05: The Story of Soil, with Jessica Gasca

06: Staying True to Yourself, with Gretchen Voelcker

In today’s podcast, I speak with Gretchen Voelcker, the winemaker behind Luna Hart Wines.  Sitting in front of her home in Santa Barbara, we had a great chat about integrity, making wine you love, and risk-taking. Luna Hart Wines is a boutique wine company specializing in small-batch, handcrafted wines in the Santa Ynez Valley.  Gretchen makes select wines in which she explores the techniques and nuances that continue to stoke her passion for wine. The project was started making Sauvignon Blanc under the label of Moon Unit Wines (which is a great story) but will move forward focusing on Grüner Veltliner and Cabernet Franc. With careful attention to the fruit in the vineyard and tasting daily throughout fermentation, Gretchen produces high quality, fruit forward wines with bright acidity. Her hope is to highlight the grape’s origin, the vintage, and the variety. She focuses on producing varietal wines from her favorite grapes that spur her to learn more about winemaking and to showcase them more purely and more precisely. Gretchen never turns down the opportunity to experiment and welcomes interesting projects. To learn more about Luna Hart wines, please go to: https://lunahartwines.com [https://lunahartwines.com]/ Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. If you have some feedback you’d like to share, leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on this site. Also, please leave a review for The Yoga Wine Bar Podcast on Apple Podcasts. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And please, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher Radio to get automatic updates!

05: The Story of Soil, with Jessica Gasca

In this conversation, Jessica and I talk about the challenges and hurdles of owning and operating a winery without the backing of big money.  We also talk about the gratitude for having a life you love and doing what you are passionate about every day. The Story of Soil Winery is proud of the wines they make for very specific reasons. In their words: OUR TINY OPERATION IS AIMED AT PRODUCING HIGH QUALITY AND BALANCED WINES… 1. As a small winery, we can put more time attention and care into our wines (than the larger wineries can afford to really). SO, in order to make wines of the highest quality, we  1. select vineyards that are farmed with the greatest level of care. 2. Focus on single varietal and single vineyard. Single vineyard allows us to focus on “the place” the grapes are farmed and a single varietal will show how each varietal is affected by the place (i.e. soil and microclimate). 3. Keep lots small. This gives the opportunity for gentle processing with minimal intervention. (This also grants us the freedom to have a little more fun with experimentation which, in theory, should give us more complex and interesting wines.) and finally4. (the most important) we put our hearts and souls into the making of this wine. To find out more about their incredible wines go to: www.storyofsoilwine.com [http://www.storyofsoilwine.com] Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. If you have some feedback you’d like to share, leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on this site. Also, please leave a review for The Yoga Wine Bar Podcast on Apple Podcasts. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And please, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Stitcher Radio to get automatic updates!

04: 365 days of wine, yoga, and being present with Cathy Huyghe

This episode with Cathy Huyghe was as fun as it was enlightening.  This conversation flew by as we chatted about 365 days of wine, being present, and doing what you love.  It was truly like chatting with an old friend you haven’t seen for a while, but yet don’t miss a beat.  Cathy Huyghe is the co-founder and CEO of Enolytics LLC, which provides big data services to the wine industry. She is a journalist by training and writes for Forbes online about the business and politics of the wine industry, and for Inc.com about entrepreneurs. She is also the founder of Harvard Alumni in Wine and Food, a non-profit interest group within the Harvard Alumni Association. Huyghe is the author of the award-winning book, Hungry for Wine: Seeing the World through the Lens of a Wine Glass, which has received positive reviews from publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to NPR to the Village Voice. To find out more about what she is doing and to check out her book, please go to: http://www.cathyhuyghe.com/ [http://www.cathyhuyghe.com/] Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. If you have some feedback you’d like to share, leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on this site. Also, please leave a review for The Yoga Wine Bar Podcast on Apple Podcasts. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And while you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts to get automatic updates!

03: How to keep a “Balanced Glass” with Rebecca Hopkins

In this episode, I chat with Rebecca Hopkins about all things related to maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle while being in the hospitality industry.  Rebecca Hopkins is an experienced wine communications strategist, speaker, moderator, host, and writer. With a 25-year career in the wine business spanning Australia and the U.S., Rebecca founded and launched A Balanced Glass in March 2018 with a mission to provide education and resources to industry colleagues to help maintain health and wellbeing while working in the beverage alcohol industry. This conversation is one that is as needed as it is rarely discussed.  Before launching into a career in the food and beverage industry, this is a must listen to ensure this is the right career field for you.  And if you are already in this industy please consider joining www.abalancedglass.com [https://abalancedglass.com/] for incredible resources, conversations, and insights to bring more balance to your life. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. If you have some feedback you’d like to share, leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on this site. Also, please leave a review for The Yoga Wine Bar Podcast on Apple Podcasts. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And while you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts to get automatic updates!

Episode 01: LXV Winery, How to “spice up” your wine and your life.

This podcast couldn’t have possibly have a better guest for the kick off show!  My conversation with Neeta Mittal was one that I didn’t want to end.  It was a logical choice to kick off the podcast as the name of their winery is LXV (roman numerals for 65) stands for “You are the 65th sutra.  And considering this The Yoga Wine Bar podcast, I knew we had a few things in common! I had no idea just how far that went.  Neeta completely deepened my appreciation for “food and wine pairing” as her custom made spice blends bring out an entirely different experience for even the most advanced wine taster.  But LXV is so much more than that.  This is a place where you feel welcome, appreciated, and special.  And isn’t that what any experience had with another should be?  Check out their website, and order a wine and spice pairing (which comes with an incredible recipe) right now! From their website: www.lxvwine.com [http://www.lxvwine.com] The LXV team is the realization of the vision of entrepreneurial genius, Kunal Mittal, filmmaker & branding guru, Neeta Mittal, along with the talented, experts from the wine industry. Being a filmmaker, I was sweetly seduced by director Mira Nair’s poetic take on Kama Sutra. I wrote the screenplay “The Sixty-Fifth Art”. It was a comedy set in Victorian England, about a secret copy of the Kama Sutra that finds its way into uptight Victorian nobility. Almost made it to the marquee The script had to be shelved, but I developed a deep appreciation for one of the most ancient philosophies of India. The west has a very singular view of what the Kama Sutra is about. Truly, it is a treatise on the art of love. When we started with the branding for our wine, we realized that wine has become a quintessential part of any romantic endeavor. Yet, there is no brand that inspires the lovers; elevates the moment. Immediately we knew that our audience had to be inspired by the Kama Sutra. The 64 arts of Kama Sutra (music, dance, magic, jewelry, et al) gave us an anchor for the brand. But we wanted to go beyond sensationalizing the labels. We wanted to inspire sensuality. And, I believe, stories do exactly that. So every label of LXV, features the portrait of an artist, caught in the moment of sensuality, as they indulge in their art. For us, it is about the artist, and their inspirational journey, more than the art itself. I always get the question – what is their story? It is a conversation that carries on… Neeta Mittal Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. If you have some feedback you’d like to share, leave a note in the comment section below! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it using the social media buttons you see on this site. Also, please leave a review for The Yoga Wine Bar Podcast on Apple Podcasts. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated! They do matter in the rankings of the show, and I read each and every one of them. And while you’re there, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts to get automatic updates!