Speaker 1: The bottle of bottle of red. All right, everybody. Well,
Speaker 1: we thought, first of all, thank you Billy Joel for
Speaker 1: that song. We love it. Um, we thought after this week,
Speaker 1: it's been a little crazy. It's been. We've had about
Speaker 1: a twenty four hour news cycle dominated by j Powell
Speaker 1: upon Capitol Hill. We've had investors freaking out a little
Speaker 1: bit about rates soaring, and then they backtracked a little bit.
Speaker 1: And then of course you had Silvergate Capital, Silicon Valley Bank.
Speaker 1: We're worried about bank contage, and so a lot going on, um,
Speaker 1: and of course the labor markets. Right, it's just a lot, NonStop.
Speaker 1: So we thought we would wrap up with wine. Our
Speaker 1: thanks to our producer Paul Brennan for that. With us
Speaker 1: is christ bank Son. He is founder and publisher of
Speaker 1: Star Wine List. He joins Jess and myself here in
Speaker 1: a Bloomberg Interactive Broker studio. Welcome, Welcome, Happy Friday. UM,
Speaker 1: nice to have you here. So tell us Star Wine List.
Speaker 1: Not familiar with it, so tell us about it. Sure,
Speaker 1: it's a guide to great wine bars and wine restaurants.
Speaker 1: So it's a it's a bit like a restaurant guy,
Speaker 1: but focused on wine and it's gonna happen. It's a website.
Speaker 1: And my background is in media and wine and start
Speaker 1: a few companies in communications and wine. And I thought
Speaker 1: there's something missing for wine lovers, both pro pros and amateurs.
Speaker 1: That you know, there's so many restaurant guys in the
Speaker 1: world Michelean, etc. But often when you're a wine lover,
Speaker 1: you go to city and you start asking your friends
Speaker 1: where should I go, Like I'm going to Berlin with
Speaker 1: your favorite places, and you trade the lists of these places, right,
Speaker 1: and so we thought there's a space there we need
Speaker 1: to start working on. So that's the original. I said
Speaker 1: it just before, you know, when you were coming in,
Speaker 1: and I said, when I was in college a few
Speaker 1: years ago, I remember this great wine bar down in
Speaker 1: the village. And then I'm like, are there even wine
Speaker 1: bars around anymore? Because it's such a great way to
Speaker 1: sample wines. Yeah, absolutely there are. I mean you have
Speaker 1: great ones in New York where you celebrate it at
Speaker 1: a company on Central Street this week, and great wine
Speaker 1: bars in New York for sure. Something I was curious
Speaker 1: about because you were just named the winners of the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three Star Wine List of the Year New
Speaker 1: York who else was on it, So we are organizing
Speaker 1: those awards, so we're handing out to that and actually
Speaker 1: the awards started so we're started in the Nordics six
Speaker 1: years ago and then we're growing country to country with
Speaker 1: professionals years and wine writers sharing their addresses. And we
Speaker 1: started the awards to really highlight the best winalists and
Speaker 1: the teams behind them, and we've done that in a
Speaker 1: number of countries around the world. And we were invited
Speaker 1: to join Vnexpo America this week and bring it there.
Speaker 1: And we've been talking to Psalms for years. They wanted
Speaker 1: to have it in the city, said it would be
Speaker 1: like a good addition to the wine scene, and we said, yeah, Charlotte,
Speaker 1: we'll did one day, and now it was the time.
Speaker 1: So on Wednesday we did it and we had a
Speaker 1: lot of great finalists, a lot of the best some
Speaker 1: years in the country joining heading out awards and it
Speaker 1: was just a great party. So Christian, I've been lucky
Speaker 1: enough to talk to some some ye and it's just
Speaker 1: really wonderful to pick their brain and their education and experience.
Speaker 1: How do you guys figure out who are the winners?
Speaker 1: Especially in a place like a great city, whether it's Berlin,
Speaker 1: whether it's New York, where there are just kind of
Speaker 1: the cream of the crops. First of all, we have
Speaker 1: different categories, so best by the Glass list and I
Speaker 1: love that ideas short lists, et cetera. So a couple
Speaker 1: of different categories and the judges actually previously we had
Speaker 1: more defined criteria with you know, with depths and stuff
Speaker 1: like that, but to this year we changed that because
Speaker 1: we have a lot of the best so many years
Speaker 1: in the world. In the jury ranch par yeah, past
Speaker 1: into earlier and plast elevens and etcetera, were like, no,
Speaker 1: let's drink that and just say, okay, vote for the
Speaker 1: list that you find most exciting because they are the best.
Speaker 1: So and then they bounced that around the jury and said, well,
Speaker 1: this is really one of those stands out and for
Speaker 1: different reasons. This could be going down the rabbit hole
Speaker 1: of really peculiar choices or being really wide on a
Speaker 1: lot of fine wines, so it's on the winner list.
Speaker 1: This time we had eleven Madison Park the best buy
Speaker 1: the golf list, yeah, and then a place like Pinch
Speaker 1: Chinese for the best medium scized list. So you know,
Speaker 1: it's all the range and diversity that you see in
Speaker 1: one list in restaurants today, it's really cool. How exactly
Speaker 1: do you go about trying to categorize in the process
Speaker 1: of choosing, kind of walk us through that so to
Speaker 1: make sure, like, if you're going to be the winner,
Speaker 1: what stages do you go through to choose that this
Speaker 1: one would be the best? Yeah, So we invite everybody
Speaker 1: to submit, and you know, and they sent into the deadline.
Speaker 1: A couple didn't make it to deadlines, so we'll be
Speaker 1: next year, sorry guys. And then the jury we divided
Speaker 1: into the different categories. If you have a large list
Speaker 1: for the Grand Prix, so more than six hundred references
Speaker 1: the bigger ones and buy the glass. And we also
Speaker 1: have a sustainability price, so that's also that's interesting judge
Speaker 1: different categories. Yeah, so that category is judging both the
Speaker 1: list and the wines on them that they are made
Speaker 1: in a sustainable way, but also how the restaurant works,
Speaker 1: thest sory involved. And then the jury then scores these
Speaker 1: and then comes together for a jury discussion and say,
Speaker 1: you know, okay, well bounce it around and come to
Speaker 1: a conclusion which were the ones that won the gold
Speaker 1: starts that we call the prizes here. No, it's interesting,
Speaker 1: and I do feel like, you know, when we have
Speaker 1: conversations about the wine industry or just different vineyards. I mean,
Speaker 1: it can be very overwhelming. And I think people if
Speaker 1: you're not familiar, you know, you walk into a wine
Speaker 1: store or you're looking at a wine list and it's
Speaker 1: just a lot. What do you think about when you
Speaker 1: got somebody, maybe it's a friend or a relative, and
Speaker 1: they're like, so Christal helped me, how do I begin?
Speaker 1: I always say just begin and just try something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a great way to do. I mean shops, that's
Speaker 1: one thing. But I think one cool thing with wine
Speaker 1: bars and restaurants is not there you have pros psalms,
Speaker 1: especially wine barts, where you can taste a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff and get you know, knowledge and pick their brains
Speaker 1: and find what you like. I think that's very important
Speaker 1: what you mean, because there's always been a lot about
Speaker 1: scores and wines. These are the best prestige browns, et cetera.
Speaker 1: But if it's not to your taste, it doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Why do you find it what you like yourself and
Speaker 1: go from there. I always find it hard to have
Speaker 1: any sort of like the cabernets or pino noirs are
Speaker 1: always a bit too tart for me. I always a
Speaker 1: lean a little bit more towards like say the reasonings.
Speaker 1: I was talking with Carol about this earlier. But I mean,
Speaker 1: what a kind of advice do you have for people
Speaker 1: who are trying to learn more about that and trying
Speaker 1: to even if you're trying to pair it with particularly
Speaker 1: whether you're with a steak or maybe you're eating it
Speaker 1: with fish. I was trying to convince just to come
Speaker 1: over to the red side because I was telling her
Speaker 1: about some great cabernets with a good piece of beef. Side. Well,
Speaker 1: do you have a preference? Uh No, I just love
Speaker 1: too many wines. Well you have a lot of long broadcast.
Speaker 1: If we're going to go through all that stuff, it's
Speaker 1: just too much snow. But I think same thing there,
Speaker 1: you know, followed, if you find some people out you
Speaker 1: read and like, you know, stuff to be friends or
Speaker 1: somebody or a wine writer or you know, a magazine,
Speaker 1: start trying trying your own way. It's funny that's how
Speaker 1: I do, like through friends and family. But it's funny
Speaker 1: that you know, wine bars I think are just really
Speaker 1: wonderful and we're gonna you actually bought when you walked
Speaker 1: in and you brought this bottle and I'm like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, this is so good and we're gonna open
Speaker 1: it up and drink it in just a moment. But
Speaker 1: like San Francisco's airport, they've got some great little, you know,
Speaker 1: places while you're waiting to get your flight and you
Speaker 1: can just try a glass. And I can't tell you
Speaker 1: how many times I've just kind of taken a picture
Speaker 1: of a label and it's just a fun way to
Speaker 1: try something out. Yeah. Yeah, we're talking about trends before,
Speaker 1: and I think it's just become so many places an
Speaker 1: unexpected places sometimes at a airport or in suburbs. You know,
Speaker 1: it doesn't have to be massive lists and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: A lot of places kind of have really interesting things
Speaker 1: and we try to find that as well on the guide.
Speaker 1: So tell us about the wine that you brought in.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna maybe start pouring it and then we're gonna
Speaker 1: come back and talk some more. But tell us about
Speaker 1: first of all, the able and I'll send it out
Speaker 1: on Twitter as well. Um, it's a mailback which is
Speaker 1: just incredible from Argentina exactly, so that was one of
Speaker 1: the wines we brought a tasting with the Psalms this
Speaker 1: week and a lot of them really loved it and
Speaker 1: me too, so we totally really cool. And there were
Speaker 1: actually people who didn't love it. No, I've never met
Speaker 1: anyone who didn't like this. As you mentioned the labels,
Speaker 1: so it's Katina Argentina, so it's old vineyards in Mendoza
Speaker 1: at high altitude, and I think it's it's bringing to
Speaker 1: the others you see on the label as well, the
Speaker 1: history of the grape that comes from France, ancient from
Speaker 1: southwest of France and then came, you know, with immigrants
Speaker 1: to Argentina and become the flagship grape there and it's
Speaker 1: come full circle and this is um Yeah. I think
Speaker 1: it's a special wine, so it'll be interested it's here.
Speaker 1: You said, that's great. I was just chatting with Carol
Speaker 1: about how usually when it comes to the reds, I
Speaker 1: like to have the mail back. So that's exciting that
Speaker 1: you that's the one that you ended up choosing. It
Speaker 1: was meant to be. Well, we're going to continue conversation.
Speaker 1: We are gonna sample this um or I'm going to
Speaker 1: get to sample it again. Just having had it, which
Speaker 1: I'm just delighted about. But when we come back, Christer,
Speaker 1: I want to talk about some of what we're seeing.
Speaker 1: You talk about sustainability, and I feel like more and
Speaker 1: more brands and more vineyards are are concerned about this,
Speaker 1: even more spirits in general. They're thinking about the climate
Speaker 1: and just get into some of the interesting things. I
Speaker 1: also love that there's just newer vineyards I feel like
Speaker 1: popping up that are just giving us so many more choices.
Speaker 1: So we're going to continue with Krister banks And he
Speaker 1: is founder and publisher of Star Wine List. I love
Speaker 1: a list. I'm a list kind of person, and we're
Speaker 1: gonna talk a little bit more about what he's seeing
Speaker 1: in the industry. Let's get back to our guest. Banks
Speaker 1: And is with us, founder and publisher of Star Winds,
Speaker 1: a Star Wine List in studio with us, and I
Speaker 1: want to talk a little bit more about kind of
Speaker 1: industry trends if I will, But in the meantime, I
Speaker 1: am going to open up. It's already been quirked. Right
Speaker 1: there we go. We're gonna pour some wine, so remind
Speaker 1: us you you said what we're going to be drinking.
Speaker 1: So it's like getting us about malbec at Quentino. So
Speaker 1: it's really great. Maldbeck from Argentina, from a great producer
Speaker 1: and mendelsoh, thank you. So talk to us a little
Speaker 1: bit about some of the trends that are going on
Speaker 1: in the wine industry that you find our most industry
Speaker 1: and I'm going to be interesting. Um, we talked a
Speaker 1: little bit about sustainability. Jess, I'm going to pass this
Speaker 1: to you. Get a little bit of an assist here,
Speaker 1: that's okay, Um, sustainability is that more and more important
Speaker 1: to most vineyards at this point? Yeah, definitely. I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's society as a whole, but beverages as a
Speaker 1: whole and wine as well. And our focus of course
Speaker 1: is wine in restaurants. We're a you know, a guy
Speaker 1: to wine bars and wine restaurants. So it's one in
Speaker 1: the on trade. And I think, you know, do consumers
Speaker 1: care because I think about right, just with products increasingly
Speaker 1: talk about that, people are looking at how things are
Speaker 1: manufacturing manufactured, how things you know, are impacting the environment.
Speaker 1: Do consumers think about that? Yeah? I think it's you know,
Speaker 1: maybe it's a bit of a generational thing, but you know,
Speaker 1: all of society is doing it, and the one industry
Speaker 1: there's you know, real impact on everything from packaging and
Speaker 1: transports and how the vineyards are treated and everything. So
Speaker 1: I think all chains of that are really looked at
Speaker 1: a lot throughout the one industry and it's changed a
Speaker 1: lot in the last just a few years before because
Speaker 1: they're seeing it firsthand. Yeah, I mean, you live off
Speaker 1: the earth. It's it's farming, right, you need to be
Speaker 1: you know, treat the earth with care. And the consumers
Speaker 1: are definitely asking for it. And some years especially it's
Speaker 1: a young and pretty young for profession. You know, you
Speaker 1: have a new generations coming up and for them it's
Speaker 1: a given. I mean other ones you don't want to
Speaker 1: work with it, right, So yeah, it's a younger generation
Speaker 1: interested in being some oys. Um, I mean it was
Speaker 1: we have the pandemics just before please please schools. But
Speaker 1: are they interested in? I wonder? Right, Like that's an
Speaker 1: interesting It's tough during the pandemic. I mean, first you know,
Speaker 1: a restaurant shutting down or you're being furloughed. A lot
Speaker 1: of people switched career started studying, and the restaurants are
Speaker 1: struggling through the pandemic and then coming back and suddenly
Speaker 1: guests coming back wanted to go out, but a lot
Speaker 1: of people had left the industry, so you know, it's
Speaker 1: a huge staffing shortage and that's just being picked up
Speaker 1: a little bit now and it's been a huge challenge
Speaker 1: for them. But we've seen now, at least in Europe,
Speaker 1: vising a little bit. People are you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: always been an entry level career for people to start out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and yeah, thankfully it's or joining there. Can I just
Speaker 1: say this is magical, it's delicious. Did you like it? Yes,
Speaker 1: I loved it. It's great. Good bring you over to
Speaker 1: the red wine side exactly. I was like, I've always
Speaker 1: been curious about the process to become a small ya.
Speaker 1: I mean, can you walk us through that. What are
Speaker 1: the steps that take? What does the course like work
Speaker 1: to study for this? If you want to be one?
Speaker 1: How do you think? Yeah, that's a good question. We're
Speaker 1: talking about earlier. I mean it's different. I'm based in
Speaker 1: Europe and of course in different countries, so you have
Speaker 1: some of your schools or you're studying restaurant schools where
Speaker 1: it's very you know, formalized in France, et cetera. Another
Speaker 1: country it's not so much in England. It's more you
Speaker 1: start from the floor and you work with your way up,
Speaker 1: or you're an immigrant from France or somewhere you asked.
Speaker 1: You have more training programs as well, and I think
Speaker 1: a lot of them. You start working in a restaurant
Speaker 1: maybe or even as a chef, and you get the bug.
Speaker 1: You're like, you take something maybe like this, and you
Speaker 1: hear from people who are passionate, you think, wow, this
Speaker 1: is really something, and then you get rolled into that's
Speaker 1: a little big step of it as well. But is
Speaker 1: it easy, like can is it fair to say anybody
Speaker 1: could be one? Or is it there are certain people
Speaker 1: that there's just a knack. I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: think it's like a lot of other careers that's you know,
Speaker 1: I think most people can't if you're interested. But there
Speaker 1: are certainly people we know who are just you know,
Speaker 1: have a gift. But it's also about hospitality and theory
Speaker 1: and being you know, being taking out of your guests
Speaker 1: and I'm loving wine as well. Christ one of the
Speaker 1: things that was interesting too, and I think about during
Speaker 1: the pandemic. Don't ever want to go through that again.
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, you know, we did you know. Funnily enough,
Speaker 1: we talked about everybody who was drinking a lot and
Speaker 1: then also if they were home and they could um.
Speaker 1: But also kind of the increased digitization of access to wine.
Speaker 1: I know, we ordered stuff in and a lot of
Speaker 1: people did. Um. What are some of the things that
Speaker 1: have stayed with us post pandemic. Well, I think the
Speaker 1: usage of you know, online ordering and delivery and depending
Speaker 1: on you know, the legal markets, legality of the markets
Speaker 1: smaller as a result because of that. Yeah, but alcohol
Speaker 1: is of course heavily regulated, right, so it's depending on
Speaker 1: where you are in countries and states you need to
Speaker 1: follow the rules from that. But and in some places,
Speaker 1: like you you were allowed to buy and bring home
Speaker 1: from the restaurant strike. Um. So I think a lot
Speaker 1: of that has stayed. But at the same time, it's
Speaker 1: kind of funny all the predictions during the pandemic. Oh,
Speaker 1: everything's going to change, We're gonna work from home. We don't,
Speaker 1: you know, we're not going to go out. I mean
Speaker 1: we are. We want to meet more afterwards. You want
Speaker 1: to meet your friends, go out for dinner, have a
Speaker 1: glass of wine. That's what makes life worth living. On
Speaker 1: a Frida night, you don't want to say on zoom
Speaker 1: doing that. One thing I was curious about because we
Speaker 1: always were talking about inflation prices groceries, but it seems
Speaker 1: as if wine prices haven't necessarily been keeping up quite
Speaker 1: as much, and I feel like that might be a
Speaker 1: good thing for us. Is that supposed to continue? We
Speaker 1: had to ask that question in order to justify this interplation.
Speaker 1: I think the wine producers will be happy for you
Speaker 1: to say that. I think they're facing a lot of
Speaker 1: pressure to race prices. And I was talking to just
Speaker 1: one small, um, you know, artisanal producer and just the
Speaker 1: glass bottles were double the cost in a couple of
Speaker 1: months and just getting access to them. It's been really
Speaker 1: hard through everything. And yeah, so the price is um.
Speaker 1: There was a huge build up after the pandemic as well,
Speaker 1: you know, the shipping and containers in the wrong places
Speaker 1: and all that and people grabbing what they could find. Um,
Speaker 1: that's the east. But the pricing has definitely been on
Speaker 1: a pressure glob so that's will be visible in wireless
Speaker 1: as well. But it was quite a funny during the
Speaker 1: on stage this week because the jury discussed the wireless
Speaker 1: and we have dog frost mass assimilar mustard wine, lives
Speaker 1: in the middle of the country. Come in and said,
Speaker 1: one thing about the wine is New York though, WTF
Speaker 1: what are these prices? That is interesting all right, needs
Speaker 1: no interpretation. Christ, Thank you so much. Christ. Thanks and
Speaker 1: founder and publisher Cash Blomberg. Wall Street Week with David
Speaker 1: weston tonight at six pm Wall Street Time. David is
Speaker 1: joined by Equity Group Investments founder and chairman Sam Zell,
Speaker 1: a former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. That's Wall Street Week
Speaker 1: tonight at six I'm Bloomberg Radio.