Sip Sip Hooray Podcast

Come meet us, the Marys, and sip Santa Clara Valley Wines with us! That's right, Mary B and Mary O are hosting the VIP Sommelier Experience during the Santa Clara Valley Wine Auction on Saturday, March 25 at Guglielmo Winery in Morgan Hill, Calif. We're super excited to support this fantastic and historic California wine region, the birthplace of the state's commercial wine industry. And we are excited to meet you, our listeners, and share a Sip Sip Hooray! toast. In this special pod episode, we have all the T on the wine auction - including previewing a few auction lots. VIP admission is at 5 pm and gets you special access to the best of the best wines, plus you get to meet us and some of the local winemakers. General admission begins at 6 pm. And yes you can buy tickets now. Then you're in for a real treat, as we welcome 3rd generation vintner Gene Guglielmo. At 98 years old, Guglielmo Winery is the longest continously operated family winery in the Santa Clara Valley. If you do the math, you'll see that the winery started in 1925, right in the middie of Prohibition! Needless to say, Gene's got great stories about this and more! Special thanks to Wineries of Santa Clara Valley and the Morgan Hill Community Foundation, which will distribute auction proceeds to local non-profits serving the community. We appreciate being invited to participate in this giving event.

We have a confession! The Marys had never sipped a Brazilian wine before Apex Brasil invited us to join a small group of wine journalists to tour the country's main wine region.  The reaction from most of our friends and family -- they make wine in Brazil? Oh yes, and as we discovered, it is darn good wine too.  So we invite you to get in on Brazilian wine now -- we're here to tell you Brazil's wines are the next thing in wine. To help you navigate what's happening in this South American wine producing country, wine journalist and expert Mauricio Roloff is joining us from Brazil! Mary O met him when he gave a master class on Brazilian wine the first day of the wine trip. He's the perfect guide for your Brazilian wine adventure!  Saúde! (Cheers in Portuguese)

You could say that winemaker David Baird is living the dream at Folktale Winery & Vineyards in California’s Carmel Valley. They say every bottle has a story to tell, and behind the label, David coaxes those stories out of Folktale's estate vineyards.  If you don’t know the Folktale wines or haven’t visited the winery, you are in for a treat. Folktale is a place you need to know about, a destination whenever you are in Carmel, Big Sur or Monterey. David brings his own touch to the wine program here, and has some exciting projects, including a wine aged under the waves of Monterey Bay. David’s also a good sport, as he met us, the Marys, at the winery the morning after returning from a seven day trek through Yosemeti Valley. So tune in to find out about the tales the wines of Folktale have to tell as they speak through David’s competent and creative winemaking hands.

Getting to Mount Eden Vineyards in California's Santa Cruz Mountains is an adventure! The drive is up a twisty mountain road with lots of hairpin turns and steep drop offs. A good portion of the road - at the topmost part - is unpaved. But then you arrive at the peak, 2000 feet above Silicon Valley, and the breathtaking views, not to mention the wines, are totally worth the journey. The Marys sit down with winemaker Jeffrey Patterson, one of the best known vintners in  the Santa Cruz Mountains AVA, and all of California. He's been crafting world class Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon from this historic vineyard for more than 40 years. Join us and discover the magic of Mount Eden.

If you've ever picked up a wine book, there's a good chance it's The Wine Bible, by our guest Karen MacNeil. The Wine Bible is so popular that Karen just revised this 3rd edition, and it has surpassed the  one million copies sold mark! But she didn't want to call her book a wine bible. This is just one of the many behind the scenes stories Karen shares with the Marys, on this episode of Sip Sip Hooray! Karen's career has come a long way since she debuted The Wine Bible in 2001. Now she heads a multimedia wine empire, including a digital newsletter, live virtual wine tastings, leading classes, seminars and influencing what is in all of our wine glasses. Lest you think Karen is a wine snob, just check out her recent Instagram post, where Karen's answer to the question about holding a wine glass by the stem or bowl was refreshingly unexpected! So grab a glass and settle in for a fascinating chat with Karen!

Buckle up for the newest Sip Sip Hooray! podcast episode! When you think of wine in Carmel Valley, the first label that comes to mind is Bernardus. This Monterey County winery led the way in establishing the Carmel Valley AVA as a world class wine region. The Marys are excited to be back at Bernardus Winery & Vineyards in beautiful Carmel Valley Village! We filmed several episodes of our NBC TV show In Wine Country here. We're at the Bernardus tasting room to catch up with winemaker Dean De Korth and grape whisperer Matt Shea. These guys are the OGs of the Bernardus team. They shaped the winery's house style along with founder Bernardus (Ben) Pon, who was an avid Bordeaux lover. But Ben was also passionate about cars, and along with wine, VWs and race car driving are part of his story. While Bernardus is an established label, we're excited to share how the winery evolves and innovates. Plus, Bernardus is a beloved label around the world, especially in Holland. Tune in to find out why! So pour a glass, listen in and enjoy the ride!

Climate change is on eveyone's mind, especially when it comes to the world's grape growers and winemakers. Wildfires, drought, water scarcity, hail, floods, extreme weather, oh my! While there's much reason for concern, our guest today says there is hope. It is not all gloom and doom, but we must be mindful. Let's be clear, climate change is happeing now. The Marys welcome Brian Freedman, author of Crushed: How a Changing Climate is Altering the Way We Drink. In his new book, Brian profiles wine growers and winemakers in eight global regions facing climate adversity - but are adapting with innovative solutions. But the bubbly you loved from Champagne is now rivialed by Southern English sparklers. Brian reminds us that grapes and wine are not the only agricultural alcohol based beverages dealing with these issues. He also explores grain-based spirits and how distillers and farmers are adapting.

We're celebrating bubbles and California's Santa Lucia Highlands in Monterey County on Sip Sip Hooray! with Scott Caraccioli of Caraccioli Cellars. Of course the holidays are sparkling wine season, but we believe bubbles are for year round -- and yes, daily sipping 🥂 But there is much more to Caraccioli Cellars than sparkling wine! Scott makes terrific still wines too - Pinot Noir, Syrah, and even Gamay! All from his estate vineyard, the esteemed Escolle Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands. When you spend time with Scott, you can't help but be impressed by his passion and vast knowledge of grape growing and winemaking! He and his family put Monterey County on the map for bubbly, making sparkling wine to rival the world's best Champagne. But he's not content to rest on his successes. Scott and his team are constantly striving to improve what they do with every vintage, from going all estate to tapping into the potential of Gamay. Join us for this great episode and raise a glass to Scott and Monterey County sparkling wine!

The Marys are honored to have wine writer extraordinare Alice Feiring on our pod! Acclaimed wine writer Alice Feiring has been in love with wine for decades. She started her sensory training at very young age, sniffing everything along with her grandfather. Little could she have imagined then growing up to be the OG natural wine movement writer, or the person to take down the homogenous ”Parkerization” of wine, a style favored by one wine critic that changed the way many wines around the world were - and still are made. Now Alice has released her sixth book, To Fall in Love Drink This: A Wine Writer’s Memoir. But as you’ll find out in her engaging chat with us, the Marys, Alice’s is not your typical wine memoir. Instead of touting the great vineyards she’s visited or wines she’s tasted, she recounts an escape from a serial killer - and her reconnection with the perpetrator, and she gives wine recommendations to a plumber, to help him fall in love. You’ll want to get your hands on her book right away, and fair warning, it’s a page turner that you can’t put down.

If you don't know the wines of Lepe Cellars in Monterey County, you're in for a treat! The Marys continue their Monterey County wine tour, where we met up with Miguel Lepe, founding winemaker of Lepe Cellars. Miguel is an up and coming winemaker, who, as the county's first Mexican American winery owner, has a great story that you need to know! Thanks to one college course, Miguel's life path was forever changed. Miguel is a winemaker to watch! Get the dibs first right here. Plus, find out who the model is for his wine label. Lepe Cellars tasting room is in Carmel-by-the-Sea at Dolores Street between Ocean & 7th. Wines tasted in this episode: 2021 Lepe Cellars Pinot Noir, McIntyre Vineyard, Monterey County 2020 Lepe Cellars Petit Verdot, San Antonio Vineyard, Monterey County