Episode 113: Under the Influence of Joe Fattorini from Wine Show TV

Wine Show TV host and International Wine and Spirits Competition (IWSC) Wine Communicator of the Year, Joe Fattorini, absolutely charms the W25 ladies this week. A gifted storyteller, Joe fills us in on some of the striking stories behind Season Two of Wine Show TV, and shares the single most stupid thing you could do when running the Bordeaux Marathon. Speaking of marathons, this episode is worth the trip – we go long and laugh hard. Joe’s not only won the BBC’s Celebrity Mastermind, but also our most embarrassing wine story honour to date.

Skyping with us from the UK for this episode is Joe Fattorini!

Joe has decades of experience in wine retail and writing, including writing the first text on wine marketing to restaurants. He was recently an Outstanding Alumni Award nominee for the Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET), winner of IWSC’s 2017 Wine Communicator of the Year, and is now the host of The Wine Show (iTV on Hulu). The list of accomplishments is longer still, and we were chomping at the bit to get to the interview.

However, so much more information about Joe is available on his website: http://joefattorini.com. He also didn’t want us to mention that he had made an appearance as the UK’s 22nd most influential wine personality. Shh. Don’t tell anyone.

In Our Glasses:

Joe:  Garage Wine Company‘s País from Chile. The país grape is also known as the historic Mission grape. Joe tells us about the winemaker, Derek, who’s doing fascinating things with this grape. After discovering ancient Pais vines, Derek decided to make single ferments with the grapes. This wine is actually low in tannins, as the grape is more pink in color and not truly red. The fruits are soft and ripe, and this wine great with a slight chill.

Val: Código 1530 Reposado Tequila. Just for a geeky fun fact, reposado is aged at least two months in oak (this one spent six months in oak); añejo ages for minimum 1 year; extra añejo ages at least three years. These are meant for sipping like a cognac or whisky.

“Steph what in heaven’s name are you sipping on up there in Northern Colorado, soon to be the new home of Johnny Depp, who is apparently sick of the LA grind?”

Steph: “Well, hopefully I’ll run into him at the liquor store and invite him to come on the show and have a drink with the W25 ladies!”

Val: “Chances are, you might – he spends about $30K a month on wine. Just a little more than we do. Back to your cocktail, sis.”

Steph: “I’m finding something new to make with the New Age White Wine. This is:

Mark’s Sexy Cocktail (courtesy of quintessential wines.com):

• 1 oz. Gin
• 1 oz. New Age White Wine
• 1⁄2 oz. fresh squeeze lemon juice
• 1⁄2 oz. Elder Flower liqueur
• 1⁄4 oz. 1 to 1 simple syrup
• 2 dashes of orange or grapefruit bitters”

 

Main Discussion/ Interview:

Wine Show TV’s Season Two

We talked to Joe about Wine Show TV, and what’s in store for Season Two! Honestly, he says, “It’s no great secret” as we can see hints about upcoming bits all over Joe’s Instagram feed. Locations include Germany, Japan, the Okanagan Valley, and Mendocino county, where the local sheriff loans the growers some prisoners who are learning how to harvest grapes.

Georgian wine (as in the Republic of Georgia) is on Joe’s radar, and believes every wine lover should visit Tbilisi and Georgia, “the home of wine making,” where they make wine in qvevri (large clay vats). We’re not sure he recommends actually climbing into one, although it was less traumatic than being stuffed into a wine barrel (a story he shared with us earlier on and will be in the extended interview release later)! Amber wines are Georgia’s specialty, history and tradition (we don’t call them “orange wines!”) but the one that Joe was enamored with is called Polyphony, made with over 400 grapes!

Bosnia is also on the itinerary in Season Two, and he relays the sobering experience of traveling around the country. There s also a visit to a monastery where they are making wine in what used to be a battlefield 25 years prior. Joe provides some wise words of wisdom with respect to why we don’t kick random objects in this part of the world. Things like mess canteens, and perhaps unexploded ordinances (called UXOs in military speak from Val’s last life), can be brought to the surface via plowing as some of the vineyard are former mine fields.

Also in Joe’s preview is an anecdote about a refrigerator magnet of Ratko Mladić being sold in the gift shop of a Serbian winery. You won’t want to miss the audio on this which starts at about 25 minutes into the show. The thing we loved about this chat was that Joe reinforced our belief that there are true, human and cultural ties to wine, which is why we love it!

Bordeaux Marathon 101

Steph is currently training for the Bordeaux Marathon in France in September. How serendipitous that Joe brought up the marathon, so we went there. Obi Wine Kenobi, Joe’s alter ego in Wine Show TV, gives her some superb advice. His first nugget? Don’t wear a heavy costume! Obi Wine Kenobi learned this the hard way, and after being fueled on oysters, beef, and Claret, he ended up in the medical tent with in IV drip to re-hydrate him.

“Take your health seriously” he says. His advice to Steph is leaning heavily toward opting for a tutu, which Joe believes “are the way forward” in running gear. At any cost, do not run a marathon dressed as a medieval monk, in case any of you are thinking about this Just sayin’.

Controversy and Commentary

We were able to dig up Joe’s January 2017 piece about why obsessing about Millennials is a waste of time. However, we wanted to hear the story behind a piece touted as the “most complained about article” in Decanter’s history from 10 years prior.

Joe provided the context of his history of living in Scotland for 18 years and learning a “go hard or go home” approach to journalism. While the article, which had a skeptical tone toward organic wines, contained fully substantiated arguments, a large debate was launched over the piece.

The philosophy that Joe lives by is that wine should be affordable to everyone. He didn’t build his career on fine wine, and feels that if all wines were organic then it would be cost-prohibitive to a large number of people.

BBC Celebrity Mastermind

Here’s what we didn’t know: the BBC show, Mastermind, is based on the founder’s experiences of being interrogated by the SS during the second world war! But we did know that Joe won the Celebrity Mastermind version last year! His was category, “The meridian 2° West”. You’ll have to listen to what any of this has to do with both the White House and Big Ben.

However, he wins the show while his parents, seated in the audience looked on as their fitness tracker devices showed their heart rates skyrocketing – and they weren’t the ones being interrogated as the Impending Doom theme music played. You’ll definitely want to hear the side story about how another contestant predicted he would win the show. Hint: it had to do with the last villain was on the show Columbo.

Social Media

Joe has so much energy and we couldn’t help ask him how he keeps up. He’s so much fun to stalk follow online, so here’s how you do it:

Connect with Joe on Twitter, and Instagram, and Wine Show TV also on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, and Instagram.

We didn’t get too far past a hilarious tweet he’d made about a ridiculous hashtag trending in America overnight before launching a around of presidential punditry (which will be released in the full episode). However, we did go here ever so briefly:

Looking forward to today’s tasting of top vintages of covfefe

— Joe Fattorini (@joefattorini) May 31, 2017

You also won’t want to miss his “tweets from the train.”

Properly Embarrassing Wine Story

This one takes the proverbial cake. Joe’s tale about being a member of what he and some friends call, “Order of the Leg” and the immediately sobering up that ensued is unlike any other shared on this show. Let’s just say it involves a bunch of naked, drunken, fully grown men, drinking wine from a friend’s prosthetic leg, and a rear Admiral in the Royal Navy. This is the funniest “No thank you!” you’ll ever hear.

But Wait, There’s More!

Because we couldn’t fit it all into this show, and had some ever so minor Skype glitches, we will release some of the remaining, yet no less awesome, bits onto our Patreon page!

Included in the edition entitled, “I’m not OK” will be stories that you may have to rewind and listen twice to get the full effect:

• Chilean Earthquake (a winemaker’s and photographer’s account)
• Joe getting stuffed into a wine barrel (“I’m not OK”)
• Presidents, politics, prime ministers, and wine (Trump winery, Nixon’s love for the French, Winston Churchill’s grandson, and a party with plaid and pooches).

Factoid:

We didn’t get to this verbally in the show but had it ready to go. Did you know: the US liquor industry converted to the metric system in 1976 and had three years to become compliant with the changes? This came up over dinner conversation recently because Steph and some friends were in disagreement of what “a fifth” of booze actually meant. How many mLs are in “a fifth”???

A standard 750mL bottle is what used to be called a fifth, referring to approximately a 1/5th of a gallon. The reason why the US liquor industry converted over was to make things simpler for the consumer, since there were 38 different sizes and shapes of bottles.

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