Episode 38: 2015’s Top Five, Bloopers, and a Sipping Challenge!
What’s New for 2016 at W25?
Dec 31 2015 In our last episode of 2015 we celebrate your favorite moments and revisit a few of ours as well. There’s a mash-up of some … er … grittier moments that ended up on the cutting room floor, so this episode is a little more on the Rated R side. Steph and Val ask each other some interesting questions, and then? We announce our 2016 W25 Sipping Challenge and share how YOU can be a guest host on W25! We end the show – and the year – with a glittering five-star review, and wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!
Steph: “Welcome Wine-Two-Five listeners! Thank you so much for joining us for Episode 38! I’m Steph, and I’m here with the beautiful and talented Val, she and I are Skyping again this week. Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone!”
Val: “Thanks Steph, who’s gracing us with her presence from Fort Collins! But before we dive into the show…we should chat a bit about what we’re drinking.”
Steph: Letterpress Limoncello
Val: Glenmorangie Tusail Private Edition Scotch
Val: 2015 highlights –
Well, we’ve had 7 guests + 2 additional interview snippets !!!
Your favorites by downloads: TOP 5:
- Episode 22: Flippin’ and Sippin’ 2015-09-10
- Episode 23: Wine and Snack Fix While Chatting Wine Flicks 2015-09-16
- Episode 12: Drinking Outside of Your Wine Box 2015-07-01
- Episode 36: Wine Vacationing with Taste … and a Little Adventure 2015-12-17
- Episode 17: Cooking With Wine – What Comes First, the Drinking or the Cooking? 2015-08-06
Our favorite 5 episodes:
Steph:
“First of all, any episode I record in-person, face-to-face and glass-to-glass with Val is a blast and then some… but out of our 37 episodes, not including this one, here are my top 5, not in any order. Damn, This is difficult to do!
- Interviewing Jane Nickels #32
- Interviewing Sally Mohr #27 at my house!
- Blind tasting box wine and alternative packaging in #12 again at my house with Val
- The cock fight episode #5
- Because I’m a big softy, I remember episode #1 being so special because we took the first step and recorded together at Val’s house, but it really wasn’t the best episode. I know because I just listened to it again. So, I’ll wrap-up my list saying that if you haven’t heard episode #26 yet, “What did you call that wine?”, it was one of my fav’s because we laughed and laughed, even cut out some of the humor to make it more PG-13, and it truly captured some of the pure joy that Val and I have together.”
Val:
“Gosh – I have to say that there is something fun about every episode we’ve done together, although I have to admit the first couple are kind of painful to listen to – we were a little stiff & hadn’t quite found our groove, maybe? Or maybe we were not drinking enough? Either way, after Episode 12, I believe, we turned a corner. And come on – that boxed wine tasting was a blast. So I’ll put that up there as #1.
- Boxed wine tasting (Ep 12) My favorite quote from this episode has to do with a condom – look for that in our “out-takes and moments” segment.
- I have to say having Miss Jane on was super fun Ep – 32 – and I still crack up when I hear about her dress falling to the floor. I want to be Jane (without that whole dress/pantyhose thing. I never want to wear pantyhose again if I can help it, in fact!)
- Champagne with Chantal Gonet in Ep 37 – I’ll say it again, if Champagne had a voice it would be hers resonating through years of tradition to tell Champagne’s incredible story for ages to come.
- Bringing Jeff Eckles on the show in episode 35 brought a new level of comedy to the show & I enjoyed that one immensely. “And for those of you who can’t see, Steph just waved her hands in the air like she just don’t care!”
- Finally, I think the episode with Sally Mohr, Master Sommelier (Ep 27). I mean, come on – she is just keeping it real and she was loads of fun!”
Discussion:
In case you didn’t catch every episode or maybe there are some things that ended up on the “cutting room floor” let’s take a listen, shall we?
Val and Steph interview each other:
Steph asks Val first:
Q1: What are you looking forward to most in 2016?
Q2: Tell me about the moment you decided to sign-up for the wine school in Italy.
Q3: Would you rather find a snake or a ghost in your house?
Val gets revenge:
Q1: What would you like to conquer in 2016?
Q2: Bucket list wine? (Wines?)
Q3: How do you explain wine to someone who doesn’t drink?
Our Factoid:
Malvar, the white grape Steph had never tasted before …. until now
I just had it for the first time at Chimney Park in Windsor, Colorado. Chimney Park serves the wine Zestos Blanco by the glass. It is also on their happy hour list!
The Malvar grape is indigenous to Spain, specifically the Madrid area. It is also known as Lairen. It has a similar flavor profile to Sauvignon Blanc and unoaked Chardonnay. I enjoyed it all by itself without food, but it would pair nicely with fish, salads, or light appetizers. I know a lot of wine drinkers that would enjoy this. The Zestos Blanco bottle is inexpensive, about $12, and here in CO is distributed by Baroness Wines.
Shoutouts:
One of our loyal listeners, Susan Golicic, just got a book published called “Contemporary Wine Marketing and Supply Chain Management – A Global Perspective”. We are so proud of you and your two co-authors Dan Flint and Paola Signori!
Another one of our fans, Emily Kemme, is now the Food/Lifestyle Contributor to the Greeley Tribune. Woo woo!!! All your efforts are starting to pay off. Congratulations!
Wino Radar:
Val: More books! Decanter reviewed the best wine books of 2015. There are some I don’t have! And what? I’m ordering, will review and get back to you in our next “books” episode” since our listeners are wine geeky bookworms too. Either that or they just want us to read the books and tell them how they end.
Steph: NEXT WEEK starts the “The W25 sipping challenge”: We challenge you to taste something new every week in 2016! Whether it’s a new wine region, country, grape, spirit or other beverage, we want to hear how you’re getting out of your comfort zone & expanding your horizons! We will feature your photo or input on our blog each week! Post it to FB & one winner per quarter will guest host the show with us to talk about your new adventures in sipping!
Our Latest Review!
Five stars from Experience Collector on iTunes entitled, “Got Wine? How about 30 minutes or less for a great podcast?” After 36 episodes these classy ladies are just getting warmed up! Who knew that 30 minutes could be so fun and enlightening? From their great stories and factoids, to their wonderful guests Val and Steph keep you thirsty and laughing each episode. What a great way to make that commute fly by! Keep up the great work ladies! Cheers!
Thank you, Experience Collector!
Happy New Year and Merry Wine Drinking!
You can listen to this episode in its entirety here: