Digital Nomads Swarm Armenia—And a 400 year old vineyard? Meet Mathew Zein
Release Date: 09/15/2026
Digital Nomads Swarm Armenia—And a 400 year old vineyard? Meet Mathew Zein
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_outline
Why Most Master Sommeliers Are Still Broke: Doug Frost Exposes Industry Secrets
Wine 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_outline
Is It Going To Work? Ancient Wines, Modern Idea: How Armenia Is Sharing Its Bottles: Vahe Baloulian.
Wine 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_outline
Champagne Rebel: Marvina Robinson Pops the Industry’s Bubble
Wine 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_outline
Visionary Disruption: How David Kong Is Redefining Wine Glassware for a New Generation
Wine 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...
info_outline
Secrets Under the Table at Stecca: What Really Happens in a Tiny Kitchen: Giorgio Vizia and Wimberly Meyer.
Wine Talks with Paul K.
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_outline
Are Gen Z and High Wine Prices Killing the Industry? Paul Mabray and Andrew Levy Answer.
Wine 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_outline
Orange Wine Is Not a Fad: Digging Up Ancient Flavors in Modern Bottles; Meet Stetson Robbins.
Wine 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_outline
Strikes, Somms, and Screwups: David Schulner’s Wild Ride Beyond Hollywood
Wine 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_outline
Are Michelin Stars Ruining the True Spirit of Great Restaurants? Patric Kuh Tells All
Wine 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_outlineWho 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 Old World charm; it’s a crash course in how Armenia—a place you probably imagine as ancient, troubled, or stuck in the past—has thrown the rulebook in the shredder and started rewriting everything.
Pull up a chair. You’re about to get the straight truth from Matthew: a digital nomad, accidental insider, and the founder of Life in Armenia magazine, whose life now flickers between coworking spaces, ancient vineyards, and surprisingly rowdy late-night barbecues. Paul K leads the charge with sharp, candid questions—so expect less travel-brochure, more reality check.
Here’s what your brain is going to download:
-
💻 How Armenia’s leap into 5G, remote work, and startup culture is outpacing expectations—and why tiny size is now a massive tech advantage.
-
💻 The bizarre, science-backed theory that Armenian grammar actually reprograms minds for coding and artificial intelligence—yep, seriously.
-
💻 Why Armenia’s streets run safe and free after dark, why young women don’t think twice about walking home at 2 a.m., and why this is a bigger tourism draw than you’d guess.
-
💻 The uproarious collision of ancient vineyards, French winemakers, and a hands-off philosophy: “let the Armenian mountains make the wine, not the machinery.”
-
💻 How the digital nomad wave is remaking provincial Armenian towns into year-round creative hubs—no more sleepy border outposts here.
-
💻 What happens when a magazine refuses politics, gloom, or handouts and spotlights only the positive—sparking thousands to ask, “Is this really Armenia?”
By the end, you’ll realize: the only thing more unpredictable than Armenia’s future is the energy that powers it—and how, in a place with a new story on every corner, sometimes the biggest risk is never showing up at all.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/zBVKweKgorg
-
Life in Armenia magazine: https://www.lifeinarmenia.org
-
Voskevaz Winery: https://voskevaz.am
-
Invino Wine Bar: https://invino.am
-
Caras Winery: https://www.karaswines.com/
-
Wine Paris (wine show): https://wineparis-vinexpo.com
-
Willy’s Wine Bar: https://www.willyswinebar.com/