Ep 17: Emerging Wine Regions: Bolivian Tannat and Cabernet Sauvignon with Ramon Escobar of Chufly

Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Wine Aficionado Podcast, today let me introduce you to Ramon Escobar from Chufly Imports.

Born to an American mother and a Bolivian immigrant father, Ramon grew up in a blue-collar part of Milwaukee. He has spent the bulk of his professional life working on international economic challenges. Throughout his life he has looked at development challenges through multiple prisms such as a development volunteer overseas, policy researcher, and during the course of his fifteen-year career as an economic officer in the American diplomatic corps. 

Building on his international affairs and development economics expertise, Ramon founded Chufly Imports to prove an idea -- wine and spirits could, if done right, be a key driver for prosperity in the developing world. Chufly got its start in his father’s native Bolivia, which is home to an unsung, centuries-old winemaking and distilling tradition. Chufly is a platform for empowering winegrowers from undiscovered regions to improve their lives and communities.

Ramon holds a dual-M.A. in International Affairs from Columbia University and Sciences Po (Paris) as well as a B.A. in Marketing Research from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. Ramon speaks fluent Spanish and French, and basic Arabic. Ramon is married to Samia Yakub and has two beautiful boys, Laith and Kais.

On this episode, we dive into one emerging wine region in South America.

[00:01 - 10:10] Opening Segment 

• I introduce our guest for this episode and short bio
• Winemaking talent spread across the world
• Ramon shares his early life story and his Bolivian influence
• • One of his life goals: Providing more opportunities in this South American region
• Ramon Escobar’s wine origin story
• • Wine as a medium for driving socio economic development
  • A commodity that from the soil to the bottle can stay in one community
• Wine as an amazing gateway to place, exploring a new culture, it’s people and customs

[10:11 - 37:13] Chufly: Creating a market and opportunity for Bolivian wines

• Chulfy’s birth after being 6 years overseas
• • 4 founders and Chufly’s first shipment in 2016
  • Validating the product in prestigious restaurants
• Bolivia's history with wine
• • Natural geography that makes this wine so unique
• Ramon shares what he loves about Bolivian wine
• • Sustainable practices
  • Traditions, adapting and improving best practices
  • Elevation matters!
• Talking to the right people that know
• Trusting your team to select the right wines
• Ramon’s belief that Bolivian wines can go toe to toe with the world’s best wines
• Giving Bolivian winemakers a platform to showcase their brand and quality
• Expanding Chufly’s reach to other South American countries like Mexico and Brazil
• Why Aranjuez Tannat was the first wine Ramon imported
• • Pioneers and pushing the envelope in winemaking
  • A Bolivian wine winning a gold metal
• The amazing surroundings, characteristics and story of the 1750 wine
• La Concepcion’s wine tradition and history

[37:14- 39:30] Closing Segment

• Favorite Wine
• • Magnus
• Go to pairing
• • Hard cheese and a 1750 Chardonnay
• Wine resource
• • People
• Connect with Ramon Escobar
• • See links below 
• Reach out to me for more wine conversations through the links below 
• Subscribe and leave a review
• Final words

Tweetable Quotes:

“Any success I've had, it comes to having humility, and knowing what you don't know and talking to people who do know what you don't know.” - Ramon Escobar

“ It was so emblematic of the obstacles that these uncharted territories have when trying to come up. And it's again, it's not about the lack of talent, or the lack of quality. It's just the lack of opportunity. ” -  Ramon Escobar

Connect with Ramon through her accounts on Instagram: @chuflyimports, Facebook, LinkedIn You can also check out his website at chufly.com

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Let’s continue the Everyday Wine Conversations and connect with me through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected]. You can also check out my website at ​www.​klevywineco.com.

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