Listen in to hear why there is not a longer episode this week and what’s new with Thru The Grapewine. Then, if you feel so inclined, find one of our older episodes to listen to! There are over 20 episodes now!
Looking to get away to wine country? Use coupon code GRAPEWINE23 on checkout when you book your stay at The Dundee Hotel for a 15% discount!
Patreon is here! If you love what we do and are able to support us, become an official Patreon Member!
Join us over at patreon.com/ThruTheGrapewine and choose your Team today!
JOIN OUR NEW PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP! (Women only please!)
Download your free 30 Day Wine Must Read Guide here!
Download our handy dandy free Wine Pairing Quick Guide here!
Have a request for a topic? Fill out this form!
Find us on Instagram!
Listen to the episode:
Apple Podcasts
Spotify
Wherever you listen to your podcasts
Full episode transcript:
Ute: Hey there, it’s Ute with the Thru the Grapewine Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. This will be just a quick episode, unlike our usual ones. Why you ask? Well, this past weekend, Ali and I were able to go to Women’s Weekend Getaway with other professional women in the wine industry. It was just a really great experience.
If you’ve been listening for a while, you probably heard our episode with Jenna White, the GM at The Dundee Hotel. So, Jenna organized a number of weekends for women in the wine industry to connect, to drink wine, to network, and we all got to stay at one of two Trace Hotels, The Dundee Hotel in Dundee and The Independence Hotel in, you guessed it, Independence.
Both of them right here in Oregon wine country. And it was so much fun and so amazing. These hotels have these squad rooms, as they call them, with six super fancy bunk beds. And, and I have to elaborate this, I’m not just saying this. These bunk beds really are the bomb. They’re really soft and they have these custom mattresses for the bunk beds, so they actually do feel really, really good to sleep in.
The rooms, so these squad rooms have kitchenettes, they have a living area, they have private bathrooms, and they really are so cool. So, especially the one in Independence though, I’m telling you, that suite (because really you can’t call it anything but a suite) was absolutely top notch, super modern. The furniture, your, your kitchen area was separate.
There were two separate bathrooms. There was a little area with mirrors to do your makeup and the mirrors had like the ring lights around them and everything. So really ideal for bridal party. And just, just amazing. And really the only thing wrong with it was that it ended so quickly. So if you want to see Ali sabering a bottle of sparkling wine, because this is also something that we did at Varnam Vintners, thank you so much guys for making that possible for us.
Hop on over to our Instagram account and check out the reels because I recorded that moment when Ali sabered that bottle and it was pretty awesome. Also included with that reel is the instructions on how to saber a bottle because it’s not… well, it’s easy, but it’s not as easy as you might think.
There’s actually some stuff to watch for, so like I said, go check it out. I’ve never done it myself, but there’s a little funny tidbit from my past. Once upon a time back in Germany, before I met my husband. I was just about 24 years old. I worked at a hotel. And in that hotel there was a fancy restaurant that everybody knew, and the restaurant included a wine cellar. And I’m saying hundreds of years old wine cellar with just these narrow, steep stairs leading down into just a moist cellar.
It just kind of musky smelling. It was, it was, uh, fun. It was fun. And I can only assume or imagine how much these bottles were worth that were sitting down there. And it’s really such a bummer. I was so young and so uninterested in wine at the time because this could have been a great learning opportunity.
So one day a company party was held at the restaurant and you know, all the guests are shuffling downstairs into the cellar and they brought this fancy saber out that must have been ancient. Or that is what I imagine anyway! It was the first time I saw a bottle of sparkling wine, well sekt in this case, sabered.
And it was quite an experience for me. You know, I mean, I was 24. I’d never seen anything like that happen before. I didn’t have any idea that you could do that to a bottle of sparkling wine. And I never thought, The head would just fall off like that or pop off like that. But we were taught this past weekend that there’s about what, four or five bars of pressure in those bottles.
So yeah, of course it’s gonna fly off. Anyway, it was a great experience for me. You know, of course I was working the event, but you know, people were cheering and they were calling for encores and you know, which of course they got. I think they may have sabered about five bottles that night, and each time was as exciting as the time before. Of course!
So to return to our why though of why there’s no full episode… see how I get sidetracked like that? So as you can imagine, it was a great weekend that was followed by appointments for me and Ali prepping for a trip home to Iowa to celebrate her super adorable nephew’s birthday. He’s turning a year old! Happy birthday nephew, and to be with family.
Things got so busy for both of us that we just could not also record an episode, and we definitely do owe it to the women we’re going to discuss next to record an episode that is amazing and not just, you know, half-assed. So while I am recording this short little episode for you, Ali’s actually sitting on an airplane. Safe travels, Ali!
And it is International Women’s Day on the day that I am recording this. And I would like to remind you listeners out there that women should always be celebrated, not just on one day. The older I get, the more I am amazed and the more I appreciate the power, the beauty, and the resilience of women in the face of adversity.
I’ve had the privilege of interviewing quite a few badass professional women in the wine industry for the, for the podcast so far, and I can’t tell you their names yet, but we have some pretty awesome ladies lined up to be interviewed for the future episodes. So it will be amazing. It will continue to get better, and I am so excited that I get to do this together with Ali, who is also a badass woman who I very, very much appreciate for being on this with on this journey with me.
In the meantime, of course, if you have time and you would like to listen to a full episode, I encourage you to go back to one of our old episodes. We now have more than 20 episodes with new ones being recorded every week. In the past we’ve talked about Veuve Clicquot, Isabelle Simi, Antonia Ferreira, Ferreira. I hope I said this right. Queen Victoria.
And of course, we’ve interviewed current professionals in the wine industry or wine adjacent industries like Jamie Metzgar, Michele Margherita, and Heather Ciprani. So, you know, go ahead and check out one of the old episodes. Also, if you’re a woman interested in wine and you want to connect with other women with the same interest, join us!
We have a private Facebook group. It’s a safe space for women to connect, to learn to laugh, and of course to recommend and talk about wine. You can find us on Facebook at Thru the Grapewine Club Members. Link will of course be in the show notes. Go ahead, request to join and don’t forget to answer the questions, especially the age question is very important. And do also agree to the group rules and we’ll let you in. We really do look forward to having you. The group is growing and it is a ton of fun.
And finally, if you’re planning a trip to Oregon Wine Country anytime soon, then we have just a place for you to stay. Of course, The Dundee Hotel, it is located right in the heart of wine country.
The rooms are absolutely beautifully furnished. They actually have five tasting rooms right there in the hotel, which I did not know until just recently. So you don’t even need a car to taste your wines. But of course, because Dundee is super conveniently located in the heart of wine country, you have some of the most beautiful wineries in that area that you can easily get to from Dundee.
Also, check out one of their special packages so you don’t have to plan a thing. And you can use the code GRAPEWINE23 when you book your stay for a 15% discount. Check the show notes for all relevant info. Of course, as always, our show notes really are great place to check anyway because we have free downloads, sources, a topic request form, and other information posted there.
Well, and with all of that, I do hope you’ll be back next week. And all I have left to say at this time is of course Prost!
Leave a Reply