Wine Road Podcast: 200th Episode with Richard Ross, Sound Enginer Threshold Studios.

 

The 200th episode of The Wine Road Podcast 

Beth and Marcy reminiscing on their podcasting journey, with the one and only Richard Ross, the man behind the Wine Road Podcast curtain!

Wine Road Podcast: Sebastopol 2022 UPDATE

 Episode 154 | Sebastopol Itinerary 2022 UPDATE: What's New and Coming Soon

Marcy fills us in on what’s new and coming soon to Sebastopol.
Fast Five Recipe: Grilled Caprese Crostini from Karissa Kruse with Sonoma County Winegrowers

2018 TASTE AWARD BEST PODCAST

People always say it’s an honor just to be nominated, but it’s even better to WIN! So excited to announce that Wine Road Podcast won the Best Podcast in the Food or Drink category at the 9th Annual Taste Awards. You can see the the complete winner list here.

The nominees in our category were all highly regarded shows and it was humbling to be acknowledged alongside them.

Here is the list of nominees:
1. All in the Industry (Heritage Radio Network)
2. California Wine Country with Steve Jaxon
3. Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street Radio
4. Connoisseur’s Corner with Jordan Rich (featuring Roseann Tully)
5. Earth Eats
6. Kitchen Chat – The Chew’s Carla Hall
7. The Feast Podcast
8. Wine for Normal People
9. Wine Road Podcast, The Wine, When, and Where of Northern Sonoma County

DJ Bethy Beth, Marcy Gordon

On April 9th, 2018 Beth Costa and I spent a whirlwind 20 hours in Los Angeles for the Awards Show held at the Kimpton La Per Hotel in Viale dei Romani restaurant in West Hollywood.

Beth Costa, Julie Taboulie, Marcy Gordon

It was great to meet so many fellow nominees and hang out with our table-mate Julie Taboulie who won an award for her PBS show Julie Taboulie’s Lebanese Kitchen. Also shout out to Anya Adams for her win, Best Short Film -- Lemonade Mafia.

In addition to winning, the big highlight of the night was my Radio Boom Box evening bag, that quite a few people thought was a real radio!

2018 Best Podcast Award--It’s in the bag!

Richard Ross, Marcy Gordon, Beth Costa

Many thanks to Richard Ross of Threshold Studios for helping us sound great and collaborating with us on the show. And BIG thanks to Laura Stafford for all her work on the Wine Road Podcast website and compiling all the show notes for each episode. It’s a massive undertaking!

Keep looking up! Elevator Selfie! 

Things are certainly looking up for the Podcast! Tune in here and join us along the Wine Road.

The Tasting Room Experience - Artisan Alley

My latest story featuring the makers of Artisan Alley for Sonoma Discoveries is now online here.

2017 Travel Guide to California - Wine Regions of California

2017 Travel Guide to California -- http://globelitetravelmarketing.uberflip.com/i/782043-2017-travel-guide-to-california

The Tasting Room Experience -- Horse & Plow

My cover story on Horse & Plow in the Jan/Feb issue of Sonoma Discoveries, is now available at links below.

http://sonomadiscoveries.com/horse-plow/

http://www.sonomadiscoveries.com/digitalmagazine/2017/jan-feb/index.html

Možeš Možeš -- The Epic Blue Danube Wine Roadtrip in Croatia!

Back in April I embarked on an epic two-week road trip through Dalmatia in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina with Frank Dietrich, Catherine Granger and Gisele Carig of the Blue Danube Wine team. This post kicks off my blog series that will recount all the extraordinary locations, people, vineyards, wine, food and vistas and adventures from the journey.

Gisele Carig, Frank Dietrich and Catherine Granger of Blue Danube Wine

I would argue that a road trip is the best way to really experience a place. Sure you can travel by train or bus or boat, but to really get off the proverbial beaten track to truly go deep into a place and get into all sorts of adventures and tight spots (literally!) --you need to have a car. All of the best travel experiences I’ve ever had (both good and hair-raising) were with a foreign car in a foreign land.

Tight squeeze in Vrboska on Hvar

Možeš, možeš  -- You Can Do It!
But things can go wrong in a jiffy on a road trip—getting lost is a mainstay of road trips, and getting in and out of tight spaces where cars don’t belong comes with the territory. Our very first day we were blocked in parking lot by other cars until a few helpful locals simply picked up the other car allowing us room to pass.

We learned our first and most important Croatian phrase: Možeš možeš. Možeš ti to (You can do it!) Along with a few Polako, polako’s (slowly, slowly) we were on our way to the first appointment.

Making new friends in the Konzum parking lot in Trogir

Yes, having a car is more trouble. Yes, you will get lost. Yes, finding parking may be impossible. Yes, you may find yourself where no car had gone before—but the rewards are greater too.

For efficiency sake during the trip we all took on specific roles. Frank—leader and key negotiator. Catherine—navigator and relief driver. Gisele—client liaison and schedule keeper. Me? I was more than ballast, I have skills too ya know. I’m designated as the Rakija Queen and gladly step forward to take one for the team whenever the potent schnapps is presented. Trust me in Croatia it’s a very important role.

Rakija Queen at sampling the local offerings.

So fasten your seat belts, and follow along as I file reports for the Blue Danube Wine blog about the trip from Split/Torgir to Dubrovnik, Korcula, Ston, Kastela, Hvar, Skradin, plus Bosnia and Herzegovina and the places in between.

2016 Travel Guide to California - Wine Section

For the fifth year in a row I’ve written the wine section for the Travel Guide to California. It’s a great resource for all things California and useful for tourists and locals alike. Plus it’s always nice to be a contributor alongside many top names in travel writing.

Check it out in digital format here: 

http://globelitetravelmarketing.uberflip.com/t/65757-travel-guide-to-california

In Search of 50 Great Cava’s in Spain

Wow, where did the summer go?

It’s been a whirlwind of great wine and food in Santa Barbara, Mendocino, the Okanagan, and now I’m off to Riga, Latvia, to visit @SigneMeirane -- then on to Spain in search of 50 Great Cava’s as part of a tasting panel and the so called "Dream Team”.  (I think you need to drink a lot of Cava before our group approaches dreamy, but whatever.)

I’m excited to be catching up with my pals, the dynamic duo of travel writing and photography-- Lara Dunston and Terrence Carter, of Grantourismo. I originally met Lara and Terence in Portugal and had a very memorable birthday celebration with many glasses of vintage Port and a homemade birthday cake.

The Birthday Girl and Lara Dunston

Also on the 50 Great Cava’s trip will be photographer Andrew Barrow @wine_scribbler, with whom I also spent a very memorable birthday, snowbound in a hotel in southern Italy. Although I believe it was more memorable for me as Andrew claims not to recall much of that night.

Andrew pictured at top left

Follow the trip as it happens October 6-10th as we go Cuckoo for Cava.
Twitter: @50greatcavas 
Hashtags: #50gc #cava #Penedes
Facebook: 50 Great Cavas

2014 Travel Guide to California

The 2014 Travel Guide to California was released in January and includes my article on wine revised and expanded from last year to include tasting room trends and some new local spots such The Barlow.

You can find the article here:
http://www.californiatravelguide.travel/

http://globelitetravelmarketing.uberflip.com/i/238271

Croatia, I Can’t Quit You!

Next week, on July 1st, Croatia will join the EU, and while I wish Croatia the very best for the future, I also feel rather protective of a country I’ve come to love.

To paraphrase a quote from Brokeback Mountain : "I can't make it on a couple a visits once or twice a year. You're too much for me, Croatia, I wish I knew how to quit you.” 

This year, I’ve received more emails from readers looking for food and wine recommendations in Croatia than any other destination. Here are a few excerpts from people who wrote to me asking about BIBICh. {Click to enlarge images}







As I continue to write about wine, food, and wine tourism, and assist readers in pursuit of their own discovery of Croatia and other destinations; I dearly hope it's not spoiling my favorite places in the process. I hope it's helping places to carry on.

The first time I visited Croatia was in 2003, it was summer and the coastal villages of Istria were packed and bustling with sun seekers from neighboring European countries, especially Germany.

Ten years later, Croatia is now on the radar of most Americans, and in the last several years Croatia has been touted as the hot new "undiscovered" destination in magazines and featured on many travel guide top ten lists. I worry about Croatia and the possibility that it will be ruined by rapid growth to accommodate the surge in tourism.  I worry that I may be contributing to the problem.

Once emerging destinations become mature, the magazines lose interest and the crowds are off to another trendy hot spot, until the cycle comes back around and it's deemed the newly “rediscovered” destination. But Croatia is so much more than a spot on a list. Croatia is more than a trend. Croatia is in it for the long term.

Even though I worry about being part of the problem, I think blogging about little known wines and wine regions around the world is a service to wine lovers. Without the word of mouth you might never hear of some wines. And some under the radar wine regions need to be discovered solely so that they can continue to exist.

This past March I was in Croatia again. I came home longing for Teran. {Which as of July, won’t be called Teran-- see here for more about that}

I craved Posip with botocnie salad or some other morsel plucked fresh from the sea.

I dreamed of little hand-rolled fuzi pasta with a drizzle of fine Istrian olive oil.


No, I can’t quit Croatia. And you won’t be able to either after you read my new multi-part series on the wine and food of Istria coming up next on my blog.

In the meantime I offer you-- Top Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Trip to Croatia:

1. Download Apps Before You Go
In my opinion the best app for food and wine in Croatia is Taste of Croatia.

You can also follow Taste of Croatia on twitter here: @tasteofcroatia

The Tourist Board of Istria app is also useful:

2. Hire a Local Guide

Many people think a tour guide is going to be boring and akin to following someone holding up an umbrella saying walk this way and just spouting out lots of dates and names. But that is not the case when you work one on one with a local guide. The local tourist board can help you locate a qualified guide to suit your needs. 

For foodies and wine enthusiasts looking for a customized experience in Zagreb, Istria, and other parts of Croatia, I recommend Mladen Car of Funky Zagreb. Here is Mladen ’s Trip Advisor page.

3. Get Lost in the Hinterlands
Rent a car and wander around in the back country. Follow the food and wine trails of the hinterlands of Istria. You’ll discover wonderful places well off the coast-side tourist trail.

4. Book Winery Appointments in Advance
Some of the best wineries are very small operations and need to know well in advance if you will be visiting in order to welcome you for a wine tasting. Another good reason to work with a local guide is they can facilitate winery appointments that may be difficult to secure on your own.

5. Pack an extra bag for all your wine and cheese and olive oil purchases. It’s well worth the second bag fee for the bounty of flavors you’ll want to take home with you.

6. Tell’em Marcy sent you! –Well, that will only work in a very few places, but give it a try anyway.

Links to Forbes Travel Guide and my other posts on Croatia:

* Spending Two Perfect Days in Zagreb
* Best Places to Eat, Drink and Stay in Istria

Croatia Series:
Croatia Series Preview: Zivili!
Croatia Part 1: Bibich Dégustation
Croatia Part 2: The Splendors of Split
Croatia Part 3: Šibenik Caressed by the Sea
Croatia Part 4: Zadar, The Perfect Date
Croatia Part 5: Pilgrimage to Pag: Land of Paški Sir
Croatia Part 6: Istria--Truffles, Olive Oil, Prosciutto & Wine!
Croatia Part 7: A Taste of Zagreb

OTHER CROATIA POSTS
The Wines of Croatia: A Preview Tasting
Croatian Wines Making Waves
Country of Good Vines: Countdown to Wines of Croatia
I Can Almost Taste It! Croatian Wine is Near
Wines of Croatia Tasting: The Recap
Ajvar Smackdown
Croatia: Memories Lost and Found
Eli's Caffé in Zagreb--Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Maraschino - Wrapped in Tradition

Spin the Globe – Where I’ve Been and Where I’m Going

Oh wine world, you are such a temptress. So many places to see, wines to taste, people to meet and so little time to do it all. Not to mention trying to stay on top of bloging it all. I am in the midst of a three back-to-back trips. First stop was Mendocino for Anderson Valley Pinot Noir Fest for three fabulous days.

I was home for a day before I flew off to Quebec and the Eastern Townships for Printemps Rose Festival and now just a two days later, I am leaving in just a few hours for Portland where I will meet up with Mattie Bamman of @ravenoustravelr and we will embark on our roadtrip to WBC13  in Penticton, B.C.

We will drive through Seattle and up to Vancouver/Richmond area for two nights where we will be the guests of Tourism Richmond and then on to Oliver, where we will stay at Tinhorn Creek for one night where the Cab Franc is one of my all-time favorites, then we’ll head back up to Penticton and visit Upper Bench Winery and Creamery before we check in to Penticton Lakeside resort for WBC. Follow our hashtag #NWRoadtrip for all the hijinks.

Despite what Richard Jennings wrote here-- I am looking forward to exploring the Vancouver region and will form my own opinion. But my hat is off to him for writing true to his experience and not pulling any punches—although I did take him to task for it in the comments, because who can resist that kind of blog bait? Not me apparently.

At WBC I’ll be part of a panel Friday, June 7th with Michael Wangbickler from Through the Bunghole, Jeannette Montgomery from The Third Glass and Okanagan Writing--on Creating Compelling Content and what exactly it is. But it’s really open to interpretation, so join us if you can, and lend your opinion on the topic.

I hope to catch up soon with all the posts I want to share with you on the wonderful wine regions I have been so fortunate to visit-- including more posts on my darling Croatia and the #RakijaRoad, Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy, Quebec/Eastern Townships, and the Anderson Valley in Mendocino.

See you at WBC, or here on the blog soon.

Cheers—Marcy