Author: Luke W

Luke Whittall has worked in cellars, vineyards, and wine shops since 2005. He has authored or co-authored 3 books on wine and is currently a wine instructor at Okanagan College. His most recent book, The Sipster’s Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines (Touchwood Editions 2021) marks a new direction in wine writing and features some of the most amazing wines ever produced in British Columbia. His first book, Valleys of Wine: A Taste of British Columbia’s Wine History was published in 2019 and he co-authored the 6th edition of The Okanagan Wine Tour Guide with John Schreiner in 2020.

Tonia McArthur’s High Fives

This week I am delighted to bring you an interview with Tonia McArthur. Although Tonia is trained in with WSET, she has developed a brilliant way to help you score wines that is accessible but without pandering or dumbing anything down. She put it all in a book called “High Five Wine Scoring System”. In this podcast you will hear about what makes it such a brilliant and revolutionary book about wine.

Tonia hosts a High Five Wine Academy online every #winewednesday where you can get personal coaching on the system. She runs a website about High Five at and is on Instagram and Linktr.ee.

Talking with Tonia was like chatting with a new old friend and I am grateful that she had time to meet up with me. Unfortunately, our recording location at the Beanery Café in Summerland was a little on the noisy side so the audio quality is a little less than stellar for this podcast. My apologies for that. I hope it isn’t too distracting for you when you listen.

“High Five Wine Scoring System” is available at Indigenous World Winery in West Kelowna, JoiRyde Winery at the District Wine Village in Oliver, and other local wineries.

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

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!

Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca.

Thank you for listening!

Episode 21 Getting Uncorked with Kayla Bordignon

If Kayla Bordignon’s enthusiasm for BC wine was contagious, we would quickly have another pandemic on our hands. (Too soon?) The fact is that her love of BC wine is overflowing and it is not hard to get caught up in it when speaking with her. Kayla’s website Uncork BC and the seriously epic journey that awaits people who purchase the 2023 edition of her BC Wine Passport are the results of her passion and enthusiasm for wine in British Columbia. Officially, she is the first return guest on this podcast, having appeared in Episode 17 at Winterfest, and hopefully she will want to come back again soon. Enjoy!

Thank you for listening!

Episode 20 Alderlea Vineyards

Zac Brown and Julie Powell from Alderlea Vineyard join me on the podcast this week. They are on Vancouver near Duncan and took over Alderlea from founder Roger Dosman in 2017. Since then, they have continued to build Alderlea with the same level of enthusiasm for learning and exploring the region’s potential for making great wines. With guitars in the background and motorcycles in the conversation before we started recording, I stayed focused on the wine as best as I could although it wasn’t easy. Zac and Julie are both very well spoken and clearly love what they do so the conversation rolled easily. I hope you enjoy!

Thank you for listening!

Episode 19 What is a Wine Tour?

This week’s episode is filled with stuff! All of the burning questions and all things about wine.

What is a “wine tour” exactly?
What is with all of those empty bottles in my kitchen?
What does it mean to be a Sipster?

Burning questions, all of them, I know. Sit back with a glass of something interesting and enjoy!

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

Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca.

Support this podcast by becoming a subscriber!

Thanks for listening!

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

Episode 18 with Calli Bailey

It’s my reunion with one of my earliest wine friends, Calli Bailey. A frequent guest on my old podcast, Calli and I have seen each other infrequently in the past 6 years. This podcast is more than just reminiscing though – in the years since she and I first worked together selling wine at a wine store in Penticton 13 years ago, Calli has become a highly trained winemaker and wine professional and it was a thrill to share a glass with her again. She really knows how to communicate about wine without getting bogged down in the details, which I think you’ll be able to hear on this podcast.

I also let something slip in this podcast that I was planning on announcing properly at a later date but sometimes that’s just how things roll. You’ll have to listen closely but the wine that Calli and I are tasting is a hint.

Email your answers to this week’s Big Question, your comments or questions, or your special wine experiences to me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!
Find us online at Sipsterswinepodcast.ca.
Thanks for listening!

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

Episode 17 Winterfest at the District Wine Village

There are a lot of people in this episode! It was a beautiful day at the District Wine Village in Oliver as the Okanagan Wine Festival Society launched a new event – Winterfest. Thank you to Kimberley Hundertmark for inviting me to to this great event.

In this episode, you will hear from:

Heather Courtney from General Manager of O’Rourke Peak Cellars and Chair of the Okanagan Wine Festivals Society
Barbara Hall at Upper Case Winery
Suk and Neetu from Eau Vivre (pictured above)
Michal Mosny from Winemakers Cut
Daphne Scromeda from JoiRyde Winery
Kayla Bourdignon from UncorkBC and the creator of the annual BC Wine Passport
We’ll also check in on Nk’Mip Cellars and a new winery at the Wine Village – Foolish Wines.

Singer Mandy Cole also makes an appearance from the stage at the centre of the village.

There were so many wineries I couldn’t get too or that didn’t have time for interviews because they were so busy. Also, unfortunately the audio from Valley Commons was unusable due to technical difficulties. I will return for more soon.

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

Episode 16 – Flashback to Oyster Fest

This week’s episode is a flashback to an event that happened almost 10 years ago! At the time, the Oyster Festival in Osoyoos was the unofficial start to the summer wine season and it was always a ton of fun. Join me for this time capsule flashback (courtesy of my old podcast, Wine Country BC) to one of the Okanagan’s great food and wine events.

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

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

(Photo by Amber Andreucci)

Episode 15 with Kimberly Hundertmark

Kimberly Hundertmark and I talk about the Winter Wine Festival and the future of festivals here in the Okanagan. She is General Manager of the Okanagan Wine Festival Society and one half of the Hundertmark wine power couple, along with her husband Jeff, who is the director of wine making at Mount Boucherie Estate Winery in West Kelowna. Want to know what people from Ontario really thinks about wine in BC? What’s going to happen to the Lt. Governor’s awards in the fall? You’ll find answers to those burning questions and more in this episode! Don’t let the suspense consume you – click the play button now!

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

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

Episode 14 with Michael J McCoy

It’s my birthday this week and for my birthday, I am releasing this podcast featuring Michael J McCoy, the great wine shop host and wine book connoisseur. Michael compiles a guide, called the “Quick Reference Guide to Wine Knowledge Resources”. If you have taken a wine course at Okanagan College, you may have received a previous version of this guide. The current edition is 4 pages and it is filled with a list of wine books, listed in categories and loaded with resources for wine newbies, Sipsters, and the most oenologically learned. No matter how complex the wine or the resource, Michael has a way of communicating it to you in a way that you will understand.

If you would like a copy of this guide, please email me at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com and I will send you the PDF.

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

Episode 13 Joanne DiGeso, Part 2

Joanne DiGeso from Sommwine in Whistler, British Columbia can take an already-fun topic – wine – and make it even more! She’s a total blast to chat with, which is why this is the first 2-part Sipster’s Wine Podcast ever.

Listen to this week’s podcast here.