The Sipster's Wine Podcast

It’s the first annual SIPPIE AWARDS and here are the WINNERS!Modelled after the BC LG awards, the Sippies are my way of telling you about all kinds of Canadian wines. I’ve written about some of them but there are often others that I can’t include in my books for various reasons (they might be too expensive or limited to one single vintage). I still think you should know about these wines because they are all fantastic wine drinking experiences!   In this episode, I talk about the best wines I had the honour of tasting last year. Amazing experiences with amazing wines. Next week, I will reveal the Sippie Wine of the Year!  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

Here's a little bit of fun to start off the podcast in 2024. It's the first annual SIPPIE AWARDS!!Modelled after the BC LG awards, the Sippies are my way of telling you about all kinds of Canadian wines. I've written about some of them but there are often others that I can't include in my books for various reasons (they might be too expensive or limited to one single vintage). I still think you should know about these wines because they are all fantastic wine drinking experiences!   In this episode, I talk about the inspiration for these awards and present you with this year's Honourable Mentions. Look for the top list of Sippie winners next week and the Sippie Wine of the Year in 2 weeks.   Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

This week’s podcast features Ann Sperling, a legendary wine maker from BC who has been in Ontario now for many years. She has a long family history in BC and is the great-granddaughter of Giovanni Casorso, who is (if we need one) the real father of BC’s wine industry.  She spent her first years as a winemaker at André’s Wines in Port Moody in the 1980s before taking on winemaking at the early years of CedarCreek where her wines (specifically a Merlot) was considered so good at a fall Wine Festival awards that they created a platinum award just for the Merlot that year. She's consulted with Clos du Soleil in the Similkameen Valley and most recently headed Sperling Vineyards on her family’s property in Kelowna’s Mission Creek area. She consults with many wineries in Ontario and around the world. Together with her husband, Peter Gamble, collectively, they know more about wine than I can ever hope to know. Talking with Ann was really special because she was the first person that I interviewed in the winter of 2015 as I began the research for what became my first book, Valleys of Wine. Chatting with her at her historic home east of St. Catharine’s was a great honour and was a great way to end my podcast recordings on that trip.Please note – This is an information-rich conversation, with a lot of industry-talk on some complex themes. Ann is one of the most knowledgeable people in the country about wine and I was not going to let the opportunity pass without digging deep. If you hear anything that doesn’t make sense to you or if you want to know more about something, please email me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com with your question and I will do my best to reply. Ann was also recovering from a bad cold when we spoke so there is a slight rasp to her voice that is not there normally.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

You will hear 2 other voices on this week’s podcast and those will be of Graham Rennie and Matt Loney. Graham is the found of The Niagara Custom Crush Studio in Vineland, Ontario and Matt Loney is the General Manager. They are innovative and pushing the envelope for a new style of custom crush facility. They are just getting started now but they are on track to become a focal point in Niagara’s wine industry, acting as an incubator for new brands to get established and as a home base for their own brands. Graham’s flagship is Rennie Estate Winery, which produces some of the most amazing red wines ever to come out of Ontario, in my opinion. That’s why I featured one in my first volume of the Sipster’s Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try Ontario Wines. I sat down with Graham and Matt to taste through some of their portfolio and what you will hear now is the discussion that happened at that tasting.If you have not heard of appassimento styles of wines, you should really check this out because Ontario is really making some beautiful wines using these techniques.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

Want some history? How about finding out what American outlaw Jesse James did to leave his mark on the Staff family property. This is part 2 of my conversation with Sue-Ann Staff of Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery in Jordan, Ontario.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

This is the second podcast that I recorded while travelling in Ontario. The voice you heard at the beginning belongs to Sue-Ann Staff, from Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery  located south of Jordan, Ontario on the top of the escarpment.Sue-Ann was such a bundle of joy to chat with. She had prepared a wonderful tasting through some of the key wines in her portfolio and chatted about the long and storied history of the land she now farms as well as her own history as a winemaker.  This podcast has it all – century-old grapevines, American outlaw gangs from the old west, and tons about Icewine that you never knew from a winemaker that knows it better than anyone else in the country. This episode is Part 1. Part 2 is coming next week.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

Vittorio de Stafano from On Seven Estate Winery joins me in this conversation about starting a super-premium winery with a focused portfolio build on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. His Chardonnay left me utterly speechless when tasting it for the first time last winter when I was writing the first volume of the Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try Ontario Wines. On Seven was high on my list of Must-Visit wineries while I visited Niagara this fall. This was recorded November 2023 on location in the house that overlooks the vineyard in Niagara on the Lake. Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

Noelle Starzynski, wine marketer extraordinaire, joins me on the podcast this week. She is perhaps best known for her work with Lakeside Cellars in Osoyoos, BC where she has been working for the past 5 years helping to build their brand and hospitality program. I first met Noelle in the middle of the last decade and we have been running into each other at various events and stores ever since. We didn’t see much of each other during the pandemic of course. Events started back up just as I was getting this podcast started last year but was only recently able to follow through on her threat to make an appearance on it, which happened right before I was to set off to Ontario a couple of weeks ago. It's a fun conversation filled with mystery wines (including a Ferox Merlot from Virgil, Ontario) and excitement. We had lots of things to talk about. Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

This is the defacto Part 2 of my previous episode with Jess Hopwood from Farm to Glass Wine Tours. In this podcast, you will hear the voices of Jody and Costa Gavaris from Rigour and Whimsy Winery in Okanagan Falls, along with Jess and I as we taste through a few wines from their portfolio. You'll hear the ambience from the cellar as well as the humour and fun (or is that whimsy?) of time well spent enjoying wine together.   Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

This might be get loud. Do not adjust your devices. This is what real enthusiasm for wine sounds like. Carl and his wife Mira are partnered in running Carl's Wine Club. Carl joined me recently in the Sipster's studio for a chat about Canadian wine. He's got an amazing perspective on it and tastes so much wine over the course of his working year! Nobody in this country has the unique perspective that he has and it was fascinating to hear his views. He brought along a bottle of Merlot from Ontario producer Bella Terra that we taste while talking about the stigma that still surrounds wine in this country.   Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

The fall is always a busy time in the industry and even though I no longer work in the cellars as part of the harvest, I am still busy busy busy. I'm kicking off the second season of The Sipster's Wine Podcast with tons of announcements! PLUS! You will get to hear excerpts from the Sipster's Pocket Guides - BC Volumes 1 and 2 as well as a sneak preview of a chapter from the soon-to-be-released Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try Ontario Wines. Links from this episode:Summerland Reading October 24thKelowna Canadian Italian ClubWines featured in this podcast:Gehringer Brothers Old Vines AuxerroisMoon Curser DolcetoNagging Doubt SiegerrebeLola Cabernet Sauvignon Cabernet Franc Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

You never know who you're going to meet when you work at a winery. This is a recent conversation with Kaila Kliewer, formerly a wine sales professional on the coast with a background in hospitality, who I actually met 10 years ago! (That's a good story too...) We share a similar interest and appreciation in wine but also a similar point of view over the industry from the perspective of working at VQA stores. She shares some stories about her experience in wine and also a not-so-good recent experience at a winery that left her frustrated. Out stunt wine in this podcast is the OAK Estate Winery Lavish.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

If it’s one thing I’ve learned from my years of producing a podcast, it’s that I can plan anything I want to, with as much detail and precision as I am capable of, but in the end the results are usually out of my control. I don’t have a journalism background and therefore, no training about how to maintain perspective or ask the tough questions or anything like that. Sometimes, I just have to go along for the ride and see where it takes me.  This is literally what happened with I met Jess Hopwood and spent the afternoon zooming around in her Tesla talking about wine touring. Jess owns and operates Farm to Glass Wine Tours, an extraordinary eco-conscious wine tour venture offering high-level private tours all through the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys. My original plan was to drive around, chat about wine touring, and maybe get a little of that Tesla road ambiance at the same time. Jess, whirlwind of enthusiasm that she is, had more ideas. In this podcast, we talk Tesla’s, EV’s, emissions, visit a winery, and then taste a wine back at Sipster’s HQ. It is a fantastic conversation and, like the tours that Jessie offers, an amazing experience. She also has a special offer for listeners of the Sipster’s Podcast. Listen for the special code to get 15% off any wine tour from Farm to Glass Wine Tours. She even made a special Sipster’s page on her website that has more of a backstory about how this podcast came to be. Ok, let’s get this show on the road. Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

*If you haven't yet, you should probably listen to Part 1 of this conversation first.*I first met Laura in early 2018, I believe through social media (although it was a bit of a blurry time in my life at that point so I might be wrong). In any case, we spent the afternoon chatting about wine and looking at the lake in the warm spring sun. Laura was not like other people that I had talked to about wine. Her questions to me where very different and I liked that immediately. We stayed in touch and I always thought back to that conversation and how great it would have been to capture it for a podcast. Problem was, I wasn’t doing a podcast at that time. However, within the year she created a vlog to accompany her blog, called Silk and Coupe and she invited me to be a guest on it. She interviewed me about my first book, which hadn’t even been released at that point) and we again went our separate ways. But we stayed in touch casually over the years and when I found out that she was going to be in the Okanagan visiting family, I jumped at the chance to finally get a podcast interview with her.  Her evolution as a wine personality is unique in that she has experience with all of the major wine producing regions in Canada. In this chat, we get into Dad Wines & Natty Bros, and how she learned to hold a wine glass properly. Of course, the infamous Titty Tees will make an appearance too. She’s outspoken, opinionated, very well spoken, and informed. Enjoy part 2 of my conversation with Laura Milnes.  Crushable Wine Club Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

I first met Laura in early 2018, I believe through social media (although it was a bit of a blurry time in my life at that point so I might be wrong). In any case, we spent the afternoon chatting about wine and looking at the lake in the warm spring sun. Laura was not like other people that I had talked to about wine. Her questions to me where very different and I liked that immediately. We stayed in touch and I always thought back to that conversation and how great it would have been to capture it for a podcast. Problem was, I wasn’t doing a podcast at that time.  However, within the year she created a vlog to accompany her blog, called Silk and Coupe and she invited me to be a guest on it. She interviewed me about my first book, which hadn’t even been released at that point) and we again went our separate ways. But we stayed in touch casually over the years and when I found out that she was going to be in the Okanagan visiting family, I jumped at the chance to finally get a podcast interview with her. Her evolution as a wine personality is unique in that she has experience with all of the major wine producing regions in Canada. In this chat, we get into Dad Wines & Natty Bros, and how she learned to hold a wine glass properly. Of course, the infamous Titty Tees will make an appearance too. She’s outspoken, opinionated, very well spoken, and informed. Enjoy part 1 of my conversation with Laura Milnes.  Crushable Wine Club Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

It's another flashback episode this week featuring Steve Venables from Forbidden Fruit Winery in the Similkameen Valley. This is a slightly ASMR interview since it was recorded outside in February on a beautiful day while sitting near the banks of the mighty Similkameen River. This was originally recorded February 2012. During the pandemic, I had to really temper my habit of stopping in to places to say hi and catch up but am slowly getting back to doing that whenever I can. I visited Steve just last spring, stopping in to say hello, and we talked about recording this interview. With that memory flooding back, I thought it would be great to revisit and share it with all the sipsters out there who might appreciate growing things naturally and learning that 'organic' is more than just a way to grow food.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

So where the heck have I been? Lots of places. Listen to this podcast to hear about where I was and what's I've got planned for the future.   Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

If you think you know something about BC Wine but you don't know who John Schreiner is, then you still have a lot to learn about wine in this province. Wine in BC (and Canada) has not always been as good as it is now. At least a generation of wine drinkers now does not remember when Canadian wine was the butt of jokes and probably shouldn't have been consumed by humans before 1994. John saw the potential and began writing about it in the 1970s, publishing his first book about BC wine in 1984. As he says, he was a friend of BC wine when BC wine had no friends. I first read one of John's books more than 20 years ago, met him for the first time soon after that, and he’s been an inspiration and a mentor to me for well over a decade. John and I can talk about wine a lot and we both seem to lose track of time. Our affinity for the wines, the industry, and the personalities of the people in that industry seems to drive both of us. It’s always such a joy to get to chat with John. He’s got a new book of memoirs out now called “Goodgrog: A Life in Wine and Journalism”. It is filled with stories of his vast experiences from growing up in small town Saskatchewan to travelling the world as a journalist. This provides the “terroir” from which Canada’s most prolific wine writer emerges as the author of 19 books about wine in BC and Canada. It’s a truly fascinating read to learn about someone who is more often out of the spotlight than in it. He knows so much about the wine industry in BC but that information only flows one way. Who is this guy? This book answers all of those questions.   It was a beautiful spring day on the back deck at his home in North Vancouver. We began the chat over a beautiful glass of Mirabel Chardonnay and chatting a little about one of his few non-wine books.Read John Schreiner's Wine Blog.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

If you think you know something about BC Wine but you don't know who John Schreiner is, then you still have a lot to learn about wine in this province. Wine in BC (and Canada) has not always been as good as it is now. At least a generation of wine drinkers now does not remember when Canadian wine was the butt of jokes and probably shouldn't have been consumed by humans before 1994. John saw the potential and began writing about it in the 1970s, publishing his first book about BC wine in 1984. As he says, he was a friend of BC wine when BC wine had no friends. I first read one of John's books more than 20 years ago, met him for the first time soon after that, and he’s been an inspiration and a mentor to me for well over a decade. John and I can talk about wine a lot and we both seem to lose track of time. Our affinity for the wines, the industry, and the personalities of the people in that industry seems to drive both of us. It’s always such a joy to get to chat with John. He’s got a new book of memoirs out now called “Goodgrog: A Life in Wine and Journalism”. It is filled with stories of his vast experiences from growing up in small town Saskatchewan to travelling the world as a journalist. This provides the “terroir” from which Canada’s most prolific wine writer emerges as the author of 19 books about wine in BC and Canada. It’s a truly fascinating read to learn about someone who is more often out of the spotlight than in it. He knows so much about the wine industry in BC but that information only flows one way. Who is this guy? This book answers all of those questions.   It was a beautiful spring day on the back deck at his home in North Vancouver. We began the chat over a beautiful glass of Mirabel Chardonnay and chatting a little about one of his few non-wine books.Read John Schreiner's Wine Blog.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!

This week I chat with Charlotte Messines, who works at Thompson and Scott who produce the Noughty Wines in London, England. Never heard of that winery? Well, they produce a whole line of no-alcohol wines that are really taking off right now. They’ve been on my radar for over a year when I was sent samples while writing The Sipster’s Pocket Guide, volume 2 (which is out now). I was really intrigued by the non-alcoholic category and when I found out that my friend Charlotte was working there, it seemed like a great excuse to catch up AND learn more about non-alcoholic wines. Charlotte has a history in the Okanagan - I met her back in 2018 when she was working at Wild Goose in Okanagan Falls and we have stayed in touch over the past 5 years.  Support the showContact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.)Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca. Thank you for listening!