Mr. Cork & Fizz Interviews Me on Wine, Life & Business (& a surprise announcement!)

Ep 119

What happens when the interviewer becomes the interviewee? For this milestone episode, things look a little different and a lot more personal!

In celebration of turning 30, I’m sitting on the other side of the mic while my husband (aka “Mr. Cork & Fizz”) takes over the questions. From how this wine journey began to the lessons I’ve learned running a business, you’ll hear personal stories and reflections I’ve never talked about on the podcast.

You’ll hear how Cork & Fizz was born out of a casual wine club, the challenges of building a business without a formal background, and the pivots along the way that shaped it into what it is today. We also dig into how to host your own wine nights, from picking themes and setting the vibe to keeping guests engaged without overcomplicating the experience.

We also talk about podcasting, the behind-the-scenes planning that keeps weekly episodes flowing, and what it’s really like to show up consistently as a creator. Plus, I open up about big life updates, including a surprise announcement which ties into how I’m navigating tastings without drinking, and my hopes for balancing business and motherhood.

So, if you’re curious how a casual wine night with friends turned into a thriving wine education business and a hit podcast, this episode is full of stories and tips you won’t want to miss!

Thank you to Wine.com for sponsoring this episode. Go to Wine.com/corkfizz and use code CORKFIZZ for FREE shipping on your order over $150. (Limit one per customer.)

Episode Highlights:

• The story of how Cork & Fizz began during a rainy cabin weekend
  
  
  
• Tips for turning friends into wine drinkers (without pressure)
  
  
  
• Essential skills for starting a wine-related business
  
  
  
• The journey of launching and sustaining a podcast
  
  
  
• Hosting your own wine nights: themes, notes, and tips
  
  
  
• Thoughts on pregnancy, wine, and planning for maternity leave
  
  
  
• Dream wine regions still on the bucket list

• Which wine I would pick if I was on a deserted island
  
  
  

Don't Forget to Download my Free Wine Tasting Guide! - https://www.corkandfizz.com/free-wine-tasting-guide

Have you Joined the Cork Crew?!

The Cork Crew Tasting Club is a community of people that enjoy drinking and learning about wine. It's like a book club...but with wine! Each month I’ll select two styles of wine for us to focus on. We’ll then have a virtual tasting party to explore those wines along with a community event to learn from professionals in the wine community.

Click the link below to get a FREE pass to attend a Cork Crew event of your choosing!

https://www.corkandfizz.com/freeclasspass

Connect with me:
Cork and Fizz - https://www.corkandfizz.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/corkandfizz/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/corkandfizz/
Email - hailey@corkandfizz.com

Transcript

0:09

Interested in learning about wine but not sure where to start. You're in the right place. Welcome to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. I'm your host, Hayley Bowlman, and I'm so glad you're here. I'm a wine enthusiast turned wine educator and founder of the Seattle based wine tasting business, Corporate Cork and Fizz. It is my goal to build your confidence in wine by making it approachable and lots of fun. You can expect to learn everything from how to describe your favorite wine to what to pair with dinner tonight and so much more. Whether you're a casual wine sipper or a total cork dork like myself, this podcast is for you. So grab yourself a glass and let's dive in foreign. Welcome back to the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine podcast. So glad to have you here. And today's is a special episode because it is releasing on my 30th birthday. So I thought it would be fun to do a little interview. And I'm not going to interview myself because that's a little dorky. I thought instead it would be fun to bring in Mr. Cork and Fizz, my husband, to come in and do an interview with me. And so he's going to be interviewing me. I have asked you folks for questions. I've. I asked on Instagram, if you're not already following me, come find me at Cork and Fizz. But I asked you to come up with some questions. So we have all of those and he's been working hard on some questions as well. They're all going to be centered around, you know, wine, Cork and Fizz, the business, all of that fun stuff. And if you have other questions, follow ups as you're listening to this. You can always find me on Instagram at Cork and Fizz or send me an email. Haley at Cork and Fizz. So without further ado, let's get into Haley's interview and I will introduce Mr. Cork and Fizz. How you doing? Good, how are you? How's it feel to be on the podcast? Feel like I'm in the spotlight, you know? Well, good news. They mostly just hear you so you don't have to worry too much. All right, cool, cool, cool. So should we get started? Yes, get it started. Let's go. All right, so I guess first off I'd like to start kind of like from the beginning a bit in terms of like Cork and Fizz and just talk about a little bit about creating Quark and Fizz. Like your, I guess your inspiration behind it. Like, did you have it in mind for a while, or was it kind of a spurt moment thing? And, you know, I have an idea of kind of what. Yeah, I think it'll be fun to talk about it with you here as well, because I know you were a big part of starting Quark and Fizz. I mean, not that big, but, I. Mean, you were around. You helped build the website up. I did with the name as well. Oh, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, very helpful. Yeah, exactly. Couldn't have been without me. Give you credit where credit's due, but, yeah. Cork and Fizz started the story I always tell, and what it is true. It came from, you know, our wine club with friends, and we would meet with them once a month, and we'd all bring a bottle of wine to share, and it was just, like, a good way to connect. And then I was interested in learning more about wine, so it was a good opportunity for me to learn more about wine without us having to buy as much wine ourselves. I mean, that's fair. We still did buy a lot of wine. Well, and for, like, the friend group, I feel like a lot of them, at least what I recall, like, weren't as interested in the more technical side of wine. They were more like, oh, let's taste some fun wine. Something totally fine. And I think, you know, we really enjoyed that. And then the pandemic hit, and it was like, okay, we're not getting together anymore. We can't do this. But I still wanted to do something. So I put together the first virtual tasting. And I don't know if you remember, we poured wine into little plastic cups or. It was first that. Yeah, yeah. And then, like, dropped it off at everyone's door and had the first ever virtual tasting. And then it was just like a moment after that where I was like, maybe I want to, like, do this, like, for real. And, like, actually this. I think other people would enjoy this and would enjoy having that social moment. At the time, it was a social moment when we can't be together in person. And then it's kind of expanded from there of, like, teaching people about wine, but more so using wine as a way to connect people, I think, is what Cork and Fizz has more been about. And then, of course, talking about naming it and everything. If anyone hasn't heard the story, we, you know, basically came up with the entire Cork and Fizz website and the name for Cork and Fizz and started the business all on, like, a little weekend vacation. That's right. In a cabin in the woods when it rained all weekend. And so we were like, well, I. Guess we do this small cabin. I. Yeah, I. I recall. And then, yeah, we just kind of. I think we just like wrote down a lot of different words that were related line. Yeah. And just kind of like kept looking up to see if it was taken yet and kind of seeing what the vibe was on. Like, you know, the, the web providers or something. Yeah. And then we, we came up with Cork and Fizz and that was, that was the start of it. Yeah. That was pretty fun. And now it's been how many? Like six years since. That's too long. Probably four, five years. Five years. Five years. Because it started in 2020. Oh, October of 2020. So it's just about coming off about five years. Okay, cool. Cool. Well, yeah, it's been history ever since. Yeah. Cool. Awesome. Just a quick reminder, if you are not on my mailing list yet, what are you waiting for? I would love for you to join. When you do, you'll get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to corkandfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers and so much more. Now let's get back to the show. All right, well, I guess moving right along. And I did get some of these questions from folks on her Instagram and some I, as she said I was working hard trying to come up with these. Not that hard, but you know, I. Was, I was fair enough. I was using, using my noggin. Alright. So I guess speaking of bringing people together for, you know, social reasons or whatnot, I guess do you have like good suggestions or like good ways to turn more friends into wine drinkers? If people are, you know, they're more beer people or. Oh, they just. They only like sparkling wine or they only drink, dare I say like barefoot or cupcake or something like that to kind of help them realize how cool of a, I guess, hobby it can be. Yeah. Just to like learn more about wine to taste cool things and so. Yeah, Yeah, I think it's like, I think it's an interesting question because I definitely feel like this came up for us. Like this was something where like I wanted to create a group of friends that would drink wine with me. Right. And so it was like, I think I was starting from a place where people were more like, oh, we drink. It's just like wine isn't the first thing we think of. Sure. So it was a lot easier to just be like, I created the environment for drinking wine. Like, I was like, great, let's, let's do an actual wine night. And like, so I think the first thing would be like, start by hosting experiences around wine and you know, invite people to those and even if they're not big and be okay with the fact that they're not big on wine. You know, let them know that, like, that's fine. You don't have to be an enthusiast, you don't have to be an expert. Just like come hang out. It's for fun. We'll learn a little bit about it, you know, as you go and recognize that like also some people just may never like it. And that's totally okay. You know, and especially if some people just don't drink, that's like a big one. I stay away from of like, if you don't drink, I'm not going to force you to drink. I'm going to invite you to my get togethers and things like that. But you know, obviously that's not something you have to do. But like, I think a great example is my parents. We were just talking about this. My mom was a big, sweet wine drinker and then my dad just like did not. Like, he's a bud light drinker. Yeah, yeah, Bud light drinker. And like even like having him smell a wine sometimes he would just like gag after having, you know, smelling it or something. He'd be all dramatic about it. He's very delicate. Sense of smell. Yeah. And now they go to like wineries all the time. He loves going to the wineries and try. And he's actually trying some of the drier wines. That's the most surprising thing that I'm drinking. So I think it's like, I guess when I look at that and how did that happen? Was like again, it's because, you know, he enjoyed the winery experience. He liked that social aspect of it. Yeah. And I think some of our friends are also like, I know some of our friends, you know, they're, they might not be as enthusiastic about wine as you are, you know, I think very few people I know are sure. But yeah, it does seem like they've become like even like they just enjoy hanging out. They enjoyed. Yeah, they, they like enjoy like being along for the ride. Right, right. And like sometimes like, you know, I feel like that too, like when we're like, you know, various tastings or going to wineries. But like, it's really Fun. And like, I learn stuff all the time, so. Okay. And then I think it's like the person who is the wine enthusiast or the wine dork. Like, don't get self conscious about being that person. Like, be totally fine with dorking out around other people when it comes to wine. And like, I think it's contagious. And then also, like, people, like, I think they realize your passion for it, Right. And so they're not judging you for it. And even if they're not at that same level. Yeah. Like, don't be afraid to dork out and like, find it super fun and do the extra research and it, you know, and all of that, even if not everybody else is. Oh, yeah. And like, speaking of, like, contagious, I feel like whenever we talk about, like, oh, like, what scents do you get? Or like, what's on the aroma? Oh, sure, yeah, the aromas. It's hard to get that started. But then once it does, I feel like people are like, oh, I get that too. Or, oh, I actually get, you know, peach or something instead of lavender. I don't know. Those probably are very different, but yeah. Okay, cool. All right, well, moving along, I guess talking more about, like, like having you give us some suggestions. You started your business kind of pretty much by yourself, and you kind of, I feel like, don't have a business background. You didn't really have like a social presence background either. Like, you started corporate business from pretty much nothing. So, like, what would you recommend as like, helpful skills to have or skills to practice when starting a business? Getting into like wine education or just being more like the social side of like, wine drinking and sharing? Sure, yeah. I mean, I think on the business side, like, I think a lot of it. Even when you said like, you did this by yourself, like, yes, like the. All of it. But at the same time, I definitely reached out for help, like, almost immediately. Like, I think within the first couple of months, maybe not. Maybe within the first year, you know, I started working with a business coach and I've worked with multiple business coaches. I, you know, on social media, I started following people who were more so social media experts and marketing experts. And, you know, I think there's a lot to be said about, like, you don't have to necessarily go to college for something to learn about it. There's a lot of opportunities to learn. So I think, like, that being open to learning those things and just like, you don't have to overdo it. You don't have to do it all at once. I Think, you know, I gathered these skills along the way and so like the things I didn't know, like, you know, when it did come to business and it came to like creating your offers and your services, you know, I had kind of an idea of what I wanted to do with the virtual tastings, but it changed a lot. I mean, it started with like, I was hoping I could do virtual tastings and send people little bottles of wine. That's right. Turns out that's super illegal and there's no option to do it. It's mainly like across state lines that. It'S even in Washington if you can't. You just like ability to like pour the wine into a little bottle and then resell it. It's just like there's no liquor license. That like, it's a gray area. Yeah. And so like a hands off area. Yeah, yeah. So I was like, I knew I didn't want to do right. So like changed. And then ads, cork and fizz changed. I kept changing. And even now, like the offerings that I have, you know, I still do private events, but I have a virtual tasting club and I do the podcast, obviously. And I'm starting offering ads on the podcast and like selling like the tasting kits. Like, I think it's, it's just changed over time. And I've learned from marketing experts and business experts and built all that up. And I think the one thing that like, did come naturally to me, that helped out really well was like the organization and the thinking of like, what needed to get done in order to like, achieve what I wanted to do. You're like, like type A, like. Yeah, yeah. And so like, what works? And like figuring out what works for you. So like, what works for me? I'm looking at my wall right now and it's like I have these giant calendars. There's only two up right now. There's only two. There's usually four. I usually think about like four months at a time. And then I put my to dos on the calendar because it helped me to think about when was something going to happen, when did I need to get stuff done by, when did I have personal events going on that would get in the way. And it just helped to like, visualize all of it. So I think like, finding the way that works for you in terms of like the organization and the planning and how to do that and then being open to learning and like looking at all of those learning channels. Cool. Yeah. And I feel like, like being able to like pivot quickly, I feel like is Also, yeah, you did that quite a bit, I feel like, early on, like trying to figure out, like, what worked, what didn't. And I think that was a lot of what your business coach. Yeah, definitely. And I think too, something I learned along the way as well was like, trusting in your business and your offers. I think there's a lot of this feeling of like, I need to sell, like I need to convince people to buy my thing, you know, and it's like, no, not necessarily. Like, when you want to buy something, do you feel convinced that you were. You needed to buy it? That's true. Usually not. Usually it was something that happened and you're like, oh, I would like this or I need this, or this sounds great. Like, you know, like there was something more of, like it provided something that you needed or you wanted. And you just gotta trust that your business is doing that. And definitely, like, look into it at times if you're not making sales. But I think that was something I had to let go of a lot of. Was like, you don't need to force it, just trust it. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Awesome. Well, I guess talking about a different side of your business and this podcast. So in terms of Cork and fizz lifespan, it's relatively new. It's like two years old. Yeah. And you've been doing it for the past two years, I guess. Talking about, like, challenges with just creating the podcast and coming up with ideas and finding people to host and finding the time to, like record and edit and, you know, post to everything. Cause I know it's. It sounds like there's, it's quite involved. I've never done it. I'm not a big podcast person, but I know that, you know, you've done quite a bit of learning and growing that area. So can you just kind of talk a little bit about that? Yeah, Well, I think what's interesting, I don't know if people know this is when I went to start this podcast. I was actually going to start it co hosted with another wine expert. That's right. And because I just felt very nervous going into it by myself and like, like, again, no idea what I was doing. And so I was going to do it with somebody else. And then, you know, stuff came up on her end and, you know, she's like, it just doesn't, you know, it's not going to work for me, which, you know, is totally going to happen. And so it was like, oh, crap, does this mean that we're not going to do a podcast? But I was so sold on That I really wanted to do this, and I felt like this would be a great asset to the cork and fizz world, and it'd be a great way for me to connect with people over wine and get to share. So I kind of just took the plunge. I found a podcast manager. She helped me with the whole launch. Liz, you're amazing. She's the one that edits all these podcasts and helped me, like, figure out how do you launch a podcast? Because it is much more than just you talk into a mic and then you put it out there, and then people just magically start listening to it. Right. Like, you have to do a lot of planning and you have to do. There is marketing when it comes to, you know, your podcast. Even if your podcast isn't making money. Sure. You still have to think about. Yeah, exactly. And then trying to think like, okay, how much do I want to do all interviews? Do I want to do, you know, solo? Like, I think at the time, I did think people would want to listen to solo episodes. I guess I was nervous about that. I have since learned that is wrong. But I still wanted to do interview episodes. So I tried it. I decided on, like, kind of a mix of those, and even then I pivoted. I was doing, like, two solo episodes in one interview. But the interview was always twice as long as the solo episodes because I talk a lot and I would get other people to talk. Talk a lot. So I realized, you know what? Let's make things easier for myself and better for my listeners. Let's break the interviews into two episodes. So they were. They matched better with the timing or, like, the length of the other episodes. Sure. And I did one interview and got two episodes out of it, which is great because you. You post every. Or you have a new episode every week. Yeah, a weekly podcast. So, like, be able to, like, get one interview in two episodes. That was nice. And on that note, how far in advance do you like? Oh, yeah, so they have stuff ready to roll. When I'm at my best, I would say probably like a month or so in advance, maybe. Yeah, maybe like four to six weeks in advance. Like, if I'm at my best. You're always at your best. Yeah, no, that is not the case. When I'm busy, they have to be done at least two weeks in advance. So, like, for example, we're recording this about a. Well, actually, I think it's only a week and a half before it needs to go out. So they need to be done a week and a half before you're in. The red a little bit, but yeah. Okay, we're, we're getting close. So, like, the next this one won't, you know, be out the next week, but it'll be out the next one. Interview ones I probably try to record even earlier. Sure. Because you never know if someone's going to cancel. I have been incredibly lucky with the people I've interviewed. I've never had anyone cancel. Never have had anyone. I mean, knock on some wood, I've never had anyone. Yeah. Never had anyone cancel. Never had anyone just like not show up. We've had to reschedule a couple times. I've had to do it myself to reschedule and everyone's been wonderful. So luckily that's gone well. Awesome. Cool, cool, cool. All right, so let's see, let's get a good question here. Oh, so I suppose we kind of talked about this a little bit, but someone that wants to start hosting tastings, they listen to you like, oh, this sounds really fun. I've got some wine gauzer, guys that are interested, that want to get into wine. And how would you, like, what were your first steps be if you were like doing this all over again? Yeah, like, okay, I want to host a wine night or I want to host a wine get together. How would you start? Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest thing is like, just get the logistics out of the way. Right. You need to find a time. Yep. You need to, you know, which is. Hard and of itself. Yeah, that's true. And sometimes, like, you can either do like a poll and ask your friends and find out, or I think sometimes we've just been like, great, this is a day. Whoever can make it can make it. Right. And then you send out the invite. And then I think just like, what's fun about a wine night is like, pick a theme. Right. And so I think for our very first wine night, we did, like, bring a favorite wine. Yes. Admittedly, maybe not the best first theme because Monday night. Well, yeah, don't do it on a Monday night. That's a. That's another time. Yeah, yeah, that's. That's a story for another day. But yeah, I would say, like, choose a theme and maybe make it a little easier for folks to find something on that theme. So it's not as open ended, you know? Yeah. So it's not like, so they're not like, oh, but I don't drink wine. I don't have a favorite. Sure. Right. And so I think, you know, even just like picking a grape variety could be fun. Or maybe pick a country, because I think that's a little easier to find something. And then you can kind of keep all the wines within a certain category. That. Yeah, yeah, that's a good idea. And our themes are always pretty fun, I feel like. Yeah, yeah. And then from there, you can get creative with your themes. I know we've done, like, animals on the label. Like, we had Cabernet beret, so it was like any varietal that had the word cabernet in it, There's a few of them. Right. And we've done, like, a pea Pinot night. So it's like Pinot Noir, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Blanc. Right. Cause there's so many. And so I think you can go from there. And then, really, the setup, once, you know, when you're expecting folks, you know, a setup is good. Like, I think definitely have food. Definitely have a lot of water. Charcuterie board. Yeah, charcuterie boards are perfect. I think it's just, like, a perfect, you know, vibe. And if you want to learn about the wine more and you want to encourage folks to learn more about it, have tasting notes, like a. A piece of paper for folks to write down their tasting notes. Yeah. You can see some examples. You know, obviously, selling point of, like, I do sell the tasting notes that I use with my friends and what I've used in tastings in my, like, start your own wine club kits. You can see those. But it can also just be as simple as a sheet of paper, and you're just encouraging people to jot down notes. I think it keeps people focused on the wine a little bit. Yeah. Gives you something to go back to. As the night goes on, it gets a little more challenging to stay on. Exactly. Yeah. So have that, like, sheet of paper and pencils for everyone. And then I really like the Wine Folly book. I think that was a fun thing for people to look up and kind of, like, learn a little bit as you went, and then. Yeah. At the end of the night, choose your favorite, because, again, it encourages people to look back at their tasting notes and figure out what they liked best and then just kind of keep up with that, like, monthly. Worked really well for us. If your friends are busier, your life is busier. You know, maybe every other month, but just kind of keep up with it. Fun. Okay. Yeah. Well, you've done a great job. I think our friends love it, and I like it too. Yeah. So, yeah, we're hosting one tonight. We are. Yeah. Tonight when we're recording not tonight. When this. Yeah, exactly. That's true. Who knows? All right, I guess back to the podcast. I know you've had a lot of different people, either as that you're interviewing or just like chatting with and I guess who's like the most interesting person that you've interviewed besides me? Yeah, well, I suppose you're interviewing me. I'm the most interesting person you've ever interviewed, right? I'm not gonna interview anybody else. Just said yes. Well, I did say yes, just in a different way. I'm so grateful to the sponsors who help make this podcast possible. And Today's sponsor is one I personally love, wine.com. you know, I'm all about exploring new wines, but let's be real, it's not always easy to find unique bottles, especially if you're limited to what's near you. That's why I love shopping on wine.com they have a huge selection, wines at every price point, user friendly search features, and real wine experts ready to help you find your next favorite bottle. And here's a special deal just for you as a podcast listener. Get free shipping on orders over$150@wine.com corkfizz with promo code Corkfizz. My recommendation, Build a mix of 6 to 12 bottles to try some, you know, some you never heard of. Not sure what to pick. Message me. I'd love to help or take advantage of the live chat. Wine experts@wine.com. gosh, that's a hard question. Because I, I love my interviews. I adore the interviews. I think it's so cool. I've interviewed people from all over the world and like, in areas of wine that like it just to me, it doesn't make sense that they are talking to me. Like, I'm just like, I am not cool enough for you to be having a conversation with me right now. Like, it's just, it's really cool. I mean, I've had some top sommeliers that have worked at some of the most amazing restaurants. I think a big moment for me, and it was in very early in the podcast, was having Bianca Bosker. Oh, on the podcast. Yeah. She's the author of Cork Dork. And if you've ever heard my story, Cork Dork was the very first wine book that I read and fell in love with. And it's kind of what got me into wine in the first place. Even before Cork and fizz was blame. Yes. Yeah, you can all blame Bianca. But yeah, it was really cool to have her on the show. I once had an ex NFL player and his business partner. They. They make a wine out here dossier. I had Karen McNeil as a court crew guest and then got to share that court crew interview on the podcast. So not quite the same thing, but she's the author of the wine Bible, which is like. That's right, the wine book. Right, Wine bio. Yeah, exactly. And then just every winemaker along the way, I mean, they're so busy trying to, you know, make wine and do all these things, and the fact that they set aside time to, to talk to me and answer all my crazy questions I have about wine and my ability, you know, and I get to learn about all this directly from them is so cool. Awesome. Yeah, I mean, like I said, you've had some really interesting people. Yeah. Kind of famous people too. I know, I know. Awesome. All right, so I guess now that, you know, hasn't been announced as of this recording, but as of the airing, yes, you are pregnant. I am. I finished last I checked. And so obviously it's not recommended to drink wine while pregnant. Right. So you've kind of been, you know, doing some tricky stuff on your tastings and things to, you know, not really make it obvious that you're like, not actually drinking. And in terms of like post baby, like, what are your plans? Kind of. Do you have any plans for cork and fizz? Are you going to ask for a glass of wine right after the baby comes or what's the. I guess, what things are you thinking about once you become a mom? Yeah, well, I think on like the wine side of things, it's. It's very funny. I definitely. First trimester, I'm past the first trimester now, but in the first, wine didn't even sound good. So it was pretty easy to like avoid it. I will say now in the second, I am very much craving it and it is really hard to not want a glass or just. I just don't think there's any replacement for wine. Non alcoholic wine just does not do it. I have yet to have. There have been that have been like decently good substitutes, but not the true substitutes. Okay, right. Like, and like, and they're usually sparkling and they usually just kind of taste like sparkling juice. Yeah. So it means it doesn't taste bad, but it just doesn't taste like wine. Right. And then yeah, of course, with tastings I've had to do, you know, I usually do the sip and spit if I'm like, if I do need to sip or I just like, don't drink the wine. And I think people surprisingly don't notice very much. Yeah. Because I also have to do a lot of talking during the tasting, so that's easy enough. And then I think for afterwards, I mean, I doubt in that moment I will want a glass of wine. Like, I love wine, but I can't imagine I'll be, like, right on top of it. Like, you're not going to say, here. Take the baby, Give me a glass of wine? That's. That's. Well, if you do, then I'll. I'll. I'll stop you. Okay. All right. But, I mean, I do look forward to it and definitely plan to drink afterwards, but I think it'll be very different. And we've talked about this too, about, like, you know, being safe and smart about drinking alcohol when we now have a much larger responsibility. Yes. Yeah. So that'll. That'll change. But I do look forward to finally getting to drink some of the wine that's been sitting in the wine fridge for way too long. Yeah, I got some outside, too. I know, I know. Don't remind me. I'm trying not to think about it. And then for cork and fizz, I guess. I mean, I definitely want to try to set myself up for a little bit of a maternity leave. Probably pre record a bunch of podcasts so that they can, you know, go out and hopefully be at my best. So I will get them done, you know, a few months in advance and have that all done. And then I'm just kind of trying to figure out from there what it looks like as, like, a solo business owner taking a maternity leave. It's very different from my corporate job where I can just, you know, be like, see ya, folks. Peace out. You know, I'm gonna be gone for a while versus, like, my own business. I can't just be like, all right, bye. You know, it's. It's. You're the one driving. Yeah, I gotta. I gotta set it all up. So I'm sure there'll be some changes coming in the future. Cool. Okay. Well, yeah. Exciting. And again, congratulations to us. Say to me, and I'm like, you are part of this. Sure am. Cool. Well, I guess thinking more, like, way in the future. Well, not in. Just a hypothetical. If you could only drink one wine for the rest of your life, say you're on a deserted island, say, lost. Happens to you. Hopefully it doesn't. What wine would you drink and why? Let's start with red or white. Okay. I think it's kind of like going. Through your twisting notes. You know. Oh, nice. I like. All right, all right. I mean, I think it would, it would be a white wine. White wine. Okay. Like what kind of profiles, flavors are you most. Well, so here's the thing. I'm wondering if this question, if this question is that it can only be one bottle, like a specific bottle, or can it be like a style or a variety and then two style varieties. Okay. All right. So white wine, you've said. I think in that case it's a pretty easy answer on the white one. Well, okay, I'm between two, but I think I'm gonna stick with my stud. Is one of them a Shannon? It's Chenin Blanc. Yeah, it's Chenin Blanc. Like if I could only drink, like if you were going to say it was only one variety for the rest of my life, it'd be a Chenin Blanc. I think because you can make it in so many different styles, you would never get bored. You could do, you know, rich and creamy. You could do bright and tart and fresh. You could do sparkling. You can even do a sweet, luscious kind of style of Chenin. Sure. So that would be my answer and I think if I had to choose like a single bottle or like a single specific one, you think you know what I'm going to say, but that's what you would choose. Ok. Okay. Okay. Which is obviously the correct option. Uh huh, sure. So he would choose like a Lola Shannon, which is from Napa Valley. It is wonderful. But I think I'd have to go with I don't know the producer's name off the top of my head, but it's a Shannon Blanc from the Loire Valley. Okay. I want to say it's from Samur, But I'm not 100% on that. Okay. Sounds like you have some homework to do. I know, yeah. I'm like, okay, let me get ready for my deserted island situation. I need to know this bottle. Get your survival kit ready. Yeah, yeah. But we like took it out once to a restaurant and we had it when we like brought our own bottle. You know what I'm talking about? Yes. Yeah. So I can't think of the name of it. If you're wondering while you're listening to this, you can reach out to me and I'll tell you when I figure it out. But, but yeah, I would have that Chenin Blanc if that's the only one I could drink. Okay, nice. Now if it was a red wine, like if you had to take a red wine. If I had to do A red. If they're like, no, you can't do a white wine. I would probably do Beaujolais. Okay. Or Aetna Rosso. They're both, like, lighter styles of beds that can be done a little richer, but, like. And if I was going to do a single style, it'd be a lighter version of it. Sure. So I just think it would, like. You wouldn't get sick of it. Yeah. Or you would be less likely to get sick of it. You'd have to have a really big seller for all that woman to rest your leg. Yeah, exactly. And speaking of cellars, let's talk about your dream wine cellar. Oh, yeah. Would it be, you know, super modern with, like, lots of cool fridges? Would it be, like, under the earth with all these, like, old, you know, wooden slash, like, stone racks? You know? How would it. I guess. Where would it be? Yeah. And what's the vibe? Well, it'd be in our basement, so it's easy access. Right. That's dangerous. But, yes, I like that. And I think I want, like, a combo. Right. I love the look and feel of an older seller, but I do get really claustrophobic. So I need it to be, like, modern to the sense where, like, it's not completely underground and, like, dug into a cave. That kind of freaks me out. That's fair. Yeah. Yeah. But I would love the sense of, like, you know, if it gave the, like, it had the barrels and it had the, like, stone smell. Just like the smell. Like, not like, musty, but kind of like. It smells like fermentation. It smells musty. It smells like the grapes. You know, like, that would be really nice. And. Yeah. So I think it would look like an old cellar. Like, you know, like, when we were walking through, like, the cellars in France or you live in, like, in Napa, but, like, when you looked out the window or when you looked out the door or something, it would be like, just like you're just in the basement. Yeah. That's fair. Okay, well, I guess. Well, we have time for, like, maybe one or two more questions. Yeah, I guess I'm curious. I didn't prep this one. I just thought. Oh, all right. Wow. Off the cuff. Off the cuff. Where would you like to go, wine region wise, that you have not been to yet? Ooh. It's a good question, I would say. Because you've been to. I mean, been to quite a few places. Napa. You've been to Walla Walla, France. You know, we've been to not every region in France. Right. That's a little bit of. Or Lake Chelan. Yep. But there's a whole world. So I think like a few on my bucket list would be Okanagan in Canada. Canada, Yeah. I think that would be fun to go to. After our friends went to New Zealand, I was very ready to go to New Zealand and try those wines. And I've always wanted to go like Chile, Argentina. I just think it's like a totally different culture. Yeah. The diurnal temperatures, the high altitude, I think all of those would be. Would be really fun. Actually, you know what? I have a great idea for how to end this episode. Okay. I'm going to get us. I always ask. I have a speed round at the end of all my interviews and I realized, you know what, why don't you ask me the speed round? Because I don't know if I've ever answered all of these questions. So I am going to pull them up. Okay. Found the speed round question. So these, I say that these at the end of every interview. Okay. And the main thing is I call it a speed round because, like, as the person answering it, I'm not supposed to think too hard about it because otherwise there could be like lots of answers. That's fair. Let's do it. So short answers. I mean, not necessarily sure, but just I can't think too hard. All right, well, that's hard for you. I know you. I know I do a lot of things. All right, are you ready? Ready. Okay. What are you drinking right now? Gosh, I've been kind of like creating mocktails for myself. I did one recently that was like. It was. Gosh. What was it? It was a proxy rose, which is like a company that does wine alternatives. Ginger beer. And it had one other thing in it and I can't quite remember what it was. Drink or like a, like a liquid or drink. I'm wondering if maybe it was the. The strawberry grapefruit juice that I've been really loving. Yeah, you have a strawberry cranberry juice that I've been enjoying. So maybe it was that with it and then like add some herbs and stuff. But I just kind of been like creating my own cocktails because honestly the non alcoholic wines or even the alternatives just like don't do it on their own. You just like having something a little fun. Yeah. But I did buy some more and I'm going to give them a try because you got to give them a chance. But yeah, so it's mostly been like creating funky mocktails. Okay, nice. All right. Your Go to bottle of wine to bring to, like, a dinner party or, like, share with friends, like a nice, like, crowd pleaser. Yeah, I honestly think. I think our go to as well is like, honestly, usually a rose. Yeah. Yeah. I think, like a good dry rose. It can go, like, any time of the year. I feel like any food, like, and if you don't know what's being served, like, rose just ends up working really well. And I think it fits for, like, we have a group of, like, our friends are, like, some of them are really big red drinkers. Some primarily drink white. And so I feel like it's like that happy medium. And I feel like we never have in the cellar because we always bring it to things or bring it out when people are over, at least recently. All right. It's nice. And then your favorite wine region that you've visited. Yeah. Don't think. Oh, man. No, I'm trying not to. I'm trying not to. Burgundy was so cool. Yeah. Burgundy, France. Yeah, it was cool. I mean, you were with me, obviously. We were. I think it was a very fun experience. I want to. The wine was amazing. Food was great. Yeah. But a close second. Walla Walla. I have lots of amazing memories there from the retreats and even from our trip out there that we did before the retreats. Yeah, that was a fun spot. Favorite wine and food pairing. Ooh. Okay. I am a big fan of, like, sparkling wine and fried food. Like, I feel like you could do champagne or cava or Cremont. And then honestly, a lot of times I have, like, chicken nuggets or French fries. And it's. It's not fancy by any means, so I like that a lot. And then I like. It's funny. Cause I don't love oysters at all. Sure. But I love having oysters with, like, Albanino or another, like, super sparkling wine. It's like, I feel like oysters are just my excuse to, like, drink wine and have oysters. All right. Yeah, yeah. To each their own, you know? All right. If you were given $1,000 to spend on wine, you don't have that now to spend on wine. But if you did. If I was given. If you did, what wine would you buy, man? Okay. I've asked so many people this question, and then I think about, like, how I would answer it, and it's so hard. Would you get one bottle? That's the thing, right? Like, do you go for, like, a super high end bottle that is just, like, you know, super expensive and hard to get or do you go for, like, variety or do you get 500. Bottles of two bucks? You know? You know, that is a choice. Maybe you do that. I'm leaning towards. And I think this is a different answer than I would have said, like, a few months ago. I think now, thinking about, like, how much I already have in the cellar and like, in our wine fridges, I think I would actually use it to maybe get like two or three or however many I can get, like, higher end bottles that I would otherwise feel bad spending money on. Right. Like, if someone was just like, here's a thousand dollars. You have to buy wine with this. Yeah. What a shame. I know, right? Sad. I would go, you know, I don't even know. Like, I'm trying to think of, like, what prices are like, but, like, it'd probably be like a high end Burgundy or the really famous, like, Chateau Yachen. They have like a sweet, sodern. That is like the most famous wine in the world. I don't know if that would cover it necessarily, so I'd need to look that up. But, yeah, I think I'd. Maybe you can just do the challenge twice and just save the first thousand. Yeah. There we go. Okay. Just hope someone else will give me a thousand dollars. Yes. But, yeah, I think I would actually go for, like, and maybe it's a taste of them somewhere if I could. If I could do that. But I think it would just to be like, see, like, is it really worth it? Is it? Yeah. Is it worth a hype? Is it worth the price? Yeah. Yeah, I think that'd be fun. What is one wine myth that bugs you the most? Ugh, that's a myth. I hate when, like, there are devices that come out that are like, this will prevent your hangover. Like, just use this or just, just do this and it'll, you know, stir this into your wine and you'll. You'll Something in wine. Well, like, it's like, it's like a certain metal thing I think is what I'm thinking of. Or like, you put drops in the wine and it'll remove the sulfites and it'll filter the wine and it'll do this and it's like, does it remove the alcohol? If it doesn't remove the alcohol? Yeah. It will not prevent a hangover. Like, the way to prevent a hangover is to drink water between every glass. Don't drink that much. Like, eat food. Like, like, it's just total, like, ridiculousness to me. I just, I'm not a fan of, of anything. That, like, claims it can prevent you from getting a hangover. Cause I just. I think it's, like, scummy marketing. That's fair. Yeah. Cool. Well, I think. Is that the end of the speaker? Yeah, that is the end of the speaker. That was pretty fast. I think we did pretty well. You thought a little hard about some of them, but. Sorry. I know. Okay. It was gonna happen. Well, thank you for being here and for doing the interview. Yeah, thanks for having me. It was. I think I learned some things, and I would be happy to come back. Yeah. Yeah. Folks, let me know, should we bring Mr. Cork and Fizz back? Should we do some co hosting or. Should he stay away, like, never again? Don't do it. Yeah. Please send me those messages, Dale. If you do, she won't tell me. All right. Thank you so much. Of course. Yeah. Cheers. Cheers. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine. I certainly had a lot of fun recording it. I always love when I get. Get to do things with Mr. Cork and Fizz. He's been along for the journey with me this entire time. And if you want to see more of us, we actually do have some videos on Instagram. We've done some blind tastings together, and he has very nicely been in a few reels with me when I need, you know, a second partner to work at it. So you'll see some of those. And let me know if you want us to do another episode. If you want to hear things from his point of view or you just think it'd be, like, a fun, fun thing to bring him in when we're talking about something wine, who knows? But let me know what you think. And if you love this episode and you haven't yet, please rate the podcast. Leave a review, let me know what you think. It would absolutely make heaven be my little birthday present. Remember, I'm turning 30 today. I would so love that in next week's episode, it is going to just be me again. I know. Sad. But we'll be talking about hybrid grape grapes. I feel like they've been making a comeback. I don't know about you. So hybrid grapes are basically grapes that are not just the European varietals, but they're mixed with the, like, typically American varietals. And so they're usually hardier, but a lot of times they didn't always make quality wine, but now they are, and they're coming back in. With climate change and all these things going on, I feel like they're becoming more and more popular, so we're going to do an episode all about. Thanks again for listening. And if you want to learn more about wine, come follow me@corkandfizz on Instagram. And if you're interested in exploring new wines and joining an incredible community of wine lovers, be sure to sign up for my virtual tasting club, the Cork crew. Head to thecourtcrew.com to learn more and use code winespecial to get your first two months for just $8 a month. Cheer. Sam.