Joe Winger: 

Just to touch on background a little bit, you were the winemaker and founder of a very successful urban winery, the Infinite Monkey Theorem. 

Then you chose to move on to where you are now at The Ordinary Fellow. 

What was that transition like for you?

Ben Parsons: 

The Infinite Monkey Theorem was really about disrupting the wine industry and trying to make wine fun and relevant and accessible. 

We were the first ones in the U.S. to put wine in the can. We started kegging in 2008. 

It was really about creating these urban winery spaces, just a tap room for a craft brewery in a city where everyone could come down and enjoy. 

After 11 years of taking that to a 100,000 case production distributed in 42 states, there was a really good opportunity for me to get back to what I wanted to do, which is being in a vineyard.

Even though that might sound like a cliche, there is something quite romantic about farming and being surrounded by nature and really trying to make the very best wine you can from Colorado fruit that you grow and putting it in a bottle versus buying someone else’s wine and putting it in a can, they’re like two very different things.

I had an opportunity to take over a vineyard in southwest Colorado down in the Four Corners just outside of Cortez, where the Four Corners meet. 

It was in disrepair and hadn’t been pruned in four years. So I got back in there and now it’s looking really good.

So that’s taken 4 years. Yeah it’s relatively small. It’s 13 acres of Riesling, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon. 

Sits at 6,000 feet elevation. So very high for a commercial vineyard. And it’s beautiful. 

It sits on a national monument called the Yucca House, which is an un-excavated ancestral Pueblan ruin from between the 10th and 12th century.

Starts at Mesa Verde, which most people are familiar with for the ancestral cliff dwellings from the Pueblans down there. It’s just a beautiful location. 

Yeah, two very different things, but kind of coming full circle almost as to what I got me into the industry in the beginning, back in the late 90s.

And now back there, but doing it on my own.

Joe Winger: 

You chose to be in Palisade, Colorado making your wine. 

Tell us a little bit about the region and why someone should come visit you in Colorado?

Ben Parsons: 

Palisade is beautiful. It’s on the Western slope of Colorado. It’s about a 4 hour drive West of Denver over the mountains.

About 4 1/2 hours East of Salt Lake City. 

It’s an American Viticultural Area designate called the Grand Valley and it’s pretty stunning. 

It’s known for its fruit. It’s actually known for its peaches, believe it or not. Some of the best peaches grown anywhere in the United States. Arguably the best. 

But it’s a very small microclimate. 

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Today’s conversation has been edited for length and clarity. For the full, un-edited conversation, visit our YouTube channel here. 

So often we talk about food and wine and it’s usually for dates, romantic nights out, date night, anniversaries, vacations. 

Today we’re going to get to the source of what those date’s are actually about. So with us is a dating expert, Andrea McGinty from 33000dates.com. 

So just to start things off, what inspired you to become a dating coach?

Andrea McGinty: 

You mean what inspired an accounting / finance major to become a dating coach? 

I started this when I was in my 20s. So this is the 1990s. 

There’s no Google yet. There’s no online dating. It’s going to happen in the late 90s, but it hasn’t happened yet. At that point I was living in Chicago and I was getting married and five weeks before the wedding, he called it off and it was like – boom!

What do you do? First I cried, of course…

Anyway my friends started fixing me up on dates, still in your 20s and you know how those dates go, 

They know someone that’s single, so they think you should like them, blah, blah, blah…

After some of those dates I was really thinking about it and I thought, it’d be great if there was a place you could go, like an executive recruiter for your professional life. 

The same thing for your personal life. 

And of course, there was nothing like that at the time. Even in high school and in college I fixed up two of my suitemates. They’re still with their husbands that I fixed them up with.

I was already good at this and I thought I could start this. 

Anyway, fast forward.

I started a company in Chicago called It’s Just Lunch. Where people meet for lunch. We do all the work.

Fast forward, 15 years later, it’s still the same.

[At my first dating company, It’s Just Lunch] we had 110 locations globally and then I sold. Timing was perfect because online dating was coming out of its infancy and it was a mess it at first, just the scammers, the crazies, the horrible stories, 

I thought, “Oh, wow, there’s a need. People have no idea what to do online and how to date.” 

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Getting Emotional during this book event. What happened?

Angel Orengo shares: I think we forget that at the core life doesn't need to be that difficult. It's not that complicated that we allow ourselves to be complicated by the things around us, by the things that we're told, by the way we think our lives need to be, by the number of houses, clothing, shoes – everything right that we need to have.

The moment you bring it down to the basics and you're like, yeah, life should be simple. We are okay. We're just learning here. We're back. We're like in a school and the teacher wasn't angry because we got it wrong. On the contrary,  it was just like, Oh, don't worry. I'll teach you.

Rocio Acquino:  The struggles they are feeling are real. They feel the difficulty. Everyone at some point is [feeling] who here has a difficult path? Everyone is like me. That connection is not superficial, but it's more in a deep way when you are in a group setting after being so disconnected really to talk about the important things that matters in life has another connection.

The story focuses on five of these women, each wrestling with unique life challenges such as closeted sexuality, career pressures, spousal abandonment, sexual abuse, eating disorders, and manipulative behavior. As they engage with the program's curriculum, they peel away layers of self-deception, pain, and societal conditioning, discovering that the love and solutions they seek already reside within them.

The Orchid serves as both the setting and the metaphor for their collective journey toward self-realization and empowerment.

Find more at: https://www.theorchidbook.com

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Actor and soap opera legend Thaao Penghlis knows how rto seduce and knows how to cook. After decades in Hollywood, working with the biggest stars and romancing the most beautiful women, he's decided to reveal his secrets.

Thaao's Intense Passion for Food was inspired throughhout this life. At a young age, by his family. Then by a career of adventures on screen and throughout the world. All of those memories have made it into his new book.

Thaao Penghlis has met and worked with many entertainers in his life. Actress Doris Roberts came for dinner one evening and wrote a letter that stated, "An extraordinary cook who takes pleasure in inviting his friends to his home for an evening of great food, wine and interesting conversation.

With all the celebrities that crossed Thaao's path through social means or at work, how would he embrace and seduce them with the cuisine?

Learn from all of his romantic and delicious secrets here: https://amzn.to/3J68amn

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You could say production techniques, additives, mass production are probably the three biggest differences.

Tequila can only be made with one agave. It’s a blue weber. Mezcal can be made with the other 47-ish varietals, and that number is always fluctuating, based on classification and family genius.

Production is the big one. Tequila is made in massive factories and made with either chemicals or steam for the most part.

Whereas mezcal is actually made by hand, roasted in an earthen oven. The biggest thing that separates Tequila and Mezcal is the 1% additive rule.

Tequila can have up to 1% by volume additives, and they don’t have to tell you. That’s why certain large brands will say 100% Agave, but it’s full of additives, because it doesn’t take much with modern chemistry. Just a couple drops of glycerin or vanilla extract to change the flavor and hide all the nuances.

Mezcal can’t have any additives by law.

Madre is an artisanal mezcal, made by hand in the rolling hills of the Oaxacan Sierra. Watching over the land for centuries, our mezcaleros started distilling the spirit of mezcal for the intent of personal guidance and celebration. They would like to share that spirit with respect and gratitude.

Find more at:

https://madremezcal.com

  / madremezcal  

  / mezcal.learning  

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Secret to Upgrading your Cocktail Experience, revealed by Drink Pro

Buy Bark and Barware Cocktail Smoker Kit on Amazon at: https://amzn.to/430gFZC

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Their meticulously crafted Cocktail Smoker Kit ensures your drink experiences are unparalleled. Whether you're hosting an event or enjoying a quiet evening, Bark and Barware add a touch of sophistication to your libations.

Discover the story behind the flavor.

Daily Ovation covers food, entertainment and travel around the country and the world.  FlavRReport is our city-to-city section.  Both magazines Editor-in-Chief is Joe Wehinger on IG and Twitter as Joe Winger.

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The Key to Innovative Cocktails at this Brooklyn Hot Spot

Republic Latin Fusion's owners Syad Hossain and Christian Almonte visits FlavRReport.com to talk about food, drinks and NYC flavor.

Learn more about Republic Latin Fusion at:

https://RepublicLatinFusion.com

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