@NBA great Tony Parker spoke with “Paltrocast” host Darren @paltrowitz about working with vintner Michel Reybier on The Champagne Jeeper Brut Grande Assemblage, his NBA career, music and more via Zoom in April 2024. Theme song by Steve Schiltz.
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@paltrowitz
it’s the Bel cast now with d Bel let’s
get ready to listen to your favorite
artists outro Tony good afternoon or is it
good evening for you uh good afternoon okay
good afternoon thank you for taking the time how
is your day going aside from answering the same
questions over and over and over and over
and over again I was just talking about it
with my my partner I was like how many of
those I did today I’m gonna repeat myself
I’m gonna try to be creative with you I’ll try
to I’ll try to do good you my last one of the
day after three days it felt like a marathon
yeah the key is everyone wants to speak with
you because there’s you know just an important
wine collaboration besides your philanthropy
besides your success as an entrepreneur
owning a couple of sports teams Etc but
we’re here to talk about wine um how did you
start working with Michelle so basically we
met uh through mutual friends uh he used to
own in the beginning of the 2000 he used to
own the basketball team that I own right now
uh I bought it in 2014 and he used to own in
back in 2000 and uh and so that’s how we met you
know we had connection with the sports world and
had mutual friends and he knew that I wanted to
invest in wine it was not a secret that’s that’s
something that I wanted to do after basketball
it’s something that I love and it’s a passion
and and so um after talking for a year uh we
just agreed to to become Partners together and
then I became the ambassador of LA mascaron
and and jeeper were you always a fan of wine
now you mentioned wanting to own wine labels after
basketball but not everybody is drinking wine when
they’re 18 or 21 years old in other words it’s
usually a slow onboarding time yeah but me I’m
French you know so it’s in my culture so I grew up
with it you know so when I was 17 I got introduced
to it and um I really liked it and uh and then
when I was 19 I was able to to afford you know
all those good wines and uh I was lucky enough
to to play for a coach who love wine coach pop
is a big wine lover he has a huge collection and
uh and he he used to read a lot of magazines on
the plane and so it was a great way for me to to
connect with him and to bond with him and uh and
after a while I will do dinners in San Antonio
once a month I will do a dinner invite all the
best castles and uh do a great dinner the next
day invite them to a Spurs game and and I was
you know lucky to create great relationship with
those people and then in the summer I will go into
Vineyards work on my locations and uh and make
sure you know we stay in contact so over the years
it create a great Passion you after 20 years when
I was ready to to move on that was something that
that I knew I wanted to do how long was it from
having this idea to work with Michelle to actually
launching it and announcing it we talked for
like like a year and um and he was already owner
of of couple Vineyards the most famous One
C this Tel one of the most famous Bordeaux
best red wine in the world so that’s why when he
wanted to invest in in a Ros you know the Ros is
exploding right now all the big groups
are are investing in Ros especially and
they B shcl and so when he talked to
me about La mascaron I was reinsured
very early because the the owner of that
Vineyard was Tom B an American his name
was Tom B and he used to own Nal and
Nal you know that’s the one the Brad
Pit CH went a vacation with my friends and we
started drink Ros was like he let’s try something
different let’s drink Ros it looks good you know
miraval and that’s how I started you know drink
miral every summer and so when M reier told me
about the mascaron and told both I was like oh
I was like that’s good good I’m sure it’s got
great potential before you were interested in
Ros were you more of a drinker of Reds uh red and
white and and I always loved the both I I say I
love all three colors and and I like the dessert
wine too you know shat Kim I love sh Kim and we
have something similar in Michelle’s re group
and I used to drink red and white and when I
started back in 05 drinking Rosé and now I love
all three colors and I like dessert too dessert
wine is really good you know Kim love that dessert
wine and we have something similar in the group
called to and it’s a dessert wine too and I like
that too got it so when we talk about the chat La
Mars mosc like what the offerings what do you like
to usually pair with or do you just drink on your
own enjoy the wine on its own uh both the called
Lao you know you do before dinners and and I can
drink it by itself I can drink in our parties or
I can drink in now at dinners you know and uh I
don’t really pair with anything special it doesn’t
matter what I’m eating uh for me I’m a big foodie
guy I love food uh I love different you know like
Italy Spain France you know Mexican Asian like
I really love food and so it doesn’t matter like
for me it depends my mood if I want to drink some
red or white but if I drink Rosé I don’t think
about what I’m going to eat it’s just oh I want
to drink Ros today so playing you know 20 years
of professional basketball obviously conditioning
and diet was a lot more important than it is now
did you get to enjoy New York much after you would
play the Knicks or is it get to the plane get
back home no we always enjoy our dinner we were
famous for our dinners you know with the Spurs you
know we were the Front Runners with pop to to have
wine in the NBA uh when I when I arrived in 01 um
it was more like hard alcohol and and Through the
Years and maybe with the dress code when the NBA
changed with the dress code and had to dress up
and be more classy people were drinking more wine
and now you see it all over the NBA you know with
Dwayne Wade and Steph Curry Carmello everybody got
their own Vineyards or you can see LeBron posting
a great vintage that he drank you know from one
of the great castles you know of wine and so
now you know everybody drinks wine and appreciate
wine and so for me coming from France it’s pretty
cool to see the evolution of the NBA were New York
crowds harder to deal with than other cities or is
that just a myth uh no they they’re tough for sure
they’re tough you know and they but because they
know their basketball you know they they die hard
fans and they really know basketball and doesn’t
matter if the Knicks are good or bad it’s always
packed the Madison sore Garden so people just love
basketball and so as I mentioned earlier you found
success in multiple areas during your NBA career
after your NBA career Etc is there a field you
haven’t yet conquered that you’re still hoping
to work in no not really right now I feel very
happy with the development of a infinity9 group
you know the group that that I’m running with
my partner I just love everything we’re doing
you know we have different sections you know we
have the sports section that’s where I own the
basketball teams and the ski resort and the horse
RAC team and we have the education Branch that’s
where we have the academy in Leon and hopefully
soon in the county near Paris um we have the ariv
like I call it you know the branch where we have
all the wine Investments and then we have the the
tech Branch you know that’s all my investments
and different uh different startups and stuff
like that wow so it sounds like you brought your
competitive nature from Sports into the business
world there’s not a lot of sitting around time
for Tony Parker no but I like to I like to have
an impact you know in our society that’s why we
choose you know our investments and I want to
give back and I’m animated about sharing you know
my experience you know with the Next Generation
and just want to inspire people and I have plenty
of time to to rest when I’m older but right now
I feel like I still have a lot of energy and I
have that discipline and that work ethic and I
want to just have a great adventure you know with
my friends you know and uh enjoy life and we try
all around the world and we feel very blessed well
two quick questions and then I’ll let you go the
first one has nothing to do with your successes
or the wine but you recorded an album of rap in
2006 2007 so you’re a music fan what’s the last
concert that you went to for fun the last concert
that I won that I went excuse me was noo I went
to the Nao concert in Paris and then before that
I saw fish mode uh in Paris I saw 50 Cent In
Paris that’s the last three concert that that
I saw the last two weeks uh the next one is uh
cplay in June I love going to concerts because
uh I was not able to go to concerts when I was
a kid and when I was playing NBA we didn’t have
really time you know to go to concerts so my last
two three years I’ve been going to every concerts
everything I can do I go wow okay and then the
last question related to that what’s the last
sporting event that you attended I went to the
Super Bowl that was my first time ever going live
in Vegas it was pretty cool and by the way the
day before the Super Bowl I went to the sphere
and I went the YouTube I saw the YouTube concert
so the YouTube concert at this sphere was amazing
and then the next day I went to the Super Bowl
and so that was pretty cool because I had to do
an event you know for ESPN and they put me at the
50 yard line you know I had the best seats in the
house it was pretty cool so it’s sounds like you
need to have a music publication or a music blog
in the future because you’re seeing more concerts
than anybody yeah I’m going to a lot of concerts
that’s for sure well Tony thank you for the years
of amazing compelling basketball congratulations
on the growth of the wine and your other
businesses and really looking forward to
what’s to come from you in the near future thank
you Darren thank you very much and maybe I’ll talk
to you soon and if you ever come to the south
of France make sure you come to L masong trast