Having a much older brother and sister, I was always up on the latest music . Hip-hop has been a part of my life from a small child all the way to now!

In that time, I remember hearing rap lyrics about everything from malt liquor to Hennesy, Patron, Courvoisier, Ciroc, champagne, and everything in between. .

Quite noticeably, hip-hop has consistently matured its palate  throughout the years as far as alcohol  is concerned.

As I got older, I never gained much taste for beer  or hard liquor 🥃. .

But then I met wine ! .

It wasn't until then that I started recognizing wine  references in some of my all-time favorite rap songs . .

I realized that it would only be a matter of time before hip-hop, and the urban culture not only embraced wine , but took it over as far as main stream popularity is concerned. .

So forseeing that this "hip-hop wine  revolution" was still years away, I started developing my content to how I saw the wine industry developing in the next 3-5-7 years, and would wait patiently for the market to come to me.
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If I was going to make content so far ahead of its time, I had to understand that the wine  industry wouldn't accept me right away. Therefore, this journey would be a lonely one.

I was actually ok  with that. I've never been one for crowds. .

​"Lucky Luciano is what they call me, paesano
A 100 keys at the piano  plays across the Verrazano
El Padrino, in the villa in Venice sipping vino 
Not bad for a mulignano, y'all know like we know, I got it"
-Jay Z, FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt
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Wine  has many parallels. None of which  I enjoy more than the parallel wine has to music . .
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In music , you hear  what you hear, and you like what you like. In wine , you taste  what you taste, and you like what you like. And no one can tell you much different.
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Music has musicians/artists ‍, wine has winemakers/artists. Yes, wine  is parallel to art  as well, but that's for another post.
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A musician can put out classic album after classic album, and then drop a big steamy turd . A winemaker could make 90 plus rated wines  year after year, and then in one bad season, make what would be the equivalent of hotdog  water. .
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Music  has many instruments 🥁 and genres. Wine  has many grapes  and varietals. . .
Great music  should inspire emotion, as should great wine...for better or worse. Both can also make you incredibly horny 
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I can go on and on. A novice wine  drinker knows more about wine than they think, if they just know how to find the parallel to something they're passionate  about.
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And that's all I have to say about that!

​ur·ban
ˈərbən/
adjective
1.
in, relating to, or characteristic of a city or town.
"the urban population"
synonyms:town, city, municipal, civic, metropolitan, built-up, inner-city, downtown, suburban;More
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URBAN WINE  TRIBE was designed to bring cultures together. After over a decade in the restaurant industry, I've recognized parallels in wine that existed in so many other passions of mine. But I also recognized divide and lack of representation. I wanted to create a brand that helped make wine more relatable and approachable.
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My foundation of wine  knowledge is more rooted into wine philosophy than agriculture. I prefer the artistic  approach more so than the scientific . (I should have used that line on my teachers in school.) And I believe if more people recognized the opportunity for self-expression within the wine culture, more people would gravitate towards it and at a younger age. .
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Next time you pick up a bottle of wine , understand that is liquid art  you hold in your hand. You're free to create your own interpretation and not be told otherwise, as long as you respect everyone elses perspective and opinion and be willing to learn. That's how you grow a culture. But its entirely fluid! See what I did there?

​"It ain't hard to tell
I'm the new Jean Michael 
Surrounded by Warhols ️
My whole team ball
Twin Bugattis  outside the Art Basel ️
I just wanna live life colossal
Leonardo Da Vinci flows
Riccardo Tisci Givenchy clothes
See me throning at the Met
Vogueing on these 🤬
Champagne  on my breath, yes"
-Jay Z, Picasso Baby