Grape Encounters Wine Radio Grape Encounters Radio

In the enchanting world of wine, where the romance of tradition meets modern innovation, Grape Encounters Radio invites listeners to tune in to a very special installment of the show, Episode #772. This week, host David Wilson welcomes Allison Jordan, a long-time favorite guest.  As is the case with any of her appearances on Grape Encounters, David never misses the opportunity to tease Allison about her super-sized job title, “Executive Director of the California Sustainable Winegrowing Alliance and Vice President of Environmental Affairs for the California Wine Institute.”

It’s a well-deserved title because Allison wears a lot of hats, doing the work of three or four mere mortals.  Accordingly, it would not be an exaggeration to say that sustainability in the California wine industry is as far along as it is because Allison Jordan is who she is; a remarkable leader with vision and drive who has enabled California winemakers and grape growers to achieve a level of sustainability that most would’ve deemed unthinkable just a few years ago. Who better to unveil the winners of the Tenth Annual California Green Medal Sustainable Winegrowing Leadership Awards? Allison is easily one of the most pleasant and entertaining wine experts in the country. But beyond that, she is also able to explain the subject of sustainability as it pertains to the gigantic California wine industry, in a fascinating and understandable way, without dumbing things down. This episode of Grape Encounters is 100% dedicated to the pioneers who blend heritage with foresight in the quest for sustainability.  There are four different categories, and the stories behind each recipient are absolutely mesmerizing.  Let’s take a brief look at each winner to whet your appetite, then you can hear the full story in Allison’s words.

The Leader Award: LangeTwins Family Winery and Vineyards

The prestigious Leader Award honors LangeTwins Family Winery and Vineyards for their exceptional dedication to sustainability that spans decades. Since the 1970s, LangeTwins has been the sustainability standard bearer with their eco-friendly practices, including habitat restoration, energy-efficient designs, and solar power advancements. Their community-oriented initiatives, like youth engagement and local collaborations to manage pests sustainably, demonstrate a profound commitment to the environment and the future of viticulture.

The Environment Award: Gloria Ferrer

Gloria Ferrer captured the Environment Award with its regenerative organic practices across 330 acres in Sonoma's Carneros region. By integrating technology like AI to optimize vineyard care, introducing biodiversity through cover crops, and fostering wildlife habitats, Gloria Ferrer not only enhances soil health but also ensures that its vineyards contribute positively to the surrounding ecosystem. Their dedication to minimizing environmental impact while maximizing wine quality sets a benchmark in sustainable wine growing.

The Community Award: Cooper-Garrod Vineyards at Garrod Farms

The Community Award is deservedly won by Cooper-Garrod Vineyards at Garrod Farms, located in the scenic Santa Cruz Mountains. This vineyard distinguishes itself not only through sustainable agriculture but also through its profound impact on the local community. Initiatives like the Firewise Community program and extensive community involvement in local causes exemplify their role as a pillar of societal support and environmental stewardship.

The Business Award: Vino Farms, LLC

Vino Farms, LLC, earned the Business Award for demonstrating that sustainability can go hand in hand with astute business practices. Located in Lodi, Vino Farms employs advanced technologies for water and soil management, utilizes renewable energy sources, and focuses on employee welfare. Their innovative practices ensure operational efficiencies, cost savings,

In the latest episode of Grape Encounters Radio, host David Wilson takes listeners on a deep dive into a culinary revolution that's been quietly simmering for over fifty years. This isn't just another cooking show; it’s a journey into how embracing a particular kitchen technology—the sous vide cooker—can not only reclaim the joy of cooking but also drastically cut household expenses by as much as $10,000 per year.



David begins by addressing a trend that has many Americans stepping away from traditional cooking—increasing reliance on meal kits and pre-prepared entrées from popular stores like Trader Joe's and Aldi's. He outlines the myriad reasons for this shift: the rising cost of ingredients, the time constraints of modern life, and the mess associated with cooking at home. But then, he presents a solution that could entice anyone back into the kitchen.



The Unintended Journey of the Sous Vide Cooker: A Tale of Serendipity and Culinary Innovation



The centerpiece of this week's episode is the sous vide cooker, a device about the size and weight of a hairdryer that has never seen the widespread adoption it deserves. David takes the audience through the fascinating history of this cooking method, marked by serendipity and innovation.



Our story begins with two men, Georges Pralus and Bruno Goussault, who in the mid-20th century, each sought to solve a culinary problem unrelated to what sous vide would eventually become. Pralus, a French chef, aimed to cook foie gras without losing too much fat, while Goussault, a scientist, wanted to enhance the tenderness of beef and address storage and stability issues that frequently plague institutional food producers.  Their separate quests converged as they realized the potential of their methods—cooking food sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath at a precisely controlled temperature. This technique, which they refined collaboratively, emerged not only as a method for preserving taste, texture, and nutritional value but also as a significant leap in culinary efficiency and convenience.



The Happy Accident That Changed Cooking



David eloquently describes sous vide as a happy accident—an innovation that neither inventor initially aimed to create but which has revolutionized cooking. The benefits are numerous: precision cooking ensures perfect results every time, sealed bags lock in flavor and moisture, and the process itself requires less energy and greatly reduces kitchen clean-up.



However, despite these advantages, the sous vide cooker remains underutilized, often perceived as too complex or costly for home use. David dispels these myths, promoting the sous vide method as not only accessible but also a transformational tool that simplifies cooking, reduces costs, and enhances the culinary experience.



A Call to Action: Embrace the Future of Cooking



David concludes by urging listeners to open their kitchens and minds to the sous vide cooker. He emphasizes that this technology, once embraced, can save significant money, reduce cooking and cleaning time, and elevate the quality of meals—enabling anyone to achieve restaurant-quality results at home.



This powerful episode of Grape Encounters Radio not only educates but also inspires, promising listeners that they can realize most of these benefits in just a single day—a potential game changer for any home cook.  Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More!  Find what you love, and love what you find, at TotalWine.com!

It’s back!  We don't run many repeats, but when we do, they have to be mighty special... and this hour-long kitchen table conversation with #1 best-selling author Natalie MacLean--arguably America's finest wine and food author--is just a click away. Natalie’s new release, Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much, is our most downloaded episode of Grape Encounters this year.

HOST DAVID WILSON SAYS:

For many years, I have been telling you that Natalie epitomizes what a great food critic and author is. From her poignant and profoundly insightful wine reviews to her mesmerizing best-selling epistles, Natalie MacLean is essential reading for anyone who calls themselves a foodie or wine enthusiast.  In all that she does, this beloved author is spot on... and once you start reading any one of her works, it's nearly impossible to set it down. But it's one thing to read her words and quite another thing to listen to her insights straight from her lips. That's why this deeply intimate conversation with Natalie was such a tremendous privilege and treat.  The only thing that I can recall looking forward to as much was my first trip to Disneyland at age 6.

Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much… is easily the summer’s number one read in the food and wine category, but don’t let the whimsical title lead you to believe this is a lighthearted tribute to your favorite drink.  Quite the opposite.  Natalie’s latest work is raw, daring, and deeply disturbing at times, as she shares experiences that most people in her shoes would keep tightly bottled up and stashed in the darkest corner of the cellar, where it is to remain unopened for an eternity. Sadly, there has long been a dark side to the wine business, and as one of the industry's most revered critics, she often had to face the full force of foes determined to dethrone her.

Wine Witch on Fire: Rising from the Ashes of Divorce, Defamation, and Drinking Too Much (Dundurn Press) is a powerful memoir of how one woman resurrects her life and career in the glamorous but sexist wine industry. The story begins with her husband of twenty years, a high-powered CEO, demanding a divorce. Then an online mob of rivals comes for her career.

Wavering between depression and determination, she must fight for her son, rebuild her career, and salvage her self-worth using her superpowers: heart, humor, and an uncanny ability to pair wine and food. Natalie confronts her insider role in the slick marketing encouraging women to drink too much while she battles the veiled misogyny of the wine world. However, Natalie eventually prevails after all the misery that others put her through, and she joins us to tell her story with the warmth of a lick on the cheek from a Golden Retriever puppy! Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More!  Find what you love, and love what you find, at TotalWine.com!

This edition of Grape Encounters is brought to you by Total Wine & More.  Find what you love and love what you find at Total Wine & More.



Just over a month ago, a captivating debate bubbled up among the wine lovers of California's Central Coast and quickly spilled over into the digital vineyards of social media, engaging a broad audience in a conversation that was anything but pedestrian. Grape Encounters Radio was thoroughly delighted to fire the starting pistol as the discussion began to unfold. But it was very clear that a lot of people would weigh in on this conversation, so we reserved some airtime 30 days down the road, hoping to bring you some significant insights once more people had had a chance to put in their two cents worth. And did they ever! So, in this episode, we are checking back in with you to share in admittedly unscientific terms what we've observed, but do we ever have a special surprise to add to this week's conversation? More on that in the moment.



One thing is absolutely certain, as you're about to hear: If you compare the attitudes of consumers and industry professionals today versus, say, a decade ago, priorities have definitely changed with an undeniable shift in the wine world's collective consciousness. What truly matters most?  Is it science, technique, expertise, and terroir that deserve the standing ovation, or are the primal moans of pleasure the only true indicators of a job well done?  Could the wisdom of years and the challenges of recent times be softening our resolve on rigid wine dogmas, inviting us to sip through a lens of newfound freedom and joy?



This episode is steeped in the essence of rediscovery, prompted by the insatiable curiosity of winemaker Larry Schaeffer of Tercero Wines, who had a hunch that this might be a good time to revisit our priorities.  Perhaps it would be a pointless undertaking, given the fact that for decades now, we've largely been content to agree to disagree.  But even in the deeply polarized world of wine, there seems to be a fresh scent in the air... perhaps a willingness to embrace wine without the encumbrances of tradition



In a world momentarily brought to a standstill by the global pandemic. As we navigate the complexities of climate change, political upheaval, and personal trials, this episode reflects our collective yearning for life's uncomplicated pleasures. It's a call to relive the joy of discovering a great film, the excitement of exploring new music, and the unadulterated pleasure of savoring a glass of wine that tastes 'darn good'—unburdened by the weight of connoisseurship.



Central to this episode is a treasured interview that has spent the past four years under lock and key in the maximum security Grape Encounters archives.  It's a heartwarming interview that David did just a few days before the Covid lockdown with Jancis Robinson, the preeminent wine journalist and educator whose insights have shaped the wine world. Conducted in the ephemeral tranquility before the world was commanded to shelter in place, this conversation stands as a testament to the episode's theme. Robinson's wisdom underscores the importance of embracing wine with levity and joy, focusing on the aspects of wine education that resonate on a personal level, rather than adhering strictly to conventional wisdom. The conversation clearly makes the point that, even before Covid caused us all to live every day like it could be our last, the world was already reassessing its all-work, no-play state of affairs.



As we revisit this dialogue, Grape Encounters Radio Episode 768 invites you on a vinous voyage that celebrates the individuality of wine enjoyment. Featuring a diverse cast from casual enthusiasts to seasoned vintners, this episode is a tribute to the spirit of wine itself—ever-evolving, deeply personal, and universally binding.

This week, in the whimsical world of "Grape Encounters Radio," where the love of wine and food dances freely with the spirit of adventure, your host, David Wilson, takes a moment to don his chef's hat—figuratively speaking—and delve into a topic that's been simmering on the back burner of America's culinary consciousness. Yes, dear food fanatics, we're talking about the great kitchen exodus, the flight from flavor, the very unraveling of the apron strings that once tied us to the heart of the home. In this special episode, David, with his tongue planted firmly in cheek, stages an intervention, of sorts, on behalf of the American palate, one homemade bite at a time.

Picture this: It's late at night, and David can't seem to catch the express train to dreamland. So, he resorts to the digital answer to melatonin… YouTube. YouTube food and cooking videos to be more precise, and within minutes, he’s deep down the rabbit hole, and there, in the glow of his screen, he encounters the culinary equivalent of a car crash that you can't look away from, even though you know you should. There’s something ironic about a cooking video being so painful to watch that it literally upsets your stomach, but this one really took the cake; or the lasagna as the case may be.

There is no shortage of pointless, error-laden productions like this one on YouTube. The video features an elderly couple, armed with nothing but the ‘finest’ ingredients, including bargain basement pasta sauce in a jar, pre-shredded processed cheese, and lasagna noodles. If you’re wondering about other ingredients typically found in most lasagna recipes, like eggs, Parmesan cheese, various Italian seasonings, and so on, can you even imagine what Julia Child must be thinking?  Accordingly, David has once again made it his mission; to rescue the art of cooking from the jaws of convenience.

Armed with statistics that are as startling as finding a raisin in your toothpaste, David paints a picture of a nation at a culinary crossroads. Nearly half of Americans would rather walk over hot coals than think about what to cook for dinner. The microwave reigns supreme in the kingdom of kitchen appliances, while Mexican food, with its assembly line of jarred and canned shortcuts, sits atop the throne of America’s dinner choices. It's a gastronomic Groundhog Day, with 55% of people admitting to using meal kits to break the monotony, particularly on the dreaded day of culinary creativity: Friday.

David's exploration doesn't stop at the borders of the present; he takes us on a journey through time, charting the course of cooking skills from the robust repertoire of the Baby Boomers to the minimalist menu of Gen Z. It's a generational game of culinary telephone, where the message gets more garbled with each pass.  Yet fear not, dear listeners, for this episode is not all doom and gloom served on a bed of wilted lettuce. David, in his characteristic blend of humor and hope, shares his kitchen conquests, proving that you can teach an old dog new tricks, or in this case, new recipes. With a few strategic swaps and a dash of daring, he shows us how to turn kitchen duty from a chore into a charm, making meals that are as easy on the clock as they are on the palate.

This episode of Grape Encounters is Brought to you by Total Wine and More!  Find what you love and love what you find at Total Wine and More!

This week, in the whimsical world of "Grape Encounters Radio," where the love of wine and food dances freely with the spirit of adventure, your host, David Wilson, takes a moment to don his chef's hat—figuratively speaking—and delve into a topic that's been simmering on the back burner of America's culinary consciousness. Yes, dear food fanatics, we're talking about the great kitchen exodus, the flight from flavor, the very unraveling of the apron strings that once tied us to the heart of the home. In this special episode, David, with his tongue planted firmly in cheek, stages an intervention, of sorts, on behalf of the American palate, one homemade bite at a time.

Picture this: It's late at night, and David can't seem to catch the express train to dreamland. So, he resorts to the digital answer to melatonin… YouTube. YouTube food and cooking videos to be more precise, and within minutes, he’s deep down the rabbit hole, and there, in the glow of his screen, he encounters the culinary equivalent of a car crash that you can't look away from, even though you know you should. There’s something ironic about a cooking video being so painful to watch that it literally upsets your stomach, but this one really took the cake; or the lasagna as the case may be.

There is no shortage of pointless, error-laden productions like this one on YouTube. The video features an elderly couple, armed with nothing but the ‘finest’ ingredients, including bargain basement pasta sauce in a jar, pre-shredded processed cheese, and lasagna noodles. If you’re wondering about other ingredients typically found in most lasagna recipes, like eggs, Parmesan cheese, various Italian seasonings, and so on, can you even imagine what Julia Child must be thinking?  Accordingly, David has once again made it his mission; to rescue the art of cooking from the jaws of convenience.

Armed with statistics that are as startling as finding a raisin in your toothpaste, David paints a picture of a nation at a culinary crossroads. Nearly half of Americans would rather walk over hot coals than think about what to cook for dinner. The microwave reigns supreme in the kingdom of kitchen appliances, while Mexican food, with its assembly line of jarred and canned shortcuts, sits atop the throne of America’s dinner choices. It's a gastronomic Groundhog Day, with 55% of people admitting to using meal kits to break the monotony, particularly on the dreaded day of culinary creativity: Friday.

David's exploration doesn't stop at the borders of the present; he takes us on a journey through time, charting the course of cooking skills from the robust repertoire of the Baby Boomers to the minimalist menu of Gen Z. It's a generational game of culinary telephone, where the message gets more garbled with each pass.  Yet fear not, dear listeners, for this episode is not all doom and gloom served on a bed of wilted lettuce. David, in his characteristic blend of humor and hope, shares his kitchen conquests, proving that you can teach an old dog new tricks, or in this case, new recipes. With a few strategic swaps and a dash of daring, he shows us how to turn kitchen duty from a chore into a charm, making meals that are as easy on the clock as they are on the palate.

This episode of Grape Encounters is Brought to you by Total Wine and More!  Find what you love and love what you find at Total Wine and More!