Last Updated on April 13, 2023 by
Maria Rivero González is the CEO of RGNY Wine in the North Fork of Long Island. She’s bringing a new winery steeped in her family’s Mexican roots to the North Fork.
The Rivero González family opened a wine store in Mexico City in 2013 and additional stores in Monterrey and Parras two years later, before expanding their business to the North Fork with the purchase of Martha Clara Vineyards. In 2019, they officially rebranded to RGNY.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Maria Rivero González shares how she got started in the wine industry
- What drew Maria to the wine in Mexico
- The three Bs of Mexican wine
- What kinds of wines grow well on Long Island?
- Maria talks about the difference between consumers in New York versus Mexico
- Maria gives a glimpse into RGNY’s wine club
- How RGNY Wine stays innovative
- Maria explains what it’s like to be a natural wine producer
In this episode with Maria Rivero González
How does someone lead a winery successfully while preserving long-established family traditions? Today’s guest had a clear plan when she was younger — to turn her father’s hobby of winemaking into a business.
Today, RGNY Wine’s CEO is proud to thrive in the path she carved for herself and hopes to pass this passion to the Rivero González family’s future generations.
In today’s episode of the Legends Behind the Craft podcast, Drew Thomas Hendricks is joined by Maria Rivero González, CEO of RGNY Wine, as she shares her inspiration to turn her father’s winemaking hobby into a business. Maria also talks about RGNY’s process of growing wines, how they continue to innovate, and more.
Resources Mentioned in this episode
Sponsor for this episode…
This episode is brought to you by Barrels Ahead.
Barrels Ahead is a wine and craft marketing agency that propels organic growth by using a powerful combination of content development, Search Engine Optimization, and paid search.
At Barrels Ahead, we know that your business is unique. That’s why we work with you to create a one-of-a-kind marketing strategy that highlights your authenticity, tells your story, and makes your business stand out from your competitors.
Our team at Barrels Ahead helps you leverage your knowledge so you can enjoy the results and revenue your business deserves.
So, what are you waiting for? Unlock your results today!
To learn more, visit barrelsahead.com or email us at hello@barrelsahead.com to schedule a strategy call.
Episode Transcript
Intro 0:03
Welcome to the Legends Behind the Craft podcast where we feature top leaders in the wine and craft beverage industry with your host Drew Hendricks. Now let’s get started with the show
Drew Thomas Hendricks 0:19
Drew Thomas Hendricks. I’m the host of the Legends Behind the Craft podcast where I talk with leaders in the wine and craft beverage industry. Today I have a very special guest on the show. She runs a family vineyards both in New York and in Mexico. But before I formally introduced her gotta do the sponsor message. Today’s episode is sponsored by Barrels Ahead. At Barrels Ahead, we work with you to implement a one of a kind marketing strategy. When that highlights your authenticity, tells your story and connects you with your ideal customers. In short, we help wineries and craft beverage producers unlock their story to unleash their revenue. Go to barrelsahead.com today to learn more. So today I’m super excited to talk with Maria Rivero González. Maria is the CEO of RGNY Winery in the North Fork of the Long Island. Welcome to the show, Maria.
Maria Rivero González 1:23
Thank you Drew. I’m happy to be here and talk to you.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 1:26
Oh, I’m stoked to have you on So Maria, tell me about how you. I always like to start, how did you get started in the wine industry?
Maria Rivero González 1:33
Okay, that’s, that’s actually that’s the story of RGNY. So that makes sense. So really, my father planted vine back in 1998. So next year, we’ll be turning 25. But he planted it more as a hobby. He wanted his Bordeaux bland to drink with his friends. I think in the back of his mind, though, he didn’t think about this potentially as a business. It’s just one of those visionary guys that does everything. And I guess at this point, he didn’t want to say anything. People were like, you’re crazy enough doing other things. He
Drew Thomas Hendricks 2:08
has a hobby first.
Maria Rivero González 2:10
Yeah. So he planted as a hobby, small space polo blend, and he started selling it. I mean, he started drinking it. And then I graduated college 2007. And I said, Maybe I want to start telling you why he was like, maybe you do something else that was like, Maybe I do is that wasn’t one for a while.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 2:34
And that was this down in Peru. Us.
Maria Rivero González 2:35
Yep. Parres. So Parres is the oldest wine growing region in the whole continent. People don’t know this, but the Jesuits came in 1497. They found natural binds there. Parres means vine. And they actually call it Santa Maria de la Perez, very religious, big name. But it actually means the land of the of the vibes. Right. So the history starts there. And there’s still some wineries there that they’d bought for 125 years. Oh, man. Yeah. So it was a good place that he chose, I think, my father then. And then after going back and forth, I kind of started selling it in 2007. We came up with the brand. It was called Rivero Gonzales. So the R stands for Rivero, my father’s last name. Gonzalez stands for my mother’s last name. And, and then it was born. And from there on, we’ve done plenty of things.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 3:39
Sorry to hear about it. So talk to me. So So you started there before that you were doing international relations and your dad didn’t want you to get into the wine industry?
Maria Rivero González 3:47
I mean, more than didn’t Yeah, I don’t think he thought that was a smart move for me. At the beginning, then I think in Mexico culturally, I think what was expected for me was to get married and have five or six kids. Oh, yeah. All right. Little did they know that I was gonna really love working and love my job. So I think I think in the beginning, it was more like, do you really want to do this? Or are you going to do it seriously? And, but I’ve always I had been in love with Parres as a region. Parres is a microclimate in the middle of the desert. So you have that amazing thing where you you’re driving and you’re in the middle of the desert, and suddenly everything is great. Like,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 4:33
well, how is that it’s just the way the mountains or the with the
Maria Rivero González 4:37
water. So it’s a microclimate, but the little it has small mountains and it’s higher. It’s 2500 meters up. Sorry, I do need a refund. Station, right. That’s,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 4:52
like seven 7000 feet.
Maria Rivero González 4:56
Yeah, it’s high. So and the little man mountains have water in them. They’re like little caves where the water filters and it makes for these little, literally caves of water that you can actually visit them go in. And that’s how it becomes it’s an oasis vibes you have because you have figs, you have pomegranates you have every picture, everything. So we grew up kind of like battling those things. And that was our summers.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 5:32
Mm hmm. Sounds fantastic. And what drew you to wine other than what was the the aspect of wine that really you thought that that would be your career?
Maria Rivero González 5:41
I think the first thing to be honest, was the law being outside like agriculture as a whole. And then I think the second thing was actually that it was such an as an up and coming industry in Mexico, or even even less than that it was so incipient that you could really do whatever you wanted. Yeah. You could build your own rolls. I feel like I was attracted to that from the get go.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 6:08
Sure. Yeah. Cuz it was just starting Mexican wine. The Mexican wine industry is really just starting to take off in their early 2000s.
Maria Rivero González 6:18
Yeah, I mean, try selling a wine, a Mexican wine to a Mexican back in 2007. They were like, Why combine Italian wine, like combine a Spanish wine. And I was like, but you can buy a Mexican why? It was so hard. Yeah, the culture was in there. But also we could do anything we wanted. So like one of my first moves was actually hire some designers and come up with a cool label. No one in Mexico was doing cool labels. Now it’s just part of the industry. So
Drew Thomas Hendricks 6:50
you’re right now it’s definitely changed. We just got back from the Via de guadalupe here. And that’s I live in Southern California. So that’s the closest Mexican wine region to where I live. And it’s the the artistry and graphic design is really elevated over the last 1015 years. Right? You guys are on the forefront of that.
Maria Rivero González 7:11
Oh, yeah, I’ve I always say this, maybe one day someone’s gonna come and tell me that’s not true. But we were the first to actually hire a designer, agency to go through our branding and do not only the, the actual bottles, but the whole message that we were trying to convey as a brand, right. And then you also have the flexibility of this new world region where you can do whatever you want. So we were the first ones to do a blank the noir people were like a blank, the what? Our formula what, that’s funny. But it allowed us to expand in a way that that we that I guess that was the only way I knew how to do it because technically, I wasn’t as strong back then in terms of winemaking. I was learning to gather with my winemakers, I would hire the best winemaker I could pay for and then I would sit down with them and learn.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 8:14
Oh, man. And now how did you go about selling this? Why’d you say you wanted to sell it? People in Mexico didn’t really want to buy it yet? How did you convince them that it was something worth buying? Or did you export it?
Maria Rivero González 8:24
No, I think I partner up with a distributor who really had my back and they so I convinced them that having a Mexican wine. And me being exclusive with them and being the only Mexican exclusive. Was something worthwhile that there were there were Mexican people that were willing to bet on Mexico. Sure. And I guess we kind of did it with marketing, marketing and the product itself, the quality of the product was always there. Never ever. There were even some years when we were like this wine is not worth being out there. We need to practice more. So we were committed to our quality and that really helps because once people buy it, then they want they want to keep buying it right. Sure. And the other thing is we came up with in Mexico we call the three B’s when I wanted to rattle so why no is good. Bonito is beautiful, but our two is cheap. So we came up with a product that had the three V’s, okay. Mexican wine started off either very expensive, or very bad quality, but no in betweens and our clo brand became that in between. We literally just it worked. We started selling and selling and tell you that it worked.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 9:49
Well that’s fantastic. It’s just an unmet segment. And then so is it currently being exported to the United States? So this RGMX?
Maria Rivero González 9:59
Yeah. So We were on sale as we came RGMX when we bought the New York property, the to make them brother and sister more strongly. But we’ve always had this Cielo line as well. So we have sailed with Mexico and Cielo New York as well. Cielo is is a tribute to our skies. With Cielo means heaven or sky in Spanish. We are an X rays only because the Cielo in Paris are so special right? In the desert, you get this very, very amazing stars and you get the sunsets that are super rad. The actual label is a staircase to go up to have. Oh, nice, nice. Finish the level you get there.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 10:43
Now, you mentioned the orc so you’ve got your RGNY what? I can’t think of two different microclimates high desert, and then you got Long Island.
Maria Rivero González 10:55
I mean, and I’ll tell you the worst part. I have been in the wine industry for more than 10 years. And I had no idea Long Island had a wine region. That’s funny. So we we decided we wanted to expand that was something conscious that we did as a family wanted to start expanding. We wanted something outside of Mexico. Of course, for me to for me to be able to manage both. It had to be something where I didn’t have to travel for days, right. So the US became kind of like, where we started looking at an investment banker actually called my father and said, there’s this property in New York. Like, okay, I’m going to fingerlings. I guess, I land in JFK. I look at the address. And I’m like, Wait, this is Long Island. This is the Hamptons. Where am I going? I had lived in New York twice. So I knew the region, but I hadn’t really been out here. And I got here and I was this is beautiful. It couldn’t be more beautiful. The grapes are amazing. We have the one of the biggest markets two hours away. It just so happens that no one knows region. And the wines are good, but they could be better. Right? The winemaker was the winemaking was a little lacking in the region when we bought this property. But I guess my main teach to my family in the end was, hey, even if I if I suck at this wine business, just a real estate alone is worth a while. Yeah, it’s real estate in Long Island. It’s it’s going to go up right. So that was my pitch. And it worked.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 12:40
So yeah, that’s a good pitch. Don’t what’s talked to me about what the wines what kind of grapes grow well in Long Island.
Maria Rivero González 12:47
Cool. It’s 100% Poor climate. So somnium Blanca, for me, that’s the winner. Both in expression yields and commercially, it’s just beautiful. It expresses very, very well. And it’s great for sparklings. Because you you have you you want to harvest early, because it’s human so you can get mildew and all of this. Oh, yeah, thicknesses that I had never experienced in Mexico, which is the other way around. But someone told me this a few days ago, and I thought it was very interesting with how global warming is changing all the regions now. I think Long Island is going to have an opportunity to do light read. Frank Lawson does amazingly well here.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 13:40
Oh, really? Yeah, I would think so. And then there’s also the the northern red varietals that maybe even too warm for some of the ones that grow up in the north part of New York. And yeah,
Maria Rivero González 13:53
I mean, I like I like Pinot as well. But I think I think with with that comment, that makes sense. We’re because we do lighter reds. And we don’t like to do big bold writes. And I’m not into fixing wines and wines are in my head. 80% of your wine is made on your grape, right?
Drew Thomas Hendricks 14:15
Yep. I agree. 100%. And anytime you try to like, manipulate it, it just seems to backfire.
Maria Rivero González 14:22
Well, yeah, the wine itself doesn’t like that. Right? We always say the more successful we was because we we touched the glass. And a lot of people think that’s easier. That’s actually harder. You have to watch the closer and make sure to like the one or two things that you actually do. Do you do them well, right?
Drew Thomas Hendricks 14:42
Yes. Yeah. And now when did you when did you move into New York or not move into When did you purchase the property and start revitalizing that vineyards?
Maria Rivero González 14:52
So we bought the property late late 2017 And I moved out here February 2018. Oh, I get here it’s freezing. It’s, we’re, it’s we’re in the middle of the water, right? So, like, the wind is almost blowing me it’s 4pm. And it’s pitch black and I like what am I doing? It takes me like the backlog of waste. It was a little shocking at the beginning. But then 2018, we rebranded we launched the brand in 2019. And we started with serious winemaking.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 15:31
That’s fantastic. Now, it’s like you’ve totally you created your own category in down in Mexico. And you’re able to repeat it here. What were the challenges of that’s different here in New York versus Mexico?
Maria Rivero González 15:47
I mean, I guess I guess the one thing that is similar and you you asked about it earlier, is I was certain I wanted another dog region. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And that was a little weird. Maybe or my family were like, Why Napa so established and you can sell the wine. I was like, but but I want to be the head of the ride, not the tail of the lion. Yeah. Right. Like, I want to be able to have an impact and do wines really well. And then I can help the region get somewhere else, right. But having said before,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 16:21
is there for sure, where you get to be the inventor of the region, or reinvent or a leader.
Maria Rivero González 16:28
And you know, you asked me at the very beginning like what what attracted me to this business and and I said, but no restrictions in Mexico. So I guess I was looking to repeat that in my head. And i i Only now I’m putting it into words. So thank you. But, but in terms of the winemaking and the grape, especially the grape growing, it’s just completely different. Whereas in Mexico, we’re like you harvest you have to harvest now we’re at 25 breaks, this is insane. Here, we’re like what 20 breaks, yay. Tolerating Right? Like, are we gonna get to 21? Is it gonna kill us? So like, the amount of sunlight, for sure is completely opposite. And the amount of water or the humidity of the place. So in Long Island, we have to harvest early otherwise, you’re not going to we’re not going to get more sunlight. So the grapes are not going to get a higher sugar content. And you’re only fighting these sicknesses that are coming to you.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 17:29
Yeah, is the hurricane season ramps up and then early, early winter storms.
Maria Rivero González 17:37
Exactly. So White sparkling will say, blank the Noir’s. We’re doing some for our oranges. Oh, nice. That we’re into the forest now exploring a little bit skin contact white. And like,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 17:52
a really big category just seems to. I’ve had them for years. But lately, every restaurant list now I’ve seen the red, white and orange on the menu.
Maria Rivero González 18:02
It has we were actually the first orange wine in Mexico. We did it in 2014. We launched it. We started selling it in 2015. We sold nine bottles in a year.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 18:15
Nine was the case.
Maria Rivero González 18:19
My mom was like, I’ll drink it all. Don’t give it to anybody else. They don’t appreciate it. No, I would put it all in the cellar. And three years ago, we said let’s do it again. Let’s do it. Let’s do a campaign. Let’s let’s ramp it up. And it was almost 2020. So it was It wasn’t as rare. We sold out like this.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 18:42
Yeah. Got you were just a little ahead of your time on releasing it.
Maria Rivero González 18:47
I think I think bottle time. Did a great favor to it. So Oh,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 18:54
for sure. So I did talking about the different consumers like in the in Mexico versus New York. That’s something I’d like to learn more about. How is it different selling wine in Mexico versus selling wine in New York? Or in the US?
Maria Rivero González 19:09
I guess? Definitely New York specifically, I would think and California has a more sophisticated consumer. They understand a little more, they drink more. They’re a little less afraid to try things. I think the Mexicans are afraid to try new things. So it’s like Spanish wine, Spanish wine. And then it was Italian wine, and now it’s Mexican wine. But they don’t, they’re not very individualistic in their styles. They’ll drink whatever everybody else is drinking. They’re very much about trends and trends last a long time. Whereas the New York Times last week, a week and think oh you did great. Next up Um, so I think I think that’s different than New York, you always have to, you have to be innovating. But also you have to know where you stand and stay there. So if you try to grab a trend, you’re just gonna get tired, right? In Mexico, it was easier to grab trends because things get there a little later. So you, you just have to look elsewhere and kind of bring them back. I do think though, I mean, I know the Mexican market, the Mexican consumption of wine is growing at a much faster rate than the US.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 20:34
I would, I would from what I see in the Via de Guadalupe, I would agree there. It was. The couple of times I’ve been down there was jam packed. And it wasn’t from people from San Diego. It was local tourism.
Maria Rivero González 20:46
But like sparkling you would you would sell one bottle of sparkling for every 20 of red. Whereas in New York, you will sell five and Rosae. That’s like insanely popular in New York, right? In Mexico, like Rosae. That’s for girls.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 21:06
Give it another year.
Maria Rivero González 21:08
Yeah. Something. Have you seen something different in environmental?
Drew Thomas Hendricks 21:14
Yeah, no, there was a very popular. It was I think it’s warm. It’s by the coast, you get a lot of Americans are coming in to get Americans and a lot of the people from Tijuana, which is where they get most of their local tourists. They’re all there. I think they’re a little more used to the California grape culture.
Maria Rivero González 21:34
Mm hmm. Yeah, that
Drew Thomas Hendricks 21:36
makes sense. That was at least that was my, my impression when I went down there. But as far as the one thing that was struck me is the level of hospitality do in Mexico, in Mexico, with the with the wineries in the Oh, yeah. I feel like they’re on the forefront of worse. A lot of the wineries here in the US need to be is that the same over and in the products region?
Maria Rivero González 22:00
No, not really. Parres doesn’t really have a culture of tasting rooms yet. Okay. So maybe
Drew Thomas Hendricks 22:08
they would come from Chihuahua or Mexico City would be the closest people to visit the region
Maria Rivero González 22:15
know from Monterey. Monterey is a is the biggest city around. But they didn’t used to be a culture of tasting rooms like we we started and we started wholesale. That was our thing, right? And then I opened a small store in Mexico City and a small store in Monterrey. And then I opened tours by reservation only. And it exploded. So now I’m, I have a small tasting room in Mexico. Oh, that’s great. But it’s slowly getting there. I think Vioxx floated with just a few articles in the US and people coming over, I guess, and it
Drew Thomas Hendricks 22:53
kind of went hospitality first.
Maria Rivero González 22:56
I have to say we as Mexicans, our hospitality. I mean, I’m sure you’ve been to other places of Mexico. It’s it’s in our DNA. It’s in our culture. Yes. And I restaurants. And the business model works because they were it’s not as expensive. Right? Try? Try $25 a person here in New York and me trying to run a place the moment.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 23:21
Yes. Doesn’t work. So you’ve got to I was going to talk to you about your wine club, the hospitality part of the Year, New Year, New York winery, it says it looks like a pretty good, I liked the way that you constructed it.
Maria Rivero González 23:37
So I mean, we do have a role in testing and we get like 30,000 people a year. So it is it is up and running. And it’s working the the region here in the North Fork. I would say most of the wineries so 80% of their wines through the tasting room. So definitely
Drew Thomas Hendricks 23:52
wineries are in that region. North like 70 something. Okay, so people come up from the city and make a whole day a weekend of it.
Maria Rivero González 23:59
Yeah, it’s a whole weekend. You have great food around here. See lobster rolls, oysters, clams. And yeah, the wine club, it took us a while to get to to one, we began with three wine clubs, and we wanted to be have different options. And in the end, we said like one that’s practical enough for everyone to have something. The one thing that I think we do differently with the wine club is we add something that’s either Mexican or local. Oh. So all of your shipments that are going to have maybe we’re doing like a beer that’s done by it’s a woman only brewery that’s around here. Maybe you’re going to have one for Mexican wines.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 24:46
Well, that’s great. Well, it allows the people just to broaden their horizons and explore all the different nuances of what your family is doing.
Maria Rivero González 24:54
Yeah, and the one thing that we can and I and you mentioned service, the one thing that we can do this Only more in a more obvious way. Unreal way is Mexico. We can be Mexicans, nobody else can be Mexican. So I can bring in real Mexican food, I can bring it real. We sell a lot of stuff for like the house. It’s Mexican that we bring from Mexico. We’re doing a takeover with with these beer company. And we’re doing mitula us and tomatoes, and we’re doing a mortise event. So it’s like, we’re the only ones that can do that.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 25:32
Yeah, you can theoretically bring the culture in and present
Maria Rivero González 25:36
it and do hospitality like Mexicans.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 25:38
That’s fantastic. Yeah, the I. I’m just rambling right here. But the the one thing I was bummed is actually driving down to Mexico, it’s really hard to bring the wine back. It’s just like, you’re allowed to bottles? Yeah. Yeah, headsets? Like, I think this I think the tariff isn’t that much. But they really going down and they really downplay selling the wine. It’s more about the whole hospitality experience for the people from the US going down there. Yeah. Whereas
Maria Rivero González 26:10
if you go in California, it’s more about take five cases with you.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 26:15
Even up in Canada, like it when I tour up in Canada, it’s very lacks coming down from Canada to the United States. So the same way for Canadians going up from the United States. But for the US, it’s it’s it’s very reasonable.
Maria Rivero González 26:30
I didn’t, yeah, and that’s that I mean, Mexican wine is being consumed, is being drank and finished in Mexico. So there’s very few companies that are exporting right now. And I think the reason now that I’m here and I’m exporting, I used to export, hit or miss with a few distributors for one year, and then nothing and then it was just a raucous in the US. It’s just like, we’re not used to that, you know, where we used to say, Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know we’re like and and hear that with your system and understanding it and going through it and deciding which state and what strategy and it’s, I think it’s hard for a lot of businesses to navigate and want to do it.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 27:23
Oh, for sure. It’s a it’s a very convoluted system. Man, but you guys are so I want to with the pre show, we talked about innovation, and how your family’s just been a leader and you’ve been a leader. Talk to me about some of the innovative things you guys got going on.
Maria Rivero González 27:38
Okay, so I told you a little bit about the blank sidebar on the orange Mexican thing those are great examples of how we kind of did it and again this thinks it has been so organic towards it was more like my father was like we should do a blank Lenoir because it’s very hot here and I want something that’s stronger and I like to eat meat and it kind of
Drew Thomas Hendricks 27:56
what was what was he making? We’ll talk about innovation, but what was this hobby wine what what grapes, Bordeaux varietals?
Maria Rivero González 28:03
So RG Tinto that was the that’s our iconic wine. It’s a Bordeaux blend 24 month French oak barrel. But then he was like, but it’s too hot to drink during summer. And I like to drink something and I once saw a wine that was made of red grapes that were like, Okay, let’s figure it out. And then that and so it’s it has kind of been organic either by my father or my idea or the the winemakers idea, like everyone kind of pitches in, which I think is great. If you’re if you want to innovate. In Mexico, we were the ones the only ones doing canned wine right now. Yeah,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 28:45
that category is booming. And so it’s still the Mexico yet but
Maria Rivero González 28:51
so I’ve been taking it. I just spent a month in Mexico and I was thinking everywhere and it was either you’re gonna break it or you’re insane. This. This is terrible.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 29:02
Is the since it’s an account, it’s got to be bad.
Maria Rivero González 29:06
Yeah. And we put something in the can where it says like it’s in a canvas. Don’t be fooled. The wine is good, like something like that. We also do canned wine here in New York and we do great with it of course because in the US right. But here in the US we went ahead and we were doing more back to basic things and we’re doing this and for program. So we bought a few arm for us and we’re experimenting with skin contact. carbonic maceration. We’ve done everything from skin contact, carbonic maceration. Of course,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 29:41
one second. someone’s like, My dogs are freaking out. Okay, back again. We just had a little we’re having some work done in our house, so I had to go help the guy. So you were talking about the amphoras.
Maria Rivero González 29:55
Yeah, so the Amphur program, the we’re firm believers and I I was telling you that the grapes, the wine is made in the grapes. So our philosophy is minimal, minimal intervention when it comes to winemaking. So I guess the M for program is us pushing that boundary a lot more. So they’re all there. We don’t have any yeast. They’re all native yeast. And then we don’t do any filtration to them. We do less rocking more, a lot of Mr. skin contact or it depends what we’re doing carbonic maceration. I have to say we’ve done maybe six and we had to throw out like to. So we go seriously into r&d. And we do lose some some money and juice in it. But we were really pushing the boundaries and learning what we can and can’t do best, right? Sure. You, can you because it’s easy to say like, I want to do a race thing. But can the region do a great racing?
Drew Thomas Hendricks 30:59
Yeah. And I would think in New York that would, but more that’s more Fingerlakes? Or,
Maria Rivero González 31:06
you know, I think we do a great reason. It’s very hard to sell it, because everyone keeps referring to. No, I’ll get one from the Fingerlakes.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 31:17
So, oh, there’s the kitty.
Maria Rivero González 31:19
Yeah, there’s too
Drew Thomas Hendricks 31:21
many dogs. Well, they’re all friend around right now. So um, what’s your cat’s name?
Maria Rivero González 31:27
This is milanesa. And there’s some Batman somewhere.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 31:31
Oh, nice, good looking cat. So Emma amphoras like you were saying, you’re kind of pushing the boundaries, what can go wrong? Like with skin contact? Like, what’s some of the things that your test proven? Well, we shouldn’t do that again.
Maria Rivero González 31:45
I think because we’re pushing the limits of minimal intervention and you have the skills for a little longer, you risk the BA. And you know, I have so much trouble with all this natural wind situation. Because as a producer, you’re like, what does that even mean? Right? Tell me tell me if you if you’re doing native premeditate fermentation tell me what do you are? aren’t doing but saying natural wine means nothing to me. Yeah. And, and then a lot of people are like, Oh, it has that funkiness. Well, does it have that funkiness? Or does it have a mistake? And is the VA just way out of control?
Drew Thomas Hendricks 32:29
Yeah, getting people to believe Yes. Should be funky. That’s the way it’s supposed to drink? No, it can still be clean.
Maria Rivero González 32:35
It should be clean. And it should taste well. And if it’s funky, it’s because it’s funky on on. Maybe a little I don’t know. Massumi or, but not but not on the acidic none, not on the melodic acidity or not on the things that matter to make a wine clean and correct. So I guess we push those boundaries, and sometimes we don’t make it right. Right.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 33:03
Yeah. So you’re so you’re doing both native yeas in, in New York and in Mexico?
Maria Rivero González 33:07
Yeah, actually in Mexico. I want to say 85, or 85% of our production is now native yeast.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 33:15
Oh, wow. Now do you use? Are you harvest harvesting is not right. But you’re cultivating the native use or is it? Whatever is on the grapes, what happens?
Maria Rivero González 33:24
In Mexico, whatever we have on the grapes and on the facility happens? Here in New York, we actually did do like two Kickstarters for two of the wines and the other three were left alone. So I think we kickstart when we need here. But in Mexico, it’s you know, in Mexico, it’s also not very valued. Like it is in the US the fact that you don’t add yeast. So we didn’t tell anyone, we were just trying to be better and make better wines. And we started slowly and suddenly it’s like, oh, we’re out of an 85%
Drew Thomas Hendricks 33:57
Oh, wow. Now how would you characterize the differences between the yeas in Long Island versus in Mexico? In your
Maria Rivero González 34:08
in this space,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 34:10
kind of the use that each each the native use on kind of park their own kind of nuances, whether it be floral or whatever? Do you see it too in the wines? Or is it all with the terroir?
Maria Rivero González 34:21
I think it is a difference. And also I think it’s it’s that it’s integrate, but it’s also what you’ve used before because it stays in the winery. Right? Definitely, I think in New York, and I don’t know if it’s the use or the expression of a grape with the yeast but it feels a little more yeasty. A little more like like like bread. Be you’re
Drew Thomas Hendricks 34:49
never good for this. The sparkling would pick up that nice kind of Toasty Bread nuance,
Maria Rivero González 34:54
how we have a I’m drinking so much of that now. I’ll send you some we have a sparkling racing on the lease. Oh, that’s Oh, yeah, that just keeps that texture and that like, not eat texture, but it’s super fresh and high acidity on the mouth. It’s just sounds phenomenal. Yeah. And that’s, that’s our answer to everything because it’s still losing. Everyone’s like no Finger Lakes. I’m like, Okay, I’ll do something different with this.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 35:19
sparklers. Oh, that sounds fantastic. So I mean, this question I tried to ask people, I kind of see how clearly stay motivated. But how do you stay motivated? 10 years and you just launched the other winery? You’re constantly innovating. But where do you where do you find all this, like passion and desire to keep going?
Maria Rivero González 35:42
Honestly, to me, I keep going back to where it all started. And it’s it’s really kind of drives me back again. So I, I go to Parres to the same place where we started and I will Finn has been with us for 30 years, he handles the production. And we have 200 people there that work the land with us. We also have pecans. So it’s wintertime, pecans. I don’t know the serenity of being there. And these people doing working the land. They in there. We have three generations there. Oh, wow. And I asked him when I push them on. Some of them go to college, and they don’t want to work with us anymore. Which is great, because it’s a daughter and the granddaughter but others are like, Why? Why would I leave this beautiful place? And that just kills me every time. I’m like, they they really? I feel like they understood life a lot more than we do.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 36:39
Yeah. You mentioned to Cannes Agadez, have you tried doing anything with pecan liquor or bitters?
Maria Rivero González 36:48
Ah, don’t don’t don’t tell my father anything. Three years. She’s like, let’s do a pecan liquor. I’m like, sure. Sure. Sure. We’ll get to it. They do it embarrass. It’s come on. It’s just it’s I feel like it’s not very marketable. It’s very heavy. We will need to find that and in between. Okay. Like, well, we do chocolate cover pecans and salsa. Well, the pecans and we’re doing all sorts of pecans.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 37:14
Sounds good? No. Pecan bitter would be good. Like, in the old factory, we’d
Maria Rivero González 37:20
be the bitter and it was amazing. But I don’t know it would need a very specific market to sell it to know. Yeah, the whiskey market. Yeah. We did all kinds of bitters. We had a restaurant at some point,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 37:33
or you didn’t do that. Okay. Yeah, I can see that the natural progression there.
Maria Rivero González 37:37
That was a nightmare. It was beautiful. But it was a nightmare. I will I would never do it again. But I would do the product that we did for the restaurant.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 37:46
That’s fine. So let’s see what got it what’s next?
Maria Rivero González 37:50
Hmm great question. I think I think New York is still on those early stages especially because of COVID I think we where we want it to be this year I think it’s gonna take me well maybe another year or two years especially wholesale right it just killed us because we we went straight into COVID We actually launched wholesale February 2019. By March my my or the shooter was calling and saying no one no one wants to buy a new brand. What do I do and I was like, make them it was it was not easy. But what’s next? I don’t know. Hopefully. One more. One more 100 Another underdog region in Europe.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 38:39
Oh, that will be fun. Oh world next next step world domination
Maria Rivero González 38:46
No, but no one I feel like three is a great number if we do like I would really round it up and no one is really doing that and I think there’s so long
Drew Thomas Hendricks 38:54
as the southern hemisphere where you can keep the keep your production going around year round.
Maria Rivero González 39:00
Yeah, that’s one of my one of my one of my brothers says that but I really want to live in Europe. So
Drew Thomas Hendricks 39:05
okay, yeah, maybe the fourth one
Maria Rivero González 39:09
is the southern hemisphere is I don’t know I wouldn’t know which is an underdog region that I would want to take maybe your why.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 39:18
Oh, yeah. I don’t think I’ve had a your one on one.
Maria Rivero González 39:21
You haven’t. Oh they do tonight? Oh, like nobody’s business. Really? Oh yeah.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 39:29
That’s one of my favorite varietals that were the
Maria Rivero González 39:32
best ones out there. I’m gonna search one out there doing nice Albany news as well.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 39:38
Okay. Oh, nice.
Maria Rivero González 39:41
Oh yeah, it could be
Drew Thomas Hendricks 39:43
I’m gonna look into that and keep an eye out for it. So Maria is we’re kind of wrapping down here what um, where can people find out more about you and RG NY winery and RJ MX
Maria Rivero González 39:54
I guess or Instagram so always I like to think that they’re up to date. rgmx.mx and rgnywine.com websites are this the exact same. We’re very good in trying to communicate with people through them. And we do. We are actually great on the hospitality, as you said. So if people are ever out in New York or Mexico, definitely our events are one of our strong suits.
Drew Thomas Hendricks 40:25
Yeah. Looking through your site, some of those some fantastic events.
Maria Rivero González 40:30
We’re doing. I told you, we’re doing the Moto, late October, the other Moto, so we’re setting up their friend Ariel Tarr properly. We’re teaching people what data means while we wait for the dead. We’re having house of Yes. From New York, do a show and we have a Mexican food. So to be oh, gosh,
Drew Thomas Hendricks 40:49
that sounds fantastic. I wish I didn’t live on the West Coast. That sounds fantastic. Well, Maria, thank you so much for joining us today.
Maria Rivero González 41:00
No, thank you for having us. And I’ll send you some wines and I’m dying to hear you’re
Drew Thomas Hendricks 41:05
absolutely we’ve got to have a tasting. We obviously have a supplementary tasting series on this. Oh, good. Great. That’s what we like to do that. Well, thank you so much.
Maria Rivero González 41:15
Thank you, Drew. Have a great day.
Outro 41:24
Thanks for listening to the Legends Behind the Craft podcast. We’ll see you again next time and be sure to click Subscribe to get future episodes.