British Columbia – The Sipster's Guides with Luke Whittall

1st Annual Sippie Award Winners

It’s the first annual SIPPIE AWARDS and here are the WINNERS!

Modelled after the BC LG awards, the Sippies are my way of telling you about all kinds of Canadian wines. I’ve written about some of them but there are often others that I can’t include in my books for various reasons (they might be too expensive or limited to one single vintage). I still think you should know about these wines because they are all fantastic wine drinking experiences!

In this episode, I talk about the best wines I had the honour of tasting last year. Amazing experiences with amazing wines.

Next week, I will reveal the Sippie Wine of the Year!

See the full list of winners on Sipsters Icons.

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

Email me your experiences at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

Support Sipsters by subscribing!

Thank you for listening!

Wine art at Rigour and Whimsy

This week’s podcast was recorded last summer at Rigour and Whimsy Winery in Okanagan Falls. This is the unofficial Part 2 from the episode I did with Jess Hopwood from Farm to Glass Wine Tours. If you haven’t heard it, it is totally worth going back to listen to it. I had planned to cut this into Jess’s episode but the tasting went longer than I thought and Jess and I talked WAY longer than I thought so I’ve given it its own podcast.

You will hear the voices you will hear along with Jess and I is Rigour and Whimsy owners Costa Gavaris and Jody Gavaris, the team behind this super-creative winery up behind Peach Cliff in Okanagan Falls. It was tons of fun and the wines were amazing and super-expressive. One of them may even end up in a future book somewhere…

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

Email me your experiences at sipsterswinepodcast@gmail.com!

Purchase copies of “The Sipsters Pocket Guides” here!

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.

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!

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 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

Episode 23 with Jennifer and Kent Molgat

Jennifer and Kent Molgat from The View Winery and Vineyard and Ward’s Cider in Kelowna are on the podcast this week! If you have a copy of The Sipster’s Pocket Guide to 50 Must-Try BC Wines, volume 1 – turn to page 108 (reminds me of “Helm to 108!” – if you know what movie that is from, leave a comment below) where you will find the View’s Pinotage Reserve featured there – an amazing wine that they have been growing and making there since they started. It’s kind of a Cinderella wine in that it is underappreciated and nobody really understands just how beautiful it is. AND IT IS! I’ve had it through several vintages over the years and good vintage or bad vintage, it’s always a great wine, which is why I featured it in Volume 1.

I’ve met Jennifer many times over the years but Kent only on the odd occasion. He is a professional broadcaster and so I hope I was able to up my game above being a hack podcaster in his presence. I think I did ok. Thank goodness for editing. We had a great time and probably could have chatted for a lot longer. Hopefully, they will come back again soon.

Listen to this week’s podcast here.

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.

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!