Wine Talks with Paul K.

The Master Sommelier is a commitment to hospitality. So it makes you wonder what a young girl, who admittedly called herself lazy, would take on such a commitment. As life would have it, the challenges became clear to Stefanie Hehn, and each ladder rung became the next challenge. And I get it. I love hospitality. Here is her story on getting to the utmost revered  degree in the subject.

Stefanie Hehn—mas...

I was asked to taste a wine and give an opinion of its quality. It was very good. A St. Emilion from a Chateau I did not know. The wine had never been in the US, and the wholesale company was new to the idea of even carrying a St. Emilion. My curiosity required me to ask the wholesaler, "Maybe the Chateau owner will come on the show?"  "Let me check." "He would love it"

So then I though I'd best look up the guest (this was one hour...

Investing in wine might seem risky. Might seem like a horizon uncrossed. There is growing success rate in wine investments and it takes a trained and experience broker/agent to know where and when.

Marc Lefleur might be the only man who can make a conversation about asset classes as delicious as a glass of aged Barolo. In this episode, you’ll travel from the sun-dappled slopes of Piemonte to the bustling b...

When you hear a New Zealand accent, what do you try and do? I try to figure is it Aussi or English? Maybe South African. Regardless of where you land with this interpretation, you always settle into a nice comfort zone with New Zealanders. There is a certain warmth and instant camaraderie.  Tiraki wines are new to the United States and it was an honor to sit with Josh and hear his plans.

On today’s episode...

I had the distcint honor to know Melvin Masters; responsible for some iconic imported brands of wine that you would see everywhere. Unfortunately, we lost him a year or two ago and I has saddened me ever since. 

As a friend, he would reach out to his A-list of friends to encourage them to come on the podcast. Literally, just weeks before Steven Spurrier, yes, the one and the same ...

If you have thought about entering the wine trade but really don't think you would be much of wine winemaker...but you really feel like you are going to love it. It actually took me many years to "love" it but hear this story. Armen is getting ready to quite his day job... head down and make it work. And you  know, it is working.

Armen Ghazikhanian didn’t so much dive into the wine business as wander in wi...

When last in Bordeaux, I spent some time with Veronique Sanders-Van Beek, the Director of Chateau Haut Bailly. And as a result, she offered an internship to one of my favorite interns who graced the Wine of the Month Club. The young girl arrives shortly in Bordeaux to start her journey. 

I learned from Mdm. Veronique that her husband, Alexander Van Beek, is the Director of Chateau...

I have known the Levys for years. I've known them as restauranteurs and gracious people. They fell in to the restaurant business and it was sink of swim; swim they did, creating an iconic establishment in heart of Southern California.  From the restaurant came what one would consider the first of its kind in the San Gabriel Valley...a craft cocktail lounge. No one had heard of such falderall out of downtown Los Angeles, a craft coc...

I am halfway through Gerard Bertrands new book: "Multidimensional Wine" and realize it is a must read for wine professionals and novices alike..get it here: 

https://academieduvinlibrary.com/products/multidimensional-wine

Gerard Bertrand had not been in Los Angeles for a few years. He comes every 4-5 years to put on a Master Class of the wines of the Provence. You see, he has been ...

Gary Brooks doesn’t just make wine—he turns the whole idea of winemaking on its head and brings it back down to earth, reminding us that, after all, it’s just “rotting fruit.” But don’t be fooled by the humility. In this episode of Wine Talks, you’ll discover how a man raised in Annapolis, guided by a career that veered from the Navy to IT management, ended up chasing Pinot Noir dreams in California’s Peta...

On a podcast with Emilie Steckenborn of LVMH China, she insisted that I meet with Robert Foye to discuss a podcast appearance. She insisted.

After 2 minutes on a call with Robert, I moved from chatting to scheduling. Despite conversations on the web about how the trade should be more innovative and rethink, Robert feels you need experience to move forward. How can you innovate without knowing the pitfalls of what came before? 

With...

I was approached by a PR firm to put Ben Bell on the show. Certainly seemed like an interesting thought. Afterall, domestic Sake is a rarity and one from the heart of Little Tokyo, Arkansas! (that was a little tongue-in-cheek humour).

There were so many questions and so little time. Some stories just require more questions and who wouldn't want to know how in the H-E double hockey sticks did he fall into making Sake in Arkansas.

If you were to reflect on the most influential restaurants during the renaissance of food in America, you could not exit the thought without thinking of Ma Maison. Not only a Hollywood scene of its own, the fresh take on French cuisine started the change in how Americans saw food. One of the most poignant contributions to the food scene was bringing the chef out of the "back-house" into the "front house" to glad hand the guests. An...

One of the more intriguing elements of wine is that it can appeal to a wide range of people. In wide range, I mean it has appeal on so many different levels; a novice can just enjoy their favorite wines from the supermarket and delve into the history when inclined; a collector can peel each wine back and learn of its origin and take it a step deeper, the wine enthusiast that wants to put their toe in the water of wine knowledge can...

We I frist met Phil Long, I was tasting at the African American Association of Vintners and we just happen to stumble across the fact that we literally grew up around the corner from each other in Inglewood, California. Granted that was many years ago, and much has changed in society since those days, but we both ended up in the wine trade and found a mutual connection on both levels.

Phil Long might be th...