BC Wine/Alberta wine fans.  -  Finally, a hug and a handshake. Our guest is Paul Saywer.  Board Chair  BC Wine Growers & leadership at Dirty Laundry (Summerland)

BC wineries can now ship Direct-To-Consumer in Alberta!

Starting this week, BC wineries who register can sell into Alberta; report and make payment to AGLC for the wine products they sell directly to consumers in Alberta.

Alberta is a huge market for BC wineries, so it is about time that the AGLC caught up, to allow this mutually beneficial relationship.

Al Hudec and I advocated against Alberta's blockade of BC wine one year ago. This is great news for BC wineries and growers.  Hello Alberta wine fans!!!   Paul Saywer takes us through the process that achieved this partnership. It took top-level government teams on both sides of the Alberta/BC border get this right. We thank those involved and Paul and the board at Wine Growers for speaking on our behalf.   www.winebc.com www.dirtylaundry.ca

Welcome to 2025 all. Our guest is Oscar Lopez. 2 time Juno winner. 10 albums were released.  Nothing usual about the words above, except that for several years Oscar had disappeared!  From entertainment, media and life itself. This interview is his way of explaining how he went from winning two Juno awards and walking onto stages with loving audiences to living in his car on the streets of Calgary. Through tears,  Oscar talks about the dark years he’s been through. Mental and alcohol battles. Second guessing himself. With the help of his family members and an overflowing GoFundMe effort, he’s finally found the peace and strength to find a place to call home and return to the stage. Jan 17/18 at La Bodeguita Stereo in Calgary

It's our first-ever Trans Canada Christmas - starring the Trans Canada Highwaymen. Steven Page - BNLadies and Steven Page Trio Moe Berg - Pursuit of Happiness Craig Northey - Odds and Steven Page Trio Chris Murphy - Sloan   They are great friends, each with his band and career. What they have in common is a sense of the music they grew up with and a welcome sense of humour.   These Christmas sessions began in the '70s at CBC Vancouver with Producer Susan Englebert: Shari Ulrich, Valdy, Terry Frewer, Roy Forbes, and several guests. 5-6 years of gathering around a series of microphones, playing Christmas songs and telling Christmas stories. Such fun. Sadly, we lost our friend Susan to cancer and the Christmas show to time itself. The concept returned at Roundhouse Radio in Vancouver in 2015 and we enjoyed three years of Christmas in the Round with Barney Bentall and his assorted friends. We've played all three years on past Christmas Stews.     Now comes CKUA's turn to host the same tradition. Each Highwayman brings a Christmas song and stories of past Christmas tales. 5 songs in total. Craig Northey's was co-written with Brent Butt of Corner Gas. Steven's is about cheese logs. Chris's is about kids coming home and Moe's is the Christmas Classic Mistletoe and Holly.  They finish with Do they know it's Christmas.   Thank you to Arianne, Duke, Jasmine, and Bren for their production skills in bringing this show to air. Amazing work. And to Corey Wood for his skills and friendship in the edit and graphic studio here on Vancouver Island.

Liam Mayclem and I met doing interviews at film junkets weekends in LA, NYC, Chicago etc.  Me from Vancouver. He from San Fransisco. We talked about two things -Movies and Wine. Now Liam moves at a speed most humans couldn't and wouldn't abide. He's become an essential key to San Fransisco's dynamic hospitality, culinary and wine communities. The Host of Food Chap, CBS radio and TV. His foodie chap podcast etc. and any charity that needs a razor sharp auctioneer or host or both. Liam has always stayed in touch and always keen to know about the BC wine industry and food scene. Here's his latest podcast interview - with yours truly.   www.bookliam.com

We're nearing the end of a volatile year in BC Wine. It featured wildfires, floods, COVID, road closures, price, tax and wage increases and two cold snaps over two Winters. Vineyards were damaged or destroyed by the freeze. Wineries and growers were facing a 2025 with little or no wines to cellar and sell. The Wine Industry and Government leadership came up with a plan to allow BC Wineries to harvest next year's fruit this year in Washington, Oregon, California, Ontario and The Cowichan Valley. As long as the label states "Crafted in BC" and the process is transparent. Will BC wine fans buy their favourite labels if the fruit comes from another region? If they like the new juice, will they still embrace their original BC wines? What gets replanted, and what new varietals will we see growing in the new BC? So much to consider. Which is why we've invited four of the most connected leaders from the BC wine industry to share opinions, suggestions and creative ideas over the course of an hour.   They are:   Cristine Coletta:  Co-Owner Okanagan Crush Pad.  For 9 years,  executive director of the BC Wine Institute! Specialist in marketing and branding wine.   www.okanagancrushpad.com     DJ Kearney - Wine Director The Terminal City Club. Wine Educator at large. @djwines  www.tcclub.com     Rhys Pender - Master of Wine. Co-owner of Little Farm Wine. Similkameen Valley www.wineplus.ca   Lauren Skinner Buksevics- Director of Sales and Marketing Painted Rock. Okanagan Falls.  Member of the Wine Growers of BC Board. @paintedrocklaur  @paintedrockwine www.paintedrock.ca   www.winebc.com   www.totabc.org

Jim Cuddy guests on Mulligan Stew Saturday.

He’s on stage Saturday with The Jim Cuddy Band at the National Art Center Ottawa and Wednesday next at Massey Hall. Then Jim and Blue Rodeo partner Greg Keelor head for The Whistler Film Fest Dec 6-8 For the premier of their documentary Lost Together.

 

2025 will be a celebration of Blue Rodeo's 40th anniversary. Lots to talk about. Complete interview on Mulligan Stew Podcast and terrydavidmulligan YouTube channel

 

 

 

Lisa Ahier is known far and wide as the owner and chef at Sobo in Tofino. Sobo is the kind of dining and room you like so much, you send all your best friends there. It's the centre of the town. Locals meet there for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Lisa has moved on from Sobo and is now making notes for her third book and has become the darling of this years Top Chef competition.   Five shows in and she's still there, the oldest competitor since they started years ago. We have lots to talk about - lean in, it's a hoot. https://www.instagram.com/lisaahier/

Barney Bentall is bringing The Last Roundup through the West. Next Friday at Bella Hall in Calgary. It’s the final tour of the Caribou Express. Over 20 years of seasonal touring,  Barney and various members of Caribou Express raised Millions for charities all across Canada. Especially, serious money for food banks late in the year when they really need it. Barney gives us an update on the last lineup, the lives of his Express friends over the years and final thoughts on what lies ahead for the rocker and rancher.

www.barneybentall.com

Look who's on a Roll - It's this week's guest,  Author Luke Whittall   Luke and his Sipster's Pocket Guides Books.   In the third volume in the popular  Sipster’s Pocket Guide series, wine expert and educator Luke Whittall presents his latest top 50 British Columbia wines under $50 (including many under $30) and along the way shares his thoughts on wine country and common misconceptions about certain grapes, and offers up tangents on everything from scented candles to middle children to jazz hands. With food and activity pairings that range from Thai noodles and pool noodles to classic rock and hootenannies, and an index of attitudes that lets you choose a wine based on your mood (come hither, dressed to kill, razzle-dazzle), the Sipster’s guides are equal parts freewheeling and focused. Divided into chapters on sparkling, white, rosé, red, and dessert wines, the latest volume of Sipster’s will snap you out of a catatonic funk in the liquor store and stick around for a quiet evening paging through a book—perhaps this book and perhaps there’s even a wine for that. Welcome to Volume 3, where a Viognier can be a lot like a bouncy castle, a red blend that is the icing on top of another layer of icing and also  a wine that will upstage Taylor Swift and Kayne and an adventurous evening calls for a certain Trebianno (not the guy from Friends . . . but then again, maybe?). The Sipsters series are written in language anyone can understand. Words we all use and can remember a day later. Make no mistake, Luke knows his wines from the vineyards to the bottle. He just makes the journey much easier than it really is.   We also start TRR with a conversation about vineyard damage & recovery,   plus the coming discovery of BC Wines made with Washington grapes. So those damaged vineyards, wineries and wine-farming families can survive the next couple of years.   And heads UP - The Sipster's Ontario Vol 2 is coming - just in time for Christmas.   Then surely, the Luke Whittall film starring Ryan Reynolds.  Www.sipsterswinepodcast.ca/books      Luke Whittall Online: The Sipster's Wine Podcast - Sipsters Icons on Substack   WWW.   Books: "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 More Must-Try BC Wines, Volume 3" 2024 (Touchwood Editions)   "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try Ontario Wines, Volume 1" 2023 (Touchwood Editions) "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines, Volume 2" 2023 (Touchwood Editions) "The Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines, Volume 1" 2021 (Touchwood Editions) "The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide" 6th Edition (with John Schreiner) 2020 (Touchwood Editions) "Valleys of Wine: A Taste of British Columbia's Wine History" 2019 (Whitecap Books)

The full title of Natalie Maclean's  memoir is  Wine Witch on Fire Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation and Drinking Too Much.   For all of you who bought and read Natalie's  book Red, White and  Drunk All Over and listened to her podcast Unreserved Wine Talk, this memoir is a completely different read. She discovers her husband of many years is leaving the relationship and at the same time, her wine rivals decide to tell the wine world that she's not nearly as accomplished as we think. Despite multiple awards for her writing and knowledge, Natalie has to rebuild her career, fight for her son and find an elusive second chance in a business that rarely gives you any. All of this drama is played out in a wine world where many women are taken for granted and rarely given credit for their skills. Yup - Wine Witch is a thriller. And it's funny, just in time for Christmas.  

You can get Natalie MacLean's new memoir Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much in paperback, ebook or audiobook from these retailers.

She hosts the podcast, Unreserved Wine Talk, and offers popular online wine and food pairing classes at www.nataliemaclean.com.