A Cork in the Road

This episode features our live audience conversation with members of FORTH Club in Atlanta, GA and Nicola Lenci, the co-owner of Fattoria di Magliano, a winery located in the Maremma region of Tuscany. Nicola has been working at the estate since 2010, first in the vineyards and later in the cellar. He became an AIS Sommelier and started traveling, mainly North America, Germany and the UK, as the N...

This live audience episode features winemaker Blair Guthrie of Stewart Cellars located in Yountville of Napa Valley in California. We gathered at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA with 20 Atlanta wine professionals and friends of the wine industry thanks to Aaron Cooper of @trickingoffainteasy who conspired with Blair to create a memorable weekend showcasing the entire portfolio of Stewart wines around...

This episode features a live audience conversation at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA with Sam Bilbro, the founder and winemaker for Idlewild WInes in California. Sam grew up hanging out in a winery converted from an old cow barn, walking vineyards, and tasting blends with his dad who founded Marietta Cellars. While ultimary continuing the family legacy, Sam definitely took some detours and explored...

This episode features a conversation with Kevin OSullivan, the Director of Sales at Prime Wine & Spirits. He has almost 20 years of experience working in the Atlanta wine industry, so we take a walk down memory lane to discuss his "wine origin story" and what led to his passion for wine. He has a wealth of knowledge about being a sales consultant, so we talk about his approach to bui...

This "bonus" episode was recorded live at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA the Tuesday evening before the annual High Museum Wine Auction. Our friends from WInery Sixteen 600 were in town, and we threw a "Tie Dye Before the High" bottleshare and vinyl party to celebrate a bunch of people who make the Atlanta wine industry community so special. We sat down with Sam Coturri from Wine...

This episode features a live audience conversation recorded at The Vine Club in Atlanta, GA with Christian Wylie, the Managing Director for Bodega Garzón in Uruguay. Christian is responsible for the entire winery and all aspects of its operations – production, winemaking, viticulture, marketing, sales management, hospitality, and tourism activities. He brings nearly 25 years of wine industry exper...

This episode features a conversation focusing on community connections and craft beer with Jen Price, a beer educator, a Cicerone Certified Beer Server, and the author of The Chick’s Guide to Beer: 7 Simple Rules for the Beer Novice. Jen grew up in Decatur, GA, and her work is dedicated to fostering inclusivity, education, and meaningful connections through beer. As the co-founder of Craft Women C...

This episode features a conversation with Desiree Harrison-Brown, a wine educator, content creator, and entrepreneur based in Maryland dedicated to making wine approachable, engaging, and fun. She has built a dynamic career that blends education, storytelling, and community-building—proving that there’s no single path to becoming a wine professional. As the founder of WINO NOIRE, Desiree has creat...

This episode features a conversation with Kimber Warren, a wine educator and brand consultant based in Atlanta, GA who is also the founder of a forthcoming glassware company. She is originally from Savannah, GA but spent the past 15 years in New York City before returning to her family in Georgia and calling Atlanta home. She is a global marketer and works with creators, brands, and products to sp...

This episode features a live audience conversation at The Oenophile Institute in Smyrna, GA with Laurent Noblet, the Director of Sales for USA & Canada for Henri Bourgeois Estates. He is based in Atlanta, GA but manages sales for three French wineries and one estate in New Zealand. In this current role, he researches and assigns distributors in new markets across the U.S. and is responsible fo...

This episode features a conversation with George Staikos, the Founder and Educator of The Educated Grape, as well as a guest appearance from the 2024 Sommlympics "Star du Spectacle" award recipient, Marvella Castaneda. George serves as the Head of Education for the US Bureau for the Comité Champagne (CIVC), and they recently sponsored one of the Grand Prizes for the 2024 Sommlympics competition in...

This episode features a live audience conversation at The Vine Club in Atlanta with Thibaut Marquis, the North America Export Manager for Maison Louis Jadot. Thibaut is originally from the Loire Valley in France, but he has lived in several countries, including South Africa, Argentina, and Canada, before living in the United States for the past 15 years. He has been working in various Sales Manage...

This episode features an in-person conversation with Xavier Amirault, Owner and Winemaker of Domaine Amirault located in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil in the Loire Valley. Domaine Amirault's Clos des Quarterons is a 92-acre vineyard and it has been in the Amirault family for six generations. The estate is 100% certified organic by Ecocert and certified biodynamic by Demeter. Xavier was visiting Atlan...

This episode features a live audience conversation at The Vine Club in Atlanta with Luke Marquis, the Global Sales Manager for Mollydooker Wines. Luke is the son of Sarah Marquis, the Owner and Chief Winemaker, and he is responsible for the US market as part of the winery’s sales team. He is also the real-life "Blue Eyed Boy", which is one of Mollydooker’s successful Shiraz labels. His work involv...

This episode features Sarah Hughes Bray, a wine educator, writer, and brand consultant who is the 6th generation of an Atlanta-based family and was recently named one of Wine Enthusiast’s 2024 Future 40 innovators in wine. After a diverse career journey in publishing and the auction world, including stints at SAVEUR magazine and Sotheby’s, she found her calling in the wine industry. Sarah is a co-...

This episode features Dr. Miray Seward, a researcher and consultant who developed her love for wine while living in Charlottesville, Virginia. She holds a PhD in Educational Psychology: Applied Developmental Science from the University of Virginia with more than ten years of experience conducting mixed-methods research and evaluation. Currently, she works as a Research Scientist at an applied rese...

This episode features a follow-up conversation with Kieran Robinson of R Five Wines, a winemaker who now splits his time between his tasting room in the suburbs of Philadelphia and the vineyards of Sonoma County. We first spoke with Kieran and his wife, Kristie, back in November of 2020 for episode 8 of season 3 as they were dreaming up their new tasting room in Downingtown, PA. Kieran's story sta...

This episode features Diane Carpenter of Ross Knoll Vineyard discussing the process of preparing for retirement and producing the final vintage of her Ross Knoll wines. Her transparency and honesty is incredible to hear as she talks about the journey of planting a vineyard, starting a wine label, and ultimately deciding it’s time to close that chapter and move into retirement. Diane was born and r...

This episode features Titus Green, a graduate of the Viriginia Military Institute and a Court of Master Sommeliers Certified Sommelier who recently completed his Advanced level candidacy coursework. He is based in Washington DC with experience working in restaurants as a sommelier on the floor and selling high-end wines, but his background also includes decades of upper-level management in hospita...

This episode features a conversation with the 2024 Champion of our "Unusual Suspects" Blind Tasting Competition that was hosted by the Oenophile Institute at the beginning of August in Atlanta, GA. This was the second annual session of this competition format where we have two rounds of blind tasting flights – 3 white wines followed by 3 red wines - and then the two highest scores from e...

Episode 134 not only features the first repeat guest for an episode of the show, but also, we very likely make podcast history for the number of wine bottles that were opened during a recording with our live audience in Atlanta. Sam Coturri of Winery Sixteen 600 in Sonoma, CA joined an incredible group of Atlanta wine, food, and media professionals to lead a wine tasting and open it up to an audie...

This episode features Shauna Rosenblum who joined Ridge Vineyards in 2022 as their Lytton Springs Winemaker. She oversees all winemaking at the Lytton Springs facility in Healdsburg, CA, and she brings a lifetime of winemaking experience with her to Ridge. Her father, Kent Rosenblum, of Rosenblum Cellars, introduced his winemaking passion to Shauna at an early age. Kent taught her to read brix on...

This episode features winemaker and viticulturist, Mark Neal, the Founder and Owner of Neal Family Vineyards. Growing up in Napa Valley’s Rutherford region as the son of a farmer, Mark was learning about viticulture from a very young age - he says farming is the only job he's ever had. It was Mark’s maternal grandmother whom he credits with instilling the family with their early adoption of bi...

This episode features Randy Bennett, the Winemaker and General Manager at Sojourn Cellars in Sonoma, California. We recorded this conversation in front of a live audience of wine professionals and enthusiasts while Randy was visiting Atlanta, so you’ll also hear a few wine pours as guests were tasting Sojourn wines throughout the show. Randy started as Sojourn’s Assistant Winemaker in 2008, but he...

This episode features Alice Tétienne, the Cellar Master and Vineyard Director at Maison Henriot, and as of October 2023, she was also appointed to be the Deputy General Manager. You'll hear her passion for viticulture, aiming to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the vineyards. She grew up in Champagne. so she has a deep connection to the region, but she has since earned a BTS in Viticul...