Dracaena Wines Podcast

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today, we are returning to Italy for the final segment of the Wine Scholar Guild’s Abruzzo webinar. Join me as I learn from WSG Italian Program Director, Andrea Eby and two winemakers from Abruzzo. Together they discuss their regions as well as key wine styles. I hope you have enjoyed this series. I absolutely adore Abruzzo wines and hope to return to the region again soon. While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show.  Also, please be sure to check the box for automatic downloads so that new episodes of Exploring the Wine Glass show up in your “next up feed.” The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Follow me on all

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today, we are returning to Italy for another segment of the Wine Scholar Guild’s Abruzzo webinar. Join me as I learn from WSG Italian Program Director, Andrea Eby and two winemakers from Abruzzo. Together they discuss their regions as well as key wine styles.  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show.  Also, please be sure to check the box for automatic downloads so that new episodes of Exploring the Wine Glass show up in your “next up feed.” The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Follow me on all the socials and finally, don’t forget to head to the website, Exploring the Wine Glass.com to read the blog, and sig

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Hello my friends! You Cab Franc lovers out there are going to love this episode!!! Today, I am sitting down with Steven Mirassou of Steven Kent Winery in Livermore Valley. He is the only person I know that is about as insane about Cabernet Franc as I am. He is a great spokesperson for the variety and honestly a great friend. On September 1st, there will be a Cab Franc-A-Palooza pop up event in Paso Robles.. This will be an up close and intimate wine tasting event with six wineries; three from Paso, two from the Finger Lakes and one from Livermore Valley. Tickets are going fast. They are $50, but if you use code DRACAENA, you can save $5. Use the link in the show notes in order to grab your seat!  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  I hope you enjoyed last week’s episode. Today, we continue with the education about the grapes and regions of Abruzzo. Thank you to the Wine Scholar Guild for holding these seminars. It is a wonderful way to dive into specific wine regions and increase our desire to explore more.  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show.  Also, please be sure to check the box for automatic downloads so that new episodes of Exploring the Wine Glass show up in your “next up feed.” The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Follow me on all the socials and finally, don’t forget to head to the website, Exploring the Wine Glass.com to r

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  A couple of years ago, I had the honor of visiting Abruzzo for a press trip. It was an incredible week, filled with amazing views and magnificent wine. I learned so much about the region and fell in love with its wines. I linked my article about the trip in the show notes. Today, I am sharing the audio from a Wine Scholar Guild webinar I attended a while back. It was relatively long and took place over two days, so I am splitting it up into multi-episodes.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Follow me on all the socials and fina

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today, we return the the Paso Robles Downtown Vibe event. The second opportunity people had to taste the wines from downtown wineries was in a food and wine pairing. The event was a huge success. Wines from Indigene', Sea Shell, Serial, Stilson, and Symbiosis were poured alongside Chef Alma's creations. After hearing the descriptions of the food and how they pair with the wines, you will be wiping the drool off your phone. .  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Follow me on all the socials and finally, don’t forget to head to the website, Exploring the Wine Glass.com

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Welcome to Winephabet Street. Today, the letter of the day is S and it stands for San Marco. Have you heard of this grape? This was a brand new variety to me and I was so intrigued to learn more and impressed once I tasted it. In fact, I took a bottle to a wine professional event and it was the hit of the evening! We had the pleasure of interviewing Jim Quarella and Larry Coia from Bellview Winery in New Jersey. These are the guys not only responsible for bringing the vines to the United States, but for naming the variety!  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Follow m

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass! Bubbles Lounge Take 2! After dropping last week’s episode, I listened to it and the sound was not acceptable. I ended up removing it from the system. Some of the wineries’ voices were exceptionally low and trying to alter them made the overall sound distracting. So in this take, I decided to listen and decipher what they said. In some cases, you will hear the actual individual, while in others, I will summarize their answers. The event was part of the Downtown Vibe’s Bubble Lounge. The event brought together eight wineries located downtown who produce sparkling wine.  Please note, it was recorded at a live event, so there is background noise and uneven sound. Enjoy as you listen to how the different wineries produce their sparkling wine. There are quite a variety of options.  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one mi

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  The first week of July is officially International Sparkling Week. I never need a reason to pop a bottle of sparkling, but when it’s a wine holiday, it gives me an extra reason! In honor of the holiday week, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Bryan Widstrand of Steinbeck Vineyards in Paso Robles.  From the first time I tasted Bryan’s bubbles, I was in love. I can honestly say that he makes my favorite bubbles in town. I am always recommending people to head to Steinbeck and ask for Bryan’s bubbles.  I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. Bryan is such a great wealth of knowledge and his passion shines through.  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  On the last episode of Winephabet Street, we discussed Rkatsiteli. The grape has its origins in the country of Georgia, so I thought it would be interesting to do a follow up episode with a winemaker in Georgia. I had the pleasure to speak with Lado Uzunashvili of Mukado Wines. Even though I destroyed his name today and during the interview, we had a wonderful conversation learning about this amazing variety.  While you are listening, it would be greatly appreciated if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Finally, don’t forget to head to the website, Exploring the Wine Glass.com to read the blog, and sign up for the newsletter

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today we return to Winephabet Street, where the letter of the day is R and it stands for Rkatsiteli. This ancient grape from Georgia has found a home in the Finger Lakes of New York and we had the pleasure of interviewing Meaghan Frank of Dr. Frank Konstantin Winery. Meaghan is the great granddaughter of Konstantin, who emigrated from the Ukraine and landed in New York. He was instrumental in bringing vinifera to the Finger Lakes region. If you’d like to watch the recording, please head to my youtube channel.  While you are listening, it would be so incredible if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Finally, don’t forget to hea

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Happy Memorial Day. Originally known as Decoration Day is a federal holiday here in the United States dedicated to honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. If you are in Paso Robles today, please come by the Dracaena Wines’ tasting room. Active and veteran military will receive two complimentary tastings with a single bottle purchase PLUS 20% off all wine purchases. And if you aren’t in town now, Dracaena Wines always remembers and honors by providing 10% off. Today’s episode is a re-release of my interview with an amazing non-profit called Honor Flight Central Coast, who raise money so they can honor all of America’s veterans by taking them to Washington D.C. on their “Tour of Honor.” It's a wonderful cause, please check them out.  While you are listening, it would be so incredible if you

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  The Thursday before Memorial Day is known as International (or World) Chardonnay Day. Chardonnay is the base for many white wine blends. In this episode, I sit down with Chris Eberle, winemaker for Eberle Winery in Paso Robles to discuss all things Chardonnay. We cover a lot of topics including the concept that Chardonnay is a “neutral grape,” how many diverse profiles the grape variety offers, the infamous ABC people of the world and of course we sample some Eberle Chardonnay. We sipped through their 2023 every day and Reserve Chardonnay. While you are listening, it would be so incredible if you could take one minute to subscribe, rate and review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Last week, I moderated a comparative wine tasting at Vin 13 in downtown Paso Robles. The comparative was between Paix Sur Terre, a local winery. The winemaker and owner Ryan Pease was presenting three of his wines. He, as do I, loves Spanish wines. Within his portfolio, he makes single varietal Mourvedre, Mataro and Monastrell. The tasting paired his three wines along with three Monastrells from Alicante, Spain.  During the presentation, I provided some historical background on the variety, characteristics of the vines and clusters and general tasting notes. Together, Ryan and I compared and contrasted the six wines. I discussed the where the names came from and of course we talked about the infamous Graciano Goof of Paso. I hope you enjoy the seminar and if you would like to hire me to do a wine education program for you, even virtually, feel free to rea

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  One day a few months ago, I was walking through a wine shop looking for something a little different. As I perused the shelves, it was the same old supermarket wine after supermarket wine. I turned to leave and as if a light was shining down to catch my attention, there was a white malbec by Bodega Trivento. My winery, Dracaena Wines, now produces a white Cabernet Franc (Blanc de Franc) so of course my curiosity peaked! I picked up the bottle, took a photo and sent it to my husband and brought it home. After enjoying it, I reached out to Trivento to ask if I could speak with the winemaker and share our love of making a white wine from a red grape.   If you listen to a lot of podcasts, you know that many ask for patreon. We do not plan on doing this, but we do ask you to support the podcast by leaving a review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today, I am sharing a Master Class I attended virtually on Plavak Mali. This Croatian grape is an indigenous black grape variety that produces medium to full-bodied reds. Its name translated into English means Little Blue One or Small Blue, which is a perfect descriptor for the berries. They are small, blue in appearance and characterized by thick, tannin rich skin. The webinar was put on by Croatian Premium Wine Imports.  If you listen to a lot of podcasts, you know that many ask for patreon. We do not plan on doing this, but we do ask you to support the podcast by leaving a review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Finally, don’t forget to head to the website, Exploring the Wine

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today, we return to Winephabet Street with more burning wine questions.  We had so many questions that we had to break them up into two episodes.  In this episode we discuss wine and food pairings, the truth about sulfites and what exactly is terroir just to mention a few. If you have any questions, I’d love to hear them!  If you listen to a lot of podcasts, you know that many ask for patreon. We do not plan on doing this, but we do ask you to support the podcast by leaving a review. It takes only a few seconds of your time but means so much to the show. The next best way to support Exploring the Wine Glass is to tell your friends. If you enjoy the podcast, your wine loving friends will too. Finally, don’t forget to head to the website, Exploring the Wine Glass.com to read the blog, and sign up for the newsletter so you can keep up with all the happenings

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today, as promised, I am sharing the second part of a fantastic seminar I attended hosted by Serial Wines in Paso Robles. I hope you enjoyed the first part. Today, we continue with the senses and how to relate to the taste of wine. The background noise is a bit louder, (as more alcohol was consumed.) As a reminder, the event was for industry and it was right up my alley. It was the science of taste. This is particularly near and dear to me as I have a published article in Wine Folly on the topic. (in fact one of the images used in the seminar was taken from that exact article - what a pleasant surprise!) This is a great seminar, and has a lot of intriguing information. Please note, that as with all recordings like this, the audio is not at peak, but I still think you will fully enjoy it. The second part of the education seminar will be next week! So be su

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It’s time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today I am sharing the first part of a fantastic seminar I attended hosted by Serial Wines in Paso Robles. The event was for industry and it was right up my alley. It was the science of taste. This is particularly near and dear to me as I have a published article in Wine Folly on the topic. (in fact one of the images used in the seminar was taken from that exact article - what a pleasant surprise!) This is a great seminar, and has a lot of intriguing information. Please note, that as with all recordings like this, the audio is not at peak, but I still think you will fully enjoy it. The second part of the education seminar will be next week! So be sure to come back.  If you listen to a lot of podcasts, you know that many ask for patreon. We do not plan on doing this, but we do ask you to support the podcast by leaving a review. It takes only a few seconds

It’s Monday, Let’s raise a glass to the beginning of another week. It's time to unscrew, uncork or saber a bottle and let’s begin Exploring the Wine Glass!  Today I am sitting down with Scott Matthews of 915 Lincoln Winery in Paso Robles. Scott’s tasting room is located in beautiful downtown Paso. As mentioned on the downtown website, (see show notes for link) The Paso Robles downtown wine district is a captivating destination for wine enthusiasts. It offers convenient wine tasting with a diverse range of options from established wineries to boutique producers, allowing you to experience a variety of wine styles. The district’s accessibility and proximity make it easy to navigate and explore different wineries without spending excessive time commuting. While you are listening, take a moment to subscribe, rate and review Exploring the Wine Glass. Taking one minute of your time is the only way the algorithms will suggest Exploring the Wine Glass to others and since you are enjoying the podcast, other winelovers