Taste Toast Travel
Hey, friends! Welcome to the Taste Toast Travel Podcast! We're your hosts and resident foodies, epicureans, and lovers of all things travel and exploration, John and Tara. John is a certified Sommelier and a Certified Specialist of Wine, and has worked in the wine and hospitality industry for over 10 years. Tara has worked in the wine industry for eight years both in hospitality and digital marketing. When we first met, we bonded over our love of eating, drinking, and traveling the world. That passion has only grown over time, now we want to share this passion with you from an insider perspective. On this podcast, you can expect a wide range of topics on all things food, travel, and beverage. This includes non-alcoholic drinks, too, because we don't discriminate here! That means we'll dig into things like where to go, where to stay and what to eat or drink along the way. We'll be serving tea on hot topics and big news, dig into the cultural significance and impacts that food, drink, and travel have on our lives, and we'll even bring on guests to join us who are just as excited, passionate, and knowledgeable about tasting, toasting, and traveling as we are. And, because we're not your ordinary foodie and travel-focused podcast, you can definitely expect some pop culture topics here, too. We're only scratching the surface and have a lot more in store that we can't wait to share with you all. Grab your favorite beverage, get comfortable, and enjoy the journey with us. Cheers!
Episodes
We're digging into several pop culture topics and headlines in food, drink, travel industries!
✈️ The significant impact of tariffs on the alcohol industry, focusing on the ongoing U.S. and Canada tensions.
✈️ The etiquette of sharing appetizers and splitting bills at restaurants.
✈️ The best airlines for nervous flyers in 2025.
✈️ New flight offerings to Italy and how you can enjoy them.
We’re going back to our roots (working in the wine industry) and digging into the world of wine and food pairings!
We're chatting about the fundamental principles of pairing wine with food, both from a theoretical and a practical perspective. John shares his expertise as a certified Sommelier, explaining why certain wines enhance specific dishes and debunking common myths about wine pairings.
Th...
Today we’re chatting with Grace Simmons, Confidence & Mindset Coach and founder of Amethyst Palaver Hut.
In this episode you’ll gain practical tips for easing into solo travel, and how to make the most of those experiences so it’s as empowering and enriching as possible. You’ll also get Grace’s valuable perspective on the benefits of taking time for self-care and the importance of incorporating wellness i...
We’re digging into a variety of topics in this episode!
🎧 Current events in Formula 1
🎧 Our BIGGEST pet peeve when it comes to parking lot etiquette (and the psychological reasons behind them)
🎧 An update on new travel regulations for Americans traveling to Europe
🎧 Digital nomad Visas
🎧 New ways the wine industry is trying to revitalize itself
🎧 Thoughts on traveling with young children, and...
Tara’s taking over the podcast with a solo episode all about air travel and flight anxiety.
Given recent aviation incidents and the overall atmosphere of uncertainty in the air travel industry, we’re offering some practical tips to help you manage your travel anxiety and make any upcoming trip you have more enjoyable—and, more relaxing, of course!
As a Grief and Transformational Life Coach Tara offers a unique perspecti...
If you or someone you know is planning a trip to Napa or Sonoma, you NEED to hear this episode! We’re putting our wine industry insider hats on and sharing our tips (and essential etiquette) for wine tasting in Sonoma and Napa!
We’re chatting about the importance of making reservations, the courtesy of showing up on time (shocking we even need to mention this, but stay tuned for why), managing how many wineri...
If you’re a Formula 1 fan, you’re going to love this episode! We’re breaking down our F1 Grand Prix experience in Monza, Italy that we went to on our honeymoon.
Join us as we recount this incredible experience, but also hear about things we wish we would have done differently—or would do next time—so you can learn from our mistakes.
We’re also digging into the upcoming 2025 season by breaking down key drivers and their ...
Today we’re joined by Angela Vitiello! She is the founder and owner of Expat Parenting Collective and Vitiello Consulting—two organizations focused on self-leadership, thought leadership and leadership development.
Angela is also a true citizen of the world who is passionate about travel, culture and intercultural connections, lifelong learning, and exploring and self-awareness.
In this episode Angel...
If you haven’t heard about the biggest wine fraud in history, buckle up… because this story is a doozy. We’re putting our true crime hats on today and diving into the enthralling story of Rudy Kurniawan, one of the most notorious wine fraudsters in history.
This episode will speak to the heart and mind of crime fanatic as we recount how Rudy conned the elite wine world. Grab your favorite beverage and dive into this sa...
Today we’re welcoming special guest Kathy McCabe, the creator of Dream of Italy and her newest show on PBS, Dream of Europe!
In this inspiring episode, Kathy shares her incredible experiences and insights from over two decades in the travel journalism and TV industry. Here we dive into the inception of Dream of Italy, the significance of ancestral travel, and Kathy’s personal connections to Italy's culture, food, ...
We’re digging into a huge question being posed right now: what’s the future of the wine and alcohol industry? Is it truly a dying breed?
As wine industry insiders, we’re exploring the current state of the wine world and spilling ALL the tea (or wine, we should say) in the process.
The world is facing the biggest lack of wine consumption we’ve ever seen. From younger generations (particularly Gen Z) e...
We're digging into the current state of coffee culture in America (and how far we have to go) with a particular focus on good ol' Starbucks, which has experienced some slumping sales and unfavorable customer experiences.
With their new CEO Brian Niccol now in charge, we're dissecting some new and noteworthy changes Starbucks is making—changes that are also making some headlines as of late.
Could these shi...
We have a really special episode of Taste Toast Travel for you today! For those who don’t know, Tara is also a Certified Grief and Transformational Life Coach and got into this work after losing her parents to cancer several years ago within six months of each other.
She also hosts another podcast called Life With Grief (available wherever you get your podcasts!). That podcast is all about helping fellow grievers navig...
Welcome to our first guest episode of the Taste Toast Travel Podcast!
Today we’re joined by Aderet who is a Registered Dietitian and Founder of her private practice, Dining With Nature. She’s an advocate for mindful, sustainable eating, and specializes in working with women from fertility through family life.
With over a decade of experience in the food and nutrition industry, she focuses on buildin...
Curious about the process of becoming an Italian citizen by descent? Well, John went through this (lengthy) process, and we’re breaking it down for ya today! But more importantly, we’re digging into this because there’s been an important update to this process in late 2024 that, unfortunately, is probably going to limit many people from being able to now get citizenship by descent, too.
We’re unpacking what t...
We’re digging into one of John’s most FAQ’s: what it was like to become a Certified Sommelier!
John, with over 10 years of experience in the wine and hospitality industry, shares his unexpected beginnings with a criminology degree and his transformation into a wine expert, of sorts.
We’ll chat about the details of the Sommelier certification process, including the rigorous tasting, theory, and servic...
Buckle up! We’re recounting our two-week trip that began in Tara’s home states of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where she born and raised for the first ten years of her life.
We continue on to Florence and Rome, Italy for six days. We’re sharing the highs, lows, do’s and dont’s of this trip's planning and execution, along with personal anecdotes and cautionary tales on what we would (or wouldn’t) do again...
As seasoned veterans of the wine and hospitality industry, we have MANY stories of wine tastings gone wrong. In this episode, we’re spilling the tea (or wine, we should say).
We’re sharing some of our most unforgettable and amusing horror stories from our years working in wine tasting rooms in Napa and Sonoma. From intoxicated elementary school teachers that couldn’t keep it together to outrageous bachelorett...
Let’s talk airplane etiquette! We’re airing out common pet peeves and filing our grievances with air travel. From how to handle security lines to packing and overhead bin protocol, to the do’s and don'ts of seat reclining, arm rest usage, and being kind to parents traveling with kids—this episode covers all aspects of flying from security to deplaning.
There are SO many things we think need to be acknowl...
What’s REALLY in your wine? As your two California wine industry insiders, we’re spilling the tea (or wine, in this case).
We kick off the conversation by digging into a recent controversy in the wine industry: winemaker Adam Lee's provocative ad comparing sugar levels in his Dial Tone Pinot Noir to the popular Meiomi Pinot Noir. This is a topic you will NOT want to miss—trust us, it’s juicy!
Ou...
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