Andrew Roper is the founder and chief executive officer of the Australian-based Wines To The Stars and Rock Star Wine Group, two businesses that specialize in sourcing and providing the finest beverage products and services to the entertainment and hospitality worlds. He is also a patent holder for an innovative wine packaging solution, wine judge and wine auctioneer.
I met Andrew more than 20 years ago during my first trip to the land down under. After spending 10 days in Sydney, I traveled to Melbourne, before I returned to the U.S., I was resolved to purchase a supply of unique Australian wine I had heard so much about, and have it shipped to my home. By chance, I was introduced to Andrew by a retail wine merchant. I felt a genuine feeling of trust after we talked about my wine likes and he recommended numerous varietals. Today, I continue to follow Andrew though his numerous LinkedIn posts. His expertise is bridging the gap between producers and consumers of the world’s great wines, champagnes, and spirits, and to deliver premier boutique wines and spirits and satisfaction to clients who demand the best of what life produces.
Wines To The Stars offers a range of services including sourcing rare and vintage wines for private cellars, creating customized labels and distribution channels for artists, supplying backstage, after show, and hotel room beverage experiences, and organizing private and confidential winery/distillery visits, wine dinners, and concert cellar door services. He leverages his extensive network of contacts and partners in the wine and spirits industry, and passion and knowledge as a wine and spirits communicator, to enhance the experience and knowledge of wine lovers.
Since 1990, and before the beginning of his unusual niche business, Andrew identified the need to offer a next level backstage liquor concierge service for musicians touring Australia, providing the very best wines from each state of Australia. His goal was to ensure they got to taste the pinnacle wines of each region they toured in, not the general industrial wine that anyone can get, and always the wines from passionate boutique producers showcasing various regions. It provides an opportunity for wine lovers on tour with a genuine insight into wines from down under.
Andrew notes, “The world of entertainment has always been a roll of the dice as to what appears in the green rooms at every show. Some artists are particular in their choice of food and beverages however, most leave it to the promoter or tour manager to choose according to budget.”
Most bands he takes care of on tour leave Australia with a greater appreciation of what is produced there, with many keeping in contact to buy for their home cellars or engage in collaborations. Artists are exposed to wines and spirits they never knew about, with many returning for a wine holiday. He personally makes sure that each wine and spirit is perfectly matched with the tastes of band members and also considers those who do not drink alcohol with providing alcohol free drinks.
In business or life in general, Andrew feels a need to focus on a power or enticing presentation as the first priority, then backing it up with providing the very best in quality products or services. His belief is those are two important factors that make a business stand out from the pack. “This is exactly what wine marketing is all about,” says Andrew. “I want to bring the very best of what Australia produces to amazing international artists and wine lovers on tour.”
By Sheldon Baker
NS: Focus on how you got started in the Australian wine industry?
Mr. Roper: It really comes through a line of strong entrepreneurship experience through my father. He owned a few businesses in the UK. In his 30s, he took an Australian transport company called TNT to the UK. That company is now owned by FedEx,
I was just a small kid and more like an Army brat traveling to different countries growing up. I went to 16 different schools around Europe and America, and back in Australia again. As kids you can’t choose your parents so you follow them wherever they go. Dad was always involved in logistics and transport. Meeting a man in Sweden through the logistics business, they designed and invented the world’s first vacuum packaging machine designed for industrial use to shrink down and vacuum seal products for logistics. My dad went around the world selling this industrial vacuum packaging system into the major department store chains including JC Penny and Sears Roebuck in the U.S. It saved companies millions of dollars a year just in logistical space.
I remember on school holidays while living in Hickory, North Carolina, going with him to a place where they’d set up a big vacuum packaging system. A few days later he asked if I interested in coming to Chicago with him while he had meetings with Sears. I went with him and remember he came back to the hotel all excited saying ‘Son, I think we’ve got the biggest deal of a lifetime here.’ Sears invested into the company and bought those vacuum packaging machines. They could fit 10-to-20 times the amount into a container or a truck than they previously could.
We went back to the UK when I was about 15 and he sold the business to a massive transportation business in Europe and then ventured into wine. He bought a few wineries in France and chateaus because he made quite a bit of money from the vacuum packaging sale. From there he established a wine auction business in London and that was really the start of how I got into the wine business. Those were pre-internet days. There were no mobile phones or fax machines. I think the Telex machine was still in use. I remember being at home at Windsor. All night the Telex machine was going. It was a noisy machine, and it was rattling off orders coming in from all over the world for wines and spirits. Through the auction house dad used to do wine sourcing for a lot of people, many who were celebrities because the auction was so high profile. They wanted particular wines for a party or for their collection. The sourcing service was quite big for him. I was loving the wine industry and entire auction world dealing with the premium wine market.
NS: Your dad got into the wine industry having no experience in wine?
Mr. Roper: Correct. The only experience he had was he could afford good wine, and he had a big seller everywhere we went. As a result, his passion was there for wine and the wine auction business in London.
NS: That’s quite an interesting story.
Mr. Roper: Yes. I was at an age when I was at a crossroad as to whether to go to do university studies because I had a thing for economics and I loved history. I also wanted to do some type of archaeology, but my dad gave me the option of coming to work with him at the auction house. I always helped out anyway with being a spotter at the auctions.
I was given the keys to the company van and after each auction, which was held monthly at the Dorchester Hotel in London, I’d go around the city delivering auction purchased wines to companies, mostly the hospitality industry as well as individuals who didn’t take their purchases with them. The celebrity set of the UK used the auction outlet to purchase their wines because our wines were so high profile. A lot of the people I didn’t know about, because I was still young, included Elton John, Freddie Mercury and David Bowie. London in the 70s and 80s was their home. Even Richard Branson, the English business magnate, and people like him were customers of my father.
I would deliver to their homes, knock on the door, and occasionally if those celebrity types were there I became the logistical face of the business. It was quite an interesting time to meet these people. Another of my dad’s clients was Bob Geldof who in 1985 arranged the world famous Live Aid concert. It was the world’s biggest concert. They had a global audience of about 1.5 billion. That same day dad was asked to supply the liquor for all the concert bands backstage at Wembley Stadium. Dad asked me to get six of my mates who could come in and be runners for all the bands. That was my first introduction into what I do now with Wines to the Stars.
NS: Today, your 35th year in business, you promote yourself as a cult and boutique wine and spirits specialist. You have several companies under your wing including Backstage Cellar Door, Rock Star Wine Group and Wines To The Stars. Did I miss any?
Mr. Roper: I’ve got another one, which is a side hustle called Wine Fliers. We designed special wine packaging several years ago. We were freighting wine worldwide and I couldn’t stand the use of polystyrene which seems to be prevalent in the wine industry.
NS: How do all those aforementioned companies work together to supply and distribute wine?
Mr. Roper: Wines To The Stars is my is my core and centerpiece business. All those other ones spin off that. Rockstar Wines is basically a website that is an exclusive celebrity wine shop and portal where all the bands and entertainers I’ve looked after over the years can visit. It’s all about looking after the celebrity set and a platform for us to keep in touch. They prefer a private space for ordering, not just through a bulk site. They can order wines without being identified in the public forums. Because I know what these musicians want and like. I form profiles of their wine for their tours. I get to the real part of what they love and we create it for them.
Rockstar Wines also covers collaborations with a lot of bands and the hospitality trade. They might want a wine or a spirits brand with their band name, private name, or other noted brand. There’s a lot of collaborations going on at the moment. It’s grown tremendously because of the global Covid lockdown era where bands couldn’t go out and tour and venues closed down. They had to do something from home, so a lot of these collaborations were created and became important for them because it was a way of generating revenue. I created a gin for Black Sabbath and a band called Royal Blood. I’m now doing a private collaboration with Guns and Roses for their 40th anniversary.
NS: How does Backstage Cellar Door enter into the picture?
Mr. Roper: Backstage Cellar Door is purely what you see on LinkedIn. I look after bands tours that come through Australia and New Zealand. They’ve all got their green rooms, and everyone tries to work out what happens backstage with bands. There’s a lot of stories and most can’t be told or published. A promoter, band, or tour manager will come and tell me they’ve got a dual band in Melbourne and they like to have a certain liquor backstage and ask if I can supply it. I’ll set up a wine tasting room for them in their dressing room. It’s just me and the band and I’m supplying mostly amazing wines, but they like spirits and beer too.
NS: Feeling comfortable working with celebrities from a young age, you have been able to expand your celebrity contact base from those you previously met.
Mr. Roper: Yes. I came back to Australia in 1999 and was based in Adelaide where I took a transport position. But I wanted to get into the wine business. The Australian wine industry at that point was kind of an awakening for the world. Australian wine was being reported as very good by the media including well-known critic Robert Parker, Jr. A lot of the American wine critics were wine commentators excited about finding Australian wine that was suited to the American palate. I caught on to it and realized even though my background was European-based, the Australian wine industry was accelerating quite fast.
So, what did I do? I got married and realized Adelaide was too small a market for what I wanted to do. It’s a city of a million people whereas Melbourne had a population of four million and was quite large as far as the wine industry was concerned. It really was somewhat like London.
Some Americans including as the artists often say, a little like Chicago.
We relocated to East Melbourne purchasing property quite close to the city center.
Thinking about my next move it had to be the wine industry and I launched Wines To The Stars. I had no contacts in Melbourne, the entertainment world, or the musical community. I looked at the schedule of bands that were coming into Melbourne and coincidentally David Bowie was on his last world tour here. Knowing David and his manager, Michael, I packed up a dozen bottles of wine I knew they would like, including a couple of champagnes, and drove to Melbourne Park, which is now called Rod Laver Arena, where they hold the Australian Open and the world’s top tennis pros compete every year. I went to the first set of security gates at 3 p.m. because I knew bands do a sound check between two and four before a gig. I drove up to the first gate and the security guard asked me what I wanted. I’m told him I was delivering wine to the band. He directed me to another security gate and this time I walked up to the door with my dozen bottles of wine and again launched into why I was there and what I wanted. I’m here to deliver wine for David and Michael. The guard gets on the phone and I hear him saying “You guys expecting anyone,” and then he asks my name. Coincidentally, he was speaking to Bowie’s manager. I heard Michael say they had been expecting me. He came out to greet me and that was the start of Wines To The Stars.
We drank wine after that show and the biggest Australian promoter, Michael Gedinsky, of Frontier Touring, and owner of Mushroom Records, who was bringing bands into Australia at the time was in the room. He pulled me aside asking who I was. I shared my background with David Bowie and a couple of other touring bands. He remarked that everyone was excited to see me backstage tasting my wine. So, he tells me to contact him the following week to have a chat. That chance meeting really opened the celebrity door for me in Australia. Sadly, Gedinsky passed away a few years ago.
NS: These days you interface with the likes of Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, KISS and many others. Those are some big names. What relationships have you formed?
Mr. Roper: It’s the manager for bands. Dua Lipa, the English-Albanian singer was recently in Melbourne. She was here for a week with sold out stadium shows and I hadn’t looked after her before, but the tour manager contacted me and told me the wines they liked and asked if I could also provide whiskey as well as other things. It’s all part of the service I offer.
Normally, I promote Australian wine while bands are in Australia. That’s important to note because even though a lot of the artists and bands may have their favorite wines from the U.S. and Napa Valley, or France’s Bordeaux, Burgundy, or Champagne regions, I try and steer them to Australian products. You could say I have become an ambassador for the Australian wine industry which stands me in good stead.
My theory is they’re coming all this way and we’ve got a fantastic wine industry. Our wines are world-class so why do you want to just have your own home-grown varietals. Still, some insist on having their favorite wines because that’s all they drink. The older bands and artists are set in their ways wanting their particular wine or spirit. I can source other wines because I’m not pigeonholing everyone into Australian wine. I usually know what style of wine musicians want and like. So, I’ll curate the backstage wines for them.
NS: I imagine cost is not an issue.
Mr. Roper: It’s funny you should say that. I deal a lot with Paul Stanley from KISS who’s a big wine man on tour. Paul and I have now been friends for many years.
They certainly earn a lot of money and everyone just looks at his $500 million or whatever he’s worth. But at the end of the day, they’re just people like all of us. But you touch on a good point. Some of the wineries I would go might say it’s Paul Stanley and he’s going to buy a container load of wine. Hang on, he’s not. He’s like you and me. He wants six or 12 bottles with him to fill his road case. They like value as much as the next person does. Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Pink are all the same. They’re all about value as well and happy to drink a $45 bottle as opposed to a bling bottle worth $2,000. Now occasionally they do like the $2,000 bottles, but they’re happy to go with my taste and recommendations. Again, it keeps me in good standing that I’m not always trying to sell them the bling wine like expensive Australia’s Penfolds Grange. Actually, I believe there’s better Shiraz in Australia than Penfolds Grange. So instead of paying a thousand dollars a bottle you can pay $50 a bottle and get a wine of the same quality.
NS: Honestly, can’t a $2,000 bottle of wine taste better than a $45 bottle?
Mr. Roper: No. With those $2,000 bottles you’ve got a lot of things going on. It’s like a car, for example, a Lamborghini as opposed to an Audi. You look at it and know you’re buying it for a reason. The real aficionado will buy a Lamborghini for the engine and the passion of having a supercar. But it performs the same way as an Audi does. You’ve got four wheels and drive from point A to B. With wine, it’s a similar thing. You purchase a $2,000 bottle for presentation and to project your wealth. Another example is comparing a Rolex watch to a Casio. Both do the same thing.
What I’m saying is there are levels of quality. If you know the industry, and know your wine like I do, there are wines that for $50 to $100 in my opinion are equal, if not better, than a $1,000 bottle. You just have to know what to buy, and that’s my business.
NS: How about those who don’t drink alcohol?
Mr. Roper: I personally make sure that each wine and spirit is perfectly matched with the tastes of band members and also consider those who do not drink alcohol with providing alcohol-free beverages.
NS: Australia has numerous wine regions similar to the U.S. You have to also be an educator to your customers as to what wines they are tasting.
Mr. Roper: Indeed. I take that opportunity to educate backstage, which is generally after their performance. It’s normally late at night with shows finishing about 10:30 or 11 p.m. Our parties go on to about one or two in the morning depending on the band. All of this is through Backstage Cellar Door because I offer an array of wines backstage from different regions of Australia. In other words, I give bands a traveling tour of the Australian wine industry. I’ll give them a wine sample and a bit of information on each one and share the backstory of the winery so they’re drinking something they’re engaged in rather than just another Shiraz. It’s very important to do that because it shows that I’m doing more than just pouring a bottle of wine. I’m providing knowledge and they generally leave Australia very thankful for the education.
It’s also important to understand Australia is unique in the world in that our regions are in every State. A band can come to Australia, and they can perform first in Perth in Western Australia. Perth has an abundance of beautiful wine regions like Margaret River, Swan Valley, Pemberton, and Great Southern. Overall, about five or six major regions not far from Perth.
While in Perth, I’ll focus on giving the band a taste of where they’re at. It’s not just Australian, it’s what comes from western Australia and that’s what we’ll sample backstage. The tour will move on to Adelaide which is now the wine capital of Australia. It’s got the Barossa Valley, Mclaren Vale, Clare Valley, and Adelaide Hills, all very famous wine regions. Again, I’ll bring South Australia to the show backstage.
They may go on to Victoria and we’re full of wine in that area as well. We’ve got Yarra Valley, Heathcourt, and Mornington Peninsula, and wineries like that all close to Melbourne. So, backstage it will be about Victoria.
NS: It sounds like you do a lot of traveling around the country.
Mr. Roper: I do, but I try to stay in the Melbourne area because of my family which now includes two grandchildren. Plus, I recently turned 60 and I simply want to do more in Melbourne. Still, some of the larger tours take me on tour with them so I still do my fair share of travel.
NS: We’re talking a lot about celebrities and we’ll get back to that topic, but you also ship wine to other parts of the world for non-celebrity types.
Mr. Roper: Yes, absolutely. I also work a lot, as a result of the groups that I look after, with people who aren’t famous, but part of the tour. There’s the roadies, crew and management, PR people, and dressing room staff, plus the sound and lighting folks. These are people behind the scenes of big tours. While here, if they’ve got a day off, I’ll take a busload on a tour to a wine region for a winery tour. The main act usually won’t be with us. As a result of those excursions, I get a lot of ongoing trade shipping wine to their home. To me, they’re all stars. You don’t need to be a star to purchase wine from me. If you drink wine you’re a star as far as I’m concerned.
NS: You shared the David Bowie story about getting into the industry. Is there another interesting story you can talk about since you launched your companies?
Mr. Roper: My relationship with Paul Stanley of KISS has grown over the years. That’s an important one. In late 2008 and early 2009, while KISS was doing a tour here, I caught up with Paul for dinner. Paul and his manager often come to my house for dinner when in Melbourne, which is quite nice.
The tour had finished in 2009, and soon after they’d left, we experienced dramatic bushfires in Victoria, similar to wildfires in the U.S., not far from Melbourne. It was called the Black Saturday weekend. Close to 200 people perished and hundreds were injured in that fire. The fires were the most devastating in Australian history. I reached out to Paul and suggested we do something using his status and influence and raise funds to help people in need. He asked what I recommended and I thought we could create a wine and call it the Paul Stanley collection. We created a series of large-format six liter bottles. Paul did the artwork for the label, which if I remember correctly, he called Aftermath, and the painting represented the bushfires. We donated the wine to the Red Cross in Victoria for their Bushfire appeal and raised $250,000 just on the sale of 12 bottles of wine. Paul also donated his original wine label artwork, which we got framed and also presented for auction. That experience, which Wine Spectator magazine wrote about, made me feel really good. It’s not always about commercialism. It’s about giving to people in need and it really showed Paul’s genuine heart. A lot of people just look at Paul behind his mask while he’s performing.
NS: We don’t often hear about such gesture’s of kindness, but it speaks volumes.
Mr. Roper: Thank you. As a result of that collaboration with Paul, I’ve been creating disaster products for charity purposes for my inner circle. Utilizing my area of expertise, I can leverage wine as a way to raise money for those in need.
NS: I’ve read the wine industry may be at a crossroads, at least here in the U.S. and consumer behavior may be shifting when it comes to drinking wine. Have you found that to be true in Australia.
Mr. Roper: It has, for various reasons. We had a massive problem a few years back with our largest wine trading partner, that being China. The Chinese love red wine because red wine represents health. The problem was, and I guess the buzzword today is, it was due to tariffs. China imposed a 215% tariff on our wine imports. It rendered a five billion dollar industry per year to nothing in one fell stroke of a pen
I’ve got two thoughts about it and it’s a little political. The Australian government at the time was led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison. He stood up to Xi Jinping and said he wasn’t too kind about the Covid situation He leveled the blame at China allowing things to get out of control. Ping obviously hit back and said, “We’re going to hit you hard for what you said,” and levied massive tariffs on our seafood and wine industries, and I think beef too. That ruined the wine industry but caused a massive problem for China because within a week they lost their major trading partner. With such a high tariff, it put our wines out of reach for most people. We’ve just come out of that tariff issue only about a year ago and the wine industry is now breathing a sigh of relief. The doors are opening again for us into China.
Now, the wine industry worldwide is taking a beating and in deep decline globally. We’re finding people are selecting better wine, not more. In other words, quality over quantity. We’re finding the wine companies in Australia who are producing super premium and premium products in the $25 to $30 range seem to be flourishing. Whereas, the big industrial wineries, like Treasury Wine Estates, Accolades and Constellation Groups who produce bulk wine appear to be hurting. It’s definitely an interesting time for the wine industry.
NS: What are your thoughts about U.S. tariffs?
Mr. Roper: Ha. The interesting thing about Donald is that no one fully understands him or where his thinking is from day-to-day. He has such a scattergun approach to everything. It’s a little disconcerting.
Australia has been one of the few countries in the world that has had a tariff-free existence with the U.S. since World War II. We haven’t placed tariffs on any American products and vice versa. America’s been very good with our relationship and trade relations for decades. It’s puzzling that he’s applying these tariffs to everyone. He doesn’t appear to be favoring any country. As a small country, which Australia is, compared to the U.S., it’s disconcerting because our products are very high quality. Our beef industry is seen as one of the best in the world. Our wool industry and seafood are tops too. We also are a very mineral rich country being the top global producer of lithium which is important for battery storage technologies.
The thing that puzzles me is you create friends over your lifetime and you try not to hurt them. I don’t mean to criticize Trump, but in my opinion he’s showing a lack of humanity in his decision making. I understand it’s America only, and supporting the U.S., but at the end of the day you’ve still got to exist in a community. The world is a community and you can’t be a pariah in the community, otherwise people will just distance themselves from you.
NS: Alcohol consumption is said to be increasing the risk of heart disease and some cancers. Is that talked about by health experts in Australia?
Mr. Roper: Yes, I think it’s always been that way. There’s always been commentary around health issues, but mostly for wine, not for spirits or sugary alcohol drinks. The research conducted with quality wine is not as bad as what the experts are saying. There are health benefits to good wine in our diet.
Wine has always been part of people’s lives throughout Europe and Italy. People in those countries grew up having wine in their diet in some respect. Look at the countries that are big wine producers like Italy or France. I think you’ll find wine doesn’t cause problems, of course in moderation. Everything in moderation. Just don’t drink a bottle every night.
Personally, my wife and I share two bottles every week which we think is moderate.
For example, If you look at the research of quality wine from boutique producers, they make their wine with so little interference. By that I mean without chemicals. It’s good for the blood and the soul. But the soul keeps us going in life in a happy and relaxed manner. Why does wine do that? You sit there and socialize with friends and have a laugh and relax with a good bottle of red. You know there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t think.
NS: Of all the wine you’ve tasted, is there one that stands out, or that you have a vivid memory of?
Mr. Roper: Yes, in a funny manner of speaking. I was managing Mark Brandon Read, aka Chopper Read, a well-known gangster in Melbourne. The 2000 film Chopper was based on his life. Film producer Steven Spielberg says it’s one of his favorite movies of all time. Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers say they watch it before every show to get razzed.
NS: I have watched that film and it is quite interesting, especially when Read cuts his ears off to entice the prison board to move him to a mental health wing.
Mr. Roper: His life indeed took many twists and turns. After he was released from prison, I managed him in Melbourne for about six years. I helped take him off the gangster track and got his name out there in a good way. We became friends, and I steered him into getting income from legal methods rather than his former illegal ways.
Gangsters have a habit of referring to their inner circle by nicknames, similar to American crime bosses. You may recall Al “Scarface” Capone, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegal, and Charles “Lucky” Luciano, as well as others.
Chopper gave me a nickname. He called me Hill of Grace because it was my favorite wine.
There’s a little winery in the Eden Valley area of South Australia called Henschke and they produce Hill of Grace, a beautiful and expensive Shiraz that sells for about $700 a bottle. It’s a serious, well-made wine and once in a while for a celebration I would open a bottle of Hill of Grace. For Chopper’s 40th birthday, we went to a restaurant and I brought a bottle of Hill of Grace and put it on the table. That was to be his first tasting.
I recall Chopper saying, “I’ve got to have a Hill of Grace and want to know what it’s all about.” I decanted it properly and poured a little into our big bowl wine glasses. Big bowl glasses allow you to get the wine’s full aroma.
Mind you, when I poured the wine covered only a fraction of the glass. He grabbed the bottle from my hand and filled up his glass with about three quarters of the bottle and just gulped it down. He didn’t even savor it. He put the glass down and goes “That’s a f—ing good wine.” So, Hill of Grace to this day is my number one wine and I have a nickname.
NS: Today, what wines do you tend to focus on?
Mr. Roper: I find these amazing little boutique wineries around Australia. Artisan people are very passionate about wine production. I recently introduced one to Green Day in Melbourne called Dero. It’s from the same region as Hill of Grace. It’s a Shiraz Viana mix and every time I open a bottle it blows people away.
NS: I read you recently poured for Drake and his team
Mr. Roper: Drake’s into wine in a big way while on tour, especially Australian wine. He also has his own champagne line called MOD. MOD sells for as much as $400 a bottle. Drake is just one of the rappers that has invested into his own champagne line. A lot of rappers and hip hop singers like their bling with big chains around their necks and like their glamour wine too. They’re always after a bottle of Krug or Dom Perignon while on tour.
NS: How can U.S. wine lovers contact you if they want to have Australian wine shipped to the U.S.?
Mr. Roper: I tend to be very private although I do magnify myself on LinkedIn. That’s the best way to contact me and I respond very quickly.
If people want me, they’ll find me and track me down. My web people are always at me saying I’ve got to update my website. I’ll get to it eventually.
As for celebrity types and their crew. I don’t want to be seen as this commercial animal always trying to sell something backstage to these guys in their dressing rooms or in the green room. They value their privacy and I make every effort to be discreet.
Here’s another quick and funny story. I looked after Niall Horan, and Irish fellow and one of the band members of the English-Irish pop band One Direction. I took him and his manager to dinner in Melbourne and of course I brought a selection of wines. While we were dinning, I asked his opinion about his feelings when we met backstage. I asked how they found me and if it was through Google research. Niall says “We research everyone who comes into our room. We want to know who they are.”
Then I asked, what do you think of my website? He said, “Andrew, we regard you as the OG of wine.” I thought what the hell does OG mean. Perhaps I was showing my age. I texted my daughter on the way home and asked her what OG meant. She responded, ‘Original Gangster.’ In other words, you’re cool. It’s a cool phrase.
I thought I had to develop a bit more around what I do, so, I immediately got on the internet and bought all the OG domain names. Now I’m developing an OG wine platform.
NS: Fun little story and thank you for sharing that.
Mr. Roper: It was truly a compliment. I love what I do and I’m the only one in the world offering this service.
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