I'm finally sitting down with the inspiring Ali Smith Story from Smith Story Wine Cellars in Healdsburg, CA! Ali shares her journey from TX to CA and the unique story behind launching the first ever fully crowdfunded winery. You’ll hear about how she and her husband Eric approach winemaking in a way that emphasizes supporting family farmers and growers and using old-world techniques.

You'll hear about:

• How Ali and I met and bonded over two of our favorite common loves
• The importance of following one's passion and the connection between wine and community
• How eloping to Hawaii resulted in the naming of the brand
• Their unique crowdfunded approach to starting Smith Story Wine Cellars
• The concept of 'equanimity' shared during the episode reflects the balance that both wine and yoga bring to life, emphasizing mindfulness
• Why 2025 is the year of Sauvignon Blanc

Join us next week in Part 2!

Check out their website to purchase their delicious small lot wines and set up your visit to heir awesome tasting room in Healdsburg! Be sure to use the discount code "sip'" at checkout to save 10% on 4+ bottle purchases, online or in person. (Ends 3/1/25). You can also become a STORYTELLER and support this small family business in the best way possible by being a member.

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Other Podcast resources and links:

Podcast website: www.sipwithnikki.com: Sign up there to be part of our SIP Community and receive Nikki's free Wine Tips download.

Nikki's 2021 Sollevato Sangiovese is available to be shipped to most US States. Use the code PODLISTENER for 10% off. It's a delicious, medium bodied, aromatic red wine that is perfect with pizza, pasta and your charcuterie spread!

You NEED some delicious California Olive Oil from our awesome sponsor American Olive Farmer. Use code SipWithNikki for $10 off your order!

If you'd like to Support the Podcast, you can buy Nikki and Ali a glass of wine and get a shoutout on a future episode.

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Questions? Comments? nikki@sipwithnikki.com

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When you really love wine the way that we do, and especially in a pairing situation, the alcohol gets in the way.

Yes.

Like, I don't want to feel that.

I want to just enjoy this in my mouth.

So paying attention to that alcohol definitely makes sense.

My 22 year old self would never believe that.

Well, that's different.

Yeah.

We're like, wait, you're saying it's low alcohol and that's a good thing?

And it's like, yeah, it is a good thing.

There's more of it.

Hey there.

Welcome to this week's Sip with Nikki.

I am Nikki Lamberti and I'm sitting here in a rainy Sonoma county today and I want to kick off this week's episode with a shout out to two very faithful listeners, Brian and Graham.

They were recently in Morocco and driving all over the country and told me that they were listening to Sip with Nikki in the car.

So thank you for taking me on the road with you and actually making Morocco the 44th country where sip with Nikk has been listened to.

So cheers to Brian and Graham, who are back home in Ohio now.

I am beyond excited to introduce you to a good friend slash mentor slash inspiration of mine.

Ali Smith Story is one of the people that when I launched this podcast over a year ago and had a list of dream guests, she was very close to the top of that list.

You see, Ali and I met years ago through our yoga studio and she and her husband Eric were a little bit ahead of Michael and I in the timeline of launching their own small family owned wine brand called Smith Smith Story Wines.

And I remember following the journey and admiring what they were doing and using it as inspiration because I would look at them when this idea of getting a wine label off the ground just seemed daunting and ambiguous.

And just where do we start?

I would look at what Ellie and Eric were doing and I would think, hey, we're just like them.

We can do this too.

And I love drinking their wines, so.

So I'm not surprised that Ali and I went long.

When I went to her Healdsburg tasting room here in Sonoma county, we had a lot to cover, so I've split it into two episodes because there is that much goodness to share.

So in this week, part one, you'll Hear how Ali made the leap from Texas to California and how Smith's story was the first winery to be fully crowdfunded through Kickstarter.

They have been named where the cool kids go by Sonoma Magazine.

Sometimes it's called the All American Wine Story.

And Ali has been named one of Sonoma magazine's five inspiring wine women.

What I love about Ali is not only her business smarts and savviness, but her huge heart and love of dogs.

We bond over that, as you'll hear, and also how she and E have been able to add some important non profit elements to their wine business.

Ali is a breast cancer survivor and she is very open about her experience and very passionate about helping other women and families navigate their battle and also how she's able to use her wine label to do that.

You'll hear our sip Spotlight.

Hint, hint.

So hold on to your hats, y'all.

I am so excited for you to get to know Ali Smith's story in the All American Wine Story, Part one.

So good to be here, Nikki.

Happy Sunday.

Happy Sunday.

Sunday Funday from your beautiful tasting room.

We have blue skies.

It's going to be, what, 58 degrees today?

It has been a truly incredibly beautiful January here in Sonoma County.

We are so lucky.

We are lucky.

Yeah.

I have so much I want to get to with you, and I'm so excited for my audience to get to know you.

Thank you.

Do you remember how we first met?

Oh, yes.

Oh, yes.

We met over our love of dogs, but we also.

We met on the mat.

Three Dog yoga on the sweaty yoga mat.

And I don't know if you remember this, but shout out to three Dog yoga and Anna for bringing us together.

I still practice with her regularly.

There was a yoga event.

I don't know if it was just like a Sunday class or something, but I remember Anna saying, oh, next week we're gonna practice.

And then Ali, who is practicing here with us, she and her husband make wine and they're gonna pour their wine after class.

Remember this?

Yes.

Like on the little reception desk, you had your bottles.

And I was like, how badass is that?

She and her husband make wine?

Because for me, it was bubbling in my brain that it wasn't a reality yet.

And I was like, they have bottles, they have labels.

So we tasted your wine after sweaty yoga and the rest is history.

I love it.

Oh, say it again.

Yes.

Equanimity.

Yes.

I mean, I think it was the first time I ever pronounced that word.

But I really studied what the meaning of that word is and really have practiced equanimity, hopefully everyday sense.

Tell me more about the definition.

You know, the definition really is, for me, dropping the drama that comes at you, your thoughts, other things that are really elevated and extreme.

Once you put it into your mind and your body, just stop it.

Don't give that energy.

So for me, that is my biggest takeaway.

Equanimity.

I wish I had known about that word and really understood it years ago.

But here we are today at age 52, talking about equanimity.

Short behind you at 48.

Not too far behind.

Do you know, I always say people ask about yoga and why I enjoy it so much, and there's obvious reasons, like, I grew up as a dancer, so I just love my body feeling that way.

But I always say, especially with my hand in so many different things and projects and businesses, and if I'm doing it right, which is not always, it's the one time I'm not multitasking.

Yes.

Because in my life, and I know you and I are similar like this because we do a lot of things.

Going on, always multitasking.

And that's the 1:30 minute or 60.

Minute where I'm not well.

And I agree.

And I feel that, you know, I used to play a lot of golf.

That was kind of that same thing.

But, you know, the more time I've had to think about even what wine is in my life, wine does that too.

You know, simply opening a bottle of wine or just pouring a glass and just letting the day fade a little bit and thinking about where that wine came from or where I first had a sip of wine.

Vermentino or Cabernet Sauvignon, it really makes your mind focus on that.

Either nostalgia or just be present in the day and enjoy what's right under your nose.

I love it.

You know, you just use one of my favorite words, which is nostalgia.

Yeah, I love it.

And it is very tied to wine.

It is.

Wine's a time capsule.

You know, we're kindred spirits for sure.

So I really am excited for my listeners who either are planning visits to Wine country or just looking for new wines to ship to their doorstep.

I'm so excited for them to hear your story.

Pun intended.

Yes, it's a true story.

So as we're sitting here in your beautiful tasting room, In Healdsburg.

Eric, your other half is behind me at the desk here.

He's working on our bottling.

Coming up soon, getting ready for next round of bottling.

So how did we get here?

I finally got out of a corporate career situation.

I had spent most of the 90s working for professional sports teams in Dallas, Fort Worth.

That actually led me into falling in love with wine for the first time.

I was just around a different set of drinkers.

And maybe an expense account helps.

I was gonna say people who had.

Money, but I really loved, really, I loved exposure, exploring wine and discovering what the heck was I tasting.

What is this?

You know, quite honestly, my very first full case of wine.

I'll never forget it.

I bought it at this little wine shop a couple blocks away from my house in the Park Cities area of Dallas.

And somebody was in that wine shop pouring wine that day, Probably a sales rep.

But I walked away with a full case of Italian Merlot.

Oh, yes.

How about that?

Interesting.

And I went straight from there to Crate and Barrel and I bought proper wine glasses.

And it's nice mid vibe.

Yeah.

And then I decided, you know, there was not emailing, there was phone calling and called a flurry of my friends and said, I'm going to have a dinner party tonight.

I'm making lasagna, do a big salad, some good garlic bread.

You guys bring desserts.

And this is why we're friends.

Yes, yes.

And that gathering in my little duplex in Dallas, Texas, really kind of set the pace for what I love to do most.

That right there, hospitality.

Opening a bottle of wine, sharing stories.

And over the years, my hobby of wine really became my career.

And I've never looked back.

I've just wanted it to get better a little bit easier.

But our love of Sonoma county really started by working together at KNL Wine Merchants.

KNL was kind of the Ivy League business school of wine.

Still is.

But Eric had worked.

I think he finally retired there after almost 60, 17 years being a buyer.

But of all the wines we tasted all over the world, Sonoma county and Anderson Valley for us just were top of the top.

And we can just fast forward a lot of years.

I went on to be a buyer at some pretty significant places.

But also in the back of my head, this whole time, even working at K and L, I said, gosh, you know, I need to help you.

I meet these amazing wine producers from all over the world, and they all said, ah, we could use your help in Texas.

And I Kind of put my, my brain child hat on and thought, you know what, I need to start an agency, kind of like a sports agent.

And instead of them to get placement for their wines and stores and restaurants.

Totally.

So instead of having a player, I had wineries.

And so I based myself in Austin, Texas for many years and gosh, I think represented close to 400 wineries over a few years time.

So I was busy.

But every week I had a different winemaker or a different marketing director, sales director in the car with me for seven days, running around and meeting with restaurants and distributors and retailers and then also putting together some exciting events to tile that up.

So I had a really amazing window to what wine consumers loved.

And they loved obviously good wine.

They also loved understanding the story behind wine.

So Eric's last name is story?

That's why you picked him?

That's right.

I'm a Smith.

The most, you know, not the most exciting last name.

We're all staying in the chateau together.

We've had hundreds and hundreds of tastes of wine, so everybody was a little comfortable.

Sound terrible?

It was a terrible, yeah.

So it was a quiet moment in dinner and I said, hey, do you want to hear who my new boyfriend is?

He wasn't there.

He wasn't there.

He was actually in Loire at the time.

Oh, sorry.

Yes.

On a binding trip.

You were in Bordell when he was in the Loire.

It sounds so crazy, but that's what we were doing.

And so I dropped it.

Eric Storey was my new boyfriend and the chins hit the table.

It was really fun.

Most of the knew both of you.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

Eric had grown up at Kano, so they gave us all a hard time.

But from that moment, a lot of our colleagues and just peers in the industry pulled us aside and said, hey, it's time for you guys to do your own thing.

Eric had left KN and come back a couple times over the year to learn how to make wine in the Rheingau region of Germany.

And then I'd had a driver seat, you know, front row lesson of how to run a winery.

What I would probably do better, different, the same, you know, I'd kind of take a Mental break.

You did all these case studies.

I did.

It was no intention of ever having my own winery.

But it all just said.

It all just started making sense.

And so we worked on the business plan for a couple of years before we announced it.

And we ended up eloping to the Big island May of 13.

And that's kind of when we told our world that we were going to start the winery.

But up until the day or the day before we actually officially tied the knot, we had not named the winery.

It's hard.

Yeah.

It's one of the hardest things we've done with our child.

Maybe a child.

It is.

And I don't have children.

So I was like, this is going to be my.

Other than our dogs.

This is going to be my naming opportunity.

It is a big deal.

We already knew that we were going to start in the Anderson Valley with beautiful Pinot Noir.

Eric and some colleagues at KNL actually bought land back in the day and really put together a beautiful deep end vineyard called Nashville Vineyard at the time.

And we knew we were going to start there.

We love white wine.

We knew we were going to make Sauvignon Blanc in Sonoma County.

We didn't know what to name this winery.

And we were like, what in the world are we going to name this?

So it really wasn't until we were standing in that very romantic cinder block government office in Kona.

Eric was quick to point out the jail was on the other side of the wall there.

This was like getting your marriage license.

Yes, Getting her license for your elopement.

And we went through that funny thing of signing the license.

And I said out loud for the first time, Alison Smith story.

And he said, oh, that sounds good.

And I thought it was because it was gonna be my last name.

And we go down, we had planned ahead for some vacation drinks, you know, in a cooler down at the beach that afternoon.

And of course, we started writing Just Married so we could take a pict, send it to mom and all of our friends.

And we wrote Smith's story.

And I said, you know, and Eric's like, see, it looks good, it sounds good.

And we wrote wine cellars underneath it.

And that's how we named the winery right then and there.

I've never heard you tell that story.

I mean, yeah.

So you'll see elements when you visit here of Hawaii in our room, even our label.

This is Plumeria behind our white wine label.

And the Maile Lei, which is the traditional wedding lei in Hawaii, is the border of all of our red wines.

So I don't think I knew that.

Very subtle, very subtle.

The fact that we don't have distribution in Hawaii still blows me away.

But that's another story.

But people take.

There's a hashtag on Instagram, I think it says, Smith's story goes on vacation.

And there's tons of pictures from Hawaii when people take our bottles to enjoy on the beach.

Amazing.

It's pretty cool.

And I know you guys like to travel there when you are able to get away.

Absolutely.

You've done some recent trips there.

Yeah.

So what's interesting to me is, you know, the idea of owning a winery and making wine is so romantic.

Right.

And I know this from having made this recently myself.

And people say, oh, you know, have you always dreamed of owning a winery?

Because I think a lot of people do.

Or at least the idea, because it seems very romantic.

What I'm hearing from your story is that was not really how this started.

No.

It sort of came to be out of the evolution of being in that world.

And you said, people said to you, hey, you really should do your own thing.

Right.

And that's why he said, no way, you're crazy.

That's too expensive.

No way.

We know how much.

How do you make a small fortune in one?

Yes, you start with a large fortune, a really big one these days.

But, you know, we were encouraged.

If any two people can do this, it's you guys, you know, your depth of experience.

One of the first people I reached out to, I just sat on a panel at Silicon Valley bank even he said, hey, if there's two bankable people, it's to people with your experience.

You know how to not only make wine, but you know how to sell and market wine.

What we didn't have was a big bank account.

We didn't have wealthy parents.

We didn't own any anything, you know, extraordinary.

I love this.

I remember hearing about this at the yoga studio and I was like, they did what?

Yeah, yeah.

So this is before gofundmes and all the things I had.

Even before that, I had been as a woman owning my own business.

I supported women owned businesses in Africa over the years through kiva, which is a micro lending, micro loan site.

When you give $100, that entrepreneur actually gives it back to you and you reload that.

I learned a lot about how to help others in small ways over the years.

So Kickstarter, for Me was more of an artistic website.

A lot of songwriters, movie makers, artists, you know, more.

The creative set, I felt like was Kickstarter.

I was like, there's no way they're going to approve us on Kickstarter.

Had there been any wineries prior?

I think there have been some wineries, like raising money for this or that, but not as a whole, to actually get started.

Yes, yes.

So.

And we almost didn't do it.

So we launched it August 1st.

Our whole campaign was Family Farmers First.

We are raising money to support buying grapes from family farmers in Sonoma county and Anderson Valley in Germany at the time as well.

And we didn't want to raise all this money to buy this big, grandiose Neiman Marcus in, you know, wine country, who really wanted to stick to the traditional way of making wine.

And that was growing grapes, being a shepherd.

And I also use that word all the time.

It starts in the vineyard.

Absolutely.

Shepherd it along and keep it clean and don't screw it up.

Don't screw it up.

So we did it.

So we launched on August 1.

Family farmers first was the theme.

And it really allowed us to be very.

Just honest with who we are as people in this wine world.

And I think that was very important.

So many people, really, since then, and really a part of what we do and business right now.

Everybody talks a lot about authenticity and being just very real with their business practices.

And we started off that way.

And I think that's really important because even the bankers said, oh, anybody with a lot of money could go buy a winemaker to make their wine.

They have money to buy a vineyard.

They have money to do lots of things, to put all those pieces together a lot more quickly.

I don't know if that's easier this day and age, but it certainly, you know, it's sparkly.

None of it's easy, no matter which way.

None of it's easy.

Yeah.

But sparkly, yes, maybe.

Yes.

So allowed us to talk about our growers, because we had already put those plans in place.

And in 30 days, we hit $25,000, which is nothing.

This day and age, it really was nothing then.

You know, everybody says, would you do it again?

I'm like, yeah, I'd ask for $5 million.

Because that 5 million would go away in about nine months.

You know, to do it the size, that probably should be done.

But that set us off.

And to this day, a lot of our backers, I think we had about 150.

Did you call them something?

They had a fun name.

What Was it?

Well, our wine club members are storytellers.

Yes.

Of.

Yes.

So Kickstarter calls the people that give or backers.

And because we are making alcohol, we could not give away our alcohol.

We could not give away wine as a gift.

So if you backed us, you got a thank you card, you got a tote bag, a little recipe book from some Healdsburg chefs at the time.

And the top line, if you gave $500 or more, you got an afternoon with us in the vineyard.

And quite honestly, we've met the greatest people through that, and they still are wonderful supporters and great, great fans and friends in our life today.

And we're sitting here today going on 11 years with the lights on on.

A Sunday morning in a beautiful brick and mortar.

We talk about.

You have the brick and mortar now, but it doesn't start that way.

For sure.

It absolutely doesn't.

So it's like we have our own cheerleading squad out there.

And as long as.

And we said this from the beginning, as long as we're making really good wine, we got this.

Well, you are.

Yes.

And I would like some right now.

Oh, yes.

I need a pack.

So let's do our Sip Spotlight.

Sip Spotlight.

Why did you pull Sauvignon Blanc for us this morning?

Well, one, you're not supposed to have a favorite child, but Sauvignon Blanc that we make is my favorite child.

And don't tell our Pinot Noir from Anderson Valley that.

Did you all hear that?

I love it.

And also, this is our 23 Sauvignon Blanc, one of the very last bottles we have actually in the tasting room.

Eric's working on our 24 bottling plans right now that we're literally as he's sitting there.

If you hear the clicks, that's what he's doing.

Tell me why this does not have an official label on it.

So here's one with an official label.

Here's one with a label maker here.

Yes, brother.

Label maker.

Yes.

So as a small.

Here.

Cheers.

Oh, cheers.

I gotta take a sip of.

Climb in there.

That is some sunshine in a glass right there.

Yum.

Long story short, we use a mobile bottling line.

Most of everybody does.

You know, think about it.

If you're not a huge winery, you're not bottling every month.

We bottle two, maybe three times a year.

So we coordinate.

If we don't have enough to bottle, we coordinate with others that make wine, where we make wine to share the bottling line.

Occasionally, things just don't line up on the bottling.

Oh, I know about this.

That's why you always order extra labels.

But over the years, we have a garage full of extra labels.

So we've gotten better about ordering accurate numbers of labels.

But this time we should have ordered more labels.

Well, it looks beautiful.

I love it.

And it' for our needs today.

Because I know that you are.

Yes, well, I think that's really, truly our love of Loire Valley Sauvignon Blanc.

When Eric and I were first thinking about what would we want to make, what would we want to really hang our hat on, we thought we love Daganot from Ply Flumet.

We love so many producers and Sancerre.

And why in Sonoma county is not a Sauvignon Blanc producer just jumping out at us from more of a premium standpoint?

Of course, we had a lot of Sauvignon Blanc that was a very inexpensive style, fun to drink, beautiful.

But really, for us, we didn't feel like there was a statement Sauvignon Blanc.

Ooh, I like that.

Yeah.

Statement, statement.

So we did it.

We found some beautiful vines in a vineyard on Sonoma Mountain that we began with.

And also in Knights Valley.

Sonoma Mountain site provided a little bit more minerality, and the Knights Valley site provided a little bit more complexity and kind of lusciousness to the Sauvignon Blanc.

Fire.

Yes.

But in 23, this is our first year to ferment and age in concrete eggs.

Love it.

Yeah.

So those are super cheap to buy.

Yeah.

Right.

Well, the thing about it, when you have this concrete eggs, usually if you have your own winery and you're not a custom crush client, you get those because they're going to sit in one corner for many, many years.

So we opted for kind of more of a medium sized concrete egg.

And I just absolutely love how this wine turned out.

We've made our Simeon from concrete egg.

We've now done this.

So I think it just adds a whole nother layer of just wow in.

This wine for the listeners.

One thing that Solevato and Smith story has in common is we are a custom crush model.

So just like Michael and I do not own vineyards, nor do we own a winery that has tanks and concrete eggs in it.

Yeah.

Same for Shared Economy.

Eric yeah.

And so you find your growers, these wonderful family growers that you support.

You purchase your fruit and then you make it in a shared space.

I always tell people it's kind of like a co op where you pay rent to have your space and make your wine there.

So we have that in common.

Sauvignon Blanc, man.

So good.

So good.

Tell me more about this wine.

What do you love about this?

I love that it has turned so many people on that either walk through our door or being shown our Sauvignon Blanc at a dinner table and they go, oh, I don't like Sauvignon Blanc.

Oh, good, you're gonna like this one.

Yeah.

You love that challenge, I'm sure.

Yeah.

Oh, yes, indeed.

So it's converted a lot of people.

That tell them it's not Sauvignon Blanc.

It's tenserre.

Yeah, exactly.

Well, listen, we do get that a lot.

One of my.

One of my best friends said, oh, I love Sancerre.

I hate Sauvignon Blanc.

I'm like, girl, come on.

But, you know, I think this is always the fresh factor.

Yes.

And we.

I'm a.

I love the fact that we're just an hour from the coast.

We eat a lot of seafood in our house.

Obviously a great pairing with seafood.

And the alcohol in our Sauvignon Blanc is typically pretty low.

This.

This came in at 13%.

So you can have a couple glasses and not feel it.

You just can enjoy it with food, which we like.

And I've talked about this before.

When you really love wine the way that we do, and especially in a pairing situation, the alcohol gets in the way.

Yes.

Like, I don't want to feel that.

I want to just enjoy this in my mouth.

So paying attention to that alcohol definitely.

Makes it my 22 year old self would never believe.

Well, that's different.

Yeah, we're like, wait, you're saying it's low alcohol and that's a good thing?

And it's like, yeah, it is a good.

So we had to slow our production down a little bit, but now we're back in business.

We're about to bottle a few hundred cases.

Yes.

I love it.

It's really beautiful.

It's interesting.

It's layered.

The word fresh I get, like, a citrus note, but not lemon juice.

I get, like, lemon zest.

Yes.

Like when you zest lemon or lime, I haven't placed, which.

I get more lime, and I.

Sometimes I get a little bit of, like a.

It's not a true thing, but I love blood oranges in the winter.

And one of my favorite pairings right now, or has been for a very long time with this wine is winter citrus.

But blood orange slices with fresh burrata sprinkled with a little bit of honey, a little bit of olive oil, some fresh basil on there, with some kumquats.

So if you've never had a kumquat, and there's always a pile of them in the produce section this time of year, take one or two and just slice them.

The thinnest slices you can.

If you layer those on top of this little burrata salad on top of the honey, and add some toasted pecans or pistachios, it is just.

It is perfect for the best.

I have to leave right now.

I know I should have brought that.

I should have brought that for you.

Oh, my gosh.

You think that's a great pairing.

What does the kumquat add to the situation?

It's really tart.

Acidity.

Yeah.

The acidity really plays with that burrata fat, and it doesn't knock out the wine at all.

I think the combination of the honey and the olive oil, you've got savoriness there.

You've got a little sweet.

The wine and the good balanced acidity in this wine just makes that a happy, happy taste.

So your portfolio, your Pinot Noirs are beautiful.

And you bottle from multiple vineyards of Pinot Noir.

Of course, the Sauvignon Blanc, your killer Zinfandel that I bought when I came tasting here a month ago.

And I need to leave her with more because I already drank it.

It's so good.

Yes.

You mentioned Grenache Blanc.

So can you take our listeners through snapshot of what you make and what they should buy?

Absolutely.

You know, I feel like every year, Eric and I decide what can we bring in that might be a really fun surprise to our portfolio?

We can do that because we sometimes we have a wine that we just make 100 cases of.

And that's every one of my wines.

Yes.

Well, that's my level.

Well, it's special that way.

And we save that for our storytellers, our wine club.

It's an offering two times a year.

Sometime there might be a third surprise offering and our tasting room, and sometimes Our website, our online sales on our website truly is what keeps our lights on.

It's really fun to know.

We'll wake up like this morning.

We knew somebody in Charlotte must have taken our wine to a dinner party last night because there was a flurry of orders from Charlotte, North Carolina.

Did you love that?

I mean, well, we are small family owned businesses, which we are every ding of the email that comes down with an order.

I'm sure you guys are the same.

You just have more of them jumping.

We're like, oh my gosh.

And what's really fun, and we've just transitioned into this and maybe you remember this.

I'm like, I don't know this person's name because in the beginning, all of your wonderful friends and family, you know, faces Facebook friends and people are buying it and you get an order and you're like, I don't know this person.

Well, I'm sure we freak people out all the time because we, we handle all that ourselves.

Don't farm that out.

Yeah.

And we often will email back or give somebody a call and give them a big thank you.

And our second thing is like, how'd you hear about us?

You know, and it starts a really fun conversation.

Usually they're like, you're really the owner, you're really giving us time of day.

And you're like, we're a two person operation.

We're all in this together.

So, yeah, that's, that's again, going back to true hospitality.

I think that's why I wanted to start a winery.

Not for the glory of making, you know, high scoring wines that we do, but just to provide.

Which they are.

But just for that hospitality piece.

Freaking love it.

I love it too.

And I love that you love it.

So can you ship to all states?

Just about.

Just about.

We have partners.

If we don't have a license, we have partners that do.

Of course, the big active states, you know, we ship almost on the weekly, sometimes daily.

It's really a big push before really May, June 1, the temperatures should be a cutoff temperatures.

We tend to just hold wine in the hot months until we can reship.

We go to bed a lot of nights thinking, all right, we gotta get those two out because there's a storm coming or a heat wave coming or.

I'm doing that right now.

I'm looking at the weather.

It's funny you say Charlotte.

I have a wine order from someone in Charlotte and it's been freezing the last couple of weeks that I looked at their weather and I'm like, all right, I'm going to ship it in the morning.

I mean, this is small, family owned businesses.

This is how we operate.

Right.

Well, and it's, you know, I think as going into year 11, we spent a lot of time in the beginning years doing wine tastings and private tasting in people's homes.

And gosh, right when the pandemic started, we were working in wholesale channels and focusing on about 30 states.

And right now we only have two active states through wholesale.

So our online business is really crucial and also visiting us here, fantastically crucial.

But, you know, I love the fact that we have a regional airport that American Airlines flies into Sonoma County.

Charles Schultz, Peanuts Airport, Alaska.

How do you say the other one?

Avelo.

Avelo, yes.

Eric's taking that down to Palm Springs for Pinot Fest this week.

I want to go to Piano Fest.

Yeah.

Passion for Pinot.

Passion for Pinot.

I want to go.

So it's 10 minutes away, actually 12 minutes away from our front door.

And you land right in the heart of the Russian river valley.

You're 12 minutes away from Healdsburg.

You're an hour and a half from Anderson Valley.

You're 45 minutes to Calistoga.

If you want to go visit Marin County, Sausalito, the city for the day, it's right there.

Oh, the coast for sure.

So I really, I really love that we have that airport.

Your tasting room up in Anderson Valley was beautiful.

I was able to visit there.

But I'm so happy that you're here in Healdsburg now.

Right, right.

Wish we could have both.

I know, I know.

How do you make a fortune in ones?

That's right.

We need a helicopter for that.

But Healdsburg has really some of my favorite restaurants in all of Sonoma County.

Absolutely.

And then this Bacchus Landing, where we're sitting, which just opened a couple of years ago.

Right.

I'm looking out your window behind you, and I see Montana Rus, and I see all these other small kind of doing the same thing.

Yes.

Everyone's turning on the lights this morning, getting ready for tastings.

And I know you guys do events here with pizza and all kinds of things.

So this is a very cool.

And I think a lot of local people don't even know that this is here.

You're right.

You know, I think the outside could be a little deceiving.

What this is.

It's a very serious wine place.

Yeah.

But, you know, we moved into the spot because they built this for people just like us.

This is a true place, park your car and you can go around.

I know.

And just discover True.

We're all first generation family winemakers.

We're independently owned and it's really important that we're here because we don't have a standalone winery facility.

So this really allows us to meet our people.

So if you are traveling to wine country, I absolutely insist that you put Smith Story Wine Cellars on your list.

And if you are not planning a visit, hop on to their website, smithstorywines.com just like it sounds.

I'll put the link in the show notes and you can check out their beautiful portfolio of wines and have them shipped right to you.

Ali and Eric have been kind enough to create a special discount code for the Sip with Nikki listeners.

That's you.

So make sure that you use the code sip.

Just sip at checkout on their website and you will save 10% off four bottles or more.

And that can be for shipping.

Or pick up and go visit them in their fantastic tasting room.

But don't snooze.

This offer ends March 1st.

So next week we'll pick up with part two where we'll learn about how Lord Sandwich got his name.

Cause I'm sure you were wondering.

We will cover a couple of listener questions.

Spoiler alert.

We let Mr.

Story weigh in and we'll hear from Eric on the topic of being in business with your spouse.

Allie shares a very touching and powerful story that is related to Taylor Swift.

And she'll even share with us the idea that she has for a screenplay floating around inside that very, very busy brain of hers.

Make sure that you follow the Sip with Nikki podcast in whatever platform you're listening on.

And that way, when Part two is available, it will show up in your feed so you won't miss the conclusion of the All American Wine Story.

If you'd like to be an angel and support the podcast, you can do that using the link in the show notes and you can buy Ali and I a glass of wine next time we get together.

So thanks for listening to part one and join us next week to hear the rest of the story.

Pun intended.

See what I did there?

And between now and then, whatever you do, hopefully it's sipping Solavato Sangiovese or Smith's Story Sauvignon Blanc.

That's a lot of S's.

Whatever it is, I hope that you sip well.