I’m from Queens. I’m co-founder of a brand
of vodka called Pruv. – Are you a Jets fan? – I love the Jets. – Are you telling the
truth cause that felt soft? (audience laughing) – No, I absolutely love the Jets. – I need you to name
two offensive linemen. – Two offensive linemen? Could I talk about Wide
Receivers or Running Backs? – No, dick. Because “people that love a football team” know the offensive line. – Should I have meant to say like? I like, I like the Jets.
– [Gary] Respect. (audience laughing) – It’s given that you’ve
started your career with Wine Library
– [Gary] Yes. – I wanted to see where do you
see the biggest opportunity for innovation for Wine and Spirits brand in the market today? – So, look, you’re going into, first of all, I like you already because that’s ballsy to go into vodka because vodka is past it’s trend which I actually think
begins it’s next opportunity. Two, it’s crowded. Three, it’s really, really
financially intensive. You need money. Right, so I think you know, the nice thing is this falls perfectly aligned
to the world we live in. Right, like you being
part of this community, that’s your only prayer. Your only prayer is to know
what’s going on Meerkat. Your only prayer to win is
knowing what’s going on Yik Yack. Right, and all these things. So, I think place to
innovate is in story telling it’s not about huge billboards anymore. It’s not about going to wholesalers and giving them tons of
dollars for their sales people to kick in the store. It’s about creating a grounds well, but you’ve got to create content and you’ve got create
it in relevant places. You’ve got to find micro-influencers there’s a ton to be done,
but it’s a tough game, man. It’s a real tough game. – It’s tough and I guess
one of the episodes that you said kind of
clearing out the cave – Yes. – before (mumbling)
– [Gary] Yes. – That’s something that
we’re trying to do is just go where other brands are
not going to right now. – 100%, there’s a ton you
need to become the vodka of like elderly Lego builders. (audience laughs) – Like you’re gonna
have to go super niche. – We’re going more
towards like dance music so like EDM influencers,
everybody is there dick face. (audience laughs) – What are you talking about? You’re finished you’re out of business. Next. (audience laughs) – Let’s go up here. We’re going to where other people aren’t. right, like EDM. That’s it, you’re out of your Mike.

I always say I can tell
instantly if something is a hero or a zero but I’m in the wine
section here and I can’t tell what is the difference
between any of these wines. Help me. – Lori, first of all thank
you so much for the question. Big shout out to all the
sharks that I’ve been, mingling with the sharks lately. Look Lori, I think
everybody has this problem. I think that buying wine when
you’re trying to figure it out you’re not going to be able to
make a judgment on the label. Buying wine based on the
label crushes my soul. Buying wine because the
shelf talker says 90 points is the secondary move
that crushes my soul, though Wine Library does
that at scale we put up those shelf talkers
’cause it sells wine. I think the best thing you
can do is form a relationship with your wine person and have them really learn your palate over time. That’s gonna work for you
70, 80% of time ’cause you’re not always gonna be by your
local wine shop or that person might be sick that day, duh duh duh duh. I think the best move in
lieu of the wine person is to try a different
varietal every time you go. By recognizing that trying a
gewurtztraminer or a marson or a russon or a lirac, or a (mumbles) or a lagrein, cornas. Trying these different things, (mumbles) trying new stuff is
always a great way to go. You’re scared that you’re gonna
try something you don’t like but again it’s really no
different than the advice I just gave about Facebook video. When you haven’t tried
something you can’t judge it. Got it? The value of trying something
and creating the context, content is king, context is
god something I love to say. This is another version of it. You got to try new stuff so, build a relationship. Steve you know my pal
at whaddayou got today? Oh weird you’re recommending a pinotage from South Africa cool I’ll try it. But no Steve, he’s sick today? Try something, oh I’ve never
had anything from Lodi before. Or I’ve disregarded buttery
chardonnays for five years. Let me try another one just
to see where my palate is and where those chards are
in California these days. So mix it up. – I wouldn’t recommend you a pinotage.

– [Voiceover] Jill asks,
“One, are you gonna pursue my idea? Two, do you get a lot of quality ideas when you crowdsource a question? And three, do you crowdsource ideas more to engage with your audience or to actually get
serious ideas like mine?” – Jill, this is a great question. First and foremost, it
is not only your idea. That idea of a subscription wine thing has been going on, oh
I don’t know, for about five and a half, six, seven years now I’ve been pounded with that idea, but to answer if we’re gonna do it, the answer is I’m not sure. I’ve been getting more involved
with Wine Library lately. There’s a lot of different
objectives that I want to accomplish that are more top of list, but the Gary Vee subscription or Wine Library
subscription thing is definitely interesting, and
it’s something we’re pondering. I mean, wine of the month clubs have been around forever, and of
course, personalization, or all the other variables
you can add to it. Get it, got it, solid
idea, love your picture by the way on Instagram. Yeah, I think we get quality ideas, and more importantly, quality subjective. To me, it’s my form of listening, and so yeah, I think I get
some quality ideas at times. The truth is I, to answer the
third part of your question, do I do it to engage or am I really looking for the ideas? You know, I’m very
insularly with my ideas. I don’t like getting
ideas from other places, and so I do it more to
engage and to listen and to get a pulse and to collect, and they’re inputs, they’re lightweight. It would be rare for me to
just take Staphon’s idea, but hearing Stephon’s
idea and India’s ideas and DRock’s ideas, and Stunwin’s ideas, and just they’re all little
inputs and then it forms some version. I always feel like I gotta
put my sprinkles on it. That’s been successful for
me, so I think that I’m taking the inputs of the world. That’s why I do so much listening, so much engaging, to get to like an 85, 90% place and then I do
my thing on top of that, and that’s where the
good stuff comes from. – [Voiceover] Megan asks,
“How much of you is creating

– [Voiceover] Jonathan asks, “I import wines from Italy and sell via e-comm and through distributors. I’m currently focusing on
obtaining new distribution and have fallen behind on the e-comm side. Question: What percentage of my time should be split between
each side of the business, and what’s a good way to balance the two?” You know, Jonathan, it’s interesting. I’m trying to give a general answer to the whole market, but I
know your business so well. When you’re importing, I don’t
know what state you’re in, but when you’re doing e-commerce, are you selling to the end consumer? Because you can’t do that
in New Jersey or New York. Are you in a state- He’s in California, and Kermit Lynch, I think, does do that, so I think he can. I think in California,
I was about to say that, thanks, India. In California, ’cause
Kermit Lynch does that, you’re able to actually
sell to the consumer and also sell to distributors. You know, to me, if you
can sell e-commerce 100%, you’re no dope. You know that you’re making 50 cents more on every dollar by selling that way than selling to distributors, but what you know is you’re not that big, and you’re not necessarily
a retailer by trade, and it takes a lot of money and skill to be able to be a good
retailer to sell enough, where the distributors are
giving you the buying power. So my strategy for you is- Now, I’m giving you as
black and white a strategy as I’ve given on this show’s history. 80% to the distributors, 20% of your time, energy, and money to the consumers. Once you get that established, you spend every minute
to turn that into 70/30, 60/40, 50/50, 60/40, 70/30, 80/20, 90/10, maybe 80/20, right? Because you wanna get some restaurants and key retailers to bring
some awareness to it. And for everybody who’s watching, the reason I’m giving him that advice is he just makes more money
if he sells it direct. He’s also far more in control, where you sell to distributors, they’re maybe giving a deal to a retailer, that retail sells it cheap,
and that all of a sudden screws up the pricing in the market. So, that’s the answer. By the way, before you’re
done editing here, DRock,

– [Voiceover] Austin asks, “when
someone give you a horrible “glass of wine, how do you
politely get rid of it?” – Austin, when somebody gives
me a horrible glass of wine, I have no version that is
polite in response to such a negative action. I’m just kidding. You know, I don’t know. My mom crushed it, I mean, we’ve talked
a lot about her, like, it’s very easy, it comes very
natural for me to be polite, I really took a lot of
pride in being the anti-snob in the wine world, and for me to be, like, this is crap, you know, I’m always using the
hedge terminology of, like, oh thanks, by the way, if you like this, you should really try this, and
that’s kind of my polite way of saying, this is crap.
You should check this out, you’re gonna like it a hell of a lot more, and by the way, it doesn’t offend me, and I also, you know, listen,
there is a big part of me that loves tasting crap wine,
because it gives me context. It’s one of the reasons I
like following so many of you on social media. So many of you are putting
out such crap content, it reminds me what is good content. And I know that sounded harsh, and I know a lot of you
are like, “wooo,” right. I know it’s a rule to
not diss your audience, I’m coming to you with straight love,

– Gary Vaynerchuk, I have
an #AskGaryVee question. I’m here in Tasmania at the opening of a brand-new cellar door
winery and oyster bar. It’s a small three hectare
vineyard, seven acres. Now, I’m gonna ask you a question. If you had a seven acre
vineyard and it didn’t have these wonderful
views that we have here, how would you sell lots of wine? How would you do things different to all the other vineyards
that are out there? Cheers, I love you, boy, thank you. – Ah, it’s nice to see the wine stuff show up in the #AskGaryVee Show. I really appreciate the question. First off all, I’ve been to
Tasmania, an incredible place, making some of the most interesting sparkling and Pinot noir-based wines that I think are coming out of the world, yet so many Americans don’t
know it and it’s really sad. Think about how many of
you when you hear Tasmania thought about the Tasmanian
Devil cartoon character and that’s all you got,
which is really too bad considering how incredible the place is. Look, I think that we’ve addressed my– You know, it’s funny, we made a movie. DRock, you crushed it,
let’s link it right here ’cause I know you can do
that in the YouTube world. The Clouds and the Dirt, and
the answer to your question are really clouds and dirt,
or as, way is that I used to say it to my dad, big and small. The way I would sell a lot of
wine is we’d be big and small. Let me explain, you’ve got
a small kind of parcel, you’re not making that much wine, and so the small would be handselling. I’d be flying over to Australia, I would be going into the big
cities within New Zealand, I would probably pick one
or two markets in Asia, and I would literally fly in and hustle. Literally knock on doors,
walk around with sommeliers and salespeople from the companies
that represented my wine, and one by one, restaurant by restaurant, retailer by retailer, sell the product. Taste and sell, taste and sell. The unscalable, the small. Now on the big, and you’ve
heard me give this advice in the past, I would
become a media company. Now look, it’s very easy for me to say that that’s what I would do
because I actually did it. In 2006, while doing the small stuff, the tactical e-mail service, the website, building a wine shop, working the floor on a Saturday and selling. If you haven’t seen my comeback video, (snaps fingers) I know, a lot of editing, Staphon. Those are the small things, but the big things were Wine Library TV, right? I decided to make myself The Critic. I would if I were you for your winery become the authority of food and wine, food and wine, I wouldn’t
go lifestyle and travel, but I would be the
authority of food and wine for New Zealand food and wine,
the cuisine and the wines. I would actually review and
talk about your competitors. With a small parcel, you’re
not competing with anybody, really, ’cause there’s room
for everybody at that level. So I would literally turn yourself, and clearly you’re a very charismatic and good-looking man on
video, you just did it. You felt comfortable doing it. I would execute that at scale. Literally replicate what I
did by putting out content, whether video, which I think you should do based on what I saw, or written form. Become an authority, you
need to be a media company. You need to be bigger than you are brought to you by your wine, so
I would go big and small. But by the way, don’t get
caught up in the glam. While I was showing up on Conan and everybody was quoting me for TV shows and everything was great, I
was still downstairs hustling, trying to sell one more
bottle of Pinot noir. I was still in my office to 11 PM answering people on Twitter,
answering my e-mails tryin’ to get a good deal on a Barolo. I was still doing the small. It’s not playing in the
middle, it’s going big. You need to become the authority of New Zealand food and
wine, and the small, and you have to have the humility to get on a plane, sit in
the middle aisle and go to the Philippines, and
sell a couple of bottles to some random restaurant, got it? – [Voiceover] Scout asks,
“Should all young companies

– [Voiceover] Jimmy asks,
“What’s your favorite “city in the world to drink wine in?” – Jimmy, my favorite city in the world to drink wine in is the city that has my friends and
family in it at that moment that I’m sharing that wine with. There is no, like you know, atmosphere that dictates my happiness of drinking wine, there’s
no pretty french riviera, or the gorgeous mountains,
I don’t give a crap about that stuff, what I care is who am I drinking it with? So, I could be in Newark,
big ups to Newark, not dissing, if it’s with somebody I love, and we’re enjoying wine, then that’s what is the driving force,
and so then it would be Newark, the hotel lobby in Austin, in south by 2007 is one
of my favorite times of all time of having wine. The parking lot of a Jets game, you know, inside the caves of wineries in Tuscany, like it’s happened in a lot of places, but
it’s never been the setting. I don’t care about that stuff. It’s been the people I’m sharing it with. – [Voiceover] Bill asks, “I’m
in sales for third generation

– Gary, is the high-end wine
business just a complete hoax? (laughter) Does anyone actually ever taste the oak? What does oak taste like? – That’s a great question, Steph. Is it a hoax? It’s as much of a hoax
as the art world is, it’s as much of a hoax
as a high-end restaurant that charges, you know, $10,000 a head for a once-in-a-lifetime meal. It is the classic example of
supply and demand, my dear. And coming from a, you know,
business-oriented TV show and living in the world that you’re in, is a stock price a hoax? The answer is, yes and no. To me, it’s not a hoax, because
I live a very basic life of supply and demand. I think when I get paid to
speak onstage is a hoax, and I did for awhile until I
realized, well, not really, because I’m compensated for
what I do for that event. And so, you know, does an actor who gets
paid $8 million for a movie but never gets brought
up, like an athlete, for being overpaid, is that a hoax? Yes and no. When you start understanding that actor brings people into the theater, or makes people watch, and then they sell advertising against it. It’s all an arbitrage. And so the wine world,
back to the basic question, can you taste differences in wine? Absolutely. I live it. I mean, I can taste the difference between an $80 wine and a
$10 wine pretty consistently. Can I taste the difference
between the $1000 wine and a $500 wine, or a $1000 wine and a $100 wine? A lot of times, no. The beauty of wine is,
everybody’s got their own palette, back to art or music, right? Is it a hoax that an EDM DJ gets a ton of people
into a place in Sweden? For me, well, actually,
I’ve gotten more into EDM, but, like, theoretically it is. But, you know, and that’s it. It’s brand, it’s supply and demand, it’s how the game works, and so the answer is, I
don’t think it’s a hoax, but if you’re watching this show right now and you don’t appreciate the game, so here’s a good piece of advice, let’s get into real good advice. Don’t drink good wine. Let me say that one more time. Don’t put yourself in a position to understand why it’s not a hoax. Don’t sit first class, because then you realize it’s not a hoax, because you like it better
than the middle seat in coach. Don’t get front-row seats to a ballgame, then you understand that it’s not a hoax compared to sitting in the upper deck. It’s context, baby. And so the bottom line
– that made me happy. (laughter) The bottom line is, it’s all perspective, it’s all supply and demand, but that’s what it comes down to, you start understanding why these things fetch the
dollar amounts they fetch when you actually taste it, versus you theoretically
complain about it. – [Voiceover] Cédric asks, “How do you not procrastinate that well?”

– Hey, Gary Vee, Scott Wisotsky here, CEO and co-founder of Campus Pursuit. I run a college marketing business, and I wanted to ask you
about niche marketing. In Wine Library did you market
to people interested in wine, specific niches within
the wine community– – Yes. The answer is “yes” and “yes.” One thing in marketing
that I’m a very big fan of is broad and narrow. Tanks and bombers and Navy SEALs, there’s a purpose for both, so we marketed to wine lovers. Then we focused on Burgundy lovers, and especially when SEO came
along and email segmentation in the early 2000. We were buying keywords on not just wine. I always famously talk about owning wine. What I don’t talk about is
what happened the next year: Cabernet Sauvignon, Silver Oak, Burgundy, Chateauneuf du Pape. So we started going narrow. All of us who’ve ever done any
SEM know about the long tail. That’s where all the magic happened once there was supply and demand that’s happening in social now, long tail. And so, (thinking with mouth)
the answer is “yes” and “yes.” You’ve got to really recognize
the tactic dictates– (phone rings) Oh, look at that. I didn’t have this off. The tactic really dictates the purpose. But you’ve always gotta
go broad and narrow to have a complete picture, in my opinion, and so we did both, and
I continue to do both. And I will always do both because they all have a mission at hand. There’s a reason U.S. government
military has Navy SEALs and Green Berets, because
sometimes you can’t just go big, you’ve gotta go narrow, niche, surgical. Facebook dart posts,
18 to 55-year-old males because you’re selling some male thing, and then 18 to 19-year-olds in Texas who like the rodeo and wine. Got it? Both, both, both. (strong, beating music) – [Voiceover] Ruke S, “What would you do

– [Voiceover] Mark asks, “What’s behind “the recent big surge
in wine time for you?” – Mark, what’s up brother? Great question. I can’t answer you fully. I can just wink a whole bunch. I can also refer to the
fact that I just tasted this insane Chateau of the
Pop and it is remarkable. Let’s link it up in the section if you’re a baller looking
for a gift for your family, $82.13 of pure liquid magic. Yeah, I’m flirting. Stuff’s brewing. Also check out winelibrary.com,
let’s link it down there. Stunwin, show his face, wrote an incredible article yesterday. Let’s link that up. There’s stuff happening. The question of the day
was answered, or asked,