Host David Wilson often reminds us that “wine should be a social lubricant that stimulates conversation about everything except the wine!” Needless to say, there have been a nearly infinite number of conversations about every political topic imaginable that were likely energized by sharing a bottle or two! From the wine habits of past presidents, to the wine preferences of the left and the right, you’re going to learn some juicy tidbits about wine and ...
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Lodi wine – It’s almost impossible NOT to think of the Creedence Clearwater classic, when the town Lodi comes up in a conversation. Yep, it was more than 50 years ago that John Fogerty sang about a little known California town where it was easy to become forgotten. The funny thing is, while Fogerty was poking fun at this small agricultural town south of Sacramento and east of San Francisco, many of the grapes planted ...
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Our special guest, direct from Australia’s Gold Coast, is broadcaster extraordinaire Mike Ryan. This was supposed to be the year that Grape Encounters host David Wilson was going to spend an entire month in New Zealand and The Land Down Under. Unfortunately, like so many grand plans that we previously made for this year, COVID-19 has done an extraordinary job of sucking the fun out of life. These days, we have to do a lot ...
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From fire devastation that no one could have imagined, to Covid’s unyielding disruption of business as usual, 2020 has taken an immeasurable toll on winemakers and the consumers who love them. Wine enthusiasts are typically a pretty happy lot. We are people who find great joy in an international pastime that stretches over several centuries and touches every nook and cranny of the globe. And so, despite an onslaught of unthinkable challenges, we just have ...
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Today’s episode of Grape Encounters is the story of wines that were never supposed to exist. It begins with a family that decided to come together and take on a retirement project that would bring them closer to the earth. The Faulkner family has deep roots in the world of project management. They have been responsible for overseeing the construction of some of the most iconic building projects in the world, including the triumphant reimagination ...
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This installment of Grape Encounters showcases two women in wine on very different missions that are certain to benefit both wine enthusiasts and wine producers. Both hope to offer much-needed guidance with very different purposes in mind. Bringing much needed levity and direction to a world that hasn’t been very fun lately is CJ Dannen, a Portland-based entrepreneur who noticed that something was sorely missing from Oregon’s vast wine country… Directions! They say men refuse ...
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This episode of Grape Encounters is the second part of our visit with Bonny Meyer, who co-founded one of the most revered luxury wine brands in California history, Silver Oak. Bonny’s just-released autobiography, Perfectly Paired, recounts the truly remarkable story behind the birth of this highly sought-after Napa Valley Cab that almost instantly became the gold standard of California reds. We started the conversation in Episode 580 which reveals the remarkable love story between Christian ...
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