The Sipster's Podcast

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

What does it really mean to buy local? Has that changed for us Canadians with all of the political things happening in the US? Is it a stretch to call a Mexican wine local? 

Jess and I delve into this topic over two 'local' wines that aren't from BC. 

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

In her never-ending quest to provide amazing experiences for her tour guests, Farm to Glass Wine Tour owner Jessie Hopwood re-reads Valleys of Wine, the only comprehensive history of BC's wine industry. In this special podcasts, she interviews the author and finds out how much he remembers with an intense quiz. 

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

Ever wondered about wine competitions? Where do wines get their gold and silver awards? What do they mean?? Jess and I tackle this controversial topic. 

But wait, there's more! The wine word of the day - or is it week - is Punt. Do you prefer a bottle with out or without? Do you know what it is? We'll tell you. 

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

We're back! Jess joins me from her flex space (aka the Podcast Closet) for this quick chat about the possibility of adding video to the Sipster's Podcast. What do you think? Is it worth it? Are we really that awesome looking? Send us an email or a comment somewhere and let us know. 

We also dive into our wine word of the week - Vertical. What is a wine vertical? 

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

This episode is a chat with Jillian Hillier, better known online as @faretheewellbychefjill. Chef Jill has a lot to say about eating healthy and all of those dietary restrictions that everybody seems to have these days. I met her last November at the Crushable Club Wine Studio in Toronto, run by wine maven (and previous podcast guest Laura Milnes). We had a great time chatting about wine and food and I thought that she would be an excellent podcast guest. You can actually see photos of the night that we were there the new version of Laura’s Crushable club website.

Fare Thee Well website
Chef Jill on Instagram
Chef Jill's Linktree

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

This week’s podcast is a revisit with Jennifer Carleton. We recorded her previous podcast last spring over a video call when we were both in the Okanagan Valley. She invited me to visit her amazing wine room at her home in Peterborough, Ontario at some point if I was ever there and, last November, I was! She travels regularly between BC and Ontario and is one of the few wine people I know who can talk about either region with ease. She feels at home in both places and has her own wine friends and scenes in each place. As we chatted, we tasted a really nice BC Syrah from CedarCreek and discovered that there is a very good chance that we actually met almost 20 years ago at my very first job in the wine industry. Lots of great wine culture info in this one. I hope you enjoy. Here we go!

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

I get to speak with Joanne Pratt and Craig MacMillan, the owners of Stonehouse Vineyard in Lochiel, Ontario. Unless you’ve read either of my two Sipsters Pocket Guides to 50 Must-Try Ontario Wines, there is little chance that you could have even heard of Stonehouse before. 

The winery is in a converted barn and the whole property is perched on the top of a beautiful ridge in far eastern Ontario - the first vineyard operating in the area - just before the Quebec border in Glengarry county. 

If you’ve ever driven the 401 between Montreal and Toronto or the 417 between Montreal and Ottawa, then you have passed through Glengarry County. Drive away from either of those highways and you’ll be in some of the most beautiful farmland in the province, if not the country. 

Joanne and Craig have really done their homework. They know that making great wine is only one step to a successful winery. They’ve also been carefully building their brand, creating associations with other cold climate wineries, and encouraging academic research with Concordia University to help literally break ground and pioneer a wine industry in a new region. It was really exciting for me to witness this first hand and I’m so glad that I was able to connect with them when I was in the area this past November. 

Thank you for continuing to listen to the Sipster’s Podcast. I know I haven’t done as many episodes this past year as I’d hoped but I am hoping to continue producing more podcasts in 2025. I love podcasts and this is truly a labour of love. Thank you so much for your support. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best for in the new year. 

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

This week’s guest is Anne Du Bois who own Savon Du Bois in Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario. I’ve always wanted to do an episode like this because it is not directly about wine but rather, about aromas almost exclusively. Anne Du Bois is an aromatherapist and perfumer who extracts her own scents and essential elements from botanicals to create a huge array of products from perfumes, essential oils, soaps, lotions, and salts, which is only a small amount of the things that Anne offers in her store. She oversees the production of all of it personally and is passionate about how aromas, and the ingredients that go into producing them, can impact our lives and our health. 

 I have been to the County many times in the past few years and only noticed her store on Main Street this past November on my last visit. I was walking down the street when suddenly I smelled the most amazing things walking past the door to one of the shops. Walking into her store is like immersing yourself in beauty. I probably spent about a half hour there just smelling everything I could as well as reading the stories on some of the packaging, part of some amazing marketing that she’s created on the packaging of her carefully crafted scented products. Thankfully, Anne had time to meet me the next morning - the last morning that I was going to be in Picton - to record this conversation.

Visit Savon Du Bois online at savondubois.com. 

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

This is going to be controversial. After a bad couple of winters, some BC wineries have imported grapes outside of BC to make wine. Some BC wineries have refused to do that. Will they be labelled the same? Are they going to cost less? In this podcast, Jess and I discuss what we think should happen to these wines. 

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!

Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. .

It's more about Nova Scotia this week! Jess and I taste through a couple more wines from her trip, including wines from L'Acadie and Luckett vineyards. We discuss our Tidal Bay experiences and offer suggestions for donair pairings. It's an east coast feast.

Find Jess at Farm to Glass Wine Tours.

Find me at my computer trying to remember all of the things I'm supposed to type into the show notes for podcasts. Does anybody even read these things?

Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast!

Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. 

Support the show

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Contact me at [email protected]!

Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)

Find me online at sipsters.ca or lukewhittall.com

Thanks again for listening!