Brandt Thibodeaux shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Brandt , thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Energy……relates to frequency and frequency is real and tangible. Intelligence and integrity have an energetic frequency so they are contained within the subject of energetics. The energy you put out through yourself, through a product is of the most importance to how it affects those who receive it. It can be neutral or it can positive or negative effects and those effects are not self contained, they are compounding. They ripple through the universe because they are an energetic frequency. Energy is everything.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Brandt Thibodeaux. I grew up on rice and crawfish farm in Southwest Louisiana and my interested in the ecological beauty of the Americas called me to the great empty expanses of the American West where I worked as raft guide and filed biologist for over 7 years. For one reason or another…I landed in the town of Paonia, Colorado, a high elevation desert valley and one of the highest and coldest growing regions in the world. Here, I reimagined my relationship with the land and agriculture and became captivated by an ancient plant that has captivated so many before me, Vitis vinifera. The story of Aquila is a story about the Northfork of the Gunnison River Valley, a story about myself and one about the people that came together to make the vision of Aquila possible. This is a story about agriculture. We are farmers and we work with farmers to produce grapes which we craft into artisan wines. We are dedicated to progressing the field of low input agriculture and low input winemaking. In the field we use zero synthetic chemicals or fertilizers and instead utilize the power of fermented herbal steeps, compost teas and biodynamic principals and preparations. In the cellar, we utilize old-world techniques and are a low-tech operation. We craft wine with minimal machinery and zero inputs except for minimal sulfur at the time of bottling. Our wines are a unique expression of the Western Slope of Colorado where we farm grapes, peaches, apples and produce through the capture and storage of snowmelt in high elevation lakes and deliver the water to farms via 100+ year old ditches crafted by the early European settlers. With winters down to 0F, summers that hit 100F and over 300 days of sunshine, there is no other growing region like this in the world.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
Fear. Because we like to use Dune references….”Fear is the mind killer”, “Fear is death that brings obliteration”. Fear of the other is what breaks bonds between people and love is what restores them. Unfortunately, fear of the other is something that has been taught to us for generations to keep us down and keep few in power. Love and trust can be hard to embrace in a world dominated by fear. In oder to come back to love we must understand and embrace that we are all one and that love, generosity and gratitude bring us all closer to what we are seeking. There is power in unity and there is power in collaboration but yet we often choose to walk the world alone.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There have been lots of times that I have almost given up and there have been times where I have given up. Giving up doesn’t have to be negative. Failing is how we learn the greatest lessons. Sometimes we push too hard, past the signs that the universe is sending us. Someone, once told me that one of their strengths is that they are really good at quitting and I think that is an important lesson that we don’t always hear. Sometimes quitting one thing is the only way to move forward to what is truly calling you, sometimes we are stuck on a path and we afraid of exiting into the unknown. Quitting is the death of something and with death there is rebirth. I tried to shut down Aquila every year for the first 4 years of the project because I thought I was pushing too hard just to get to the inevitable….but every time I tried to quit, every time one door closed in my face…another door opened up and I had no choice but move forward and keep going. Wether to quit or push forward is not a decision of will power or strength or intellect, it is a factor of knowing yourself and listening to your intuition…..growing like the tree rather than thinking like the ape.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
I think there is lots of positive movement toward circular economy and regenerative agriculture, and the idea that we the people and the ecosystems are one and that our actions should show respect and support for everyone in our human and greater ecological community. However, I think we are lying to ourselves about how far we have come and how much further we must go. Social media has created this false reality of fluff pieces, where it looks, at first glance, that all of these goals are being achieved. In reality, there is a long way to go. Restaurants are still failing, family farms are being bought out by venture capital, most wines even in the organic sector have a huge footprint and are still utilizing heavy chemical inputs to support the system. I think that honesty and self reflection have taken a back seat to marketing and image within a virtue signaling race. This is something that I think needs recognition before we can actually begin to create lasting, sustainable systems of economy that don’t require that the constant depletion of resources and exploitation of people and ecosystems.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
The crazy thing about wine projects and especially wine projects in an unknown growing region where many years of trial and error in the field and years of marketing efforts are required to build a industry is that you don’t really expect it to pay off within 7-10 years. It takes closer to 20-30 to build something stable and there is so much of the work that you are doing that you will never see the outcomes of. We are doing the work for future generations. It’s a torch you carry and fuel to burn brighter and stronger but then you pass it on to those with new ideas, new energy and new vision to carry it into the next phase. Obviously you hope to build a business that recoups its investment within 10-20 years but there are no guarantees. This industry inspires and destroys people all at once and new dreams are often built on the unrealized dreams of the ones that came before. We are all contributing to the collective future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aquilacellars.com/
- Instagram: @aquilacellars
