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Tell us about the brand? What is the Hampton Water life? Jesse: In going out with friends, hanging at barbeques, going to pool parties, all the fun things you do all summer long, those universal things--that's the Hampton life and our wine is about living it. With our wine, you're a part of that lifestyle. It's about how you feel when you drink it where you are, who you're with, the feelings that are hard to describe. Jon: It's a lifestyle brand much like Miami Vice was when I was a kid. You'd watch Don Johnson with the 80's clothes and Ferraris or Baywatch with the Malibu red bathing suit. That was Miami and Malibu. The Hamptons are an aspirational lifestyle even if you haven't been there. It's a place that you think of in the same way you would Malibu or Miami. It's not called Hamptons with an S because we created our own fictional place. We created an aspirational place, a state of mind--Hampton. What process did you go through to launch and what's been your role? Jesse: Ali and I first went to work designing a label on our computer, initially using images we found online. That was the one thing we thought we knew how to do. Our original idea was to use a diver image because you dive into the rosé and the lifestyle. I guess subconsciously diving into this was how we felt too. We had this crazy idea to shrink wrap the bottle and were told you DON'T shrink wrap rosé. After our first meeting with Gérard, I went back and spent time at the vineyard to learn as much as I could. I brought my dad and Ali back to the vineyard later to do the blending. We spent days testing and learning about varietals. At the end of those days Gérard brought out two big magnums with our labels on them and we had our first two bottles of Hampton Water. It was crazy. Every minute of every day since we're in this--from Instagram to driving delivery trucks. We just hired a national sales team, but the first two years Ali and I spent 170 days plus, each year, traveling and living in hotels. Jon: It's really a tip of the cap not only to Gérard but to Jesse. They sit there with eyedroppers for days to get the blend right. It was interesting to be part of that process. There are five grapes involved in the mix and it's literally done in test tubes with eyedroppers to get the right combination of grape and then that becomes the formula. Now I've become sort of the chairman of the board, the guy who gets to weigh in. But there are very able bodies running the day to day, starting first and foremost with Jesse. He is the brains behind the operation. Sometimes I'm like Santa and you come sit on my lap once a year and take a picture. Jesse, what have you learned about yourself through this experience? Ali and I both played sports in college which built a work ethic that we pride ourselves on. We were up at 5 am to work out, then class all day, then we'd study films and do homework at night. We're not afraid of an 80-hour workweek. We're not afraid to work and get our hands dirty and jump into the deep end to figure it out as we go. We knew nothing about the alcohol industry. We dove in and learned to swim. We learned how to do it and we're growing rapidly every day. It's been exciting and stressful but an incredible experience. V U E N J .C O M 67

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