Virginia Shaffer is the owner and operator of Lady Oyster Tours & Tastings, a unique business venture on a mission to make Maine seafood experiential through intimate oyster tastings, sea farm tours, and coastal adventures.

She's the first female guest on Starboard's #drinkport podcast and she's set the bar high. She's chock-full of business insight and advice for anyone thinking about quitting their full-time job to pursue their own venture. And she's brimming with passion for what she does. Pull up a seat and let's #drinkport with Virginia.

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party.
Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.

🍷#drinkport

Bartholomew Broadbent is an icon in the wine world. He’s the original Port wine pioneer in the United States who was responsible for making it mainstream nationally in the 1990s.

He's the CEO and Founder of Broadbent Selections, a fine wine importer and distributor that also produces award-winning Madeira, Port, and Portuguese table wines along with other offerings.

He's the ultimate Port wine advocate, and, he happens to live just 10 minutes from me. Join me for this can’t-miss episode with a true Port wine legend.

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party.
Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.
🍷#drinkport

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and bringing those we love together, I invited my husband Pete to guest host this holiday episode.

And I flipped the script — he brought the questions and there weren't any that were off the table.

I still edited it.

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party. Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.

🍷#drinkport

Are Matt Wagner and I the only two Americans drinking Port wine?

In this episode, I catch up with Ruud Scholten, who lives just outside of Amsterdam. He's a serial entrepreneur and founder of an exciting online Port platform that's designed to be the ultimate resource for Port wine enthusiasts. He's also the author of “The Portologist” featuring Port wine cocktail recipes.

We chat about parenthood, virtual reality, the perception of Port wine (is it really a drink favored among housewives in the Netherlands?), and more.

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party. Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.

🍷#drinkport

In this second part of my conversation with Port wine subject matter expert and writer Roy Hersh, I caught up with him to learn more about his lifelong passion for Port wine, if he thinks it has the potential to go mainstream in the United States, and other musings on this lesser known wine.

Catch up on the first part of our conversation here.

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party. Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.

🍷#drinkport

In this podcast episode, I catch up with the ultimate Port wine guru: Roy Hersh. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone — especially an American — more passionate about Port wine than Roy.

He’s practically dedicated his life to learning more about this unique fortified wine and is actively sharing it with others through his robust writing career, his popular website ForTheLoveOfPort.com, and the launch of his wine tourism business, Portuguese Wine Tours.

Just how devoted is he to Port wine? He relocated from the States, from his home in Seattle, to live in Porto, Portugal full-time. He’s tasted nearly 15,000 bottles of Port over the last 40 years and even named his daughter Taylor after one of the founding Port houses.

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party. Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.

🍷#drinkport

In this podcast episode, I chat with Jorge Nunes who is both a winemaker and the Asia Pacific Market Manager at Symington Family Estates. We chat all-things Symington, the world's leading producer of premium Ports and one of the top Portuguese wine producers. We also discuss Port's power and his favorite Port moment, and he answers my most burning question: Do the Portuguese drink Port?

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party. Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.

🍷#drinkport

Who in the world drinks Port wine? I’m thinking it. You’re thinking it. To get to the bottom of it, I reached out to a true wine expert: Master of Wine Richard Heming, a Singapore-based writer and educator whose career in wine has taken him around the world.

I found Richard when I was interested in exploring the topic about the future of wine and came across an article he wrote about wine in the metaverse. I reached out and he agreed to contribute his insights to #drinkport. He shared with me in our first conversation that he likes to support the underdog — the underdog being Port and very likely my ambitious endeavor to encourage more Americans to drink it.

Join me for this truly global conversation about the world's perception of Port wine, what makes it so special, and why it doesn't have to be for everyone (which is part of its magic).

Starboard is a Port wine for the American dinner party. Follow along as we uncork a conversation about Port wine, stateside. Onward we venture to a new Port.

🍷#drinkport