Author: Luke W

Luke Whittall has worked in cellars, vineyards, and wine shops since 2005. He has authored or co-authored 4 books on wine and works in wine club management and marketing in the Okanagan Valley. His most recent series of books, The Sipster’s Pocket Guide (Touchwood Editions) are a new direction in wine writing and features some of the most amazing wines ever produced in British Columbia and Ontario. Other books include "Valleys of Wine: A Taste of British Columbia’s Wine History" and he co-authored the 6th edition of "The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide" with John Schreiner in 2020.

When Wineries Don’t Get it Right

You never know who you’re going to meet when you work at a winery. This is a recent conversation with Kaila Kliewer, formerly a wine sales professional on the coast with a background in hospitality, who I actually met 10 years ago! (That’s a good story too…) We share a similar interest and appreciation in wine but also a similar point of view over the industry from the perspective of working at VQA stores. She shares some stories about her experience in wine and also a not-so-good recent experience at a winery that left her frustrated.

Out stunt wine in this podcast is the OAK Estate Winery Lavish.

**PLEASE NOTE – The winery that Kaila is referring to was not pictured in her photo nor was it OAK Estate Winery. The actual winery where her experience took place is not important. **

Listen to this week’s podcast here or on your favourite podcast player.

Email your answers to this week’s Big Question, your comments or questions, or your special wine experiences to me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Thank you for listening!

Wildfires and Gratitude

This is a different episode, recorded within the smoke-filled Okanagan Valley. It has not been an easy time here lately and this podcast is a little window into that time when smoke clogs the valley and fires dominate the news.

Some of the links mentioned in this episode:
CBC Kelowna – Daybreak with Chris Walker
Castanet News
BC Wildfire Service Map
JancisRobinson.com article by Arnica Rowan
Niche Wine Co.

Other links:
Regional District of the Okanagan and Similkameen EOC

Listen to this week’s podcast here or on your favour podcast player.

That One Time in a Tesla

If it’s one thing I’ve learned from my years of producing a podcast, it’s that I can plan anything I want to, with as much detail and precision as I am capable of, but in the end the results are usually out of my control. I don’t have a journalism background and therefore, no training about how to maintain perspective or ask the tough questions or anything like that. Sometimes, I just have to go along for the ride and see where it takes me.

This is literally what happened with I met Jess Hopwood and spent the afternoon zooming around in her Tesla talking about wine touring. Jess owns and operates Farm to Glass Wine Tours, an extraordinary eco-conscious wine tour venture offering high-level private tours all through the Okanagan and Similkameen valleys.

Jess with a recent vintage, Chateau de Laine perhaps?.

My original plan was to drive around, chat about wine touring, and maybe get a little of that Tesla road ambiance at the same time. Jess, whirlwind of enthusiasm that she is, had more ideas. In this podcast, we talk Tesla’s, EV’s, emissions, visit a winery, and then taste a wine back at Sipster’s HQ. It is a fantastic conversation and, like the tours that Jessie offers, an amazing experience.

She also has a special offer for listeners of the Sipster’s Podcast. Listen for the special code to get 15% off any wine tour from Farm to Glass Wine Tours. She even made a special Sipster’s page on her website that has more of a backstory about how this podcast came to be.

Listen to this week’s podcast here

The Other One with Laura Milnes

This is Part 2 of my conversation with the one and only Laura Milnes, she of Crushable Wine Club fame and persistent purveyor and steadfast supporter of Canadian wine and wine culture.

Listen to this week’s podcast here

The One with Laura Milnes

I first met Laura in early 2018, I believe through social media (although it was a bit of a blurry time in my life at that point so I might be wrong). In any case, we spent the afternoon chatting about wine and looking at the lake in the warm spring sun. Laura was not like other people that I had talked to about wine. Her questions to me where very different and I liked that immediately. We stayed in touch and I always thought back to that conversation and how great it would have been to capture it for a podcast. Problem was, I wasn’t doing a podcast at that time.

However, within the year she created a vlog to accompany her blog, called Silk and Coupe and she invited me to be a guest on it. She interviewed me about my first book, which hadn’t even been released at that point) and we again went our separate ways. But we stayed in touch casually over the years and when I found out that she was going to be in the Okanagan visiting family, I jumped at the chance to finally get a podcast interview with her.

Her evolution as a wine personality is unique in that she has experience with all of the major wine producing regions in Canada. In this chat, we get into Dad Wines & Natty Bros, and how she learned to hold a wine glass properly. Of course, the infamous Titty Tees will make an appearance too. She’s outspoken, opinionated, very well spoken, and informed. Enjoy part 1 of my conversation with Laura Milnes.

Crushable Wine Club

Listen to this week’s podcast here

The One with Eagles in the Distance

It’s another flashback episode this week featuring Steve Venables from Forbidden Fruit Winery in the Similkameen Valley. This is a slightly ASMR interview since it was recorded outside in February on a beautiful day while sitting near the banks of the mighty Similkameen River. This was originally recorded February 2012.

During the pandemic, I had to really temper my habit of stopping in to places to say hi and catch up but am slowly getting back to doing that whenever I can. I visited Steve just last spring, stopping in to say hello, and we talked about recording this interview. With that memory flooding back, I thought it would be great to revisit and share it with all the sipsters out there who might appreciate growing things naturally and learning that ‘organic’ is more than just a way to grow food.

Listen to this week’s podcast here

The One Where Luke Disappears

Uh, hello? Is there anyone producing this podcast?

Ok, I’ve been busy. The late spring and summer have been a bit abnormal for me and I had to step away from the podcast world for a short time. But, I’m back and plan on bringing more crisp and refreshing podcasty goodness to your app in the coming months.

Officially, this will be the beginning of the end of Season 1. I have noticed that the word ‘season’ when referring to podcasts is a little vague. Some podcasts have seasons that are 6 months long. Others produce 6 episodes, release them in one shot, and then call that a season. Some produce constantly throughout the year and declare a new season when they reach their anniversary. Prolific YouTubers seem to do that.

That’s also what I did for my old podcast, which lasted 5 ‘seasons’. And then I burned out. And stopped for 8 years. So maybe I won’t do that with the Sipster’s Wine Podcast. The first Sipster’s podcast was launched in October so I will keep to that anniversary date but I think I’m going to take some time off now and then.

That’s what I did in the past couple of months. Listen in to find out what happened…

Listen to this week’s podcast here

John Schreiner’s Memoirs Part 2

Listen to Part 1 and 2 on your favourite podcast player.

If you think you know something about BC Wine but you don’t know who John Schreiner is, then you still have a lot to learn. Wine in BC (and Canada) has not always been as good as it is now. At least a generation of wine drinkers (or maybe two) now does not remember when Canadian wine was the butt of jokes and probably shouldn’t have been consumed by humans before 1994. John saw the potential and began writing about it in the 1970s, publishing his first book about BC wine in 1984. As he says, he was a friend of BC wine when BC wine had no friends.

I first read one of John’s books more than 20 years ago, met him for the first time soon after that, and he’s been an inspiration and a mentor to me for well over a decade. John and I can talk about wine a lot and we both seem to lose track of time. Our affinity for the wines, the industry, and the personalities of the people in that industry seems to drive both of us. It’s always such a joy to get to chat with John.

He’s got a new book of memoirs out now called “Goodgrog: A Life in Wine and Journalism”. It is filled with stories of his vast experiences from growing up in small town Saskatchewan to travelling the world as a journalist. This provides the “terroir” from which Canada’s most prolific wine writer emerges as the author of 19 books about wine in BC and Canada. It’s a truly fascinating read to learn about someone who is more often out of the spotlight than in it. He knows so much about the wine industry in BC but that information only flows one way. Who is this guy? This book answers all of those questions.

It was a beautiful spring day on the back deck at his home in North Vancouver. We began the chat over a beautiful glass of Mirabel Chardonnay and chatting a little about one of his few non-wine books.

Read John Schreiner’s Wine Blog.

Listen to this week’s podcast here

John Schreiner’s Memoirs Part 1

Listen to this week’s podcast here

Noughty Charlottes Messines

This week I chat with Charlotte Messines, who works at Thompson and Scott who produce the Noughty Wines in London, England. Never heard of that winery? Well, they produce a whole line of no-alcohol wines that are really taking off right now. They’ve been on my radar for over a year when I was sent samples while writing The Sipster’s Pocket Guide, volume 2 (which is out now). I was really intrigued by the non-alcoholic category and when I found out that my friend Charlotte was working there, it seemed like a great excuse to catch up AND learn more about non-alcoholic wines. Charlotte has a history in the Okanagan – I met her back in 2018 when she was working at Wild Goose in Okanagan Falls and we have stayed in touch over the past 5 years.