We have interviewed many people these last two years, but today we turn the mics on each other, in what is possibly our last episode of The Fine Line Podcast! In our continual journey to find balance, we have decided to take a hiatus from the podcast that we love dearly to focus on (paying) work and family. We interview each other about our careers in the wine industry, and how we both find balance in their daily lives. We also talk about what its like to start a business with a dear friend, and how we worked through the hurdles of having very different work methods.

Liz Willette Danneels first developed a love of wine while working for the luxury travel company, Butterfield & Robinson. After a year in Burgundy and five years in Italy, she taught herself about wine mainly by buying the best bottles she could afford, studying them, and, naturally, drinking them.

After running a wine bar in the Dolomites at La Rosa Alpina, she moved to New York City to work for David Bouley, and then for importer/distributor Michael Skurnik. In 2004, she struck out on her own with a small importer, Willette Wines. In 2011, she merged with Grand Cru Selections. Together they grew the company until Liz left in 2017 to move to Colorado with her family. Craving a life outside of Manhattan, she moved to Boulder, where she works with Natural Wine Company.

Emily Gold grew up cooking and drinking wine with her family, always relishing the time together as well as the education. In 2012, Emily eagerly accepted a job with Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant in their office located in Beaune, France. There, she was able to meet winemakers, learn about regions around France and Italy, and become versed on the ins and outs of importing some of the most respected icons in the industry.

In 2014, Emily returned to Boulder to open a restaurant and wine bar called PMG, which offered organic and locally-sourced food, dishes inspired by France and Italy, and organic and biodynamic wines from small family domaines. After six years of being a solo small business owner, Emily sold her business in 2020.

A HUGE THANKS to our sponsors and our producer, Matthew Polis, listed below!!

Matthew Polis, Sounds Space Studios

Boulder Wine Merchant

ECFIT Strength

Suerte Tequila

Haven Boulder

SuperJames Bar

Superbird Cocktail

Hootananny Wines

This was one of our favorite interviews on the podcast. We were honored to speak with Dana Childs in Season 3 about how intuition and healing play roles in the restaurant and beverage industry. Dana is an intuitive energy healer, author, and teacher. She delivers grounded spirituality with heart, humor, and unabashed truth. In this episode, she talks about why we repeat old patterns throughout our lives and how we can heal them. We discuss how the food and wine industry isn’t given enough credit for how intuitively they work, and how one can manage emotions and cope with the stresses of service. She also believes that everyone should be honest with how they really want to live their lives, and that we are all healers.

As we enter a New Year, we thought it was a perfect time to revisit this conversation, and hear about her new book, titled Chakras, Food, and You: Tap Your Individual Energy System for Health, Healing, and Harmonious Weight.

Show Notes:

Danachildsintuitive.com

Amma the Hugging Saint

CIRS

Clairgustance

We interviewed Dana Rodriguez at Steamboat Food & Wine Festival in September, and it was one of our favorite interviews yet. With F-bombs flowing in front of a live audience, Dana lived up to her reputation as a passionate, loving, and incredibly hardworking restauranteur who came from nothing to create her empire. With the opening of her new Denver taco & tequila bar, Cantina Loca, this month, we thought it would be a great time to relaunch this episode with one of our real life heroes.

Dana has had an almost unbelievable trajectory, from Mexican immigrant and single mom of three, who started dishwashing at Panzano in Denver, and worked her way up to prep cook and then eventually restaurant mogul through her hard work, passion, drive, and incredible intelligence.

At Panzano, Dana met Jennifer Jasinski and her partner, Beth Gruitch. They helped mold her skills, which enabled Dana to become a sous chef at Rioja and Chef de Cuisine at Bistro Vendome. In late 2012, Dana’s path crossed with Tony Maclag, and Work and Class was born. They then went on to open Super Mega Bien together as well. Most recently, Dana created an organic tequila and mezcal brand, Dona Loca, where the focus is to give back to the workers who make the tequila possible in Mexico.

Today we hear Dana’s inspiring story, and how important it has been for her to build a restaurant group that is truly there to support their employees, in part by limiting people’s work days each week so they are rested but still able to meet their financial needs. We learn how she has found her own balance in being a working mom, friend, and business owner. We also discuss why she started Dona Loca – to teach people that what you drink is just as important to what food you put in your body.

As we take December to spend some time with our families and plan 2022, we wanted to re-release a few of our favorite episodes. Carlton McCoy's was incredibly inspiring, and if you are looking for worthy causes to support, The Roots Fund is right up there on our list.

Carlton earned the title of Master Sommelier in 2013 at just 28 years old. He was one of the youngest people, and the second African American, to earn this prestigious title. Carlton worked in revered institutions such as Thomas Keller’s Per Se and Tom Colicchio's Craft Steak in New York before becoming the Wine Director at The Little Nell in Aspen before being named President and CEO of Heitz Cellar in December 2018. In 2020, Carlton was named Managing Partner of Lawrence Wine Estates, overseeing the purchase of Burgess Cellars, Stony Hill Vineyards, the Haynes Vineyard, and the historical Wildwood Vineyard  Carlton is also a co-founder of The Roots Fund, a non-profit that focuses on creating educational and employment opportunities for our BIPOC community.

Today we speak to Carlton about what it has been like to be a person of color in the wine business, and how he finds balance with all he does. We also discuss his new business venture, as well as his foundation helping people of color gain access to the very exclusive world of wine.

Interested in sponsoring us? Visit our Patreon page to see the levels of sponsorship or donate here.

Show Notes:

CIA - Culinary Institute of America

Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia

Jay Fletcher

Tula Kane 

Nico Cueva

Brendel Wines

Matt Taylor WInes

Domaine Dujac

Brenna Quigley

Meghan Zobeck

Jamie Motley

Philana Bouvier

Tahiirah Habibi

Ikimi Duboise

C-Cap Scholarship

Eric Elliot

We can’t imagine a better way to wrap up this year than by talking to Summer Wolff and Carolyn Agee from Hootananny Wines. They met as students at CU Boulder, and after college both moved back to NYC. Carolyn got certified in and taught the The Pilates Method, while Summer worked in restaurants and fell in love with wine. Eventually, Carolyn married, had three kids, and moved to Connecticut, where she worked for a wine importer, while Summer fell in love with winemaker Fabrizio Iuli, and move to Italy to help Fabrizio run Cascina Iuli and start an wine import company called Indie Wineries.

Summer took a break from the wine business to raise her two sons, but the wine business kept calling, and in 2019, Summer and Carolyn started their own import company.  Hootenanny now has relationships with over 20 producers in Italy, Austria, Slovenia, and France.

Today, we talk about how they balance full time jobs (and a few part time jobs as well) with raising kids and taking care of their physical and mental health. We discuss having female partners in a business dominated by men, and why working with friends can be the best of all worlds!

Sponsored Promotions:

Check out Hootananny Wines for delicious organic and biodynamic wines

Interested in sponsoring us? Visit our Patreon page to see the levels of sponsorship or donate here.

Show Notes:

Louis Dressner

Rosenthal Wine Merchant

Polaner Selections

Village Forest School

La Collina

Aurora Winery

Montenidoli WInery

Astrology is interesting - some people love it and follow it, while others think it's a lot of hooey (hint: we fall staunchly into the first camp!). Since we started the podcast, we have been on a quest to find the right person to give us a reading, and today we are joined by Daniella Giancarli to do just that. Daniella uses astrology to help people with self awareness, nodal coaching, and synastry readings. By using Degree Theory and other important methods, she is able to take the abstract concepts of astrology and transform them into practical tools for use in everyday life situations.

Today, Daniella breaks down why Emily and I work well as partners, as well as where we might find challenges, by overlapping our charts in a synastry reading. She also touches on Human Design, and how that can tell an even deeper story of who we are and why we work well together. Daniella also shares her struggles as a Division 1 Soccer player, and how that led her to where she is today.

Sponsored Promotions:

Check out Hootananny Wines for delicious organic and biodynamic wines

Interested in sponsoring us? Visit our Patreon page to see the levels of s

ponsorship or donate here.

Show Notes:

Chani Nicholas

Reign Rituals

Episode 12 - James Turner

Do you feel overwhelmed when you think about climate change and what we can do to help? Or despair, or denial? Today, we talk to Diana Snowden Seysses about how we in the wine business (as well as those not in our business) can do our part. Diana was born and raised in the Napa Valley. She graduated from the viticulture and enology program at UC Davis in 2001, and has worked in both California and French cellars with Robert Mondavi Winery, the Araujo Estate, Domaine Leflaive, and Ramey Wine Cellars. In 2003, Diana became the enologist at Domaine Dujac in Burgundy, and consultant at Domaine de Triennes in Provence. In 2005, she became winemaker at her family’s winery, Snowden Vineyards, in Napa Valley.. She is a recognized authority on climate change as it relates to wine and holds a seat on Porto Protoco’sl global steering committee.

We also discuss Diana’s own emotional journey about the climate change issue, and how she has coped with those various stages. We also hear about the very innovative ways in which winemakers are dealing with the issue, and what gives her hope in a moment that seems, well, quite hopeless at times.

Sponsored Promotions:

Check out Hootananny Wines for delicious organic and biodynamic wines

Interested in sponsoring us? Visit our Patreon page to see the levels of sponsorship or donate here.

Show Notes:

Diana's Article in Sevenfifty on Carbon Capture During Fermentation

Have you ever admired a teacher and wished you could spend an hour going deep with them? That is what we got to do today with yoga teacher and psychology student, Heather Lilleston. Heather is  currently in a doctoral program working towards her PhD in Clinical Psychology, and has taught yoga since 2003. In 2012, she co-founded Yoga For Bad People, a company focused on leading yoga retreats worldwide. Heather has been certified by such esteemed studios as Jivamukti Yoga with Sharon Gannon and David Life and Yoga Shanti with Colleen Saidman Yee and Rodney Yee, where she later assisted as a mentor, and taught as a lead teacher. She was recognized by Yoga Journal as one of the “50 Innovators Changing the Game of the Wellness Industry”, and held their cover for the January/February 2017 issue. She is also a senior teacher of The Class founded by Taryn Toomey.

Today we discuss how Heather's psychology studies will enrich her yoga teachings, and the benefits and costs of wellness becoming a commodity. We also talk about the gifts that came out of a forced retreat during the pandemic. Lastly, we discuss heartbreaks, and her advice for getting through them.

Sponsored Promotions:

Check out Hootananny Wines for delicious organic and biodynamic wines

Interested in sponsoring us? Visit our Patreon page to see the levels of sponsorship or donate here.

Show Notes:

Love Yoga

Krishna Das

Ashtanga Yoga

K. Pattabhi Jois

Louise Hay

Neal Rosenthal is the founder of Rosenthal Wine Merchant and The Neal Rosenthal Group. Under Neal’s stewardship and pioneering vision, Rosenthal Wine Merchant has established itself as one of the country’s most respected importers of European fine wine. Neal is also the author of Reflections of a Wine Merchant, published in 2008, and is featured prominently in the documentary film Mondovino, that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in 2004. An avid runner, Neal was ahead of his time at staying fit while also fully embracing great wine and food.

Today, we talk to Neal about what running has meant to him through his life, how his diet has changed over the years, and what the future of Rosenthal Wine Merchant looks like with the addition of private equity investors into what has been, until now, a family business.

Sponsored Promotions:

Check out Hootananny Wines for delicious organic and biodynamic wines

Interested in sponsoring us? Visit our Patreon page to see the levels of sponsorship or donate here.

Show Notes:

Incline Equity 

Closerie des Capucines

INSEAD Business School

Brush Creek Ranch is a working cattle ranch in the North Platte River Valley of south-central Wyoming, originally settled in 1884. Today, it encompasses over 30,000 acres of land surrounded by breathtaking views of the Sierra Madre mountains and Medicine Bow National Forest. Purchased in 2008 by Bruce and Beth White, it is now a stunning luxury resort. The family’s vision strikes a perfect balance between active outdoor recreation, shared experiences, personal renewal, and economic sustainability. They aim to enrich their cattle ranch legacy through the preservation of their unique ecosystem. They endeavor to enhance the environment, while preserving the authentic spirit of the west by educating our guests about sustainable ranch management and the historical stories of the land. Their goal is to have a closed-loop environmental ranch.

Their latest project, Brush Creek Distillery, is an extension of that vision. We spoke to their managing director, Andrew Wason, and their head distiller and production manager, Philip Mundt, about the many collaborations they have with the on-sight talent and resources on Brush Creek Ranch, and what makes their products so unique. We also heard about the ups and downs of living in an isolated, small town, and how they personally have found balance.

Interested in sponsoring us? Visit our Patreon page to see the levels of sponsorship or donate here.