Wine Talks with Paul K.

Wine is about the humanity.  This concept hit me on a flight home from Rome. I was watching a movie and started to weep. I realized the human soul needs passion, passion forsomething; maybe another person, maybe a lifestyle, maybe a career, but passion drives our will. And wine is full of passion. To do it right, it takes nothing less than passion. Hey there, it's Paul Kalemkiarian on Wine Talks,...

Wine Talks was invited to meet the Pope....well, at least by the language in the invitation, it sounded like we were going to meet the Pope. It turns out that the word "private audience" meant with 6294 other private invitees. Lol, it was an honor just to be there. Wine Talks took a detour out of Rome to the now-famed wine region of Puglia.  Home of Primitivo, Negroamaro, and Fiano, the area of Pu...

It is complitcated. Life. Wine. And to help clear up the wine complication (not sure there is a way to uncomplicate life), is Charlotte Selles.  With a distinctive path to her new company Tassei, she brings to the table a wealth of experience cloaked in knowedge, philosophy and experience. She is like a wine savant. She was in LA for a speaking gig and breaved an unusual SoCal downpour to come to...

I jumped in on a LinkedIn conversation about wine, soil, volcano's and more. Thought I would contribute to the message string. That is when I engaged Diana on the concept of terroir. But not just any terroir, but volcanic terroir.  Then I realized that Diana's expertise in the realm of wine...is the soil! She is a expert in energy and geophysics! Diana Kandiglian is the kind of guest who measures...

I keep hearing how the industry has to change, how Gen Z is aren't drinking wine, how the trade is slow to do anything....until you speak with Abby Bogle. She is the type of enthusiasm and drive that is needed to move with the times. You have all heard me say that "time will tell" and that "all generations come around to the proper glass of wine." What Abby is doing is making the proper glass of w...

I can tell you it was like sitting with a long, lost neighbor when sitting with Kelly E. Carter.  And in fact, we were neighbors of sorts back in the day. It wasn't until I was searching for images to create the icons for this podcast did I realize I was in the presence of true maverick royalty.  Besides being a New York Times best selling author, she has reported from the greatest sporting events...

Sometimes I just get an hankering. Ya know, a chance to try and tell it like it is. There is no óne-size" fits all solution to what is happening in our trade. And there still are many successes in the trade...more to come on that front. Wine is too important to the existance of man to address the ills of the trade with thinking marketing and packaging solutions will solve the problems. Certainly,...

One of the on-going themes with Wine Talks, with virtually all guests, is the idea that you never stop learning in the wine trade. I supposed you could say that about many industries, but wine carries with it the idea of the harvest; the surrounding conditions that otherwise would be called "terroir" when discussing the differences from one year to the next. And there in lies the "never stop learn...

I can talk about this stuff for days. Get me on a high horse and it is off to the races. I've tasted more wines than most people could ever dare dream of—but what fascinates me isn't just what's in the glass. It's the stories behind the bottles, the regions, and the relentless passion it takes to survive and thrive in the wine trade. In this episode of Wine Talks , I share how a ritual-like discip...

I have had a dozen cellar apps. In fact, many were brought to me as the President of the Original Wine of the Month Club to be tested. The current database that houses all my internal tastings over the past 35 years was never produced as a commercial product. And as you can imagine, it is so 1993. Thanks to the energy and self proported "tech geek" Eric LeVine, keeping track of your cellar and muc...

The Armenian wine trade, like the rest of the wine world, has headwinds and maybe a bit more than the more established countries and regions where wine is well known and respected. You have to add to the mix of struggles; unknown grape varietals, no port of entry, unknown regions and 75 years of Soviet oppression. Enter Zara Muradyan; a wine romanticist and proud Armenian vintner. She is fast beco...

Wine Talks is deeply connected to the Judgement of Paris. Not only were the Barretts good customers of our wine shop, Warren Winiarski stayed in our home on a trip to Los Angeles. The industry was completely different then. California wine had always been a thing, particularly before prohibition. It had even made its way to the east coast in the 1800's. But then came that fateful day in Paris at t...

Famed Chef Jonathan Waxman came to Wine Talks through a mutual friend who we lost last year to cancer; Melvin Masters was a one-of-a-kind character in the wine trade and Jonathans partner in the famed Jams Restaruarant.    On a recent trip to Nashville, Tennessee, I insisted that the group I was with follow me to Roberts Western (most probably the last true country bar in Nashville), for a fried b...

You can't speak of trends in the wine trends in the wine trade without mentioning Felicity Carter. You can't talk data mining in the wine trade without mentioning Felicity Carter...in fact, I can't think of many surrounding the wine trade that you could speak of without mentioning Felicity Carter. She is a force of date (substituting for "nature"). I've got to tell you, sitting down with Felicity...

Not of all wine news is about a drop in sales or activity...wine tourism is up.  On Wine Talks I regularly discuss the idea that wine is headed back in time to the days where the experience of wine is driving the interest in wine. Winery tastings, wine pairing dinners, day long wine excursions and more are peaking the interest in not only wine enthusiasts but wine novices the same. One destination...

The wines of the Monterey Peninsula, and particularly those of the Carmel Valley, are exquisite. It is always just so interesting to have the some grape grown in different parts of the world and be so different...soely on the location and environmental influences of the vineyard. When tasting Bernardus wines, you taste complexities entirely different than anywhere else in California. These wines a...

When people enter a room, you instantly get a sense of their disposition in life. Are they smiley? Frowning? friendly? Gregarious? and you instantly if this is going to work. I knew instantly that this was going to work when Cecilia Guzman walked into the studio.  Sitting down in the studio in beautiful Southern California for this episode of Wine Talks was a real treat—one of those times you just...

A few years ago, a young woman was interning at the Original Wine of the Month Club. Her internship revolved around social networking, office duties, and one particular job that may have set her career path. Lisa Kassabian was to write the talking points for all my podcasts that featured a woman in wine.  She would research the guest, write up peritnent points, present the to me and together we wo...

I have been hanging around the South Bay beaches since my youth. Maybe you caught my Instagram posts about how that happened. As a family, we spent much of our time in Hermosa Beach; I love the SoCal beach culture. There is an established group of restaurants under the moniker of Chef David Slay. He is a bit of an anomoly in that he has been a chef since his 20's (so well established in that sense...

Enotoursim has been a staple in the tourism trade. One of my favorite podcast was with JoAnne Dupuy, the woman who delivered the wines from Napa to Steven Spurrier in Paris for the Judgement In Paris. She was the leading Enotourist company in America.  As time would have it, Enotourism had seen its days, slumping a bit for the past decade...until now. Though wine sales are off and the wine industr...

Wine needs a fresh face. Well, that is if you ask the pundits in the industry. I am not sure I agree. Certainly, any industry needs to keep up with the times, I suppose marketing ideas and packaging ideas would follow. I am not sure I even agree with that... however, one thing I do believe is bringing a contemporary viewpoint to the table is beneficial. Meet a contemporary viewpoint in Jane Dunkle...

You know the Kladstrups. Frankly, anyone interested in wine, whether through in the trade or as a consumer, should/must read their first book on wine: Wine and War. Since they have published 3 more books and just releasing the latest: Eugenie; The Last Empress of France. I was honored to get an advanced copy of the book and we had a chance to sit and laugh, recall history and talk wine. Petie and...

Sometimes, I just have to say my peace and get on with it.  Though in this episode, I dig into the relationships that are forged like in no other industry. Hear me out.   I would argue that the best stories in wine aren't just written in vineyards and cellars, but in the electric connections between people, places, and time—sometimes under the neon glow of a set piece scavenged from a Hollywood fi...

Once I was asked to meet a vendor at a local diner...a diner like the one at the end of the movies Sideways. Complete with amber plastic tumblers.  IN walked one of the old time great wine slaesman with his wares in tow. I must have looked cross-eyed because I was sure he would not want to taste his wines here, at this diner. I was wrong and he did. This is when I learned how important the proper...

Legacy in the wine trade is not guaranteed. Not every child wants to take on the wine trade. I have many stories of famed children of iconic brands setting out to carve their own path to only lnad back in this passionate business. Jason Haas of Tablas Creek came around a bit quicker. He saw what an honest glass of wine represents and is now the second generation owner of Tablas Creek. Jason Haas m...