Chicago Wine Report

Chicago Wine Report

Chip Dudley, Tom Hall, & Lainie Petersen report on Chicago's wine scene: Shops, events, tastings, restaurants, and favorite bottles. Our show broadcasts live on WCGO Radio (1590 AM & 95.9 FM) on Sunday mornings at 10 am central time and streams live from the station's website (WCGORadio.com) as well as our Facebook & YouTube pages. The audio-only podcast is released on Wednesday. chicagowinereport.substack.com

Episodes

July 2, 2023 30 mins
A long-delayed episode finally makes its debut!

Tom and Lainie sit down with Richard Hanauer of Lettuce Entertain You restaurants. We talk about the wine industry, our favorite wines, and so much more. Enjoy!
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Tom, Chip, and Lainie get together to talk about recent wine adventures including a tasting of Troon Vineyard wine at Bodin Street as well as visits to Uvae Fromagarie, Andersonville Wine & Spirits, and Kopi Cafe.

Lainie & Chip also describe a recent wine tasting/class led by Todd Hess of Hart Davis Hart at Birch Road.
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Our guest was Michael Kush of Chasing Harvest, a Chicago-based wine company producing wines in Portugal and New Zealand.

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This episode features Collin Moody of Vom Boden, a Chicago distributor focusing on German and Austrian wineries! Collin has a great backstory about his history in the food/beverage/wine business and was kind enough to lead us in tasting some fantastic wines from Vom Boden's portfolio.
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This week’s show features a round-robin conversation between all three hosts and a short interview with Jennifer Van Buren of Wine Dogs Imports. We caught up with Jennifer at a New Zealand and Australian wine tasting hosted by Bodin Street Wines & Spirits.

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The first is Daniel Pyne of Pyne Properties who talked about his experiences working a French wine harvest and making the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage.

Then, Tom interviewed Morten Sorensen of ISH Spirits. They had a fascinating discussion about how Morten champions mindful drinking with his line of non-alcoholic sparkling wines, spirits, and canned cocktails.

(Use code MINDFUL10 to save 10% on your ISH order!)
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This week we welcomed Mia Sakai of Àndale Market, an Andersonville specialty grocer with a beautiful selection of foods from around the world. Looking for wine snacks? Visit Àndale Market for conservas, Spanish potato chips, charcuterie, cheese, and other delightful treats.

We at the Chicago Wine Report are grateful to our sponsors and supporters! Without them, we would not be able to bring you our show, newsletter, and social medi...
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Our guest this week is Diana Hamann, owner of The Wine Goddess, a wine bar and shop in Evanston, Illinois. Diana is an experienced wine educator who offers her patrons numerous opportunities to learn more about wine. She also has a fascinating story about how she went from being an English major to entering the wine industry as an educator, consultant, and business owner.

A special thank you to our sponsor, Velocity Courier in Chic...
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This week’s show featured Susan VanKoughnett and Laura Busso of Bodin Street Wines & Spirits.

Bodin Street, by the way, specializes in Mexican wines and spirits, and we got to taste two outstanding Mexican wines on the show: Vina Cava Big Blend and Casa Jipi Sauvignon Blanc!
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Our guest this week was Rendi Graham of Anderson Ganne wines, an importer of French wines and the originator of the Vin de Terrasse boxed wines. We also talked the 2022 Chicago Reader "Best Of" nominees, included some tips for taking care of stemware, and shared some upcoming wine events in Chicago.
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Our guest this week is sommelier Derrick C. Westbrook, a co-owner of Juice @ 1340 who has directed wine programs at NEXT and Elizabeth. He was recognized by Wine Enthusiast magazine as a 40 Under 40 Tastemaker and was the first African-American in the wine industry to grace the publication’s cover. We had a fabulous conversation about his journey to wine, his musical approach to wine and wine education, and how he introduces wines ...
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January 9, 2023 47 mins
Our January 8th, 2023 podcast featured Tess Moon of That Board Cheese & Cracker, an excellent catering company specializing in charcuterie and party boards. We met Tess at Birch Road where she is a member and were so pleased to have her in the studio. We talked about how she came to start her business, ideas for catering and party planning, and, of course, wine!

Tom was good enough to prepare an excellent report on how de-alcoho...
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It was our New Year's Day special so just the three of us, Lainie Petersen, Tom Hall, and Chip Dudley, were in the studio. In honor of Dry January, we tasted some non-alcoholic wines and canned mixers/cocktails.

Tom also presented a review of Wine Simple by Aldo Sohm during this week’s show. The verdict? He strongly recommends giving this book a read!
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MERRY CHRISTMAS! As luck would have it, Christmas and New Year’s Day both fall on Sundays this year, so the three of us (Tom, Lainie & Chip) pre-recorded both episodes so we could spend time with loved ones on the holidays. This episode featured reflections on 2022, some of our favorite wines, an essay on the wines of Loire Valley, and some wine education from Chip.

Get full access to Chicago Wine Report at chicagowinereport.sub...
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Warner DeJulio of Vin 312 Winery was in the studio with us. We had a lively and informative discussion about winemaking, urban wineries, and wine itself! Be sure to follow Vin 312 on Instagram for some great content!
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This week's guest was Kim Bosse, co-founder of Birch Road, a BYOB social club with clubhouses in Chicago (Roscoe Village and Lincoln Park), Seattle, and Denver. We talked about the origins of Birch Road, how this wine-focused club operates, and some of Kim’s current beverage passions, including amaro!

(Interested in joining Birch Road? Get in touch and tell them that you were referred by the Chicago Wine Report and they’ll waive you...
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Our in-studio guest was Nisha Aher of Hart Davis Hart Wine Company. Nisha has so much wine knowledge and shared so much with our team and audience. We are grateful that she took the time to be on our show!

We also had a fantastic pre-recorded interview with Craig Garofalo and Michael Seward of Pops for Champagne. Pops for Champagne was (and is) a trailblazer in the Chicago wine scene and it was great to learn about its story and the...
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Our November 27th, 2022 show on WCGO Radio (1590 AM & 95.9 FM) featured Chris Bernal of Davanti Enoteca and Scott Harris Hospitality. We had a fantastic discussion about his path to wine and the joys, and challenges, of being a wine specialist at a popular restaurant! Chris really, really knows his wine, so it was wonderful to pick his brain for the kind of specialist knowledge that only an experienced industry professional can...
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Our guest (November 20, 2022) was Nika Nemirovsky from Augusta Food & Wine in Lincoln Square, and we had a blast! We talked about her path to wine, and what it is like working in an independent wine and food shop. We also snarked on some silly wine gifts.
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Kevin Kenny of Door 24 in Bucktown was our featured guest this week. We talked about Kevin’s path to wine, his decision to open a business, and, because ‘tis the season, holiday wines and good pairings with your favorite traditional foods.

We also welcomed special guest Jerry Vasilatos, an independent film director and producer who created Solstice, the very first Lifetime Channel Christmas special. Set in 90s Chicago, the film has ...
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