Episode 209: Ashley Graham Upended the Fashion World. Next Up? Wine

[MUSIC] Hello and welcome to the Wine Enthusiasm podcast. You're serving of drinks culture and the people who drive it. I'm Maria Ugoa, Digital Executive Editor here at Wine Enthusiasm. Today we're welcoming a very special guest onto the podcast, Ashley Graham. Ashley is a trailblazing supermodel, entrepreneur and advocate who has fundamentally reshaped the fashion industry. Now she is entering the wine world with a bang and launching what the Mama 3 refers to as her fourth child. Luchi, a dry, crisp, fruit-forward lambrusco, inspired by her long time love of the bubbly Italian bread. We chatted with Ashley about all the lambrusco misconception she wants to debunk. Her favorite foods to eat in Amelia Romagna, Valentine's Day plans and how she hopes to bring accessibility to the wine world. [MUSIC] Ashley, so excited to have you here and talk about Luchi. >> Okay. >> So exciting and you've been a Lembrusco fan for a while. I was doing my research as a journalist and going back on your Instagram as one does. And you have been allowed and proud Lembrusco lover for quite some time. I have. I've been drinking it for a long time. And I think the first time I had lambrusco specifically was when I was in Bestia, at a restaurant in LA, Bestia, it's in Brown. And if you haven't been, you have to go, guys. And I had a lambrusco and it was dry and bubbly and yummy. And I remember leaving the restaurant and going, wait, what was the name of that? What was that? I need, I need, and then like, you know, you want to go back, like I even hunted for it on the website. Like Bestia's, but like, you know, there's so seasonal and always turning things over, which is the way a restaurant should be anyways. But my opinion, and I couldn't figure it out. And of course, I don't live in LA. So I was like, dang it. And then from then on, I was like, always just on this journey to find like the next best lambrusco. And it's hard to find a really good lambrusco because they're really, they're at trendy restaurants. Or you might find it in like a boutiquey wine shop in your area. But like my, my mom in Nebraska, she's like, what's a lambrusco? And she had no idea. But my in-laws knew what lambrusco was. And they are in their 80s. And they said that in the 80s, they would drink lambrusco because it was cheap and sweet. And it would, you know, you could have fun drinking it. And you had a great night. And I think that that's one of the things that people think about when they think about lambrusco. And so that, that's something I'm excited to talk about and to change that narrative and that perspective. Right. And, you know, the lambrusco built this reputation in the US at least for being super, super sweet and tiny one note. And luchi is not super, super sweet. It's not, it's dry. You know, there's five different types of grapes when it comes to making lambrusco. And when, when I was making luchi, I went to Amelia Romagna about three times, really perfect it because here's the thing. When you're making something, it doesn't matter what you're making, right? You want to be able to drink it, eat it, wear it, love it, ride it, get into it, right? And I was like, this is my first baby that I'm building from the ground up, like raise the money, doing everything from the beginning. And this is the fourth child my husband wouldn't let me have, by the way. And here, and here I'm birthing luchi. And so I wanted to make sure we really perfected it. And knowing that the five grapes, one being incredibly dry on one spectrum and to the other side being incredibly sweet, we really leaned on the drier side. And the sugar content is low. And, and for people who care, the calorie intake is really low. It's 11% alcohol. And wow. Yeah. So it's very drinkable. It's something you could have for brunch or lunch and not feel like the rest of your day is monopolized by what you had and enjoy. Yeah. That's it. And you know, I think things are trending that way too with, you know, slightly lower alcohol content, not sweet crisp. That sounds very refreshing. So you spent time in the birthplace of Lambrosco. What was that like for you? Well, to know Amelia Romagna is to know a food capital like no other. And I have traveled the world. I have been to many places and I am a lover of food and experience. And when you go to Amelia Romagna and you have the lasagna or the parmesan or, you know, like even even just going to like somebody's known as house and having like a home cooked meal, which I have done in Amelia Romagna specifically. Not to mention we have family that lives in the south of Italy. We go there often. Yeah. In the Regio Calabria. Oh my gosh. Beautiful. On my husband's side. Yeah. And so it's it's it's one of but but Amelia Romagna specifically really because it is the birthplace of Lambrosco. It also has so many like abilities with different types of food. Obviously Italian food, but but you get to taste all these like, you know, incredibly different types of like even fishes and steaks and there's a there's a Michelin star restaurant in the little town there too. It's just absolutely divine. There's a few actually. They're yeah, reddable. I think it's like the food capital of the world and I feel like Lambrosco is so food friendly. And people have this sense of what red wine does and doesn't pair with. But Lambrosco, I mean, the possibilities are endless with pairings. I agree with you, you know, something that that I've been talking about with the team in how we're educating people on what to quote them, put pair with Lambrosco with luchis specifically is that we really want them to get out of that mindset because you can have it with your brunch instead of a mimosa with your eggs and your bagels and locks and it tastes very delicious. Then you can also have it with a hearty waggo steak and it still pulls all the flavors out of that steak and you don't lose any in the integrity of the bubbles and the crisp of your of your chilled sparkling red. Also on a hot summer day laying by the pool, it's something that's incredibly refreshing. But when you want to have your Thanksgiving turkey, it goes really well with that too in your mashed potatoes. So it's a cocktail mixer. We've been making so many beautiful cocktails and martinis. We did a martini, yes, and it's wild that you go, oh, you know, it's like almost like we had like the white lab coats on and we were like, okay, now let's try this, you know. And it's amazing like what you can really like put together. And one of the simplest things we did also recently was a luchi float. We did a little bit of vanilla bean ice cream and some luchi over it and that. It's almost like, you know, you think about like an avocado. But like this is like, you know, your luchi float or like a root beer float, you got your luchi float. Oh, yes. So you are really, you got your hands involved in this process from the very, very beginning to now. For yeah, I'm not going to come in and just smack my name on anything. Like I, I want to come in and I want to be a educated, I want to be enthralled, I want to, I want to be a part of every single thing. I mean, that's the business woman inside of me too though is that I've done a lot of amazing things in my career and I'm really lucky and and blessed to be able to done so many of the amazing things. But to be able to come in and build a business, I'm taking it incredibly seriously. I mean, wine in general for both entrepreneurs and consumers can be quite intimidating and feel quite inside baseball and insular. So, and I wait. It is. And you're, and that's a problem, I think, for the industry that we have to figure out. And so much of your career, you know, your values of accessibility, inclusivity, shine through in your projects. And I'm curious how you're bringing that to luchi. Well, I really am looking at luchi as like a parallel to what happened in the fashion industry with my career. I'm reviving a category that's been dead for a long time. And if you look at the fashion industry and how bodies have changed and image image and like what beauty standards are has changed in a way, I feel though that the the wine industry is ready for that. We know that bubbles are booming, right? When it comes to Perseco's and Champaigns, it's a 10 billion dollar business over there. And there is a whole market of Lamb Roofsco that has not even been talked about touched since the 80s. And I'm just really excited to revive a category that that I did in the fashion industry. And now I'm about to do it in the wine industry. And you're right, that education is going to be a big part of that because a lot of people don't know what Lamb Roofsco is. So that's a whole other learning curve. And you know what? I love meeting those people. There's the two kinds of people. Oh, I've tried Lamb Roofsco. I haven't had in a long time or you need the people of what's lamb brusco and of people in the middle that like you'll meet every once in a while. I actually was walking the Turya secret and one of the girls I was walking with surprisingly told me that that's her favorite drink of all time. So I'm like, and you know, I'm like, okay, Molly, you want to come and do our smile line? Let's, uh, later. Hey, but, but then you meet the people who were like, what's a lambrosco? And that's when I'm really excited because I'm like, here, just try it. Just try it. And then they go, huh, that's so drinkable. That's so lovely. I love how it, it's not too bubbly. It's just a much flavor like an, and it just the excitement around it is really fun. And all of a sudden you could have like two or three drinks and you're like, Oh, I, I just drank the whole bottle. What's going on? Yeah. You're a little kind of okay. Yeah. Definitely not going to like steamroll you. Oh, no, we're not here for that. And you know, thinking about Valentine's day coming up, it's like pinkish red, bubbly, feels romantic. But you want to see something really funny. I know that like wrong podcast people can't see, but I just bought, um, oh my God, cute dance that my, that have Valentine's day, hearts all over them. Sorry. But I just had to stand up. It's the season to be in love and to love one another. And lambrosco is romantic. It is romantic. I mean, to, to, first of all, to be an Italy is romantic, right? And to have a glass of wine and I don't know for me, like, um, my husband and I like to curl up on the couch at the end of the day. And we don't watch TV together. We go through what we call our bookmarks and throughout the day, we're sending each other like little notes to go over at the end of the day so we don't miss anything because our lives are so full. And so it's like have a glass of luchy, go through our bookmarks and just enjoy the evening together, connecting. And we really try to do that at least four nights a week. Four nights a week. Yeah, but, but it's, it doesn't, it's not an hour. It's just like, right, you know, we're sitting down and connecting, but it's that time. I mean, it's like 15 years of marriage. That's what you have to do. Oh, wow. And I like can't even wrap my brain around that level. Me, I, it's truly a me. Yeah. And I think also, you know, weaving romance into everyday life, you know, there was a new study that came out. 75% of people think of wine as a special occasion beverage and for romantic occasions. But as we know in Italy, there's a case to be made for weaving that aspect into the everyday. And I'm curious what you think about that philosophy. Well, I think for me, I don't drink wine every day. I really don't. It's, it's something that like sometimes when Justin, I was sitting down, it's, it's a glass of tea as well. And for me, the wine isn't about like what I'm creating. It's about something that I just want to enjoy. And it's, I'm having a taste for it or whatever. I don't even have to have a whole bottle, obviously, a glass is fine. And, um, but I, I think that putting parameters around things just to create a moment is a lot of pressure. And I just like to not even think about as an indulgence, but think about as just something that I'm enjoying and having for the moment and, and something that I just want. But of course, making those romantic moments is also very fun. Right. Right. And it's not, I mean, Lucy is at an accessible price point, right? 1999. That's kind of amazing. I'm really excited that we were able to do that because again, back to my demographic, I'm, I'm here for the people to have the things that they want accessible to them. And, and I'm really glad that we got Lucy to that price point. Right. Yeah, I was so happy to see that too. Here's a question I have. I'm curious if you have any other interest in the beverage space in terms of, I mean, it's, you haven't even launched this baby yet. So it's obviously having more plants is unnecessary. But I'm curious if your interest has been peaked in terms of the beverage space. I've invested in different beverages, um, and non-alcohol beverages, um, whether they'd be energy or calming magnesium, one of them being tripped. And it's a, it's really, it's a booming business right now. It's growing quickly. So it's always been an interesting space and one that has been growing rapidly, um, across the country. So, but as far as luchy goes, I can see luchy expanding into different skews. But right now, I think our focus is lambrusco, um, only and maybe we go a little drier, maybe we go a little sweeter. But I really want to talk to the people once they try this and see where they want me to take it. Yeah. Makes total sense. Um, I would love to know what your favorite food to eat with luchy is. Oh, well, my go to like, if I'm just like, oh, have it with a slice. Like, go get a New York slice and just have a go and you can sit in the park. You could just enjoy it. And we'll sit in the park with a glass of wine, I guess. I'm taking us to springtime. Yeah, and look, the New York City streets are gorgeous and there's blossoming trees everywhere and you're outside. Um, it's been in Amelia, Romania. I've had it with the best homemade lasagna of my life. And like, it's like, you know what I mean? You've been to a Amelia, right? Yeah. And you know, there's the Talia Talia, the Tortellini, all the egg pasta, egg poff goes. I mean, just get in my bill. And it's like, you go to the corner store in any random little town and it's like the best pasta you've ever had in your life. And I love it at least so much. It's hard to say like, what's my favorite? But, you know, go to as Italian food, obviously, but it goes and pairs. I was just at a sushi club the other night. And you were having luchi with it. And my friends looked at me with their eyebrows raised like, I'm surprised. It goes well with with the sushi. And I was like, I tried to tell you guys, I tried. You know how like your friends are your worst critics. Yes. Oh yeah. You know, Lambrusco and sushi. That's like really beautiful. I'm going to try that because it'll raw fish and rice. Right. A soy sauce with the saltiness kind of like, um, you get it's a lot of it's a lot of big flavors that somehow blend incredibly well. Right. And I think the coldness is very refreshing. Yeah. I mean, we've seen people gravitate towards chilled reds, lighter style reds. So I think now is the time. Now is absolutely the time. Well, I think those are all of my questions. There's anything else you wanted to just communicate about luchi that you didn't get a chance to talk about or mention or emphasize. I'm excited for people to try something new. And if you haven't had a Lambrusco, I'm excited for luchi to be your first because it's the best Lambrusco in the market. In my opinion, I also think that if you're thinking about a great gift or something to bring to somebody luchi is fantastic. It's got the label is beautiful. It's something that your your friends will enjoy, your family will enjoy. And for me, I just I just want you the customer to enjoy it. You know, this is this is about having something to come home to and to relax and a little bit of indulgence, but a lot of bit of just taking in community and also living on yourself a little bit. That's so sweet. And it's the kind of thing you don't have to be an expert to enjoy. You know, at all, I'm not an expert in the wine industry. I just know how much I love Lambrusco. That's really beautiful. And you can put a scoop of ice cream in it. It's I'm going to change my life. It make it specifically vanilla bean, illa bean. Okay, I'm ready. And I can't wait for you to see what we do on International Lambrusco Day, which is June. June. Okay, I'm writing that down. It overgirl. Okay, I can't wait. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Such a treat to talk to you. So excited about luchy. Great blue cheese. Are you a Lambrusco lover or are you a Lambrusco hater who is ready to become a convert? We'd love to know. You can email us your comments and questions at [email protected]. Remember, you can subscribe to this podcast on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you listen to your favorite shows. You can also go to windenthusius.com Backslash podcast for more episodes and transcripts. I'm Maria Yucota. Thanks for listening.