Weston Eidson: A Live Chat With the Winemaker and His “Vertical”

What better way to celebrate the culinary and beverage geniouses of Fort Worth, TX than to partner with the James Beard Foundation? We think there is nothing better and Charisse and Kristi were honored to serve as podcast sponsors for the event held at Colonial Country Club on March 4.  With microphones in hand, the two took to task catching chefs and vendors before the kickoff of the 1.5 hour cocktail party.  The entire list of participants and sponsors can be found on the Colonial Culinary Classic website, but here is are the interviewees for this episode!

• Chef Martin Meadows - Colonial Country Club
• Chef Jon Bonnell - Bonnell's, Waters, Jon's Grill, Buffalo Bros
• Chef Blaine Staniford - 61 Osteria, Grace, Little Red Wasp
• Chef Jenny Castor - Luckybee Kitchen
• Chef Rodrigo Cárdenas - Don Artemio
• Chef  Maricsa Trejo - La Casita Bakeshop
• Chef Juan Rodrigues - Magdalena's
•  Matt Jacquinot - Holladay Bourbon
• Ashley Austin & Keith Beardsley - Delicato Family Wines
• Stacie Pearlman - Lalo Tequila
•  Grant Morgan - Hotel Drover
• Faith Fulginiti - Wilson Daniels
• Masumi Pinto - Fort Brewery
• Olivia Jacobs - Remus Bourbon Whiskey

A special shout out to Chef Amy McNutt of Maiden, Spiral Diner, and Dreamboat Donuts & Scoops for representing the Vegan community so well!  We'll get her on an upcoming podcast for sure!  There are many other chefs and vendors well deserving of a shout out - y'all did amazing!

Varsity Communications, led by Dick Stephens, partnered with Jeremy Lamb, Colonial Somm and F&B manager along with the Charles Schwab Challenge to bring this event to  Ft. Worth and Colonial for the 2nd year. This year was every bit as exciting and we know you'll want to join next year after hearing about it from our guests!

We would be absolutely remiss to not mention the James Beard Foundation who inspires the culinary scene all over the US through education, inspiration, support and scholarship.  Funds raised at the event go toward financial support for  young women who want to enter the culinary industry.  We can't think of a better cause!

THIS WEEK'S WINE FIND:  The Parkside Flask from High Camp Flasks!  CLICK HERE TO GET ONE WITH OUR SWTW DISCOUNT! Use discount code SOMMWOMENTALKWINE to save 15%!

Thanks again for your support and please share with all of your friends and fellow wine lovers!  You, our commu

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

Do you get confused with wine terms? What does flabby really even mean when it comes to wine? Fear no more! Charisse and Kristi tackle the definitions of many often used wine terms and break them down into simple, easily understandable meanings for you! From Awkward to Zippy (well, we actually forgot that one!), you’ll get a dictionary full of useful terms to help your wine journey make more sense!

We’re thrilled to have a new sponsor in WINE WIZE, wine education for business and service industry professionals!  

Cheers!
Charisse and Kristi

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

For most wine drinkers, Sauvignon Blanc is THE white wine of New Zealand. We're here to debunk yet another myth and challenge you to think about NZ Chardonnay! From the focus of organic / biodynamic / regenerative farming to low intervention winemaking, winemakers let the chameleon varietal shine.  The land, the climate, even within the same vineyard is creating amazingly different expressions of Chardonnay and we're super excited to share them with you!

We explore Chardonnay from Central Otago to Auckland through interviews with wineries and wine makers - this is a must listen episode for sure!

• Felton Road Wines, Bannockburn, Central Otago, South Island
  • Winemaker Blair Walter deep dives the distinct soil types even within same vineyard giving unique expression to their Chardonnay.  Passion for land as evidenced in their biodynamic farming practice leaves the true impression of care for NZ's land, - the soil just feels and smells different as if it’s a living breathing organism.
• Te Whare Ra, Marlborough, Northern part of South Island
  • Winemaker Anna Flowerday who partners (with her husband,  Jason, tends some of the oldest vineyards in the region with some dainge back 20+ years or more.  Organic / Biodynamic farming, minimal intervention winemaking (no fining agents, yeasts, winemaking and small batch focus, hand pick / hand sort grapes, keep 100% control of the vineyard to bottle) add complexity to their Chardonnay. 
  • Anna shares her humor as she describes their wines by pairing them with celeb personalities which is a fun idea, but you totally get it when you listen to her tell these stories
• Kumeu River, Auckland, North Island and Hawke’s Bay (purchased in 2017) 
  • Paul Brajkovich shares Kumeu River's history as family owned, long legacy of growing grapes and making wines back to the 1940s.
  • CHANCE OF A LIFETIME - similar to 1976 Judgement of Paris moment, Paul shares a blind tasting where Kumeu River's Chardonnay's 
    are placed against a range of Premier Cru and Village Burgundies from the best producers.  The panel of well known somms, wine critics and the like blinded the wines and Kumeu triumphed over top white Burgundies in every flight apart from one, where it came first equal (tied).
• Man O’War, Waiheke Island, part of Auckland region but distinctly separate
  • Takes 45 min ferry to island and another 45 min bus ride to the winery on the opposite side of island and you'll find yourself at Man O' War, an enormous 4500 acre farm - about 20% of total island - full of animals, beehives, gardens, vineyards, lodging for staff etc…  plus76 vineyards!
  • Cecelia Bravo hosts and shares how Man O' War is going against the grain with their Chardonnay!

While many of NZ's Chardonnay wines don't make it to the export market, we highly encourage you to seek some out and hopefully we'll get the word out for more and more distributors to get these lovelies into the US or wherever you're listening!

Cheers and, as always, LIKE, FOLLOW, SHARE!

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

From decanting to aging. From quality to color. From pairings to pourings. Charisse and Kristi tackle some of the top myths and misconceptions around wine! In the wine world where tradition has driven many of our consumption and selection decisions, it’s a whole new world out there!

Join us as we dive into some of the most common wine myths so you can decide or yourself which path you want to take on your wine journey. The path of tradition or the path or a walk on the wild side! Either way, we hope you’ll LIKE, FOLLOW, SHARE and let us know if there are other wine myths you’d like us to take on in a future episode!

Cheers to the END OF DRY JANUARY, or as we like to say TRY JANUARY!

Charisse & Kristi

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

Happy 2024!  Thank you for your support and encouragement during our launch year! We’re so excited to start the new year off with a deep dive into WINE TRAVEL!  Join us as we discuss how to prepare everything from where to go, what to do in advance and how to ensure your experience meets your wine travel goals!

We would love to know what topics YOU would like us to cover this year so please comment and share!

Cheers to an amazing year - what does 2024 have in store?  Follow, download, like and SHARE Somm Women Talk Wine podcast!

Charisse & Kristi

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

Happy New Year from Somm Women Talk Wine!  2023 was an amazing launch year and Charisse and Kristi could not be more thankful for every single person who has listened, downloaded, liked and most importantly shared our podcast with fellow wine lovers!

In launching our 2024 season, we’re kicking off with a recap of our top listened to and top downloaded episode on Summer Whites You’ve Likely Never Tried.  Join us as we chat with Dr. Kerri Lesh, Txakoli and Basque Country expert, and Peter Hemsted from St. Croix Vineyeards.

We’ll kick off our next new episode on Wine Travel January 17 and we know you won’t want to miss it!

Cheers to 2024!
Charisse & Kristi

#podcast #winepodcast #womeninwine

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

Cooler weather isn’t just for red wines.  Join Charisse and Kristi as we explore white wines perfect for all of your winter dinners, events and celebrations!  What makes a white wine winter delicious?  Tune in to learn stylistic differences, new varietals and tips and tricks to put white wines on your winter table.

Our Summer Whites You’ve Likely Never Tried being one of our most popular episodes.  So, we’re taking advantage of crisp cold mornings, fires in the fireplace and foods with richer sauces, creamy bases and winter herbs.  These shifts are driving our transition from crisp whites to luscious, round, spicy, and aromatic whites to warm your belly and put a smile on your face. 

Pop a cork, fill your glass and put a fire in the fireplace as you learn a while new style of wines to make your winter white wine list this year!

Cheers!
Charisse & Kristi

Special thanks to our sponsor The Magnolia Wine Bar in FTW and our theme song Swinging Sheppard by the late, great Paul Grey.

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

Wine lists are an integral part of a great dining experience.  Some people (Kristi being a guilty party) choose restaurants specifically by the wines on their list.  But how wine lists are built and curate takes special attention, focus, care and selectivity.  Ever wonder what goes into building them?  Then this is your episode!

Join Charisse and Kristi as they discuss the subject and have guest visits from a Huneeus Wines, AJ McGuckin, Director of Sales, and others in the industry to learn their tips for building a successful wine list.  Cuisine, atmosphere, menu pricing, and customer preferences all play important roles. Bottom line, wine lists are an extremely important part of the “identity” of a restaurant.

Don’t forget to join our Patreon page for special insights and episodes!  LIKE, FOLLOW, SHARE, COMMENT on your favorite platform and let us know what topics you’d like us to cover!

Cheers!
Charisse & Kristi

Insta:  @somm_women_talk_wine @kristiwinenerd

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

Live from The Magnolia Wine Bar!  SWTW’s first live event was a smashing hit and this episode has 2 parts - our pregame interview with Weston Eidson and snippets of our live discussion with audience participation - in the wine tasting of course!  We’ll apologize in advance for the background noise!

When winemaker Weston Eidson lets Mother Nature play leading lady in his wine styles for Montagu and Silver Ghost, popping the cork on his verticals is a delicious exploration.  In prepping for this episode, Charisse, Weston and Kristi searched high and low for the Silver Ghost 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon to round out our vertical tasting.  Not every plan comes together and we had to get creative!

• 2019 Silver Ghost was obviously a huge fan favorite - we couldn’t find any anywhere!
• 2020 fires in Napa were Mother Natures cruel way of testing Weston’s winemaking legacy as he scrapped his entire harvest rather than make smoke tainted wine

Never fear, we had the perfect solution!  2020 Montagu Pinot Noir, 2021 and 2022 Silver Ghost Cabs!  Not the typical vertical, but the wines led us down a fabulous path of exploration!  Stay tuned for a fun filled, informative chat followed by a whole lot of wine chatter!

For more on Weston’s wines check out:
Montagu Wines
Silver Ghost Cellars

Cheers and HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!
Charisse and Kristi 

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi

Let’s get down and dirty and talk about terroir, in particular soil.  Terroir is a word tossed around flippantly in the wine world without much explanation.  Simply put, it is a reference to the “sense of place” where grapevines grow.  This can include location, weather, altitude, rainfall, fog, proximity to water, angle to the sun or aspect, and many other elements, including soil. 

In this episode, Charisse and Kristi break down the most common soils ideal for vineyards and explain how the differences can influence wine long before harvest, fermentation and bottling.  Geomorphology, climate, flora and fauna as well as traditions can play a part in terroir.  But the one grounding element is the soil.

Join us as we deep dive into the grungy, dirty, dusty topic of soil!

Cheers!
Charisse and Kristi

PS: Special thanks to our sponsors:  The Magnolia Wine Bar and Texas Wine Club

And a special shout out for our theme song Swinging Shephard by the late, great Paul Gray.

Thanks for joining Somm Women Talk Wine! Check out our socials for more fun filled wine exploration!

Instagram:
@somm_women_talk_wine
@kristiwinenerd
@charissehenryfw
@kmayfield109

All episodes are also on our website:
SommWomenTalkWine

Charisse and Kristi