Grape Encounters Wine Radio

While temperatures are falling as we head into the winter, wine loving travellers don’t have to chill at home this time of year. This week’s Grape Encounter includes another visit with Andy Levine of Duvine Cycling and Adventure Company. Host David Wilson is an avid cyclist and together you’ll learn about exciting tours that will have you pedaling to wineries in South America. Then, David shares a fascinating story of felines and wine in Japan while also talking about the EpicStyle “pet collection” with Gadget Guru Matt Dubow. Linsey Gallagher is the marketing chief at California’s Wine Institute in San Francisco. She’s just returned from China and shares the 4-1-1 on how American wines are growing in the Chinese marketplace, and gives the lowdown on Chinese winemaking, as well. And, do you know your way with Chardonnay? That’s what you’ll find David is “Sipping with Sara” Schneider, wine editor of Sunset Magazine.

There may be no more significant occasion when it comes to the relationship between food and wine for Americans than Thanksgiving. Your Grape Encounter this week begins with legendary radio and television chef Jackie Olden sharing some of her favorite Turkey Day tips for incorporating vino into your holiday meal preparations. What wines pair best with turkey, stuffing, veggie dishes or even pumpkin pie? Sunset magazine’s wine editor Sara Schneider and Grape Encounters host David Wilson have some stellar suggestions on what to serve and what to avoid in this week’s installment of ‘Sipping with Sara.’ Celebrity “fit chef” Andre Carthen check’s in with suggestions on how to fully enjoy your feast without over indulging. And, gadget guru Matt Dubow of EpicStyle.com steps up to take on another of David’s wine tasting challenges.

How sweet it is! Your Grape Encounter this week travels first to the Tropics for an in-depth conversation with Vince Shook, whose family has been making fruit-flavored wines for more than twenty years at the Florida Orange Groves Winery. Their patented winemaking process has been turning out more than 40 varieties each year including Banana, Mango and Orange wines. And, now they’re ready to enter a Grape Encounters exclusive competition with a Homer, Alaska fruit winery. Bear Creek’s Louis Maurer returns to accept host David Wilson’s challenge. Also this week, what happened when American wine lovers started to turn their nose up at Australian wines? Get the lowdown on wines from Down Under when David goes Sipping with Sara Schneider of Sunset magazine. And, it’s a USA vs. Australia blind tasting game with gadget guru Matt Dubow of EpicStyle.com.

Host David Wilson takes you on a very special journey this week as the Grape Encounters microphones travel to the Nation’s Capital and a fascinating behind-the-scenes tour and conversation at the Smithsonian Institution’s exhibit on food and wine at the National Museum of American History. Paula Johnson is the curator of the ‘Food: 1950 to 2000’ exhibit, which includes artifacts like the award-winning bottle of Michael Grgich’s Chardonnay from the legendary 1976 Judgment of Paris competition. She takes you through more than a half-decade of wine history in the U.S. Paula and David also discuss the booming Virginia winemaking scene. What gadgets might the Smithsonian consider including in its wine exhibit? That’s a question for our guru of such things. Matt Dubow of EpicStyle.com has a few solid suggestions! Plus, Sara Schneider, wine editor at Sunset magazine, takes five to talk about the evolution of Chenin Blanc.

The Pacific Northwest has long been a region rich with wine making. This week, David Wilson introduces you to some movers and shakers behind the explosive growth of the winery scene in Western and Southeastern Washington state. Your Grape Encounter begins just a short thirty miles from Seattle, where Woodinville Wine Country Association executive director Sandra Lee gives an overview of more than 100 local winemakers. Then, meet one of the hippest vintners we’ve ever talked with. Chris Gorman, whose namesake Gorman Winery produces favorites like Evil Twin and The Bully shares the fruits of his many years of labor in a discussion with David. After another round of Sipping with Sara Schneider of Sunset Magazine, this time from boxed wines, we head to Walla Walla, Washington, to learn about an innovative public-private winery incubator partnership operated by the local airport with manager Jennifer Skoglund. And, once known for its export of sweet onions, Duane Wollmuth of the Walla Walla Valley Wine Alliance sheds light on the incredible grown of wines from the area. Matt Dubow also checks in with more gadget chat from EpicStyle.com.

It’s harvest season and that’s a very busy time of year for winemakers. This week on Grape Encounters, host David Wilson brings you another blend of grapes and music as you go behind the scenes with the Crushtones, a group of California Central Coast winemakers who spend evenings getting their jam on for both charity and stress relief. Plus, meet an elderly North Carolina couple who just happened to have a few extra acres in their backyard and thought they’d grow some grapes. For more than a decade, that hobby has been bottled up in some of the region’s finest wines. What are the best food and wine pairings when your in the mood for a spicy meal? Find out when David goes Sipping with Sara Schneider of Sunset Magazine. And, our gadget guru Matt Dubow has some suggestions for green gifts from EpicStyle.com that are sure to please wine lovers.

On this week’s episode of Grape Encounters, host David Wilson heads to a hundred-year-old estate that serves as the setting for the HammerSky Winery on California’s Central Coast. There, he meets up with Dr. Doug Hauck, a winemaker who is also a cosmetic dentist to the stars, and who has dabbled a bit in the movies himself. They share their passion for wine over a chat in a preacher’s bedroom. Sara Schneider, wine editor of Sunset Magazine, volleys wine trends with David in this week’s installment of Sipping with Sara. And, with the economy still suffering, it turns out some people are pawning their wine. But, EpicStyle.com’s Matt Dubow stops by to talk about wine gadgets that are just too good to pawn no matter how tight things may get.

Put on your thermals and grab your corkscrew because this week’s Grape Encounter starts at a winery on the 59th Parallel. Host David Wilson welcomes Louis Maurer from the Bear Creek Winery in Homer, Alaska. It may be the end of the road among North American professional winemakers, but they’ve accepted what will be known for years to come as the Alaskadero Challenge! Sara Schneider, wine editor of Sunset Magazine, makes her debut weekly appearance for Sipping with Sara. And, Tom Silberkleit of the California Directory of Fine Wines is in the house for a conversation about his many exciting experiences traversing wine country and sorting out good from the bad and the ugly. Matt Dubow is also in with more wine gadget chat from EpicStyle.com.

If you love to explore new places as much as new wines, then get ready to pack your bags on this week’s Grape Encounters episode. Host David Wilson loves to hit the road on his bicycle and he’s caught up with Andy Levine, the founder of DuVine Cycling and Adventure, a company that specializes in bike tours through wine regions in the U.S. and 18 other countries. It turns out stomping grapes may have been a naturally healing activity. You’ll meet a California Central Coast spa operator who is using wine and its byproducts to rejuvenate the body. And, listeners who traveled through Southern Europe this past Spring with David aboard the Seven Seas Mariner had the time of their life. Find out what’s in store for adventurous wine lovers on the Baltic when Grape Encounters announces its second big cruise coming next June. Matt Dubow, the Gadget Guru from EpicStyle.com also visits with more fun holiday gift giving ideas for the wine lover who has it all.

Corkscrew in hand, Grape Encounters host David Wilson is donning his chef’s apron this week as he whets your appetite with a discussion about oysters and wine. Neal Maloney is the founder of Morro Bay Oyster Company and host of an annual festival that draws thousands each year. He shares his pearls of wisdom on ways to serve oysters and the perfect wines to pair them with. After a whole lot of bragging about his talents in the kitchen, David finds himself facing not one, but two cooking challenges including a competition this weekend where the required main ingredient is oysters. He’ll get some encouragement from legendary radio and television chef Jackie Olden before Dani Maule, a casting producer for FOX TV’s MasterChef with Gordon Ramsay, invites him to try out for Season 5. With Fall arriving, David and Gadget Guru Matt Dubow from Epic Style talk about how wine drinking habits change based upon the weather. Bon Appétit!