The Sipster's Wine Podcast

The Sipster's Wine Podcast

Hello Sipsters! Welcome to the newest podcast about a new way to experience wine. There will be no simplified point scores or effusive tasting notes – only experiences with wine. Based on the popular book "The Sipster’s Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines", this podcast will feature conversations with people who experience wines in their own way – wine lovers, winemakers, winery owners, influencers, and wine collectors. Pop the cork on your podcast app and enjoy the wine experience! Hosted by author and wine industry sales and marketing professional and wine educator Luke Whittall.

Episodes

February 7, 2024 30 mins

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 win...

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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 ...

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December 22, 2023 71 mins

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 (sp...

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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...

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December 6, 2023 34 mins

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 show

Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!
Purchase copies of "The Sipsters Pocket Guides" here!
Support the Sipsters Podcast by subscribing!
Read Sipste...

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November 29, 2023 55 mins

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 ...

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November 22, 2023 61 mins

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 ...

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November 15, 2023 60 mins

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...

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October 25, 2023 58 mins

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.  

...
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October 18, 2023 70 mins

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...

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October 11, 2023 29 mins

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'...

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August 30, 2023 38 mins

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 so...

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August 23, 2023 12 mins

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.

Some of the links mentioned in this episode:
CBC Kelowna - Daybreak with Chris Walker
Castanet News
BC Wildfire Service Map
JancisRobinson.com article by Arnica Rowan
Niche Win...

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August 16, 2023 61 mins

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 ...

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August 9, 2023 43 mins

*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 ...

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August 2, 2023 36 mins

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...

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July 26, 2023 41 mins

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 ...

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July 20, 2023 20 mins

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 show

Contact 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 Sipstersw...

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June 6, 2023 60 mins

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...

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May 30, 2023 49 mins

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...

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