Brooklyn’s own Kilolo Strobert is a true Crown Heights Affair. After attending high school on the Upper West Side, culinary school at Johnson and Wales, her love of wine, hospitality, helping friends with wine pairings and recos solidly pushed her into wine. She has worked all aspects of the business including retail at Morrell and Le Du’s and Fresh Direct, the Hotel Parker Meridien, Zagat and more. 18 years ago, she took a job at a wine store in Prospect Park, today she is now the owner of that same store, Fermented Grapes. Kilolo is committed to wines that are natural, highlights diversification, globalization, women and the BIPOC winemaking community.

Photo courtesy of Clay Williams.

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Hailing out of Los Angeles, Randall Grahm attended college in Santa Cruz. A stint at a wine shop in Beverly Hills woke Randall to the allure and magic of wine, sending him to UC Davis to study Plant Science, and an itching obsession with Pinot Noir. Randall made his way back to Santa Cruz and, as they say, the rest is history. He started Bonny Doon Vineyard in the early ‘80’s and made a sharp turn from Pinot Noir to becoming a California pioneer of Rhone varietals with his iconic Le Cigare Volant. Randall recently sold Bonny Doon and launched a new project called the Language of Yes with none other than the Gallo Family. Randall’s other obsession is his interest and work in the expansion and expression of new varietals in California. Randall approaches the whole wine thing with a bit of wit, as a bad boy sometimes, a dreamer and a true genius. 

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This episode was recorded live at this spring's RAW Wine NYC - a celebration of artisan and natural wines. 

My guests were Kreso Petrekovic from Vinas Mora and Marko Kovac representing Bibich Winery. Together we explore the region of Dalmatia, a historic wine region in the south of Croatia on the Adriatic Sea in Eastern Europe. Wine has been produced there for thousands of years, and Dalmatia has some of the oldest continually cultivated vineyards. It is one of the four main wine regions of Croatia. We sampled the region by tasting and discussing 6 wines.

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Hailing from California with time spent in Vermont, Max Mackinnon found a love for cooking and attended the French Culinary Institute after college in Vermont. He crisscrossed the country working in San Francisco, Washington DC, Hudson NY, his own restaurant Pistou in Vermont, and even worked in Copenhagen. Max always had a love for wine and morphed over to wine sales eventually leaving to hit the floor as Wine Director at Roberta’s Pizza in Bushwick, also home of the Heritage Radio studios. 
 

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Jordan Salcito is a seasoned wine veteran having worked with David Chang at Momofuko and Daniel Humm at Eleven Madison. She is an award-winning sommelier, entrepreneur and most importantly a mom, finding that life work balance. Jordan is the Founder and CEO of Drink Ramona, an early entry into the portable canned wine segment with her organic wine spritzes from Italy. Jordan lives in NYC with her husband Robert Bohr and her two sons. 
 

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Being born into wine is one thing, being born into the Mondavi family is another. Tim Mondavi’s grandfather, Cesare, and dad, Robert, are California wine royalty. Tim grew up around the vines in St Helena, traveled to Europe, studied wine at UC Davis, and then jumped right into the family business at Robert Mondavi Winery. He had a big influence on their growth and innovation including Opus One, Luce in Italy, and Sena in Chile. Tim eventually moved on to create his dream winery, Continuum, on Pritchard Hill with his sister and children focusing on estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon dominated wines. Carissa Mondavi joins us with her generational perspective. 

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Being born into wine is one thing, being born into the Mondavi family is another. Tim Mondavi’s grandfather, Cesare, and dad, Robert, are California wine royalty. Tim grew up around the vines in St Helena, traveled to Europe, studied wine at UC Davis, and then jumped right into the family business at Robert Mondavi Winery. He had a big influence on their growth and innovation including Opus One, Luce in Italy, and Sena in Chile. Tim eventually moved on to create his dream winery, Continuum, on Pritchard Hill with his sister and children focusing on estate grown Cabernet Sauvignon dominated wines. Carissa Mondavi joins us with her generational perspective. 

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The pride of Rancho Cucamonga, Mikey Giugni attended Cal Poly and stumbled on wine after just trying to get a buzz. Intrigued by the juice, Mikey starting working in tasting rooms, farming, and wineries and traveled abroad before he came back to the US to settle into wine and cider. Mikey started Scar of the Sea in 2012. He partners with growers all around California who care about farming for the future. He makes low-intervention wines along with his life partner Gina, who also makes wine under her label, Lady of the Sunshine. 

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Born in Queens, NY, Joe Campanale, the kid with the Italian name, grew up with a Jewish mother. He attended NYU and studied abroad, where he found his love for Italian wine during a semester in Florence. Joe came back home with the wine bug and jumped right into retail and hospitality. He worked various jobs including Italian Wine Merchants and Babbo, before opening some of downtown NYC’s best Italian restaurants including dell’anima, L’Artusi, and Anfora. He eventually packed all that in to open his own restaurant, Fausto and wine bar LaLou in Brooklyn. He also produces his own natural wine from Italy under the Annona label. Joe Campanale put his love and knowledge of Italian wine to great use in his new book “Vino: The Essential Guide to Real Italian Wine”. 

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Jancis Robinson shies away from being called a wine critic, but is truly one of the most respected wine writers in the world. She is an award-winning journalist and author, penning or co-penning “The World Atlas of Wine 8th Edition”, “Wine Grapes”, “The Oxford Companion to Wine” and many others. She writes a weekly column for the Financial Times and knocks out a ton of daily content on her online site JancisRobinson.com. Jancis resides in London, England with her husband Nick Lander, the long-time food critic for the Financial Times and surrounds herself with her three children and a slew of grandkids. Oh, did I mention she has been a Master of Wine for over 45 years, helps the Queen with her wine selections, and makes some amazing wine glasses!

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