It was on a hunting trip with my friend and business partner Doug Giles when I learned the true art of smoking and choosing a great cigar. It wasn’t just about grabbing any cigar but selecting one that’s of high quality and savoring it at the right time with the right drink. That time might be kicking off a hunting trip or celebrating the big kill. It wasn’t just the cigar; it was the celebration it enhanced.
Doug loves to smoke cigars and knows the great ones from the good ones. It was on this hunting trip we took together that he suggested, “Hey, since we’re successful website partners, why don’t we start a cigar line? I’ve got a guy we can buy cigars from in Nicaragua. We can private label them.” I said, “Why not? Let’s do it.”
We applied for our tobacco license. We got labels designed and printed. We imported a shipment of cigars, a highly rated producer of hand-wrapped cigars, and started selling Safari Cigars. We did that for a couple of years, very casually, more as a hobby than trying to make money at it. We reached the point where Doug’s son-in-law wanted to buy me out. I agreed to it as long as I could continue to import the same cigars and sell them under my own label, Vallorani Cigars.
The Luigi and the Aurelius are fantastic cigars. Really, I have yet to smoke a better one, and everyone I’ve shared them with has found them nothing short of astounding. That’s what makes it exciting for me to offer them to the public—because I know when people receive a Vallorani Estates product, they will not be disappointed. I would not sell a product I thought somebody would be disappointed with. I put my name, Luigi’s name, on my products. You know they’re good if I do that. I can’t let down his legacy or my own.
Vallorani Coffee
Another product that resonates for me came to my attention by accident. One of my employees, Eric Rauch, had been roasting coffee at home and bringing it in to drink at the office. I could smell it down the hallway in my office. At that point I had a Keurig in my office, but I would tell my assistant, “I don’t want it. Go get some of Eric’s good coffee.” Ten minutes later, I’d have a blissful cup of the best coffee I’d ever had. It smelled amazing. It tasted amazing. Soon I began to realize the coffee was so good that I no longer needed cream and sugar.
I told Eric, “Why don’t you bring this in for the whole staff? You roast the coffee, I’ll buy the beans.” He said, “I’ll need a bigger roaster to roast for the office.” He was using a tiny countertop roaster.
We canceled our subscription to the crummy, stale, office-coffee delivery service, and Eric started bringing in the good stuff he was roasting from home on a bigger roaster we had bought. It wasn’t long after that when I realized we could sell this coffee to the public. I hate hoarding life’s privileges!
Again, we’d need a much bigger roaster if we wanted to sell coffee on that kind of scale. So we upgraded to a larger roaster . . . and today, due to demand, we use an even larger commercial roaster to double our output to one hundred pounds per day! We made the choice to provide the public with a full, sixteen-ounce bag of freshly roasted coffee beans instead of the industry-standard, twelve-ounce bag that starts as sixteen ounces and loses mass as it roasts.
Eric and his department came up with the name Thrasher Coffee because the brown thrasher is the Georgia state bird. Our Thrasher logo is very popular, and people love the brand, especially locally. Our online store offers autodeliveries to save time and money, or even a sampler of the variety of roasts and blends we carry. Customers might like espresso and decaf this month and a medium-dark blend next month. We thought over every detail to get it just right.
For everything I’ve ever enjoyed I’ve wondered how to make money by providing the same enjoyment to the public. So the segue into a coffee business didn’t seem like such a stretch, though I had no real idea how to successfully sell a boutique food product over the Internet.
Mass-market consumers are often looking for cheap prices, particularly if they cannot taste the quality before purchasing. Unlike a bumper sticker that is what it is, coffee can be a stale, big-box-brand canister dug out of the back of a pantry, or it can be a craft coffee, freshly roasted in small batches to provide a gourmet experience.
It became quickly apparent that I was going to experience a challenge with this business because I was trying to mass-market gourmet coffee over the Internet, and until they could figure out the teleporter, I couldn’t give people a sample before they committed to the value.
That’s when, out of the blue, Seth Gragg contacted us and gave us his resume—sales experience and management experience. Yet he’s the most down-to-earth guy you could imagine. He’s not a slick salesman. He’s just a real authentic human being who loves his coffee. He truly believes in the product. He is a rock star and owns his role completely. Once we brought him aboard, the business doubled its revenue.
Since Eric, who helped get Thrasher Coffee off the ground, moved on to another position, Seth has been a one-man band determining the source, roasting the beans, and making local sales. People buy locally because of Seth’s presentations at events and businesses. He also has been instrumental in working with Liz and me to establish client relationships in order to customize private-label coffee brands that are sourced by Thrasher Coffee.
The Thrasher brand has become popular, but I wanted to create a luxury, Italian-themed brand for Vallorani Estates, so I also created my own coffee line: Vallorani Coffee. We currently offer an Italian roast called Buon Giorno, which has been a top-selling favorite with it’s chocolaty notes that also hint of blueberries. We also created a high-caffeine blend as our alternative to Death Wish Coffee, named Elysium. Elysium is the paradise of the blessed, according to classic Greco-Roman mythology. Why wish for death when you can experience Elysium?
Seth has been one of the best hiring decisions I’ve ever made. He’s got us into a plethora of local shops and cafes and even local grocery stores. Additional large grocery store opportunities are lining up currently.
My eldest daughter, Bethany, is our director of marketing. Thanks to her efforts in social media and email marketing, she assisted Seth in quadrupling sales in a single year. A big inspiration for me has been recalling the pleasure my grandfather Big D took in his cups of strong coffee. The smell of freshly roasted Vallorani Coffee brings that memory back every day.
One of our repeated compliments has been from the light-and-sweet coffee drinkers who agree with me that they don’t need sweetener anymore because our coffee tastes so good.
Have you ever considered that coffee can have tasting notes similar to that of wine? I hadn’t until I experienced the flavors of an amazingly good, freshly roasted coffee that had my taste buds exploding over hints of toasted marshmallows or blueberries and dark chocolate.
Vallorani Wine
Quality is what sets my products apart, and that goes for the wine I love to drink as well. There was a time when I could drink liquor all night long. The first thing I’d do when I got home was pour some vodka on the rocks to de-stress from the busy workday, and I would de-stress well into the evening.
In 2016 I made the decision to stop drinking this way for health reasons. I want to be around to enjoy my grandchildren, and possibly, my great-grandchildren. If my liver is shot, I won’t get to experience that privilege.
Now, my alcohol consumption is much more deliberate and thoughtful and reserved for special occasions. I select my drink thoughtfully. I savor it. It’s a special enjoyment. It’s so much more enjoyable than feeling I have to drink every night to drown my stress. When you’re drinking that way, you honestly don’t even taste it any more.
When you stop being able to taste a food or beverage and it has become something you require to survive, whether it’s tobacco or alcohol or anything else, I think you’re missing out on the real benefit of that privilege. You’re potentially endangering your health if it gets to that level. Moderation is the key.
Of course, you’re free to live your li
fe however you want, but I’d had enough of this modern grab-and-go lifestyle. I now seek to enjoy mandolin moments on a more contemplative level and encourage others to do so as well.
I started growing grapes in 2012 as a result of talking with my grandfather about how he and Luigi used to make wine together. In 2011 when my brother, father, grandfather, and I made our special trip to Italy, it was grape harvest time. We were driving back to the hotel after having eaten at Big D’s favorite restaurant outside of Offida, Italy, when he said, “Raymond, pull over to the side of the road. Brandon, get me some of those grapes,” and he pointed to a vineyard by the roadside.
I wasn’t sure if I was allowed, but my father said, “When Big D speaks, listen.” What could I say? “And pick some olives too,” Big D continued. So we pulled over, jumped out of the car, and grabbed a small handful of grapes and some olives. Big D didn’t want to eat the olives really, just look at them. Those grapes were delicious.
He started telling me all about how he and his dad, Luigi, used to make wine. He even shared a recipe—very basic—and the process they went through. It wasn’t enough to really get started on, but it was enough to inspire me to go home and plant grapevines.
At the time, I only had about three acres, but my landscaper, Randal, and I brought two-year-old vines from a winery in California and planted French and Italian wine grapes: cabernet, chardonnay, merlot, pinot grigio, pinot noir, and sangiovese. Eric, who helped start Thrasher Coffee, was extremely interested in wine, so he helped me make our first twenty bottles of wine from the small batch of grapes we gained from our first harvest in 2013.
At this point, wine making was an experiment, purely a hobby, just rolling the dice and playing around. It was a nod to Luigi and Big D more than anything. I wasn’t actually planning on making a business with wine.
Then, one day, Eric casually mentioned to me, “Brandon, I was doing some research and I found out there’s a vineyard in Italy with your last name, Vigneti Vallorani.” I checked, and it turned out they were located near Offida, Italy, where my grandfather had spent most of his childhood and where Luigi was from originally.
Needless to say, I was astonished and intrigued. We found the vineyard on Facebook and got in touch with Rocco, the founder. This wine is very popular in Italy, and we couldn’t wait to try it.
Shortly thereafter, Liz came into my office for a signature. She had filled out all the paperwork to apply for a permit to import wine into the US. This is one example of the steps taken by many of my employees to expand our arena of influence. As I mentioned earlier, they climb a hill because they are inspired to carry out my vision.
In 2015 we imported our first shipment of Vigneti Vallorani wine. The Italian company also grows olives and manufactures olive oil, which we’re also now importing. It is absolutely the best olive oil I’ve ever tasted. You could almost make popsicles from it!
In the Marche region of Italy, Rocco founded the business from the grapevines his grandfather had planted years before. As the industrial age took over that region back in the early 1900s, landowners were selling off their vineyards and their land to seek higher profits in factories. The Italian government made a law that they must give first right of sale to those who had been working that land.
Livio Vallorani, Rocco’s grandfather, had been working this land, and he and a friend determined to purchase a small chunk of it. A couple of generations later, Rocco took it from a farm making wine for the family to a much bigger enterprise. Vigneti Vallorani currently produces twenty thousand bottles annually, which are enjoyed nationally in Italy and are now available in the US through Vallorani Estates.
Rocco, in his thirties, not only went to school to study viticulture but also worked with internationally recognized vineyards in New Zealand and in Oregon. He wrote a thesis on various techniques and, essentially, has the equivalent of a master’s degree in viticulture. Not only is he a skilled vintner but he also has proved to be a brilliant marketer and a like-minded compatriot.
The business is run completely by him, his younger brother, and his dad. They recruit friends to pick grapes for the annual harvest. Following Rocco’s developmental ideas, they’ll be increasing their bottling output to between thirty-five and forty thousand annually within the next year or two due to vineyard expansion. As I am doing, Rocco’s carrying his family legacy forward and has turned it into a viable and growing business.
Liz, Tracey, and I went to meet Rocco face to face to see where and how we could expand our globally connected partnership to provide the privileges of life to the world. Until then, I hadn’t really understood how Rocco operated or the synergies between our businesses.
Considering the output and the highly rated quality of the wine, I expected a massive business with dozens of workers scurrying around in big offices.
When we arrived, we found a beautiful yet modest home, nestled in the hillside overlooking my ancestor’s Apennine mountains. We were greeted by two tail-wagging dogs, happy to see visitors. Rocco appeared from around the side of the house, welcoming us to his place in exceptional English.
We walked nearly every inch of the property as he explained which grapes were planted on which sides of the hills and pointed out vines his grandfather had planted sixty-five years earlier. I took lots of photographs of how everything operated, wishing to mirror it back home in my own small vineyard. Rocco’s knowledge is impressive. What an amazing operation is tucked away in those hills!
Each wine has a name and a story. But what really surprised and touched us was that while we were enjoying this fabulous tour of the vineyard and its operations, his mother and father had been preparing an amazing—and massive—lunch for us. Neither of them spoke a word of English, but the warm hospitality with which they came out to meet us and bring us to the table was genuine: “Sit! Mangia! [Eat!]”
They had prepared carbonara . . . and roasted chicken . . . and salad . . . and killer, fried, stuffed olives—all preceded by antipasto of fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, salami, and mortadella. Each course was accompanied by vineyard wine pairings. As we sat back to loosen our belts, fruit and pastries and, of course, café and sambuca were presented.
Their warmth and hospitality was nothing short of inspiring. I knew then that I wanted to create this same kind of “Come in, come in, eat, enjoy!” hospitality that our Italian counterparts offered to us so freely back here in the US.
After dinner, we started talking through our family trees because having the same last name and origins in the same town of Italy seems to guarantee a connection. Rocco translated for his parents, and they nodded and agreed in Italian. We are still working with an ancestry research firm to help us make the connection between Rocco’s grandfather Livio and my great-grandfather Luigi.
Then I had the privilege of offering a Vallorani cigar to Rocco’s father, Giancarlo. He lit up immediately and enjoyed it right there in the house with a huge smile on his face. I’ve got pictures of Giancarlo and Rocco and Rocco’s brother Stefano smoking Vallorani Estate’s Luigi cigars.
Looking back, it was a most memorable moment as I marveled that this was a reuniting of the Vallorani family. Smoking Luigi cigars in Luigi’s stomping grounds with these great partners and getting to share the enjoyment of life’s privileges together was an amazing and life-changing occasion.
One of the things I particularly like about Vigneti Vallorani’s operation is how eco-friendly and thoughtful the owners are about how they grow grapes and use energy. They only grow grapes indigenous to that region, and they use traditional wine-making techniques. They don’t use pesticides, preferring instead to adhere to the pest prevention provided naturally by the ecosystem. For example, there are bugs whose young, when hatched, will cause rot inside the grape clusters. Letting grass grow close to the vines allows spiders to eat these egg-laying bugs and also enhances the flavor of the grapes as they fight with the grass for the earth’s nutri
ents.
Vigneti Vallorani also produces 80 percent of its energy through solar power and natural-cooling methods. Rocco Vallorani is an astute man with visionary passion to create a world-renowned and eco-friendly winery, and we are honored to be a US partner with our Italian counterpart.
I really like that model of sustainability and conscious environmental friendliness. A lot of people imagine that capitalists will abuse the earth just to make money, but in fact, I take the job of looking after the planet we’ve been given very seriously.
Back home in Georgia I expanded, buying more land and planting two hundred additional vines of almost-exclusively Italian grapes. Sangiovese grapevines are grown on about a third of our vineyard now. I’m hoping 2017 will be a good harvest year.
As I try to establish my American version of the Vallorani vineyard, we continue to work with Rocco to provide the US public with an established, award-winning collection of wines that already bears my last name on the labels.
Initially, we’ll be selling four of their wines: Zaccari is a white wine and represents the kind of family nickname found in an area populated by many with the same last name. The second wine, Avora, is one of the crispest, freshest, and most delicious white wines I’ve ever enjoyed. It is named for the cool exposure from the Adriatic Sea breeze that kisses the grapes growing on the north/northeast-facing hillside. Koné, a word in the local dialect that means “something of great value,” is a premium red wine. My personal favorite is the red wine named Polisia, which is the name of a local legend involving a Roman governor’s daughter, back when the Christians were being persecuted by the Roman Empire.
The Wolves and the Mandolin: Celebrating Life's Privileges In A Harsh World Page 12