Ep. 2418 Mela Vino | Voices with Cynthia Chaplin

Really wanted to not only enjoy the wine, but like you said, like, what lifestyle came with essentially enjoying, you know, drinking wine, whether it was by yourself, whether you were going to, you know, traditional winery or getting together with friends and community and family. And so that was really important to us. So it really marries, if you will, enjoying wine, the quality and the taste, and then also the the lifestyle that comes with it. And what does that mean? And are you traveling to try different wines, bringing wine to social gatherings and really embodying the sense of community, which is how we started, you know. Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. I'm Cynthia Chaplin, this is voices. Every Wednesday, I will be sharing conversations with international wine industry professionals discussing issues in diversity, equity, and inclusion through their personal experiences working in the field of wine. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and rate our show wherever you get your pods. Hello, and welcome to voices. This is Cynthia Chaplin, and this is going to be the most fun day. Really excited to welcome the amazing team from Melavino to voices today. Erica and Chelsea, Ryan and Kendall met as freshmen at the University of Southern California in two thousand and seven, and they decided to create their own wine in Napa in twenty twenty. So, which was a very interesting choice in twenty twenty. So we'll get to that. But, I wanna thank you guys for coming on. I know you're all in four different locations, and it's a big, time difference between all of us. So I'm thrilled to meet you all, even electronically, and have this chance to talk to you. Thank you all for your time. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Yeah. Well, you have been such close friends for almost twenty years. Your story is really interesting. Your website, gives a really warm background. So tell us how your freshman year of friendship at the University of, Southern California grew into your wine company. I'm still really good friends with my best friend from my freshman year, but we did not start a wine company. So tell us what happened. Yes. So we all met in two thousand seven. That's correct when we all went away to college at USC. Some of us met at orientation, but really when we all got together, that was we always debate whether it was the first day of school or second day of school. I think it was the first day of school. And we still and so we went to lunch that day. We even have a picture from that lunch. And pretty much every single day after that, for the next four years, we found time to meet up and have lunch or do something no matter what our school schedules schedules were. So we were pretty much inseparable through college. Yeah. And then, after college, we we all went our separate ways, but we remained close, and we've been a part of you know, every major event in each other's lives from more, you know, grad school graduations, weddings, kids, everything in between good and bad. And then during COVID, we tried to find a way to stay close even though we couldn't visit each other as often. So we did start a book club, and we were doing a a a book club over Zoom during COVID when everyone was quarantined. Oh, no. We had to do everything over Zoom. Yes. Yes. So it's definitely an adjustment. So we started the book club, and we also, of course, shared a passion for wine. So we would often be tasting and drinking wines during these evening book club meetings. And then, you know, one night, we all tasted one that we didn't really like that much. We won't say what it was. Thanks. But from that moment, we all kind of got the idea that maybe we should make our own. And even though we have no background in this, We all just did some research, and we just dove in, and here we are now. It's just so out there. I'm I do not have the right friends, obviously. My my friends don't say let's make our own lines. I I love that you guys are, you know, just so confident in your friendship and in your skill sets that it was like, okay. We're gonna make our own line. This is this is great. I love the backstory. So I also really love the name that you chose, Melavino, You've said that mella refers to the melanin and honors the various shades of brown that you all share. And mella has a lot of other meanings, you know, in Sanskrit, it means to gather. And in Hebrew, it means to be full in Italy, mella is an apple. And the Apple symbolizes, many things across many, many diverse cultures. So beauty and love and wisdom and knowledge and understanding. So let's talk about how you arrived at this name. I think it's really perfect for what you're doing. What does it mean to you in your daily business? How is how does that concept of Mela affect what you're doing with the business? Yeah. Thank you. We we love the name as well. We're really proud of it. You see, if you could see us Chelsea has her Mella sweatshirt on right now proudly. Oh, yes. Awesome. But we knew coming into this industry that there's not a lot of women that look like us in the field. And so we really wanted to go into it with pride and really think of a name that celebrates and honors who we are and our culture. And so the word melanin came to mind, but we didn't think that would look great on the bottle. Probably not. No. Right? Not that not as catchy. But then landed with Mela, that kind of an abbreviation of that, if you will. And once we had that name, love the sound, love the what it means behind it, we decided we should probably look and see what else Mela might mean in other cultures or languages. And then when we found that in Sanskrit, it means together, we were like, oh, that's perfect. It almost seems like it was meant to be. Because that's really what we hope to be true when people are enjoying our wine is that it brings people together to connect to just celebrate life. And so that felt really powerful. That in Hebrew, it'd be full. We want them to be full of life, full of good wine when they enjoy Mela. And then you added the piece with the Apple and thinking about how the beauty and knowledge and wisdom, like, all of that. We hope that those things are true when people are coming to some of our Mela moments that we call our small gatherings that we will post. So really it's just a celebration of both who we are and what we hope folks feel, when they are enjoying our wine either by themselves or with with groups and friends. Well, it really spoke to me when I first found you guys, the name and sort of the concept behind it, your on your website, I steal everything off of people's websites, because I don't want to put my stamp on what you're doing. You say that it's a line for the modern social drinker, which I think is a fantastic concept. We know that, you know, consumer behavior is really changing a lot recently. I think talking about a modern social drinker rather than who's young, who's old, who's old school, who's new school. I like the concept of just being a modern social drinker. So what's the philosophy behind this? Because the the sharing and the gathering and and the filling each other up is ideal. But tell us the philosophy, and then I wanna know what wines you're making and how they fit your image of a modern social drink So we were new to wine, but really enjoying it. You know, we've I say we're we're still young, young, whereas wine and wine tasting traditionally a little bit more mature, right, and understanding and learning about wine. So when we were starting the company, we tried countless wines. I mean, I think we lost track of actually how many wines we were tasting, and we really wanted to not only enjoy the wine, but like you said, like, what lifestyle came with essentially enjoying, you know, drinking wine, whether it was by yourself, whether you were going to, you know, traditional winery or getting together with friends and community and family. And so that was really important to us. So it really marries, if you will, enjoying wine, the quality and the taste, and then also, the the lifestyle that comes with it. And what does that mean? And are you traveling to try different wines? Bringing wine to social gatherings and really embodying the sense of community, which is how we started, you know, Mela in the first place. So really taking what, you know, the the stigma, if you will, of the wine industry or that, you know, the wine industry has has had and breaking that down to where it can be enjoyed by so many different people from different cultures and backgrounds and and really bringing people together. This means everything to me. I'm a wine educator. I've been in the wine industry a long time. The wine can be so snooty and so pretentious and, you know, something that was created to bring people together ends up being something that keeps people out, and I really appreciate that. So, I, I love that philosophy that you have with it. So what wines did you choose after you tasted your three thousand sounds about accurate. So we would try at least, oh gosh, between four to eight, I think, every week, for almost a year. And so three thousand is about right. So we started the first year, we started with two one. So we had what we called our California red and a California white, both are blends. And following that, so the California red is a blend of Patice Rawas, Fendale Malbec and Sarah. And then our California white, which is very or not very common to have a white blend, but we found that we loved it, and and actually our consumers love it as well. But a gabertz Gabener gabertz Mhmm. Pino Grigios. Gewirtz can you yeah. Pino Grigios, sauvignon, and, blended with riesling as well. And so we really enjoyed those two, and then we also knew, the next year that we wanted to expand a little bit, and really include some summertime wine in spring. So we added a rose, and then we also added a limited edition, another red. That's amazing. I'm I'm really happy about the Rosay. I I just finished writing a book about Italian Rosay. So I'm a big fan of finding Rosays, but I I love the fact that both of your sort of flagship wines are blends, and neither one of them have the, like, classic, California. There's no cabernet sauvignon and there's no chardonnite. So this this is really, as you said, a very modern profile. You know, people are walking away from those heavier higher alcohol, you know, spent more time in oak barrels, kind of wine. So I love it's risky to blend. You know, it's it's super risky to blend. So I love the fact that you embraced what can happen with, a blend like that and didn't just go with the obvious California choices. These are really much more about you and not where where, you know, the wines are. So, it's there's a whole there's a whole lot on your website that I'm really excited about. And another description on there says that, you know, this is a private label, wine, and a lifestyle brand, and you're centered on elevating your community's social experience, which I'm also very serious about. I love this concept. And I like the way you phrased the mission. You know, it's not keeping anybody out. It's everybody can come in. This is a community, tell us a bit about your goals now for Mala, the connection you wanna make with your consumers because I imagine you're making some good connections at the moment. Yeah. Thank you. So, first of all, I want to share that our mission is to paralyze most memorable moments with Tastesly crafted blind blends and to pursue to inspire the pursuit of passions while challenging the status quo. So first of all, just thinking about our mission, you kinda spoke to it in the beginning, like, a lot of times, especially during COVID, you know, you realized what was your passion versus what you were required to do every day, you know, from an educational standpoint or from work standpoint. And so when we decided to do Melo, we wanted to make sure that we were encouraging other people, especially in our generation and all generations, really, to kind of make sure that you don't just talk about it, but be about it. And that's kinda what one part of our mission that we really like to hone in on. Is that, if you have a passion, it's never too late to get started and honestly just get started. And so that was just kind of important to us from a mission standpoint. But like you said, elevating our social, our community experience is just exactly what Erica Kine already talked about. Like, the Hawaiian experience, is, is something that doesn't always feel welcoming. But we wanted to ensure that whatever part we could play in, having those kind of connections for us, we felt like when we were in college, we had a unique friendship So, like, I believe Chelsea said at the beginning, if one person knew one of us, they knew all of us because we really valued what our friendship meant to us. And so we wanted that kind of same connection to be felt in our minds. With with whether you're hanging out with one friend, ten friends by yourself or whatever. We wanted that same idea of connection to be felt, in our wine and our label. The private label part is not as as exciting as it sounds. We simply are a private label brand because we don't own our own winers So that's not as exciting as it sounds, but, I mean, it was our way of making our passion from the fruition. Well, I I love that. I love, you know, you guys are are a blend of people in this friendship group that's so unique and so you're blending grapes for your wines. It it all fits together really seamlessly what you're doing. I'm I'm yeah. No. Thank you guys. It's it's really fascinating. Yeah. And then to piggyback off to Eric sorry. To piggyback off Erica a little bit, the blend part was really important to us because we all have very unique personalities, which I'm sure we'll dive into a little bit. So With that, being in mind, you know, ideally from a financial standpoint, even from wines that we liked it, be would have been better for us to do a single blend. But with having all of our different personalities and being able to come in there and everybody gets a pace of being to say what they like, what they don't like, experimenting and making the blend. That's sort of why blends are so important to us in all, facets because it was allowed all of us to have our personalities shine in one way or the other in all of our lines. Yeah. I I think that's amazing. And it's, you know, just talking to the four of you and and seeing you all on on the video is great because you get a feeling of a really cohesive group of four very different parts and I think that's a very unique story, and you're telling it perfectly. So, you are totally right. I I'm now I'm gonna pick on each one of you. So I just I really wanna get to know each one of you a little better. And I know that Mella is not the only job you all have. You know, you're all doing other stuff, which is also really fascinating because, you know, as you said, you're young. You've got partners. Some of you've got kids. You've got other jobs. Like, there's a lot going on here. So and you're doing it well. So let's start with Kindle. You're the communications and the PR director for Melup, but in your other life, you're a school leader at an elementary school, So that is a big job. I was a chairman of the board for a school when my kids were there. So how are you blending your two career paths with your school life and with your wine life? Yeah. It definitely is two very different ends of the spectrum, but I will say the wine helps after a long day of working absolutely. Absolutely truth. But, but, yeah, I think the biggest thing What I appreciate is that because it is so different, I get to use my brain in different ways. And so to be able to tap into still the the skill set of being able to communicate things clearly to folks, but to talk about something that's kind of exciting and different and unique and, wanting to share something that I had a a hand in creating is really exciting. And it's also it's less stressful or it's different kind of stress, I would say. You know, when I'm working with families and students, there's this population I serve is, pretty high need. And so it can take a toll. But I think being able to work with my friends and talk about wine and think about the creative side of my brain, has been really exciting and has brought a nice, a healthy balance. So, yes, the days are long, but it feels like I'm able to do things in a way that bring joy, and use my brain in two different ways. That's really nice. And, you know, and, of course, you're working with families and young children in one part and then, you know, adults in another part, but in creative ways, I really I really liked them, and I can see the balance. I have six children. So You you definitely need wine. Yes. I mean, your brain goes to mush if you don't have some things sort of intellectual to do. So, I really I appreciate that. So thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, Chelsea. You're next. Alright. You're the operations director at Mela. So, you know, your alter ego is as a physical therapist, an outpatient facility. So again, totally different. Although, I can see wine playing a part in some therapy, How are how are you balancing, you know, those two very, very different responsibilities? Yes. They are very different. So during my day job, yeah, it's very hands on, doing my physical therapy. As Vermela with the production's position, it's, you know, some of it's administrative stuff, and so a lot of it's also just learning a lot about wine. And so I've I've enjoyed that. Like I said, we none of us had a background in this. I've always loved school and learning my my friends always making fun of me that I would just stay in school forever if someone would pay for me. So I've enjoyed, yeah, so I've really enjoyed, learning a lot more about everything that we need to do you know, from the time we started until now, it's the whole thing's just been a huge learning process. And so it is very different, but again, I'm always happy to learn and happy to progress as we Oh, me too. I'm a nerd. You know, as we grow. And I'm fortunate enough in my schedule that I can work, like, four ten hour days. That way, I have Monday to free up more time for Miller. And just doing things throughout the day, we're all the four of us are chatting throughout the day, you know, sending emails, sometimes having a zoom at lunchtime. And as far as the actual production of the wine, I am in Southern California. So it is just a quick flight up north. So when we need to go and check-in things up there, it's not, you know, too far for me. But, yeah, it's it's definitely busy balancing both things, but I think, you know, like we said, this is our passion. So and then if you also add that we're with with each other, with our friends, you know, so it doesn't always feel like work, when we're doing mella things. Yeah. You guys must live in a parallel universe to me because, my day does not have this many hours in it. You I don't know where you're finding these extra hours that you're doing all this stuff. But, alright, Ryan. You're next on the hit list now. So you're the financial and the legal director at Mella, but you have a very full work schedule as a criminal defense attorney and the founder of the Casey Fund. That focuses on stopping the school to prison pipeline, which is super important these days, particularly. What's a week like in your life? Because you must be one of the ones who really needs, you know, ten extra hours in the week that don't exist. So How are you balancing Miller with your legal career? I think it's just about, I I told them recently I have a calendar where I write everything out that needs to be completed in the day and you prioritize it. I think it's just about staying super organized. I think that's the name of the game. We do a good job meeting and kinda talking about what needs to happen throughout the week, so we're not as panicked at the end. Of course, things happen, you know, last minute. But the game name of the game for me is just trying to stay organized. I think that's as simple as it can be. Yeah. Well, you and clearly, you you've got an organizational brain as well, trying to balance both of those things. That's that's a lot of paperwork. I have friends who are attorneys, and that's a lot of paper. That would just overwhelmed me too much paper. But it's it's so interesting. Each one of you, your talents are so different. I mean, last but not least, Erica, you know, you're the marketing and the creative director at Mella, and you you know, when you're not designing and producing luxury events all over the world, which I've done events myself. So I know, like, how much time that takes it. So how do you, how do you make time for Mala and the rest of your work? I imagine you're traveling, and you must be very detail oriented, events takes that. Events does definitely take that. I would say I mine does tend to or both roles tend to lend, together very well and similar when it comes to the designing aspect. So really paying attention to colors and textures and photoshoots and, you know, fonts, you know, as it relates to the brand and the aesthetic of the brand and the look that is very similar with the work that I do on the day to day from, you know, from a large scale. And that makes it fun. I think that's really that's what I love to do. And so getting to do that at my full time, you know, full time other other role company, is fantastic. And so being able to do it for Mela, which is something that I still enjoy, it kinda just, you know, like anything. Yeah. It's extra time and, you know, definitely sacrifice from that end, but I I enjoy it, and it's great. I'm I'm so glad for all of you. I've I I fear the day when one of you decides they don't wanna be part of Miller anymore because This is clearly a really cohesive group of friends. I don't wanna hear what happens when somebody says I'm done with this. But, before we go any further, let me just get some hard data out of all of you. You started in twenty twenty, you know, how many bottles did you produce on the first go? Well, we started with twenty twenty, we started with, two barrels, one barrel of the white and one barrel of the red. Yeah. Yeah. So we started very small. It was around, like, six hundred at first. Six hundred bottles. Yeah. That's the best way to go. So so what are you up to now? We're in twenty twenty five. We don't know what this, vintage will look like, but how was twenty twenty four for you? So we doubled the following year. And then now, we have something new in the works that we have not bottled yet. So that one's Oh. That makes sense. Okay. Good. So and where do your consumers come from? Are they mostly e commerce? You said you're doing, you know, get togethers with people. I'm sure you're going crazy on social media at this point. So where are your consumers coming from? Okay. Primarily, yes, e commerce with, direct to consumer. That's been our primary form of getting connected to folks. We also have been fortunate to partner with some, wine bars and wine shops. And one thing to kind of just speak again to how important staying connected to the culture is we've made a point to reach out to different wine bar owners that are female owned and or POC owned. And so we've worked with shops in Oakland as well as LA. And then our goal is to eventually be able to sell in person, and so working to do that on our own. But really fortunate for the connections we've made with other bars. And then, of course, again, the online sales. Then our happy medium sorry. Our happy medium, Kai piggyback off Kendall is that we do in person events. While we can't sell in person, we find that these type of events similar to what we're doing right now where we're able to talk, that people try the wine and understand our story, ask questions, and everything is where we thrive the most. So that's one way that we're able to I'm not only touch our usual, like, market based, but we're able to get a little bit further expanded by having those type of events. Yeah. They those type of events go a long way. We should turn this into a tasting. I didn't think about it. Right. Seriously. But it's true. They do go a long way to, you know, to making people feel welcome and making people want to get involved with what you're doing. So, I I love how you are sort of building it, not trying to jump in and and get massive really fast, but, you know, carefully curating who your customers are and what wines you're making. I'm excited to hear about this rosette, but, you know, we we've all forged this amazing bond. It's it's evident just, you know, in half an hour chatting with you, and you've created this incredible community you know, you all say that, you know, the other things you do in your spare time are families and community, and those are your top priorities. So before we end this conversation, which I really don't want to end, I just want to sort of walk down the pothole road of DEAI in the USA. As I said, I'm American. I don't live there anymore for which I'm very grateful at the moment, but it, you know, it's no secret that the current administration is actively trying to dismantle deI programs that we fought for for, you know, decades across the country. So what are you seeing inside the wine industry? You know, how do you think companies like may look and address these threats to DEAI? What do you think the wine industry should do to push back? Because I think, you know, we really are in a moment where we need allyship. People need to be told what to do, how to help, how to, address this in a way that is you know, more positive than negative, but is really gonna be a pushback that will be effective. So tell me what you guys are seeing. Tell me what you think. That's a great question. I mean, yeah, historically, we know that the wine industry is very white and male dominated, well under one percent of, wineries owned by black, black wineries. So it's already been hard to break into the industry. However, when we started in twenty twenty, there was definitely more of an emphasis on bigger companies supporting Black owned brands and minority owned brands that has definitely shifted with this current administration. So I think what we can do is, you know, we have to just continue to tell our story and do the best that we can to also support other brands and try to collaborate, you know, with different events. And like Kendall already mentioned, you know, when we when we're looking for, places to sell our wine, really be mindful of where where those places are and who we're supporting. Yeah, do do you ladies have anything to add? I think that part of it is that, trying to I don't know. Like, I mean, so you're obviously seeing this on the outside even though, you know, you were American, but it is a mess over here. Let's just be honest. And so that's what it is, especially, yeah, especially from a deI standpoint. So You have organizations like Target who had made this big point to make sure that they were reaching out to, you know, people of color and their brands and making sure their brands are in there. And then that's just not happening. So, I mean, from an Ally standpoint, you're trying to get organizations, big organizations like that to go back to their roots and what they were doing before, you know, to not be so influenced by this current administration, which is just a huge, like, a bigger, you know, issue that I don't even know that we would even have that kind of impact on, you know, at all. I agree. I agree. I agree. It's like a a, you know, it's a a ten headed snake every time you check off the head, three more heads come back. So I I like that you're, you know, you're focused on you know, you're being you and you're focused on your company and what you can do, you know, for me, it's really depressing. I'm a lot older than you are, you know, watching thirty years of DeI get dismantled in front of my eyes is terrifying, but, I like the fact that you have a positive approach, and I think that idea of collaborating, you know, growing the, growing the community, growing the network, making as many, you know, sort of connections and collaborations as possible, is probably the best way to, you know, to keep everything rolling forward instead of just, being consumed. So, I'm happy that you're adding wines too. You know, that's always a forward step, adding to what you're offering people bringing more people in who will try new things. So what's ahead for for twenty twenty six? What do you Yeah. Well, Chelsea kind of gave you a little hint that we're we're trying to brew up something new for the for the fans. And so we're really excited. You can tell. I'm trying to find out what that is. We're not gonna we're not gonna tell. Beans quite yet, but we're really proud and also just really excited of how much we've grown, and learned, and so feeling more confident in the decisions we're making the steps we're taking. And so I think that, you know, a huge appreciation to those who have helped us along the way to kinda navigate and learn the industry. And mind you, there's still a lot more for us to continue learning and we definitely go into this with humility, and proud of the women and winemakers that we are because it's a lot different this year than when we started in twenty twenty. So proud of that. For sure. Sure. Well, I've been in the wine industry for twenty five years, and you can never know everything. That's that's one of the most fun parts about it. There's always something new to learn. Somebody new to meet, somebody doing something interesting. So I never get bored. And it looks like you guys have that same energy that you aren't gonna get bored. And between the four of you, there's some serious brain power, as as well as four very big hearts that are gonna keep this project moving. I'm so glad that I got to meet you and talk to you. Thank you so much. We really appreciate it. Thank you. We did we were curious to know how you found us though. How did I find you? That's a good question. I will I will have to go back to my notes. I think it was in was it Forbes? It was an article. Let me just yeah. Hang on a second. I've got my, just check while I'm at it. Yeah. I think it wasn't an article that that I found a mention of Melavino, and I was like, I have to check this out because it it sounded so unlikely to have four friends who've been friends for, you know, all this long time, making wine together, in the same place, doing different jobs. I was like, this can't this can't be going well, but it is going incredibly well. So, I'm really happy to see, you know, that you've got each other, which is great. I think you know, at the essence of everything you do is is the friendship that you have, and your great role models for that, you know, collaborating together, staying friends, and creating something new out of a friendship that, that you've had for a long time. I think it's really inspiring, and I hope that everybody who listens goes on your website because it's a great website and, taste your wines. I'm I'm gonna have to I don't think I can get them anymore. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. I'm coming to any entrepreneur where you live. Oh, fantastic. Amazing. I live in verona, so I, you know, right near Balpolicello, and, I am always well, happy to welcome everybody, my podcast, guests, my, my colleagues, my friends, come and do some valpolicella with me. I'd be very happy to see you. And if you need anything while you're here, send me a message, and I'll do what I can. Thank you. If you don't mind, can we take a quick picture? Alright. Of course. Okay. Great. Thank you. Thank you. Great. You're welcome. Well, our social media team will do something with this. I don't know. They they work magic. I just I do the interview, and then they sort it all out. So, they will send you everything when it's ready to go out. So you'll know where to find it, and you can repost it or tag we'll tag you, of course. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank all of you so much for your time today, and, and being so open to all my questions. I appreciate it. I really do. Thank you for doing this. Yeah. Perfect. I'll take you guys. Have a great day. And, and you'll hear from us really soon. And when when you're here, Chelsea, let me know. Take care. Alright. Take care. Thank you. Thank you for listening. And remember to tune in next Wednesday when I'll be chatting with another fascinating guest. 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