Unfiltered Wrapped: The Best Things We Drank, Ate, and Saw in 2024

[MUSIC] Well, hello and welcome to The Wine Access. Unfilter Podcast, it is the last episode of 2024, if you can believe it. But it's been a year. I think we've had a great year. I'm very excited about what 2025 has in store. But to that end, I wanted to do a little recap episode of all the cool things that we found, all the great lines that we tasted. The places that we visited, all the things that made 2024 incredible. So this is going to be a my favorite things episode with two of my favorite people. Likewise. Love it. I am. Eduardo Jinguler. And you know, we're surely here. So I'm going to kick it off by serving you guys. One of our favorite finds this year. Absolutely. Yeah. Wine from The Wine Club. So for those of you who are drinking with us, a little carry-conté, this is a grape that I feel like I discovered too late in life. Like this was a where has this been the whole time. And I'm a huge fan of it. This is the ares, carry-conté. Laura, I would love for you to do the honors. Sure. Yeah. This is so coming from really its ancestral home, which is Sicily. And more specifically, Etna, so the big volcano that is on Sicily. So we definitely don't call it an Italian wine. It's a Sicilian wine. Okay. Thank you for distinction. They would make that distinction, I think. So yeah, 100% carry-conté, which is a white grape. And there's some really old vines growing on Etna. And an act of volcano, so those vineyards and landscape is truly ever changing. So finding these great little pockets for vineyards is like, yeah, it's like finding a diamond. So The Wine itself, un-oaked, really brings a lot of character. A ton of like that citrus and the volcanic soils really come through, which is really interesting. It's really unique. I'm going to propose a cheer for 2020. Oh, I know. I took a sip. That was a me. I took a sip. I was looking at wine. And you were checking the wine. She was not. I was like, can I keep smelling this wine without tasting it? And the answer was no. This is delicious. It smells incredible. But I honestly feel like you get into the wine. And I think as we go through this podcast, it gets more electric. I feel you wanting to say all the things Eduardo. No, I just want to say one thing. Edna, as Laura said, and you said as a category of a ton, it provides this very unique mineral component, mouthwatering. This is why when you're smelling it, like you just did, you couldn't help to taste it because it starts your brain starts mouthwatering. And you're like, I got a taste in it. And once you do, your mouth just keeps water. It's like this mineral salty, breeze air component that is just delicious. It's fire. No pun intended. Where do you characterize this wine? I know you worked with a very high in wine list and filled with a lot of riddles that don't really exist outside of this area. But for the Chardonnay, the Vionier, the Soving Up Long, the Pinot Grisio drinker is like, where do you characterize this as a sort of a lateral or a adjacent ingredient? Yeah, no, I think a Pinot Grisio drinker would really get behind this. It's like a Pinot Grisio that's got a lot, maybe a little bit more extra. It's like a texture. There's more flavor. It's kind of like turned up a notch. If you really like super-oaked Chardonnays, this may not be your first grab. And Soving Up Long drinkers can appreciate the acidity in this, I think. Yeah. I think they love the lemon in here. I do think a Chardonnay drinker would be all over this. If you love the rhombauer style, it does not have that rich, oaky, unctuous, especially not California fruit, but it does have textures and it doesn't body. So I think if you were a Chardonnay drinker more on the Shabli side. That's exactly where I'm laying my hat. Shabli. This is a wine made in the vineyard, not a Deweinerie. Yes. Rhombauer on the other side, nothing wrong with it, wines like that. They're made of the winery. You're adding all the moloxic fermentation, the O, Colas. Here is just pure pristine just energy from the vineyard. Yeah. If you love reslings, like, you're into oxidation, resling, that crystalline kind of texture and quality of the fruit is piercing through this definitely car content. At no whites, I would put up there with those topped here, unoped crisp white wines of the world. Am I just fun to say? Carried content. Carried content. And I think there's a through line. If people fall in love with Etna Rosso, the red wines also have that mineral edge and that liveliness to them. It's just so you've seen a huge renacence. And from that show, the white lotus. Oh, that show. Part of it. Okay. That show, some people might have heard of it. And then just the whole explosion of three friends that are in the Etna right now, which is so random from all over the part of the world. So that's a lot. So it's a lot. It's having a moment. I know. I wish I jumped on the train sooner too, because the prices are starting to go up. This is a partnership, too, with a winery that's here in California. And they're actually playing with some caracante vines in Sonoma. So. Thank you. This is not a grape that you really see outside of Sicily. I mean, that's true of a lot of Italian and Sicilian varietals. We were making the distinction. But, you know, why do you think that is? Is it because it picks up so much of this volcanic soil that like it really doesn't show well in other places? I'd say more than anything is business. It's marketable. Yeah. Right. Like when you have an obscure grape like Erboloci, the calus or something from Italy, which are amazing where it's from. Right. And it delivers so much. It might do well in certain areas. Like, Chardonnay has traveled the world. But ultimately, it's like you have to take the time to bring people like yourself educators, people to tell the story about the grape. So it's easier to plant Cabernet Semignon or Chardonnay or Chardonnay. Yeah. I mean, I guess not, yeah, not a lot of us are going into the wine shopping. Yeah. So like, give me your Oregon Caricante. You're the best local Caricante. Yeah. That Italian grapes don't, there's so many of them and it's hard for them to travel and maybe it is economics. Mm-hmm. Which I could speak to more than the vineyard, you know, whether it's compatible. But yeah, if I had a little plot of land, I may. All right. Well, maybe we'll rewind it as episode two. I think we will. Yeah. I think I've learned a lot about Caricante. I think I've learned about Caricante. Maybe it might be blended, but it is an edabianco superiori, I think, which means it must be 85% Caricante is the law. I am not going to challenge you with that and probably a little bit higher in alcohol as usually. Usually, I don't like any of the things that you're supporting. Yeah. It's been superiori. So, well, either way, we're in the winter months. Yes. I'm happy for a winter light and thrilled to enjoy it. But there's been a lot of things that you guys have done this year, myself included. So I want to rewind and ask each of you individually, you've traveled a lot, regions. What was your favorite wine region? We'll start with wine region. If you had a grave occasion that was outside of wine, we can talk about that too. Favorite wine regions this year? So I would say starting with some of the earlier trips of the year, Montalcino, always amazing, right? It is trip of the year I went across the pond, was to Burgundy, went to bone to the, oh, spuse the bone. That's right. And that was pretty fascinating. Not only to see obviously the landscape, how a thriving small city goes around wine, but this is the biggest celebration of the year for them. Right. And one of the biggest in the world, and it's been going forever. And scene for the first time, that auction. And scene how it all, the energy in the room, the altruistic nature of it. And it's just amazing. And the quality of wines, the caliber that you get to drink and meeting the producers from smaller ones, even from champagne producers, were hanging out at the wine bars and pureed colin moray and people like that. That was to me pretty, pretty starstruck, kind of like pinch me moment and a fantastic place to be at the time. I have a question though, because I've never been to Burgundy. I've always wanted to go. I've always been very intimidated by Burgundy. But as a region, but also to travel there, I feel like it's a place that I really need to be as shown around in. Do you feel that that's the case? I used to feel the same way. I'm not going to lie. And then I started going and it's, I mean, haven't lived in Napa, right? Yeah. Like, like yourself. It's, there is a portion of a being a rural small town. And times of the day, nothing's open and things like that. And then you start traveling throughout smaller, even towns, right? But it is, all those obstacles, all those challenging walls you'll see kind of start falling. And it's pretty accessible. And it's a town, little town, like there's so much great food at any level. Not all, it doesn't have to be a three-star Michelin meal. Just the customs of the region. And so much amazing accessible wine as well. Sometimes doesn't make it outside of Burgundy. But I highly recommend it. It's like just put down the wall and go. So land in Paris, take your train. TGB, two hours stop and quickly on. And you're there and spend a few days. It's definitely accessible and fun. All right. Well, that's on my 2025 bucket list. You haven't heard it here first. Okay. So we went to, I went to the North, like Barcelona, Priorat in that area of Spain, so the Northeast corner of Spain. And I'd done southern and Rio, previously. And I am just always blown away by the Spanish food and wine culture. Yeah, it is just like-- They know what they're doing. They know exactly what. they're doing and they just have perfect, especially that region where innovation is so big and it was, it's so like there's so much modern technology and yeah, the wines just have so much character. Cool. I really have not spent any time in Spain as a wine region. I went to Barcelona years ago, I've not been back since, so I'm ranting that one as well. I did, however, I got to two places this year that I think are worth noting. Number one, I got to the Venetil. And I got there twice. And you did it right. I did it for both times. So the land of Perseco, right? So you fly in Devenice and then out in the countryside is, you know, the vineyards of the Venetil. And it's incredible and this loaps are crazy. See you guys have been there. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you go there and I don't, I don't know what I was expecting, but the first time we went, we went to Cartese, which is, you know, this very famous vineyard area that has like these crazy steep slopes. And when you think of Perseco, you think of, you know, a simplistic wine, right? A bubbly that is usually no more than 20, 25 bucks. It's, you know, made of the Charmeth method or the Marvnani method. And you don't think of it as being a place that's going to have these crazy intense vineyards. And I got there and I was like, wow, like this is a really serious place to make wine. Like these are crazy intense vineyards that people are farming. So I went there once in the spring, did the whole Venice thing with, with me and Eto and it was incredible. But then I went back again and I went with the Perseco Dio Cegi support, super Gore, concerto. And that was a very different trip because we saw some of the smaller producers of the region. And we also saw producers who are doing Perseco in a way that I didn't even know existed. I'm sure you did. No, no, no, in like a, they're doing vintage. I would do a really small, but I mean really incredible. Bottle rippling, they're like champagne, they're actually doing the second fermentation in bottles. And they're like, Gondola, it's higher entire thing. Yeah. But what's crazy is that there's still charging Perseco prices. Yeah. God bless them. We're going to dinner with these producers and we're tasting these wines and we're like, you know, they're incredible. And just to be clear, I mean, they don't taste like champagne. They're not supposed to. But they taste like something completely different. And to me, it was just such a perfect representation of why you need to travel to some wine regions to get the real story because it's not always translated accurately. I think over here in the States. And we hear, you know, I love Perseco, I think it's delicious, but we don't hear about the smaller guys. We don't hear about the guys who are doing some of the things that I got to see. So that was, you know, that was an incredible trip to see the place, which is incredible, just beautiful. And when you see these vineyards, you just can't believe it. Like, I literally, there's a picture of me sitting on one of the vineyards and with my feet, like dangling off the edge because it was so steep. So these, these things are terraced. So that was my first one. My second one. Tell me about England. I was. Yeah. Yeah. Tell me about that. They were back to the bubble strips. Have you guys been? No. Okay. No. This was cool. You know, obviously the UK, uh, known for London and the countryside, not necessarily known as a grape growing region or wine producing region first and foremost, but as I think both of you know, in the last few years, a function of climate change you've seen a lot of the champagne producers pay more attention to some of these more coastal areas of the UK, like Sussex and Kent, which is really only about, you know, 45 minute to 60 minute drive outside of London. And so I went in September and I was absolutely blown away by some of the wines that I tasted and also what I saw and what I thought was fascinating was like, you know, we all love English culture, right? We doesn't love a good episode of Bridgerton or like, I know what's a Pride and Prejudice, but what was so cool is, you know, you're at these vineyards and your wine tasting and you're having this like Bridgerton Pride and Prejudice moment, but you're like wine tasting. Yeah. Yeah. And you're drinking. And so sparkling wine is obviously a big thing that's producing there, but even still shardin and you don't know why I was going to ask how the still wines were. They were fantastic. Yeah. And you think that's where they should be putting more effort? It's a good question. I think I think it's still a really difficult place to grow grapes because the climate is so variable and you know, it changes so much. So challenging. And so not that sparkling wine is, you know, certainly easier, but I think when you're talking about getting ripeness, it's not always consistent for the still wines versus the sparkling which they can kind of do. But when they do, when they do get the ripeness to answer your question, yeah, I think white and I think the shardin days and the pinos are like, I mean, they're getting up there with some of the good work and be the I would say so. Well, then you weren't doing anything beyond those two grapes. Yeah. You were like, oh, this is. Yeah, I mean, they were, they were definitely playing around with other grapes. I didn't really taste anything that I was totally stoked about, but you know, it would also be hard to like throw another grape at me beyond shardin apen and orange sparkling. That I'd be like, yeah, let's do this. But yeah, I thought it was great. The only issue was they're not really being exported so much. Very, very little and also their pricing. And the pricing. Yes. Are they popular in London? I haven't actually haven't been to London either. So this is very interesting. Everywhere I went in London, before I got out to the countryside and I would tell people where I was going, they're like, oh, go on. No, no. There's champagne on the wall. I was like, where am I supposed to drink that if you get drinks champagne? And I was like, I don't know. I mean, I think that I think that they're pretty good. So no, the reputation is not stellar within London, but I, you know, it might be just a function of like snobbery or just. Yeah. If you can't convince your local market now. Well, last time I was in London, I went to head of his head and his mind, which is one of the world renowned stores. And they did have, I don't know if it was a promotion dinner at that time, but at the entrance, there was a whole aisle of local sparkling, not to say that's what they were drinking, but they were featuring it. And yeah, there'll be it's something to note. I think the wine professionals of London know that the wines are of quality and they're excited about it. It's more the locals that you talk to, like, you know, sitting next to them at a bar. Yeah, they're not. They're not. They're not. Yeah, maybe they just need a hundred point wine out there. Yeah. I don't think it's helped them either. I would have this. I got high-press. Yeah. But eventually, eventually. I think for England. But if Amanda's excited, I'm super excited. Absolutely. I am excited. I'm always excited for more bubbles in my life. So I guess that's the moral of that story. Speaking of which, we got to talk about your favorite wines of the year. Some of the things you drink. I know Eduardo, you mentioned something from Corsica, maybe. Yeah, stuff from Corsica has been coming up a lot. Some of the vermitino and things like that. Yeah. Quite fun. I mean, I got to say Italy has been taking the prize for me. Italy are Sicily at Eduardo. No. In this case, Campania. Oh. Yes. Campania has been very, very generous to me in terms of delivering like Quinto Echimo producers like that. I got very lucky drinking a lot of older burgundy. And this last few months. That's not from Campania. Yeah. No, aside from that. But I got to say. So and not to put her after like comparing Apple store and just but I had a couple older bottles of Corsica remorse. And I had some some great Montresche DRC older bottlings. However. Get out of this room right now. Campania. No, my point is Campania just definitely gave all the goods. Really? Yeah. And if I had to like vote my money and sharing with friends and stuff. Yeah, those ones of the world are amazing. I'm never going to say no. I'm not complaining. But Campania. It's just wow. Somebody puts a pot. Somebody puts DRC and coached her in front of you and you're like no banks. I'll take that. That's never a question. But given the opportunity, I will definitely support Campania. I does. Those minds are incredible. Falanquina Fiano. Yeah. I had some in in April in Advenitally visited. I spent a lot of the time visiting the Campania producers. And then when I was back last month in Italy, I ended up having a lot of Campania as well in Tuscany. Yeah, always consistently the livers. Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. We heard it here. Yes. It was long on Campania. No, dead. You know, one of my standout wines actually was an aged Fiano that we ordered at it was at Catoña. And like it just happened to be like 10 to 8 to 10 years old, something in there. And it was beautiful. And it was just like the stunning wine at the night, the surprise of the night. It's really, really good. Do you think that was like an accidentally old wine? Or do you think it was intentionally that it was supposed to be that way? It's intentional because I had the same wine in Florence. And it was the summer that I recommended it. And it was older. And it was like white burg and Jamie. I can't compare it to my coach experience. Because they're, they were experiences plural fewer than Edward. I was in none. But another great bottle of wine that I had was a shardney from Oregon. Walter Scott. Mmm. Magnum. That was like really better than at large. Also had some a John it. And it was, it was a stunning bottle of wine that just like really surprised me. That was time I'm pleased. That was in a barn. In P italuma and they were cooking this like yeah. Cold pigs and fire. It was very memorable. And there was a line dancing. You went on the Walter Scott thing. But I my very first, I think experience with Oregon shardney was Walter Scott. And it was the bunker hill. Oh you were already starting at the top. Yeah. Well, yeah. But I agree with you. I think that is a standout producer and a standout shardney not just for Oregon, but I think globally. Just beautiful. What's your wine Amanda? Yeah. You know there have been some good ones this year. No coach, no DRC. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The year's not over. That's true. For those of you out here want to clear out your sellers. I think we have an offer coming up this week. We got to lock it up. (laughing) You know what I opened recently was an 89 William Selium Zinfindel. - Ooh, whoa. - I knew it was a live, kicking, happy. - More than a like. - Cool. - Perfect. It was, it reminded me of some of the old California wines that I used to serve at press, but there was also something incredibly burgundian to it. And I think that's the thing that we forget about Zinfindel is that when it is made in this way, you know, a little bit more restrained, a little bit more with that like old world sensibility that you know, Bert Williams would have had back in the day. You know, these Zinfindels can be super long lasting. Like there, I think some people think of Zinfindel as this big, bombastic wine, but there's great examples of it with like. - Do you recall the alcohol? Was it under 14, like 13? - I'm sure it was. I don't know. There, I mean, this was 89. So this, you know, it wasn't a particularly hot vintage. So I cannot imagine it would have been more gorgeous. - But it was, you are, you lay your hat there. - I lay my hat there, I drink it over three days and it was still good. - Wow. - Yeah, they're beautiful. - To this day, I love that Zinfindel, that Papara that they do is really, really beautiful. - Yeah. - But yeah, aging them. Old California Zinfindel is a little bit slept on. - I interned in the wine world for a while and got just cases and cases of old Zinf. And I was told just open all of them, like one out of, you know, one out of five might be mind-blowingly good. And they were. - Yeah. - And you just kind of had to take a flyer on some of them. And, well, that's any wine that you're drinking old, right? - Yeah. - It's not a universal thing that, you know, even the old Cabernet are not always good. But, you know, Zinfindel's one of those things, it's, you know, sometimes you find it like really cheap and you don't know, right? - Right. - I don't know if it's gonna be great. But the great producers are. - So what's good etiquette if you have like an older bottle? Do you take it to a party? Do you not take it to a party? Do you risk it at a dinner? - At a dinner. - No. - It's not showing well at that. - It's an older Williams Selium to a Pino, right? - I did, oh my gosh, you admit it. - Yes, you did. - One of the funniers of the day. - Yeah. Yes, I did bring the old, and great example of like, everyone would have thought the old Williams Selium Pino would have been great over the Zinfindel. Myself included. And that one was shit. It really like, it was not. - It was not. - It saw it's day and it wasn't that day. - Yeah, I was like, this is gonna go one of two directions and it went the opposite direction that it should have. But, yeah, I mean, I think etiquette as far as bringing the old wine, I think you have to bring the tools to take care of it. Don't expect your host. You know, it's also a situation where like, I'm very careful when I am invited places. Like, should I bring wine? - Oh yeah. - To bring wine, 'cause it's, you know, sometimes the host has a plan. - Yeah, that's a whole plan. - Yeah. - And, you know, I don't wanna interfere with that plan. So, I always check with your host first, but usually I'm bringing, we have one here, right? - Oh yeah. - We have, you always gotta bring a Durand, 'cause you can't assume that. I'll often check the wine beforehand. Like, you can always core within. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - You know, take a little taste. Make sure you could double-decanter. We've done that a couple of times, the three of us. You could bring a wine cradle if you wanted. - And always a backup bottle. - Yes, definitely a backup bottle. I guess I just segue as well to wine tools and products. You maybe have discovered. I know, I know like, a lot of us are not super into wine accessories and all the gadgety things, but was there anything that you came across this year that you were looking for? - Laura did try a new thing with that. - Oh yeah, the aerator, my coffee frother. - Oh, that's right, you did a video. - I did a coffee frother video. And yeah, I think it did improve the wine. - Yeah. - I kind of was like, I don't know where, and like where this would fit into my world of wine drinking, 'cause there's no way I'm ever traveling with a coffee frother. - You have, but for coffee. - Or like, you know what I was trying to think, like what would the etiquette and restaurant be? Like, do you circle around the table and froth everyone's wine starting with the ladies? Oh my God. - It's starting with the ladies. - Okay, guys, staff, we got a froth from the right, you know? - Like, somebody's gonna come up with a wine frother that can fit through the neck of the bottle. - Oh, yeah. - Without like, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it definitely opened up the wine. It did what as advertised, I guess, but I just, I'm like, I'm not that impatient. I'm not in a rush to get to that point in the wine. I can, and I'm well capable of this world. Totally. - We, I think, you know, we've always likened it to when it comes to narration and things like that. You can watch the whole movie and see the plot develop or you can fast forward to the end and see what happens. - Impatient people, yes. - For sure. And that's kind of, you know, this idea behind the boat, the wine frother and some of these airwriters that are like super aggressive. But did you, did you stick with the wine beyond like five, 10 minutes to see if it like had a shorter-- - If it shortened, I did not. That would be the next. - Well, face two of this experiment. - Yeah, part two. - But I, yeah, I just don't see, and it was not appetizing. I did a glass of, um, spout pullichella. - Okay. - And it typically needs a little-- - Which does absolutely-- - Sure. - It did just, like, I don't know, it was loud. And I was like, there's nothing elegant. There's nothing elegant about this. - So that, I guess, that answers my next question. Would you put your wine in a blender? - No. - No, you never know where that blender's been. - Well, that's true. - No, there's-- - Or what's been in that blender? - I've never in such a rush. - But I will say, if you have a table or you have a bottle of wine and you have to serve eight people very quickly in a rush. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I can imagine going to the back and like, you know, shaken up the decanter. And like beating it up a little bit to get it ready to a place. Because by the time eight people finish it, like, now it's good. - Yeah, no, that's true. Especially when there's, yeah, there's a lot of wines ahead of it. We did that. I mean, occasionally we would do like a big splash to can't and give it like lots of error to kind of loosen things up. Especially some of those like, diamond creeks, that would just, tough as nails would know been. And there was, I'm sure you guys have both experiences where at the end of the night and there's wine left over from tables and you're like, you take a sip of it and you're like, oh my goodness. - Oh, now it's fantastic. Like they didn't really get the full picture. - We had a polyssearch. - Three years later, it was great. - At Trevina back in the day. I mean, you're talking 20 years ago when I was there. Every red wine was decanted. And we had tons of decancers and little side tables. And we would go to every table. Doesn't matter if it was the 70s or whatever current vintage, you would always decant them. Italian and Californian, everything. - Did you guys taste every wine before you served it? Or no? - We did, okay. - Yeah, at some point. Yeah, it was just a rule of some, everything was decanted. And it was part of the service, yeah. Which doesn't happen everywhere 'cause you can't afford to have every decancers. - So many decancers, that is a lot of decancers. - So that wine was not short on selling wine. - That restaurant, that was volume. - That was volume. - Yeah, indeed. - Get hold to Cantor room. (laughing) Well, we would run into that issue at press because obviously lots needed decanting. But, and we had tons of decancers, occasionally things did not need decanting. And especially some of these old like 50s, say, that were a little too fragile, but you didn't want the sediment to come out. And so we utilized wine cradles, which is one of my favorite things at this year's book, this is a Vinsleeve little project. I assisted on on the back end. - Oh, that's awesome. - Yeah, it's pretty. So it's got interchangeable sleeves, but wine cradles are fantastic for a myriad of things, ranging from just general presentation to like, you know, that 89 Zinfandel, I threw in, I didn't want it to camp that, I just wanted to, 'cause I knew I was gonna drink the whole thing. I didn't wanna throw that into a cantor and sift it all out, so wine cradle. - How much are these ones? - This is 175. - Oh, that's great. - You get two inserts with it, you color match, or you can, yeah, you can do the same. - I love it, it's a dime breed, I'd say, that something that we didn't use all the time, unless we were in a quarter of the master's familiar examination. - Yeah. - But this is so cool. - Yeah, but what have used one, if we had one that looked like this? - This good. - 'Cause you really got a restaurant and they're just-- - Right, well you have a basket. - The basket. - That is-- - We had cool ones at press, we had these, nobody could ever find them again, but apparently somebody got them in Germany and they were this like, it was this metal base and it was a cool kind of hammock looking thing and then I had a leather, almost kind of let look like this, it had this leather sling in it, but we only had four of them. And so-- - Oh, everybody wanted one. - You know what, everybody wanted one. And occasionally somebody would try to steal it. (gasps) - I will say there was one night, where I remember there was a table that had a decanter cradle on the table and the table next to him, they had their to-go bag and she took the cradle and put it in the bag. - Wow, played, ma'am and the band manager at the time went over to the table and said, I'm gonna need that back. - Oh, wow. - Yeah, that's always a touchy learn. Or you say, we can add it to your bill? - No, 'cause I couldn't even get them again. - We need it all for them. - No, no, no. - There's not a price. - Yeah, lots of fun discoveries this year. Durand is not a new discovery, but you know, we had some fun-- - It's dumb. - It's dumb this year. - Sure it did. - Yeah, we didn't double again. We decanted that into like multiple-- - Yes, it was a size? - Was it an 18? - It was huge. - It was huge. - It felt like a 36 liter. - It was an enormous pile of one. - Took three wine uppers. - Yes. - Yes. - Which was one of the fun things. - I gotta say out of the things I did this year, it was like three wine uppers and then just people to maneuver. - Because you forget the cork is so much bigger in those bottles. And so when you go to put a regular cork in there, it doesn't work. It stretches out and also the Durand can barely handle it. So you do kind of get a lot of tools and a lot of hands. - Yeah, and that was for Maya, right? - For what? - Didn't who brought that from-- - No, you knew who brought that was. Pete, Pete, Richmond. - Oh, all right, no silverado. - Yes. - You brought that. Which I do thought is a super cool bottle, and it tasted great, but for those who are just listening right now, we'll flash all the, 'cause we took video of us doing again. - 'Cause we did. - That was really fun. - We needed to be time-alapse, but yes. - Yes, that's so. - It was a process. - It was a process. So that was a fun thing that we did this year with lots of different mind tools. Places that you ate and/or drank that were memorable, that you would go back to, that you have stories from, where'd you go this year. I did a fun, "Sake Pairing" at Bird Song. - Oh, "Sake Pairing" is a song. - That was really eye-opening. It was "Sake Throughout the Entire Meal," which don't do often enough. And that really was a great experience in the chef, but together a beautiful meal. - And not a Japanese restaurant. - Not a Japanese restaurant. - So a cool point inspired. - Cool. - Yeah, but and they kept their menu very true to what it was. And it just the sake worked perfectly. - Yeah, that's one, I know you and I have talked about that Eduardo, because I did a little thing earlier this year where I went up to a restaurant in New York and did a sake pairing with a French. - It was a French. - It was more French. It was like French Moroccan. And I was blown away because we did this gorgeous famine and it was it was "Pairing Sake," and I thought it was fantastic. And it really did kind of clue me into this idea that sake is not just for Japanese food. - Not at all. - It works with tons of, and I know you've been, yeah, singing this song in terms of the dance a while. But yeah, I mean, take it away because I think that's a great point that you made, Laura. - Couple nights ago, we actually went to a pizza place here in town and we brought all this Italian stuff and then I brought a few bottles of sake and that was the winner. - Pizza. - It was just a beer. Oh, best friends. - It was really good. - What do you find? - Tomato sauce pizza or-- - Oh yeah, okay. - Oh, the classics. There was a spec in the Rougula that was a margarita and a mushroom pizza. - Okay. - The sake disappeared. And this was, most of the people had never had sake before. - That is, that's a tell, right? - Yeah. - Yes. But I gotta say, there was two places that stuck out for me. But my favorite experience for the year was in Barcelona and this is a place called Kimet and Kimet. And it's a standing place only, which you would say, I would say, "Oh, no, I'm good. "I like sitting down, I have it a long conversation." This place was as big as this room. And it's a father and son team and an extra set of hands. Everything they do is at a cans. - Yeah, they don't cook anything. - Oh, that's like-- - Elevated cans. - Can't, thin fish. - Yes. - Okay. - Thin fish, some great breads and things and they just assemble things. And the wine list was insane. - That's cool. - And some of the best wines, great pricing. They had also spirits and you stand up there. You have a timer. Obviously, we made friends with them. They let us stay extra time. - Yeah. - 'Cause we just kept ordering. It was amazing. That was insane. But the second place was in Oteca Pinchori, which is the oldest three star in Europe. And I gotta say, I'm not always a huge fan. Or I'm always-- - I know you're an angel. - I was appreciated. - I know you're an angel. - But the service and the way it was all a dance, the only music for the location was a piano player playing live. - That's cool. - For the whole place. We moved from room to room and it was pretty incredible. The way they did things. So it was a lot to learn, a lot of experiential things. But this Kymet and Kymet, the least pleasure we're expecting, expect to find me and I'll go back there any day. - Okay. - It's so fun. - I love that. You know, you're right. I think this idea of Michelin star restaurants, I think we're all very lucky to go do a lot of really great experiences. And most of them are fantastic. But there are some of these, especially in the three star where you're just like, wow. It's just, it's a dance. It's like watching a show unfold and it kinda makes you cry a little bit. It's really beautiful. I will say another standout and, well, two more. So we did wine and taco pairings here in this very studio with mother's tacos. And that was a really, really fun exercise and really fun kind of eye opening thing to do. To really pair spicy things. And there's just so many flavors in a taco. - So what did you pair? - So my favorite pairing was the pestoar with shardinay. Like all the pineapple flavor. - Ooh, yeah. - And like a rich shardinay that had a little bit of that perception of sweetness, right? So like to cover the spice. - Yeah. - Bring out the pineapple, the saltiness of the pork. Like it was just, that sounds delicious. - It was so good. - Yeah, taco's apple store is like my favorite. And there's so much flavor in there, but you just want something like as big. And that was a top pairing. And then the new restaurant in Sonoma. The new, our new-- - Oh, in clove. - In clove? - Yes. - We gotta go there. - Great list, great service. - I don't know. - I just just opened. - How do you spell it? - ENC, L-O-S. - Okay. - It's right by the square. - Oh, great. - Outstanding, small little place, a lot of hard behind it. - There's been some great restaurants that have been opening in Sonoma lately. - Mm-hmm. - Very exciting. - You know, it's not new, but every time I've been over there, I always try to get to Valley. - Oh, absolutely. - Especially for lunch. It's just, that place is here. - They have their sister restaurant. Have you been to swim club? - I have not. - Oh, let's go. - Let's go. - I have to look. - Let's go. - Let's go. - Oh, that's right. - Yeah, that was the worst thing to have into me in 2020. - Yeah, it's worth it. - Yeah, it's totally worth it. - Yeah, it's worth closing up. - Yeah, that was a real kick to the, to be, you know what, but. - What was your dining experience? - You know, it's a restaurant that's been, that actually just may be a squire, best new restaurants, but I'm sure, but I know you both have been to because we went there together, Charleys. - Oh yeah. - Let's think about that. - Oh, amazing. I mean, yeah, speaking of shellfish towers and stuff, I'm sorry to say it. - No. - It is very spectacular. - I really, I really love the experience there. To me, you know, the bar scene reminds me of like, old-school press where like everybody, you just saw everybody. And it was easy to get around and like, Chef's always in the window and he always says hi. But to me, like the food is, the food's definitely elevated, but there's like a fun energy to it. Like it just. - Unpretentious. - Yeah, totally. You know, Elliot, I think just, he just gives off this vibe of just like, I just love food and I love to eat and I like to be people happy. And he does it at the highest level. He's former French laundry. I think the potato skins with like that kind of like, ranch thing that they have going on outside, but then it's paired with like this caviar ranch dip bird. Something or, oh no, French onion. French onion. - Yes. - That is delicious. And then they have the late night menu where they do like, - Oh, I haven't seen that. - You haven't? - No. - This is the best thing to have in an app of all eight. We have a late night menu. - Whoa. - What is it? - It's late night, like 830 in St. Nina's Hawk. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Right to 11. (laughing) - They do like a dirty steak. They do, they do just some really fun stuff and they do fried chicken always, obviously. But yeah, I think, you know, for me, that's the place that I've been really looking forward to going back to when I leave and I come back and it's like Charlie's is my reentry point. And I was trying to think of, you know, the great, I had great meals all year, but to me that when people are like, oh, I'm going to Napa, where should I go? That's the place that I've been telling people. And I'm pumped about. - Nice to have something up Valley. - Yeah. - New and easy. - Oh, yeah. - Yes, not always easy to do. We are winding down, but you know, we, believe it or not, for those of you who are listening and watching, we actually do things that are non-wine related. - We do. - It's amazing. - Every once in a while. - Yeah. So I was curious if there was anything fun and non-wine. - One of my favorite experiences aside from wine was the US Open this year. - Yeah, cool. - That was, that was pretty cool to see and just the crowds and everything and the build up and getting some of the big guys knocked out really early. Dad and our Basel and Miami, that's always a fun. - Oh, it's a treat. - Fun experience, you don't have to do it all up. It's just the time and place of being in Miami, which in this time of the year, we're cold everywhere else. And just getting a little sunshine. - But there's good wine in Miami and good food for that man. - Yeah, there is sure is. - So. - Yeah, there sure is. We went to coat the Korean steakhouse. - Oh, good. - A little bit of everything. It's fun. - Okay. - How are you? - Well, it's all wicked, which I've been looking forward to. - Would you wear? - Did you wear costume? - I did not wear costume. I did go light on my makeup because I knew that I'd be very emotional, which turned out to be true. So I did love wicked. I was at Jackson Hole for the first time in the year. - Oh. - It was really fun. I went on a bachelor at trip, not a ton of wine there. So BIO, wine access does ship to Wyoming for those of you wondering. I did. - You need to ship some ahead and send some wine at home. - It's one of the year. - I went in July. - Okay. - Yeah. And actually, my friend and I were just joking. I'm not an outdoorsy girl. And she is. And so we did this, like, this, what she hauled was a float, but it looked like we were whitewater rafting. And I was like a fish out of water, but I had a great time. And, you know, it was good to be out in nature. I did have a glass of wine in my hand most of the time, but I still feel like that was-- - A bachelor at party. - That's necessary. It was the classiest bachelor at party you've ever seen. We had lots of shows. - I'm so excited. - And Shabli. - You will go back. - I would go back. Yeah, I would go back if I could stay at, like, you know, one of the really nice hotels. So that would be fun. - Even in the winter? - Well, sure. You can still even. - Yeah, exactly. - Yeah, I mean, you're bundle-- Even a better excuse to drink. - Right. - You need more. - You need more because they won't. - And the other thing that I did this year, which I think you can appreciate, I did my first 10k. - Woo! - Yeah, that's right. - So that's-- - Yeah. - Like a champ. - You know, running at the age of 37 is a challenge, especially when you have not been running your whole life. But I did it. It was great. We did it in Disney World. - And it was really fun. I still-- - Fast food. - I didn't have-- - All right. - I had a touch of a costume. - All right. - I had like a tiara headband. and like a shirt that said, "Run like it's almost midnight." It was really fun and it got me thinking, 'cause you know, there's a lot of run clubs around. And there's actually one in St. Helena that our friend Molly Shepard, who's one of the whiningers at Spotswood, does. - Did you join it? - I did and I actually forgot my running shoes in this venture, but I will do it again. So I was just gonna throw it out that like, you know, maybe we need to do like a wine run club. - So Eduardo has found a race that we should just prepare for. - Okay. - Do me more. - Oh, and then Spayin. - And then you'll? - Starts at 7 p.m. - Okay. - It's a night run and sense about, or it's a half marathon. So you start running at seven, by the time you're done, you go shower and then dinner starts. - I like a late run. I feel like most of the more in the week, - So early in the morning. - So early in the morning. - This is a very civilized way to do it in Spain. And you get to sleep in and then thinking for 2025, maybe on my bucket list for that. - There's two more. There's a Bordeaux marathon. - There's that, yeah. - And then there's a Nigata marathon, which you stop by and drink sake in between missing breweries. - And there was a guy that ran, - Tom Gilby. - The bind taster? - Yeah. - Yeah. - I will, no. - I would never do that. - Never, ever, ever. - I know, I know. - It was a remile or every like a couple miles, he stopped and did a blind tasting. - Who? - It's, I mean, the video went viral for all the obvious reasons, but he's actually, he's a great fellow at Instagram. Tom Gilby. But yeah, I think, you know, for my non-line things, I think, you know, running was like a fun thing for me to kind of get into this year. - So, I hope you continue it. - I mean, I bought the gear, I feel like. - Yeah, you like it. - Yeah, perfect. I like that. - I know you've run quite a bit this year yourself, Laura. - I did three or four halves and then one full marathon this year. - Nice, good. - And they're all, I think, and they're all local. So now it's like, can I take this on the, literally take it on the road? - Yeah. - And maybe do some wine region runs and just give it an excuse to go somewhere else. And I like it. - It is my favorite, favorite way when I travel. So like, check out totally. - Like, get the lay of the land. Like, figure out my bearings. Where's the beach? Where's the beach? (laughing) The other important things. But yeah, no, it's been a lot of fun. So we'll have to find a race. - Okay, I love it. And for those of you who are listening, slash watching, let us know if you are interested in getting more into running with a wine access, one run club. - Oh, boy. - I already, I pitched it to AJ a little while ago and he didn't bite. So I figured I'd put it out publicly. - I love it. - And like, you know, wines could equal miles and like, you earn your miles. - Yeah. - Yeah. - I'm into it. - Some of you out there, like, absolutely not. I drink to stay put. (laughing) I get that. I respect it. No pressure. This is certainly not a platform where we're like, if you go right, no. - We're not friends, no. We support all levels of activity. It's all good. You guys was in store for 2025. - Definitely the race in the race in Spain. I would love to get to the Southern Hemisphere. Still haven't done that. - In no capacity, no. - So nothing happened. - Nothing. - I am not even convinced the world is not flat. No. (laughing) - No, so I haven't been to the Southern Hemisphere, so I'd love to see do some vineyards and some winery stuff south of the equator. - Mm-hmm. - Other than that, just drink better wine every day. Like, well, I don't think you're slumming it exactly. - I know, but like there's just, there's so much great wine. There's so much great wine out there. And I just wanna experience all of it. Yeah, you, Eduardo. - But January will be a little bit of sprinkle of Mexico, which will be fun. Some dining, some stuff. And then February will be France. - Okay. - So champagne and burgundy and then Paris. And then March will be a tough combination of Japan and Italy. - Come on, come on, come on. - Do my favorites. - Do my favorites. So little things like that. But yeah, exploring new properties, new wines, new restaurants. - Awesome. - And also I'm a creature of habit. So I always keep going back to my local water and holes and such. But yeah, exploring that and making the world a smaller place. - I love it. - Meeting some people. - Well, that's, I mean, that's the beauty of wine and getting to do, you know, what we all do for wine access and in our personal lives is we get to scour the globe and look for cool things and bring them back. - And it'll live to tell the tale, usually. - Absolutely. Hey, we're here, right? - We're here. - We're here, yeah. - 20-25 will be a fantastic year. - Yeah, and with, I'm hitting a milestone, I'm hitting 40. - Congratulations. - Congratulations. - In 1985, so it'll be 40 this year. So I have, and those wines are ready to drink. So that's also on my mission this year to seek out some grade 85. So I think Port is using burrolo. Okay, I think there should be some good stuff. Still, still kicking some champagne. We'll be interesting. Maybe I'll get a little on in years. Bordeaux. I think there's probably some good stuff out there. But it's time to drink 1985 wines. I don't know. - Largeless. - It is time. - I mean, not that hard behind you. They're not that all high. - But 40 years on a bottle of wine is like, - Gotcha. - Well, I mean, for those who are also arriving at their 40th milestone in 2025, maybe follow. - Yeah, let's find some stuff out there. I think old Reesling could be interesting. - Yeah, this is your source for the year. - A little gold 1985. - Right, seasoned in season. - Yeah, seasoned in season. - Wizers. - First and really old wine. - Yeah. - Cool. Well, I am hoping to get married in 2025. - Yes. - We'll see what we'll see. - We'll see you next time. - Yeah, I am engaged right away. - You are, yeah. (laughing) - You're like, I'm not engaged in getting married at this extra. - Do you have a prospect? - So it could happen. (laughing) I have a dress. I have the champagne. I have the guy. - Oh, you're done. - That's important. - All the way there. - Yeah, so yeah. So I guess that was the coolest thing in 2024 for me. I got engaged, so. Super, super happy about this year. I'm very excited to see what 2025 brings. Thrilled to have incredible wine that you guys are always finding for us. - Thank you. - And I hope for those of you who are looking toward 2025 looking to drink better wine, who are not members of the Wine Access and filtered podcast wine club. Well. - That was your chance. - Yeah, next year is gonna be epic. - Yes. - Put yourselves in the driver's seat to make your wine journey just a little bit better. You can find everything you need to join in the description below. Hopefully we've got, so I know that we've got some green wine. - Why is this? - Geez. - And I look forward to sharing glass with you guys again soon. Yeah, yeah. Happy New Year. - Happy New Year. - Happy New Year. - Happy new year. - Happy New Year. - Happy New Year. - Happy New Year. - Happy new year to 2025. - And 2025. - And 2025. - 2025. - Cheers. - Cheers. - Everybody. - Cheers. - Thanks for being with us. (upbeat music)