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Fathers Day is coming up and every family is searching for Dad’s perfect gift. Chris Jankulovski’s book Near Death Lessons offers story of family, adventure, motivation, and life lessons.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Chris Jankulovski (via zoom) to talk about his Father’s Day wishes, business success, family, health concerns, empowerment and more.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full conversation on our Youtube channel.
Congratulations on your new book, Near Death Lessons.
Thank you. Been a journey to get it out there, but I am so honored and privileged to do this work.
It is an inspiring and a motivating book, and I would say equally important is not only is it inspiring and it’s motivating, but for somebody who wants to break-through, you actually give us the lessons that you use to accomplish it so we can follow those lessons as well.
What was the hardest part of writing the book for you?
Friends tell me, Chris, you gotta write a book, man. Seriously, you’ve got some wild stories. It almost killed me when the tumor bursted in my head. I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk. I was in bed for three months.
I knew that the moment I could stand upright, I wanna write a book for my sons. I want them to know who their father was. Because yet again, I just confronted a serious adversity where 60% of people normally die on the operating table. I somehow survived it. I’m the lucky 40%, and I just had my operation one month before the birth of my second son, Billy. And I wanted my six year old and my new son to know who their father was.
I’ll give you a timeline. We’ll plot it all, and then we’re gonna give it to a ghost writer who’s gonna somehow be able to direct our story. Then we’ll put the muscles in it, and then we’ll build it all up.
And that’s the journey I went on until I gave it to an editor who completely shut it down and it took me about a a year to correct everything. No kidding.
Okay. So how long from the moment you started with your writer through the editing process, what was the timeline from inception to on the shelf?
Oh wow. So the first year after my brain operation, I’m still writing this book. A year later, I’m in the pool, rehabilitating [with the book notes] still in front of me.
I’ve got this diagnosis of doctors telling me, Chris, you gotta have these cancers removed asap. They’ve taken off. I don’t know if your kidney is gonna survive removing six cancers. You might be on dialysis. Doom and gloom.
I’ve just gone on a journey of learning how to walk and talk for eight months. I’ve got so many defects going on.
My tongue didn’t half work. I couldn’t even talk. It was affecting my speech. So I’m there in this scenario and at the height of my worst moment in life, I’ve got this outlook. That’s a disaster.
I’m trying to run in the pool because I’m learning how to walk properly and I’m about to confront this adversity again.
I’m thinking: Why am I buying a future that no one knows? This is all just estimates, predictions, guesswork. I don’t have to accept this. What if I dare hope that the best is yet to come? Why don’t I look forward to the life ahead of me? That it’s the best?
And that was the most pivotal moment in my life because, I went from a $4 million house to a $16 million house.
Eight months later, I go off to double my business from 8 million to 16 million. I go off to do all these things, and now I’m in America taking it to another level.
I was in the hospital room, that’s year one by the way. I bargained for my life because things were not looking good, that’s when I decided to take my story public.
And since the moment I’ve taken the story public. I wrote the book initially because I didn’t want to give any advice to my sons because I didn’t want them to hate me from the grave. I didn’t wanna just share my story. I wanted to share the lessons.
I wanted to share the things that have transformed my life. So I hired a resilience consultant, and I said to her, can you please read my book? Put a spotlight on how I respond to adversities compared to a more common response because I just keep bouncing back stronger.
She read my book five times. We ended up having 26 zoom sessions, and then from that we unearthed 11 distinctions. We gave those to instructional designers which then they came back to me with the five life lessons that I shared in the book.
That’s a heck of a journey. Tell us about some of the diagnoses you’ve had all the way back from your teenage years.
So at the age of 19, we went to a specialist clinic to understand what was causing tumors in my eyes. The doctor was puzzled. There was this new genetic testing going on. So I had the genetic test done. I [was diagnosed] with Von hippel-lindau syndrome. A hereditary condition, means maybe your mom and dad have got it. I go, no one’s got it, okay?
The average life expectancy is 30 years, so you’re probably gonna have a short life and you’ve probably got cancers now.
I was like, what? I’m gonna be dead by 30. What do you mean? That was my brutal wake up call and I went to my car and I cried.
I couldn’t relate to anyone with this problem. I told my parents, I told my friends, I couldn’t connect with anyone about this. I just decided to ignore it. I thought if I pretended deep down I never got this, perhaps it would disappear.
So that’s what I did. I ignored it from the ages of 19 to 32 when my first brain tumor finally caught up. And when it did, it almost killed me. It was so big – five centimeters. I had to contour my body to go to the toilet and had these weird electric shocks running down my spine.
When I got the operation, I transformed. I looked at the sky and I said, God, kill me. I’ve had enough of living this victim life. I’ve had enough of being disempowered, always reacting to my circumstances.
I choose to focus on life. I choose whatever happens. I’m gonna choose to make the most of whatever life I have, but I’m not living like that anymore. So that was a pivotal moment.
I’m now 50, so I’ve had a good run for the last six years. At age seven, my appendix burst, almost killing me. Two weeks in hospital. At the age of 21, I almost drowned.
But one of the first times I crossed over, out of body kind of experience and a different time dimension was a few years later, 25, when I woke up [during] an eye surgery, I felt the needles sliding on my eye, like on an egg, and they’re poking in.
I woke up and flatlined. I was looking down at myself. I could see the machine flat-lining until everything went white. And then I felt like I was in a different time dimension. I just felt ‘Whoa. Where am I? Let’s go. Hey, I’m not going anywhere. It’s my sister’s wedding soon. And then I snapped back into life again with the nurses all about to zap me.
So that was at 25 and then at 32 is the brain tumor. And then two months later was the removal of my right kidney because it was occupied by cancers. Some as large as four and a half, five centimeters. Which is way too dangerous. They’re all very aggressive..
The reason why I called that a near death experience as well is because I survived my cancer battle and it didn’t spread. It killed my dad, it didn’t kill me. And then two years later, I had to remove four large cancers from a remaining left kidney.
A decade later, another six cancerous kidneys. Before that one was the second brain operation to remove two tumors in my head, and that was the most serious.
Let’s talk about a deliberate life. You mentioned it in your book, what does a deliberate life mean to you and what are the main steps? How do we get there?
I have nearly died, came back to life, and every time that happens, it’s like a reset button in my heart.
Everything’s up for grab: my values, my behaviors, my patterns. Because I’m back again. You go through many of these experiences.
Everything you’ve been holding true gets re-evaluated, and therefore, all of it – fears, insecurities, all gets washed away. And what remains is what’s most important and true. For me, every time I go through these experiences, I get an onion layer experience. I get more to the core of who I am and who we are.
All of us, including me, are remarkably powerful. I can’t believe the more I get to me and the core of my authentic me, the more energy, the more light, the more vibrancy, the more drive, the more of everything is there.
I’ve always been spending money looking for advice and solutions outside myself. Deep down, the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my life was when I meditated in silence for three weeks in India. Silence. Every time I nearly died, I’d go into this black void. Vibrancy, energy, and I don’t understand why I’m still consciously pressing, but then when I return, now I know I’m gonna say something really taboo, but life and death coexist in my mind because when I close my eyes and I’m in this black void, if I can meditate to a point where I’m outside of my sense of skin, brain patterns, feelings, and just be presently alert of my awareness.
Man, that’s the same space I go to when I’m in a different time dimension. Hence why I believe that life and death coexist and that fuels me. That just fuels me even more because our mortality is what should fuel all of us. Why? Who are we to take our time for granted here?
This drop of time that we have here, how selfish of us to be caught up in our own doubts and fears and insecurities. We are so much more than that.
There is just this magic and energy in us that wants to drive. Follow that drive, follow that energy. Don’t restrict it. It communicates in feelings and glimpses of vision.
I live a deliberate life because of these adversities, and I keep coming back to life. I wanna optimize. If I’ve got anxiety. If I was to listen to Steve Jobs, live as if it’s your last day of life. I get anxiety. I can’t be strategic, I can’t plan. I’m always challenged every year with my scans.
So the way I play this game is every year when I get a MRI scan for my brain and spine and kidneys and all this stuff. When I get the results of those scans towards the end of the year, I see them as a certificate to go live life to the fullest. So I get this scan results. I go, yes, I’ve got a free run. Then that following year, I’m bolting. I’m a hundred percent, I’ve got one more year to live. I see every year as if it’s another year to live.
What I’ve realized over 30 years of doing this is, I can’t live deliberately, so I can’t live my life to the fullest every year unless I’m living deliberately and I can’t live deliberately unless I have clarity with what I wanna do, because otherwise I’m spending time on all these things that aren’t important.
I linked my goal to an image and I put it on a board because visually I know that the only way my subconscious relates to this is by image and feeling. Now, I know people call it vision boards, but they’ve got it all wrong. You gotta really link an image to a goal. That image needs to excite you. That simple solution allowed me to focus my energy throughout the whole year towards these things.
You offer a ‘free gift’ in your book. Can you give us a sneak peek of what it is?
Since I’m talking about life so much and living life to the fullest I wanted to show people the 10 things that were often affecting me and stopping me from living a life to the fullest.
What does success mean to you? It’s different for everyone and so is living life to the fullest. But, for people who are driven, success-oriented, ambitious people, they would relate mostly to this because that’s who I am.
I wanna spend more time with my family. I wanna smell the roses. I wanna see how far I can go and I wanna see the kind of impact I can make because I don’t wanna just pass and it never even be known that I even existed.
So living life to the fullest means you are embracing your true power. You are embracing and optimizing your most important resource, your time. You are embracing the fact that you’ve got an ability to create.
So if we can do these simple things, we can achieve our dreams. That’s as simple as that. If we’ve got the right mindset, if we stop responding to life as if we have got no control, if we are always victims of it, I’ve been thrown these incredible blows from the universe.
So many battles outside of my control. I refuse to not take responsibility. I actually take responsibility. Look, the tumors happen genetically, but I take responsibility. It’s a game. Okay? It’s just a game. It’s a game of self-empowerment.
Chris Jankulovski’s book, Near Death Lessons on sale at Amazon now.
If we want more from you, where do we find you? What’s your website? Where do we find you on social media?
I’m building ChrisJankulovski.com and then you’ll be able to access other things.
What does the future look like for you? What are you gonna be up to next?
I’m developing my personal brand and what that represents to the world. What that represents to the American people. What I strive to do in terms of impacting..
I’ll be working very heavily on my business, but I’ll also be putting myself out there to meet people, to talk to people and more media of course.
When I said I’m gonna inspire millions, this is the deal. And that deal isn’t just writing a book. That deal is to connect with people. One-on-one or in groups or to speak, and not because I’m looking to become a speaker, but because I’m looking to deliver this incredible energy, this incredible passion, this incredible lessons and distinctions with no bullshit on what gets results and how what you gotta do to optimize your most important time here on Earth.
Chris, I wish you huge success with the book Near Death Lessons. I think there’s so many lessons about either launching a new life or breaking through. It’s a great New Year’s. Gift and a great Father’s Day gift.
Thank you mate.
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Thanksgiving in Philly: perfect stuffing bread DOES exist – and it’s… [Find Recipe Inside]
This Thanksgiving in NYC, the perfect stuffing bread DOES exist – and it’s brioche. As in St Pierre Brioche Thanksgiving Stuffing
No Thanksgiving spread is complete without a hearty stuffing. While add-ins are a matter of preference, choosing the right bread is crucial. One underrated choice is eggy, rich brioche – and with St Pierre Bakery, you don’t need to go to France to get it.
Thanks to its butter and egg content, St Pierre’s Brioche Loaf provides the perfect balance of crisp toastiness while remaining soft and creamy inside, while its lightly sweet flavor adds a decadent quality that can still lean savory. Attached below is an approachable recipe for stuffing allowing for all the craveable crunch for the whole family with minimal effort required.
St Pierre Brioche Thanksgiving Stuffing
By @BrandiMilloy
Ingredients
1 loaf St. Pierre Brioche Bread
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
3/4 cup celery, diced
3/4 cup carrots, diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
2 large eggs
1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme, just the leaves
1 tbsp. fresh sage, chopped
1 small apple (granny smith works well), peeled and diced
Salt and pepper
Directions
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Preheat oven to 350 F. Cut brioche bread into 1” cubes and bake for about 10-15 minutes until toasted.
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Meanwhile, into a pot over medium high heat add butter until melted. Add onion, celery and carrots and cook until everything starts to soften, about 7 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat and set aside.
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Into a bowl whisk together the eggs, herbs, apples, mushrooms, and salt and pepper. Add your cooked vegetables and mix to combine.
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Pour mixture on top of toasted bread and stir to combine. Bake stuffing for about 45 minutes. If your stuffing starts to get too brown, cover until finished baking. Enjoy!
As America’s favorite brioche brand, St Pierre’s products are widely available via grocery stores nationwide as well as Walmart.
Southern sophistication in the City of Brotherly Love: Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails RTD Hard Tea Pours Nationwide
Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails Hard Tea Launches Nationwide
Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails Hard Tea – a canned ready-to-drink that launched earlier this spring in 13 test markets – is rolling out nationwide this fall.
The RTD embodies Southern sophistication with a twist.
Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails Hard Tea combines black tea, ripe, true-to-fruit flavor resulting in a balanced and sweet finish. With four classic flavors carefully selected, each can was crafted to please the palates of today’s modern drinker.
Country Cocktails can be found in select retail and convenience stores across the country in a 12oz. can (ABV 5%), 12-can variety pack containing four classic flavors: Original, Peach, Raspberry, and Blackberry; with the Original & Peach offered in 16oz. and 23.5oz. single serve cans that deliver consumers a refreshing and high-quality beverage experience for those who appreciate a good tea.
- Original: Known for its full-bodied refreshing take on a Southern classic. Combining the rich taste of black tea with a sweet, true-to-fruit finish, captures the essence of Southern sweet tea. It’s the perfect drink for relaxing on the porch and enjoying good conversation.
- Peach: A floral flavor that brings the juicy, sun-ripened sweetness to life. This option offers a crisp and refreshing experience, where the delicate honeyed taste comes to the forefront of the palate making it a delightful choice for any day of the year.
- Raspberry: Delivering a vibrant tartness, yet balanced with a subtle sweetness; this flavor presents a bold and smooth drink that’s as satiating as it is refreshing.
- Blackberry: Capturing the rich and juicy essence of blackberries, it offers a slightly tangy and flavorsome experience, making it a perfect choice for consumers who enjoy the bold taste of berries with a hint of Southern charm.
Coinciding with Country Cocktails Hard Tea launch is the RTD’s partnership with ACM and two-time CMT Music Award winner, Lauren Alaina, who has accomplished one of country music’s crowning achievements – becoming the youngest member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Lauren Alaina’s small town Georgia roots, love for comfort and authenticity make her the perfect ambassador for a beverage that prides itself on delivering a taste of the South in every sip. Both Alaina and Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails symbolize Southern charm, together producing a match made partnership.
To celebrate the collaboration, Country Cocktails has partnered with Southern Living to offer fans across the country a chance to enter their sweepstakes and win a pair of tickets and flights to meet Lauren Alaina at her concert in Las Vegas at the Green Valley Ranch Backyard Amphitheater on October 25, 2024.
The sweepstakes will run from September 13 until October 11, 2024 and contestants can enter for a chance to win by visiting the link.
About Jack Daniel’s
Officially registered by the U.S. Government in 1866 and based in Lynchburg, Tenn., the Jack Daniel Distillery is the first registered distillery in the United States and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Jack Daniel’s is the maker of the world-famous Jack Daniel’s Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey, Gentleman Jack Double Mellowed Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Tennessee Whiskey, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire, Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Apple, Jack Daniel’s Bonded, Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select, and Jack Daniel’s RTDs. Today, Jack Daniel’s is a true global icon found in more than 170 countries around the world and is the most valuable spirits brand in the world as recognized by Interbrand.
About Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails
Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails are premium malt beverages from the Jack Daniel’s Family of Brands. Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails was introduced in May 1992.
Jack Daniel’s Country Cocktails and their respective flavor names are registered trademarks. © 2024 Jack Daniel’s. Jack Daniel Beverage Co., Louisville, Ky. Flavored Malt Beverage.
For more information, please visit www.countrycocktails.com.
Philly Food: “The Bear” Star Matty Matheson launches #TGISunday with Pacific Foods to Tackle the Sunday Scaries
Pacific Foods, a brand known for its organic and high-quality ingredients, has launched its #TGISunday content series to help people overcome the widespread phenomenon known as the “Sunday Scaries.”
Developed in partnership with chef and television star Matty Matheson, the series is designed to transform Sunday anxiety into a time for culinary joy and inspiration.
A recent survey by Pacific Foods* revealed the deep impact of the Sunday Scaries, with the average American experiencing this pre-Monday apprehension 36 times a year. Typically, the unsettling feelings begin around 3:54 p.m. on Sundays, leading to an average of six hours and six minutes** spent in dread each week—totaling a staggering 219 hours annually.
The Bear Star Matty Matheson launches #TGISunday with Pacific Foods to Tackle the Sunday Scaries
Recognizing that cooking serves as a soothing activity for many with 31% of people finding joy in preparing meals on Sundays, Pacific Foods is addressing these anxieties by offering easy, comforting recipes through the #TGISunday content series on its website.
Matty Matheson and a group of wellness and food aficionados will share curated recipes designed to combat the Sunday Scaries and embrace the calming, restorative power of cooking to unwind and reclaim their Sundays.
Chef Matty Matheson brings his trademark enthusiasm to the kitchen, making his stance on Sundays clear by turning them into a day of culinary excitement. “Look, I know Sundays can be a drag for a lot of folks, so let’s flip that script. Let’s rock the kitchen with some serious cooking that’s all about fun and flavor without it being a chore or another worry. Cooking isn’t just about eating; it’s about chilling out and making something awesome that feeds your soul,” explains Matheson.
Matty’s unique recipe—the Spicy Shrimp Pasta Bake—will be a highlight of the series, which will also feature content from various figures known for their culinary expertise. All recipes and tips will be available through social where viewers of the #TGISunday series are encouraged to share their own meal-hacking tips using Pacific Foods products. Fans can also enter to win a custom illustrated soup mug, designed by Pacific and Matheson, to add to their Sunday rituals.
“Matty Matheson’s vibrant personality and the joy he brings to food make him a natural fit to join us in our mission to take back Sundays,” said Erika Jubinville, head of Pacific Foods marketing. “He inspires all of us to bring more fun and creativity to our cooking routine, and sparks excitement for new ways to use Pacific products.”
For more insights into the #TGISunday series, please visit pacificfoods.com/TGISunday.
About Pacific Foods
Pacific Foods was founded in 1987 in Tualatin, Ore. and was acquired by Campbell Soup Company in 2017. For more than 150 years, Campbell (NASDAQ:CPB) has been connecting people through food they love. Generations of consumers have trusted us to provide delicious and affordable food and beverages. Headquartered in Camden, N.J. since 1869, the company generated fiscal 2023 net sales of $9.4 billion. Our portfolio includes iconic brands such as Campbell’s, Cape Cod, Goldfish, Kettle Brand, Lance, Late July, Milano, Michael Angelo’s, noosa, Pace, Pacific Foods, Pepperidge Farm, Prego, Rao’s, Snyder’s of Hanover, Swanson and V8. Campbell has a heritage of giving back. The company is a member of the Standard & Poor’s 500 as well as the FTSE4Good and Bloomberg Gender-Equality Indices. For more information, visit www.campbellsoupcompany.com.
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Philly’s answer for Rose’ Wine: NBA Hall of Famer Tony Parker shares his Dinner Party Adventures, French Summer Escapes and the future of the Rose’ Revolution
NBA Hall of Famer Tony Parker shares his dinner party secrets, favorite french summer escapes and the future of the Rose’ Revolution.
In his incredible basketball career, Tony Parker earned four NBA Championships with the San Antonio Spurs, was selected for six All-Star teams and named MVP of the 2007 Finals.
But these days, his passion for food and wine is keeping him even more inspired.
Starting as a boy growing up in France, the memorable dinner parties he hosted during his NBA days, his summer escapes to French Vineyards during the off-season.
It’s no surprise that now he diving into the French wine world, buying Château La Mascaronne in Provence with legendary business partner Michel Reybier.
A magnificent adventure for the next vintage of his life’s journey.
Château La Mascaronne Rose’ COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE
Today I sat down with Tony Parker (over audio-only speakerphone) for a conversation about dinner parties, french vacation, getting busy in vineyards, and the future of Rose’ wine.
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity. The full conversation can be found on our YouTube channel.
Also, the podcast version is here:
You’ve been diving into the world of winemaking with Michel Reybier and his team. Can you talk a little bit about the adventure, any surprises or lessons?
It’s been amazing. I always wanted to invest in a project like that. The first time I tried wine was when I was 17 years old. I wanted to keep learning about it and get my knowledge better around the wine world. And so when I was 19, I finally made enough money to afford all those great wines.
I was lucky enough to play for a coach who loved wine, had a huge collection, was reading wine magazines every trip. And so that’s how we bonded. As I got better, in my knowledge of wine, I started to invite all the best [people] in San Antonio to come to do a nice dinner at my house with Coach Popovich, and then the next day I would invite them to a Spurs game.
Château La Mascaronne COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE
Then during the summer I started making trips to the vineyard. I started to know them better. Because in the wine world, obviously, you have great families. They’re super passionate. And that’s how I started; working on my allocation and the good bottles, the Reserves.
Tony Parker and Michel Reybier – SEBASTIEN CLAVEL
When I retired I wanted to be more involved. But it’s very hard to invest in the wine business because it’s either in the family for generations and generations. Those big companies buy everything. And so I was very lucky, through mutual friends I met Mr. Reybier and after talking for six or eight months, we decided to become partners. Now I’m a proud Owner / Ambassador / Everything.
You mentioned the wine dinners you had in San Antonio. Just for us massive foodies, can you help us fantasize for a moment?
What kind of food was served? What kind of wines were poured? Can you take us back to those nights?
I had a private chef. My private chef would work with the vineyard. We tell them who’s coming, how many people, which bottles and what year they will send us.
Then they will work with my staff to make sure we make a menu accordingly, to make sure that everything is matched with what we are drinking.
So when the [dinner party] came to my house, we tried [the vintages] 1969, 1982, 2000 and 2009. It was unbelievable. Great bottles, great vintages.
And for me, I’m very lucky too because I’m born in 1982 and it’s one of the best years for wine, especially in Bordeaux. So every time I visit a castle in Bordeaux, the employees are always super happy because it’s a good opportunity for them, as the owner, to open an ‘82 [vintage].
Most of the time, they’ll come and say thank you to me, saying it’s [their] first time trying an ‘82 [vintage]. Because nowadays, they don’t open those 82’s a lot.
You’ve hinted at your sports background, obviously you have become a master. Is there any lesson that you mastered in sports that you’ve brought into the wine world with you?
The passion and the work ethic. Obviously in the wine world I will never try to be and talk like a Sommelier, they studied for that. Even if I have good knowledge and I’ve been working with vineyards. And I’m learning all the time, especially since I’ve been owning vineyards. I did Harvest. I did the assemblage. Which is when you try all the possible [options], and you decide what the wine is going to be.
Tony Parker and Michel Reybier – SEBASTIEN CLAVEL
I’ve been working with great directors. Our director is unbelievable. The director at La Mascaronne, she’s great too. And so for me, it’s been great knowledge, and a great learning process to learn even more about wine.
What inspired you to choose the partner with Chateau La Mascaronne?
When I met him, I knew he was huge in the wine business and obviously it brings a lot of credibility when you work with somebody like Michel Reybier because he’s been at this for so long and he’s the owner of one of the best wines in the world with Château Cos d’Estournel.
That’s how I knew him and that was big time. When he talked about La Mascaronne, he bought it from Tom Bove.
Back in 2006, when I started going on vacation every summer, I started drinking Rose’ with my brothers and my friends. We love rose’ in the summer.
That’s when Miraval took off. Brad Pitt bought it with Angelina [Jolie]. He bought Miraval from Tom Bove.
Tony Parker at Château La Mascaronne COURTESY OF CHÂTEAU LA MASCARONNE
So [I thought] if Tom Bove hit that property perfectly with Miraval, for sure [it can happen] with La Mascaronne, it’s just a matter of time before we can do something amazing.
What’s next for you as far as the wine world goes?
Our premium rosé just came out from La Mascaronne. Only 3,000 bottles.
We’re working on more premium one’s now. I think that’s where things are going with rose’s. All these big companies and all the knowledge that they get from the red wines is coming into the Rosé world, where the Rosé is going to get better and better.
For more information on Tony Parker and La Mascaronne:
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Philly Has Plenty to Celebrate, Give Champagne Jeeper a Taste
Philly Has Plenty to Celebrate, Give Champagne Jeeper a Taste
It’s easy to fall in love with champagne. Life celebrations. Work success. Life’s best memories (hello weddings, anniversaries, babies, birthdays). If you’re ready to try a new champagne, this is for you.
Today we had the amazing opportunity to talk (via zoom) with Jeeper Champagne’s Camille Cox. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full conversation, visit our YouTube channel.
Can you share a favorite memory where you celebrated with champagne?
Oh, there’s, God, there’s so many. I can’t even begin to tell you. But the one thing I can say is that you always should carry champagne because in victory you deserve champagne and in defeat you need it. That was Napoleon Bonaparte, if I’m not mistaken?
I think my most memorable toast with champagne are personal victories And, of course, business victories as you can imagine. I’ve been selling champagne for a very long time, and I can name a couple that come to mind. One of them a few years back was getting business at the Delta Airlines lounges. Putting another maison there. At the time, the house that I was working for at the time that was a big victory in itself. And just little victories in life each and every day. Every day is a celebration.
It’s all relative in how you look at it and how you live your life, but I think every day calls for champagne, to be completely honest with you.
I love that, ‘Everyday calls for champagne’. Jeeper has an interesting story behind it based on the end of World War II.
Can you give us just a very brief history lesson of Jeeper that brings us up to present day?
So, as you know, many champagne houses have great stories, and that’s the great thing about Champagne. Every Maison has their story and the fact that you get to go back and find out how it became is super fascinating to me.
When I had the chance to join Jeeper, I went back to look at the story. A family started making champagne in the 1800s. It had its heyday and then it floundered. It changed hands for quite some time. Then a gentleman by the name of Armand Goutorbe, who was working his family vineyards, had to be called to war and ended up in a house in an undisclosed location because everybody was fighting against the resistance at that time.
He happened to be holed up in a place with some American soldiers and they were being bombed and consequently they were all trying to help save each other’s lives. History tells us that Armand was a gentleman who took it upon himself to risk his own life, to pull some American GIs away from the building that was going to be bombed, possibly losing their lives.
In doing so, he impeded his leg and went back to looking over his vineyards in Champagne. The hills aren’t high, but they’re steep. His leg impeded his day-to-day operations. The US army got ahold of the story and some of the soldiers that he saved wanted to pay tribute to him and in all humbleness to thank him for saving their lives. So the US military gave him a Willie’s Jeep, and he rode around in the villages and he became known as “Mr. Jeeper Man”. Two years later, he said, I think I’m just gonna name my vineyards Jeeper. So there it was born Jeeper in 1949 because of a wonderful gift that the US Army bequeathed to him.
We still have the Jeep today on property.
Can we talk about the terroir of the region?
We are located in Faverolles et Coëmy, a commune near Reims in the north-west of the Champagne region. In the Montagne de Reims, the Côte des Blancs and the Marne Valley.
We are mostly a chardonnay house and we use Chardonnay as our primary grape.
We make eight different wines under the Jeeper label. We have two great certifications for being biodynamic and organic. Our flagship for the winery is our Blanc de Blanc. Our bottles are color coded in terms of the labels so that they stand out significantly to consumers.
That area has cool nights. A little bit of frost, but beautiful, pristine, crisp grapes from those regions, from the sub regions in Champagne. We own about 80 hectares. We don’t buy any grapes. We use our own grapes. We have the capacity to make 3.5 million bottles, but we hope to make more with some partnerships that we’ve kind of acquired.
Having Michel Reybier as a new partner with Nicholas, the current owner of and partner, who makes the wines too. Nicholas Dubois makes us stand apart from that we’re not right in the middle of Reims. We’re out there, believe it or not.
So when you come to Reims, you’re not gonna see us. You’re gonna have to get on the train or take a little cab and make it to Jeeper.
I love talking about process. Our audience is a mix of very basic drinkers up to connoisseurs.
So can you share a little bit of the process and how, how, what, what makes your champagne so unique?
What makes us a little bit more unique is a lot of champagne houses only use steel vats. We’re still kind of old school. We do use some Burgundy barrels. We have one of the biggest barrel rooms behind Krug and Bollinger. We have about 1200 barrels that we use. So for instance, our Grande Assemblage, which happens to be our brut non vintage, we age 20% of the chardonnay that we use in that blend for two years in used burgundy oak barrels and then we do the aging of the lees. We lay it down for about four years. So that’s two years for the 20% Chardonnay laying down for two years. Then the four years makes it a total of six years. So you get a totally different taste. There’s a little bit of maturity there with the oak barrels.
It’s something completely different. I’ve worked for houses that were stainless steel, so this is something new for me as well too. The aging process, there is some lactic, it just depends on which cuvee we’re speaking about.
Withholding our wines a little bit longer. We’re not big production, we’re not a grower champagne house by any means. We’re just over the hump as a boutique champagne house. We’re just getting started here in the United States. Our biggest production and where we sell the most champagne is in France.
But opening up the United States, it’s tough to build a champagne brand in the US, believe it or not. It’s super tough.
You have to find a way to differentiate yourself, what makes you stand out. I think that’s Jeeper having the name and the story and the total difference of not having stainless steel aging, and that we’re malolactic and that we do use oak barrels in some of our cuvee’s.
One of the reasons I wanted to talk to you is a few weeks ago when I had the chance to actually taste through the bottles, they did have such a unique taste.
So let’s talk about the actual bottles.
I’ve mentioned the Grande Assemblage, which is our brut non-vintage. It’s a green label, and I just told you a little bit about that. But the one that is our flagship is our Blanc De Blanc.
I think our bottles are beautiful. We have a patent on the bottle. People notice how easy it was to take off the foil.
So there’s still a little label underneath the foil that says Jeeper, which is kind of neat for us and it speaks volumes because it doesn’t leave you a mess or end up getting paper cuts from the foil cuts.
The Blanc de Blanc is big, full-bodied, rich. Also super elegant. It’s clean. It’s crisp, even though it has a big mouthful.
Our champagnes are the categories in the last 7 to 10 years that have really ended up getting some traction. I think people are walking away from the norm. They’re walking away from big commercial houses because they wanna see what else is out there.
Their curious is curiosity’s sake and I think it’s really helped the champagne business. I think the champagne business has always been cyclical, but in the last 7 to 10 years, it’s really gotten a hold and people are really embracing champagne to great success
Because there’s so many beautiful wines out there, so many different styles and so many cool things that you can learn. I think the more the people, because of the terroir, I always say that champagne is a reflection of the mood of the terroir.
Champagne, the terroir from where we are, its chalky soil limestone. It lends itself to so many different characteristics in the wine. We’re not a big vintage champagne house. 2008 was probably one of the best vintages of the century. It was gone in a flash. With our 2008, we age it for 12 years on the lees. It’s 88% Chardonnay and 12% Pinot Noir. So there’s that wonderful characteristic and it has a little maturity on it, a little oxidation.
I’m a vintage champagne girl and a no dousage champagne girl so this one fits the bill for me, but it may not be for everyone’s taste profile.
I can always tell at the beginning when I’m doing a tasting with the two lead wines that you start off with in Champagne, what someone is gonna like in the rest of the range. It never fails me. It’s always about 95% full proof.
It’s so subjective. The 2008 for me is interesting. We’re getting ready to release a new release of Blanc de Blanc coming in May, which I’m super excited about. It’ll be no dousage.
We also now have a partnership, as I mentioned, one of our owners, Michel Repier. There’s a gentleman by the name of Tony Parker, who’s a former four-time NBA champion. A hall of famer. I was just with him a couple weeks ago. Super, super person. He told us his story about where he came from and how much he loves gastronomy. He’s French. A lot of people don’t realize that. He’s from Lyon, and I’m sure the Parisians would beg to differ, but Lyon is supposedly now the gastronomy capital of Paris. So we have him as an ambassador; a gentleman who really loves wine and is very enamored with it, wants to roll his sleeves up.
He’s helped us with our Rose project that we have in Provence, but helping me with Jeeper as well. It’s a great collaboration. It’s been great for me, for the brand, for helping us build the brand here in the US because we’re building our distribution network.
Which is not an easy thing to do, as I can tell you having done it for many years. So we’re looking for new partners that want to build a brand with us who we want to be on the ground floor with. I feel like the people that bring you to the party are the people you need to stick to.
It’s easy to be a fair weather friend, but I am all about loyalty and building a brand with someone. And making it happen. The wine business is exploding, so there’s a lot of opportunities out there. It’s just finding our niche and letting people know the story and taste the wines.
I don’t know that champagne gets enough love when it comes to food. Let’s talk about food pairings.
A previous maison I worked for didn’t want us to suggest pairing champagne with chocolate or strawberries. I think that fallacy of Pretty Woman when she’s having her “floor picnic” as she called it in the movie. She’s drinking champagne and having strawberries – they are very acidic. But I think it’s really what you want to do.
Do I think it’s the best pairing? Absolutely not.
I’ve gone through this with many chefs in the past where I’ve asked them not to use chocolate or strawberries, and [while they weren’t happy with that] luckily they did talk to me at the very end of it, but they weren’t very happy. But there’s so many great things out there that you can pair champagne with and the new thing is, Champagne and chicken fried chicken.
As a southerner, I’m a fried chicken lover. It’s an incredible pairing.
I also think sea salt potato chips with a non-dosage champagne are absolutely fabulous. But let’s look at the classics. What about ratatouille from France? You know, something that you don’t really ever think about. It’s always the ones that are there that you can think about.
Gratin potatoes are an amazing pairing if you’re a big potato lover as I am. It’s just great. So I think the sky’s the limit depending on what it is you’re drinking. Of course, no dosage champagnes aren’t gonna be great with everything. I also love Dim Sum and champagne, to be completely honest with you.
So all the pairings that are non-traditional, if you will, kind of thinking outside the box. Really making it an opportunity to see: where you can take it? Are you gonna push the limit? I’m all about pushing the limits on a lot of things. Nobody should be chastised for that on any level.
So if somebody likes what they like, they like what they like. I think the traditional [concept] many years ago: Are you having chicken for dinner? You can only have white [wine]. I love the fact that that’s out the door now.
People learn more and more about wine every day. They’re so enamored with it. I think the pandemic gave us all an opportunity to stop, take a minute, take a breath, slow down, maybe enjoy things or get into things that we didn’t have the time to do. I think gastronomy is one of them.
People now love to make food at home. People love to drink wine at home. We saw that with the pandemic. There’s a lot of opportunity, everywhere you look. I like the classics. I’m a foodie.
But I love food and I think drinking it the way you want to drink it and the way you want to enjoy is paramount. Paramount. I don’t think there should be any rules put around that on any level.
As everyone’s hearing the Jeeper story and getting to know your bottles, what can our audience do for Jeeper Champagne?
Helping Jeeper is to buy some [bottles] where we’re distributed. Give something new a chance. Wherever you buy wine, take an opportunity to just treat yourself to something completely different because you never know what’s gonna happen.
It could end up being your favorite wine and you just don’t realize it. Expand your opportunity and your horizons, and that’s what life is all about.
Think outside the box. Live a little, okay. You, you bought a bottle, but there’s some great champagnes out there that are really economical. We know we’ve taken a little bit of a price increase, but treat yourself, you’ll be glad that you did. I think it, it expands your horizons and makes you see so many other things you didn’t see
Where can we find Jeeper Champagne on social media to follow?
Jeeper is on most major social media channels. Please give us a follow and visit our website at: https://www.champagne-jeeper.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ChampagneJeeper/
https://www.instagram.com/champagnejeeper/
https://twitter.com/ChampagneJeeper
Camille, thank you so much for your time. I loved hearing the stories.
Thank you so much!
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Philly Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals
Philly Discovers Aphrodise Sparkling Wine, Taste it Before Your next Party, Frank Schilling Reveals
Whether it’s a wedding, party, or just drinks with dinner. We want taste. Maybe we want a few drinks. We also want to protect ourselves from tomorrow’s hangover.
It’s hard to find a drink that can take day to night quite like a Greek rosé and Aphrodise wants to prove it to you.
Frank Schilling, Co-Founder of Aphrodise
Today’s conversation with Frank Schilling from Aphrodise has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here.
Joe Winger:
Our audience is foodies. We’re wine lovers. What’s the most important message today you want to share with an audience of foodies and wine lovers?
Frank Schilling:
I’m an Epicurean myself. I don’t have a lot of pretense around my love of food and wine, I just love great food and wine and I’ve tasted so many great things.
I’m a character who hasn’t had a meal at home in 22 years. As an internet entrepreneur, I used to work, literally seven days a week for many years and eating out was my escape from my work because it’s the one place my laptop and phone couldn’t rule the day, or the moment.
For me, eating out was that escape and that vacation of the moment.
I created a life around dining out probably like many of your listeners or viewers. And I have a deep well of respect for great food and wine and also for the people who admire it and chase it, it’s a, it’s one of the great things in life.
I’m always stunned by people who don’t truly love food. I feel like they’re missing something and leaving part of life on the table.
Discovering Aphrodise sparkling wine
Joe Winger:
You have this new discovery. Let’s talk a little bit about Aphrodise. Tell me about how you discovered the grape varietal?
Frank Schilling:
I’m a wine lover. I tasted my way through Bordeaux and Burgundy.
All the way through, I could never really tell a Merlot from a Cab. I’d be lying to you if I said I knew what a Nebbiolo or a Valpolicella was and how all those grapes differed from each other.
I do enjoy great brands of wine. I do understand the difference between years and what impacts a year.
But when I was building [my restaurant] it was COVID. I was doing some fingertip math and I realized we’re gonna have to start bringing over a lot of sparkling [wine] for mimosas and for brunch. It was 300 seat restaurant, two seatings, 600 seats on a brunch [shift].
FlavRReport.com on YouTube
You start to do the math and you realize, “Wow, 52 weekends a year, bottomless mimosas. I’m going to need about 3,000 bottles of wine per quarter of champagne. So let’s go out and get some. We live on an island and supply chain management wasn’t really an option.
So we started to taste through different varieties of champagne.
I came to discover what Tom Cruise did in [the movie] “Cocktail”, which is, champagne is like perfume going down, but like sewage on the way back.
It comes from a well meant place, not mean spirited towards the great region of Champagne.
Joining the Aphrodise sparkling wine party
It’s just the nature of Champenois produced wine and that Chardonnay grape that makes a beautiful champagne is such that you just can’t consume a lot of it in the heat or humidity in the sun.
Traditional Champagne vs Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
It just isn’t the type of forgiving libation that lets you function afterwards and you don’t feel good.
The yeast isn’t good for a lot of people. Not everybody’s impacted the same way but, a large portion of the population doesn’t do well with champagne and heat in sunlight as a day drink.
The recovery profile isn’t something that people look forward to.
Aphrodise from the grape varietal called Xenomavro
I discovered that I’d had that problem myself for years. The yeast wasn’t working for me.
So when I discovered Aphrodise, it was a grape varietal called Xenomavro.
A high altitude grape, Greece’s most noble grape.
It’s a very forgiving drink. In a sparkling format, it’s something you can drink in the heat, it’s something you can drink in larger quantities, I can tell you that the recovery profile, for me and for many others, is exceptionally good.
Meaning you can drink a lot of it and bounce back and go again.
As a wine producer, that’s music to your ears. But it’s also nice knowing I’m making people feel better. I’m not putting something in the market that’s going to make you feel sick after overconsumption.
At a party enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
Joe Winger:
Just to give a little backstory. Frank, I hope you’ll talk to us a little bit about one of your first adventures. You mentioned you’re an internet entrepreneur, you had some success with website domains.
Can you explain a little bit about that and maybe a lesson you learned from that journey?
Frank Schilling:
It’s a lesson that some of your listeners and viewers probably have some experience with.
I registered a domain name back in the dot com era. Then I registered 2 [dot com names], then 10 and I got some generic names like wine.com , cars.com. Names like those.
I started to realize, wow, these names have value.
I wound up registering a lot of generic names and then I had difficulty managing them because in those early days of the Internet, it was all very unwieldy. The infrastructure for managing those names.
So I created a lot of that management infrastructure. Then in the process, grew that business over a 20 year horizon and wound up selling the 3 companies that comprised that enterprise to a company called GoDaddy, which we’ve probably all heard of.
So some of their infrastructure was my infrastructure and is now their infrastructure.
To the extent you like the new GoDaddy offering for managing domain names, you’re welcome, for the small part I played in helping that become a reality.
In the old days, I was traveling a lot. I had an office in Manchester in the United Kingdom, one in Newport beach in California and my main office here in the Cayman Islands. I would travel between the offices, New York, Miami and many other cities, just for work all around the world.
Enjoying Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
At the beginning of COVID that all came to a grinding halt. I sold those businesses and decided that with my love of food, if I was going to stay in the Cayman Islands, I realized I’m gonna have to eat at home more and I realized, the offerings of restaurants wasn’t the depth was hoping for.
So I built the restaurant, as a result of that that then led to Aphrodise.
Joe Winger:
I love the full circle of it.
Since we’ve mentioned the restaurant once or twice. Can we hear more about your restaurant Mykonos Cayman?
Frank Schilling:
Sure. During COVID lockdowns, there was a new plaza going in on the beach and I had mentally designed a restaurant years ago, but sold the real estate for it.
So when I saw the plaza going up, I was crestfallen. These guys built my dream on their land. My fantasy of what a place would look like. But then I was happy to learn that the plaza was a strata titled affair. It wasn’t owned by one conglomerate.
So I bought into that plaza so I could control the real estate. Then once I had the real estate I did a sort of “money no object” fit out that left a very residential-looking restaurant really quite beautiful.
I love the culture of Greece and I love the idea of the long lunch and the lack of pretense in the party and [being] all welcoming, with children, grownups will dance on the table and get really carried away.
The kids are running around. It’s all very loving and family oriented.
Whereas, Ibiza is a little more drug fueled and party, ragey and a little more intense.
I loved the soulful day party of Greece. We’re on an island and the Greeks are on islands. So I thought how nice it would be to bring some of that to my reserved island here in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman is more of a place you quietly go to escape and enjoy the beach and family.
It’s not really a St. Bart’s where you go to seek out a great party. I always hoped that there’d be room for at least one place like they have in St. Bart’s here.
So I built a really big place, 320 seats, super residential, relaxed, welcoming, But completely devoid of pretense. You can come in, flip flops and shorts, or you can come in a beautiful gown as we’d hope in the evening.
But we don’t have a lot of structure and posture around it. We want you to feel free when you come. So that, I built that venue here, and you can see it online.
It’s called Mykonos Cayman. We have an Instagram where people can learn about the restaurant.
When you come, please come for a glass of Aphrodise on me. Mention Frank said I could have a glass of Aphrodise
Joe Winger:
You introduced Aphrodise at the Las Vegas Wedding Show. How did it go? Why do you think Aphrodise is the best drink to have at a wedding?
Frank Schilling:
It’s the color of love. It’s a beautiful color of red.
We took it to the wedding show because I thought that wedding planners would share the same pain point that I discovered as a restaurateur. Which is, if you want to buy a bottle of great champagne, easy, you go to the liquor store.
But when you start getting up there and you need 100 cases for an event or a series of events, getting that quantity consistently and getting a good product is actually quite difficult. And expensive.
So we thought we’d introduce Aphrodise.
Knowing that we could go directly to the wedding planners and help their fulfillment and execution and deliver a better product.
Something that people could really lavish in the heat or at an after party where you’re really enjoying the bubbly and then feel better in the morning. That was really the goal.
My first champagne experience was at a wedding and I drank a little too much. For the next day or two, I was laid up.
So we try to bring something to market that is good for people or at least makes them feel good in the moment and helps them recover.
We had a line all day. I poured a 5,000 servings of Aphrodise that day. People loved it.
Let me tell you, that’s a lot of work, opening bottles. It looks very glamorous. But when you’re really going at velocity, my hands hurt at the end of the day.
We got a lot of upstart business out of that. People were like, “Wow, this stuff is actually quite good.’
Joe Winger:
Let’s talk about flavor profile.
Pouring out 5,000 samples, what’s the most common feedback we get about the flavor, aroma, the mouthfeel, what are we experiencing?
Frank Schilling:
So when you sip a drink and you talk about mouthfeel or we have a glass of wine or champagne and you have a sip and there’s a little bit of a yeasty, gamey after taste.
For some people in red wine, it can be somewhat desirable.
In champagne, unfortunately it stays with it as well.
When you’re having champagne, which is more of a celebratory libation, that’s not a desirable quality. You want to have something that finishes clean in your mouth.
If you have lots of sips, you’re going to get a good buzz. You want to be able to recover quickly and elegantly without that headache that comes from the yeast and all those elements that bring its flavor.
So the taste of Aphrodise is a very clean mouthfeel and it finishes with a light crisp apple or cherry. Some people taste strawberry.
It’s a small bubble. Very light charmat, produced in small vats, a naturally produced bubbly effect. It lives in tanks for 3 months and it gains its bubbly in a natural way.
A little more expensive to produce that way. Prosecco, for example, will carbonate. They’ll add carbonation just like you would to a can of soda.
We don’t carbonate. We allow the bubbly to form naturally through the fermentation process, which is how it should be.
Co-Founders of Aphrodise Sparkling Wine
Joe Winger:
When it comes to food and wine pairing. What would be your favorite dish to pair with a glass of Aphrodise?
Frank Schilling:
Aphrodise is literally the only thing that I drink, and I’m crestfallen when I can’t find it.
It’s a dark rosé so it goes nicely with meat – a burger or a steak. Chicken or fish. It’s also a great dessert drink.
I like Aphrodise as a warmup libation and as an after dinner, like celebratory drink if you’re having a party, there’s an after party.
Joe Winger:
You’ve done a lot in your life. You’ve had a lot of adventures, a lot of successes.
Any inspiration or lessons you can share with the audience?
Frank Schilling:
The answer is love for people and love for living your best life, love for conviviality. I have a lot of love for the people that I encountered that have helped me in my journey. Those who’ve just been a part of my life, there for a season or there for a reason, as the saying goes, I try to embrace everybody.
See the good in everybody. There are people you click with more than other people. I say yes to everything unless it hurts me. I have a real lust for life and a good energy level.
Joe Winger:
If you’re loving Frank’s energy and his positivity, you wrote an amazing book. Would you mind giving us a summary of the book and what it was like writing it?
Frank Schilling:
It’s called Omnia Vincent: the universe wants you to win.
I wrote the book as I’d sold my businesses. It was during COVID lockdowns and everybody was [going through a] “The end of the world” mood type thing at that time.
You write a book like this for your grandchildren. If one day they want to know more about grandpa and did our success come from or where did our financial wealth come from?
It’s nice for them to know a little about the person who tried hard and maybe you can see something in yourself. So I really wrote it for my future ancestors.
I want to be the guy who left something for the grandkids and great grandkids to understand a little about my brain. And it’s really just written in short micro chapters.
Joe Winger:
Because you’re an epicurean, if you’re going to have any plate for dinner tonight, what would it be and why?
Frank Schilling:
Tonight I’m actually feeling a Pittsburgh style steak, seared on the outside. I haven’t had good red meat in about a week, and we just got some A5 Wagyu at the restaurant Our chef is a butcher and he’s also a certified Angus ambassador. So he gets great cuts.
We do a beautiful short rib burger, which is really lean short rib again on the outside with a bit of a char finish. We have a charcoal grill inside the restaurant, which is beautiful.
Joe Winger:
Thank you so much for your time. If someone wants to learn more, what are the best ways to find and follow websites, social media for Aphrodise?
Frank Schilling:
DrinkAphrodise on Instagram and the website DrinkAphrodise.com
