Welcome to another episode of our serious SLD meetups by Super Luxury Group, where we connect with some of the most interesting players in the Luxury market. My name is Alvaro, and today we'll be having with us a very special guest. His name is Mike El-Silachi, and he's Opus 1, winemaker. He's gonna be bringing us the passion behind the ultra premium wines and its Napa Valley winery in Oakville, California.
Mike will be talking about his unique story and how to enhance the combination of pleasure and luxury through wine. Definitely great insights for everyone that enjoyed the little pleasures in life. Mike El, how you doing? Good at yourself?
Very good. Amazing. So good seeing you. I wanted to make a quick introduction because I know Opus 1 is a very well-known wine brand, but for those that are tuning in, I just wanted to make sure that everybody understands that you guys produce ultra premium wine at your winery in Oakville, California.
I'm guests, I'm the lucky one today that has the bottle right here, so what better than having the winemaker himself? Right in front to go over everything that he takes to produce such quality wine. So thank you for joining us. You're very welcome, and you're a little bit luckier than I am.
You are in a good time zone to be tasting the 2017 Opus 1, but I guess any time is a good time, right? Yeah, let me pour one right here. Amazing. So cheers.
Cheers. Thank you. Alright, so before we jump into what's going on with the wine and how you ended up building such amazing quality wine, you have a really interesting background because you were having a traveler and not where you found your passion. Tell us a little bit about it.
Exactly. I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up, so I decided that I would travel in, and I wouldn't go home until I found what I wanted to do. And I didn't want to go to university and spend four to six years studying something and get a job that I didn't like. So I headed out to Japan, but I stopped in Hawaii for a weekend, which turned into three months.
And I camped on a beach in just north of Connepali and Maui, and I worked as a dishwasher at the CSU restaurant and went to Harkrishan on Sundays and to eat vegetarian food. I went to Japan and to Asia, Southeast Asia made my way to Europe. And when I arrived in France, I looked up a French woman in Paris, who I met in Tokyo. And she said, if you want to learn to speak French, eat well and earn money, you should pick grapes.
So I got a haircut, borrowed a car, and drove out on the countryside near Nalton, the U.S., on the War Valley. And I drove into this little domain and there was a fellow loading sacks of sugar into the back of a van. And I said, in my broken French, I wanted a job picking grapes and he smiled and he maybe understand that if I helped him load the finished loading, the little van and delivered it, he would get me a job. And he did.
And I fell in love with two ever lunches and wine. And it was amazing. So, you know, with picking grapes, I understand now it's a lot different, what you should be doing. But there, you know, you're just, I'm with students and we're picking grapes.
And you don't really have to understand the language because you just follow what people are doing and they're clipping all clusters. And then you start to get hungry, you keep looking up and seeing when people are going to head in for lunch or dinner. But it was fantastic. And then I went to, I want to tell you that when I arrived in France, I had decided I wanted to become a kindergarten teacher.
And the reason being that I saw so many children in third world countries and I thought, I could make an impact on these lives, young lives because children are so open to learning and listening. So I could make an impact on lives by teaching kindergarten. But then I became a winemaker and a bit of a cultureist. Look, you still helped a lot of people go through, especially this time, you know, because there's nothing better than enjoying a glass of wine.
And indeed, today we have the one and only. This is this election, right? This is from the 2017. It was released not too long ago, right?
I was released on October 1st. We always released the wine on October 1st, three years after the harvest. So, yeah, this just came out a little over a month ago. So I tasted it.
It's amazing. Now, what's the magic? Because I know you had some fires going on in California, you know, a few months ago. So how has that impacted this, obviously, from 2017, but in regards to facing these fires, how do you overcome these things?
Well, in 2017, for example, there was actually quite a few things going on in the winter of 16 to 17. It was, we had a lot of rainfall. The vine started pushing, started growing a little bit later because the soils were a little cooler with the water. Then the vine started growing.
Then we had a few little heat spells, a little heat bumps during the summer, and we started harvesting in September, and we had harvested 91% of our fruit, so 91% of our fruit by the time the fire broke out. And so we were pretty much unscathed. And also when the fires first start, I've noticed this with other wines that I've tasted that, you know, the first couple of days aren't going to have that big of an impact with the smoke. But it was, if you fruit hanging out for quite a while, yes, definitely gets impacted.
You may or may not have noticed because you were just getting started with the scum lime, but when you first smell the wine, it has a nice freshness, like the smell of stems of red roses. And then it starts to develop into rose petals and some black cherries and cassis and all these other flame or aroma compounds start to show up. I think this is very amazing to do because a lot of people are staying in their homes nowadays, so to organize a zoom virtual wine tasting, it's amazing, right? Are you guys working on that?
We are. I've done a few groups. Yeah, it's fun because the interactions, of course, very different. Look, it changes your mood automatically.
I'll tell you that. It does sound itself and the aroma makes you in another level. So this is very nice of you of taking the time to go over your story and how it produces such amazing wines. Now, with everything that is going on, I know that you are currently focusing on keeping those ultra premium wines and how has it been impacted with everything that we're facing with COVID?
Well, you know, what we've seen is that we were 60% on-premise, so restaurants and 40% off-premise, and we had a great person who was running our sales team, and right away he recognized that restaurant can be open for a while, and he shifted the focus to on-premise, sorry, off-premise to retail, and then the VP of communications who oversees direct to market, direct to consumer, et cetera, and the VP of sales, and they automatically switch to focusing on people who are going to buy the wine and take it home and have it enjoy it with their family and friends at their homes, rather than... And so they shifted their whole perspective and their whole focus that way, and I was amazed at what they were able to accomplish. Now, I have a question for you, Michael, because right now everybody's shifting mentality when it comes to the world looks free, so based on perspective, I've got to tell you, for me, enjoying a glass of wine right now, that's like super luxury. So what is it for you?
It's really doing our best to allow the vineyard to tell its story, and we make wines, that we make classic wines, that are expressions of time and place. So the time is the season, so you have a warm year like 17, it's going to be more like the black cherry in the cassiz, but still have some of that freshness, because of when we pick, and then a vintage like 2010 or 11 where it was a little bit more rain and cooler season, that's going to be more herbal like fresh fruit. What's the difference between fresh fruit and ripe fruit in my description of wines is fresh fruit would be like a cherry off of a tree, ripe fruit would be like cherry jam. So it's a little bit more, there's a little bit added layer of richness, but...
And then the place, the place comes through in the mouth field, the structure, the texture of the wine, and as long as we allow the wine to, if it confuses people, if they have to think, if they have to go back and... Tasting wine is sometimes like reading a poem. You smell certain aromas, you taste something, and then you allow it to sit in the air a little bit more, and you go back and say, the aromas have changed, they're developing into something different, and the mouth field is getting a little bit more fluid. So to be able to watch it, you go back and like when you read a poem, you read a few lines and then you close the book and you think about what the poet is trying to say, or what you get out of it, and then you go back and you reread those lines and the meaning changes.
And poetry is as fluid as wine. So with that being said, because you define it very well, and I love the comparison between the wine and the poetry itself, you know, it's very nice. So are there any takeaways or anything that you as a wine maker have experience that you would like to share to any wine lover out there that is listening? Well, I think that, you know, we make wine to go with food, and I think one of the things that is the most fun to do is to have a...
to go to a restaurant, and well, now we can't go to a restaurant, but you can go to a wine shop, and you can say, I'm going to prepare this meal tonight. So my family came from Ticino in Switzerland, the Italian part of Switzerland. So maybe I go to a wine shop and I say, I'm going to make a stew, maybe I'm going to make short ribs, now I'm starting to drool. I'm going to make some short ribs and have it with Palenta with maybe a little Parmesan.
And what kind of wine would you suggest to go with that? And then we're going to have maybe some Chilean sea bass for the fish course. What would you recommend for that? And just to start to have a communication with people who know food in wine.
The easiest is when you go to a restaurant, because the sommelier knows the wines on their list. They also, he or she also knows the different courses, the different dishes that are being prepared, and they know what goes with what. But the interesting thing is to try something they think definitely will work, and then something you think will work, and compare the two. You taste the wine, you take a bite of food, and then you taste the wine again.
You see how the food has changed the wine. And what does it bring out in the wine? Does it make the wines feel very bitter, or does it make the finish of the wine resonate like the church bells at the Vatican after they stop ringing? Does it really long and flavorful?
I mean, that's what's fun about wine and food is that you can learn so much by interacting with, by trying both. You see it at the top of restaurants. Oh my god, all the time. It's amazing.
The combination between the tapas, the wine, especially if you do it with a nice group of people. You have the best time. It's the best time. Actually, you know, we're talking about this, and I'm really enjoying it.
And after this call, for sure, I'm going to put some food together and enjoy the rest of the wine. Not everything though. It's a work time. But later.
Now, what I'm going to tell you for sure is that here in Miami, we have lots of people that are coming to stay at some of our properties, and I think that when they arrive home, and they have a nice bottle of Opus 1, I think that their faces change automatically. So I'll be getting to a nice few cases to have over here. Very good. And it'd be nice to have you and some of your associates and clients come visit.
For sure. I think that's very special. Very special experience. We'll make it happen for sure, Michael.
And myself, I know I'll be visiting you for sure. Hopefully not too far out. And again, I wanted to thank you for your time for the wine. I mean, beautiful and really enjoying it.
And as I said, if there is anything that we can do to help out, you know, or vice versa. Happy to do so. Everybody to the name, please follow Opus 1 on Instagram and all social media. You guys are phenomenal.
And if you want to say any last words, please go ahead. No, we have a brand new space that we are just opening. Let's close right now because of COVID-19 this week. But it's a beautiful partners room to welcome guests.
It's very comfortable. Lots of reflections on France and California. And hope to see all of you come visit soon. And it's been great to chat with you.
Cheers. Thank you so much. Cheers. Take care.
Take care, Michael. Bye bye. Thank you again for everybody tuning in today. We hope you enjoyed it.
And remember, embrace it beautiful, success in life. My name is Alvaro and I'll see you next time.