Wine Access Unfiltered

Is Sicily a playful wine region that deserves to be taken seriously, or was it serious all along? Jeff Porter, Wine Enthusiast’s Italian wine reviewer, host of Sip Trip, and the wine director behind Del Posto’s legendary list, joins from his new home in Torino to tackle that question and plenty more. The conversation starts in southeastern Sicily with Nero d’Avola, Frappato, and Grillo, then heads...

The nicest bottle in the cellar does not belong on the Thanksgiving table. Kaitlyn Rodriguez, the creator behind Mainline Gluten Free and Amanda's younger sister, joins for a holiday pairing game plan built on years of family feasts and a few hard-won mistakes. The playbook runs course by course: a magnum of Champagne poured and waiting at the door, appetizers as the moment to get adventurous, lig...

A year ago, packing tips for my mother-in-law's first wine trip to Europe turned into a full episode. So when Amanda found she was heading to Sicily herself for her first-ever visit, we decided a follow-up episode was in order. And this time, we're shifting gears to help give you a little insight into how the research actually gets done: hunting down the nicest hotel in a neighborhood to find the...

Portugal has been on the docket for a while, and it finally gets the right guest: Nicole Muscari, the wine educator and content creator behind Grape Chic, who has made the trip 22 times since 2019 and now owns a place in Porto. We're digging into the friendly Porto-vs-Lisbon rivalry — Porto's grit and cobblestones read like New York, Lisbon's sprawl and beaches read more L.A. — then heads into the...

The Santa Cruz Mountains have been growing exceptional wine since the 1860s, and somehow the wine world still barely talks about it. This episode heads south of San Francisco to sit down with Cole Thomas, owner and winemaker of Madson Wines, who traded a marine biology track at UC Santa Cruz for grape stems after meeting Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard's Jeff Emery at a campus seed exchange. The conv...

What does it take to run one of the Bay Area's most beloved Italian restaurant groups while also building a wine label from scratch — in the middle of a pandemic, no less? A16 founder Shelley Lindgren and her Tansy Wines business partner Kitty Oestlien join to talk about bridging California and Italy, from A16's 20th-anniversary cookbook reprint and upcoming Chicago and Ferry Building openings to...

Champagne is more than something poured at a toast — it's a place you can actually visit, and this episode finally delivers on months of hints about a long-awaited spring trip there. Sommelier Lara Koffer joins Amanda to unpack the region's biggest split: house Champagne versus grower Champagne, and how roughly 16,000 growers keep the famous marques stocked with fruit. Grab your wine club wine, th...

One solo episode wasn't enough to settle the debate over the world's best wine cities — so this time, two frequent flyers weigh in. Jenna Fields and Zack Musick of the German Wine Collection, who log more travel miles promoting German wine than almost anyone in the industry, join to build their own list using the same four-part framework from the last episode: selection, people, variety, and ident...

We're going solo this episode, and we're going global. After months of logging serious miles across cities and continents, we wanted to revisit a format we love — not the wine regions, not the châteaux, but the cities themselves. The places that aren't necessarily making wine, but are doing it better than almost anywhere else in the world. We're breaking down our top four wine cities right now — L...

Bordeaux has a reputation problem — and we're here to fix it. In this episode, we sit down with Jonathan Cristaldi, North America Regional Editor at Decanter Magazine and fellow theater kid, to make the case for a region that the wine world has been too quick to dismiss. We just got back from our first trip there together and we're talking about all of it: the left bank vs. right bank divide, why...

Italy is one of those places that feels instantly familiar the moment you arrive — and yet the more you learn about it, the more you realize how much you've been missing. In this episode, we sit down with Jessica Dupuy, James Beard Award-winning author and self-described outsider-turned-insider, to talk about her new book Italianity — a collection of essays and stories that captures what it actual...

If Paso Robles isn't already on your must-visit list, this episode will change that. Maggie Tillman, co-owner of Alta Colina and self-described "co-first-generation" winery founder, joins us to dig into what makes Paso one of the most exciting — and most underrated — wine regions in the country right now. From why the east side vs. west side divide isn't quite as "divided" as you might think, to t...

Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Judgment of Paris with Chateau Montelena winemaker Matt Crafton—but we're not here to rehash history. Instead, we're diving into Paris as a wine travel destination through Matt's eyes, shaped by an accidental 10-day COVID quarantine that became the trip of a lifetime. From food tours with kids to Sunday restaurant closures, spontaneous wandering versus caref...

Oregon wine country is closer, more accessible, and more delicious than you think. In this episode, we sit down with AJ Resnick—former Wine Access colleague, podcast co-creator, and current Ponzi Vineyards Chief of Marketing—to explore Portland and the Willamette Valley through the eyes of someone who left California to make Oregon home. From why Ponzi is only 20 miles from downtown Portland to wh...

Mexico is making world-class wine—and most people have no idea. In this episode, we head to Valle de Guadalupe in Baja California with Eduardo Dingler to explore one of North America's most exciting (and accessible) wine regions. From Nebbiolo that tastes like Napa Cab to fresh Chenin Blanc perfect for fish tacos, Valle de Guadalupe is rewriting the rules on what Mexican wine can be. We break down...

Time travel exists—and it comes in a bottle. In this solo deep dive, we're exploring everything you need to know about older wines, from what actually happens as wine ages to how to find, store, and serve bottles with serious age on them. Drawing from years of working with Press Restaurant's legendary cellar—one of the largest collections of Napa Valley wines dating back to the 1950s—we break down...

Forget the usual suspects—we're taking you off the beaten path with the top five most exciting wine destinations for 2026. From Portugal's incredible diversity beyond Port to Germany's underrated food scene, Argentina's high-altitude Malbecs in Mendoza, California's dynamic Paso Robles, and the UK's surprising sparkling wine regions, these are the places where wine, food, and culture collide in th...

Wine lovers don't just travel—they travel differently. And in this episode, Amanda sits down with Candice Mathis, founder of Vintage Departures and wine travel expert, to explore exactly how. From what makes a wine trip worth booking to why a great hotel bar matters more than you think, Candice shares her hard-earned wisdom from planning itineraries across Napa, Burgundy, Champagne, and beyond. Th...

We’re kicking off season four with our new theme “Unfiltered In Flight” and exploring wine the lens of travel. Whether it’s a wine producing region or a major city abroad, we’re focusing on how wine people experience the places they visit. To start, we’re returning to a region that’s both iconic and endlessly misunderstood: Napa Valley. Together with local sommelier Laura Koffer of Wine Access, wh...

Season three of Wine Access Unfiltered was never about turning you into a sommelier — it was about helping you become a more confident, curious, and intentional wine buyer. In this solo finale, Amanda revisits the biggest ideas and “aha” moments from the season, from why asking better questions is the most powerful wine skill you can develop, to how importers can be your greatest shortcut to findi...

The holidays are the perfect excuse to enjoy fancy snacks, and this episode—the last in our holiday food mini-series—is your official permission slip to indulge in the most luxurious of them: caviar. Shaoching Bishop, co-founder and CEO of Regiis Ova Caviar, the ultra-premium caviar company she built alongside three-Michelin-star chef Thomas Keller, joins to help us better understand and enjoy cav...

The secret to great beef isn’t luck - it’s science, aging, and choosing the right cut. And nobody explains it better than Katie Flannery, third-generation butcher and co-owner of Flannery Beef. From a humble bay-area butcher shop to a beloved brand of chefs, sommeliers, and even Robert Parker, Flannery Beef has shaped the way many of us think about steak. And with so many of us enjoying a holiday...

We’re kicking off a special holiday mini-series focused on the foods we love and the wines that make them shine. In this episode, we sit down with Chris Battle of Mighty Cap Mushrooms, whose Paso Robles mushroom farm has become a destination for chefs and curious cooks alike. Chris pulls back the curtain on how specialty mushrooms are grown, why sourcing matters, and how one simple technique can c...

Zinfandel has been called California’s grape: it’s a little rebellious, often misunderstood, and always the life of the party. In this episode of Unfiltered, we’re diving deep into Zin’s roots with Chris Morisoli, fifth-generation Napa Valley grapegrower, helicopter pilot, and host of the Nine One Wine podcast. From the old vines of Rutherford to the spicy, fruit-driven bottles from Sonoma’s Dry C...

Why do some bottles (and handbags) whisper luxury while others shout it from the rooftops? In this week’s episode, Amanda sits down with fashion creator and style expert Style by Wale to explore what our closets and cellars say about us. From investment pieces to everyday staples, they unpack how luxury in both fashion and wine isn’t just about price—it’s about craftsmanship, intention, and knowin...