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Speaker 1: We all have love stories, but are you willing to

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share yours? This one is one of my greatest love stories.

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My thirty four years with Ernie, a blue Crown conyer.

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We were both called to live life and to learn

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from life inside this collection of trees in South Charlotte,

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North Carolina. The lyrics from Ernie's Forest on Arrow dot

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Net A R r o e dot Net. Find it

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on three different podcasts, Forest Stories, the choice and view

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from the writing instrument Arrow dot Net, A R r

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oe dot Net. Enjoy the exploration I R Hey, how

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are you doing today?

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Speaker 2: I am fantastic, I am beside myself.

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Speaker 1: You know what, That's exactly what I would expect from you,

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because you totally are in touch with people. I've always

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thought of you as being a silent watcher in the

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way that you watch people and you try to figure

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out newer ways to get into and onto their paths

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so that they too can enjoy just a lot of

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simple things in life instead of making it a big hassle.

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Exactly exactly where does that journey begin for you? Because

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I mean, you really do step onto some some things

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that really invite me to say, you know what, you

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know what Joe's on to something here, especially since they're

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still saying we're in these Roaring twenties. Well we're at

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number twenty six now, these Roaring twenties, and it's like, Okay,

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we've got we've got to get going here, and you've

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got some great ideas.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, twenty twenty six, I mean it's it's

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America's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary.

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Speaker 3: Yep.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's going to be some amazing events and things,

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and we are in the middle of it. Josh Stellers

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is one of America's most beloved wine brands. It was

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a company that I started with my wife in our garage,

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of all places. Our desk was a picnic table. I

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worked inside somebody else's winery for five years, and it

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really it embodies the American dream, and that was something

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that my father instilled in me. His nickname was Josh.

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And this year, twenty twenty six is going to be

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probably one of the most exciting years that we've had

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since we started.

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Speaker 1: Well, one of the things that I've always loved about

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Josh is is the fact that it really does bring

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people together. Because we just had the friends giving we

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just celebrated the holidays, the Super Bowls right around the corner,

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and look at who everybody is taking off the shelf,

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you guys. So obviously you've got a mix of something

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that really really becomes a part of our chapters.

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Speaker 2: Well, you know, the alcohol industry is down, but Josh

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Sellers is up.

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Speaker 3: That's what I've heard.

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Speaker 2: And it's become a go to brand and people like

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it because it's authentic, it's a true story. It's not

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some marketing play. The wines are priced the right way,

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they're approachable, they have complexity to them, and people really

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really like them, really enjoy them. One of the things

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that we're doing now is we just introduced a non

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alcohol sparkling wine, which we actually make in Italy. We

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have a beautiful winery north of Venice where we make

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Josh Sellers prosecco and prosecco rose.

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Speaker 3: Yes, yes, And we introduced.

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Speaker 2: This na sparkling wine and people love it. You know,

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they're doing dry January, or they're cutting back. They drink

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it by itself, or they make a mocktail. And that's

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another trend that we find exciting. We're embracing it.

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Speaker 1: But you know what's really interesting about this one of

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my essential things to do. You get there's a certain

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age you get to in life where you want to

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do everything that nobody else wants to do. And one

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of them for me was to go to work at

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a grocery store because I had never done anything like

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that before. So when I'm over there in the beer

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and wine section and I see what people are selecting,

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and I see that you're right there, and you just

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hit something big time when you said that non alcoholic, Joe,

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that number is going through the roof right now, and

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that's what people are looking for. I mean, you are

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so on.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know when they when we first talked about it.

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You know, my mom was diabetic and she couldn't have

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alcohol yep, And I mentioned it to her and she's like, yeah,

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going for it, Joe. So anyways, it came out great.

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You know, you know the holidays things, you know, people

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are looking for easier ways to have gatherings, you know,

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a little more fun but thoughtful. So wine based based

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cocktails those are trending, you know, experimenting with all types

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of wine because we make you know, Josh Tabernet, Josh Mirlow.

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We have a really cool white blend called Sea Swept

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was Pinogrizio and Savon Blanc. And then we have our

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sparkling selections, and we're about to release a new sparkling

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wine called Sea Swept Sparkling out of California. And you

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know that's gonna be you know that's gonna be that

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bubbly daytime drink, you know, a sprits with fresh fruit,

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go to the beach. I can't, I cannot wait.

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Speaker 3: Please do not move. There's more with Joe Carr from

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Josh coming up next, Josh Wines, Big Seller, Amazing Celebrations.

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We're here with the creator and main force behind Josh Wines,

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Joe Carr. One of the things that I've taken note

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of in my people watching is the fact that I

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can see how people on a Thursday and a Saturday

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night are actually coming into the location dressed up. In

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other words, this isn't just the dressed down wine where

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people are coming in just to get a wine. Oh

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my god, everybody's talking about this. No, no, no no.

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Speaker 1: They're now making it a part of their bigger and

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better celebrations and they're dressing up to get their Josh.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I like that. I like that A lot considering

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my job. You know, my dad only wore flannel stuff.

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Speaker 1: So now what do you do in the situations that

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we're presently in, which is we're all getting together? But Joe,

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you know that it's not in big Even weddings aren't

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doing two hundred and fifty three hundred people anymore. They're

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they're happy with seventy five to one hundred. So we're

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getting together smaller. How can we be very happy that

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big numbers don't mean big party.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, like I said, you got to keep

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it easy, you know. I put out chakouterie board. Yes,

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you know, I let people kind of graze and then

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I might even have a wine station, or I might

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have a cocktail station where that's where you go and

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have that cocktail that you want, but you try, you know.

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I want to make things easy and light and not

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not too heavy and have fun. I mean, time is

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short and you want to share, you know, share your

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experiences with people.

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Speaker 1: Well, speaking of those experiences, I think people who go

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in and they get some josh or haven't tried it yet,

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they need to know how dedicated you are to the community,

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especially our military and veteran families, because you guys are

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loyal to us.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, that was something that my father instilled

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in me a long, long time ago, and we've been

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very fortunate. It's been an honor and privilege to work

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with American Armed Forces veterans, helping Gary Sonisee build smart home,

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working with first responders. You know, those are the things

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that my dad, you know, made sure that I knew

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was really really important. And it's all part of our foundation.

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It's part of our value.

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Speaker 1: Now do you do you think with Josh though? I mean,

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it's one of the things that I'm taking note of

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is how people they when they start mixing things with

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the wine. It's not always the wine and cheese anymore.

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They're mixing things with it that that really make it

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more of a celebration or an occasion. And what what

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do you suggest when it comes to different forms of

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Josh that we can add to our life. But what

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I mean, we can't just add pizza all the time

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and hot dogs that would taste.

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Speaker 2: Good though, yeah, that would be good. You know, Josh

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Cabernet is like the pizza that go to wine. I

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can't stop it. It's just it's just the way it is.

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But yeah, I mean, we're just we're meeting all kinds

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of like we do installations that concert yes, and we

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meet young people that want to try these new wines

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and they're easy to understand. You know, they're American wines,

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so they're named after the grapes Cabernet, merlou Charnay. And

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we want our wines to be approachable. That's really important

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to us is you know, we don't want to make

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a wine that you have to sit in a wine

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cellar for five to eight years. No, we want something

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really approachable. And that's that's one of our philosophy.

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Speaker 1: Very interesting when you say that, because once again I'm

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thinking about the marketing side of it. When I go

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into a wine section of a grocery store, the Josh

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wines are not like sitting there on a bookshelf, like

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a book at a library. You are visible. And when

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you're visible, that means you're speaking my street.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. We we have some wonderful retailers and distributors

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that know, if they, you know, put together a display

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and maybe they put my picture up there something like that,

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or or there's a great picture of an old red

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truck and people really you know, go towards it and

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enjoy it. And we've we've done really well in retail.

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Speaker 1: You know, you were talking about how sales are down

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just a bit, which is just a turning point. That's

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what my financial guy always tells me. But the thing is, though,

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do you find yourself getting into the THC style or

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is that something that we're going to set to the side.

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Let it grow and do what it needs to do.

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But we're going to concentrate on wine.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we're you know, our focus and concentration is on wine.

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That's that's what we do best. I don't think we've

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ever even had a conversation about that. That's probably for

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others to do. But but yeah, that's it's an exciting

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time I think. I mean, alcohol is down, but we're up. Yes,

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you are, you know, almost double digit. Wow.

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Speaker 1: You got to come back to this show anytime in

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the future. The door is always going to be open

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for you, sir.

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Speaker 2: You got it. Check us out on Joshsellers dot com, Instagram,

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or you can go on YouTube. I've had about ten

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million views.

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Speaker 1: Be brilliant today, Okay, sir, all

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Speaker 2: Right, thank you