Kevin O'Leary is an entrepreneur, author, politician and television personality, perhaps best known for being one of the Sharks on ABC's鲨鱼坦克为了他的昵称，奇妙先生。这位67岁的加拿大人是O'Leary Financial Group的董事长，该公司包括一家私人早期风险投资公司，他的鲨鱼坦克deals and a growing roster of other businesses.
奥利里（O'Leary）也是一个热情的葡萄酒爱好者，在葡萄酒行业的各个方面进行了实验之后，他推出了商店。必威手机登录该网站与老式葡萄酒庄园合作，其中包括由O'Leary从Vintage Wine Estates Portfolio策划的葡萄酒。自20年前成立以来，Vintage Wine Estates已成为美国排名前15位的葡萄酒生产商，每年从加利福尼亚州，华盛顿和俄勒冈州出售超过200万个葡萄酒。
O'Leary recently sat down withWine Spectatorsenior editor MaryAnn Worobiec while wearing a beret and tastevin to chat about his wine passion.
Kevin O'Leary:I've decided we should have some fun with this. I put on a little accoutrement here.
葡萄酒观众：我见过您以前穿着贝雷帽和Tastevin。告诉我有关他们的信息 - 您是角色吗？
KO:The truth is, I've been wearing a tastevin for decades because I am a member of the Chevaliers du Tastevin, which is a Burgundian Society.
You may be aware that we are bound by the old code to wear our tastevin and our ribbons every time we gather. I usually don't wear my colors when I'm promoting my own wines. But when I go over to Burgundy, I'm wearing my tastevin and wearing a beret. That's just how I roll.
WS:葡萄酒如何成为您生活的一部分？
KO:我小时候（七岁）我亲生的父亲去世了。他只有37岁。我的母亲再婚了，我的继父在葡萄酒方面非常了解。
他在联合国工作。因此，我们每两年一次前往不同的国家 - 坎波迪，突尼斯，埃塞俄比亚，摩洛哥，塞浦路斯，日本，瑞士，法国和德国。即使在那个时代，葡萄酒也不是欧洲的大忌讳，儿童在桌子上喝酒。有时他们的父母将其浇水。我的继父在8岁时开始向我介绍不同的葡萄品种。
I became pretty knowledgeable about the differences between the Left and the Right bank in Bordeaux. All of these things I just thought every kid learned.
As I got older, I started collecting and trading wine futures. I was pretty good at it. I knew my vintages, and I always consulted with winemakers, and my father was really knowledgeable. I now have five commercial cellars around the world. I'm very active in collecting and investing and trading.
I eventually said to myself, I wonder why I can't be in the wine business. Our family makes our own wines. We became an investor in over 3,000 acres of vineyards in Sonoma and Napa and Washington state. And I'm an investor now with Vintage Wine Estates. They make my wines [O'Leary Wines]. I'm in partnership with them on a direct-to-consumer business, and I'm really happy. But it's really about the love of wine.
WS:At one point you had the brand O'Leary Fine Wines of Canada, right?
KO:我一直认为他们在尼亚加拉（Niagara）生长的赤霞珠是地球上最好的。他们还在加拿大种植黑皮诺。所以，我与种植者的第一个关系是Vineland Estates我们与一系列O'Leary葡萄酒合作，非常成功。他们被LCBO（安大略省酒类控制委员会）列出，该委员会是世界上最大的葡萄酒购买者之一。您仍然可以找到它们，这就是这种关系的起源，与老式的葡萄酒庄园开始了相同的想法。
复古葡萄酒庄园的故事有些不同，因为它涉及一条相当不寻常的道路交叉，可以追溯到几年鲨鱼坦克; there was a deal to sell wine in an individual serving, nine ounce glasses. It was a very famous deal on鲨鱼坦克，当然我参与其中。
WS:我记得那是：Zipz葡萄酒。这是当时对演出的最大投资，对吗？
KO:Yes. The whole idea of single-serve wine really appealed to me and I thought this is such a big idea. I've got to go the biggest retailer in the world, and that's Costco. I've got to partner with Costco, and at the time Annette Alvarez-Peters was the legendary head [wine] buyer of Costco.
So I just took a chance. I thought, maybe she's a鲨鱼坦克扇子。那集在星期五9点播出。星期六早上，我给她的手机号码打电话。我知道她不会回答，因为她不会认识我的电话号码，但我给她留下了语音邮件。我想，缺点是什么？她只是永远不会回我的电话。
Well, 20 minutes later, the phone rings. It's Annette. I said to her I've got this incredible idea. You saw it last night on鲨鱼坦克。She said, Look, single serve wine—I don't think so, but I'll take a meeting at an airport. I'll give you one hour of my time.
And that's exactly what happened. We went to the airport and I brought Linda with me. We met with Annette. She took the sample of the single-serve wine, and she was holding it over her purse and she tipped it. . . and it leaked right into her purse. That was the end of single serve wine in Costco.
But then she said to me, Kevin you're well known as the wine guy. You have a brand. But you can't play in the wine business at 50,000 cases. You'll never make any money. If you want to play in the wine business, you've got to know that 97 percent of the wine sold in America sells for under $15.99 a bottle. You have to be able to ship a lot more cases. Now, you're not going to do that by yourself. You have to partner with someone like Vintage Wine Estates. I'm going to introduce you to Pat Roney and Terry Wheatley.
And that's exactly what happened. And we never looked back.
WS:That's pulling together some important corners of the wine world.
KO:She took mercy on me, and we never looked back because we're now one of the largest purveyors direct-to-consumer in 42 states. We are going to really ramp this up because it's only very fine wines.
WS:Let's talk about that website. I know you're curating the wines, but are you tasting 100 percent of the wines you recommend?
KO:Every single one. I taste every wine. In fact, every night, I am trying something different. I curate wines for my friends and my wife and it's a big deal every night.
I want to really be clear on this in particular talking toWine Spectator。这不是我将我的名字拍在一个品牌上。这就是我。
WS:I've seen some videos of you talking about wine and it seems fairly effortless to you. Do you have any advice for people who are getting into wine but might be a little intimidated by it?
KO:好吧，我已经做了多年了，这就是我学到的东西，并且我从自己的朋友和家人那里学到了它，并且我已经通过业务学到了它。我们在所有这些州都直接涉足消费者，以及我们从美国人那里得到的反馈？从构建块，经典开始。那将是霞多丽和赤霞珠。那些您将在任何地方以及每个价格点都找到的。这就是人们开始的。
有时他们只会喝红色，最终一直都是出租车。有时他们只会喝白色，无论是未涂的还是橡木霞多丽，这都是霞多丽。
What I've learned is the best way to get people to expand their horizons is by trying something different. If you like a Cabernet then try a Zin, try a Meritage, try something else that you don't have to buy 10 cases of it. Just try one bottle of it and go slow. I've been encouraging people to try different varietals. Even Moscato, an ancient wine. It is immensely popular. If produced correctly, it will be crisp, not overly sweet with lots of that beautiful flavor.
I do a lot of video wine tasting notes. I know I can't pass the glass to you through the lens, but in my description of these wines, in the experience of them, I think I communicate the opportunity to people.
WS:许多进入葡萄酒的人以前有另一个职业。但是，即使他们是成功的心脏外科医生或科技企业家，也不是每种技能都转化为葡萄酒，因为这是一项不寻常的业务。有了您参与的所有不同业务企业，您是否找到了可以申请葡萄酒的其他知识？
KO:That is an excellent question. I have been in and around the wine business for decades in one way, or another, as an investor, a futures trader, a collector of wines. There is no point in getting into this business if you don't love wine, that's number one. It has to be something you dream about all day. You can't wait to have your first glass. You have to really love it.
But in terms of the business aspect of it, there are many, many people that have this romantic sense of buying an estate and making 25,000 cases, selling it for $500 a bottle and getting a following. A few people are able to achieve that, but the majority just lose money and they eventually sell off their land because it's so painful to lose that much money for that long.
Wine is half art and half science. But the number one metric in terms of becoming a good investment is logistics; the ability to make it at scale and reach large markets, and that was the lesson learned with Annette. She gave me a priceless piece of information.
Customer acquisition is very, very hard. It's really, really hard. I have a huge advantage—hundreds of millions of people see me every year on television. They know I'm a wine guy. But here's the number one thing: I don't bullshit them. I'm not some person saying I know something that I don't know and then slap my name on it. I live and breathe and drink this stuff every day.
When I talk about a wine, it is because I know it, I love it. I know how it was made. I know the varietals in it. I know the blend. I know exactly the tannins. the sulfites, the sugar, the alcohol content. I know it inside out because I want to know it.
WS:你们中的一部分仍然想要海岸上的小葡萄园，还是不适合您？
KO:不，那不是我。我想和大男孩一起玩。我想参加这种动态的数字2.0美国，它正在与直接面向消费者的模型一起出现。它正在永远改变葡萄酒行业。必威手机登录我们拿走了那些古老的三层分配层，它们效率低下。
There will always be a place for restaurants, there will always be a place for retailers, always going to be a place for that wine store you love at the corner. But there's also millions of Americans who will never go and buy a case of wine. Those who never carry a 39-pound box back to their home. And I can ship direct to them and have a relationship with them and in the years ahead, curate for them and be their wine partner.
