Adam: From Brooklyn, New York, I’m Adam Teeter.
Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.
Adam: And this is the VinePair Podcast. Zach, man, what’s going on? What have you been up to?
Z: Well, you know, it’s been a chaotic-ish week, as always. My wife and I are house hunting, which you know the fun of that.
A: How adult of you.
Z: I know. Well, we have a kid, so we figured we probably should buy a house eventually. Yeah, it sucks. I hate doing this. I mean, I look forward to eventually having a house, but everything else about the process is zero fun. Not zero fun it’s like 8 percent fun. I think it would be a little more fun if it wasn’t Covid. But it’s like everything about going to look at houses is just so much more complicated, and you’re on like an incredibly tight window. It’s like you have exactly this time, you cannot do this, you have to do that, which is all well and good as it should be. There should be stringent protocols, but it does m
Adam: From Brooklyn, New York I’m Adam Teeter.
Zach: And in Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe.
A: And this is the VinePair podcast. Zach man, Super Bowl. You know what’d you drink?
Z: Oh, my God. Well, I’m going to be completely honest and say I watched exactly zero seconds of the Super Bowl.
A: Oh, wow.
Z: Yeah. I will say my approach to the Super Bowl lately when I haven’t had much of a rooting interest is I kind of monitor the score. And then if it seems like it’s a close game, I’ll tune in later. That obviously was not the case this year. So I definitely just was like, “Well, I’m going to do something else with my time.” And I don’t know if I drank during the Super Bowl, but I will tell you the things that I drank lately, and I know you will appreciate this in particular, Adam. So I taught a class on Greek wine this past week.
Airing between regular episodes of the “VinePair Podcast,” “Next Round” explores the ideas and innovations that are helping drinks businesses adapt in a time of unprecedented change. As the coronavirus crisis continues and new challenges arise, VP Pro is in your corner, supporting the drinks community for all the rounds to come. If you have a story or perspective to share, email us at podcast@vinepair.com.
In this episode, host Zach Geballe sits down with Brenae Royal, the vineyard manager at Monte Rosso. Here, Royal explains her career path entering agriculture right out of college and joining the Monte Rosso team. After years of working with her team and watching the grapes take off, Royal has become a tried and true Zinfandel lover and established viticulturist.
When the news broke last week that Uber was acquiring alcohol delivery platform Drizly for $1.1 billion in cash and stock, the immediate question that sprung to mind was whether Uber would maintain Drizly’s position as an intermediary between customers and alcohol retailers, or whether it would take an axe to the existing three-tier system for alcohol sales by attempting to fulfill orders on their own. Given their current businesses, that seems like a reasonable assumption, no matter what the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America thinks.
So what does it mean if Uber takes on the existing system for alcohol distribution in the United States? That’s what Adam Teeter and Zach Geballe discuss on this week’s “VinePair Podcast” how Uber could offer rapid delivery and expansive selections, and how it has the financial muscle and “break things” attitude to take on antiquated laws and entrenched power brokers.
Airing between regular episodes of the “VinePair Podcast,” “Next Round” explores the ideas and innovations that are helping drinks businesses adapt in a time of unprecedented change. As the coronavirus crisis continues and new challenges arise, VP Pro is in your corner, supporting the drinks community for all the rounds to come. If you have a story or perspective to share, email us at podcast@vinepair.com.
In this “Next Round” episode, host Zach Geballe sits down with Ali Schmidt, one of the co-founders of Zuzu Drinks. Schmidt and her co-founder Greta Caruso came together to develop and launch Zuzu as a new line of quality RTD cocktails. Unlike hard seltzer, Zuzu’s products are made with an agave spirit and the “wholest” ingredients possible. Here, Schmidt discusses what the flavor testing process looked like, and why she and Caruso ultimately chose to use an agave spirit.