Ricky DeAngelo wasn’t out of the liquor business for very long.
After he and his late brother, Sandy, sold the family’s business, Chillie’s Package Store, two years ago he took a year off.
After that year off, he started working on his latest venture of producing a cognac and sparkling rosè.
The cognac, called Revanche, and the sparkling rosè, called Rosè AlléE, hit the market the first week of this month and are now in stores in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and soon to be in Alabama.
There was one case of Rosè AlléE sitting on the floor of Chillie’s on Friday and it was one of the last of the first shipment.
“We had 200 cases come in,” DeAngelo said. “And it’s all gone.”
It’s all gone, but not all yet sold. Those cases have been shipped to retailers throughout their four-state footprint and more will soon be on its way.
It’s a pivot in business for DeAngelo, whose family owned and operated the liquor store since its opening in 1966, two months after prohibition was finally repealed in Mississippi.
He took over running the store full time in the 1980s after a family friend, who was running the store after DeAngelo’s father died, became ill.
He was away at college when his mother called and asked if they should sell the store then or if he wanted to run it.
He tried to run the store as a part-time student, but it required a full-time operator. So, he left school and took over operations.
In those years, he developed a strong name in the liquor business. The store is in the top 10 by-volume of sales of all liquor stores in the state.
That name, along with the quality of the new product, is what will be the driving force behind this venture.
DeAngelo has partnered with Kim Birkedal Hartmann, a Norwegian businessman whose family has operated the Hartmann cognac house in Cognac, France. The business is in its fourth-generation of operation with a fifth generation soon to take over.
The key in the relationship with Hartmann is that it is a partnership, DeAngelo said.
Hartmann is producing both of the products and DeAngelo and the team in the United States is working for placement and sales.
But, just selling in the United States is not their goal.
“We’re going worldwide,” DeAngelo said.
Before the partnership was created, DeAngelo had to sell himself and his idea to Hartmann.
The deal, as many have been, was made over a steak at Doe’s Eat Place.
Hartmann left a signed copy of a book, produced by his company, that outlines its history beginning in the late 1800s.
There are pictures of the many brands and styles of products the company has produced along with family photos from each generation of ownership.
The Hartmann Cognac House is one of the few successful houses who don’t grow their own grapes. They work with producers and blenders to create their products from that point.
Though he wasn’t necessarily a cognac drinker before, DeAngelo said he loves it now and chose that product because of the market it presents.
Cognac is a quickly growing market that doesn’t have an overabundance of variety. There just simply aren’t that many labels of Cognac in the United States when compared to vodka or whiskey.
Sparkling rosè is also an example of an underserved market. It’s a new arena.
For those who haven’t had cognac or sparkling rosè, here’s a few tips:
- The rosè is best over ice;
- The rosè must be kept cold;
- The cognac is smoothest over ice;
- The cognac also pairs well with ginger ale;
- but the cognac can also go straight from the bottle to the glass.
Both products are available locally at Chillie’s, where DeAngelo can still often be seen. The cognac costs $34.99 and the sparkling rosè costs $24.99.
