Inside the Empire
Inside the Empire
From Paperboy to Wine Empire: The Johnny Leon Story
Johnny Leon's path from paperboy to winery owner reveals how life's harshest moments often lead to our most authentic callings. As the current owner of Oak Mountain Winery, Johnny shares the remarkable story of resilience that brought him to Temecula Valley's wine country.
Growing up in a three-bedroom house with six siblings in Chula Vista, Johnny developed a strong work ethic early. His entrepreneurial journey began at 12 as a paper boy, waking at 3:30 AM to deliver newspapers up steep hills. This first taste of independence taught him customer service, collections, and relationship-building—foundations that would serve him throughout his career.
Johnny's professional path wound through hospitality at prestigious establishments like Hotel Del Coronado, where he served celebrities and even President Clinton, before finding what seemed like permanent success in real estate during the early 2000s boom. Then came the devastating 2008 financial crisis, which Johnny describes as watching his income "vaporize into thin air." With everything tied to real estate, he lost nearly everything overnight.
This collapse became the catalyst for Johnny's entry into the wine industry. Starting from the bottom as a tasting room server, he quickly rose through the ranks, becoming top in sales despite being viewed as a rookie. His unprecedented success came from pure determination: "When you're backed into a corner with bills to pay, you'd be surprised what you can accomplish."
After years of helping other winery owners fulfill their dreams, Johnny finally pursued his own vision during COVID. Guided by his late mother's wisdom to never "squander opportunity," he finalized his business plan and purchased Oak Mountain Winery with its unique features—caves, distillery, rolling hills, and restaurant.
Now 13 months into ownership, Johnny is elevating Oak Mountain with expanded offerings, premium wines aged in French oak barrels, and upscale dining options while maintaining the welcoming atmosphere that makes Temecula Valley special. His goal? Creating a place where wine enthusiasts of all experience levels can simply have a good time while helping establish Temecula as a world-class wine region.
Ready to experience Johnny's vision? Visit Oak Mountain Winery and taste the fruits of resilience that transformed economic disaster into wine country dreams.
Welcome to the Inside the Empire podcast. I'm here with my guest, johnny Leon. Johnny, thanks for coming in. Of course we appreciate having you, johnny. He's the president and CEO of Oak Mountain Winery. Recently purchased it. How long ago now? 13 months now to be exact. Okay, all right, 13 months on the dot. So looking to get inside that empire, get inside the noggin, learn a little more about your business history and kind of walk through. I want to start right at the beginning. Where'd you grow up? Let's start there. Where'd you grow up?
Speaker 2:Well, I grew up in Chula Vista, California. It's a small little town in Southern San Diego and I loved it had we had a great time growing up in a three-bedroom house with with six other siblings nice, so as a romper house yeah, pretty much awesome.
Speaker 1:So grew up in Chula Vista. What did your parents do for work?
Speaker 2:My dad was both he was landscaper and also at that time and then also he was a pastor, so he was doing both at the same time.
Speaker 1:Oh nice, yeah, all right, and then your mom stay at home mom, stay at home, mom.
Speaker 2:And then she also worked for a company making tortillas. And then she was also working for uh, chicken of the sea, a canning tuna.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right, that was, that was good stuff. Hard labor, yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure All right, cool. So let's, let's walk through. When did you get your first job, how old were you and what was that first job that you ever?
Speaker 2:worked first.
Speaker 2:First job was a paper boy okay and uh there's none of those jobs, no more yeah you know, if you ask kids nowadays what's a paper boy, they're like what? Uh, no, it was. It was. Uh, I wanted so bad just to go to work and do something and uh, an opportunity came up and, um, I applied and uh, I was paper boy.
Speaker 2:And um, I lived in some pretty steep hills at that point in spring valley, california. Um, and uh, yeah, I would have to wake up early in the morning and back then they, they gave you the paper and then the insert, so you'd have to put all the inserts in the paper and they deliver them to you like at 3.30 in the morning, so by 4 o'clock in the morning. I'm like slinging the inserts into the paper and then, if it's raining, you got to put them in plastic bags and then you put them in this like this big duffel bag and then you put that on your bike and then you go to start to deliver the paper. But, uh, it, if it sounds difficult, it really was, because there was many times where I crashed my bike because it was top heavy or one side was heavier than the other, and and you just put the papers back and you keep going brush it off and on to the next one how old were you at that time?
Speaker 1:I think I was 12.
Speaker 2:Wow, but I learned so much about that and working in that job Everything from customer service collections, how to negotiate and then how to interact, know negotiate and then how to you know, interact with people and I think that's probably the thing that I would learn the most on that job is just the interaction and building relationships right, yeah, and you had to be disciplined, obviously, to get up at 3, 3, 30, be ready by 4, like.
Speaker 1:And at that age too, you're exhausted, you're like, yeah, I mean, that's the last thing you want to do when you're that age is wake up early and start working.
Speaker 2:But I wanted you know certain things. I wanted a brand new bike and I wanted you know, and my mom's like if you want something, you gotta earn it. So that's right. Uh, I got tired of uh asking neighbors if I could cut their grass and stuff like that. I'm like this is a good way of doing it.
Speaker 1:It was tough. It was tough, yeah. So roll me into now your second job. What would you do after becoming a paperboy?
Speaker 2:After that I worked for an upholsterer and he needed basically just a hand to deliver furniture that's already been repaired and fixed and then so some of them were restaurants, some of them were bars, some of them were residential, so he would upholster furniture and then we'd go deliver it. So that was an after school job right after I think it was my ninth grade in high school.
Speaker 1:Nice yeah, and so you learn customer service more, how to interact with people through that experience.
Speaker 2:A lot of labor communicate, had to communicate, and then the customer service and sales as well for upsells and so forth, but, more than anything, just being on time, um, and how to interact with you. You know your, your peers, and you know I didn't know this at the time but, um, or I didn't really think about it. Um, but the the guy that I was helping out was drinking and driving the whole entire time.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:So he would stop and ask me if I wanted a soda or something and he would get his, his mixed club sodas, and he would have a few of those and as a you know I'm a 14 year old I didn't really say much or think of, you know, the repercussions or the danger he was putting me in but. I just kind of did it. You know, now, when I think back, I'm like, oh my gosh, what's that?
Speaker 2:like that was dangerous, so dangerous and driving all over san diego with that somebody who's drinking and driving the whole entire time.
Speaker 1:It was crazy right, that's a good lesson. Kids, don't drink and drive never adults also don't drink and drive, putting kids in danger out here, so that you're 14, you're about to go into high school, or maybe you're a freshman in high school at that point, and then, uh, what's, where'd you roll into after that?
Speaker 2:so after that I was, I played some sports. I dabbled in baseball and wrestling and I loved it. It was great, I learned a lot. And then I started to, you know, think about, okay, what am I going to do after high school? So you know, I started thinking about you. Do I go to the military, do I go into college? So, after looking into it, I'm like I don't think the military is for me. I just I don't think I support the military. I love the military, but at that point, you know, I'd really have a direction to go into the military, so I chose not to. So I went to Southwestern College at junior college in chile, vista, and I was taking some courses there and, um, then I got a quote-unquote real job at the hotel del coronado oh yeah, everyone knows that spot yeah, it was a really cool uh experience and that's kind of a guy that dipped my toe into, to working, you know, or learning about wine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, what'd you do there? I worked front desk and I was guest services and I was able to start really utilizing my, my hospitality at that point yeah you know guest services and hospitality and customer service and sales and so on.
Speaker 1:So, dealing with all the the people with the headaches, some people come in hot and excited, some people come in cold and angry.
Speaker 2:I met a lot of movie stars and famous people and it was it was pretty cool. But those are usually the ones that were the most, uh, I guess, difficult to deal with at the same time, because they're so demanding. Demi Moore was very nice. Terry Bradshaw an awesome guy as well, but yeah, there was some difficult. I won't name them.
Speaker 1:Extremely difficult. Let's throw him under the bus.
Speaker 2:No just kidding, just kidding, but it was a really cool experience during that time. At that time it was President Clinton came to the Hotel Del and I was just mesmerized by, like, when a president comes comes to a hotel, the amount of work that goes into that is crazy. Right like a month in advance, they were doing all kinds of things. A week before that, they were had video cameras everywhere. They had the president staying in the second floor and then they had secret service above them, secret service below him and secret service on the sides to make sure that he was fully enclosed, and the amount of secret service that were there was astounding. I also learned that when the secret service check in, they don't have to pay taxes on on anything.
Speaker 1:So it was, I was like hmm interesting they didn't have to pay taxes because they're using our tax money, but that was pretty crazy.
Speaker 2:That was a pretty crazy experience to see that, and then the amount of people that show up for something like that is crazy.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, you thought Justin Bieber was famous.
Speaker 2:Wait until the president rolls in.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, so that was straight out of high school. You worked there for how many years?
Speaker 2:yeah, I worked there for about two years two years nice, that's good experience on a on a higher corporate level and learning customer service I learned customer service sales, um and learning how to really um use my skills and and and kind of watch them grow and and learn new things and and when you deal with high-end clientele, it's you know they're pretty demanding so you also learn how to give exceptional customer service, kind of like. That, for sure is the line approach you know you have to level up you do it's either level up or you're out of here.
Speaker 1:You're getting replaced.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that hotel is is, you know, renowned. It's built in 1888, it's got a bunch of really cool things. There's a couple of haunted rooms as well, so it's pretty crazy, um. But you know, you have to learn a lot to be able to work there and um, and to really hone in skills, and I learned a lot working at that hotel that's great.
Speaker 1:And then, where were you led after that?
Speaker 2:after that I continued down that hotel path for a little while. I worked at the la jolla beach and tennis club. There I learned more about that and I was in management. At that point I was the supervisor at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club and that was really cool, working right on the ocean. They have a couple hotels that are affiliated with them the Sea Lodge and also the the marine room, a really beautiful restaurant, and they were all right on the bay, so it was really cool nice right on, and then, after all your experience in the hospitality world, you got into a different industry right so, yeah, I, uh I started to get into, uh I started looking at other industries that Now that I was in management I wanted to kind of look into other things.
Speaker 2:So I started working at College Loan Corporation. They did Title IV loans for students that had loans, student loans, and we would consolidate them. So it wasn't very fascinating, but it was done as a business there's big demand. There's a demand, there's a lot of people so they would do a consolidation um and they would also affiliate themselves with schools across the nation. So it was a pretty big business at that time.
Speaker 1:So I ran the customer service department as a manager and then um and then eventually sales in that in that department nice, and so you probably started learning a lot about financing and just the financial piece and component of business at that point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and operations and really running the behind the scenes of of a team and building a team and meeting goals and and so on. Right, I learned a lot as well.
Speaker 1:That's great. How long did you do that one for?
Speaker 2:That was about four years there.
Speaker 1:Okay, awesome, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then following that Then I decided to get into the real estate game, and that's when I moved here to Temecula, california, and I started what year was this? I believe it was 2005. 2005, okay, and during that time, real estate was doing really well.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you could still buy a home relatively. It was inexpensive to buy a home in Temecula.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they were giving out money and they were just, you know, if you had a pulse, you could pretty much get a loan Right.
Speaker 2:And there was a lot of mickey mouse loans at that time too. So option arms and uh and a bunch of stuff that was just ridiculous at that time. So, yeah, I mean the prices started to inflate big time quickly and uh, but I mean, during those few years was amazing, you know, be able to do that many loans that quickly and the financing was really easy up until 2008. Yeah, that's when everything changed.
Speaker 1:Right. So at that time were you doing like fix and flips? Were you just doing whole? I was doing all.
Speaker 2:I was doing real estate, I was doing loans. I was buying real estate, flipping it. I was um buying real estate, flipping it, renting it, um, you name it, um, you know. I thought at that point well, I found my career, I'm gonna retire here and the next 10 years and life will be dandy. Right boy was I in for then oh, it happened boom yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:Uh, it was a wake-up call. Yeah, it was a wake-up call. Yeah, it was a wake-up call and we all knew it. We all heard. You know the bubble's going to burst and you know things are going to happen and it's not going to be the same. Things are going to change, but after doing it for a few years, you're like well, when it happens, it happens, let's just keep riding this ride until it dies out.
Speaker 2:And boy dies out and boy did it um. I remember coming to work one morning and a couple of my colleagues were gathered and just talking about what just happened I think merrill lynch. Merrill lynch went down or one of those big ones, home savings and loans um washington mutual, one of those I think it was merrill lynch and you know to a bank to collapse like that. We were like what?
Speaker 1:What's going?
Speaker 2:on. But even in the back of my mind I'm like that's okay, you know we'll get over this. You know we've been through other things, yeah, and at that point we were funding I would say just personally, maybe 15, 20 loans a month, which is extremely a lot. It's a lot of loans. And then, but you know, you get scared but you just think, okay, everything's good.
Speaker 1:We're going to go through this. The world's not ending here. The world's not ending right.
Speaker 2:Boy, was I right. And then it got worse, and then more banks started to collapse, and then more and more, and then, all of a sudden, it's like all those loans that I had in the pipe, out of all of them, only one funded, and that was a manufactured home, that was a cash buyer, and when you're when you expect a certain amount of income, and 98 of your income just got slashed yeah boy, you start to, you know, you know, you start to talk to god in a whole different way.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and uh it was a wake-up call, though, and you know, boy, I didn't, I didn't think. None of us in the industry knew that was going to happen, like to this. You know, to this degree yeah, 100.
Speaker 1:You can't really prepare for something like that unless you are taking the warning signs and you start like running with it but even still like to wake up one day and boom, yeah, and boom and boom and within you know months it's a full 180 degree switch in the economy yeah, switch, and then all of a sudden it's okay, what do we do now?
Speaker 2:and it's not like he's just you know, okay, it's a couple months and then just recover to go back into it um, it's, no, it's. Not only did my income just just vaporized into thin air, yeah, but everything that was associated with all my eggs were one basket, so my it's all real estate, all real estate related my rentals, my, my other homes that I was flipping.
Speaker 2:They were all associated to real estate. Related my rentals, my other homes that I was flipping. They were all associated to real estate. So now I have renters that don't want to pay. Now I'm in that situation where you know, okay, god, what do I do? I am in such a hole here. And then you come to realization okay, I need to do something else quickly. And this is when I started to pivot into what I do now and that's the wine industry. So I knew I needed to do something else. I got a part-time job with my buddy working in the ambulance service as a regional director of sales in the ambulance service. As as a regional director of sales, um, getting um contracts with with the government and administrative offices to get contracts for ambulance service you're like this is recession proof.
Speaker 1:Right here exactly. People are still gonna need an ambulance.
Speaker 2:That you know. But you know again, that only replaces maybe 15, 20% of my income. Right, so and then. So, after a lot of soul searching and figuring out, okay, basically, I started to lose real estate. I was losing properties left and right. I had to. I lost it all and it's like, okay, where do I go from here? And then I just remembered that you know what I mean. Things happen for a reason and I have to keep going forward. So I decided to. You know, I'm going to do something I honestly love, and you know, and when I'm working at the Hotel Del, working at the hotels, I got to learn and understand wine on a whole nother level and became a sommelier. I really wanted to hone my skills and I said, okay, it's now or never.
Speaker 2:So, I started in the bottom as a tasting room server at a winery just to get my feet wet, simultaneously working with my buddy in the ambulance world. And I started to learn and I knew, just like I did in real estate. Look, when you're backed up in the corner and you have to pay your bills and you can't turn to your kids and say I'm sorry, guys you know, we just we're, we're not eating, we're not eating today. You can't do that, you know.
Speaker 2:So, you put yourself in a situation where, like man, it's go time, you roll up your sleeves and say god, please help me, here I go and um, when you're in a position, that position, you'd be surprised what you can accomplish, you know when we get comfortable and we put it in neutral it's it's, you know, you kind of just coast through things, but when you, when you're having to do something like that, it so there was no like, okay, let me see how I do here.
Speaker 1:It's like I'm going to make this succeed, yeah total mentality shift right, absolutely like I was choosing to do this. And now it's like this is still a choice because I'm going to make it work, but also I have to do this like there's no other option. I got to make sure I'm providing for my family and I'm moving forward and moving past this. And when you come from a place like that too and I've seen it even in my own life, in my career where you're making a lot of money, everything's going good, you're, you're not even really like relying so much on God, right, it's more, hey, I'm doing the thing, right, we think, and then you get to a point where total 180 and there's a shift there.
Speaker 1:Well, there's mentality shift that comes with it too, you know, and it's sometimes it's that fight or flight where it's like, oh, I have to make this work, like you. Just you turn on, it becomes an instinct, right, yeah, especially as a father. Yeah, just you turn on, it becomes an instinct, right, yeah, especially as a father. Yeah, yeah, it's, it's a. I mean, that's great, that's, that's a great story. That is a great story because not a lot of people have heard those stories, especially like the younger generation, you know. They don't really know what happened in 08. They didn't really experience any of that, um. So it's it's always great to hear you know stories of you, know the turnaround, so let's, let's keep jumping into it. Yeah, so you're working in the, the tasting room, um, and then what? You're working your way up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you know, there was other people in the industry that were, you know, more advanced in the knowledge of wine and and more versed in in the terminology and and so on, and they've been doing it for years, where I was just the rook, right. So I was perceived as, oh, you know, this guy doesn't know anything about what he's doing, and right you know, and I love to be in that position, because I love to prove people wrong and you know, just to not out of spite, more so just like I love a challenge.
Speaker 2:So, um, you know, I learned, I listened, I observed, and then I, I um applied, and then, when I applied, I applied it with my my take on things. You know, sometimes you don't know, you don't know how hard something is, because someone told you that it's going to be hard.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So you just go on it with full, you know 100%, like I'm going to make this happen, and then people look at you like that wasn't supposed to happen, man. You know, that's the first time that's happened, or whatever, or whatever. Because when you tell somebody you can't do something you know, your mindset starts to take place like, oh, I guess this is extremely hard, so I'm not going to be successful at it.
Speaker 2:You start to already set your mindset to like okay, well, I'm going to try it anyways, and then you don't give it your full commitment, where I didn't. No one told me that I couldn't do this or that, so I said let's go for it. I was number one in sales. I was number one in wine club signups. I was number one in um, um, in not only weekly, monthly sales. So you know, after a while the, the ones that have been there for a long time, started asking me okay, what's your secret?
Speaker 1:What are you doing with?
Speaker 2:it and I was also doing tours and I was best in sales in that. And, trust me, it wasn't because I have some awesome gift. It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with that. I'm fully committed and I'm going to make it work. I'm going to put my best foot forward every day and that level of commitment is what really helped me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100%, A little sprinkle of a favor of the Lord right there too, Completely and definitely dedication and really putting your mind to it, which is huge. A lot of people don't talk enough about mindset and the importance of mindset and really having a positive mindset, having an abundance mindset, removing self-limiting thoughts and beliefs right and really like working through the garbage that has been taught to us, whether it's from parents or from teachers or from friends and whoever your sphere of influence is. You know people don't talk about that enough, but I'm glad you just touched on it because mindset is huge, it is big.
Speaker 2:Just like when you get the encouragement of someone saying you know you can do this, and then you get the you're willing to take a step because you get that people help you. But just the opposite. Someone says you know you're not able to do this because of X, y and Z. Then all of a sudden, even before you start, you already have so many things against you, yeah.
Speaker 1:And if anyone wants to test it out there, I do it to my daughter. All the time I tell her the opposite. I'm always like if she doesn't want to do something, she's scared, right, I look her in the eyes, I level her, I'll go, you know, drop to my knee, you're strong, you're courageous, you're strong, you're courageous. And then I tell her repeat after me I'm strong, I'm courageous, I'm strong. And I just repeat it, repeat it, you know, to get get her mindset. Um, and then she could do it, she could make that jump, or she'll ride her scooter down the bigger hill or whatever it is that she's, she's scared of.
Speaker 1:But it's the opposite. It's like there are parents out there that'll be like, oh no, honey, you're gonna get hurt. And then immediately the association mentally that they have with you know, dropping down that hill, is like, oh, I'm gonna get hurt. Now they're scared, scared, they're not gonna do it. It's the same thing as adults, you know, we are just like children in that aspect. If you do have someone there telling you you can do it, or if it's the opposite, someone saying you can't do it, now it's like a challenge because you've mentally taught yourself like, hey, I actually go against the opposition and when they tell me I can't do something, still a little bit of that childish you know, when mom says no, no, don't do that, and you're like oh I'm doing it just like you know, going back to being a paper boy, I mean, I was this little kid and a and a old bike and you know the the papers were heavy and I lived on a very, very um.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean they called it dictionary hill for a reason dictionary hill. But you know, you can't. You know, when you have that just that just mentality of I'm going to do this, yeah, and you know, nothing stands in your way, even right when obstacles come.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that's awesome, so jump it back into your story. What now? You've been working in the wine industry for a while. Where's where's? Where are we at next?
Speaker 2:So yeah, so I get promoted supervisor, then manager, then general manager. I get to oversee the property and I'm I get to see more of the operational side. And then I went to a bigger winery where I was doing hospitality and operations, in charge of all the areas that produce revenue, like the tasting room, like catering, like waiting on events, and then I started to do it simultaneously for multiple wineries.
Speaker 1:um so, and that was all out here in this, all out here in the valley, nice.
Speaker 2:So it was great I was able to to see from a different perspective on the way wineries run their, their um, their um their clubs and their the wine clubs, the taste of rooms, their, the way they generate income and um and the power behind the the wine club departments.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, but yeah, and to be able to see it for multiple wineries simultaneously, it was, it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:For sure. You got to see the ones that work, the ones that don't work, the owners that want to do it their way and it's not the right way. A lot of that.
Speaker 2:A lot of that, you know. Sometimes. You know people ask for help but then they don't take the advice to make it better.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I saw that a lot in a lot of wineries.
Speaker 1:It's hard, especially like as a business owner. Like I brought in my, my CMO here at the agency and she has 20 years of marketing experience, worked for one of the largest marketing firms, international marketing firms based out of New York and she came in and she's like Kyle, are you going to let me do everything that I want to do? And I just told her. I said I've seen a lot of business owners not allow their top players call the plays. I brought you in to call plays and call the shots.
Speaker 1:So it's like if I fully disagree with you on something like, I'll let you know and then we can, you know, conversate and figure out like what's the best approach. But other than that, you're full game. You call the shots. I brought you under to run and control this operation. So you do it and she's done a great job. And like, had I not let her do a lot of the things that she's wanted to do, we wouldn't be where we are today. Yeah, and I see it with the businesses all the time, where they bring in these like super talented individuals that have a ton of experience and can really catapult the business, but they never let them run and operate at the level that they can run and operate, because they still want to be in control of things and they never hit that potential I've seen it over and over and uh, unfortunately you see a lot of that um, just because it's it's more of a control thing than it is.
Speaker 2:You know you hire the right person, but you're not allowing them to do what they're best at. So it's like having a Ferrari and put it in the garage and not using it. You know you got to floor that baby sometimes 100%, 100%.
Speaker 1:So now give us the story. How'd you get to where you are today?
Speaker 2:So, I was working um with uh, a few wineries here in Temecula, I learned pretty much everything about the industry and I started to think okay, I helped many people for many years live out their dream. You know, I knew at that point that I wanted to have a winery.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Now it's just like, okay, how am I going to make that work and what's the time frame? So I started building a business plan and started putting things together and it seemed like it was just so far-fetched and so out there and you know, it was a dream of mine that I felt like it was just slowly slipping through my fingers. I had all the knowledge. I had knowledge, I had all the data, I had all the resources. Instead of saying, you know, hey, I'm dying here, I'm going to miss you guys, she lined us all up and she said she wanted to pray for us.
Speaker 2:That's the kind of person my mother was well where she wanted to bless us and in her last words. So we, one by one, um kneeled down beside her and we prayed our last prayer with her mother, and the moment she gave the last prayer, she passed away. Wow so I remember having that and it's so funny because I was sad and I was really depressed for a while. You know, missing my mom, you know my mom has been a prayer warrior her whole life.
Speaker 2:She's always been the first one to pray and and always encouraged all of us and so many people throughout her life. And then to have her taken away like that was really like a painful death. I always question god, why, why did that happen? Um? But you know, obviously down the line I I didn't really just um, I didn't really like cry hard and so forth. It didn't happen until a couple months later, where I was just doing something randomly and all of a sudden it came to me just like a flood and I just cried and cried and cried and it was just like a huge release, um, and I was able to finally put that behind me, um, and I asked God for forgiveness at that point, just because I just had so much like angst and but I was I was able to finally put that to rest. So that was the one of the things that really helped me. And then the other was during COVID. During COVID was a pivotal point for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It was okay. I know what I need to do. I have a business plan. I know I've always said I don't have enough time.
Speaker 1:Now's a good time to start this 00,00,00 I got all the time now.
Speaker 2:Every day I would go upstairs. I had a little gym. I would go upstairs and work out and just think of options, just think, think, think and pray and I came up with, finished my business plan and I said I'm not going to squander. Like my mom said, don't squander the opportunity. I'm not going to squander any longer. I'm going to fulfill this and I did. I'm not going to squander any longer. I'm going to fulfill this and I did Every day. I would almost obsess over it until it started to manifest and I started just going and meeting and planning and little by little, I met the right people. We came up with a good, solid plan and I started looking at property and Oak Mountain Winery was for sale, a winery that had unique assets.
Speaker 1:Very unique.
Speaker 2:Very unique. It has a cave and has a distillery on site, beautiful rolling hills, great restaurant, and we met with a real estate agent and started the process. How's it been? You know it's been a combination of amazing, difficult, aggravating, eye-opening and accomplished. I just felt so accomplished because of everything that's happened. But it's been a long journey. It's been days where it's been extremely difficult, but I am so grateful to God that everything took place. You know, and you know I'm in the position that I am now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there's been a huge mentality shift for you. You were running and operating other people's venues and their assets, you know, and now you have an asset of your own and you're able to really call the shots and do all the things and have the complete freedom almost, to be able to make those changes. How does that feel, now that you're you're the owner and you're getting to make higher level decisions within the business?
Speaker 2:uh, you know it's, it's, it's. It's great to be able to have nothing to stop you and being in your way about where you want to take this and the business plan and where I see it five years from now. There's nothing stopping you. At the same time, you're using your own money and my partner's money to make that happen. So at the same time, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with it. So, yeah, before you know, if something didn't happen, it wasn't really. You know something that I was financially responsible for, where now I'm completely responsible for every dollar yeah, for sure a little bit more pressure, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Speaker 2:Right, this is exactly what I wanted yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:what are your goals? We have a lot of local viewers that listen, so what are your goals for the winery? What like? What do you see in five years? What's your vision for for Oak Mountain?
Speaker 2:Expansion. For sure, I do plan to expand the distillery as well as our restaurant, and I really want to bring you. You know and we've already started this this last year we've done a great job of of upscaling it from just a casual dining place to more of an upscale.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can, you can go to oak mountain winery and get a great sandwich but, also, you can get a prime filet mignon now, or a you know, a porterhouse steak, or you can get a, a completely amazing salmon and some amazing desserts, so that, as well as building, continually building for years to come, great wine and buying new french oak barrels and investing in that as well.
Speaker 2:So no cutting corners with me I want to make sure that everything we do we produce on a high-end scale yeah because we really want to be known as the winery that produces excellent wine in mecca, the valley right, yeah, that paired with a great restaurant, you can't go wrong.
Speaker 1:Right, there, especially, too, because there are a lot that are have become very commercialized and they stopped caring about their wine as much and more just about the profits, yeah, right, which, yeah, profitability is an important piece of a business, for sure, um, but this is a unique industry where, like, if you're selling wine, you can't be selling garbage out here when we're trying to make a name for ourselves and we're competing against the Napas and Sonomas and these French and Spanish wines and all these other.
Speaker 2:Yeah, temecula Valley has a reputation, and it hasn't always been the best.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:Temecula Valley has a reputation and it hasn't always been the best. It's always been that. You know, wine that produces wine, but you know they cut corners or they do this or that. Now it's its own wine region, right, you know. And you know our climate helps us produce some of the best wine in the world, right, so you know, I'm glad to be part of that, because the next vintages that we're going to roll out are going to be amazing, that's exciting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm super blessed. I live out there in wine country, so we get to pass by the wineries every single day and it's like where else would you want to live other than maybe the beach or in the jungle in Costa Rica?
Speaker 2:It's a pretty cool region.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's it, the hot air balloons. It's a pretty cool region. Yeah, that's it, the hot air balloons. There's always activities, concerts every weekend, you know, bringing in really good talent. Every venue is doing something different. There's a different experience across all of the different wineries. Fun fact, it was me, my grandma and then my sister the very first time we came out to the wineries. We actually went to Oak Mountain Winery.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:And I walked in. I was like I don't even know what we're doing. I didn't know nothing. I've never been wine tasting or anything.
Speaker 1:So you walk in and you're like, yeah, I don't know what to expect right now I'm not sure, but to see the growth and everything that you're doing there and like the vision that you have for it's extremely exciting. And I mean you have a great, you got a great venue. That place is phenomenal. The restaurant, the food's good. I'm sure you'll continue to bring in some top chefs and some high quality uh, people back there in the kitchen to to make it all happen.
Speaker 2:Winemakers, all of it concerts um a lot of big events. I'm huge in concerts and music um, and I I'm a foodie. I love good food yeah and I eat a lot of dessert yeah, I'm with you on that.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean, when people go, they're gonna, they're gonna. You know, the cool thing about Oak Mountain is, you know, the previous owners did a great job of building it to where it was, and I'm going to take it to another level. So the heritage is still there, but now you're going to be able to see a lot new things as well Great food, great wine, great entertainment. And you know what I love about not only about Oak Mountain but also temecula valley, is it's not pretentious?
Speaker 2:at all right somewhere you can go and bring the whole entire family and have a great time yeah, that's what it's all about I want everybody that go there to feel like you know, whether it's your first day drinking wine or you're a advanced sommelier, you're gonna have a good time there for sure.
Speaker 1:yeah, and that's what it's all about, and that's why I do love Temecula. It's not like, oh only the high class Gucci.
Speaker 2:No, bring your jeans and overalls and come on out. Yeah, exactly, only one requirement Just when you come out, just have a good time. That's it.
Speaker 1:Love it, yeah, love it Right. You come out, just have a good time. That's it, love it, yeah, love it. Right on. Well, where, where can we find you? Where can we support you um, online? Obviously we could come by the winery, uh, where can we find you online, though?
Speaker 2:so, uh, our address at the winery is 36522 via verde um. We're off in temecula, we're off the dip or tola wine trail. There's some excellent yeah, we have some great wineries on our trail and you guys, please, uh definitely support, come on out and check us out, along with our other wineries. There's some some great wineries, uh, in on that road. Um, so I'm, I'm doing that, I'm there, pretty much 80 of my time is there and, uh, I'm trying to take more time off here and there to spend with my family now.
Speaker 1:Awesome Good stuff. Make sure to follow him on social media as well Oak Mountain Winery Instagram, facebook, all the platforms and make sure to show him some love. Please Go try the wine, try the food. It's a great spot, johnny. Appreciate you coming in. Thanks for sharing your story.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Appreciate you. It was a pleasure having you Likewise, thank you. Thank you, guys, for tuning in to Inside the Empire podcast. We'll see you on the next episode.