In this Barrels and Roots Podcast episode, I sit down with Adam Martinez, winemaker at Uplifted Winery in Rapid City, South Dakota, to talk about what winemaking actually looks like when you strip away the romance and get into the real craft.

We dig into how he got started through restaurant life and a chemistry background, why wine is the ultimate mix of science, art, and pure luck, and how tiny variables like weather, humidity, and even invisible microbes can change everything. Adam explains what it’s like making wine in a cold-climate region, how hybrid grapes like Marquette make Midwest and Northern Plains wine possible, and why a lot of South Dakota wineries still bring in grapes from places like Washington, Oregon, California, and Colorado. We get honest about sulfites, oxygen, fermentation choices, learning new varietals, and the mistakes that actually make you better, especially when teamwork and communication can make or break a vintage. We also talk about tasting notes, nostalgia, and why the best wine is the one you genuinely like, not the one that impresses someone else.

If you care about wine education, winemaking process, cold climate viticulture, and making wine feel approachable again for everyday people and Gen Z, this conversation is a fun, real-world look at what it takes to turn grapes into something that brings people together.

In this episode of Barrels and Roots, I sit down with Dan Stotesbery, managing partner at Ladera Vineyards, a family-owned Napa Valley winery he now runs day-to-day with his wife.

We talk about why small, family-run wineries still matter in a world that’s getting more corporate, and how authenticity shows up in the details, from hosting tastings themselves to literally packing shipping boxes and remembering customers by name. Dan breaks down Howell Mountain Cabernet, what being above the fog line does to structure and tannins, and why mountain fruit often needs more time to come into balance than valley floor wines. We also get into the quality vs quantity decision that took Ladera from 35,000 cases down to around 4,000, and how that shift let them make better wine and build deeper relationships. Along the way, I share my own Napa roots and why wine is really about memory, place, and people, not perfect tasting notes, plus why Cabernet can feel intimidating for new drinkers and how to keep learning simple, trust your palate, taste broadly, and don’t let wine culture make you feel like you don’t belong.

If you want an honest conversation about Napa Valley, Howell Mountain, family winemaking, and what makes a great Cabernet feel alive, this one’s for you.

I’m talking with Anne McHale about what the Master of Wine path really looks like and why it actually matters for everyday wine drinkers, not just industry insiders.

We unpack what a Master of Wine does, why the qualification is considered one of the hardest in the world, and how Anne worked her way up from a junior office assistant to earning the MW title over a decade of study, tasting, and real-world experience. From there, we zoom out into the bigger picture, how wine connects to place, memory, food, and culture, and why it’s okay to enjoy wine without needing perfect vocabulary or expert confidence. We talk about how beginners can start tasting without feeling judged, how to use simple frameworks instead of overthinking every sip, and how affordable wines can still be genuinely expressive and meaningful.

This episode blends serious expertise with real-life practicality and shows that wine education doesn’t have to feel academic, intimidating, or exclusive, it can be human, curious, and fun.