Wine Guide with Cork & Fizz - Wine education for beginners and enthusiasts

Ep 39 Today, I’m sharing with you one of my favorite wine regions in the entire world, Walla Walla, Washington! To me this region is like a secret little getaway. Like many of you I spend so much of my time feeling stressed out and worrying about everything that needs to get done. And every time I visit Walla Walla I feel so relaxed and chill and it’s like my worries just disappear when I am there...

Ep 38 My grape deep dive is back and this time it’s all about the misunderstood Riesling grape! You may already be thinking: I don’t like Riesling! Either because you think it’s too sweet or it’s too acidic. But here’s where Riesling’s unique characteristics shine…this grape can do both! It can be sweet or acidic and it’s all dependent on where it’s grown and how the winemaker chooses to make the...

Ep 37 What’s it like owning a winery in Colorado and growing grapes at 6,000 feet above sea? For Jayme and Steve it’s been fraught with surprising challenges and extravagant wins! Today I’m talking with Colorado winemakers and founders of The Storm Cellar, Jayme Henderson and Steve Steese. The Storm Cellar is a boutique winery, located in Hotchkiss, Colorado, specializing in high-quality, aromatic...

Ep 36 Does the wine list at your favorite restaurant overwhelm you?  Ordering wine at a restaurant can be an overwhelming experience, especially when faced with a lengthy wine list that’s multiple pages long and in a language that seems foreign!  If you can relate then you are going to be so excited for today’s episode! I’m sharing my best tips on ordering wine at a restaurant because I know how s...

Ep 35 I promised you a part two to my French Wine 101 episode and it’s finally here! If you haven’t listened to part one yet, go back and listen to Episode 19 - French Wine 101. There we talked about the most popular and well known regions of France - Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Loire Valley, and the Rhone Valley. Today, we are going to go off the beaten path to explore six of the lesser known,...

Ep 34 Are you ready to uncork a wealth of knowledge and passion for Australian wine?  In today's episode, Nashville-based sommelier, author and importer Jane Lopes takes us on a journey through the lesser known wines of Australia!  Jane shares with us what sparked her interest in Australian wine and how that spark led to her and her husband importing Australian wine into the US and the format...

Ep 33 Are you participating in Dry January? Or perhaps you simply enjoy non-alcoholic wines? Whatever the reason, you may be curious about some of the most common questions regarding non-alcoholic wines such as: Are they any good? Are they really alcohol free? Is non-alcoholic wine just grape juice? Today, we are diving into the complexities of dealcoholized wine and wine alternatives. How are the...

Ep 32 Have you ever wondered why that bottle of wine you opened tastes off?  A bottle of wine can go bad before you even open! We call the things that make it go bad wine faults. Wine faults are often caused by poor storage and handling however there are other cases where damage happens to the wine through no fault of our own! It’s good to know what these wine faults are and understand what to do...

Ep 31 Imagine your spouse calling and saying “I may have just signed a lease on a vineyard!" That’s exactly the phone call Sarah received from Nate, the passionate husband and wife duo behind Walsh Family Wine in Virginia! Sarah Walsh comes from a background of fine dining, fine wine sales and wine education. She manages the Northern Virginia sales team for Winebow, a wine importer and distri...

Ep 30 Does this sound familiar? You discover you like a certain style of wine and from that point on you look for that wine at the store or when you go out to eat. And it’s always the same style of wine. But you can see that there are so many other options! You want to try something new but how do you know if you’ll like it? Maybe it’s just safer to stick with what you like because you know you li...

Ep 29 You loved the last exclusive look into my Cork Crew Virtual Tasting Club so I’m back with another sneak peek! And this time I’m joined by the infamous Karen MacNeil, author of The Wine Bible! In today’s world we often take for granted the fact that we can walk into a winery and order a glass of wine or that we can join wine classes for tastings, and really learn about wine in so many differe...

Ep 28 Today’s episode is a fun one because I’m answering your most common wine questions!  I recently posted a question sticker in my Instagram stories asking you to send me all of your wine related questions and boy did you deliver! It makes me really happy to answer your questions so I had so much fun with this! If you missed that question sticker on my Instagram stories I’ll be doing it again s...

Ep 27 ‘Tis the season for giving and what better gift to give than the joy of wine?  If you are looking for the perfect gift for the wine lover in your life then this episode is for you! This is my absolute favorite time of year and I have just released my 2023 Holiday Gift Guide for Wine Lovers! So, before you go any further go ahead and download the guide here . It’s packed full of all of my fav...

Ep 26 You are in for a real treat today because I’m chatting with Desiree Harrison-Brown, a wine educator and influencer! After working part-time doing tastings at local grocery and liquor stores Desiree left her 9-to-5 corporate career in project management to pursue her love for wine education.  It was during these tastings that customers would ask Desiree questions about wine to which she would...

Ep 25 The air is crisp and Thanksgiving is on its way. You’ve planned your food menu for Thanksgiving but now the question is…what wine do you pair with it? When thinking of the perfect wine for Thanksgiving dinner, I think a lot of people reach towards big, powerful red wines. And while you can do that, you also want to think about the food that is on the table. If you have the traditional dinner...

Ep 24 We are switching things up this week and doing things a little differently!  Every month with the Cork Crew I host a virtual community event and in September I had the pleasure of bringing Texas winemaker, Andrew Sides of Lost Draw Cellars, into the Cork Crew for a Q&A! Wait! Texas produces wine?! Yes you read that right! Texas does produce wine and I wanted to share this conversation wi...

Ep 23 If there is one thing I know to be true it’s that the wine world can be incredibly intimidating for beginners. And all the wine myths out there certainly don’t help! I remember it felt incredibly overwhelming to me when I first started learning about all things wine. Turns out, a lot of the things the media and marketing of big time wineries led me to believe about wine simply weren’t true....

Ep 22 What exactly is natural wine? Does natural wine mean no chemicals or additives whatsoever? Or does it mean they can be added in certain amounts? Are natural wines always “funky?” Are they the same as organic wines? And what are the rules surrounding natural wine and being able to say that this is indeed a natural wine? Today, I’m chatting with Seattle, Washington based natural wine shop owne...

Ep 21 I’m back with the next installment of my Grape Deep Dive Miniseries and this time it’s all about Chenin Blanc.  If I could only drink one style of wine for the rest of my life it would be…Chenin Blanc! Why? Because there’s really nothing that this grape can’t do! From really lovely high acid white wines which are perfect for pairing with seafood or full bodied really oaky-rich white wines wh...

Ep 20  Dossier wines is a combination of passion and collaboration and is looking to do something a bit different than other wineries. They are building a luxurious wine experience while keeping it approachable for everyone . Co-founders Sidney Rice and Tim Lenihan are chatting all about how Dossier Wines came to be, the unique challenges that celebrity owned wineries face, how the name Dossier ca...

Ep 19   When you walk into a wine shop do you walk towards the French wine section or away from it? A friend told me recently that they walk away from the French wine section which I think is crazy because I tend to head right towards it! For starters, it was the French region of Burgundy which made me fall in love with wine to begin with! I think that French wines are absolutely incredible! They...

Ep 18 “What is Orange wine and is it actually made from oranges?” I think that is the first thing that comes to mind when we hear about Orange wine! It is in fact not made from oranges but from white (or green) grapes. It actually gets its name from the orange hue of the wine which is a result of leaving the juice of the white grapes in contact with the skins and the seeds of the grapes (a process...

Ep 17   How easy is it to be a social media influencer? It looks glamorous from the outside - free gifts, trips and such but is it really as easy as it looks? Today, I have digital storyteller, photographer, blogger and social media influencer Paige Comrie from Wine with Paige with me to chat about what life looks like behind the scenes of being a wine influencer. Paige Comrie is the digital story...

Ep 16 Have you thought about all the cool wine gadgets that are available and questioned if they are actually useful or if they are just another gimmick? Let me be the first to tell you that while some of those wine gadgets are amazing…some just make me roll my eyes or even make me frustrated at times. A great example: any product that claims it can prevent headaches after drinking wine. The only...

Ep 15   From scorching summer heat to freezing winter temperatures, Delmas Wines faces many unique challenges when it comes to growing grapes and producing wine in the unique Rocks District of Walla Walla.  This is why I’m so excited to chat with head winemaker and director of wine growing, Brooke Delmas Robertson of Delmas Wines! Brooke has an extensive background in the wine industry, has worked...