Are Gen Z and High Wine Prices Killing the Industry? Paul Mabray and Andrew Levy Answer.
Release Date: 08/18/2026
Wine Talks with Paul K.
Who does this? I am actually part jealous and part concerned for this mans sanity. He goes to a country, married no less, to visit for a week and hasn't left for 10 years. I'm like "what?" When Matthew landed in Armenia, he didn’t bring a suitcase full of big plans—just a battered laptop and the crazy notion that a tiny country he didn’t even have roots in could become his home. Instead, what happened next might change how you think about destiny, culture, and even what it means to plug in and connect. This isn’t another dry “expat tale” about escaping the ordinary for a bit of...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
The top accolades in the wine trade are tough to acquire. The Master of Wine and the Master Sommelier both can take years if not a decade to study for and pass the tests. But to have both credentials on your resume! I'm like what? Doug Frost is the man...and one of three in the world that have accomplished earning both accolades. It’s one thing to love wine, but it’s another to flat-out admit you may have to drink your entire inventory if nobody else buys in. That’s the raw honesty you’re in for with Doug Frost, a man who admits that in wine, if you want a small fortune, you’d...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
This is cleaver, and grass roots. Vahe has an idea to promote the wines of Armenia, one bottle, one dinner, one enthusiat at a time. And, if you ask me, that is what it is going to take to get the industry grounded again. There is alot of spectulation on the role AI will play in this renassance, and most likely the role will be voluminous, but AI cannon the place of sharing a bottle of wine with a friend. And Vahe is proposing this very idea. If you’ve ever wondered how the wine world can get shaken up by a little friendly challenge, you’re in for a treat! In this episode, host Paul...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
Most...no, all Champagne and Sparkling wine houses will tell you: Champagne is not just foe celebration. Kind of like tinsel in the movie Elf (not just for decoration). Enter Marvina Robinson with an intriguing journey from Wall Street to the wonderful world of wine and Champagne. Who would hang up their proverbial cleats of a steady high paying job for the unknown landscape of adult beverages and uncertainty. Nobody ever told Marvina Robinson that starting a champagne brand as a Black woman from Brooklyn was “a good idea”—in fact, they told her the opposite. She laughed, uncorked, and...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
It takes "b_ll$"to go after industry giants. And it doesn't mean toppling an industry giant, it just means getting a slice of the pie. I have witnessed numerous attempts at this in a variety of sectors, and most fail...and for many reasons..but this idea is working. David Kong might have traded the high-octane pace of New York hedge funds for the delicate clink of hand-blown glass, but don’t think for a moment he’s lost his edge. In this episode, you’ll hear how an outsider to the wine glass industry spotted a wide-open niche, challenged global heavyweights, and built a thriving...
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The crazy world of hospitality can be considered a lost art. It seems more and more restaurants are opening as a walk up, order, take your table number and wait. Hardly a "how are you?" and it all seems lost. Enter Stecca Traverna. An unassuming Italian tavern in the heart of the So Cal surf capital, Hermosa Beach. Then I visited the kitchen, it was so small..."how small was it?" "It was so small that the shrimp didn't fit." Giorgio Vizia jokes that he was born to the sound of pots clanging and sauce simmering—destined for a life in the kitchen before he’d even tasted his first...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
It is going around. The wine business is slow. Slow to change, slow to recognize the market, slow to become digital...shall I keep going. Two gentleman agree, at least on the retails front. Paul Mabray is an old friend. Andrew Levy is a new friend, and they have teamed up, with dozens of wine tech years between them, to solve some problems. Problems that seem natural to fix through tech in our trade. Have a listen, these guys get it. Paul Mabray and Andrew Levy have never been shy about shaking the wine industry’s dusty foundations. They’ve watched as old ideas about how wine gets into a...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
I met Stetson years ago. Orange wine was not a thing. But he was making it a thing. I was intrigued by his commitment to the sector and the develpment of Georgian wine in the US, particularly in Los Angeles. Bringing Stetson Robbins onto this show is like popping the cork on a bottle you’ve never heard of, from a country you can barely pronounce, and finding it’s the most fascinating taste you didn’t know you craved. Forget everything you thought you knew about wine, because this conversation isn’t about chasing the next California cab or French pinot—this is about tracking the...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
I am pretty sure you didn't catch the article in the Somm Journal written by David Schulner. And if you did, you were not as jealous as I was. Well, let's call it inspired. Trading the glitz of Hollywood for the chaos of the restaurant floor, David Schulner doesn’t just pour wine—he pours gasoline on the genteel myths swirling around it. You’ll hear what happens when a successful TV showrunner, fresh off the picket lines of the 2023 writers’ strike, crashes headfirst into the closed ranks of Michelin-star restaurants. Forget those dreamy drone shots over gleaming vineyards; David...
info_outlineWine Talks with Paul K.
I first met Patrick at our favorite steak house in Manhattan Beach; the Arthur J. The wine list there is one of the most thought out I have seen in all my travels. It was Patricks first day there. We had an intriguing conversation and returned a week later to continue our discussion. Serendipitously, by me eavesdropping on a conversation, I learned that Patrick had authored a book: The Last Days of Haute Cuisine. I was seriously taken by this accomplishment and immediately found the book on Amazon and voraciously read it cover to cover. A stroy of food in America that had been...
info_outlineIt is going around. The wine business is slow. Slow to change, slow to recognize the market, slow to become digital...shall I keep going.
Two gentleman agree, at least on the retails front. Paul Mabray is an old friend. Andrew Levy is a new friend, and they have teamed up, with dozens of wine tech years between them, to solve some problems. Problems that seem natural to fix through tech in our trade.
Have a listen, these guys get it.
Paul Mabray and Andrew Levy have never been shy about shaking the wine industry’s dusty foundations. They’ve watched as old ideas about how wine gets into a drinker’s glass have collided with the demands of a digital-first world—and now they’re ready to pour out what most in the business are too scared to say out loud.
Think wine distribution’s stuck in the last century? You’re not wrong. This episode takes you inside the chaos and opportunity of “the final mile,” where millions in brand excitement evaporate because a shopper can’t actually find the bottle they want.
PourNow isn’t just another tech solution. It’s a weapon against dead-end marketing and the three-tier system’s ancient gatekeeping. Mabray and Levy aren’t interested in playing nice with tradition—they’re here to dismantle it.
Ever wondered why the average consumer ends up buying whatever’s on sale, not what they love? Hint: Supermarkets stuff shelf talkers at you because nobody has figured out how to truly connect excitement to purchase—until now.
Amazon’s ambitions to own the alcohol game? They fizzled. Listen in for what really happened behind the scenes—and how most digital marketplaces have failed drinkers and brands alike.
You’ll find out why “omnichannel” isn’t just marketing lingo, but a bare-knuckle fight for survival for small wineries, indie shops, and even industry giants. Turns out, nobody is immune from the shakeup.
Are you ready for the blunt truth about digital marketing “consultants” and the masses of self-proclaimed wine influencers? Mabray and Levy spill the real reasons most of them can’t hack it.
Discover why today’s shopper is digitally native and ruthless—expecting to buy whenever and wherever they want, even if it means bypassing the industry’s sacred cows.
This isn’t a glossy industry PR piece. It’s about hard metrics, hard lessons, and the hard reality that the wine business is forever at risk of being outpaced by its own customers.
Pour yourself something bold, because after this episode, you’ll never look at a wine shelf, a tasting, or an Instagram ad the same way again.
What you will learn:
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🍷 Why the three-tier system’s chokehold on wine sales is crumbling—and who’s panicking behind the curtain
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🍷 The dirty secret of so-called “omnichannel” marketing (hint: it’s survival, not strategy)
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🍷 How most consultants and digital “experts” are snake oil salesmen who can’t deliver real conversions
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🍷 The hidden tech and data tricks that actually trace every ad dollar to a bottle sold—exposing winners, losers, and frauds
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🍷 How PourNow is arming brands and retailers to bypass the old guard, break dead ends, and put power back in the hands of consumers and innovators
YouTube: https://youtu.be/f7_BbMITmE0