We’re mixing it up this week with our first episode that’s not completely dedicated to wine! Our community loves a range of beverages so we’ve invited our friend Sam, creator of the Barprints online mixology course to join us for a conversation about cocktails, hospitality, and how you can become a mixologist right there at home!Check out the blog post for this week’s episode for a fun cocktail recipe created by Montana (there’s even a little wine involved!), as well as links and info about the program and access to Sam’s free bartender’s training guide!https://www.thewineship.com/blog/mixology-mastery-with-barprints We hope you love the episode and have some fun mixing up amazing cocktail creations!Thanks for listening! Cheers, Montana and The Wine Ship CruGot an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelie

This week, we continue our exploration of the World of Bubbles as Montana welcomes winemaker Arthur O’Connor. For ten years, Arthur served as Director of Winemaking at the world-famous Cava house, Codorniu, in Spain. Ironically, it was Arthur’s innovative spirit and fresh perspective that helped bring this very old company back to its roots in low intervention European winemaking.You’ll find all the details from our discussion plus links to try the wines Arthur recommended and ideas more on the blog post for this episode at: https://www.thewineship.com/blog/cava-spain-s-sparkling-wine-with-winemaker-arthur-o-connor As always, thanks for listening! Cheers, Montana and The Wine Ship CruGot an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelier

We are popping bottles this week on The Wine Ship Podcast! We’re covering everything from grape growing to production to service. We hop country to country across western Europe exploring the major production regions and styles then end up back at home in the USA.Montana discusses the importance of chilling your bubbly and goes over options for opening the wines – by hand or by saber! Check out the blog post for this week’s episode for bonus content on glassware, aging, storage, gifting, and food pairing at https://www.thewineship.com/blog/world-of-bubbles-discover-sparkling-wine.Montana has even curated an incredible list of sparkling wines from around the world that she’s tasted and can confidently recommend to you.Visit The Wine Ship Club to join our family of wine lovers around the world and get access to our next member tasting experience.As always, thanks for listening! Cheers, Montana and The Wine Ship CruGot an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelier

How do you decide which wine you're going to buy in a retail store? If you’re like a lot of people, the decision comes down to a few key factors: price, packaging, position in the store, and sometimes a recommendation from a trusted source.In today’s episode, Montana shares insight and opinions on how to get the most value from content created by wine publications, bloggers, and influencers. Many of us look for suggestions and third-party validation when selecting a wine! Learn what to look for and how to find resources that can help guide you to new wines that align with your personal values and preferences.Check out the blog post for this week’s episode with additional tips, tricks, and links here: https://www.thewineship.com/blog/wine-ratings-bloggers-and-influencers Remember, the best wine is the one you most enjoy!! Make up your own mind but don’t be afraid to use the resources available.As always, thanks for listening!Got an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelier

Meet Chad Melville! The winegrower mastermind behind Melville Wines, located in Calfornia’s Santa Rita Hills AVA just north of Santa Barbara. Our host, Montana, was lucky to spend a full week working the grape crush and harvest alongside Chad and his team back in October 2021. Today, we’re excited to bring you this intimate introduction to Chad and his lovely collection of wines.If you haven’t already, be sure to check out last week’s episode Winemaking: Red and White! Most of the information shared there was inspired by Montana’s time at the Melville Winery.Check out the blog post for this week’s episode for photos, videos, and links to learn more about Melville and details on how to order the wines.https://www.thewineship.com/blog-posts/012-winemaker-or-winegrower-meet-chad-melvilleAs always, thanks for listening!Got an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelier

In this week’s episode, we’re focusing on the basics of red and white winemaking process. It’s common for a craftsperson to speak about what they do in ways that can be hard to follow if you don’t work in the same field. This is absolutely true for winemakers. If you’re someone who doesn’t have a basic understanding of how red and white wine is made, it may be a challenge to follow some of the conversations we host with winemakers and other wine professionals on the show. Our goal today is to arm you with the knowledge to follow and appreciate these conversations!We’re discussing red and white still (not sparkling) wines this week. In the future, we will discuss the various processes used to make sparkling wine as well as rosé, orange wine, and sweet wines. We’ll get to it all but for now, it’s all about the basics!Take a look at this week’s blog post for more info and some great visual tools to help you understand the topics being discussed:https://www.thewineship.com/blog-posts/winemaking-red-and-whiteWe hope you enjoy the show and we can’t wait to come back next week to introduce you to one of our very favorite winemakers, Chad Melville of Melville Winery in Santa Ynez Valley.Thanks for listening!Got an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelier

In this episode, we dip into the first of our Grape Crash Course series. We’re exploring the wonderful world of wine grapes one variety at a time in alphabetical order. When we get to the end of the alphabet, we’ll start over!Our first ‘A’ grape, is Albariño. This delightful white wine grape hails from Spain’s northwestern coastal region of Galicia. The wines are food-friendly, dry, affordable, and super versatile!You’ll find a map of the region, a picture of the trellis-trained Albariño vines we discussed, links to try out an awesome bottle from Bodegas La Caña, and the complete clams in white wine food pairing recipe and ingredients on the blog post for this episode here: https://www.thewineship.com/blog/albarino-grape-sensory-immersion Got an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelierThanks for listening!

Montana is joined by winemaker, Brandon Allen, of SLO Down Wines in California for a discussion on the evolution of the SLO Down brand and lessons learned as a couple of quirky business owners in the world of wine.For more details and the links we mention visit the blog post for this episode at: https://www.thewineship.com/blog/sticking-to-your-creative-guns-with-winemaker-brandon-allenGot an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelierThanks for listening!

Let’s dive into Part 2 of our How to Describe Wine mini-series! We have built the foundation of our wine descriptors over the past few weeks. Now, we get to have a little fun by adding fruit-specific details and creative adjectives to our notes.Whether you’re writing wine notes to share with friends or customers, or simply going deeper into your own understanding of wine, being able to clearly articulate the qualities of the bottles you taste will aid in your evolution.Montana invites you to immerse yourself in the colors, aromas, and flavors of the world around you. By intentionally committing these details to memory, you can apply them to your wine descriptions and give someone who has never had the wine a real sense of what it looks, smells, and tastes like.You’ll find more insight, visuals, and additional details on the blog post of our website at:https://www.thewineship.com/blog/how-to-describe-wine-part-2-of-2Got an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelierThanks for listening!

Last week, we focused on the practice of systematically tasting wine. Tasting is about building the internal catalog of colors, aromas, flavors, and styles of wine. Today, we offer the first of a two-part discussion on describing wine. This is all about arming you with the knowledge and vocabulary to accurately share your preferences and feedback with others. In this episode, we focus on the big picture when it comes to descriptors. Next week, we’ll get into the fun, creative aspects such as specific fruit flavors and how to incorporate adjectives like smooth, bold, and rich in your comments.You’ll find more information on this topic on the blog post for this episode at: https://www.thewineship.com/blog/how-to-describe-wine-part-1-of-2 We welcome your questions, comments, and feedback on the blog. Join the conversation and share your experience with us!Got an idea for a topic or guest for our show? You can submit it by visiting www.thewineship.com/podcast! We would love to hear from you.Join our community on Instagram @thewineship and connect with Montana @montana.rae.sommelierThanks for listening!