Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . Clos du Soleil invited me to their annual vertical tasting in the fall of 2012 and I gladly attended this exclusive outdoor event. Listening back to it now, things seemed a little more innocent. Few people knew that any wines from BC could actually age and many wineries were on the hook to prove it. Clos du Soleil was one of the first wineries to really stick their neck out to prove that it could be d...
Jul 30, 2025•35 min•Season 3Ep. 83
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . The fourth Summer Flashback has a story that goes back beyond the original April 2011 release of this episode. Ted Kane and I talk about his wines and the beautiful site on which he chose to plant his vineyard. Welcome to the Sipsters Podcast! Thank you for listening to the Sipster's Podcast. Find us online at sipsters.ca. Support the show Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here ! Support...
Jul 23, 2025•39 min•Season 3Ep. 82
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This interview is an interesting timepiece for me because of the situation. Recorded in the fall of 2011, it was at a time in my life where I was constantly meeting people who had history to share. Jennifer 's family had history on this property and interviews like this started me down a path to becoming a writer. Also, it was recorded in The View's barrel cellar and it just sounds cool. Jennifer has ...
Jul 16, 2025•15 min•Season 3Ep. 81
Text us your wine questions, craziest wine experiences, or if you just have a comment for us. . This is the second Sipster's Summer Flashback with episodes from my Wine Country BC podcast that began in 2009. This conversation is from an episode released in June 2010 and features Mike Nierychlo and Mike Rathjen. At the time, they were passionate about wine and made videos about it on YouTube. It was only a few years later that they both opened wineries on Vancouver Island. Mike Nierychlo opened E...
Jul 09, 2025•30 min•Season 3Ep. 80
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...
Jul 02, 2025•40 min•Season 3Ep. 79
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. Support the show Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here ! Support Sipsters by subscribing ! Contact me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com! Read Sipster's ICONS (Because sometimes more IS more.) Find me online at sipsters....
Jun 25, 2025•58 min•Season 3Ep. 78
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 n...
Jun 18, 2025•49 min•Season 3Ep. 77
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 a...
Jun 11, 2025•31 min•Season 3Ep. 76
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 ...
Jun 04, 2025•28 min•Season 3Ep. 75
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. Support the show Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here ! Support Sipsters by...
May 29, 2025•27 min•Season 3Ep. 74
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...
May 21, 2025•29 min•Season 3Ep. 73
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. Support the show Purchase copies of “The...
May 15, 2025•28 min•Season 3Ep. 72
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. Support the show Purchase copies of “The...
Apr 16, 2025•36 min•Season 3Ep. 71
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 ...
Apr 09, 2025•57 min•Season 3Ep. 70
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 o...
Mar 05, 2025•26 min•Season 3Ep. 69
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 y...
Feb 26, 2025•27 min•Season 3Ep. 68
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 an...
Jan 22, 2025•45 min•Season 3Ep. 67
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...
Jan 08, 2025•51 min•Season 3Ep. 66
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 f...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Season 3Ep. 65
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 oil...
Dec 04, 2024•42 min•Season 3Ep. 64
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 u...
Nov 06, 2024•42 min•Season 3Ep. 63
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. Find Jess at Farm to Glass Wine Tours . Find me at my computer trying to remember all of the things I'm supposed to type into the show notes for p...
Oct 23, 2024•56 min•Season 3Ep. 62
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. Support the show Purchase copies...
Oct 09, 2024•51 min•Season 3Ep. 61
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. Wines featured in this podcast: Beausoleil Vineyards Framboise Artisanal Wine and Cider, Nova Scotia Other wines we talke...
Sep 25, 2024•45 min•Season 3Ep. 60
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...
Sep 11, 2024•59 min•Season 3Ep. 59
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 becaus...
Jul 24, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 58
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. **PLEASE NOTE** T...
Jun 19, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Season 2Ep. 57
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'...
Jun 12, 2024•52 min•Season 2Ep. 56
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. Now, you can have your chance! Ask us anything! You must have questions about wine in Canada and now you can ask us! Or tell us about your most amazing wine experiences. We will read them on a future podcast and answer or discuss when we do. The best question or story will win a copy of the latest v...
Jun 05, 2024•54 min•Season 2Ep. 55
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...
May 29, 2024•41 min•Season 2Ep. 54
