Rise of Women Owned Wines

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1:25Now we're helping companies get smarter by putting AI where it actually pays off, deep in the work that moves the business. Let's create smarter business, IBM. Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenevek on Bloomberg Radio. I'm so excited because it's National Women's History Month, as we all know. Did you know that? I knew that. Yeah. Yes, of course. It's coming to an end now. I know. Yes, it's coming to an end. So we're going to have a great month cap. And in a male-dominated industry, we thought that we'd bring in a woman who is thriving and who is rising above it all.

2:09So she's Mandy Oser, owner and wine director at Ardisha. It's a wine bar in Hell's Kitchen. She's going to discuss with us the wine industry and how in this, again, male-dominated space, highlighting women's wineries and wine made by women is important. And we're seeing an increase of wine sales this month as well, according to her. So let's welcome Mandy. So thank you so much. Should we cheers? Is that awkward? We can do whatever. We can cheers, yes. For those listening on radio, I just raised my wine glass. Cheers. And Tim did not. Oh, sorry. Here. Well, there's just so many to choose from. Mandy, welcome.

2:45Welcome, welcome. Thank you. Thank you for having me. You know, it's been, we like to, Isabel, as Isabel knows, we like to sort of end the week sometimes when it's been a challenging week. talking a little about the wine industry and talking about the alcohol industry. And one thing that's on our radar right now is this potential acquisition by Bernard Rochelle of Brown Foreman. And it brings to mind the parent company of Jack Daniels. And it brings to mind the challenges that the alcohol industry has faced. And it's interesting because the younger generations in the U.S. are drinking less. And we've heard stories about the wineries in California being affected as a result.

3:24What are you seeing in your business?

3:26Mandy Oser:Right. I think that's a great question. We've been hearing this, you know, we see, read the same articles, we've been hearing the same news and, you know, we are monitoring it. But I think, I think I would strike a little bit more of a positive note. I think that, you know, there's definitely a shift going on. There's definitely something you can't deny these headlines. But I think when you talk about, for example, the younger generation, maybe they're not drinking as much, but maybe they're drinking differently. Maybe they, I think we're finding they're very interested in the stories behind the wines, the producers, what are their values?

3:59Mandy Oser:So I think what we're trying to do is really adapt into this new reality and meet people where they are. You know, another example we'll talk about in a little bit is de-alcoholized wine. There's been so much development in that space. And I think that is just another element of hospitality. And it's a way we can kind of bridge the gap. Are de-alcoholized wines more expensive? And how is the demand there? Because you talked about shifting behavior, but what about shifting spending patterns? It's a great question. And I think it's something that is a little tricky and something, for example, at Ardisha, at my wine bar that we have to navigate because de-alcoholized wines actually are quite expensive to produce because you have to remove the alcohol.

4:43Mandy Oser:The best producers, like Odd Bird that we'll talk about, use a process where they spin the wine at a cool temperature and the alcohol drops out. The old way was to heat it and sort of burn it off and then you kind of destroy the flavor of the wine. I've had some pretty bad de-alcoholized wines. Yeah, I think everyone has, but I think the page has turned. So I think when you talk about economics, then the challenge is how do you explain to the consumer and the guest that these aren't going to be cheap? Taking out the alcohol doesn't make it a cheaper thing. That's a good point because mocktails are far cheaper than cocktails.

5:19To buy, they're cheaper for the bar to make. Yeah, when I go to a bar to make. You find that cocktails are actually cheaper? Under$11,$12, and then the ones with alcohol would be like$18,$20.

5:29Mandy Oser:Yeah, and I think that's the prevailing moment that we're in, but I think that's part of my job as a wine bar owner, as someone who's a purveyor, to tell the story and explain why you are maybe going to pay a little more than you were expecting, but you know what? You're going to get a great product, and you're going to find it delicious. So what do consumers want right now? What are you finding? So in Ardisia, we have a little bit of a specialty in focusing on lesser known, a little under the radar wines. For example, you know, we have a whole page on wines from Hungary. We have a wine on the list from Serbia.

6:01Mandy Oser:And I think, at least in my experience, people are very curious right now. They're curious about the local wine industry. Of course, the classics are always going to be the classics. and people are always going to love a great aged Bordeaux, a great Burgundy, no shade to those types of wines. But I'm finding in my environment just great curiosity, natural wines, pet gnats. And so we're trying to just explore those and share those. What's a pet gnats? I was going to add. Sorry, I don't mean to get too wine geeky. It's a style of sparkling wine that tends to be associated with the natural wine movement because it ferments, It does a second fermentation in the bottle.

6:42Mandy Oser:So it's a less complicated way to make sparkling a very simple kind of friendly style of sparkling. Talk to us about your effort to highlight women-led wineries. I mean, it is, again, National Women's Month. And how did you get into that? Yeah, I think my curiosity often leads my wine choices. And it happened to be that a lot of great wine that I love are made by women. and this month we just looked at our list and we took stock and we thought let's really call them out you know because we talk about how women are still underrepresented in our industry well what's a great way to try to change that to well I think it's to promote promote women and you know buy their buy their wines and sell them and talk about them so yeah we have a whole page on our new list that highlights all of our women producers.

7:37Mandy Oser:And it's just been a great attraction for our guests. They're loving having that called out. So what do we have here in front of us? If you're watching on YouTube or Bloomberg Originals, you can see three wines. And one of them is dealkalized, but I'll let you take it. Yeah, well, I thought we could start with the Italian white. It's called Zanato. It's a family producer. It's from Italy. I'm holding it right now. Yeah. and it is it's second generation family run run by brother and sister Nadia and Alberto Zanato this is bright fresh crisp all about stone fruit citrus I kind of think it's a perfect summertime wine I like that we're thinking about summer we're summer spring you know it works right now I just had a sip yeah feel free to take a little sip and I think for me that's the definition of like a crisp refreshing white that can you know you can have just to sip it'd be great with cheeses this is such an all-around wonderful wine jumping to the second we're going to go in a little different direction it's a red it's a Rioja the producer is Faustino long-story producer this are in their fifth generation run by two sisters currently who are quite innovative and I think that's what we see a lot with women taking over the wineries too is this right i have this is it right okay um they are bringing new energy new innovation to the wineries so um the faustino sisters there they're focusing on environmental ish causes and they built a new visitor center that's solar powered the excess power essentially is enough to run the winery where sorry where is this one This is from Spain, from the Rioja region.

9:23Mandy Oser:Tempranillo is the grape. This is going to be a contrast with what we just had, a little bit richer, a little spice. It's 10 years of age. It's a Gran Reserva. Theirs is the best-selling Gran Reserva in the world. Ooh, I like that one. So that's a little bit more for the cooler crisp nights that we still have going on. Amazing. Are you mostly finding that people are buying this by the glass, buying it by the bottle? we're buying? I'd say the red that we're drinking is definitely more of a by the bottle, kind of open it up, let it breathe a little bit. The white that we tasted is perfect by the glass.

10:01Mandy Oser:That you'll probably find at Ardisha in the coming weeks because I really truly love that wine, as well as the Rioja, but thinking ahead to the seasonal change, this really caught my eye. And last but not least, sometimes I actually, when I'm tasting wine, I love to finish with bubbles some you know you kind of think of bubbles first but they can be so refreshing on the palate sometimes nice to end with bubbles like a chase after a red um this is called odd bird this was created i like this 2013 by a swedish woman um and she was really ahead of the curve on the on the no alcohol wines and really envisions a world where it is it's nothing special you just have your wine with alcohol or without, um, and you're not othered or you're not stigmatized.

10:48Mandy Oser:So that's why. Do you think we, do you think the technology and the producers will, will reach that? This is delicious by the way. Isn't it? Yeah. Do you think, I mean, but, but there is you, the taste is different when there is no alcohol. Yeah. You definitely, I can tell. Absolutely. Yeah. I can tell when something has alcohol and when something doesn't. It's a texture thing too, because the alcohol brings a lot of texture. So if you're taking that away, you have to replace it with something. So, you know, some people replace it with chemicals or sugar. But with this producer, they really focus on grapes that they feel can withstand having the alcohol removed.

11:23Mandy Oser:So this is Chardonnay and Columbard. So they're bigger, bolder grapes that withstand that process. So I think as producers get better and better at making quality wine, then we'll have more and more that you might not even know the difference, I think, soon. That's great. Great for you, Tim. This one is really good, actually. because I'm not a wine drinker even when I was drinking alcohol but I like this one a lot. Very crisp. Very summery. I would say crisp and something that's really nice. You don't have to worry about it if you're hosting. Even if you're not a fully non-drinker I think that's what's really lovely is you can just incorporate it into your evening and not have to worry.

12:02What are you seeing as you talked about some of the trends of different parts of the world where people are finding good wines. What's a really underappreciated region in your view?

12:11Mandy Oser:Ooh, that is a great question. Let's see. I think one that I think I would love to see more from is Uruguay in South America. There's some really great bold reds there from the Tanat grape, whites from Torrentes that I really love. I also think some of the countries, I think I mentioned earlier, Hungary, Eastern Europe, they have such a long history and tradition of winemaking, but their wines haven't been as common here. So I think as like even in Armenia, there are a lot of expats moving back or not expats, sorry. Their first generation Armenians are moving back to Armenia and starting wineries.

12:50Mandy Oser:And there's been this big explosion there. So I think, you know, that's, again, sort of a micro in the whole world of wine. But I think we're going to see some really interesting things and from places you wouldn't have maybe thought of either didn't even think produce wine or wouldn't have great wine. but those three countries I just mentioned are wonderful. Don't we love technological advancements, Tim? I do. Yeah. And even old school wine, too. Yeah. There's room for both. You know? There is, yeah. You can have the new and you can have the classics, and that's really what we believe at Ardisia.

13:23Mandy Oser:We like to explore it all and introduce it to our guests and make it just fun and unintimidating, you know? Well, Mandy, thanks so much for joining us and sharing some of this wine with us here on Facebook Business Week Daily. That's Mandy Ogier, owner of Ardisia, joining us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers Studio.

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