Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Sipster's Podcast
| Titre | Date | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Do we have Cellar Palate? | 14 Jan 2026 | 01:04:59 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This one is a bit controversial in some ways. One of the criticisms I've heard levelled against the industry in the Okanagan is that a lot of us have 'cellar palate'. In my travels across Canada, I have not noticed this topic in conversation as much in Ontario as I have noticed in British Columbia. Essentially, 'cellar palate' happens when a winery employee 'becomes too acclimatized to their own wines or those of their neighbours'. (See Jancis Robinson's article that I mentioned in the podcast here.) Basically, they start to judge wines from other regions or styles based on their own wines. I've met plenty of people who only like BC wine and won't try anything else. I did a podcast a long time ago where everyone was supposed to bring a bottle of their favourite wines and one person brought a wine from the winery where they worked, which was against my one and only rule that we never pumped our own wineries' brands (the ones where we all worked) on the podcast. I've been susceptible to it as well. I totally recall not liking any white wines that I tasted from Washington State in 2010 when I attended the Wine Blogger's Conference in Walla Walla. They all tasted flabby to me - not enough acidity. Of course, even then after only 3 years living in the Okanagan, I was used to the higher acid wines in BC. It took time to appreciate the lower-acid wines from Washington State. So, enjoy this discussion and tasting that features three wines tasted blind. It's a long episode but worth listening all the way through. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Thank you for 2025 - On to 2026 | 31 Dec 2025 | 00:34:02 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . A few thoughts at the end of 2025 to welcome in 2026. Happy New Year Sipsters! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Summer Flashback Painted Rock Estate Winery in 2010 | 02 Jul 2025 | 00:40:13 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This is the first Sipster's Summer Flashback series with episodes from my Wine Country BC podcast that began in 2009. Tonight’s conversation is from an episode released in April of 2010 and features John Skinner, owner of Painted Rock winery right before he’d even opened the doors on a temporary wine shop (a home depot shack). It’s a cool conversation that shows the beginnings of a winery that has now become a Grand Cru of the Okanagan valley. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Whiskey Tasting with Paul Henbury, Part 2 | 25 Jun 2025 | 00:58:13 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This is part 2 of the whiskey tasting with Paul Henbury. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Whiskey Tasting with Paul Henbury, Part 1 | 18 Jun 2025 | 00:49:11 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . It's a Sipster gathering around a small basement table with one of my oldest friends Paul Henbury. Paul has been in the hospitality industry and worked at wineries in the Okanagan Valley so he knows his way around a wine tasting. When he mentioned his favour way to taste whisky in a discussion a few weeks back, I knew it would be perfect for a podcast. This is part 1 of 2. Part 2 which is coming out next week. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Drinking Outside the Box | 11 Jun 2025 | 00:30:48 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Finally, it's my turn to stump the gang with a slightly obscure wine to most people (but not if you've read a Sipster's book or listened to a podcast recently...). This one has twists and turns, mayhem and excitement, thrills and spills... Ok, no spills. No wine was harmed in the making of this podcast. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Karen's Great Fake Out | 04 Jun 2025 | 00:28:11 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Blind tasting can be a lot of fun but it can get competitive. The best players are the ones that know what information to give at all times, even in the small talk leading up to a tasting. Sipsters are less competitive but still like the challenge of a blind tasting for the fun of it. Karen's reveal shows that's she's not only a strategic blind wine taster, but also an elite-level Sipster. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Jess White Stumps Some of Us | 29 May 2025 | 00:27:24 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Ok, mostly me. but this was a fun one for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that this situation will be part of wine tasting in BC for years going forward. Is that a good thing? We'll see. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Dr. Don Livermore on Wiser's Stanley Cup Whiskey | 21 May 2025 | 00:28:41 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This week’s podcast features a chat with Dr. Don Livermore. Though you are unlikely to know who he is, it is entirely likely that you have had products that he has overseen in his nearly 30 years at the Hiram-Walker distillery and the brand in question today - J.P. Wiser's, which is Canada’s longest running brand of whisky. Wiser's is older than Canada, if that gives you some indication Dr. Don is, on paper, a Master Blender, but in reality, he’s a virtuoso performer in that roll. He is the first Canadian to win Master Blender of the Year in the world at the World Whisky Awards. He developed the Canadian Whisky Flavour Wheel, a comprehensive and must-have resource for anyone interested in learning more about flavours in Canadian whisky. More than anything though, he is an amazing ambassador for Canadian whisky and is willing to take time to talk about the history, the chemistry, and art of making whisky. I really hope to have him on the podcast again in the future to learn more about the history of whisky in Canada. So here it I, my conversation with Dr. Don Livermore from JP Wiser’s. Cheers everyone! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Blair's Blind Tasting Surprise | 15 May 2025 | 00:27:44 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Blind tastings are a fun way to hone your skills. In this episode, I have assembled a team of amazing tasters to help solve the mystery wine. Will anyone get it right? Is that the point? Find out as we taste through a wine that Blair shared with us. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Living the Local Life | 16 Apr 2025 | 00:36:23 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . What does it really mean to buy local? Has that changed for us Canadians with all of the political things happening in the US? Is it a stretch to call a Mexican wine local? Jess and I delve into this topic over two 'local' wines that aren't from BC. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Gearing up for 2025 - Jess Studies BC Wine History | 09 Apr 2025 | 00:56:52 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . In her never-ending quest to provide amazing experiences for her tour guests, Farm to Glass Wine Tour owner Jessie Hopwood re-reads Valleys of Wine, the only comprehensive history of BC's wine industry. In this special podcasts, she interviews the author and finds out how much he remembers with an intense quiz. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| 10 Years Gone - Tribute to Aaron Olfert | 10 Dec 2025 | 00:21:44 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This is a special tribute episode for my brother in wine, Aaron Olfert. It's been ten years since he left this world. This is a flashback to some of his great podcast moments as well as new stories from his best friends. This podcast took a long time to produce but I hope it is a fitting tribute to a great person and the godfather of all Sipsters. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Down with punt, up with dimple | 05 Mar 2025 | 00:26:02 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Ever wondered about wine competitions? Where do wines get their gold and silver awards? What do they mean?? Jess and I tackle this controversial topic. But wait, there's more! The wine word of the day - or is it week - is Punt. Do you prefer a bottle with out or without? Do you know what it is? We'll tell you. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Videos and Verticals | 26 Feb 2025 | 00:26:56 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . We're back! Jess joins me from her flex space (aka the Podcast Closet) for this quick chat about the possibility of adding video to the Sipster's Podcast. What do you think? Is it worth it? Are we really that awesome looking? Send us an email or a comment somewhere and let us know. We also dive into our wine word of the week - Vertical. What is a wine vertical? Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Forking Hangry with Chef Jill | 22 Jan 2025 | 00:45:03 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This episode is a chat with Jillian Hillier, better known online as @faretheewellbychefjill. Chef Jill has a lot to say about eating healthy and all of those dietary restrictions that everybody seems to have these days. I met her last November at the Crushable Club Wine Studio in Toronto, run by wine maven (and previous podcast guest Laura Milnes). We had a great time chatting about wine and food and I thought that she would be an excellent podcast guest. You can actually see photos of the night that we were there the new version of Laura’s Crushable club website. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Visiting Jennifer Carleton in Ontario | 08 Jan 2025 | 00:50:37 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This week’s podcast is a revisit with Jennifer Carleton. We recorded her previous podcast last spring over a video call when we were both in the Okanagan Valley. She invited me to visit her amazing wine room at her home in Peterborough, Ontario at some point if I was ever there and, last November, I was! She travels regularly between BC and Ontario and is one of the few wine people I know who can talk about either region with ease. She feels at home in both places and has her own wine friends and scenes in each place. As we chatted, we tasted a really nice BC Syrah from CedarCreek and discovered that there is a very good chance that we actually met almost 20 years ago at my very first job in the wine industry. Lots of great wine culture info in this one. I hope you enjoy. Here we go! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Glengarry County's Stonehouse Vineyard | 23 Dec 2024 | 01:06:05 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . I get to speak with Joanne Pratt and Craig MacMillan, the owners of Stonehouse Vineyard in Lochiel, Ontario. Unless you’ve read either of my two Sipsters Pocket Guides to 50 Must-Try Ontario Wines, there is little chance that you could have even heard of Stonehouse before. The winery is in a converted barn and the whole property is perched on the top of a beautiful ridge in far eastern Ontario - the first vineyard operating in the area - just before the Quebec border in Glengarry county. If you’ve ever driven the 401 between Montreal and Toronto or the 417 between Montreal and Ottawa, then you have passed through Glengarry County. Drive away from either of those highways and you’ll be in some of the most beautiful farmland in the province, if not the country. Joanne and Craig have really done their homework. They know that making great wine is only one step to a successful winery. They’ve also been carefully building their brand, creating associations with other cold climate wineries, and encouraging academic research with Concordia University to help literally break ground and pioneer a wine industry in a new region. It was really exciting for me to witness this first hand and I’m so glad that I was able to connect with them when I was in the area this past November. Thank you for continuing to listen to the Sipster’s Podcast. I know I haven’t done as many episodes this past year as I’d hoped but I am hoping to continue producing more podcasts in 2025. I love podcasts and this is truly a labour of love. Thank you so much for your support. I wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and all the best for in the new year. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Savon Du Bois | 04 Dec 2024 | 00:41:41 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This week’s guest is Anne Du Bois who own Savon Du Bois in Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario. I’ve always wanted to do an episode like this because it is not directly about wine but rather, about aromas almost exclusively. Anne Du Bois is an aromatherapist and perfumer who extracts her own scents and essential elements from botanicals to create a huge array of products from perfumes, essential oils, soaps, lotions, and salts, which is only a small amount of the things that Anne offers in her store. She oversees the production of all of it personally and is passionate about how aromas, and the ingredients that go into producing them, can impact our lives and our health. I have been to the County many times in the past few years and only noticed her store on Main Street this past November on my last visit. I was walking down the street when suddenly I smelled the most amazing things walking past the door to one of the shops. Walking into her store is like immersing yourself in beauty. I probably spent about a half hour there just smelling everything I could as well as reading the stories on some of the packaging, part of some amazing marketing that she’s created on the packaging of her carefully crafted scented products. Thankfully, Anne had time to meet me the next morning - the last morning that I was going to be in Picton - to record this conversation. Visit Savon Du Bois online at savondubois.com. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| American Grapes in BC Bottles | 06 Nov 2024 | 00:42:09 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This is going to be controversial. After a bad couple of winters, some BC wineries have imported grapes outside of BC to make wine. Some BC wineries have refused to do that. Will they be labelled the same? Are they going to cost less? In this podcast, Jess and I discuss what we think should happen to these wines. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Jess is a Nova Scotia Princess | 23 Oct 2024 | 00:56:28 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . It's more about Nova Scotia this week! Jess and I taste through a couple more wines from her trip, including wines from L'Acadie and Luckett vineyards. We discuss our Tidal Bay experiences and offer suggestions for donair pairings. It's an east coast feast. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Greenhouse Wines in Quebec | 09 Oct 2024 | 00:51:27 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Can grapes be grown in a greenhouse? Apparently yes. I get to taste a couple wines in this episode with Marc Desaulnier and Annabelle Harper, winemaker and assistant winemaker respectively at Vins Zyromski in Rivière-Rouge, Quebec. https://vinszyromski.com/ Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Nova Scotia Wines, Muskoka Chairs, and the most exciting wines of 2024 | 25 Sep 2024 | 00:44:55 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Jess is back! In this episode, we talk about the value of wines in Nova Scotia, why disagreeing makes for a better podcast, and if there really is a difference between Adirondak and Muskoka chairs. We also recap our summer and some of the most amazing wines that we tasted recently. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Solvero Winemaker Alison Moyes | 05 Nov 2025 | 00:41:50 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Alison Moyes loves Pinot Noir and it's clear that it's mutual. Working with this grape for the past 15 years, she has met the challenges of the most finicky of grapes variety in three different wineries in three different sub-regions with apparent ease. She's curious, thoughtful, and well-spoken, all of which you will hear in this candid conversation that took place near the end of her 5th vintage with Solvero Wines. Turns out we had a lot in common, growing up in central Canada, going to university on the east coast, and then coming to BC. It was fun to finally be able to sit down and chat with her about wine, the university, and everything. Disclaimer: When I have winemakers on this podcast, it tends to get a little geeky. We don’t really stop to explain some of the more technical things that we talk about but please search for anything that you don't understand. Learning is fun! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| The Innovator - Sandra Oldfield | 11 Sep 2024 | 00:59:06 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Whatever innovations have happened in the BC wine industry in the past 30 years, Sandra Oldfield has been a part of it. The first wine club in British Columbia - The Crush Club at Tinhorn Creek - happened on her watch. In a world of industry followers, she is a leader. I've been trying to get her to record a podcast with me for years, which is almost the same amount of time that we've been seeing each other at school plays and parent-teacher interviews. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Tribute to Tim Watts from Kettle Valley Winery | 24 Jul 2024 | 00:20:01 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Tim Watts, co-owner of Kettle Valley Winery in Naramata, was an early mentor in my wine career. I worked at several wineries in production and I worked at Kettle Valley in 2008. Tim and Bob Ferguson were hands-on owners, working at every aspect of their business themselves, which meant that when I worked there, I got to try out all kinds of different things too. I loved that about working there because every day was different and every day meant that I could be learning something new. In addition to all of the normal cellar tasks, I also learned how to prune grapevines, shoot thin, tuck, cluster thin, cut tops, install bird netting, and drive very old pickup trucks. I also got really good at installing PVC irrigation pipe, wires, hoses, and emitters. It was all hands-on and Tim was the one that showed me how it was done. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Angelic Wines with Shay Code | 19 Jun 2024 | 01:12:04 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This is one of those super-sized podcasts with a lot of info in a great conversation with Shay Code, owner and winemaker at his winery Code Wines in Okanagan Falls, BC. Perched at the base of Peach Cliff above the town, Code Wines occupies an extraordinarily unique vineyard site. Shay tells about how he got into wine and what led him to plant the grapes on this amazing piece of land. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Do People in Ontario Really Like BC Wine? Jenn Carleton knows... | 12 Jun 2024 | 00:51:47 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Jennifer Carleton joins me on the podcast this week. She has a unique perspective on Canadian wine because she travels regularly between Ontario and BC and hears all about what each provinces says about the other's wines. Jenn is extremely well-spoken and enthusiastic about wine. Find her online at her website Jenn's Wine Crush. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| AMA The Questions Episode | 05 Jun 2024 | 00:54:07 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . In a bid to learn more about each other, Jess and I get into the serious questions about wine and life. Support Sipsters by subscribing! Thank you so much for listening! Order your Sipster's Pocket Guides at your favourite online retailer, bookstore, or winery near you. You can also order directly from me here! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Blind Tasting with Tonia McArthur | 29 May 2024 | 00:41:06 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Tonia McArthur rejoins me for a great conversation, this time in the Sipster's studio instead of at a noisy coffee shop. We talk about her recent appearance in the new Sipster's Pocket Guide to 50 More Must-Try BC Wines Volume 3 while I blind her on a mysterious sparkling wine. Find Tonia online on her website and learn about her amazing scoring system for wines. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| We're F&$@3D - The State of BC's Vineyards with Christopher Mark | 22 May 2024 | 00:55:44 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Christopher Mark from Vintality Tech Inc. joins me on the podcast this week. We talk about all things vineyards in this one, which is a hot topic among more than just wine enthusiasts these days. Everyone seems to have heard that BC's interior has had it bad over the past few years. Chris is literally at ground zero for around the Okanagan and Similkameen Valleys with his company as he monitors and analyzes vineyard health using the latest technology and data methods. He's got a lot to say about what happened and about the dangers that the vines in BC's wine country could still be facing as the weather warms up. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Thank you so much for listening! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Singalong with Jess and Luke | 08 May 2024 | 00:47:27 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This week on the podcast, Jessie Hopwood returns for a visit to catch up and talk about the state of BC’s wine industry after a crazy winter. We'll catch up with why there haven't been any podcasts lately, how to get into the wine industry, and why you should never ferment raspberry wine in a condo unless you have home insurance. It’s a fun and casual conversation over glasses of Oak Estate Winery Cherish Merlot 2022 from Summerland, British Columbia. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Thank you so much for listening! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| The Sippie Awards 2024 Winners | 07 Feb 2024 | 00:31:41 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . It’s the first annual SIPPIE AWARDS and here are the WINNERS! 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! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| It's the 2024 Sippie Awards Honourable Mentions | 31 Jan 2024 | 00:35:02 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Here's a little bit of fun to start off the podcast in 2024. It's the first annual SIPPIE AWARDS!! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Blind Drunk with Veronica Woodruff | 22 Oct 2025 | 01:01:21 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Veronica Woodruff's Blind Drunk: A Sober Look at our Boozy Culture is exactly the commentary on the culture of alcohol we need right now. I’ve written about cavalier attitudes towards alcohol before in blogs and even in parts of the Sipster’s books but I was thrilled to see a full-length book about it. Blind Drunk is 3 parts memoir and 1 part academic research. Written from a place of serious authority by the right person at the right time, Veronica has asked tough questions without judgement or an agenda. Agree or disagree, she provides a safe space to challenge what the role of alcohol is in modern society. The answers are on a spectrum rather than being clear-cut black and white. This should be essential reading for anyone who drinks anything. Find Blind Drunk on Veronica's website. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Canadian Wine with Ann Sperling | 23 Dec 2023 | 01:12:17 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Crushing It Niagara Style with Graham Rennie and Matt Loney | 14 Dec 2023 | 01:02:47 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Chilling with Sue-Ann Staff, Part 2 | 06 Dec 2023 | 00:34:51 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Chilling with Sue-Ann Staff, Part 1 | 29 Nov 2023 | 00:56:11 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| On Seven Vineyards in Niagara on the Lake | 22 Nov 2023 | 01:02:02 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Catching up with Noelle Starzynski | 15 Nov 2023 | 01:00:22 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Full of Rigour and Whimsy | 25 Oct 2023 | 00:58:37 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Join the Club - Carl Boucher is here! | 18 Oct 2023 | 01:10:54 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Getting Busy in Season 2! | 11 Oct 2023 | 00:29:58 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| When Wineries Don't Get It Right | 30 Aug 2023 | 00:38:22 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Season 4 The Fandango Premier | 15 Oct 2025 | 00:46:57 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . OMG, it's finally the start of the 4th season of the Sipter's Podcast!! Where have we been? Working. Hard. And a lot. Jess and I have both been busy but were glad to take some time out to do something we both love doing - tasting wine and recording podcasts. In this episode, we dive into the big topics - What is Luke's favourite white wine, what's up with the 2025 vintage, and are the wines made with non-BC grapes really worth it? Sit back, pour yourself a glass of something you find tasty, and enjoy! Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| Wildfires and Gratitude | 23 Aug 2023 | 00:12:04 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This is a different episode, recorded within the smoke-filled Okanagan Valley. It has not been an easy time here lately and this podcast is a little window into that time when smoke clogs the valley and fires dominate the news. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| That One Time in a Tesla | 16 Aug 2023 | 01:01:33 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| The Other One with Laura Milnes | 09 Aug 2023 | 00:43:47 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . *If you haven't yet, you should probably listen to Part 1 of this conversation first.* 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||
| The One with Laura Milnes | 02 Aug 2023 | 00:37:13 | |
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . 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. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here! Support Sipsters by subscribing! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! | |||