October 6, 2020 • 26 mins
My next guest is NBA Star CJ McCollum; after his introduction to wine in his early 20s by his fiancée, CJ moved to Oregon and joined the Portland Trail Blazers, finding himself just a short drive away from one of the top wine regions in the country. He launched his brand. McCollum Heritage 91 is all about legacy—bringing CJ's passions to life while honoring his roots in the process. It just so happened that the perfect word to describe that—heritage—is also the name of the street he grew up on in Canton, Ohio. Combined with his birth year and family name, McCollum Heritage 91 truly embodies CJ and all he stands for. He is on the show to discuss his SOLD OUT Heritage 91 wine collection. Life during and after the NBA bubble in Orlando and educational charity. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations CJ McCollum.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to money making conversations. I'm excited I got my
man CJ back on the show. I'm your host, rous
Sean McDonald. I recognized that we all have different definitions
of success. For some, it's a sizeable paycheck. Might is
helping people wake up and inspiring them to accomplish their
goals and live their very best life. These are my
passions and that's what I'm going to do for you.
I want you to stop tripping over small challenges and
(00:23):
prepare to rise above the bigger obstacles that life will
present to you and live your dream. My next guest
is truly an NBA star. His name is c J McCullum.
After his introduction to wine in the early twenties by
his fiancee, CJ moved to Oregon and joined the Portland
Trailblazers tent pick in the draft. Finding themself just short
of drive away from one of the top wine regions
(00:44):
in the country, he launched his own brand, mccullor Heritage
and Nary One. It's all about legacy, bringing CJ's passion
to life while honoring his roots in the process. It
just so happened that the perfect word to describe that
his heritage is also the name of the street he
grew up on, a can't know how you combined with
his birth year and the family name McCullen. Heritage Nati
(01:04):
One truly embodies c J and all that he stands for.
He's on the show to discuss he's sold out. To
hear you sold out, it's sold out, Heritage naty One
Wine collection, life doing it after the NBA bubble in Orlando,
and his educational charity. Please welcome back to Money Making Conversations,
My man, c J. McCullum. How are you doing, c J.
(01:26):
I'm great man. Thanks for a great introduction and appreciate
you having me on. Well, first of all, first of all,
you know I I you're sold got though talk talks
about that whole plan because because I've been following you now,
c J. C You're you're a good planner. You went
down there and then you started sharing your wine with
everybody in the bubble. What that that was a strategy, right, Yeah,
(01:47):
it was definitely a part of the strategy. Obviously, the
situation shifted from when I first um began working on
my wine project three years ago. UM I was planning
on releasing year before the next season. Usually our season
starts in September, and obviously that kind of change with
the coronavirus situation didn't happen to potentially play in the bubble.
(02:08):
So I had the wine that I was prepared to
kind of distribute to friends and family and kind of
switched that over and distributed to a bunch of players
and staff and front office members in the NBA to
just kind of get an idea of what they thought
about it. I was it from the marketing standpoint. That
was helpful as well, but the plan was more so
just to get feedback on what they thought about the wine,
(02:28):
like terms with the taste and um, just to kind
of try to introduce it to them because a lot
of people weren't familiar with it because it was my
first project in the wine world. Now he hears me,
Now wine is grapes, correct, Yes, okay, cool? Now I
would I'm just a country bore. I'm born and raised
(02:48):
in Houston, Texas. Okay, everything rose well in the South
Wales war Now Portland, Oregon, that's wine country. Yeah, you'd
be surprised that we're not. I have surprised because I'm
I'm talking like this because I would think that grapes
need to be warm to survive, and I know you
have severe windows up there. Correct. No, it's actually not
(03:11):
that bad here. Besides the rain, which can play a
factor in the taste of of the wine going forward,
our winners aren't bad. It's only snow probably three times
in my seven years out here in the in the wintertime,
it's it's pretty pretty balanced. And I think what helps
our grapes is the climate. The climate we get from
so many so many different landscapes. We have mountain ranges,
(03:33):
we have the Hala Mountains, we have Dundee, we have
so many different parts of of Oregon that are going
through the fermentation process that go through the process of
actually making a wine that you get so many different tastes.
But I think historically, based on the research I've done
and what I've seen in comparison to you look at
(03:53):
at Napa, which is in California, that they have cooler
climate at night. They kind of go through hot hot summer,
is uh not too cold in the winter. Were similar
in terms of hot summers, but it's not too cold
in the winter and during harvards, which is around you know,
September to October, we have ideal weather for grapes, not
(04:13):
a lot of rain until end of October. Um it's
it's hot, but it's cool at nine so we can
get up during the day and they can get down
as low as fifty at night. So you have that
balance of a mount to the climates. But then it
just comes down to luck, you know, having the right elevation,
being being facing uh southeastern or southwestern. That also plays
(04:34):
a huge role. But I had no idea until I
moved out here, So I'm with you. I'm just fortunate
enough to have moved out here and been exposed to
it firsthand to where it's it's kind of shifted my
perspective of it. And then talking to a bunch of
experts and people in the business, they've come to the
same conclusion that oregan Is is really known for the
piano in the war, and they have some great shard
in their grapes as well. Now you're talking like an expert.
(04:55):
I love your tone, articulate anyway, but you really you
really now Number two some We talked earlier about the
great you know, and we talked about the wine being
released in September with it being sold that where are
you right now? Confidently when confidence about your product? Because
I I hear confidence in your tone. I hear I
(05:15):
hear a high level of professionalism. Not saying that you
don't talk, but you know when once you taste a
little bit of success, like what you did with more
MORET on that basketball court. Remember, remember you know how
you did, and you know when you came out the
court you had a different attitude to buy how you
treating them out there. See, I'm sitting to this an
attitude with you now, t J, now that you're sold.
I talked to us about that, you know, I mean,
(05:38):
if we're being honest here, I created a good product.
I had a lot of highly successful people around me
to kind of mold me and help me go through
this process too, where I had a great understanding of
what was going to happen. When you hire the right people, Um,
it's hard to fail. I know what I don't know.
And I hired a bunch of experts who whose job
is to put me in the position to succeed. And
(05:59):
I think started with the I maker, starting with the
partnership with the winery. I chose inn at a sign
we knew it was going to be a success. We
just weren't sure, you know, the reception that we would get.
Weren't sure it would sell out in forty five minutes.
But I knew that people would be attracted to it.
We're not talking about fifty correct fifty dollars a bottle,
(06:21):
and we we did a We did a really good
job of marketing. And I think from a brand, brand
name standpoint, uh, people know that I enjoyed wine, they
know that Oregon Pino specifically is historically been good. And
I think the confidence just comes from the work I've
put a lot of work in on trying to learn.
I'm not an expert by any means, but I have
(06:42):
learned a lot in my in my nine years being
involved in the wine industry and just kind of learning
self taught and then speaking to experts about the importance
of wine. The process of wine will go through the
climates you need, and and so on and so forth.
I just felt confident that, um, it would be a
good wine because I tasted it. I had some psalms tasted,
(07:02):
I had people who are considered wine snobs tasted and
give me really positive feedback to where I'm comfortable with
speaking on it because I literally went through the entire
process of making wine with the help of experts so
that I feel confident about it. So you went from
just a just a connos sort a person who enjoyed
wine to doing your homework. And now each step now
(07:24):
is like you know, you know, getting another year notching
your degree plan of being more and more of an
expert and achieve the next level of success. Now you said,
you said, okay, forty five minutes c J, So okay,
tell me this. How did how was the release notify
what it was? Was it noted notification on your social media?
(07:47):
How did that work? Because you said, you guys did
a really good job of marketing this, and so I'm
sure you're planning the next series and you want to
do a really good job again. So what was the
what was there a couple of people to hear how
you release a new brand, because like they were a
very smart strategy, you know, in the bubble when I
started reading about the players, that was a good strategy
because it I'm sure someone post posted it about it
(08:11):
and that really helped to raise the consciousness to people
who could be potential customers. How did you release it
so everybody would know his own not go by. Yeah.
So we created brand awareness almost a year ago, started
to notify people that, you know, there's a project in
(08:32):
the works. UM end up doing a press release probably
seven six or seven months ago to kind of notify
people like, hey about So we started with the press
release to kind of create that awareness and strategic branding. UM.
Then obviously i've again posting, hired the marketing team, social
(08:53):
media team. That's that's you know, spearheaded by Ashley comes
from extent who's gonna tremendous job, very very bright one,
a very bright individual who's kind of helped, you know,
walk me through this process and we both learned a
lot them to fly to doing doing interviews, things of
that nature, to kind of talk about it, and just
the more so the biggest thing is just educational. You
(09:14):
educate yourself, you educate the masses actually going through the process,
and you kind of draw them in. So we drew
them in, you know what I mean, explained to them
what the process was like, the story behind wine, while
I got into wine, the designing process of the bottle,
and and then we created a mailing list. The mailing
list kind of went out sporadically with with videos, with
with images, created a website and basically allowed people to
(09:36):
subscribe and sign up. And the first day, I think
we had seven people sign up and subscribe basically that
they would like to purchase the wine, and that kind
of allowed it to evolve. And this is two months
before I end up going to the bubble to three
months before I end up like giving out wine to
about nine d NBA players. But I went through that
process first, and basically every I know that, Hey, you
(10:00):
can only purchase the wine on this website. It's only
available online. And the rest is as they say, the
rest is history. Basically shot updates. I did a little
pre sale, were allowed some friends and family to purchase
the day before, and we basically announced that the wine
would go on sale on last Tuesday at nine am
Pacific time, and it was sold out. By love it.
(10:23):
I love it. I'm talking to c J. McCullum. His
wine so a lot like he told you forty five
minutes nine am, which is noontime East Coast time, but
Colum Heritage and ain'ty once sold out. Fifty dollars a
bottle is a pinot, right, yep. Poor. Yeah, because my wife,
she's a huge wine drinker. So I was I was
bragging by that out of interview you and your wine
(10:44):
was coming out. So she was asking me, where's where
CJ win it? You know? I say, hey, So so
she's looking at me crazy right now. So let's let's
find out when the next batch come come out and
maybe I can get into that pre sale and put
in I get in the pre sale coup on, and
I said, I pay. I don't ask for anything free, CJ.
That's about me. That's why money making conversations about making money.
(11:07):
When is the next run? So we can you know,
I'm sure be you you'll make even more a bigger
batch to go out there. But wine is seasonal or
how does that work? Educate us? Yeah, So basically I
went through a three to five year plan when I
bought the grapes in two thousand seventeen. So when I
brought the grapes and two thousand and seventeen, I knew
that I wasn't going to put off the wine until
(11:29):
because obviously from a wine standpoint, I had to go
through harvest. So those are those grapes were planted in
two thousand eighteen, and it goes through ten to twelve
months in the bottle of depending on you know how
you aged. I aged Mind ten months in French oak Baros,
and then we we go to go to the fermentation
process and then we rack them and put them in bottles,
(11:52):
and that's basically a a year process. They were bottling
in two thousand nineteen and kind of let them sit
on the shelves and rotatum and didn't do what you
need to do depending on the process you take. And
I knew I wasn't selling until so in two thousand
and seventeen I brought I bought the grades for eighteen,
and two thousand eighteen I brought I bought the grades
for nineteen. So my nineteen version of what I just
(12:14):
sold will go until probably a year from now. I
haven't checked it and figure out how we want to
market it, but we've already bottled the nineteen version of
what I sold last week, and it's it's still not ready.
That's still young, still premature, but we'll figure out our
release date and kind of go from there. But historically
I've done things in September, so I might just wait
a full year and I release it in September and there, brother,
(12:37):
don't get greedy. Now, we all know about these fires
that I happened in and Oregon. Uh tell me if
it's making any impact or will it make any impact
on the wine industry up there? Yeah, I mean first
and foremost, and my prayers go out to all the
families and people that were affected by the fires. You know,
(12:58):
living here in Oregon and being close to the fires
that it really hits home. And I told my fiance
the other day, I think the biggest thing wrong with
our society is that unless things directly impact or involved you,
you tend to not pay attention. And until you get
the email saying you need to evacuate, you don't understand
the severity of a fire. And once we got the
(13:18):
email saying, you know, kind of packed your house up
and get ready, that's when you begin to panic and
feel so sorry for so many people out there that
either a have nowhere to go be, don't have the
means or see, or it's too late. And I think
over a half million people had to evacuate. Homes were
burned out, people have lost priceless valuables, you know, pictures, memories,
things that you can't replace, are going along with your home.
(13:40):
So it's it's very, very unfortunate. We were forced to
kind of, you know, pack up our home and prepare
to leave. But luckily we didn't have to end up leaving.
But the the effects of the smog, the smoke, the
pollution that's caused, but the fires is definitely probably going
to affect the grade space on what I've heard from
being the venus these last couple of weeks, they won't
(14:02):
know until until they go through harvest, which is delayed,
like most wires, delayed harvest because of the fires. They
didn't want to have people out there picking, uh, and
what was considered um, they went from very very poor
air pollution to toxic air pollution, hazardous to the point
point that where no one could really be outside. So
they say they won't know until until the harvest is
(14:23):
finished it and they get to kind of check out
the grapes in the next phase. But hopefully too many
people weren't impacted by that in the in the wine
where I know a lot of other people were, and
my prayers go out to them. I know that's right, uh,
that I might have a little fun with you because
you know, watching and doing the bubble uh playing and
um you know one of my favorite players anyway, just
(14:45):
just just so astute and uh to see you. Um
have I seen that from you in the court before,
being an emotional being at um vostrous um about what
you was accomplishing, you know, on on the court. If
I missed it because you up in Portland, I don't
get to see you all the time. I think sometimes
(15:05):
got and let people know what time do come on?
Come on, come on. I'm very very confident for myself,
but I think there's a time and a place for everything,
and sometimes you have to let people know. And I
think I've I've always been like that people out here
in Oregon and people that really watch us, I have
seen that before. But I think when it's different when
(15:27):
it's on the national stage and it's in the playoffs.
But I've done those same things and said those same
words in a in a pickup game and practice. You
know what I mean. That's just something, man, because that
boy's talent, you superstar, You're you're a bad boy. You're
a bad boy. Man. You had them stumbling, yeah, them
(15:48):
reaching yeah you you you just man. I was, I was,
I was just laughing so hard. Man. I called Stevens said, man,
did you see my boy? Did you see him? Did
you see him clowning tonight? And you started laughing, said yeah,
I know. Hey, I ain't saying I know you're a
bad boy. And so so what feedback just getting social
(16:09):
media from all left CJ. I just thought it was funny, man,
And personally I like that. No respectful, that's true, he's real,
but no, I mean it's it's people just give you
credit what credit is due. I think that's that's that's
what you have to do in this society. You tipt
your hat, you know, when you lose, and you tip
(16:30):
your hat when you win and salute the next person,
understanding that um in life and things are gonna always
go your way. But you know, I had I had
some some really good games, and I had some games
where I wish I would have played better. But all
in all, I was I was the best version of
myself every night, and I can live with that. And
I think the rest of the world social media, they've
seen me play, They've seen me rise to the occasion
(16:52):
and big moments. So some people probably were surprised, but
people that know me and know the game. Uh, they
know what I'm capable of. Oh no, no, no, it
wasn't wasn't. I wasn't surprised at what you did. It
was a surprise of you. You know, the you know,
the personality of shifts. You know, you know in your chest,
you know hit in your chest. You know that. That
was the part I hadn't seen before. You've been clouding
(17:12):
since you came in the league as a rookie. You've
been stepping up that game. You know, you and uh
Daman the two of the underserved I think under recognized
backcourt duos and uh and the NBA in the last
ten years, do y'all some bad boys? Now? You went
into the bubble the pandemic was going on, and you
(17:32):
came out of the bubble the pandemic was going on.
What was the bubble like? What was that life in
that bubble for? For for just the lifestyle, just being
able to socialize, being able to get information? What was
that all about? The testing? Can you walk us through
those steps? C J? Yeah? It was unique. Honestly, I
didn't like anything I've ever experienced before. Uh. Due the
(17:55):
circumstances that we're going through obviously in the world and
when we're still going through today from an injustice standpoint
to two blacks and minorities to seeing the COVID, the
situation with COVID, how many lights were taken away or affected,
and how we had to kind of take extra precaution.
It was. It was really a special, special time because
I think the biggest thing we wanted to accomplish was
(18:18):
to obviously continue to spread awareness to some of the
things that are going on in America, have initiatives in place,
have things that we can kind of touch on and
bring light to while being able to play the game
we love, and get people in the state because there's
a lot of stuff going on on a day to
day basis to where it affects your psyche, your mentality,
and we wanted to get people in the States to
be able to watch entertainment. And I think we were
(18:38):
able to accomplish all those things. But the day to
day life was crazy. Man. When you first land, for one,
you started testing like two weeks before you get there,
every other day and then when you get you guys
had a fast test, a quick test, right, Yeah, I
think it was rapid where the results of the next day,
I think for five hours in the next day, so
(19:00):
we did testing upon arrival, and then you quarantine in
your room for forty eight hours, so you can't leave
the room and they bring you food and drop it
off at the door. So you go through that process,
and then once you get i think two or three
consecutive negative tests, you're able to leave your room, but
you can't leave the hotel, so you're basically stuck there
in three different hotel or hubs with sick teams, and
(19:21):
you do daily testing based on time slots. Every day
you do the nasal test as well as the oral swap,
and you go through that process and it's just it's
almost like a summer camp for like an AU tournament,
because there's just a bunch of teams, a bunch of
guys who you compete against. But it was just it
was just a really really unique situation to where it's
(19:43):
it's unlike anything I've ever been through, and it's something
that I will remember forever. But I'm glad I was
able to experience it. I think that we made the
best of the situation. Obviously, there's there's four teams still
left competing, and um, I think that one of the
best parts of bout it. They eventually began to let
people sell numbers then, because it can get very lonely
out there, right, Um, just kind of being away from
(20:05):
your kids, a significant other, all those things you're accustomed to.
It it can change you and kind of affect your mentality. Now, um,
let's talk about the opening day. You know when you guys,
um all Um, I wanted to say student solidarity are
uh or I want I won't use the word protests,
want to recognize that Black lives matter, do matter? What
(20:28):
was it? What were your emotions? And because I'm not there,
all I can do is realized that I was proud
of the unity. I was proud, and I know there
was You know when you when you do it, when
you when you're doing what you're doing, you're not worried
about your wine sales, You're not worried about endorsements, You're
not worried about you You're you're committed to making a
change in your voice being heard. What was running through
your mind personally when all that was going on? And
(20:50):
then I want to ask you about the the Milwaukee
when they made that decision to walk out. What was
running through your mind then yeah, I mean you hit
that and men when they had the biggest thing for
me and most of the guys was just right and
this wrong, and what we're seeing in America and beyond
right now is just not right. It's it's wrong and
we have to stand for something. I think the fact
(21:11):
that the NBA backed us, the league as a whole,
our teams backed us and stick with us, understanding that
there's just so many things that need to be corrected
and changed, and we put that to the forefront. I
think that was the goal and objective. So I felt
proud to be a part of that and proud to
see it. I think when the Milwaukee Bucks decided not
to play, I think it's sparked another conversation. Um. I
(21:33):
think they were the spearheaded leaders and us kind of
having to sit down and collect ourselves. And historically, when
the NBA does something, the rest of the world follows.
We were the first professional sports league to shut down
during COVID, and then the rest of the world and
in sports teams began shutting down. We were the first
UH league to have players protests and not playing a game,
(21:54):
and then shortly after that MLB and they would not
be playing. Uh, every other sport basically followed in line,
the Wimbledon tennis, all those players that would both participated
on the on the on the large stage. Well, I
think soccer exactly exactly. And that sparked another conversation as
to why so many things in America are happening to
(22:16):
to black and brown people and why these injustices are
are just intolerable and not fair. And I think that
was just proud to be a part of it. I
think the conversation that that it allowed to happen, to
dialogue get created, was positive and has pointed the right
light on so many lives that have been affected in
this in this way. Well, you know, it was really
(22:37):
interesting that because all I can do is, you know,
sometimes you get so far. All you can do is
pray for a change, pray that people will see the light.
And then you see, you see a part of this
country just don't care, man, just really don't care. Just
they is gonna move forward, acting like this ain't even happening.
And then uh, and then paying a story like we're
(22:59):
the villains, like like like our history means nothing and
it won't tell our history. And when I see you.
You might use the generation of change to me when
I look at you, c J. And I I'm really
proud of your brother, and and I say that because
of the fact that that's a lot of pressure, man,
for a young man like you to to make a
decision to do what you're doing. And there's a lot
(23:21):
of you doing it. Not just you, but a lot
of you guys are making these decisions. And I'm telling you,
when when the Major League Baseball stepped away, I was stunned.
I was absolutely stunned, c J. When MLS, MLS, uh
mad leads soccer stepped away, I was absolutely stunned. Um,
because these are these are leagues are not predominant African
(23:43):
American leagues. And and I know you said, uh, you know,
people tend to follow the lead of the NBA. Were
you caught off guard by that? How quickly the other leads,
the other sporting leads reacted or what your thoughts. I
was surprised at how quickly they all reacted and stood
(24:08):
with us, especially some of those other leagues that are
majority uh white, predominantly white leagues. I was very surprised,
but I was happy to see it. It's the change
we need to see. And I think a lot of
times when when minorities are complaining about issues that are
happening to minorities, people tend to not listen. But when
(24:30):
the majority is speaking on behalf as well as with us,
I think that's when the most change can occur. And
I think that's what we're starting to see throughout the world.
The old presses are starting to speak on behalf of
the rest of the world, and I think that's what
you need in order to have changed. You need people
(24:51):
that are a part of the problem but also not
affected by the problem to speak up for us. You're
absolutely telling the truth. J Thank you for coming on
the show again. Man. You know, I'm sorry. I can't
help yourself anymore your wine because you know, you did
such an amazing marketing job, and you're such a badass
basketball player on the NBA court, you know, and you
(25:12):
leading this. But more importantly, just just just bru Sean McDonald.
I'm an older member over this of this, of this change,
and talking to a younger man who has generations, you
can affect generation. You are affecting generations, man, And as
an entrepreneur, as your your nonprofit, as an athlete who
who does more than just dribble the damn ball. Go change, brother,
(25:35):
Please don't change the thing. Yes, sir man, That's just
one thing I can assure you, is that I remember
where I come from and what I come from in
the biggest thing you can do as a as a
young black man in Americas, as the cigareund ways to
affect the masses, and he'll pull somebody out that comes
from a situation just like you. Cool. Thank you. He's
on the show to promote his wine Herodage, not Heridage.
(25:58):
Native One wine collection is Solder, y'all, fifty a bottle.
You got another set coming out next year, so be
ready one September. I'll be ready because I'm getting in
front of the line. He's already told me he's gonna
take care of me, and I'm gonna buy the wine.
J We were talking soon, brother, tell your family high man,
my brother, I love you, and don't you change by
(26:18):
I got you absolutely and I appreciate you, brother. Thank you, brother,
Welcome to money making conversations. I'm excited I got my
man CJ back on the show. I'm your host, rous
Sean McDonald. I recognized that we all have different definitions
of success. For some, it's a sizeable paycheck. Might is
helping people wake up and inspiring them to accomplish their
goals and live their very best life. These are my
passions and that's what I'm going to do for you.
I want you to stop tripping over small challenges and
(00:23):
prepare to rise above the bigger obstacles that life will
present to you and live your dream. My next guest
is truly an NBA star. His name is c J McCullum.
After his introduction to wine in the early twenties by
his fiancee, CJ moved to Oregon and joined the Portland
Trailblazers tent pick in the draft. Finding themself just short
of drive away from one of the top wine regions
(00:44):
in the country, he launched his own brand, mccullor Heritage
and Nary One. It's all about legacy, bringing CJ's passion
to life while honoring his roots in the process. It
just so happened that the perfect word to describe that
his heritage is also the name of the street he
grew up on, a can't know how you combined with
his birth year and the family name McCullen. Heritage Nati
(01:04):
One truly embodies c J and all that he stands for.
He's on the show to discuss he's sold out. To
hear you sold out, it's sold out, Heritage naty One
Wine collection, life doing it after the NBA bubble in Orlando,
and his educational charity. Please welcome back to Money Making Conversations,
My man, c J. McCullum. How are you doing, c J.
(01:26):
I'm great man. Thanks for a great introduction and appreciate
you having me on. Well, first of all, first of all,
you know I I you're sold got though talk talks
about that whole plan because because I've been following you now,
c J. C You're you're a good planner. You went
down there and then you started sharing your wine with
everybody in the bubble. What that that was a strategy, right, Yeah,
(01:47):
it was definitely a part of the strategy. Obviously, the
situation shifted from when I first um began working on
my wine project three years ago. UM I was planning
on releasing year before the next season. Usually our season
starts in September, and obviously that kind of change with
the coronavirus situation didn't happen to potentially play in the bubble.
(02:08):
So I had the wine that I was prepared to
kind of distribute to friends and family and kind of
switched that over and distributed to a bunch of players
and staff and front office members in the NBA to
just kind of get an idea of what they thought
about it. I was it from the marketing standpoint. That
was helpful as well, but the plan was more so
just to get feedback on what they thought about the wine,
(02:28):
like terms with the taste and um, just to kind
of try to introduce it to them because a lot
of people weren't familiar with it because it was my
first project in the wine world. Now he hears me,
Now wine is grapes, correct, Yes, okay, cool? Now I
would I'm just a country bore. I'm born and raised
(02:48):
in Houston, Texas. Okay, everything rose well in the South
Wales war Now Portland, Oregon, that's wine country. Yeah, you'd
be surprised that we're not. I have surprised because I'm
I'm talking like this because I would think that grapes
need to be warm to survive, and I know you
have severe windows up there. Correct. No, it's actually not
(03:11):
that bad here. Besides the rain, which can play a
factor in the taste of of the wine going forward,
our winners aren't bad. It's only snow probably three times
in my seven years out here in the in the wintertime,
it's it's pretty pretty balanced. And I think what helps
our grapes is the climate. The climate we get from
so many so many different landscapes. We have mountain ranges,
(03:33):
we have the Hala Mountains, we have Dundee, we have
so many different parts of of Oregon that are going
through the fermentation process that go through the process of
actually making a wine that you get so many different tastes.
But I think historically, based on the research I've done
and what I've seen in comparison to you look at
(03:53):
at Napa, which is in California, that they have cooler
climate at night. They kind of go through hot hot summer,
is uh not too cold in the winter. Were similar
in terms of hot summers, but it's not too cold
in the winter and during harvards, which is around you know,
September to October, we have ideal weather for grapes, not
(04:13):
a lot of rain until end of October. Um it's
it's hot, but it's cool at nine so we can
get up during the day and they can get down
as low as fifty at night. So you have that
balance of a mount to the climates. But then it
just comes down to luck, you know, having the right elevation,
being being facing uh southeastern or southwestern. That also plays
(04:34):
a huge role. But I had no idea until I
moved out here, So I'm with you. I'm just fortunate
enough to have moved out here and been exposed to
it firsthand to where it's it's kind of shifted my
perspective of it. And then talking to a bunch of
experts and people in the business, they've come to the
same conclusion that oregan Is is really known for the
piano in the war, and they have some great shard
in their grapes as well. Now you're talking like an expert.
(04:55):
I love your tone, articulate anyway, but you really you
really now Number two some We talked earlier about the
great you know, and we talked about the wine being
released in September with it being sold that where are
you right now? Confidently when confidence about your product? Because
I I hear confidence in your tone. I hear I
(05:15):
hear a high level of professionalism. Not saying that you
don't talk, but you know when once you taste a
little bit of success, like what you did with more
MORET on that basketball court. Remember, remember you know how
you did, and you know when you came out the
court you had a different attitude to buy how you
treating them out there. See, I'm sitting to this an
attitude with you now, t J, now that you're sold.
I talked to us about that, you know, I mean,
(05:38):
if we're being honest here, I created a good product.
I had a lot of highly successful people around me
to kind of mold me and help me go through
this process too, where I had a great understanding of
what was going to happen. When you hire the right people, Um,
it's hard to fail. I know what I don't know.
And I hired a bunch of experts who whose job
is to put me in the position to succeed. And
(05:59):
I think started with the I maker, starting with the
partnership with the winery. I chose inn at a sign
we knew it was going to be a success. We
just weren't sure, you know, the reception that we would get.
Weren't sure it would sell out in forty five minutes.
But I knew that people would be attracted to it.
We're not talking about fifty correct fifty dollars a bottle,
(06:21):
and we we did a We did a really good
job of marketing. And I think from a brand, brand
name standpoint, uh, people know that I enjoyed wine, they
know that Oregon Pino specifically is historically been good. And
I think the confidence just comes from the work I've
put a lot of work in on trying to learn.
I'm not an expert by any means, but I have
(06:42):
learned a lot in my in my nine years being
involved in the wine industry and just kind of learning
self taught and then speaking to experts about the importance
of wine. The process of wine will go through the
climates you need, and and so on and so forth.
I just felt confident that, um, it would be a
good wine because I tasted it. I had some psalms tasted,
(07:02):
I had people who are considered wine snobs tasted and
give me really positive feedback to where I'm comfortable with
speaking on it because I literally went through the entire
process of making wine with the help of experts so
that I feel confident about it. So you went from
just a just a connos sort a person who enjoyed
wine to doing your homework. And now each step now
(07:24):
is like you know, you know, getting another year notching
your degree plan of being more and more of an
expert and achieve the next level of success. Now you said,
you said, okay, forty five minutes c J, So okay,
tell me this. How did how was the release notify
what it was? Was it noted notification on your social media?
(07:47):
How did that work? Because you said, you guys did
a really good job of marketing this, and so I'm
sure you're planning the next series and you want to
do a really good job again. So what was the
what was there a couple of people to hear how
you release a new brand, because like they were a
very smart strategy, you know, in the bubble when I
started reading about the players, that was a good strategy
because it I'm sure someone post posted it about it
(08:11):
and that really helped to raise the consciousness to people
who could be potential customers. How did you release it
so everybody would know his own not go by. Yeah.
So we created brand awareness almost a year ago, started
to notify people that, you know, there's a project in
(08:32):
the works. UM end up doing a press release probably
seven six or seven months ago to kind of notify
people like, hey about So we started with the press
release to kind of create that awareness and strategic branding. UM.
Then obviously i've again posting, hired the marketing team, social
(08:53):
media team. That's that's you know, spearheaded by Ashley comes
from extent who's gonna tremendous job, very very bright one,
a very bright individual who's kind of helped, you know,
walk me through this process and we both learned a
lot them to fly to doing doing interviews, things of
that nature, to kind of talk about it, and just
the more so the biggest thing is just educational. You
(09:14):
educate yourself, you educate the masses actually going through the process,
and you kind of draw them in. So we drew
them in, you know what I mean, explained to them
what the process was like, the story behind wine, while
I got into wine, the designing process of the bottle,
and and then we created a mailing list. The mailing
list kind of went out sporadically with with videos, with
with images, created a website and basically allowed people to
(09:36):
subscribe and sign up. And the first day, I think
we had seven people sign up and subscribe basically that
they would like to purchase the wine, and that kind
of allowed it to evolve. And this is two months
before I end up going to the bubble to three
months before I end up like giving out wine to
about nine d NBA players. But I went through that
process first, and basically every I know that, Hey, you
(10:00):
can only purchase the wine on this website. It's only
available online. And the rest is as they say, the
rest is history. Basically shot updates. I did a little
pre sale, were allowed some friends and family to purchase
the day before, and we basically announced that the wine
would go on sale on last Tuesday at nine am
Pacific time, and it was sold out. By love it.
(10:23):
I love it. I'm talking to c J. McCullum. His
wine so a lot like he told you forty five
minutes nine am, which is noontime East Coast time, but
Colum Heritage and ain'ty once sold out. Fifty dollars a
bottle is a pinot, right, yep. Poor. Yeah, because my wife,
she's a huge wine drinker. So I was I was
bragging by that out of interview you and your wine
(10:44):
was coming out. So she was asking me, where's where
CJ win it? You know? I say, hey, So so
she's looking at me crazy right now. So let's let's
find out when the next batch come come out and
maybe I can get into that pre sale and put
in I get in the pre sale coup on, and
I said, I pay. I don't ask for anything free, CJ.
That's about me. That's why money making conversations about making money.
(11:07):
When is the next run? So we can you know,
I'm sure be you you'll make even more a bigger
batch to go out there. But wine is seasonal or
how does that work? Educate us? Yeah, So basically I
went through a three to five year plan when I
bought the grapes in two thousand seventeen. So when I
brought the grapes and two thousand and seventeen, I knew
that I wasn't going to put off the wine until
(11:29):
because obviously from a wine standpoint, I had to go
through harvest. So those are those grapes were planted in
two thousand eighteen, and it goes through ten to twelve
months in the bottle of depending on you know how
you aged. I aged Mind ten months in French oak Baros,
and then we we go to go to the fermentation
process and then we rack them and put them in bottles,
(11:52):
and that's basically a a year process. They were bottling
in two thousand nineteen and kind of let them sit
on the shelves and rotatum and didn't do what you
need to do depending on the process you take. And
I knew I wasn't selling until so in two thousand
and seventeen I brought I bought the grades for eighteen,
and two thousand eighteen I brought I bought the grades
for nineteen. So my nineteen version of what I just
(12:14):
sold will go until probably a year from now. I
haven't checked it and figure out how we want to
market it, but we've already bottled the nineteen version of
what I sold last week, and it's it's still not ready.
That's still young, still premature, but we'll figure out our
release date and kind of go from there. But historically
I've done things in September, so I might just wait
a full year and I release it in September and there, brother,
(12:37):
don't get greedy. Now, we all know about these fires
that I happened in and Oregon. Uh tell me if
it's making any impact or will it make any impact
on the wine industry up there? Yeah, I mean first
and foremost, and my prayers go out to all the
families and people that were affected by the fires. You know,
(12:58):
living here in Oregon and being close to the fires
that it really hits home. And I told my fiance
the other day, I think the biggest thing wrong with
our society is that unless things directly impact or involved you,
you tend to not pay attention. And until you get
the email saying you need to evacuate, you don't understand
the severity of a fire. And once we got the
(13:18):
email saying, you know, kind of packed your house up
and get ready, that's when you begin to panic and
feel so sorry for so many people out there that
either a have nowhere to go be, don't have the
means or see, or it's too late. And I think
over a half million people had to evacuate. Homes were
burned out, people have lost priceless valuables, you know, pictures, memories,
things that you can't replace, are going along with your home.
(13:40):
So it's it's very, very unfortunate. We were forced to
kind of, you know, pack up our home and prepare
to leave. But luckily we didn't have to end up leaving.
But the the effects of the smog, the smoke, the
pollution that's caused, but the fires is definitely probably going
to affect the grade space on what I've heard from
being the venus these last couple of weeks, they won't
(14:02):
know until until they go through harvest, which is delayed,
like most wires, delayed harvest because of the fires. They
didn't want to have people out there picking, uh, and
what was considered um, they went from very very poor
air pollution to toxic air pollution, hazardous to the point
point that where no one could really be outside. So
they say they won't know until until the harvest is
(14:23):
finished it and they get to kind of check out
the grapes in the next phase. But hopefully too many
people weren't impacted by that in the in the wine
where I know a lot of other people were, and
my prayers go out to them. I know that's right, uh,
that I might have a little fun with you because
you know, watching and doing the bubble uh playing and
um you know one of my favorite players anyway, just
(14:45):
just just so astute and uh to see you. Um
have I seen that from you in the court before,
being an emotional being at um vostrous um about what
you was accomplishing, you know, on on the court. If
I missed it because you up in Portland, I don't
get to see you all the time. I think sometimes
(15:05):
got and let people know what time do come on?
Come on, come on. I'm very very confident for myself,
but I think there's a time and a place for everything,
and sometimes you have to let people know. And I
think I've I've always been like that people out here
in Oregon and people that really watch us, I have
seen that before. But I think when it's different when
(15:27):
it's on the national stage and it's in the playoffs.
But I've done those same things and said those same
words in a in a pickup game and practice. You
know what I mean. That's just something, man, because that
boy's talent, you superstar, You're you're a bad boy. You're
a bad boy. Man. You had them stumbling, yeah, them
(15:48):
reaching yeah you you you just man. I was, I was,
I was just laughing so hard. Man. I called Stevens said, man,
did you see my boy? Did you see him? Did
you see him clowning tonight? And you started laughing, said yeah,
I know. Hey, I ain't saying I know you're a
bad boy. And so so what feedback just getting social
(16:09):
media from all left CJ. I just thought it was funny, man,
And personally I like that. No respectful, that's true, he's real,
but no, I mean it's it's people just give you
credit what credit is due. I think that's that's that's
what you have to do in this society. You tipt
your hat, you know, when you lose, and you tip
(16:30):
your hat when you win and salute the next person,
understanding that um in life and things are gonna always
go your way. But you know, I had I had
some some really good games, and I had some games
where I wish I would have played better. But all
in all, I was I was the best version of
myself every night, and I can live with that. And
I think the rest of the world social media, they've
seen me play, They've seen me rise to the occasion
(16:52):
and big moments. So some people probably were surprised, but
people that know me and know the game. Uh, they
know what I'm capable of. Oh no, no, no, it
wasn't wasn't. I wasn't surprised at what you did. It
was a surprise of you. You know, the you know,
the personality of shifts. You know, you know in your chest,
you know hit in your chest. You know that. That
was the part I hadn't seen before. You've been clouding
(17:12):
since you came in the league as a rookie. You've
been stepping up that game. You know, you and uh
Daman the two of the underserved I think under recognized
backcourt duos and uh and the NBA in the last
ten years, do y'all some bad boys? Now? You went
into the bubble the pandemic was going on, and you
(17:32):
came out of the bubble the pandemic was going on.
What was the bubble like? What was that life in
that bubble for? For for just the lifestyle, just being
able to socialize, being able to get information? What was
that all about? The testing? Can you walk us through
those steps? C J? Yeah? It was unique. Honestly, I
didn't like anything I've ever experienced before. Uh. Due the
(17:55):
circumstances that we're going through obviously in the world and
when we're still going through today from an injustice standpoint
to two blacks and minorities to seeing the COVID, the
situation with COVID, how many lights were taken away or affected,
and how we had to kind of take extra precaution.
It was. It was really a special, special time because
I think the biggest thing we wanted to accomplish was
(18:18):
to obviously continue to spread awareness to some of the
things that are going on in America, have initiatives in place,
have things that we can kind of touch on and
bring light to while being able to play the game
we love, and get people in the state because there's
a lot of stuff going on on a day to
day basis to where it affects your psyche, your mentality,
and we wanted to get people in the States to
be able to watch entertainment. And I think we were
(18:38):
able to accomplish all those things. But the day to
day life was crazy. Man. When you first land, for one,
you started testing like two weeks before you get there,
every other day and then when you get you guys
had a fast test, a quick test, right, Yeah, I
think it was rapid where the results of the next day,
I think for five hours in the next day, so
(19:00):
we did testing upon arrival, and then you quarantine in
your room for forty eight hours, so you can't leave
the room and they bring you food and drop it
off at the door. So you go through that process,
and then once you get i think two or three
consecutive negative tests, you're able to leave your room, but
you can't leave the hotel, so you're basically stuck there
in three different hotel or hubs with sick teams, and
(19:21):
you do daily testing based on time slots. Every day
you do the nasal test as well as the oral swap,
and you go through that process and it's just it's
almost like a summer camp for like an AU tournament,
because there's just a bunch of teams, a bunch of
guys who you compete against. But it was just it
was just a really really unique situation to where it's
(19:43):
it's unlike anything I've ever been through, and it's something
that I will remember forever. But I'm glad I was
able to experience it. I think that we made the
best of the situation. Obviously, there's there's four teams still
left competing, and um, I think that one of the
best parts of bout it. They eventually began to let
people sell numbers then, because it can get very lonely
out there, right, Um, just kind of being away from
(20:05):
your kids, a significant other, all those things you're accustomed to.
It it can change you and kind of affect your mentality. Now, um,
let's talk about the opening day. You know when you guys,
um all Um, I wanted to say student solidarity are
uh or I want I won't use the word protests,
want to recognize that Black lives matter, do matter? What
(20:28):
was it? What were your emotions? And because I'm not there,
all I can do is realized that I was proud
of the unity. I was proud, and I know there
was You know when you when you do it, when
you when you're doing what you're doing, you're not worried
about your wine sales, You're not worried about endorsements, You're
not worried about you You're you're committed to making a
change in your voice being heard. What was running through
your mind personally when all that was going on? And
(20:50):
then I want to ask you about the the Milwaukee
when they made that decision to walk out. What was
running through your mind then yeah, I mean you hit
that and men when they had the biggest thing for
me and most of the guys was just right and
this wrong, and what we're seeing in America and beyond
right now is just not right. It's it's wrong and
we have to stand for something. I think the fact
(21:11):
that the NBA backed us, the league as a whole,
our teams backed us and stick with us, understanding that
there's just so many things that need to be corrected
and changed, and we put that to the forefront. I
think that was the goal and objective. So I felt
proud to be a part of that and proud to
see it. I think when the Milwaukee Bucks decided not
to play, I think it's sparked another conversation. Um. I
(21:33):
think they were the spearheaded leaders and us kind of
having to sit down and collect ourselves. And historically, when
the NBA does something, the rest of the world follows.
We were the first professional sports league to shut down
during COVID, and then the rest of the world and
in sports teams began shutting down. We were the first
UH league to have players protests and not playing a game,
(21:54):
and then shortly after that MLB and they would not
be playing. Uh, every other sport basically followed in line,
the Wimbledon tennis, all those players that would both participated
on the on the on the large stage. Well, I
think soccer exactly exactly. And that sparked another conversation as
to why so many things in America are happening to
(22:16):
to black and brown people and why these injustices are
are just intolerable and not fair. And I think that
was just proud to be a part of it. I
think the conversation that that it allowed to happen, to
dialogue get created, was positive and has pointed the right
light on so many lives that have been affected in
this in this way. Well, you know, it was really
(22:37):
interesting that because all I can do is, you know,
sometimes you get so far. All you can do is
pray for a change, pray that people will see the light.
And then you see, you see a part of this
country just don't care, man, just really don't care. Just
they is gonna move forward, acting like this ain't even happening.
And then uh, and then paying a story like we're
(22:59):
the villains, like like like our history means nothing and
it won't tell our history. And when I see you.
You might use the generation of change to me when
I look at you, c J. And I I'm really
proud of your brother, and and I say that because
of the fact that that's a lot of pressure, man,
for a young man like you to to make a
decision to do what you're doing. And there's a lot
(23:21):
of you doing it. Not just you, but a lot
of you guys are making these decisions. And I'm telling you,
when when the Major League Baseball stepped away, I was stunned.
I was absolutely stunned, c J. When MLS, MLS, uh
mad leads soccer stepped away, I was absolutely stunned. Um,
because these are these are leagues are not predominant African
(23:43):
American leagues. And and I know you said, uh, you know,
people tend to follow the lead of the NBA. Were
you caught off guard by that? How quickly the other leads,
the other sporting leads reacted or what your thoughts. I
was surprised at how quickly they all reacted and stood
(24:08):
with us, especially some of those other leagues that are
majority uh white, predominantly white leagues. I was very surprised,
but I was happy to see it. It's the change
we need to see. And I think a lot of
times when when minorities are complaining about issues that are
happening to minorities, people tend to not listen. But when
(24:30):
the majority is speaking on behalf as well as with us,
I think that's when the most change can occur. And
I think that's what we're starting to see throughout the world.
The old presses are starting to speak on behalf of
the rest of the world, and I think that's what
you need in order to have changed. You need people
(24:51):
that are a part of the problem but also not
affected by the problem to speak up for us. You're
absolutely telling the truth. J Thank you for coming on
the show again. Man. You know, I'm sorry. I can't
help yourself anymore your wine because you know, you did
such an amazing marketing job, and you're such a badass
basketball player on the NBA court, you know, and you
(25:12):
leading this. But more importantly, just just just bru Sean McDonald.
I'm an older member over this of this, of this change,
and talking to a younger man who has generations, you
can affect generation. You are affecting generations, man, And as
an entrepreneur, as your your nonprofit, as an athlete who
who does more than just dribble the damn ball. Go change, brother,
(25:35):
Please don't change the thing. Yes, sir man, That's just
one thing I can assure you, is that I remember
where I come from and what I come from in
the biggest thing you can do as a as a
young black man in Americas, as the cigareund ways to
affect the masses, and he'll pull somebody out that comes
from a situation just like you. Cool. Thank you. He's
on the show to promote his wine Herodage, not Heridage.
(25:58):
Native One wine collection is Solder, y'all, fifty a bottle.
You got another set coming out next year, so be
ready one September. I'll be ready because I'm getting in
front of the line. He's already told me he's gonna
take care of me, and I'm gonna buy the wine.
J We were talking soon, brother, tell your family high man,
my brother, I love you, and don't you change by
(26:18):
I got you absolutely and I appreciate you, brother. Thank you, brother,
Host
Rushion McDonald
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