Grape Encounters Wine Radio

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To celebrate 4th of July Weekend, David wanted to feature a couple interviews that took place days before and a few weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic. These interviews were particularly special because they illustrate just how quickly the crisis evolved but also the creativity of fellow foodies and wine enthusiasts that has kept many of us from going bonkers. There are other reasons why these two interviews were chart-toppers for host David Wilson and to appreciate them fully, pour yourself a quality glass of wine, put your feet up and listen to the entire show! There’s a lot to love in Episode 572 of Grape Encounters Radio!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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Kristy Charles and her family co-founded Foursight Wines in 2006 and the Covid-19 crisis has helped fire up something that this family is particularly good at; evolving and reinventing as necessary.

While there is no shortage of wineries doing what we now affectionately call “Virtual Tastings,” Kristy and her family team were determined to take the concept to a higher level. To that end, they are offering a “Virtual Barrel Tasting” in late July. Bear in mind that Barrel Tastings are not something that wine enthusiasts get invited to every day, but this opportunity is special in other ways as well, but to learn how, you’ll have to queue up the show and give it a listen!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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With a host of critical national and international issues dominating every news cycle, it can be hard, if not impossible to live life the way we did not so long ago. From Covid-19 to daunting civil rights challenges that are the focus of a historically contentious election, these are serious times. Nonetheless, while our lives may seem unrecognizable, most of our passions are either on hold are being reimagined until things settle down a bit.

While there are plenty of reports that support the contention that Covid-19 is at the root of increased consumption, there are many other wine-related stories that reflect what’s on America’s mind: from wines produced by African Americans to the political preferences of wine versus beer drinkers, a lot has changed in the wine world in just a few short months. For some detailed insight into the very different 2020 vintage, give a listen to this episode of Grape Encounters Radio.

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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If there's one thing you probably should know about Grape Encounters host David Wilson, it’s this:  Even though the show is largely about how to have fun with wine, David is highly sensitive to the abuse of wine, alcohol, or anything else like that. It has to be consumed responsibly, which is why he never talks about wild parties that he’s been to because that’s not something he’s keen on glorifying.  With wine enjoyment comes responsibility and, for some, that can be quite a challenge. Recently, David happened upon a very cool and interesting product designed to slow down the absorption of alcohol which translates into not getting as buzzed as you might otherwise.

This incredibly unique product was not designed to make it easier for you to drink yourself silly.  That wasn't the point. It was designed for people who want to be very responsible and it's part of a much bigger dream and vision of its creator. His name is Joe Fisher, president of Zeno Functional Foods.  This edition of Grape Encounters will look at the science behind SOBAR (Yes, it’s a twist on the work “sober”) It’s a bar type food, a bar as in, protein bars and health oriented bars, not bars where people go to drink.

In addition to talking about SOBAR, Joe is an expert on how our bodies process alcohol.  He’s done an enormous amount of research on what goes on in our bodies when we drink. And I think a lot of people--most people perhaps--don't really have their arms wrapped around what's really going on when we consume alcohol.  Joe certainly has the credentials, including a degree in chemistry at Stanford plus an MD and a PhD degree in something called the Medical Scientist Training Program. After completing extensive post-doctoral studies, Joe worked for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for most of his career, where his focus was on the development of drugs for cancer and inflammation.  Joes says, “It was only after sort of retiring from that career that I decided to try to impact health through primarily preventative medicine.  I saw a great deal of opportunity in the development of food-based, natural health solutions.”  On today’s show, you’ll learn that there’s more to know about alcohol than we ever imagined.

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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Hey wine enthusiasts! There is a very big holiday that is coming up and it would be a shame if it isn't on your calendar, because it is a whopper in the wine business, it is National Rosé Day. What, you didn’t know there was a National Rosé Day? Then, we've got lots to talk about where Rosé is concerned, because it is one of the most misunderstood categories of wine. To help untangle the mysteries of Rosé and also spotlight an awesome virtual event that will take place June 13th, David is joined by a major, major superstar. Renowned Sommelier Jon McDaniel is the founder and CEO of Second City Soil, a wine consultancy firm. Jon is also one of the most respected Sommeliers in this country. He was Food & Wine Magazine’s Sommelier of the Year in 2018, Wine Enthusiast’s, 40 under 40 Taste Makers in 2017 and even Riedel Crystal’s International Sommelier of the Month in November of 2016. It just goes on from there.

Sommelier Jon McDaniel

For the June 13th National Rosé Day event, Jon has teamed up with famed Chateau de Berne in Provence to host a virtual tasting featuring the French producer’s extraordinary “Inspiration” Rosé. Tune in! There’s a lot to share about this extraordinary category of wines!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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This week, David decided he wanted to get out and travel a good distance, even if it is digitally. Today, he’s taking you all the way to Italy to talk about a really interesting project that is really reigniting a long-lost era of Italian winemaking. Joining David for the first half of today’s show is Piero Pavone, founder of Vinum Hadrianum, a winery on the eastern central coast of Italy that is breathing new life into an ancient Roman form of winemaking.

Piero Pavone, Founder of Vinum Hadrianum in Italy

Vinum Hadrianum is about 2 hours due east of Rome. It’s a project that was started by a group of people with extensive knowledge of the history and traditions of ancient Roman winemaking. we are talking about more than 2000 years ago. These wines were very popular during the Roman Empire and the ones produced in this regions were among the most expensive and sought after. The method used to make these wines is really quite different than what you would see at nearly all wineries, chateaus or any place that produces wine around the world. Aging takes place in clay amphoras which are very similar to those that would have been around 2000 years ago. These are wines that never see the inside of a wooden barrel. This region is world-renowned for ceramic production and so Vinum Hadrianum contracts with local artisans to produce the magnificent amphoras that replicate these much sought-after wines from thousands of years ago.

Chris Sawyer, internationally-renowned sommelier, wine educator, journalist, consultant, critic and public speaker, recently on The Varietal Show

During the second half of our show, David welcomes an audience favorite, Sommelier to the Stars, Christopher Sawyer, who calls Sonoma County his home. While many of us have been cooling our heels at home, Christopher has be in high demand on countless podcasts and other forms of social media.

Christopher says there’s no rest for the weary! “I have been doing more on Zoom than I've ever done in my life. I mean, I've been on over 35 shows. We did a great one called Cellar Pass TV. They’re like kind of a concierge group that really does a great job all over the United States in the wide regions.”

Perhaps the hottest topic wine-wise during the Covid-19 crisis is Virtual Tastings. Reluctantly, David admits that the concept may be getting a bit overworked and that perhaps we could come up with some new ideas. With that in mind, David poses the question, “Now that we are starting to see restaurants reopened… tasting rooms, not quite yet, what are the things that are changing that we're going to have to get used to living with and will be the new dynamic going forward?”

Chris’ answer is priceless! “Some of these things are cool, like restaurants in Manhattan where they just bought a bunch of shower curtains and they put them between the tables. You know these plastic shower curtain so you can see the people over there but you're not next to the people because you got a shower curtain between you? So you know there's going to be techniques like this.” As always, we can count on Christopher to shower us with great ideas!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at

Well, it's now been 10 weeks of isolation and David is very proud of himself for doing all sorts of things that he generally doesn't like doing, but he's actually having a good time all the same. David says his house has never been cleaner nor has his laundry been this caught up. But among his most important achievements has been spending quality time in the kitchen and doing marvelous things with his Sous Vide machine and Instant Pot. So, as the show begins, David makes an impassioned plea to listeners: Take advantage of this time that you're not able to go out and use that time to really get into your cooking game. If you have a Sous Vide Machine, Instant Pot or Air Fryer, break it out and discover what you've been missing!

David also has a few words of wisdom concerning your NEXT vacation. Granted, things may seem pretty hopeless at the moment, but this too shall pass and life eventually is going to get back to some kind of Have faith! We're going to be taken vacations again soon and it’s probably not going to be that far off. And one thing that is very clear is that you should strike while the iron is hot. No, you shouldn't get on a plane and go off on a trip just yet, but you should start thinking about five or six or seven or eight months down the road. If you'll do that, you can score some travel deals like you just can't imagine. If you want to take a dream vacation--if you want to go off to any of the wonderful wine countries that exist either in the United States or beyond--if you want to take a vacation that you probably couldn't have afforded before, airfare in particular is just incredibly low. David shares some of his research with you. Learn how you can go to many, many locations in Europe and Asia for as little as $300 $400 round trip..

Speaking of wine country trips, what exactly is going on right now in America's premiere wine country, the Napa Valley? Things are on the verge of opening up, so we wanted to check in with Theresa Wall; she's the Senior Director of Communications for Napa Valley Vintners. This is a very important organization in the Napa Valley and the staff continues to do the important work of the association from home as they gear up for this year's reset of the visitor season.

Theresa says, "One of the [key roles] that we serve to this Valley is the opportunity to bring everyone together. I think something that really helps Napa Valley to shine and sets us apart from a lot of other regions is [our] camaraderie and that sense of coming together and the really tight knit community that we have developed here. Our main mission is to promote, protect, and enhance our Valley, which means that we do a lot of marketing to tell people our story. We certainly represent our wineries and advocate what's best for them and we also provide a lot of resources for our members. Our overall mission is to help promote the the Valley itself and to help our wineries tell their individual stories as well as act as a resource to anyone who is looking for information about the Valley."

One of the ways that the vintners are staying strong is through one of the world's most ambitious networks of virtual experiences. It's an extensive list and you'll hear about some of the most intriguing opportunities on this week's edition of Grape Encounters!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at

Now going into a third month of shelter in place with Grape Encounters Radio, host David Wilson is honored to spend some quality time, albeit in confinement, with two extraordinary icons of the wine industry… Judd Wallenbrock, CEO of CK Mondavi & Family (parent company to Charles Krug), and Peter Mondavi Jr., Co-Proprietor of Charles Krug.

This edition of Grape Encounters offers a very intimate look into the oldest winery in the Napa Valley—founded by Prussian Immigrant Charles Krug in 1861—and owned and operated by members of the famed Mondavi family ever since it was purchased by Cesare Mondavi in 1943. Despite a projected drop in restaurant and hotel sales of 95+% due to the Covid-19 crisis, wholesale and retail sales are projected to show growth of about 10%, compensating for a significant portion of the on-premise sales loss. It’s a bittersweet testimony to the strength of the Mondavi name and the brand loyalty that has remained remarkably powerful for well over 70 years.

Under Peter’s management as well as that of his Father and Grandfather, Charles Krug has survived a wide range of devastating states national and world events. Peter and Judd share their very personal insights into the success of Charles Krug and its sister C. Mondavi and Family brands. The family has always been steadfast in keeping the brands’ history at the forefront of any conversation, but every generation of Mondavi brings with it a keen understanding of what it takes to grow with the times without sacrificing the historic principles and corporate culture that makes these brands so iconic. From the critical role that social media plays in today’s wine industry to radical changes in packaging and so much more, this conversation is full of revelations, reverences and pleasant surprises!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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Featuring Imagine Wine and Lando Wines

What's that old saying? "If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!" Sometimes you want to laugh. Sometimes you want to cry. But at all times, you want to survive. America's boutique winemakers could never have imagined where just a short three -month journey would wind up taking them. It's sink or swim for small producers. Thank goodness winemakers are a hearty and inventive bunch. Of course, that doesn't mean outsmarting the

Coronavirus is a cake walk.

This week's show begins with something of a reunion. It was about 560 shows ago that Ross Jay Rankin, co-owner with his wife LynDee Rankin of Imagine Wine, was featured on Grape Encounters. And thanks to a well imagined business model, this small producer of very big wines is actually weathering the Covid-19 crisis quite well. You'll enjoy hearing how far things have come in a dozen years, and if you go back and listen to that first interview with Ross, it's easy to see that he's got that special something ... including some gloriously big reds.

Also on the show is Sam Lando of Lando Wines in Sonoma County. Sam has worked for some amazing producers throughout his long and colorful career. There comes a time, however, when a family's personal hobby starts to grow larger than life and the universe beckons you take that quantum leap and become a serious producer. Now, if only the universe would knock it off with all the natural disasters! No one said it was going to be easy, but you've got to want it bad to stay focused through all the challenges these world-class Pinot makers have had to deal with. You're going to love the Lando attitude as much as you love their stunning wines!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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Trying to live fairly normal lives in a world where almost nothing is normal has not only changed a lot of important plans, but also fueled some mighty creative reinvention of some of our favorite things.

First, a deep dive into a craze wine enthusiasts probably didn’t expect… the virtual wine tasting! How does it all work and where do you get hooked up? Show announcer, tasting room host and winemaker Brent Keast joins David for a deep dive into an activity that is moderated online but enjoyed while sheltered in place. It seems like nothing can stop the sipping, and David and Brent will show you how to get in on the game!

From fanciful fun to unthinkable cancellations... What happens when your winery wedding is postponed indefinitely? You do have options and we’ve got an expert to give you some much-needed guidance. Joining David is Mary Litzinger, President of VP Events, based in Southern California. Mary not only produces extraordinary wine-themed weddings, but also events of every kind in idyllic locales all over the globe. If you’ve got Mary in your corner, your chances of a happy ending are greatly improved! Tune in for some much need encouragement on this edition of Grape Encounters!

Today’s edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More, where you’ll find thousands of wines produced by folks who started with a dream and never looked back. Be sure to spend a little time online at TotalWine.com. You’ll be very glad you did!

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