What a fascinating story about Mary-Lou Nash who arrived in South Africa with just a backpack and eventually becomes a winemaster. Her Black Pearl winery is in the Paarl valley, near Cape Town. Her story is one of curiosity for the world, taking chances, a lot of hard work and dogged perseverance. In 1995 she had been a teacher traveling the world and decided on a whim to take her backpack and meet her dad in South Africa. She had no idea then that choosing to go to South Africa would set her life on a completely new course.

 

Mary-Lou was born in England and grew up in Canada and Maine. Both of her parents were doctors and she was one of 4 children. "Everywhere I've lived in my life was in the countryside." As a teen, Mary-Lou says she partied hard, played hard at sports and studied hard. (Even at an early age, her passions were her driving force.) She graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a B.A. in Anthropology, summa cum laude and then taught English in Japan, traveling the world in her spare time.

 

Her father had remarried, went to South Africa for a honeymoon and then purchased a farm, not realizing it had 40 acres of Chenin Blanc. Mary-Lou visited him there. "I knew nothing about grapes," she tells us. They had no laborers and decided to harvest the grapes themselves. They picked 3 tons on a Friday and with an aching back recruited more workers and finished the harvest. Mary-Lou was hooked. She told her dad she would stay on as the manager. In 1997, they planted grapes for red wines.
 

Always determined, she is a self-taught winemaker that faced real discrimination in the 1990's male-dominated wine industry. She worked hard and never gave up, always reaching out and befriending other winemakers to continually learn more. She received her Cape Wine Masters degree in 2011 from the University in Stellenbosch. In 2001 she created her first vintage herself. "I had bottled, created a label and had never given a thought to selling it!" Today, Mary-Lou's winery produces 7,300 barrels of red in addition to white wine.

 

Fun Fact: Mary-Lou met a wine distributor along the way that helped her get her label into Disney. Turns out Jack Sparrow's pirate ship (Pirates of the Caribbean) is also named "Black Pearl." Her Cabernet is the #1-selling South African red in Disney World.

 

Unfortunately, Mary-Lou was involved in a harrowing experience being robbed at knifepoint in her home at the winery and she decided to move to a home in Stellenbosch recently. "Everything happens for a reason. I was isolated at Black Pearl. Now I have moved into town, I have a whole new group of friends, I can walk everywhere, I take a yoga class on the beach and I've joined a sailing club. I love my life now!"

 

Mary-Lou's life advice:

• "Don't always take the easy route. Don't be scared of taking chances."

• "Put yourself first and do what makes you happy. We can't waste any time at our age!"

• "Always accept invitations--get out there! You never know who you might meet." (Her dad told her this one but she firmly lives it.)

• "It's all about the F-Word, as in FUN!"

• More about Mary-Lou Nash and Black Pearl Wines

• Sponsored by: How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• (Un)Retirement Travel with the Pro Allan Wright, Zephyr Adventures

• I Used to be Somebody World Tours -- Tuscany, Portugal, Pickleball Adventure

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog

Tags:    Blog   Interview   Mary-Lou Nash   Winemaster   South Africa   (Un)Retirement   I Used To Be Somebody   Podcast  

Carl interviews Bob Wolfe this month, just as Bob "The Pinot Guy" embarks on a new career in his 60's. Timing, hard work, patience and the willingness to deep dive are the hallmarks of having a successful second (or third) career and Bob has been doing just that for decades. A wine expert who owns his own wine business, he has written over a thousand articles for magazines like The Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits, The Northwest Palate and more. He has also been a long-time judge for wine competitions all over the world. Most people know Carl loves Pinot Noir, but Bob's second act as a pickleball instructor has Carl super-psyched!

Bob grew up in a very small rural town in Monroe, Oregon, (pop. 450.) His family lived on 22 acres with cows, chickens and lots of wood for Bob to chop into firewood. Eager to get out into the world after high school, Bob was intrigued by nuclear submarines and international travel and he joined the U.S. Navy.

In the 1980's, Bob started work on two of his interests at the time, natural pesticides and beer, (but not together.) You'll have to tune in to the episode to hear Bob's story about a 4:30am business phone call with Donald Trump way back then. (Some things don't change.) Bob's passions eventually led him to wine and he was one of the first in the U.S. to publish an e-newsletter devoted to wine. He enjoyed the perks of being a wine reviewer. "Wine writing is a wonderful gig!" he tells us.

He took some of the money from his other ventures and in 1991 he started The Oregon Pinot Noir Wine Club out of his garage. That very first day he had orders. In just a couple of years, he grew the club to a $2 million business. He started judging internationally and his wine biz career as a retailer and expert grew steadily.

Fast forward a couple of decades, Bob says he turned 60 and started thinking about what he wanted to do next. " I knew I wanted to wind down my time in the wine biz. I looked for something to belong to, something more social." Bob joined a pickleball club, took some lessons and loved it. "'I'm meeting new people and having fun. I find it satisfying on so many levels."

Now Bob has found someone to run his wine biz and is planning trips to Mazatlan, Mexico and Da Nang, Vietnam where you guessed it...he's planning to play and teach pickleball. He's even training to be a competition judge. Bob says, "I always ask myself, What's driving me and my passion now? I'm jumping in!"

Bob Wolfe's (un)retirement tips:

• "No sitting on the sidelines, just thinking about what you want to do. Do it."

• "Get enough friends to do things with--I'm determined to escape the dreaded senior lonely years."

• "Give up on owning a lot of stuff. You just don't need it. Unburden yourself from taking care of things you don't use. It will free your mind too."

• More about Bob Wolfe

• Sponsored by How to Retire and Not Die

• Sponsored by Capital Advantage

• I Used to be Somebody World Tour

Diana Landau is the Content Wrangler for Pickleball Media. After 15 years in corporate marketing, in 2012 she pivoted to write and wrangle content for Niche Media's weekly blog. She now manages the "I Used to be Somebody" blog.

Tags:    Blog   Pickleball   Unretirement   Bob Wolfe   Pinot   Wine   Interview   I Used To be Somebody