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Tom Natan from https://firstvine.wordpress.com/ (First Vine)  Wine Imports has been very patient with my schedule and we are talking in August and I am just posting it today in February! Thanks I’ve been listening to a few of the podcasts and its been really fun. I’m gonna give the credit to my guests because I love podcasting. It’s so great to meet people who think like I do. It just seems like I have been meeting a lot of different people this year. I am in fourth grade this year and the kids just jumped on the composting. Our garden is in full bloom so I’ve been bringing in dragon’s tongue beans the kids have been loving and carrots and apples and zukes for staff and parents! Tell us a little about yourself. A chemical engineer by training after college I worked for a food product development company. So my work history at least initially was always about food and I’ve always loved cooking. a little bit of knowledge My dad came to US when he taught us a little bit about it. He was also kind of a beer person. So it was kind of up to me to educate myself. After grad school I ended up in DC. I was working ofr and environmental consulting firm and then I worked for an environmental advocacy organization I met people all over the world interested in the environment and I met a woman who was  married to a vineyard in Provence went to visit in 2002 don’t make it to the US. I don’t think people aren’t aware of how much wine is made all over the world. In the Rhone Valley in SE France 6000 vineyards in an area the size of the boroughs of Manhattan. The majority of it isn’t gonna make it over here. The idea percolated for a lot of years to get the wines over We started with 7 wines from 4 producers and it was really fun to get those first shipments. To see those pallets coming in. Then you have to figure out a way to sell them. The whole process of importing wine is full of admin details. A lot of people would find really tedious, but I love that part of the job. I’m not a natural born salesman so that is the toughest part for me It allowed me to combine my education and work background to doing something completely different environmental work As everyone is aware politics is a cyclical thing. You work hard to get something done and the admin changes, they can for the most part can take a lot of it away directing agencies not to enforce or not directing resources towards projects. Once something gets taken away it takes 2xs as long to get it back. It was time to get out of that kind of merry-go-ground Im kind of a bitter and cynical person and that was just making me more bitter and cynical. by and large nobody’s in the wine business because they have to be make the wine families have been making wines for generations people who drink it obviously they like it The importer to consumer chain it’s filled with lots of nice people I’ve really enjoyed it so far My background has allowed me to delve into fermentation I had to study as an undergrad also theories behind the agriculture how they relate to the kinds of foods that we eat and know I import wines from france spain italy   definition of organic is different biodynamic sustainable more and more as how food is produced probably interested in how their wines are produced. probably 5-6 years ago, I’m not sure people wouldn’t have given it that much thought go to the farmer’s market buy some tomatoes and they shake the farmer’s hand at the farmer’s market and go home pick a bottle of wine from their wine rack and not think so much about how that wine was produced. That’s really changed a lot wine industry big industry next door in VA see how wines are made Laws in DC don’t allow wineries to pour wine at farmer’s markets. You can’t get a permit to sell wine at farmer’s markets great way to... Support this podcast