female announcer: "Fresh Glass" is brought to you by: Visit California.

University of California.

Cal State University San Marcos.

CCAE Theatricals, transforming lives through theater, creating pathways in the arts, inspiring the next generation of arts leaders.

Maya's Cookies, you can visit their locations or order online at mayascookies.com.

The County of San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce.

Computers 2 Kids.

Lifetime Smiles of Escondido.

Black Public Media.

With additional contributions from Fresh Glass Innovators Thank you.

For a complete list of financial contributors, visit FreshGlassProductions.com.

Cassandra: On this episode of "Fresh Glass," I traveled to Portland, Oregon.

From the history, culture, and beauty of the city, I fall in love with two families.

Lois Cho: Why are we shying away from using our name?

Let's just be us.

Cassandra: And you knowing your parents's journey was the first thing that comes to mind?

Naseem Momtazi: Leaving your home country, leaving everything you had, leaving your family, I don't know if I could have handled it.

male 1: Cheers.

Cassandra Shack: I'm Cassandra Shack, entrepreneur, advocate, and enthusiast.

Food, beverage, and entrepreneurship are growing with diverse innovators creating brands and making a name for themselves.

McBride sisters: We are the McBride sisters.

Cassandra: Join me exploring unique flavors, captivating stories, and the entrepreneurial spirit of America's tapestry.

I'm creating a space for people who look like me to share their stories and their spirits.

This is "Fresh Glass."

Cassandra: I head to Portland, Oregon, where award-winning cuisine, rain, and wine await.

Nestled in this Pacific Northwest city is the Willamette Valley.

It is home to hundreds of varietals, including its world-class Pinot Noirs.

With its American viticulture area stretching from North Portland to the south of Eugene, the region has over 700 wineries and 800 vineyards.

Travel and Leisure named Portland one of the best travel destinations in 2025, and several wines have been featured in Wine Enthusiasts.

Driving through the city, I immediately fall in love.

From its greenery and landmarks, Oregon's identity is unique.

Visiting 800 vineyards in a weekend is a stretch, but I was able to connect with two families whose love of culture, history, and wine made my visit an unforgettable experience.

Cassandra: Yo, yo!

Lois: Hey!

Cassandra: How are you?

Lois: Good.

How are you?

Lois: Welcome to CHO.

Cassandra: Thank you.

Cassandra: My first stop is Hillsboro, Oregon, where Dave and Lois Cho, founders of CHO Wines, are bringing sexy back.

Cassandra: This view is ridiculous.

Their journey to Portland is unconventional.

And coincidentally, we unknowingly crossed paths years ago.

Cassandra: I need to see more.

Lois: Yeah, let's go for a drive.

Cassandra: Please.

Okay.

Lois: We've planted about 8.5 acres of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Pinot Gris on our property, which is an expansive 77 acres.

We found this property in 2021, and everything has been ground up.

Cassandra: These are babies, obviously, so they--are they gonna stay low?

Dave Cho: We're trying to have 'em catch up.

Last year was really, really dry, so they were really stunted.

But this year we're hoping they will catch up to the, like, maybe like this height, and then so we can have it, you know, head of height kind of established and then go to the side of the next year.

Cassandra: Then they would connect.

Lois: So typically, it takes about three years to go from planting your vines to actually producing fruit, so we don't expect to be producing until 2026.

Cassandra: This is a good workout.

Dave: Yeah--oh, we didn't even go all the way down!

Cassandra: I'm not going all the way down in this heat.

You hit me 20 degrees cooler and I'm in the game.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Cassandra: Dave and Lois embraced their culture as the first Korean-American owned and operated winery in Oregon.

What makes this special is their authenticity, faith, and love for one another.

Cassandra: I think the common denominator has been there's a love story.

Dave: Oh yeah.

Cassandra: Okay, and it's a love of wine, but it's a love of your culture.

It's a love of each other.

And I really think people need to see how this love comes to be.

Dave: We've been together for 20 years, just celebrated a 20-year dating anniversary.

We've been married for almost 17 years now.

Cassandra: So what's the secret?

Lois: Hmm.

Dave: I know my place in the world.

Cassandra: I need--I need you to look in the camera.

Dave: I know my place in the world.

Cassandra: Thank you, thank you.

Go ahead.

Lois: I was gonna say putting each other first.

Cassandra: The men out here need to hear this, okay?

Go ahead, sorry.

Lois: We met singing actually at church, and I was studying to be a nurse practitioner, well, a nurse first, and Dave was studying to be a pastor.

Cassandra: Wow!

Dave: For like a year.

And I realized I shouldn't teach anybody, so I dropped out of grad school, which is a good thing.

Cassandra: You really don't think so?

Dave: Yeah.

Cassandra: What made you make that switch?

Lois: Every day, just before finals, the night, he'd be like tinkering on his guitar, and I'm like, "Honey, are you sure this is what you want to do?"

And so, he dropped out, and he actually went to southern France for-- Dave: Southern Burgundy.

Lois: Southern Burgundy for a couple of weeks and did a week of silence and came back and was like, "Hey, I wanna my own music."

And I've been wanting to write my own music for a really long time and, I was like, "Do it!"

And so, I sang backup, and we would busk to, like, sell our CDs.

And that's when someone gave us their card and said, "You should come to Temecula and play at the wineries."

And we lived in Temecula, and we're like, "That sounds great."

They're gonna pour us free wine, you know.

We, you know, we get paid for a gig.

And then, that's when he fell in love with the wine industry and decided to pursue it.

Cassandra: There's a connection inadvertently.

I, like, didn't know.

I reach out 'cause I had been following y'all for quite some time.

And then she calls me from a 951 number, and I'm like, "What she--" Dave: What she know about ID?

Cassandra: What she know about the ID?

And she was like, "Well."

And so, from then on, I was like, "Y'all gotta be on the show."

Cassandra: So you went to Oregon State?

What did you major in?

Dave: Food Science and then ma--focusing on Enology and Viticulture.

Lois: You know, when he was at Oregon State, he'd look at, in his chemistry classes, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen.

They'll make--you know, it's all--he keeps seeing his name everywhere.

So when we were brainstorming things to name our winery, initially, the thought was we would be the hidden winemakers.

No one will know we're Asian.

We'll--they don't need to know our name.

We're just going to make kickass wine, and we'll, you know, we'll put a brand out there that's really catchy.

But then, as time went on, we're like, "Well, the majority of the wineries are named after the proprietors of the winemakers.

Like, why are we shying away from using our name?"

And so, there was that moment of clarity, where like, let's just be us.

What if we put this spin on it and said carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, the makeup of all of these things?

That is the philosophy that we have is that we want to focus on unity, connection, the food and wine that's on your table, the people you drink it with, that we're all connected and all made of the same thing.

Cassandra: I love y'all.

Tell me what your focus is on show wines.

Like, what do you highlight?

Dave: We like to say we take fun seriously.

For a very small, tiny, baby winery, we make almost 20 different kinds of wines, but mainly because she lets me do it, you know.

I'm the idea guy, right?

I have like, oh, what if?

Lois: He's the winemaker and I'm the enabler.

That's how I introduce myself.

Yeah, that first year, he made eight different wines from Pinot Noir, all from the same vineyard.

Now, I feel like we keep, we're taking that on to another level, where we're introducing new varieties, but we do the classics well.

Cassandra: What's the future look like?

Dave: Anything agricultural things.

You know, you gotta have a long-term view, yeah?

So, it's a-- Next ten years, we're gonna be focusing on this.

And then after that next ten years, we're gonna be thinking about this.

Lois: It was overwhelming in the beginning, and it really stretched us as a couple.

Like, up until now it's been like putting each other first and, you know, but once, as soon--and it's like all hands on deck and we're just butting heads.

And it was, it was tough.

Dave: Like with anything, there's good days and bad days, but we're thankful that we have way more good days than bad days.

Cassandra: It's Cho-time with a tasting.

Dave: We're starting off with the 2023 CHO Bubbles.

Cassandra: Y'all know this is my favorite.

You know I'm a bubbles gal, so.

Dave: Gotta start with little bubbles here.

Cassandra: Tell me about these bubbles.

Dave: So this is 90% Pinot Gris, 8% Pinot Noir, 2% Chardonnay from Willamette Valley.

Cassandra: I smell pear.

That was the first thing I smelled.

Dave: There we go, yes.

Cassandra: Pear.

Dave: Quince, yeah.

Cassandra: I didn't smell quince, that's--look.

This is the pro here.

I didn't smell that, I just-- Dave: I'm just making it up.

Lois: No, but honestly, quince reminds me a lot of cran pear.

Cassandra: Oh, okay.

Dave: So next up is our Rose City Rosé, also 2023, made with Pinot Noir 100%.

We call it Chosé All Day.

Cassandra: Chosé All Day?

Willamette?

Lois: Damn it.

Did you think that's what I was gonna say?

Cassandra: No, I didn't.

Lois: No, really?

Lois: A lot of people don't know how to pronounce the Willamette, so that's why we say Willamette damn it, so.

Cassandra: I ta--well, I tasted, like, citrus and more orange, but.

Lois: So, this one is our 2023 Rose City Rosé.

For our rosés, we foot stomp them ourselves.

I love Lucy, Oompa Loompa style.

And then, we cold soak the grapes overnight in a reefer.

So, after about 12 to 16 hours of cold soaking, then we press it down the next morning.

So all the color you get is from the skin contact.

Cassandra: And then?

Lois: Let's do our Dreamers Reserve Pinot Noir.

Cassandra: Dreamers.

Lois: It's our Dreamers, Dave's faves.

Dave: I'll take that.

Cassandra: Dave's faves?

Dave: Dave's fave.

Cassandra: There are a lot of hashtags we need to incorporate, Chosé All Day, Dave's faves, it's Cho-time.

Dave: Bringing sexy back.

Cassandra: Willamette damn it.

Dave: This is our 22 Dreamer's Reserve Pinot Noir.

'22, I had the opportunity to work with the four different vineyard sites in the Willamette Valley, and these are from trying to capture that vast area that Willamette Valley is, you know, 100 miles long, 50 miles wide.

Cassandra: Cheers to Dave's faves.

Dave: Thank you.

♪♪♪ Cassandra: My next stop is McMinnville, Oregon, a wine town on the native Kalapuya lands.

With a population of 34,000, the city is filled with charm.

It is also home to the Momtazi family, founders of Momtazi Vineyards and Maysara Winery.

Moe Momtazi: Cassandra, welcome to Maysara.

Cassandra: Thank you so much.

Flora Momtazi: How are you?

Cassandra: Good.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

This place is gorgeous.

Moe Momtazi: Thank you so much.

♪♪♪ Flora: My name is Flora Momtazi.

Moe: And I'm Moe Momtazi from Maysara Winery in McMinnville, Oregon.

Moe: I was born in Tehran, Iran, yeah.

Flora: I was born in Shahi, Iran.

Moe: We met in 1981.

After one month of dating, we got engaged.

The rest is history.

Cassandra: So what made you wanna do this after 30 days?

Moe: She just captivated me with her beauty and sense of humor and-- Flora: Captured his heart.

It's 43 years right now.

Cassandra: So, how do you stay married for 43 years?

Flora: I don't know.

We did it, but I don't know.

Moe: It's really, you go through the hard times together and solve the problem, so it was really important.

Flora: Listen to each other, you know, just.

Moe: Working things out and, you know, just-- Flora: Talk to each other all the time.

You know, just, this is the key, I believe.

Cassandra: So you get married and where are you living?

Moe: We were living in city of Zanjan.

The new government started scrutinizing and taking people's rights, which we were accustomed to.

It just was not the kind of a place that I felt that I wanted to raise my family.

Unfortunately, she was eight months pregnant, and we decided to escape Iran, but we were promised it was gonna be a very easy task, which it wasn't.

We were on a motorcycle for several days.

Cassandra: And you're pregnant?

Flora: Yeah, eight months pregnant, yeah.

Moe: In one place, myself and the guy who was driving the motorcycle, we fell down like about 12 feet height, so I got up and started warning them, and they fell as well in the same spot.

And it was just really devastating to, you know, just, not only for her own safety, but the child's safety as well.

We went to Pakistan first, and then after Pakistan, within like ten days or so, we went to Spain.

And after Spain, we went back to Italy, back to Spain, and then Mexico.

And through Mexico, we came to United States and filed for political asylum.

Cassandra: Was it your dream to come to the United States?

Moe: You know, America is a nation second to none.

It's just like for the freedom, and the rules, and laws, and the constitution of the United States.

That was really important for us.

And this is the place that we wanted to raise our family.

Cassandra: How much did you have coming to the United States?

Moe: Like, when we were escaping?

Well, everything that we were carrying with us.

Flora: We had only one bag.

Moe: Yeah, but whatever money we were carrying, we had to give it to the drug smugglers.

And, you know, of course, we had some money back home, but it was not much, you know, so we, we were initially very careful how much money we spend.

I normally don't want to talk about the difficulties that we went through, but we did go through a lot of difficulties when we came to this country.

We had to be so careful.

It took a lot of effort, and things weren't easy.

I knew she could take care of the kids and the family while I was working.

Cassandra: What are two pieces of advice you'd give to people?

Moe: Just have perseverance, and when you believe in something, just do it, and try to do it even if it becomes hard to do so.

But just, like, pursue your dream.

Flora: I have three beautiful daughters.

Cassandra: What are their names?

Moe: Tahmiene, Naseem, and Hanna.

Cassandra: If you had to describe your daughters in three words?

Moe: They're tenacious, big-headed individuals, but they're really fun to be around.

Flora: I love them very much.

I can't--you know, they always teasing me, "Mom, you love me more than they are," especially Hanna.

Cassandra: Your grandchildren?

Flora: Grandchildren, I love my grandchildren more than my kids.

Cassandra: What are you most proud of?

Moe: Family.

Cassandra: So you get to the United States.

At what point do you say, "I'm gonna really take wine very seriously?"

Moe: When I could afford it.

Cassandra: Thank you for being honest, okay.

Moe: Ever since I was a child, just reading Persian literature, all the poets and philosophers talking about wine and the essence of wine really captivated me.

And my father also made wine.

It's such an essential part of our culture.

Cassandra: What's the meaning behind Maysara?

Moe: Maysara is an ancient Persian word.

It means "house of wine."

Maysara, historically, was a place that people not only went to drink wine, but it was a place to seek wisdom, and the wisdom came from the wine pourer.

In our language, we don't even have a word for winemaker, because they believe wine makes itself.

But the person who poured the wine was very essential.

Moe: One important thing for, for me, personally, is to teach other people the essence of doing things holistically.

There's other alternatives and other options that is healthy, and we don't need to use so many poisons.

The main idea is to prove to people that what they put in their body is really important.

And like I said, hopefully more and more people follow our footsteps and providing things for people that it's healthy.

Cassandra: Trials, tribulations, and uncertainty created a bond and legacy that will last generations.

Moe and Flora's journey was worth it.

And connecting with everyone for a glass of wine showed me how precious family is.

Cassandra: So this is the family?

This is the family conversation.

All right, so, I'm gonna do this quick-fire game, because I come from a rather large family and so it feels at home to be sitting here, right?

Who--point to whomever.

Who's the bossiest?

Okay.

Who runs the show?

Who thinks that they're their parents's favorite?

Naseem: I'm--I feel my mom.

I feel like you're dad.

And she's the-- Hanna Momtazi: Depends on whose side I want to be on that day.

Cassandra: Talk about the family business.

What's the dynamic?

Naseem: I think we all have our own rules.

We kind of stay, we try to stay away.

It does kind of blend sometimes, just because it is five egos that we've, we know each other, so it can blend, but we try to stay in our own lane.

Hanna: We have our own niche, and we're all good at what we do, and we're not--like, I know I'm not gonna be a great winemaker or great in sales, so I respect the things that they do, but I'm there to help if I need to.

But we all have our own lanes to stay in.

Tahmiene Momtazi: You know, we have our own space and stuff, but when we need help, we help out.

Cassandra: Your parents have created something that's truly magical here.

How does that make you feel?

Naseem: I think it's what keeps us in it.

A lot of times, I'll hear him say, "I gave my kids the option."

And he's always taught us that you don't have to, kind of, stay in one aspect of your life.

And so, we all, I mean, I have multiple careers.

And seeing the blood and the sweat that they've put into it makes you want to stay.

Hanna: I think it's also important that it's our reputation, so I think we all take what we do and how well we do it really kind of just like at the highest level.

And because of their tough journey on how they got here, it reminds us of like, okay, we have to also work just as hard.

Naseem: And not take it for granted.

Hanna: Exactly.

Tahmiene: And on top of it, I mean, I just also think it's a legacy, showcasing how proud I am and doing my job to showcase and tell that story in each bottle.

Cassandra: And you knowing your parents's journey to getting to today, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Tahmiene: Struggle.

Naseem: Strength.

I mean, I don't know if I could have handled it, right?

Leaving your home country, leaving everything you had, leaving your family, I don't know.

Like, I left for a year and a half with my husband to go to literally an hour and a half away from here and, like, I was struggling so bad.

And it's like, imagine leaving your home country, money, everything you've ever known and coming to a place where, first of all, the revolution happened so that you're not even wanted.

And then, you don't know how you're going to make the next check, right?

It's just working really hard.

And you know, it wasn't easy.

Cassandra: What do you want the world to know about Maysara?

Hanna: We truly have something unique, and the great thing about us is the fact that we are family business.

Naseem: The intention behind our product.

It's very intentional.

We do this because this is part of our history.

It's part of our roots, and it's time to be seen.

Tahmiene: I want you to explore and enjoy something new that you would never do, so push the limit, in a sense.

Cassandra: Well, I thank you for giving me a taste of this excellence.

It's been a journey and a pleasure.

Moe: Well, we thank you for your time and effort.

Tahmiene: You have to come back and visit.

Cassandra: Oh, that's easy.

Cheers.

Cassandra: Love is the foundation to fuel our dreams and uplift each other.

Each of us has unique journeys and experiences, but with humanity and grace, anything is possible.

Cheers.

Thank you.

The Cho and Momtazi family extended love, generosity, and vulnerability, and I am forever grateful.

See you next time, Portland.

♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ ♪♪♪ Cassandra: On the next episode of "Fresh Glass."

Cassandra: Welcome to New York!

I'm on the East Coast, my home away from home.

I take a walk down memory lane, visit family and friends.

female 1: Standing on business.

No, I'm just playing.

Cassandra: And hang with the legend.

male 2: I'm representing my mother and my family.

Like, I wasn't supposed to be here.

Like, I could have ended up anywhere.

I just wanna make my mama proud.

♪♪♪ female announcer: "Fresh Glass" is brought to you by: Visit California.

University of California.

Cal State University San Marcos.

CCAE Theatricals, transforming lives through theater, creating pathways in the arts, inspiring the next generation of arts leaders.

Maya's Cookies, you can visit their locations or order online at mayascookies.com.

The County of San Diego Black Chamber of Commerce.

Computers 2 Kids.

Lifetime Smiles of Escondido.

Black Public Media.

With additional contributions from Fresh Glass Innovators Thank you.

For a complete list of financial contributors, visit FreshGlassProductions.com.