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Pam, James and (introducing for the 1st time as a host) German , who has been a guest, fan and supporter of Inside the Bunghole since the very beginning, are off to Paso Robles.  Our first stop is Tooth & Nail.  

Join us as we sit down with Jeremy Leffert, Director of Winemaking.  We find out how Jeremy got in to wine making and about his history with Tooth & Nail.  We also talk about the history of Paso Robles as a leading AVA ( JARGON ALERT 🛎️ ding ding ding...AVA is American Viticultural Area, also known as a  grape growing region).  

FUN FACT:  There are some very cool things that Tooth & Nail is doing with their wine labels, just download the Tooth & Nail AR app in the App Store or in Google Play, shoot your camera at the label to watch them come to life!

Tooth & Nail has some pretty impressive distribution, so you should be able to find their wines on a shelf near you, but if you haven't been able to find it, join the wine club and have them shipped to you!

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Welcome to our 4th season!  This year we kick it off with a field trip to Grape Expectations, where James and I and a few other bungholers took the winemaking class and ended up with a lot of knowledge and a few cases of our very own, and if I do say so myself, very delicious wine!  We made a Super Tuscan made with grapes sourced just outside of Napa; 67% Sangiovese, 14% Merlot, 14% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Syrah.  WOW is all I can say!  The wine was fantastic, and the experience was just as special!

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James and I are on a field trip to Stockton and caught up with Astronaut  turned wine maker, Jose Hernandez.  We first tried his wines at a wine tasting at La Fe, our regular haunt in Palm Desert, and decided we needed a re-visit.  His story is fascinating...so fascinating that Amazon decided to produce a feature film on his life.  Just released on Amazon Prime, titled A Million Miles Away, is his out of this world journey.

We talk to Jose about his journey and how he ended up coming full circle back to "the earth",  growing and making Tierra Luna wines!  Its a fun, inspirational podcast that will launch your motivation, and the power of the mantra "never give up"!!

www.tierralunacellars.com
@astronautjosehernandez
@tierralunacellars
#amillionmilesaway

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If you are around the Palm Springs area on Veteran's Day come join Pam, James, Don, German, Lisa Wherry and Jeff Hocker at Palm Springs Food and Wine Festival – Saturday, Nov 11!

Explore the finest international cuisine from world renown food purveyors and award-winning chef owned restaurants, watch LIVE celebrity and emerging chef and mixology demonstrations, experience elevated wine and spirits tastings, talented musicians throughout the Pavilion amid a breathtaking backdrop.

Must be 21+ to attend

In this episode of Inside the Bunghole find out about this great event and how you can get tickets!  Also, what it takes to put on an event of this caliber.  Jeff Hocker is well versed in putting on amazing events and Lisa Wherry has amazing connections in the wine industry to make this event one NOT TO BE MISSED!!  You know we'll be there and we hope to see YOU!!

For more information on which high profile chefs, wines, and restaurants will be serving and demonstrating visit palmspringsfoodandwine.org

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Oh BOY!  What happens when 3 great friends, and several bottles of wine meet in one crazy evening?  Well, this episode of Inside the Bunghole is what happens!

Don gifted Pam a bottle of wine with the explicit instructions NOT TO DRINK for 5 years, and Pam actually listened!  Listen, if you dare, as they uncork a 2011 French Bordeaux  to see if this bottle of wine aged well, and if these clowns are even sober enough to judge it!  It was a fun filled evening, culminating in frivolity, laughter and maybe a little bit of wine knowledge...but we promise, not much!

This is not our usual, but it was a fun experiment, that went off the rails before we even began our journey Inside the Bunghole!

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Today we interview Sandra Gomes-Rocha of Diniz Cellars,  whose missions is to bring wines from her homeland of Portugal to the US.  Diniz Cellars is a passion project as Sandra's goal is to expose the talent and history of Portuguese winemaking to the palates of Americans!  In Portugal, wine is part of the family, part of everyday life, and something always to be shared.  They are beautiful and unusual wines from an undiscovered, but up and coming wine region.  The weather and the terroir is very conducive to growing great grapes for delicious wines, and Sandra has quite a portfolio of amazing wines from all over Portugal.

And let's talk about VALUE!  You really can't beat these wines especially for the price.  Some amazing wines you simply must try.  It will make you curious for more!  

www.dinizcellars.com
#portuguesewinegirl

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WOW!!  What an interview with the incomparable Jon Simmons of Hugo's Cellar restaurant in the 4 Queens, downtown Freemont Street in Las Vegas.  Jon shares not only his knowledge and approach to wine, but boy, oh boy, does he have some amazing stories of Las Vegas, the mob, Sinatra...just to name drop a few!  This episode is longer than most, but you will be captivated by his amazing career, and his no-nonsense, down to earth approach on wine!  I just wish we could keep on going.  We definitely left the door open for another visit...plus we LOVE going to Hugo's Cellar, so any excuse is a good excuse, but this is the BEST excuse ever!

From great historical perspective, to sensible advice on ordering the "right" wine, this is a don't miss episode.

www.fourqueens.com/dining
FB/Insta: @hugoscellar
@4queenshotelandcasino

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Place your seatbacks up and put your trays in the upright position as we taxi the runway to one of the most unique destinations for wine tasting around, Bouschet wine bar!  In a retro strip mall in South Palm Springs, CA there is a little wine bar with big surprises inside!  Join us as we chat it up with the owners Dennis Costa and Tom Beatty, each bringing their passion and knowledge to wow their customers!

Dennis has an extensive winemaking background.  His family actually had a farm and grew wine grapes.  Early in his career Dennis worked for Mondavi wines, personally farming 200 acres from planting to harvesting, before they sold the farm to Sebastian Vineyards.

Tom was an international flight attendant for 33 years, traveling to every continent except for Antartica (which has limited capacity for growing good grapes for wines 😆).  During his travels he enjoyed many different cultures, largely through the food and wine!

These 2 together have developed such an amazing venue, you really need to see it to believe it!  The wine shop offers beautiful boutique wines from around the world, value priced, and each with a great story.  You can also find everything to make a tasty charcuterie board, or lovely, unique hostess gifts.  But just you wait til your boarding gate is announced and you walk in to the "other side" to enjoy a glass of wine and something to nibble on from their menu, or enjoy one of their famous wine tasting events...when I say this place will take you worlds away, I mean it!  You enter what is an astonishing replica of a commercial airliner fuselage complete with fun and funny iconic airplane themed scenes out each of the windows.  Whether you are sitting in first class or coach, you will surely enjoy your trip!

Find out what made these two guys take off on this amazing adventure as we go on a trip Inside the Bunghole with Bouschet's owners Dennis and Tom.  And if you are in Palm Springs, make sure to make this one of your destinations!

www.bouschet.com
[email protected]
FB: psairbar and bouschet
Insta: bouschetps and psairbar

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You can enjoy a nice bottle of wine, but once you know what REALLY goes in to making wine, you can truly appreciate all of its nuances.  Well, we couldn't call ourselves true students of wine without exploring what it takes to make our own now, could we?  Although we believed that anything we made would likely be barely drinkable, at best, we still felt the need to pursue this noble craft! 

How surprised and delighted were we to find Grape Expectations in Henderson, NV, a wine making school with genuine winemakers from Vegas Valley Winery professionally caring for your barrel! Throughout the process Patty Peters and her team make sure that all of the steps are adhered to, to make a great tasting wine!

 So the gist is you and 20 of your closest friends get together 4 times over the process and choose the grapes you want to blend.  Class 1 is crushing the grapes.  Once crushed we add the yeast and some other goodies for fermentation.  Exactly one week later, in the 2nd class, we press the grapes and barrel the wine.  Now we wait for about 3 months to meet our barrel mates again and for class 3, we rack our wine, which means we pump our wine into a stainless steel vat (all with the help of the Grape Expectations team), rinse the barrel of all the sediment and yeast, so the wine has better contact with the barrel, then pump the wine back in.  We taste the wine in each step and can tell that it is coming along nicely and starting to develop a very nice flavor!  Then sit back and wait a few more months for our last official class where we bottle and label (with labels that we design) our wine.  Each barrel produces about 20 cases of wine, so for the price of our class we take home a case of our very own wine!  What an amazing way to learn! 

Now after our wine is bottled, Grape Expectations has an amazing "release" party, called the Bacchus Awards, which is also a competition amongst our peers and fellow wine makers who made their own barrels.  We are judged on the wines and the labels at an enormous, rowdy party typically held annually at the Orleans hotel.

We give this adventure a huge thumbs up!  If you can't come up with a team of 20 (or enough people to buy all of your cases), Patty will get you on a Social barrel team, so there is fun for ALL!  So much fun and so much knowledge and appreciation gained!  To get a hold of Patty and to learn more visit the website grapeexpectationslasvegas.com or email her at [email protected].

FB: GrapeExpectationsLasVegas

Insta: grapeexnv

Cheers!  Please like, follow, subscribe and rate us!  We LOVE to hear your comments!  Reach out to us on our social media: 
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Welcome to 2023!  Inside the Bunghole's Pam, Don and James visit their favorite local wine bar in the Coachella Valley, La Fe on the World famous El Paseo!  We interview one of the owners, German to find out how and why Richard and he decided to go into unchartered territory and open a wine bar!  We'll talk about the pitfalls and challenges of a pandemic and growing a business in a trying economy, to new and exciting partnerships with winemaker Brandon Alvarez of Camden Wines.

Find out more about these guys on their social media:

Instagram and Facebook for La Fe: @lafewinebar
Instagram for Camden Wines:  @camdencellars_

Cheers!  Please like, follow, subscribe and rate us!  We LOVE to hear your comments!  Reach out to us on our social media: 
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