The diversity of perspectives on the wine industry is something we love most about the business and something we want most to share with others, so we're extremely delighted to bring this group to the mics! Emily, who as the Executive Director of the Michigan Wine Collaborative, is working not only on the marketing side, but also working closely with producers. Kaira represents the consumer facet, running a wine social club that not only drinks wine, but gets members out in the world to visit wineries, explore dining, and really engage with the lifestyle of wine. Mike owns M4 Distributing, a speciality wine wholesaler focused on natural/organic wines supplying top restaurants and shops across Michigan. Distributors are a critical link in the chain from producer to consumer in 3-tier states like Michigan, so their unique perspective literally shapes what's available.
We had a great chat, filled with humor and insight, and think you'll enjoy these three as much as we did! Thanks for listening in!
Interpersonal energy is what distinguishes great conversations from the merely good ones, and we think we've got a great one for you here with S7 E3!
Chris Hunter is well known not only to regular listeners, but also wine-loving travelers through Detroit's Metro airport, where he's been an outstanding presence at wine bar Vino Volo. Kassy is someone you'll love meeting, as her confidence, sportsmanship, and good humor clearly mark her as a force to be reckoned with, and her soon-to-open Bay City wine bar, Calypso, will certainly be a must-visit, too. And returning to the panelist table is our very own, spunky and irreverent co-host, Kristie Brablec, who stepped up to fill in for a guest who left us in the lurch. She does it all for you, dear listeners!
So yeah, lots of energy, thoughtful provocation, and laughs in this one; you might not even notice you're learning stuff about the wonderful world of wine, it's so much fun! Set the cruise control or pull up a chair, crank the volume, and enjoy a full 1 hour episode of engaging wine talk!
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We're back in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for episode 2 of season 7, graciously hosted by Good Good Good Wine & Flowers. Owners Kyle and Sam run this supercool wine bar and retail shop on Plainfield Ave. NE; stop in if you're town, but be sure to check 'em out and give them a follow on Instagram at @goodgoodgoodgr, too.
Kyle also joined our discussion panel, alongside Jaime Haener of wine wholesale distributor AHD Vintners, and Nadim Audi of the acclaimed wine import company Selection Massale. Their conversation was friendly, witty, and disarmingly open, highlighting why we brought the show to GR in the first place: it's a community of terrific wine enthusiasts! Our panelists strategically deciphered the Wine Cipher segment, and easily saw through what we thought were cleverly deceptive, fake wine news stories.
You'll also meet Tom Cariano, the winemaker of new, northern Michigan winery, Thomas Acker Wines. One of his wines was tasted blind by the panelists, and you'll love to hear what they thought of it!
Settle in and enjoy the discussion, and don't be shy to laugh out loud with us. It's a full 1hr 9mins of quality entertainment.
Thanks for listening, and please Like and follow our channel. Please also follow us on Instagram at @therealwineshow.
Welcome to the very first TRWS road show! We packed up the mics and headed west to Grand Rapids, MI, to hang out with the terrific wine community there. We were graciously hosted by Sam and Kyle, whose wine bar and flower shop, Good Good Good, is a real area treasure! We were joined by panelists Amy Ruis, veritably the matriarch of the GR fine wine scene and owner of wine shop Art of the Table; Sean Stearns runs the very cool wine bar Chateau Grand Rapids, and Ben Vanderwaal owns the east town wine shop, Ritual. It's our usual show format, just with an all-new cast, so be ready for a fun-- and often funny!-- wine geek-out! Thanks for listening!
Scholar, philosopher, educator, professional Italian wine authority... Dr. Salvatore Napolitano is one of the most erudite and insightful people in the business. We sat down with Salvatore at his hotel in downtown Detroit before he set out for a day of evangelizing for renowned Sardegna winery, Sella & Mosca. Of Italian origin, his passion for classical studies brought him to the USA, and today, based in New York, he travels the country spreading the good word about the amazingly diverse world of Italian wine. We had a great chat, and we hope you enjoy listening! Thanks for coming, and don't forget to subscribe; it helps us keep the good content coming!
A rising star in the Rioja wine scene for his elevated and elegant winemaking, exemplified by Con.tacto, a skin-contact, amber viura, Álvaro Loza is also a deeply thoughtful person committed to respecting the land, the vines, and legacy of both family and region. While working in the Michigan market (with distributor Eagle Eye Brands and importer Vino Vi & Co.), he sat down with us for a quick lunch and 10 questions, revealing his deep passion for both grape growing and winemaking. We hope you enjoy getting to know him as much as we did! Thank you for listening!
We're wrapping up Season 6 with a real banger, an episode of exceptional depth, humor, insight, and listenability. All credit is due to our terrific panelists, Alex McNeely of Poetson Wines, Kat McCormack of Decanter & Coupe distribution, and Jimmy Bates of T. Edwards importing, each of whom came ready to play and have fun!
You'll enjoy hearing their thoughts on whether we need more business-type folks in the wine industry, grape vaping, and the importance of keeping an eye on the dog when hamburgers and pizza are around. Lots of great stories, terrific insights, and laugh-out-loud moments. We promise this will be one of your favorite episodes yet! Thanks for listening!
It's the episode of the vintage! Well, that's up for you, the listeners, to decide, but we think it's great! Austin Beeman (Travel Bloggers Exchange), Emily Yahkind-Dabish (Sol Summit), and Lena Wellington (Santé Wine Bar) join us for this one, and they have their say about the state of the US domestic wine business, opine that Bordeaux is the most important wine region in the world, and agree that there's no shame in cracking a can of wine when dining home alone. Hot tip of the show? Buy dessert wine at auction!
For Season 6 Episode 3 the show panelists are Mike Fifer of Imperial Beverage, Lori Moss of Little Guy Wine, and Diego Aliste of Stadtgarden Detroit. They're three distinct personalities, each with their own pathway into wine, but they vibe great and fun conversation flows easily, making this a perfect episode when you really need to have your focus elsewhere and don't want to feel like you can't follow the show, but also don't want to listen to senseless, inane, blather. Have we broken the code for fab podcasts, or are we just lucky to sit down with really great folks? Take a listen and let us know what you think!
Chaad and Matt had a great time talking with Tatiana Portillo of Detroit’s Prime & Proper, Brenda Puska of Simply Wine Northville, and .wine distributor Kristen Pennington of Carpe Vinum.
Fun time for S6 E2 comes courtesy of three, dynamic industry insiders with diverse approaches to the business, but a shared sense of humor and passion for people and wine.
Mary Davis is the beverage program director at Detroit’s acclaimed Takoi restaurant. Adam Mahler, a returning panelist familiar to regular listeners, is the founder and owner of Ampelography, a Toledo-based wine brokerage house. Sean Mankowski is the regional manager for Taub Family Selections, the fine (mostly Italian) wine division of Palm Bay Imports.
We’re posting from our phone here, while on vacation in Italy, so excuse the descriptive brevity and trust us when we say you won’t be disappointed in this episode; it’s a solid hour of entertainment!
Thanks for listening, and if you enjoy the show, please subscribe to follow and help us the grow the show!
We open Season 6 with topics such as robotic hospitality, parsing "crushed stone impingement" in a tasting note, and how a wine can remind you of that drummer you brought home from the club one night! Our terrific panelists for this show are Shelley Bynum of Detroit Athletic Club, Kimberly Hartnett of Vintage Wine Company, and Elisa Weber of Little Guy Wine. If you like charming, smart, warm, funny and honest conversation, click Play and get ready for one of our best episodes yet!
Outward Wines is one of the most thrilling, "new wave" wineries to emerge from California's Central Coast, with a style that's focused on energetic, fun-to-drink wines, while still delivering the unique expressions of site specificity. The simultaneous ease and seriousness that define Ryan and Natalie are also reflected in their wines. Maybe it's more like a sense of confidence derived from competence; for example, their Chenin Blanc doesn't scream Chenin Blanc, but then at once, it is precisely Chenin. There is reward in paying attention to Outward wines beyond that first, pleasureful sip, and spending a few minutes listening here to Natalie and Ryan is similarly rewarding. Enjoy, and thank you for listening!
Here's one for the heads! We gathered three brilliant wine professionals-- retail, wholesale, authors, YouTubers, wine judges...their combined CV is impressive!-- and they brought their A-game, engaging the show challenges with gusto and humor, and delivering thoughtful, incisive commentary on a wide range of wine topics, from the pitfalls of blind tasting, the revolutionary importance of putting the consumer perspective first, and how an Alsatian wine can be like a sunburned Scottish hippie at a Phish show! Jump in; you'll find this episode geeky yet entertaining, thought provoking, and at times, you'll laugh out loud, too. Promise!
Don't forget to follow @therealwineshow on Instagram for even more content!
Although this episode of 10 Minutes, 10 Questions went a few minutes over time, it actually feels shorter than normal, because Constantin Richter has much of interest to say! Wonderfully opinionated but also superbly rational, it's perhaps no wonder that he seems untroubled being the 10th generation of his family's winemaking legacy at Max Ferdinand Richter winery in Mülheim, in the very heart of Germany's iconic Mosel valley. He's calculated yet gracious with his ideas on politics, winemaking, and the future, so he transmits a very welcome sense of assurance that Max Ferd. Richter wines will continue to be paragons of riesling excellence despite these days of economic and political turmoil. Set aside 15 minutes, and enjoy 10 questions for Constantin Richter!
Welcome to a rather unconventional episode of TRWS, but one that will delight nonetheless, as our panelists are all foodies, chefs, entrepreneurs and philosophers! We cut a couple of regular show segments, and indulged instead discussion about the the trouble with "fusion cuisine," how S. Korea has 6x the seasonality we have here in Michigan, and the Arab origins of Mexican tacos! Chef Christine Lau (formerly of Kimika NYC) was in from New York, Chef Ji Hye Kim is the creative fire behind Ann Arbor's Miss Kim restaurant, and Carlos Parisi is from Detroit, where, besides being the owner of Aunt Nee's tortilla chips and salsas, he's involved in a variety of projects and pop-ups; you may have seen him on IG lavishing fresh-shaved truffle on coney dogs! It's a terrific episode that will appeal to anyone concerned with matters of taste, food quality, responsibility and creativity. Join us!
With the astuteness of Adm. Akbar, this crew sussed our traps and even declared that the goal of TRWS was to deceive! The audacity...am I right?! Everyone knows the purpose of the podcast is to create community in the most entertaining way we can. To that end, we think you'll enjoy this episode bringing together two wine importers (Kristen and Jon) and one savvy consumer (Steve), and which features the bonus stylings of guest co-host Chris Hunter. The conversation got a little raucous at times, but it's solidly entertaining and covers topics from wine trinkets, to how pinot nero is wildly underrated, to how stuffing girls in her trunk landed Kristen a job. Good listening, and here in time for that trip to Grandma's house for Easter. Enjoy!
On matters including the so-called "Sijourney" Weaver, the Alsatian hotness of Jintaro Yura, and the mystical depths of Georgian amber wine, Episode 3 delivers with extreme "listen-ability" and interest. It's a great, comfortable conversation showcasing both experience and the unique zeitgeist of the Detroit wine scene. If you can appreciate what King Books is and represents, you'll love this episode! The panel features veteran guests Chris Hunter of VinoVolo DTW, and Catherine Kurth of Woodberry Wines, and the man behind the deep-diving Detroit wine scene Instagram account VinoInDetroit, Jarett Coy. We've got a full hour on tap for you, so set your course and enjoy our in-flight entertainment!
Despite Chaad's efforts to reign in the ruckus, co-host Kristie Brablec incites a vigorous and opinionated discussion with this diverse panel of wine enthusiasts with plenty to say about matters such as the silliness of "Tip Of The Mitt" as an appellation name, how you can taste the woman in the wine, and what to wear in a bathtub full of Comte. It's a fun, wide ranging conversation with Jenna Belevender, a pro photog, Lars Makie, a music supervisor in advertising, and Megan Turriff, owner of wine and beer wholesaler M4 Distributing. Join us for the fun!
A wine consumer, a chef, and a wine wholesaler walk into a studio... That's how Chaad Thomas is kicking off the spring season with new co-host Kristie Brablec, and the punchline works! None of them believed the story about Miley Cyrus' Montana winery, they're all drinking more white wine than red, and they agree that Belondrade y Lurton Verdejo from Spain's Rueda is a thought-provoking, alluring white that evokes naked beach sessions with '70s era Neil Young. And can you believe there's more...just as there is every episode of TRWS! Click "play" and enjoy a fun, irreverent, and wide-ranging conversation about wine and life!