A Cork in the Road

This episode features Sarah Hughes Bray, a wine educator, writer, and brand consultant who is the 6th generation of an Atlanta-based family and was recently named one of Wine Enthusiast’s 2024 Future 40 innovators in wine. After a diverse career journey in publishing and the auction world, including stints at SAVEUR magazine and Sotheby’s, she found her calling in the wine industry. Sarah is a co-founder of the women-in-wine organization Bâtonnage Forum and runs the Wine Writers’ Symposium based in Napa, CA. Fluent in Italian and French, she served as European Director of VinConnect, building out DtC strategies for wineries, and Brand Ambassador for Vini Franchetti's Tenuta di Trinoro in Tuscany and Passopisciaro on Mt. Etna. She has completed her diploma with the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, and she helped build programming and curriculum for The Wine Center at Meadowood in Napa Valley while also serving as a contributor to AFAR, GuildSomm, California Homes, VinePair, and other publications. In her spare time, she leads sales and marketing initiatives for T. Berkley Wines with her husband, winemaker Taylor Berkley Boydstun, a Loire-varietal project based in northern California. You can follow her @sarah.h.bray on Instagram, check out her “Life by the Glass” substack, and visit www.batonnageforum.com or www.winewriterssymposium.org to learn more about her initiatives.

Recorded November 1, 2024

This episode features Dr. Miray Seward, a researcher and consultant who developed her love for wine while living in Charlottesville, Virginia. She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology: Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia with more than ten years of experience conducting mixed-methods research and evaluation. Currently, she works as a Research Scientist at an applied research firm where she leads research and evaluation projects focused on supporting youth development, but while completing her doctorate degree in Charlottesville, she spent many weekends visiting local wineries, primarily in the Monticello and Shenandoah Valley AVAs. We talk about how she was drawn to and motivated to learn more about wine because of the warm, open, and welcoming Virginia wine community. She later began her formal entry into wine by joining the Roots Fund, which provided her with a scholarship to pursue her WSET level 1. Since then, she has taken and passed her WSET levels 1 and 2 with distinction, hosted the Oenoverse wine club, served as a curator for the Two Up Wine Down festival, and more! Most recently, Miray joined the leadership team for the Veraison Project, where she serves as the Director of Data and Insights. This role allows her to bring together her expertise and passion for research and wine. Through this role, she aims to help ensure the organization systematically collects meaningful data about its programs and events. Miray is also available to provide consulting support to wine organizations, brands, and companies needing research or coaching support. October is Virginia Wine month, so it was an honor to have her on the show and hear how the Virginia wine industry continues to inspire her wine journey and foster community. You can follow her insights @curlsncorks on Instagram.

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Recorded October 23, 2024

This episode features a follow-up conversation with Kieran Robinson of R Five Wines, a winemaker who now splits his time between his tasting room in the suburbs of Philadelphia and the vineyards of Sonoma County. We first spoke with Kieran and his wife, Kristie, back in November of 2020 for episode 8 of season 3 as they were dreaming up their new tasting room in Downingtown, PA. Kieran's story started in the Finger Lakes while attending Ithaca College, and upon returning to his hometown of Downingtown, Kieran had the opportunity to experience the challenges of making wine in a non-traditional wine region - the Philadelphia countryside. Kieran later moved to the Northern Rhone region of France to work for winemaker PIerre Gaillard, which gave Kieran an appreciation for French viticulture and winemaking philosophies. Kieran later moved to Napa Valley to expand his winemaking knowledge at Cakebread Cellars and then at Paul Hobbs Winery and Crossbarn Cellars as an enologist. In 2009, Kieran started his own label - Kieran Robinson Wines - with a focus on Syrah and Viognier. While he was the winemaker at Jericho Canyon Vineyard, Kieran also worked alongside famed winemakers Aaron Pott and Michel Rolland. Interested in a new challenge and a bi-coastal life, Kieran and his wife started R Five Wines in 2018. R Five Wines allowed Kieran to expand his winemaking portfolio to other Rhone varietals, such as Grenache, Roussanne, Marsanne, Grenache Gris, and Mourvèdre, Kieran still makes all his wine in Sonoma but the R Five Wines tasting room is in his hometown near Philadelphia, PA. We talk about how this bicoastal business model is allowing Kieran to bring his love of CA wines to PA.

Recorded October 14, 2024

This episode features Diane Carpenter of Ross Knoll Vineyard discussing the process of preparing for retirement and producing the final vintage of her Ross Knoll wines. Her transparency and honesty is incredible to hear as she talks about the journey of planting a vineyard, starting a wine label, and ultimately deciding it’s time to close that chapter and move into retirement. Diane was born and raised in the United Kingdom and moved to the United States in 1987 to be with her now husband, David. Living in New York City, she had access to some of the country’s greatest wine schools and took the opportunity to learn more about the world of wine as an academic. Her first classes were with the American Sommelier Association, followed by the Society of Wine Educators and then she even started to pursue the prestigious WSET Diploma. Eventually, her education led her to the vineyard working harvests in California with winemaker, Paul Hobbs. In 2014, Diane purchased a property in Sebastopol, CA and converted an old paddock to a vineyard of 3,000 vines of Calera, Diane’s favorite clone of Pinot Noir. She co-produced Ross Knoll wines with consulting winemaker Justin Seidenfeld since the first vintage in 2019, and now, after four celebrated vintages, you’ll hear what decisions and life events have led to the decision to wind down in preparation for retirement. There is a very special wine, however, made in honor of the Atlanta wine community that will be released as part of the fifth and final vintage. You can follow her @yourwinestylist and @rossknollvineyard on Instagram.

Recorded September 19, 2024

https://www.dianecarpenter.org/ourwines

This episode features Titus Green, a graduate of the Viriginia Military Institute and a Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Sommelier who recently completed his Advanced level candidacy coursework. He is based in Washington DC with experience working in restaurants as a sommelier on the floor and selling high-end wines, but his background also includes decades of upper-level management in hospitatlity as a fine dining wine director and leadership in sales roles to the Vice President level within the world of fine wine. He has also served as an international and local wine judge for Maryland and Virginia, so we talk about his involvement in the annual Virginia Governor's Cup competition and what he thinks is driving excellence in the Viringia wine industry right now. He is currently working on the brand and business development side of the beverage industry not only in wine but also as the business development specialist for Deep Eddy Vodka in Maryland and DC. You'll hear about his love for music and his former football career and how his wine education pursuit overlaps with his love for coaching football these days. You'll also get his go-to tailgate food and wine pairing...! You can follow him @thetitussomm on Instagram.

Recorded August 28, 2024

This episode features a conversation with the 2024 Champion of our "Unusual Suspects" Blind Tasting Competition that was hosted by the Oenophile Institute at the beginning of August in Atlanta, GA. This was the second annual session of this competition format where we have two rounds of blind tasting flights – 3 white wines followed by 3 red wines - and then the two highest scores from each round move on to a final round to crown a winner. The wines, however, are all just on the fringe or technically not typically testable in wine certification exams, so the wines can be from basically anywhere in the world. And this year, we had to have a second bonus final round because the top four competitors all scored so evenly on the first wine – but what happened in the "final final" round was truly impressive because our 2024 Champion, Joe Herrig, basically called that wine 100% correctly to walk away with the trophy and cash prize. On this episode, you’ll hear from our winner, Joe, as he breaks down his thought process and logic for each of his calls from the competition. Joe was first on this podcast in June of 2022 (Episode 78) and he is still the Director of Education for Georiga Crown Distribution Company. He has since earned his Diploma through the Wine and Spirits Education Trust, so he now holds one of the highest honors in the world of wine education. You'll hear how he approached the process of identifying these wines and how he connects his palate skills to his theory knowledge. You can follow him @suburbanwino on Instagram.

Recorded August 25, 2024

Episode 134 not only features the first repeat guest for an episode of the show, but also, we very likely make podcast history for the number of wine bottles that were opened during a recording with our live audience in Atlanta. Sam Coturri of Winery Sixteen 600 in Sonoma, CA joined an incredible group of Atlanta wine, food, and media professionals to lead a wine tasting and open it up to an audience Q&A session at the end of the episode. Sam first joined as a guest on the show for Episode 7 of Season 5 – recorded in November 2021 – and it was the first unedited podcast in honor of the style of his own podcast, The Wine Makers Podcast. Sam is such a great friend, and he was visiting Atlanta this summer representing his Sixteen 600 wines that are now available in Georgia thanks to Empire Distributors. They were in town to host an innovative wine dinner in honor of Jerry Garcia’s birthday with a Grateful Dead themed menu and music pairings. You can follow @grapeswithaview and @sixteen600 on Instagram to learn more about Sam and his wines, and you can listen to @winemakerspod wherever you listen to your podcasts.

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Recorded LIVE at The Vine Club in Atlanta on July 30. 2024 - thanks, Taylor! @thevineclubatl

This episode features Shauna Rosenblum who joined Ridge Vineyards in 2022 as their Lytton Springs Winemaker. She oversees all winemaking at the Lytton Springs facility in Healdsburg, CA, and she brings a lifetime of winemaking experience with her to Ridge. Her father, Kent Rosenblum, of Rosenblum Cellars, introduced his winemaking passion to Shauna at an early age. Kent taught her to read brix on a refractometer at the age of three, she started working on the bottling line at the age of twelve, and by the age of sixteen, she attended blending sessions with the winemaking team. Always enamored with fine art, Shauna received a scholarship to California College of Arts and Crafts, then pursued her Master’s Degree at San Francisco Art Institute. During her ceramics studies, she took chemistry classes where she noticed that the process for creating glaze compositions was the exact same process as blending wine. This led her to the epiphany that winemaking was art. She completed the UC Davis Master’s Wine Executive Program and in 2008, Rosenblum joined Rock Wall Wine Company as Winemaker. Her lifelong wine training coupled with her philosophy of winemaking as fine art led her to seek out treasured old-vine field blend sites and esoteric varieties like tannat, teroldego and ciliegiolo. She directed a portfolio of over fifty grape contracts around California and oversaw all aspects of production on every lot of wine from crush to bottling. During her 14-year tenure at Rock Wall Wine Company, she rose to the rank of President and Chairperson of the Board of Directors. We talk about what it’s been like to like to step into her role as part of the Ridge legacy since 2022, and we open a very special bottle on air together that she sent to Atlanta that hadn't been released yet representing her first vintage in this lead role. You can visit www.ridgewine.com to leard more about Ridge and Shauna's work, and you can follow @ridgevineyards on Instagram.

Recorded July 22, 2024

This episode features winemaker and viticulturist, Mark Neal, the Founder and Owner of Neal Family Vineyards. Growing up in Napa Valley’s Rutherford region as the son of a farmer, Mark was learning about viticulture from a very young age - he says farming is the only job he's ever had. It was Mark’s maternal grandmother whom he credits with instilling the family with their early adoption of biodynamics. A native of Crete, she was critical of any other way of farming than the ancient, organic, lunar-based model she absorbed growing up. Mark is now best known as one of the first grape growers to practice and farm biodynamically in Napa. In 1968, Mark entered his father’s business, Jack Neal and Son (JNS) Vineyard Management and the duo helped establish some of the most storied estates in Napa Valley, including continuous vineyard management with Heitz, Martha’s Vineyard. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, demand started to grow for his expertise in developing everything from orchards to vineyards, especially after Napa won the French Tasting in 1976. He went on to conduct ground preparation on vineyards such as BV, Beckstoffer, Cuvaison, Duckhorn Schramsburg, Screaming Eagle, Three Palms, Coppola, Dominus Estates, Ink Grade Vineyards, Vine Hill Ranch. Starting in the mid-1990s, he spent years consulting for Gallo Vineyards, building and prepping the company’s vineyard estates throughout California. Today, Mark still runs JNS in addition to Neal Family Vineyards. Of the 40 or so vineyard management companies in Napa, JNS is the second oldest, and Mark proudly still has clients on handshake contracts from the 1970s that were secured by his father. In 1997, Mark developed a dual varietal trellis system to combat a palpably warming Napa Valley and plant white grapes like Sauvignon Blanc and Vermentino (as well as other experimental varieties) in his Rutherford Dust vineyard. His innovation doubled up production on the same acre without sacrificing quality, without using any additional water, and without expending any additional carbon footprint. you’ll hear about the various benefits of all his practices. He highly values and respects the role of his people in all aspects of cultivating a vineyard as well as maintains a priority to fight against climate change on a global scale. Get ready for a Napa Valley history lesson and learn about aspects of grape farming that you may have never heard of before. You can follow @nealvineyards on instagram and visit www.nealvineyards.com to learn more about his estate wines.

Recorded July 9, 2024

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This episode is generously sponsored by Diane Carpenter and Ross Knoll Vineyard:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.dianecarpenter.org/wines⁠⁠⁠⁠ - available for shipping to 11 states

This episode features Randy Bennett, the Winemaker and General Manager at Sojourn Cellars in Sonoma, California. We recorded this conversation in front of a live audience of wine professionals and enthusiasts while Randy was visiting Atlanta, so you’ll also hear a few wine pours as guests were tasting Sojourn wines throughout the show. Randy started as Sojourn’s Assistant Winemaker in 2008, but he is now responsible for making all the Sojourn wines and overseeing cellar operations and vineyard management activities. He works closely with their growers and cellar crew while also running the day-to-day operations of the winery’s production, marketing, and business operations. We talk about his career before entering the wine business as he holds a degree in Business Information Systems from Cal Poly and worked for 13 years at Accenture leading large-scale business transformation projects for major financial services firms. He describes how that experience prepared him to pursue his passion for wine and to overcome challenges each vintage. At the end of the show, we made a little bit of podcast history because guests in the audience came up to the mic to ask Randy questions as well, so for the first time, we have some live Q&A action from fellow atlanta wine professionals. You can see some photos of the live recording event posted on @acorkintheroad on Instagram, and make sure you give us a rating or review wherever you are listening to the podcast today. You can follow @sojourn_cellars for more info on the wines and planning your vists.

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This whole experience was sponsored by Tower Beer Wine and Spirits, a family owned business for 76 years, who continue to elevate the Atlanta wine scene creating access to craft beverages, and all of Sojourn wines we taste on this episode are available for purchase at the Piedmont location in Atlanta (@toweratl)

www.towerwinespirits.com/buckhead

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Recorded June 2, 2024 with a LIVE audience at Vine Club in Atlanta, GA.

You can follow @thevineclubatl and visit www.thevineclub.wine for more info on their wine-driven social club memberships and events.