The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast

Ernest and Julio Gallo founded E. & J. Gallo Winery in Modesto, California in the fall of 1933, just after the repeal of Prohibition. Their starting capital was less than $6,000 — $5,000 of it borrowed from Ernest's mother-in-law, Teresa Franzia. Their winemaking education came from pre-Prohibition pamphlets retrieved from the basement of the Modesto Public Library. With a single tractor running back-to-back 12-hour shifts, they produced 177,000 gallons in their first year.

What the front label doesn't show: Ernest and Julio's parents died in 1933, the same year the winery was founded. Their father shot their mother, then turned the gun on himself. Ernest was 24. He never spoke about it publicly.

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Hosted by Rusty Sellers, producer of The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast and resident quizmaster of the Pop The Quiz segment

Flying Whale Edition — ten questions based on the Maba Ba interview series

 Round One: Multiple Choice (5 questions)

Which African tribe inspired Flying Whale Wine? (Dogon)

Which star system did the Dogon base their belief system on? (Sirius)

Where did Maba Ba grow up? (Dakar, Senegal)

What unexpected event led him into wine? (A random meeting in Miami)

Before wine, Maba primarily worked as what? (Filmmaker)

 

Round Two: True or False (5 questions)

The Flying Whale name comes from a real animal used in winemaking (False)

Maba met his winemaking partner shortly after their first introduction (True)

The vineyard was newly built from scratch (False — 5th generation, 100+ years old)

His red blend was inspired by big California Cabernet wines (True)

He believes rosé should only be enjoyed in summer (False — "that idea is ridiculous")



Scoring breakdown: 9–10 correct = locked in / 6–8 = mostly listening / 3–5 = wine in hand / 0–2 = you just liked the intro music

 Rusty's closing line: "Wine isn't just about what's in the glass — it's about the story behind it. And sometimes that story involves a flying whale."

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Sherman Mohr has spent years placing brand ambassadors for spirits and wine companies — and the data kept pointing to the same thing: the best ones were over 50. That pattern sparked a new venture called Over 50 Pros (over50pros.com), a platform dedicated to helping people in that demographic understand that their experience has real market value — they just need a new narrative for delivering it.

Sherman notes that roughly 35% of all gig work in the U.S. is currently performed by workers over 50, many of whom are doing it for reasons that go beyond a paycheck — engagement, community, mental sharpness, and yes, fun. He calls them the most mentally healthy people he knows.

The wine and spirits industry itself gets a vote of confidence too: Sherman describes it as relatively recession-resilient, a good sign for anyone considering it as a career lane.

Connect with Sherman:

Shared Spirits: sharedspirits.com

Email: [email protected]

Socials: @sharedspirits

New venture: over50pros.com

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David Lett didn't discover the Willamette Valley — he invented it as wine country. When he arrived in 1965, Oregon was timber and berries. Nobody was planting Pinot Noir there. Nobody serious, anyway. Lett and his wife Diana set up in the Dundee Hills and did it anyway, with no roadmap, no guarantee, and no backup plan.

For years they were written off. The market wasn't interested in Oregon wine. If it wasn't French or Californian, it didn't matter. But in 1979, Lett entered his 1975 Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir in the Wine Olympiad in Paris — and when the results came in, his wine ranked among the best in the world. Just like that, a region nobody respected demanded a second look.

What Lett built in the Dundee Hills didn't just put Oregon on the map — it rewrote the map entirely. Today, the Willamette Valley is one of the most respected Pinot Noir regions on the planet. All because one man decided the biggest risk wasn't failure. It was listening to people who thought they already knew everything.

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Maba Ba — founder of Flying Whale Wine, based in New York; originally from Dakar, Senegal; serial entrepreneur, filmmaker, WNBA enthusiast. 

The Flying Whale name is rooted in the Dogon people of West Africa, whose ancient cosmology centered on the Sirius star system — they believed an amphibian being called the Nommo flew to Earth in a whale-like ship to deliver the first humans

Maba grew up in Dakar — a peninsula surrounded by the Atlantic, the westernmost point of Africa — with a lifelong connection to the ocean and whales breaching

His whale philosophy: "They keep trying to get out of the ocean and fall back in — so I gave them wings"

 The wine partnership began in June 2022 at a Miami lunch meeting; by August 2022 he was in Perpignan, south of France, meeting winemaker DJ Rodriguez (flies into Barcelona, drives to meet him)

 Flying Whale Gold (Red) — 2023 vintage Grenache Noir/Syrah blend; inspired by big California Cabs but crafted silkier, rounder, less tannic; meant to be enjoyed slightly chilled or with a meal; soft launched at Aspen Food & Wine, June 2025; fully launched August 2025

 Flying Whale Rosé — Grenache/Syrah; fuller body, dry, strawberry/peach with citrus balance; designed as an "all season" rosé — equally at home by the fireplace or poolside

 Flying Whale White Gold (in development) — a Viognier that drinks like a Chardonnay; floral nose and finish of Viognier + buttery/greasy mouthfeel of Chardonnay; inspiration struck at Miami Vine Expo

 Maba's creative process: ideas come at 4–5am; keeps notebooks everywhere including bedside

 Bottle design philosophy: "striking simplicity" — the medallion/coin aesthetic was designed to feel like a collector's item and a gift

 Writing the tasting notes was harder than the visual design — references the Pascal quote about not having time to write a short letter

 Partnership dynamic: Maba brings a beginner's mind and bigger dreams.

 flyingwhalewine.com

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