A Cork in the Road

Episode 179 features an entertaining recording at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA with a live audience conversation and tasting hosted by Poppi Monroe, the U.S. Central Regional Sales Manager for Champagne Laurent-Perrier . Joined by a room full of women working throughout the Atlanta wine industry, Kelly sits down with Poppi to explore her fascinating career journey from acting in film and televisio...

What happens when the worlds of wine and golf collide? More than you might think. In Episode 178 of A Cork in the Road, we welcome two Virginia wine industry leaders - Stephen Barnard, the Winemaker for Keswick Vineyards , and Lance Lemon, the owner of Penny’s Wine Shop and Parallax Project Wines - for a lively and unexpected conversation about the parallels between the craft of wine and the game...

Episode 177 brings together two things Atlanta takes seriously: lemon pepper chicken wings and great wine. Recorded live at The Perlant, this episode features five Atlanta sommeliers taking on a pairing challenge to find the perfect wine combo for Chef Dene Lynn’s wings while a panel of culinary judges and media personalities share honest reactions, thoughtful insights, and plenty of lively debate...

Episode 176 takes us live to The Oenophile Institute for an engaging audience conversation with winemaker Matt Taylor , a third-generation Sonoma County native whose thoughtful approach to farming and winemaking has made him one of California’s most compelling voices in small-production wine. Known for crafting wines across several labels and portfolios, Matt shares how his deep connection to the...

Step into the minds of sommeliers and wine professionals to discover what really happens when they sit down to identify wines in a blind tasting. In Episode 175, recorded live at Vino Venue, we bring together a panel of seasoned blind tasters who are veterans of Atlanta’s annual “Somm Smackdown” blind tasting competition. This conversation unpacks the art, intuition, and discipline behind identify...

Episode 174 of A Cork in the Road brings the energy of a live audience straight to your headphones with a dynamic conversation and tasting recorded at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA. We continue our mission of making wine more human and accessible this time through a behind-the-scenes look at the world of wine importing. In front of one of the largest audiences in the show’s history and a record-bre...

This episode features a live audience conversation and tasting at The Oenophile Institute in Smyrna, GA with Arnaud Bourgeois, the General Manager of Domaine Henri Bourgeois in the Loire Valley of France. For 10 generations, his family has been helping people discover and appreciate the unique terroirs of Sancerre. He shares his passion for being in a role as an ambassador for the region, and we c...

This episode features a live audience conversation and tasting at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA with Pauline Vranken, the Chief Executive Officer of Vranken-Pommery America. This was Pauline’s first ever visit to Atlanta, and she brought a variety of sparkling wines for us to taste from California, England, and Champagne. Our friends at Georgia Crown Distributing Co. had the brilliant idea of pairi...

Episode 171 of A Cork in the Road explores how access, education, and community can reshape the wine industry through the lens of Oeno Camp, an annual immersive multi-day program designed for BIPOC wine professionals and enthusiasts based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Created through a partnership between The Veraison Project and Oenoverse , Oeno Camp blends vineyard visits, cellar experiences, ta...

This episode features a conversation with Isuru Vidanage, the Wine Buyer at Elemental Spirts Co. in Atlanta, GA. Born in Houston, TX to Sri Lankan immigrants, Isuru went to high school in Macon, GA and later moved to Atlanta for college. He earned a degree in Biology with a distinction in Biochemistry and Evolutionary Biology and Behavior followed by working at the Centers for Disease Control and...

This episode features a live audience conversation and Port tasting with Chris Forbes, the Deputy Managing Director for Taylor’s Port. Chris joined the company in 2007 and was initially responsible for the management of all Special Marketing projects across the company’s three main brands. He then took on the role of export manager for the USA and Irish markets before being promoted to Commercial...

This episode features a very different type of conversation for the podcast with the tables turned, the script flipped – Amanda Kimbrough of Avant Partir sits down to interview Kelly of A Cork in the Road while they also field some questions submitted by podcast listeners. We hope this gives you a little behind the scenes perspective of Kelly’s wine journey and how this podcast came to be, but als...

This episode featuring a conversation with Jacqueline Strum, President & Publisher of Wine Enthusiast Media, as the second generation of her family’s business. She began her career in marketing and public relations, working with agencies such as Hunter PR and Mission Media, before moving into digital media at UrbanDaddy. She later founded ThirstyNest, the first wine and spirits registry for th...

This episode features a live audience tasting and conversation at The VIne Club in Atlanta, GA with winemaker Rajat Parr of Phelan Farm in Cambria, CA. Rajat first made an appearance on the show in May of 2024 for Episode 128 where we talked about the ethos of Phelan Farm and his dedication to regenerative farming and soil health. For this conversation, we incorporated a live blind tasting session...

This live audience episode at The Perlant is dedicated to the art of food and wine pairings as we look forward to the holiday season. This episode is generously sponsored by the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, which has an incredible connection to this episode’s featured guest and has supported his growth and journey from day one. Kevin Mobley, the Chef and Owner of Anna Bell’s Kitchen, is honoring his gre...

This episode features our live audience conversation with Chantal Gonet of Champagne Philippe Gonet recorded at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA. Chantal and her brother, Pierre, were pressed into service after the untimely death of their father, Philippe. Chantal was in a Parisian engineering school and Pierre was studying winemaking in Burgundy, but their mother stepped in and managed the estate lar...

This episode features our live audience conversation with Marco Ricasoli Firidolfi, the current owner of Rocca di Montegrossi in Tuscany, recorded at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA. Marco has 37 generations of family history in Italy, and he is a descendant of Bettino Ricasoli, who played a central role in the history of laying the foundations for Chianti Classico wine. We gathered at The Vine Club...

This episode features a conversation with Chavonne White, a Licensed Cosmetologist, Personal Development Coach, Author, and Wine Enthusiast dedicated to helping people live authentically. She is the creator of I Am ME (My Essence) and the author of publications called "The Unveiling of a Queen" and "Embody & Elevate: Your Guide to Self-Love; The Best Love”. We talk about her foundational prese...

This episode features a conversation with Barbara Gorder, a consultant to the wine business who recently became the Managing Partner for the Direct to Consumer (DTC) Wine Symposium. We met at the 2025 edition of this conference out in Monterey, CA, and I am currently designing a session for the January 2026 edition on the opening day of the conference that has been inspired by our Sommlympics comp...

This episode features a live audience conversation and bottleshare with Ikimi Woodson, the CEO of The Roots Fund, recorded in Smyrna, GA at The Oenophile Institute. The Roots Fund is a non-profit that empowers underrepresented communities within the wine and spirits industry to build successful careers through financial support, education, mentorship, and career development, and because the value...

This episode features a conversation with Taylor Simpson, one half of the second-generation team that now owns and operates two wineries on the Leelanau Peninsula in northern Michigan. The Simpson family first planted their roots on the Leelanau Peninsula in the 1950s when visionary entrepreneur John Simpson grew pears and plums for Gerber’s baby food. In the 1970s, he replaced the trees with cher...

This episode features my conversation with Tom Sherwood, the owner and winemaker of BXT Wines in California. BXT is an exploration of Californian viticulture through the lens of traditionally made sparkling wine. The idea of “Bubbles by Tom“ (BXT) is to take a grower-Champagne mentality and apply it to hand-crafted sparkling wines from grapes grown throughout California, and Tom seeks out interest...

This episode features a conversation recorded live at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA with Suzanne Denevan-Brown, the Show Runner / Estate Director for a US importer and exporter of fine wines called Maze Row Wine Merchant. Maze Row represents a curated collection of wines from artisan producers around the world. Suzanne’s first ever wine job was at Tower Beer, Wine, and Spirits in Atlanta, GA, but n...

This episode features my conversation with Chicago-based marketer, award-winning writer, and wine culture expert, Chasity Cooper. She recently attended Riesling Camp in the Finger Lakes region of New York with some good friends from the Atlanta wine industry, and I was excited to learn more about how she has nurtured her voice for communicating about wine. As a wine professional, she says she stri...

This episode features a conversation with Scott Neal, the winemaker and owner at Coeur de Terre Vineyard in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Along with his wife Lisa, they crafted a humble 57 cases in their inaugural 2002 vintage but have grown to making over 6000 cases a year of Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Riesling, Syrah, and Sparkling wines from grapes grown on their estate vineyard in...