers and current eventsback in the day the current
(10:32):
events homework, pretty much.
So one day one of them she waslike there's this really
interesting guy in New York whowas like a sommelier and is
doing all this cool stuff.
So it was you and my mom waslike this guy looks really cool.
He said I'm on the podcast, soI carry that clipping around for
months until your team reachedout to that coming on.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
So that's so funny, man.
Well, mom knows best.
You know what they say.
Yeah, so that was.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
That was crazy.
She was very happy to hear thatit worked out.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
So that's awesome man Well can you?
Speaker 2 (11:04):
we gave a little bit of a background earlier, but can
you just share with everybody,kind of like, who you are and
how you got into the world ofwine and how you started your
journey?
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Grew up in the Bronx, new York,definitely a product of my
environment.
Got into hip hop when I wasyounger and wrapped all
throughout my teenage yearsright up until I was a college
age.
And you know, at the time myparents were really on me about
having a plan B other than justrap.
(11:34):
So I said, screw it, I go toschool and literally just to
shut them up.
Honestly, you know.
I love my parents but that isultimately why I did it.
But my dad's the kind of personwhere if he's paying for school
, he's pulling the strings, andI don't really like my strings
pulled.
So I decided to go to school atnight and work during the day
(11:55):
and understanding I'd writtenout like five year plan about
what I wanted to do and how Iwas going to do it as my plan B,
because if I'm doing something,I am going to do it well.
So I did truly write out whatmy plan was and it was a cool
five year plan about,interestingly enough, holding a
catering hall.
That is originally what Iwanted to do.
(12:16):
And so I said in order to dothat, okay, I'm going to need to
go to business schools likequalify for a loan, and I'll
need a.
I need experience.
So let me just find any officejob I could find.
At that time is tough to you.
Can't get an office job withouthaving experience.
So I said, screw it, I'll takeany job I can find and work my
(12:36):
way from the bottom to just workin an office.
And it just so happened that thejob I found which fit those
daytime hours I wanted was at awine storage facility which was
the fulfillment house for a wineauction house and that's
Zachy's up in Westchester.
And who knew that job wouldchange my life?
(12:58):
But I took this job stillthinking that rap was my plan A
and although I was in love withhip hop, I fell out of love with
the hip hop business and feltin love with the wine business
during that time when I wasworking in the warehouse.
So my first job was shippingclerk, simply to do packing
boxes and just being in thatenvironment, being around a
(13:22):
completely different elementfrom what I grew up in in the
Bronx like really interested me.
But not only that, my deep lovefor hip hop also made me feel
like I belonged and feltcomfortable in this audience
because so much of the stuff Iwas around and the stuff that I
was experiencing were the thingsthat rappers talked about in
(13:42):
their records.
I had Biggie talking aboutsaying S car go, my car goes,
one of 60.
I'd be now in restaurantseating S car go.
Or when he talks about being inrestaurants with me and the
lens and violins, I'd be inrestaurants when they play any
types of instruments.
So it felt okay.
I grew up into the lifestylethat these rappers are talking
(14:04):
about and allowed me to feelcomfortable.
But separately being in wineauction is a really interesting
business because it's sorelationship based.
Rapples come very fast and youwork with a really small set of
clients so you end up becomingfriends with everybody and you
would think a young black dudefrom the Bronx will fail out of
(14:26):
place or be a little bitostracized.
But really what I found was somany people were interested by
my background because in thatspace they didn't get the
opportunity to hang out withdudes like me, one or two even
finding that guys like me wereapproaching.
So it was always like acultural revolving door where
they would teach me about wineand wine culture and vice versa,
(14:47):
but separately I was hangingout with millionaire collectors,
best wine makers all over theworld, and that's how I grew up.
Throughout that time in wineauction started out packing
boxes.
My last job was auctiondirector and after I left wine
auction I went on to begin myown consulting business, which
(15:09):
was crew love selections, when Istarted out actually servicing
those same types of auctionclients.
My, my, my background in wineauction was in business
operations, so that's why theycalled me the wolf of wine.
I was.
I was like a fixer.
I'm like the wolf from PulpFiction, not not the wolf Wall
Street.
Well, from yeah, yeah.
I was a fixer.
(15:29):
When you ran into a situationyou don't know how to solve.
I was a dude that you wouldcall after my time in wine
auction.
I just went on consulting inthat same capacity, but one.
I always had friends in bothspaces.
I never lost contact with allthe people I grew up with and so
many of my friends I grew upwith rapping went on to pursue
(15:51):
professional careers and becomelike professional rappers and
DJs.
And Well, I always had thatconnection with that culture and
I would still show up to thestudio, hang out with my friends
Seized up, and I always wantedto find a way to bridge those
worlds.
I thought my friends are buyingexpensive bottles in the club.
Why wouldn't they buy anexpensive bottle in the store?
(16:11):
And it's probably, it is likelybetter quality and you can
enjoy it the way that you wantto enjoy it.
So I wanted to find a way tobring that world together as a
consultant, but I knew I neededto do that slowly.
So I started my podcast forreally two reasons one, to
introduce wine culture to a newaudience.
But two, really to stay infront of my consulting clients
(16:35):
as an independent consultantcoming from wine auction.
It's a super high-end businessand it's expensive to market
yourself in that space.
I'm not a wine auction.
I'm not at those auctions, I'mnot at the expensive dinners
anymore, so how would I bringthat audience to me?
So I started wine and hip-hoppodcast, which we're on every
(16:56):
episode, blend my favorite,pardon me.
On every episode I would sitwith different influencers from
either the wine industry or thehip-hop world.
I would have them pick a songor a bottle of wine that was
special to them and I would picka pairing that would and which
we would discuss on the show.
So I discussed my reason forthe pairing, they discussed
(17:18):
their reason why that particularthing was special to them.
So every episode we could havean organic conversation about
wine and hip-hop.
And the thing is I just need tostay in front of my clients
Timelines.
That was what the podcast wasreally about and I knew that if
I was sitting because of theirrelationships with me, I knew
that they had some interest inhip-hop.
And if I was sitting with DaveEast with a bottle of 90s
(17:44):
Bordeaux, they're gonna be like,oh wow, this guy's drinking it.
They're gonna look at theBordeaux but be interested by
the fact I'm doing with therapper.
Furthermore, the Dave East fanswill see that and, wow, dave
East is drinking wine and nowBegin to feel like they're a
part of this more so people haveto see you can't hit the
baskets that you can't see.
(18:05):
So once you see something beingenjoyed in the way that you
enjoy it, you'll, you'll step in.
So that was my start to wineand hip-hop podcast and it's
interesting because I startedthat to further my fine wine
consulting, but really it's.
It's ultimately brought mealmost completely out of that.
Now I'm a hundred percent doingcontent and hosting events and
(18:29):
still doing some some consulting, but in a much broader capacity
.
So it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Nice, do you think?
Speaking of content morebroadly, do you think so?
Like platforms with the rise ofInstagram and I guess even like
tick-tock to some extent, likepeople are able to see, like
behind the curtain, like evenwith a lot of NBA guys are
showing off, like the bottlesthat they're drinking, like at
home, and it relax thatatmosphere.
Do you think that's encouragingsome of this as well?
Speaker 3 (18:51):
Oh, oh, absolutely Absolutely.
When you think about it, wineand food right now really is a
cultural courage.
It's like the the person whoknows about the wine, that's the
friend you want to invite outto brunch or invite out to
dinner, the person who knowswhat restaurants to go to.
It is cultural currency and Ithink that the artists and
(19:13):
basketball players and everyonethat's that's bringing that on
understands that wine now reallyfits into that part culture.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I love that.
I love that idea of culturalcurrency.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna telleverybody that's what I bring
the party.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
I try.
I got money, I got culturalcurrency, get up.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
That's awesome.
Well, alright, so then you, youstarted your podcast.
You also did a lot of work onthe West Coast, like it wallies
and helping start some stuffthere in Los Angeles.
Yeah, that's, that was awesome.
So how did this?
Also, this brings us to what wereally want to talk about today
, which is your, your new series.
You're doing with taste made aswell as in with Constellation
Street, saw me tell us.
(19:57):
Tell us more about that.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Yeah, yeah.
It's so funny because, withinthat Consulting space,
constellation was interestingone of the companies I was
consulting for and I've beenworking with them since 2020, so
it's beautiful to see that herein 2023.
We were able to Bring thisrelationship even to a much
further place in a biggerplatform.
But it's interesting becausethis is really where those two
(20:22):
things intersected and andbranched up, because within
itself, it's just amazing.
To be working with such suchhuge companies like
Constellation has been amazingand and really sure, a little
bit more about Constellation.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I think our audience is familiar but, like maybe
throughout some of the brandsthat some people might know
early, yeah, so.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Essentially, this was a collaboration with
Constellation and taste matesfoot to create this studio, to
make original content aroundthese great brands they have.
So we're using brands likeRobert Mendovi winery, the
prisoner, kim Crawford, naomi,these are Ruffino.
These are everyday brands thatyou're gonna see, and an amazing
(21:02):
piece about that is that thisreally allows a show to be
Relatable and attainable.
These are wines that areavailable in your market, like
sometimes you can go to tendifferent restaurants on one
street and you'll find 20different wine list.
It can be fickle.
So if we want to, if we want tobring people in and we want to
(21:22):
make it approachable andattainable, the wine has to be
attainable as well.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
So it's just amazing to work with great partners like
Well, so so like the show iscalled streets on, so what?
What is the premise?
You're going to these differentcities in your yes, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I mean it's funny cuz it really is who I am.
I'm like a street song, quite ait's funny.
So, I'm a street song, I'm atraveling summer.
Yeah, I go city to city linkingup with different chefs in each
spot, and they Ultimatelyintroduced me to the city
through food.
They take me on, they each takeme on like different amazing
(21:59):
culinary journeys, but not justintroduced me to the food, I
also really get to know them and, honestly, throughout this
whole season, I got to knowmyself a little bit more.
It was interesting, but yeah,it's, getting to see each city
in that way and Getting to knowthe city through food has just
been so fun and it really is ashow where you'll walk away Not
(22:21):
just more culturally rich, butsmarter with regard to wine,
because we we got a great wayabout this, like weaving the
wine info in there and andMaking it wine is, is really
just another character in theshow.
It's called street song, butit's not a show about wine.
It's about culture, people, andwine is another character on
(22:41):
the show.
Nice.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
I love that, all right, so are you it.
Is it also weaving in some ofyour your love of like hip-hop
and music as well?
Is that like in the as anelement?
Speaker 3 (22:50):
Oh, oh most definitely, most definitely,
everywhere I walk there's gonnabe a little bit of hip-hop
dripping in the room.
That's, that's.
That's also the fun part.
I think that for Someone likeme to be introducing people into
wine, it just it gives things awhole different perspective,
because hip-hop so much isAmerican culture.
(23:12):
Like when you look outside ofthe world and you say this
person's dressed like anAmerican, they probably got on a
basketball jersey or somethinglike that.
It's just, ultimately, I thinkthat American culture has really
been significantly influencedby hip.
With me, like talk every place,even I, even actually there's
(23:34):
an episode coming up in a fewweeks where, actually, rap in
one of the I was actuallyrapping in the studio.
I have Bun B from UGK.
We did a long parent in thestudio, so hip-hop is is all
over that show.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
Nice, yeah, like I, I love the idea.
I don't think anybody's reallydone anything like that in the
US.
There was one episode ofsomething that action Bronson
did in Paris where it wassimilar vibe, where he wasn't
focusing on the wine as much, itwas like introducing to the
chefs and the people, and I waslike, oh, why don't more people?
Somebody should do this, likein the US.
And yeah, now you're on top ofit.
(24:13):
Sure, are you going to?
So, yeah, walk us through likea general idea of an episode.
Are you going to like thesechefs and like they're sitting
down and they're cooking yourfood and you're like trying to
bring wine Around, or is it liketrying to feel like how would
you pair this, like weird thing,with this cool wine or with the
clay?
Speaker 3 (24:32):
See, just like me, the wine just shows up.
Really, each episode I get inand I link up with my, my host,
and we talk a little bit.
They'll usually take me out toa spot, get a little bite to eat
, get, get, get the palate wet,and then we would just head out.
Usually we hit about threedifferent spots each episode and
(24:55):
in each different locationthere's always just some amazing
dish that that each differentchef is introducing me to for
each location and and I'llalways have a pairing for it.
You'll see, you'll have a fewopportunities to learn on each
episode.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Nice, did you get to pick the destinations or were
you hamstring into where youneeded to go?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
No, I was a part of it.
I was a part of it.
There were a lot ofconversations about where we
were going to go.
But you throw your hat outthere and you hope.
But it's a big team of people.
I was very, very happy with thedestinations we found Nice.
Well, tell you what I wassurprised by Savannah, though I
have to say.
When I saw Savannah on the list, I was like okay, I didn't
(25:39):
really know and actually it'sthe episode that's coming out
tonight.
I'm not sure when this episodeis coming out, but today is the
second and it will be outtonight.
But yeah, savannah was anamazing surprise and one of the
best food cities I've been to inmy life.
Speaker 2 (25:54):
Really, I feel like I keep hearing that from
different people.
Is it more just like thequality or the breadth of the
food, like what was it thatstood out to you the most?
Speaker 3 (26:02):
You know what it is.
It's definitely Southern food.
You are in the South, you'regetting shrimp and grits, but
it's Southern food evolved.
There's a lot of fusion stuffgoing on there that are that
derive from classic Southerndishes.
So it's just, and that's thething.
I did not see that coming.
(26:23):
You hear Savannah and George.
You think one thing, you thinkthe history, but it's incredibly
diverse and the food is just isa melting, super progressive
and cool city.
I'm excited for people to watchthat episode.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Cool, have you?
So this is kind of like takinga step to the side, but I would
love to hear more about, likesome of the mentors that you've
had in your life and then, nowthat you're, you have the
podcast and you have a show likethis, are you finding yourself
mentoring like the nextgeneration of folks trying to
get into wine or trying tofigure out a way we to learn
rather than just falling into it?
Speaker 3 (26:57):
It's interesting man.
A lot of my mentors really livein the wine business.
I had so many great people thatfostered me along and my
interestingly enough, my brotheris not in wine but he has
absolute and still is my numberone kind of consigliere.
He knows nothing about wine butdefinitely assisting a lot of
(27:20):
my decision making.
My dad also is a guy raisingJamaica in the 70s.
Living education came here tothe United States, made it
something amazing for us, sowe've been through a lot of
struggles.
I saw him struggle, but I alsosaw him build an amazing
business on his own, so it gaveme the courage to be an
(27:41):
entrepreneur.
One of the things that Iremember him saying to himself
when he first started thebusiness was like if I could
just hustle up enough to pay myrent, then I know I could figure
it out from there.
And I remember telling myselfthe same thing when I jumped off
and started my own business.
These are people that were.
And he's just like incrediblysmart, Like he's a never say die
person, Like he always figuresout a way.
(28:02):
I definitely took a laugh fromhim as well.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
So have you seen a lot of that's awesome.
So have you seen, like withyour crew, love and before even
just going down, like thisstreet, sam and your podcast,
have you found people kind oflike reaching out in a way, or I
guess what has surprised youalong the way?
Have there been more folks,less folks, or is it like a
different somebody like I'vechanged careers because of you.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
Yeah, it's so interesting.
Actually, one more person I gotto give the flowers man.
Andre Mack.
Andre Mack is the man, he'ssomebody I knew forever.
I remember when I was in YNORXand still he was just leaving
Perse, and we knew each other onFacebook and we linked up.
We were like, oh yeah, it's theother black guy, because there
(28:51):
was nobody outside in the smallNYC space here, but I remember
just him talking to me, coach mealong when I started to do some
media stuff.
Even like now, I could hit himup one, two, three.
He'll give me advice ondifferent things, but he was
someone that was a majorinspiration and told me how to
move in this side of businesswhen it was really different.
(29:13):
But to your question aboutother people reaching out, I
mean it's amazing to see thisstuff happen, because now I've
been in the side of it since2016 doing content, trying to
reach people, and I've seenpeople that I've started out in
their wine journey.
I remember in 2018, I did anInstagram live with Germany for
(29:42):
about re-sling and I was talkingabout re-sling is not just one
thing it's different.
It's sweetness and did like awine and hip hop comparison.
I said re-sling is Drake becauseit has so many different styles
you get sweet Drake, you getdry Drake, he's bugging ass
stuff.
So it was a fun thing.
But then a guy reached out tome and he has just continued his
(30:06):
journey literally since then.
Re-sling was what brought himin and to the point where now,
here in 2023, I was in Portugala few months ago and just ran
into him.
He was out there studying wineand getting into it.
This is a guy, so it's amazingto see that I could have created
a passion so rich in thisperson that they would dedicate
(30:28):
their vacation and go to anothercountry just for that and.
I'm going to bump into him andeverybody's going to Portugal
right now.
For summary, I mean I'm goingto get at the fireplace.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
It is a hot destination.
Where were you in?
Portugal.
I have to ask.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
I was in Porto.
Yeah, I was in Porto, man, thatwas a fun, fun trip.
Had a little two hour ride upthe Duro River, went through a
dam for the first time in mylife, which was damn scary, let
me tell you.
I felt like I was going intoBatman's cave.
It was so weird, like websiteclothes, but yes, if you've
(31:10):
never been in a dam people.
I advise it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Nice.
Well, I have two things now thedam and then also go to the
Duro, because I've done thesouth of Portugal and Madeira,
but never Porto.
So it's like high on my list,yeah, man.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Porto was fun.
And the food yo, the seafoodout there.
I had barnacles for the firsttime.
Oh, there's meat inside ofthose.
Yo, they look like dinosaurfeet.
It's so weird, but it isdelicious.
It tastes like shrimp.
It tastes like evolved shrimp.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Nice Well, I'm sure I mean a lot of seafood is.
If you just had to eat withyour eyes, you probably wouldn't
eat it, but it's alwaysdelicious.
Yeah, no, they are gross tolook at.
Delicious.
Nice Well mentioning on Mac hewas.
He was nice enough to join uson the podcast a while back as
well and it was it's interestinghis take on on things and also,
(32:06):
like I used to work in a mediaback in the day and so Gary was
obviously an early mover interms of wine media and then
he's close with with Andre andit's kind of interesting to see
how how these folks basicallyand I guess people like yourself
too it's like being yourauthentic self through wine is
now a cool and everybody's likeoh, that's so great.
But then like they've beendoing it for so long before it
(32:28):
was like that was accepted, Likeit used to be ostracized, Like
what is it like now, with thatbeing like the hip thing and
wine is just everybody, you knowwhat.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
It's fun.
It's fun because I'll go towine tasting sometimes and this
is, there's no BS.
This is absolutely happened.
Camo pants, construction, tim'shoodie.
And it starts out with peoplelooking a little weird, but then
by the end of it you starttalking to people you know the
(32:58):
US is so fun, it's, it's it.
I always had fun to changepeople's mind.
To be able to see people'sminds change.
Right, there is great.
And separately, I mean, whodoesn't like to see the haters
wrong?
That's always a little fun andbut.
But at the end of the day, ifsomeone was hating before, the
best thing you could do is treatthem with grace and bring them
(33:19):
along.
So that's how I do it, but yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
Have you?
We we tend that we always haveto ask people about like the
quote unquote, like natural winemovement and stuff in general,
depending on what he is, butlike an admin, though, that here
in Los Angeles there's a bunchof these natural wine bars and
you see such a diverse like mixof folks coming in and drinking
wine more and I've seen a lot ofthem transition on to what I
call traditional wines.
Have you seen that at all inrecent years?
(33:45):
Help expand the wine scene.
Speaker 3 (33:47):
Most definitely, most definitely, for positive and
negative reasons.
I think that there have been alot of people that come into
natural wine and say, oh, I'mgoing to drink natural wine
because it's healthier.
It's just like you got to likefor me and I was probably a
little bit of a slow adapterbecause of the side of coming
(34:09):
from wine auction and I fell inlove with wine through all the
old world wines.
But I love I feel like the wholenatural wine movement has,
because it's such a free, it isa younger audience that brought
it in so it came in with a wholedifferent energy to start shots
.
My friends out there West SideWine knows they got that new
(34:30):
offhand wine bar and they're allabout natural wine.
So I just it's.
I feel like that side of it hasactually pushed to bring wine
to a younger space overall andmake wine more culturally
relevant overall.
It's, I'm all for it.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Yeah, it's been really interesting to see.
From my perspective, I've seenit being like almost like a
little bit of a bridge to themore older world or traditional
styles, because there will belike the crazy label natural
wine stuff, but then they'llalso have these old world things
that people are like what thisis natural wine?
It's like, well, yeah, theyjust, they've always made it
well.
And then Exactly.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
So that was the thing I felt like there was this kind
of like mentality about oh, ifyou drink naturally, if you're
not drinking natural wines likepeople turn their nose into
people nowadays when they seethem eating McDonald's, come on,
but I think that it felt likethat a little bit at one point,
(35:35):
but it's leveled out, it'sleveled out.
I like to see where wine is now, where people are just looking
for something different.
I think that people are in awhole different space of
exploring new varieties thatthey've never tried, exploring
wines from different areas thatthey've never tried.
So we're in a whole differentplace now.
We're in an exploratory phaseof wine, so we should use that
(35:57):
to our advantage.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I got into wine, I was actually working in
advertising in New York, like Iwas saying, and then I just
started reading about it.
I was like 27 when I reallytook it seriously and so I
always read about these obscurevarieties and I'm always like I
would look around and be likewhy isn't everybody like these
sound great.
Why aren't people drinkingthese?
The fun part about it that isthe fun part.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Have some fun with it , try something different.
But no, I think that now is thetime and people are coming out
of the woodwork tryinginteresting stuff Not all of us,
good, but look, man, I love tobe surprised.
There's so many.
And, honestly, your palatechanges over the years too.
(36:38):
My palate still changes, stillevolving, so I've been drinking
now for almost 20 years.
Speaker 2 (36:47):
And that's the funny part I guess you've experienced
this too.
When you start interacting withcollectors, when their palate
changes, it's like oh, now Ihave hundreds of thousands, if
not million, dollars of this oneregion.
I'm done with that.
Just what are you going to do?
Speaker 3 (37:02):
Selling at auction.
Hit me up, I got people for youNice.
All right.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
So circling back a little bit, I guess.
So you started your kind ofgrand crew love advising or
consulting.
How did that lead you toeventually partnering with
Constellation, and what were youdoing with them prior to
starting Streets?
And then I do have to ask, well, again, when we'll get there
(37:30):
Streets on all the cities you goto, because I know they're
listed, but I think we shouldget on them.
Speaker 3 (37:35):
Yeah, definitely I was doing.
Really, I was the guy you call,put it to you that way and in
that regard, you try to servicepeople in whatever capacity they
need you.
Now, at the time I was justwanting enthusiasts 40 under 40.
(37:56):
And Constellation does a lot ofreally cool diversity
initiatives within their teameducating the company on new
aspects of diversity, teachingpeople different ways, different
ways to think, speaking with alot of things with like sales
team having different ways ofapproaching one overall.
So I do a lot of talks withthem.
(38:18):
They had a group called Ascendwhich did a really cool thing
for a Black History Month andthat was when the relationship
started.
So it went from doing a coupleof talks at Black History Month
to speaking at the NationalSales Meeting and doing fun
online activities with the group.
(38:39):
So I was actually doing somewine and food pairing things and
showing different ways to lookat stuff.
I was just a fun dude thatwould come around and introduce
them to a different side of wineevery once in a while.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Cool.
So, as working with and I'msure you visited, a number of
the Constellation producers, andmaybe even through people like
Andre, have you cut any bug atall to want to try to make wine,
or are you just girly on theenjoying and sharing side?
Speaker 3 (39:08):
I have so much respect for wine makers that I
know I couldn't be good.
No, I mean, I've done thingslike help to blend and before
and stuff like that.
But being a wine maker is hardand you have to be extremely
passionate about it.
I remember when I was growingup I wanted to be a basketball
player and I got on.
You couldn't tell me I wasn'tgoing to the NBA.
(39:30):
I was that guy fourth grade,fifth grade, junior high, get to
high school, got on the JV teamand about a week in I was like
I'm not doing this anymore, I'mgoing to rap because I just
hated going to practice, so Irealized I didn't love it enough
.
And you have to know you canenjoy something, but if you do
(39:53):
not love it enough, just do itfor fun.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:58):
I think that's great advice.
All right, so on the streets,Sam.
So what are your routes?
Yeah, where are all the citiesyou hit?
And give us a little bit of yes.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
Yeah, I hit a bunch of fun cities.
I was in.
Of course we started off in New.
York, then Savannah, SanFrancisco, Chicago, Houston and
Miami.
So we really go on a journey,we go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (40:24):
So is there a specific wine or a set of wines?
Is there a theme, I guess, foreach city?
Or how do you decide on whatthe or is it based on what the
chef wants?
Speaker 3 (40:34):
There's a bit of a story for each city, because
each city has I mean, citieshave a ton of characters, but
each city has its littlesomething.
So, for example, in Chicago thetheme was around art, because
there's a very rich artist scenein Chicago which I actually had
no idea about Prior to filmingstreets.
(40:57):
My only understanding of theChicago art scene was the museum
scene in Ferris Bueh and thebean that was it.
I didn't even tie the bean toart, it was just Ferris Bueh.
It was in a museum, that was it.
That was all I knew.
And what?
Jenny Vea is an amazing artist.
She brought me through the city, had a lot of fun, great food
(41:20):
and great art, but no, it was avery, very good show, very good
show.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Nice, nice, and then with San Francisco and, I guess,
new York, were you hitting moreof the Not the stereotypical
but the classic wine spots, orwere you trying to do more off
the beaten path?
A little bit, oh definitely NYC.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
I was very happy.
We popped it off on all levels.
We hit 11 Madison Park Wow,amazing, amazing establishment.
Did a great food pairing there.
But we also had, just like someshakshuka from a little Jewish
spot in Brooklyn, had a spicyfried chicken, oh nice, right in
Brooklyn.
(42:00):
So some really, really coolstuff.
But I mean we're everywhere OnSavannah, we having a seafood
boil in the chef's backyard Withhis neighbors coming over.
We do it in Houston, we in thestudio with Bun B eating fried
lobsters.
So we do it's.
(42:20):
With this show we want to tellpeople understand wine has no
boundaries.
The only boundary that wine hasis you.
You are the only limiter.
And guess what?
It's not going to go too farand it's not going to be too
reserved because it's you.
Enjoy how you want it, bring iteverywhere that you want it to
(42:40):
be, pair it with the foods thatyou like.
The crux for the show is aboutbreaking the conventional rules
of how you thought you'd need toapproach wine and building new
ones from scratch Nice.
Speaker 2 (42:55):
So are you guys like?
You're showing people you candrink it.
You don't have to drink it outof a wine glass, for example, or
you don't have to be all fancyabout it.
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Yeah, nah, we don't do any street corners, but I
mean we do, we do some stemless.
We have had some stemless andthe show going crazy.
But I do still try to make surethat we pay respect to our
culture.
Ultimately, everything is therefor a particular reason.
It's just making sure that it'sa reason that sits well with
(43:24):
you.
Yeah, we do stemless.
Of course the stem is on aglass to not throw a temperature
of the wine.
But sometimes the risk to workthat sometimes you're not as
pressed, sometimes you throw itback a little bit fast.
So don't don't press rules.
Do whatever you do it fits you.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, that's my main thing.
Only, everybody expects me tobe particular about it.
The only thing I really careabout is the temperature.
You were saying it can justdrastically improve your
drinking experience.
If your white wine is not warmor whatever the red is, it's
just right how it's supposed tobe.
You're going to like it more.
I'm just trying to help you,exactly.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
Exactly so.
Things exist for reasons,however, just make sure they
apply for you.
Speaker 2 (44:13):
Yeah Well, we always have to ask what are you so?
You're saying how yourinterests are changing.
What are you personally intodrinking right now?
Is there anything that's likethis top of mind, or one of your
favorite wines, regents, let's?
Speaker 3 (44:25):
see, what am I drinking, interestingly enough,
and this is where sometimes I'llhave cray rings for wine and
I'll taste a specific style,regional varietal, but I mean,
merceau is my favorite style inmy favorite area, so I love
white burgundy.
I'll drink that all day, everyday.
(44:45):
But lately I've been cravingsome champagne.
I woke up yesterday cravingchampagne.
I need whoever's out there,please believe.
Next time you see me and wedrank in, it might be with some
champagne.
That's what I'm all right now.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
Nice, nice.
Those are two things thatcertainly you can never get
wrong with.
I don't think anybody's everExactly.
Oh yeah, cool.
Thanks so much for joining us.
We're getting in the wrap upperiod almost close to time, so
do you want to say, like, howoften do these episodes come out
?
Is it weekly?
I know they started, I guess,on the 25th of September.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
Yep, Yep.
So start of September 5th, wedrop in every Monday at 7 pm on
TasteMade.
Make sure you stream that man.
I'm so proud of that show.
It feels great and I gotrecognized the other day
randomly at a party, which meansthat people are watching it and
liking it.
I hope everyone goes out andenjoys it.
Speaker 2 (45:44):
Awesome.
Well, I have one more questionI have to ask what after this?
What's next?
What's next for you, man?
Speaker 3 (45:50):
hopefully season two.
There's a lot happening.
I'm actually heading to Franceon Thursday.
I'm going to be hosting a hugeevent at Clos De Bouchot.
Oh wow, mike D from the BeastieBoys is DJ and he backing me up
.
When I was in Houston in thestudio on Street Sound, I did.
I spent some bars.
I got linked up with amulti-planet producer in there
(46:13):
and they asked so people willget to see me rap on the show.
But it sparked a bug and so Iam dropping a little five song
EP which would be out this fall.
It might be out before the endof the month, who knows?
Who knows how I'm feeling.
But yeah, doing a bunch ofstuff.
I'm all over the place.
People can probably catch me atsome events, and definitely
(46:34):
every Monday at 7 pm on FaceBankStreet Sound.
Speaker 2 (46:38):
What are your social handles?
As well, people want to followyour journeys.
Speaker 3 (46:42):
Yeah, at Real Wolf of Wine on Instagram or at Wine
and Hip Hop Show.
I'm one of those.
I really have a lot of fun onInstagram so people get an
opportunity to roll with me.
There's always going to be somedope music, so you can bet that
I try to throw some funny stuffin there.
He wants to know why.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Awesome.
Well, thank you so much forjoining.
It was great to have you andeverybody.
Yeah, I'm really excited to gocheck out all the videos.
Street Song yeah, pretty pumpedSweet man, you're going to join
me.
Speaker 3 (47:13):
Thank you for having me on man, appreciate it All
right.
Speaker 2 (47:24):
That was our interview with Jermaine Stone.
Definitely everybody go checkout Street Song and, without
further ado, I guess that's theend of this episode, so stay
tuned for another interview nextweek, as well as Brady being
back in the virtual studio.
I will see everyone next week,cheers.
Speaker 4 (47:41):
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For questions, comments orfeedback on the Vint podcast.
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(48:03):
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(48:25):
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