Founder of La Fête Wine Company, Donae Burston, dropped by the 'Wake Up With Cheddar' studios and brought along a little taste testing to let us all know rosé doesn't just have to be a summer wine. Watch! 

Wake Up With Cheddar

Donae Burston On Disrupting The Wine Industry

just because summer is over doesn't mean you can't enjoy your rose all day Shan. That's right. That's what baker wants to do. So here to tell us about his amazing brand, Lafayette wine company and how he's disrupting the wine industry is donate bursting, donate. Thanks so much for getting up so early with us. So by the way, you have a really interesting story, you started your career working at high end brands, Don Perignon, veuve clicquot moet chandon as well. So what made you decide you wanted to start your own? Yeah, I mean, listen, I I spent a lot of time in France and the south of France, particularly in central pay. I know that sounds really like nice. Yes, yes, A lot of time down there fell in love with rose, but when I came back to the States, I always noticed that no brands really made me feel comfortable. Everything was about sundresses and pink flowers, but it's true and I wanted to you know, I wanted a brand that broke out of that trend and just was for everyone, you bring up a good point because we know that sometimes roses about those Pink Girl Valley girl vibes. I like it. So that that makes a good point. Why was it important for you to kind of try to shift that stereotype and what are you shifting it to? Yeah, For me, it was like Rose for everyone and that's really our tagline is that it's a party and everyone's invited and that really was the messaging to say let's break away from this trivial nous of like everything pink and fall out drunk and all that sort of thing that was happening in space and bring some sexiness back. I love it. Well I want to try this by the way I'm gonna because I have no shame at seven in the morning. I will try this. So tell us a little bit about this one that I'm having. So this is the rose, this is the 2021 vintage, which is a great blend of grenache, cabernet Sauvignon, syrah tiburon move Edra, but it's a much rounder rose. So you don't get that acidic bite that you would get a lot of the others on the market. It's a great food, wine and food pairing wine and also the residual sugar is low so you don't get that sweetness. Oh, that's really important cause a lot of times this is how I know I'm getting older. I usually get heartburn because of all that extra sweetness from and I will say I love the label, I usually pick a drink. So this is a beautiful because it's dry, not too sweet, but just like perfectly good fruit flavor, but Okay, well he's gonna keep drinking. Exactly right. I told you, I got to ask you about making history in 2021 because you became the first black and minority owned business to work with constellation? A lot of people know their brands from becoming just like corona different, what did you do to get them to, how did that partnership work out? You know listen it was really the consumers, the brand really took off during a pandemic. It caught the attention of the eyes of the executives but more important they believed in the vision that we were really trying to disrupt this industry. We're not selling wine, we're selling a lifestyle, we're selling the Central Pay lifestyle. And they believed in that and and they believed in the roses face. I mean we're growing double digit year over year and they saw that and said you know what we have, this initiative would be we'd be honored and I was honored to be selected as the first recipient. Well clearly it's good because he keeps yeah I do too, I do too. Yes I love me some but this is a white wine which is blank blank, A white blend. Oh interesting. So I'm a traditional, we call it savvy, be at my house a sauvignon blanc. So where would you sort of put this in the spectrum of the white wine? So it's in between a white burgundy and Okay, interesting. Okay so it's gonna still have some, yeah it's gonna be chris a little dry but it's still a little fruity like me as well. All right, you take a drink of that and tell us how it is. Oh that's actually great. That is really good. Really sort of dry but like not too dry but also really sort of crisp would get some time with a Sauvignon blanc is a little bit more rounder. Yeah, now you mentioned Central Pay earlier, so I want to go back to that partner with a lot of wineries down there and different prestigious companies down there. So how often you get to go down there any chance? How did you get those partnerships because a lot of people try to work with these amazing wineries? Yeah, I get there four times a year, you are right there. Um but yeah, it was, it really just happened by chance. I was at a cocktail party in the south of France during the Cannes Film Festival and a random conversation turned out to be, you know the guy who was involved with the winery in Central Pay and I said we should do something, literally didn't think anything was gonna really come of it, but it did well and that's not the only deal you brokered an NBA all star chris paul, just, wow, congratulations. Okay, so how did you pull that off? And what's that relationship y'all like hang out together, we have mutually advisers and he actually put us together, but chris was responsible for getting Lafayette into the NBA bubble was a couple years ago. Yeah, he went to Central Pay this summer and fell in love with the winery. Um but no, we just vibe, we believe in supporting black business. I went to a historically black college, he's a big supporter of that clark Atlanta University shout out great homecomings. Absolutely can't wait. And we just jelled and we believe in the vision and he's been a great supporter of ours. Well, I see why because this stuff is really, really, really good. So clearly have a lot to be really proud of. What, what's your favorite? Um I love all the time, but I would have to say just to enjoy the last little bit of summer. I'm going to take the rose to no, there's no such thing as seasonality or rose right all day. That's what they say. He just double fist so easily. Doesn't doesn't naturally. All right, thank you so much to the founder of the Fat Wine company, donate bursting. Thank you so much for dropping by and giving baker buzz. Yes, indeed.