Building a Business That Lasts: How Bob Jauregui Built a Self-Funded Award-Winning Wine [Ep. 26]

Before Bob Jauregui started his winery, he asked the pros how long it would take. Every one of them said eight to ten years — then asked if he was sure. He said he was all in.

Nine years later, Vinos Unidos just took the number-one wine in California for small producers, out of 162. Bob is one of the few Hispanic vintners in Napa and Sonoma, and he built the whole thing self-funded — no big loans, just pouring profits back in. In this episode we get into the long game nobody warns you about:

• Self-funding a product business — and what he learned
• The COVID pivot that wiped out his restaurant model and pushed him online overnight
• "You can't make the wave — you have to ride it"
• His two rules for starting out: be genuinely passionate, and don't reinvent the wheel — go learn from people who've done it
• Why the lone-wolf entrepreneur doesn't make it
• The scholarship he funded before making a single dollar

If you're building something you want still standing in ten years, this one's for you.

Connect with Bob Jauregui: 

Web: vinosunidos.com 

Social: @vinosunidos

Follow me on Instagram: @uniqueblendconsulting 

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Hasta luego, amigas. Bendiciones. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hola amigas, this podcast is for Latina entrepreneurs building businesses while navigating faith, culture, and yes, motherhood.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

We unpack how your story shapes your leadership and build real-life systems that help you grow without burning out. This is where Kurdura meets strategy. So let's go.

SPEAKER_01 0:20

Welcome to the Latina Entrepreneur Podcast. My name is Anya Mercado, and today we have a special guest. His name is Bob Jareghi, and is one of the few Hispanic vendors in Napa Valley and Sonoma and a co-founder of Vinos Unidos, a boutique wine label whose limited edition wine still out every single year. And beyond the wine, Bob and his family have built a business rooted in giving back from scholarships to students to supporting nonprofit organizations across the community. And that's actually how I came across to meeting Bob. I've seen him to a few of my uh networking community events, and I knew I had to bring him on the show. So, Bob, thank you so much for joining us today.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Oh, you're welcome, Ranya.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah, I'm so excited. Okay, so before we kick things off, I want to know what's your favorite traditional dessert?

SPEAKER_03 1:07

Oh my gosh, you this this is torture. I okay, I like two things. I I it can't be one. Okay, so cream brulee is awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:21

Uh around the holidays, I learned how to make it. Um, my family love they love it, and I do too. And then and then chocolate cake. I'm a chocolate.

SPEAKER_01 1:31

You're a chocolate. Oh, okay. All right. Well, that's amazing. Well, thank you for sharing. But can you please just start sharing your journey and how you got started?

SPEAKER_03 1:40

You know, so it started when I was much younger. I for some reason I was attracted to wine and I wanted to know more about it. It seemed kind of sophisticated, a little mysterious. And and so I just liked, I liked the taste of wine. I liked the whole history of wine, the chemistry of wine, you know, all that. And then I my neighbor had a bunch of family in Napa. And I used to go up to Napa, and of course, I just loved it, started talking to all his family members in the industry. And one of them was Jerry Martinez, and he's become a good friend of mine, and we just hit it off, and he became my business partner. And I was at the time, I was actually in education, I was an assistant principal, and I needed to make a decision to go further in that career or to start something new. And I really believed in him as a winemaker, and he believed in me as uh a business person, you know, business mind. And we decided to launch a small label called Vino Sunidos or United Wines, because we figured our background is from Mexico, both him, his dad, and my dad are from Jalisco. And then so we kept it in Spanish, and we think of you know wine as bringing people together, so united around wine, Vino Sunidos. And we launched our first wine, and we won a really important uh competition right out of the gate. So we thought, oh, okay. Uh, we have something. So since then, we've been growing slowly but surely. We're all self-funded. We've never taken loans out, a couple small microloans, but nothing substantial. And so we've just organically grown, word of mouth mostly. We haven't done a lot of advertising. Now we're at that point where we're we're starting to grow and and we're well, much more you know, serious business. So that's where this is our ninth year now.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

And so we've been around for a while, and every year we try to make better and better wines. I half jokingly told Jerry some years ago, I said, you know, Jerry, you're gonna have to make a hundred-point wine, or I'm probably not gonna be that happy. You know what? I half jokingly said it, but but he knew I was somewhat serious because I think he's that talented. Well, guess what? We just won in a competition last week. We won the number one wine in California for small producers.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

Wow, congratulations.

SPEAKER_03 4:31

We we got the number one wine and the number nine wine.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:36

And so out of the compet the competition had 162 wines. So we took the number one and the number nine spot. So we're getting there, is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

We're getting there. Uh yeah, that's a big stepping stone, I would say.

SPEAKER_03 4:48

We're getting there. Yeah, we're we're getting there. So I think the thing that sets us apart in some ways is that we have a a good story. We're authentic because we try to engage with the community. And we, I mean, we have great wines and we're we're interested in people. We we try to make what we do centered around the a community, community of people, a community of givers, a community of um, you know, Orange County nonprofits. You know, we're doing a nonprofit event on Thursday night just for nonprofits. So I don't know, we just try to do, just try to keep it as real as we can.

SPEAKER_01 5:29

Oh, I love that. And I love that you mentioned you started this business with no like outside capital other than being self-funded. That's really sometimes unheard of, right? Especially for something you have to build, it's production, right? Service-based businesses, you know, you're coming in with yourself. So it's like you really don't have to invest much, but anything that's productized, you do have to have some type of investment, right? Or cushion to sustain something.

SPEAKER_03 5:56

Yeah, it's you know, for me as the business manager, I've learned a lot about the seasons that you have and where you have to put your capital and where you have to put your, you know, your production, where you have to put any, you know, marketing or advertising. A lot of what we do is just organic stuff, but we're starting to do more now. And in order to grow, you do have to infuse capital. Uh, just we basically take what we make and then just re-infuse it back into the business. And that's been our model. But there's been here and there where we're like, okay, it's time for the big loan, you know. So it's yeah, it's it's really uh it's a it's a learning experience for sure. You know, we we wanted to grow the business slowly while we got to know the business, if that makes any sense. Because it was one making wine is one thing. Uh selling wine is a completely different thing. You know, you you have to get out into the market, the market has to respond to you. And so if you're gonna make a product, you have to have uh ways to to get out there and sell it, and that takes some time, especially in the wine industry. So, any industry, you know, you have to have that wherewithal to um to have your your channels, and that takes a while to develop. Some people get lucky right away. I don't know if it's luck or skill, but I've seen some people in the business, they take off. But what I see with them is they they take off and then they just kind of like you know, peak and then valley. So we've been just sort of little by little learning, learning, learning, making better and better product, growing our fan base, you know, our customer base. And um, you know, we're we like that. We like we like we like that model uh because we've been able to take people along. It's it's a journey. I I've been on the journey myself uh as a business person, but other people have um we we we we've got some paparazzi and and and um what do you call the hangers on for like the concerts and stuff, but it's fans, you know, it's it's fans and people want to see us do well, and that really touches us.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah. So another thing you told me uh when we met is that you're you know, here in Orange County, especially, we know there's a lot of González or North Gate, you know, stores. You mentioned that you're one of the only uh wines that are being sold in that store specifically.

SPEAKER_03 8:40

Yeah, well, they it's it was an interesting thing because they they really love the Mexican wine scene um from Valle de Guadalupe and down south, and so they they went really heavy as a marketing decision on their part. Um, and they basically got rid of all of the other non-Latino wines. Well, they got rid of all the US wines except for I think us, and they kept one other, and yeah, so that was really great. They keep so Vinos Unidos is the only US-based wine from from Napa that I know of that they kept. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:19

That was cool. That's really cool. That's that's a mercado, their Costa Mesa flagship store.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

And that is true.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

If if you're you know the viewers haven't been there, you need to go because it's you walk in, and if you go there on a Friday night or a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday, you think you're gonna go eat or go shopping and you walk into a party. It's it's crazy. Yeah, I mean, uh, we're not limited, we we don't limit ourselves to any you know particular restaurant or group or anything like that. But because we're you know Mexican by heritage and Vino Sunidos in our brand, a lot of uh Hispanic-owned businesses take an interest in us, like, oh, who are you guys, right? What's your story? Why Vino Sunidos? Why is this in Spanish? Why do you call your Chardonnay anelo or your cab a pascion? And then so we'll explain to them. And so we gravitate. Yesterday I was in um Oceanside and I pitched a restaurant group called Mar, uh, a bunch of Latinos down there, seven different restaurants, and yeah, they loved us, and they they put a big order in. And I think we got the foot in the door because they just liked what they knew about us, the story and all that and all the stuff I described. So it's kind of refreshing. It's it's kind of nice, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

It's it's well, it is because you know what I see, I see legacy, and I think that's one of those things that people don't really think about when they're building a business. They think about, you know, some do, some don't. Some think like the business, as long as they, you know, I'm making it for the first five years. After 10 years, okay, then I'm making it. But you guys are building a legacy, like more longer than that. So people feel it, you know, because you're not just investing in your wine, but you're investing in the community. And like you said, your story, the origin story, it's very powerful. So when they hear it, they're like, I want to be part of that because I know that they're not one hit wonder, like they're really planning for the long term. And so I think that's yeah, that's so true.

SPEAKER_03 11:26

In fact, uh, when we started it, and this is for any business, you you have to have your vision and you have to have a a short-term plan, a medium-term plan, and a long-term plan. I think when you go into business, you have to have the idea that you're gonna be in it for the long haul. Otherwise, why do it? And we did. We knew that most wineries don't get any traction for eight to ten years. Oh, and so what what we did, what we didn't want to reinvent the wheel. So, um, this is my idea. Um, I I told Jerry, I said, look, let's go talk to all of our winery friends in Napa and Sonoma and let's pick their brains about how they started and what are the pitfalls and you know what what should we look out for? And to a person, what's so funny because when we started sitting, we were like sitting down, they were doing us a favor just by talking to us and telling us, you know, okay, here's what you're at, here's what you're doing. And to a person, they said, Are you sure? Because this is gonna take you eight to ten years of your life to develop. All right, do you really want to do that? And so after these series of interviews with these uh winemakers, we sat down, Jerry and I, and I said, Jerry, what do you think? He goes, I'm in if you're in. I said, I'm in, I'm all in. Let's do it. And that's how so we're in our ninth, we just you know started our ninth. Well, we're we're halfway through our ninth year, and um, yeah, I they were exactly right.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

They were right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:08

They were right.

SPEAKER_02 13:09

It's not you're having your breakthrough moments now.

SPEAKER_03 13:11

They were right, yeah. But you know what? Part of me says, nah, because we went through COVID and when we we launched in 2017, and 2018, we we we uh released our first wine because it takes a while for you to actually get your you know in the barrel and stuff. And so 18, late 18, and we had about a year and a couple of months, and then COVID hit, and all of our our business model was restaurants and wine shops. We had no wine club, nothing, hardly anything online at all. And so I think this is uh kind of what businesses have to, you got to get your mind around this. Things are going to happen, they're going to happen. You're going to have to pivot several times in the in the life of the business. And we had to do a complete pivot because that whole market just went cold for us, right? All of our restaurant accounts changed it. So we had to pivot. So what we did was we went online and built our wine club um in started in 2020, late 2020. And uh we had just opened a wine shop in Napa. That didn't work because nobody could go, and so we had to pivot away from that. That hurt. Um, and then we pivoted online and things started rolling again. So I don't count COVID years, you know, like those years. We lost two years there. We almost two years. So anyway, I I joke about that because I we're officially in our seventh year. Let's say that, right? It's like unofficially, unofficially.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

No, you said by the top, right? And that tells you a lot, you know. So you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

So yeah, the story, you know, what I learned is you have to be ready to pivot. You gotta you gotta revamp, you gotta rethink, reprioritize, and you gotta let some stuff go sometimes that you really wanted to do, like the wine shop. It's like, oh man, okay, is what it is. Um you gotta ride the wave. You can't make the wave, the ocean's too big. You have to ride the wave and be a good surfer.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Those are great words of wisdom, especially because you you weren't in it like so many times. And I see like I've talked to more than more than a few businesses and during COVID, and I was in the bank during that time, and I can tell you, um, clients were I'm not gonna be able to keep my employees like I'm gonna close down my business. It was a very, very dark time for a lot of them, and it's something that I never thought, you know, expected. Thankfully, you know, everything moved pretty quickly. So, you know, a lot of them were able to just retain their people, you know, some of them made some not so good decisions, and unfortunately it affected them as it, you know, it would. Um, but it was a very tough time during COVID for most businesses that weren't prepared and and didn't want to pivot. They wanted to stay doing the things they were doing it the same way. They had no clue how to like they didn't want to think outside the box, right?

SPEAKER_03 16:37

So true, Anya. And and you know, things are always changing, they're changing right now. Um, we're pivoting again, right? We're in the midst of pivoting because the 20 somethings, they're they're not drinking as much. And so whole market is, you know, the younger market, 20s and 30s. So what do you do? I I'm in the line industry. So, but what that group is interested in is an experience, is doing something different, something novel, something that feels communal. So we have more events where we get together. I was just on the phone with my event coordinator. We're doing a uh a wine dinner um in the fall. And so we created a wine dinner experience with the chef and the wine pairing, and we're gonna teach that night about you know the food and the wine together, and now we elevate that. And this is different. It's a yeah, you got to create your own market sometimes, you know.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yes, I love that. I I have to say that business is not for everybody, right? Not everybody should be a business owner. As much as I love working with missus, as much as I grew up in businesses because my families all have businesses, and it takes a lot of hard work, you know, and self-motivation. Every single day, you have to get up and like you have to have a purpose. And and I don't know, I just I just wanted to see like you had any like words of like wisdom or anything you could share for like people out there that do want to start a business like really the right way, and they don't have enough funds right now. Cause I mean you said you were like self-funded, but you know, like they're trying to just figure and test things out. Um, you did a lot of research. I think that before you jumped into something, I think that's very important. So it's just like maybe if you can give a little bit of of that to like people that are thinking of really being serious of starting something on their own.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

Yeah. Yeah, you know, I don't think that money is enough. Even when you have a great idea and you know that it could be really profitable, you first of all start with something that you're really interested in and want to develop into an idea, and you're passionate about that thing. Um, so I think that's always a good start. I in my case, I did I was interested in wine, and I was passionate about that whole not just wine, but the history and the science of wine. You know what I mean? I like I was passionate about this thing, and then it also fit in with what I wanted to do with being around people and teaching. And so it it just you have to align yourself with that. So that's my first bit of advice. And then the second thing would be don't, like I said before, don't try to recreate the wheel. Even if you have a really novel idea, the idea might be novel, but the execution, believe me, it people have done it and tried it and they've learned from it. Learn from other people's growth. Talk to people who are already doing or who have done what you want to do, um, for sure, the business side of it, so that you can kind of you can shortcut if you talk to the right people because they will tell you what they did right and what they what they didn't do right, and you know, where you can you can learn from them before you make those same mistakes. And so I would say those two things I think are really important when you're starting a venture. Um, be passionate about something and talk to people who know a little bit about what you want to do.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yeah, I love that. I think that's so true. Even when I started my business, I knew how like business worked, but I did a lot of market research. I had a lot of like reaching out to people in my network. And even till today, I still I'm still doing market research. I'm trying to working with Latin entrepreneurs. I want to hear their voice, like, how do they sound? What do they do they need? So I'm like, they're like, hey, tell me like what is one thing that you're you know, that like is your challenge right now as a Latin entrepreneur? And they're like, Oh, this is my challenge, and they start telling you and pouring all this information, you know, for free, you know, for free. For free, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:56

So I I did forget one thing though.

SPEAKER_01 20:59

Okay, excuse me.

SPEAKER_03 21:03

I was not a believer in AI and Chat GPT and and Claude, and and I am now, because I have gotten some good advice from prompts. And I I think that it's not, you shouldn't base everything on that for sure. You need to get real people and pick their mind because they'll express the emotional side of it, how they felt. You can't get that from ChatGPT, really. But you can get, if you say, for example, in your prompt, you are a wine marketing expert, you have grown 10 companies already, and I'm new and starting out. What would be your advice to me? You know, like a prompt that there's like a person, right? You are this and I am this. Give me some advice, lead me. I have seen some outstanding advice by doing that and stuff that made me think. Oh, that's really interesting. I hadn't thought about that. So I would say all things. Yeah. But that would be one.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

I love that. I think that's very important because uh, you know, I mean, it is what it is. We can't run away from AI or you know, technology. I mean, we need it, you know. So it's here.

SPEAKER_03 22:16

It's it's not going anywhere. So you either ride that wave again, that analogy.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Correct.

SPEAKER_03 22:22

Or you're gonna be out there, you know, flailing around while everybody else is just kind of doing their thing.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

So no, that's those prompts are very important. I mean, yeah, it's help me sometimes on just getting on stuck on things, just my thoughts. I sometimes just like start like well, I use a lot of the voice, so because I'm like sometimes I'm just typing about like, no, if I talk to it and it just like understands me better and my voice, and yeah, it's gotten me to a good place, and then I take it to somebody. Like, that's the key. I take it to somebody else that I trust, or my coach, or my mentor, and then I say, Hey, like this is what came up. I know you're in this field. What is this coming up true to with me? Is it is it aligning? I can you ask me some questions, not that this, you know, because it looks good to me, but you know better, right? And I feel like that's where a lot of people are. Oh my gosh. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Yeah, no, you mentioned so you're so spot on about that. You just opened a whole wormhole there, uh, because entrepreneurs tend to be very independent and very almost stubborn. You have to be almost stubborn about your vision, and you know, and and that leads to a lot of isolation. You cannot be a lone wolf and be successful. No, you have to include a team uh around you, either for advice or business partners. I I learned that the hard way because I do have a uh partner, and then we've actually brought in a couple partners. Um, but the the whole lone wolf thing, I don't think it works. No, I think you need other people for synergy, for advice. Just I think it's the way we're built as as humans, really. We need a team around us, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

A community, yeah, definitely. Yeah, we need people, that's number one. Like we need people, we serve people, we're here to serve, I would say. So it's like we need that community. And I I a hundred percent with you. Like you can get so ahead so much faster if you just pick up the phone or start getting out there. I know it's so convenient nowadays to just be here at home and just do your thing and not get out, but gosh, I gotta tell you, I force myself to do a lot of things. And people tell me, Anya, but you're like doing your business and you have your kids, and then you're part of this and you're part of that. And I'm like, yeah, but that gets me out, gives me ideas. I get to talk to people, and that's really what where I get the value of you know, everything of life, you know, when I hear where I'm struggling with something or somebody else is struggling with something, and then I can provide some like resource, like, hey, I know somebody that can help you, or I know somebody that has been where you are and I can connect you. And I think I I really pride myself on building a really strong community in my network that no matter who it is, even if I haven't talked to them in like five, 10 years, I can pick up the phone and be like, hey, I need your help. I have somebody, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they're like willing to talk to me like nothing happened, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:23

Um, which is which is beautiful. So I I 100% agree that you need to get out and you need to be able to not just, there's no loan wolf. I mean, you are and it's gonna, you're gonna struggle, it's gonna take you way longer, right? And um, it's just not gonna be fun, you know. Business to me should be all about creativity, letting your creative mind just go and fun, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:48

Um, I met you at a networking event. I find I find those to be helpful. Um, it's hid and miss, you know. You some of the best advice I ever got uh was um when you go to a networking advice, you know, don't try to meet everybody. Try to, I mean, no, no, I shouldn't say that. Meet everybody, but like don't don't try to pitch or you know, come up with three, two or three uh cards, get two or three cards of people that you really find interesting or maybe align with you, and then follow up with those two people, two or three people. But I find networking to be helpful because you're exposing your business and and also you meet people that can you can help as well. And that's part of it too, is you know, you you have to be able to get out there and help other people. Um, you have to do business with uh people you know and give business to people you know, and I think that is kind of part of the magic sauce.

SPEAKER_01 26:52

Yeah, yeah. I think that's the way to do business, to be honest. I mean, really give, you know, and always be supportive of one another. And honestly, I know I know I hear a lot of people tell me audio is just like, oh, like networking. And I might say, hey, look, I'm an introvert. I gotta tell you, I'm an introvert. I do not like to go to places that are so busy and things like that, but you know, it's what we create for ourselves. Like, what are we in control of? So we know we have to go because we want to meet people. That's how we're gonna expand our network, right? Good things are gonna come out. So you have to go with that really good mentality when you walk into a room and you create what you put out, honestly. That's what I say. I'm always interested. I know I want to meet somebody that's gonna like their story's gonna amaze me. I love hearing people's stories, so I that's how I go actually in mind. It's like, whose story am I gonna hear when I go into this room? And luckily, look, like just like you said, I met you, you know, like you were serving wine, and I was like, okay, like tell me about you, and then I found the story.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

Yeah, that's it's a we're a good example of that too. And then after that corporate event, then I ran into you at Alpha, which is a nonprofit that helps kids, so that was kind of cool too, because those are two very different lanes, right? But then it made me take an interest in you because oh, she's she's also out in the community and involved in this. And I'm like, oh, that's that's we're aligned. It it helps align align things for me in my mind.

SPEAKER_01 28:26

Yeah, yeah. So see, but go out there, go do networking. It's not scary.

SPEAKER_03 28:32

It's fun.

SPEAKER_01 28:33

You never get it.

SPEAKER_03 28:34

Yeah, well, so if you're not comfortable about networking, I would my advice would be take a wing, take a wingman or a wingwoman with you. Right? Somebody you know you can hang out with, and then see what happens. Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_01 28:51

Because sometimes I like, you know, I used to do that too, and all of a sudden I didn't even know where that person, where my wing person was. Like we ended up separating, finding our own people, and yeah, you know, that was a cool thing. So that I I yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_03 29:05

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Well, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 29:09

Yeah, so yeah, it's a but it's it's definitely a journey. I think you have to have a little bit of you have to you have to be to be okay and comfortable with the unknown because you don't when you start a business and you're doing what we're what we're doing, you just don't know what you don't know and you don't know where it's going exactly. Um you're on an adventure.

SPEAKER_02 29:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:38

And you better be ready because there's gonna be snakes.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:43

And there's gonna be and there's gonna be lions and they're hiding, and you don't know where they're coming from, but there's also gonna be fields full of flowers and fruit on the trees, and it's gonna be beautiful too. So you have to be ready for that because that adventure.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, thank you for that. Um, and just one last thing that I wanted to ask you, because I something that's very interesting is that you're giving you back to the community. You're partnered with a lot of nonprofits, you provide scholarships. You know, can you share a little bit about that part of the business? How did it get started? What do you recommend for people that actually should think about reinvesting in their community? Um, I mean, I I know it's not only good for business, but it's also good feeling to give back. So can you share a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_03 30:33

Yeah, that's one of my favorite parts of the business, actually. That's what feels good to me. And I love that part of you know, giving to nonprofits and and charities and stuff like that. But you do have to have a model, right? If you give away all of your time and all of your product, you won't have a business. So you have to you have to think about what you can what you can do and how you can support. And there are creative ways to do it. We started with that idea that we knew that was part of the vision. I came from education, and when we were thinking about starting the business, I you know, I had a discussion with Jerry and I said, Look, Jerry, I'm from education. There's a lot of need in education. We should really support in some way. What do you think? And he goes, Yeah, I'm I'm all for it. So the first thing we did was we passed a hat among our friends and family and we created a scholarship. Before we made a dime, we we created a scholarship to kids, high school kids going into analogy, which is winemaking, viticulture, which is grape growing, and culinary arts because food goes with wine, right? So we've done um we started that way, and then it just sort of has grown over time. Nowadays, we'll make a donation like to the Orange County Hispanic Chamber that actually gives our own scholarship. So that that's kind of what you know, the way we still are involved in that. But in the past three and a half years, we've done what's our count now. I think we've done 67 different charity events. Um, you know, either donation of wine for their gala or donation of a gift, or sometimes it's small, sometimes it's big, like you know, give away all the wine for the gala that they're having. Sometimes it's a certificate that they can auction off, but we try to do as much as we can. Now we started that because we wanted to do it, but I I will tell you that it has been good for business. People know us as being out there in a community. Um, you know, we get marketing that way. Sometimes it leads to sales, sometimes it leads to more contacts. Um, and everybody wins. There's no there's no losing in that. Nobody loses. Everybody wins when you're out trying to help in your community. And I find nothing wrong with that, that whole model. Um, and so we we're gonna continue to do it because it's it's awesome. It's it's great, you know, it just works.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

Yes, it works. Yeah, being a cheerful giver, which is what you guys are.

SPEAKER_03 33:24

Yeah, it's it's cool. It's so cool because um, like we did an event recently, and it was for it was for scholarships, it's for kids in a STEM program, AISS. I'm on the board and we donated the wine, and the kids got up there and they were doing their presentations, showing what they're learning in this program. And they did, these are really bright kids. And when you see that you're supporting something like that, you're like, okay, I should let me see how I can do more because there's a there's a need out there, right? Yeah, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Something like that. Well, there's always needs, something like that. You're you're killing one, so that's good.

SPEAKER_03 34:08

Yeah, yeah. No, it's really it's really my favorite part.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Yeah, yeah. That's what I'm like, I have to ask this one because this is really good. I mean, that's what actually also pulled me to your story, right? It's like giving back to the community. But honestly, anything else about that you have to share as your final words? Now you give us a lot of information to do this stuff.

SPEAKER_03 34:27

Just be, you know how we try to be better people, right, throughout our lifetime. Like we try to be try to get better as we go, right? And I would say the same thing applies to your business. Try to try to be not just better business people. I mean, like be a good community partner, you know, wherever you can. Do it sounds like overuse, but do as much good as you can. Uh, that's that's my feeling. And and then everything follows, everything follows after that. And we're still working on it, believe me. There's so much more that we can do and so much more we want to do. But you know, if you say, well, I'm small, there's only so much I can do, you're right, but there's something that you can do. So just be a good community partner and the rest takes care of itself. I I think.

SPEAKER_01 35:20

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Well, thank you so much, Bob, for joining us today. I will put your information on the show notes, and I'm so thankful that you came onto the show today. So, and sharing all your words of wisdom. So, I appreciate you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 35:33

Oh, you're you're very welcome. And hopefully everybody gets a chance a chance to taste our Vino Sanilo's wines.

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Yeah, very good wine.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

I haven't said much about the wines, but I'm really proud of our wines. Take a look at us on Instagram because that's where we post a lot of the stuff that we're up to, all of our events and all the rest of that.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

Perfect. Thank you. And I'll put that information as well. Well, thank you so much, thank you, Anya.

SPEAKER_03 35:58

I appreciate you.