The Best 5 Minute Wine Podcast

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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What you’ll learn: Why Shared Spirits is built as a progressive web app (PWA)

How saving it to your home screen makes it behave like a native app

Why wineries and tasting rooms could use this tech to drive foot traffic

How drink gifting works during wine tours, proposals, and special events

Why digital gifting is now normal thanks to Amazon, Starbucks, DoorDash, and Uber Eats

How Shared Spirits uses digital signage, social media, and marketing partners

How wineries, distributors, and restaurants can reach out and get involved

The revenue model: free for consumers and restaurants, funded by supplier campaigns

How restaurants can deploy drink credits to influencers, ambassadors, and VIP patrons

The surprising stat: one bar customer spent $22,000 in a single year

Key takeaway: Shared Spirits isn’t just a drink‑gifting app — it’s a flexible hospitality tool that can expand into wineries, tasting rooms, and any venue that sells bottles or glasses.

Guest: Sherman Mohr — Co‑founder of Shared Spirits.

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In this Wine Wednesday Back Label Story, we take you to the Caucasus Mountains of the country of Georgia — home to what may be the oldest evidence of wine on earth. Clay jars called qvevri, buried in the ground and stained with 8,000-year-old grape residue, tell the story of a human relationship with wine that predates the pyramids and the Roman Empire.

But the real twist comes from the Greeks and Romans themselves. Despite building entire cultures around wine — complete with gods, poetry, and legendary philosophical drinking parties — they considered drinking wine straight a sign of barbarism. Every symposium, every gathering, every social occasion ran on wine cut with two or three parts water. Drinking it undiluted? That was something the Scythians did. Barbarians. The people you never wanted to be compared to.

So the next time you reach for a glass of water alongside your Cabernet, raise it. You're not being cautious. You're being civilized — exactly the way the ancients intended.

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