Explore Brooklyn with Local Legend André Hueston Mack

It’s a tale as old as tossed salad and scrambled eggs. Man watches “Frasier.” Man finds his true calling in life. Mack credits the madcap, wine-soaked antics of Frasier and Niles Crane with piquing his interest in wine. “I drank way more Sherry back then,” Mack admits. “Every time his brother came over, Frasier would ask, ‘You fancy a Sherry?’” His fledgling fascination with apéritifs and digestifs is what originally brought André into wine shops. Talk about must-see TV!

The nickname “black sheep,” which would become the translated name of his wine company, Mouton Noir, was given to Mack by his former Per Se colleagues. However, “the name actually chose me,” he says, noting it felt especially right because of his “unorthodox” approach to life and business. He explains, “Mouton Noir is really about embracing what makes you different and using that to propel you or empower you to accomplish your dreams.” It’s a moniker and a motto that’s served him well.

While his headquarters remain rooted deeply in Brooklyn’s eclectic urban vibe, Mouton Noir’s vineyards are located almost 3,000 miles west in Oregon’s lush Willamette Valley. Mack makes the trip every week – estimating that he travels 200 days a year – and credits being able to manage his bicoastal lifestyle to carry-on bags, slip-on shoes and knowing he always gets to return home to his wife and three kids at the end of each trip.

Mack, who calls himself a “conveyer of good times,” maintains that you don’t have to be an expert to soak up some happiness in a bottle. “In my opinion, if you just want to enjoy it, if you like the way it tastes, then you're appreciating wine,” he says. Eschewing typical elitist stereotypes, Mack promises you can pair wine with just about anything – from peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to candy corn. “We’re all experts in our own taste,” he says. That conviction is what makes him and his brand of wine counter-culture so accessible, and the world is gulping it up.

The only wine “don’t” on his list? “Flat champagne. No one wants to drink flat champagne.”

It’s a good thing he believes “sleep is overrated,” because Mack has two companies to run. His boutique graphic design firm and “think tank,” Get Fraîche Cru, was born in 2009 out of “necessity and survival.” When Mouton Noir was launching, Mack didn’t have the funds to hire a graphic designer. In a brilliant stroke of DIY necessity, he created the funky wine labels himself. The bottle for one of his favorites, 2015 Love Drunk rosé, reads, “When reality is better than your dreams.” It’s pretty accurate, says Mack. “That’s really kind of how my entrepreneurial career has gone. It's been a surreal kind of ride thus far.”